One for teachers everywhere, can you live reasonably well on your earnings as a teacher?

I'm making about US$900 a month (net) which is a fairly good salary for Mexico. If I was single it would be more than enough, however I have a wife and two kids and it is a consistent struggle to make ends meet. We have a comfortable standard of living by local standards, but things I would take for granted back home in Australia or NZ require major sacrifices to get.

Things like telephone, refrigerator, car, computer. We can live without all of these, and for years we did (still no telephone) but sometimes it really is depressing.

How do the rest of you live in different countries? Can you save a bit? Are you able to visit other countries? Fly "home" to see your folks? Buy yourself little luxury items from time to time? I'm very interested in how the rest of you are going.

To answer my own question, I'd say Mexico is OK to work in, but only if you're single.