Affordability of yiddishkeit

Many of you are already familiar with these issues, but to briefly summarize in order of increasing difficulty, kosher food is expensive, housing in Orthodox areas is generally expensive, and day school tuition is expensive. As far as I can tell, this is the biggest issue facing the Modern Orthodox community today. Maybe I am thinking about this because I overpaid for my arba minim (lulav and etrog), maybe it is all the yeshiva engagements, maybe parashat bereshit talking about the transition from gan eden where we were completely supported to the outside world where we must work for a living, not sure, but here are the options I see.

Option 1: Go for actuarial exams or a masters in something finance-y. If my wife has a similarly lucrative career, we might be able to scrape by. Pros: provides most flexibility regarding where to live, supporting community rather than being a burden (assuming the right kind of finance...). Cons: probable long hours leave relatively little time for family, learning.

Option 2: Go somewhere with lower real estate costs (Pittsburgh? Rochester? family ties are nice). Work part time (sofer? potter? tutor?) and leave enough time to home-school properly. If land is cheaper than marginal cost of food, get enough land for a serious garden and some chickens, maybe goats. Pros: I like the idea of homeschooling. I think I would be good at it, it would allow lots of time with family, and outcomes are generally superior to conventional schools. Cons: Need a wife comfortable with living in desperate poverty, little flexibility in where to live, less connected to broader community.

Option 3: Aliya. There are many problems with the education system here, but there are some very good schools that are state funded. Salaries are lower and housing is expensive, but people get by. Also, basically free healthcare. Pros: big mitzvah to live here, Hebrew fluency, love the land and culture. Cons: far from family (so far...) and flights are expensive, more polarized Jewish community.

Option 4: England. Day schools heavily subsidized, but the Anglos here make it sound as though they aren't much better for limudei kodesh (religious studies) than afterschool religious school in the States. As above, free healthcare. Pros: Hirschian Yekkish centrist Orthodoxy is appealing, although I hear the community is in flux and may lose that character. Cons: I have some family there, but not much and they may be moving, flights still expensive.

Option 5: Rabbinate. Tuition breaks make could more than make up for poor salary. Pros: get to learn. Cons: mixed feelings about professionalization of the rabbinate, not sure I would be good at pastoral duties.

Option 6: Smaller family and/or public school. Outrageous! Why would I even suggest such a thing?

Anyway, for those who are facing these issues, how are you planning on managing? Also welcome feedback and criticism from all and sundry.

Yeshiva life goes on. My sleep schedule has gotten progressively worse since the holidays ended, need to fix that before zman restarts. Got to do a little leining for the minute second day Simchat Torah minyan. Hakafot (singing and dancing circuits with sifrei Torah) were long, wild, and intense Wednesday night, got progressively less so with each reiteration, but there was something beautiful and intimate about our exhausted attempts Friday morning, and, with a davener/scroll ratio under 3, we each got to hold the scrolls as much as we pleased. I think I carried for four of the seven hakafot, leading one of them. We had a little echo of Simchat Torah today, with a hachnasat Sefer Torah (celebration of completion of a new Torah scroll). More dancing through the streets with the Torah, more hakafot, good times. Unfortunately, I was feeling under the weather, and unable to get as into it as during chag.
I think there was more I wanted to relate, but it eludes me at the moment, and it probably isn't important.
Shalom.