Some comparative notes about this family's budget -- apart from the optional air travel, there is nothing unusual about this example:

• This family of four drives less and consumes less gasoline than the average New England household with vehicles, which drives 22.6 thousand vehicle miles and consumes 1,086 gallons of gasoline, as compared to 17,000 miles and 674 gallons of gasoline in the illustration.  The illustration family thus saves 8000 lbs against the average.  See 2001 statistics. 
• The family's natural gas consumption appears typical based on its size and location -- it spends 1200 therms or 120,000,000 btu's on natural gas for heating, hot water and gas drying -- roughly 20% above the average household using gas in its climate zone.  (Boston, Massachusetts is in climate zone 2  -- fewer than 2,000 cooling degree days and 5,500 to 7,000 heating degree days.  In climate zone 2, the average household U.S. with gas uses 20.5 million btu for water heating and 72.9 million but for space heating; a gas dryer and/or stove may account for another 8.7 million BTU on average, but appliance numbers are more variable.)   However, the larger household size size and the fact of residing in a single family home probably suffice to account for the difference from average.  Single family homes consume approximately 10% more gas for heating than the average across all households (three time as much as dwellers in apartment buildings).  Note that household heating requirements do not vary dramatically by the number of persons in the household, so having more people in the household brings down per person cost; water heating requirements are roughly twice as high for households of four as for single households.  Adding 10% to average for space heating (+7.3 million btu) and increasing the average for water heating (by 1/3 -- the ratio of 4 person households to the average -- + 7 million btu) would bring the expected number very close to the observed 120 million btu -- 116.7 = 72.9+20.5+8.7+7.3+7)
• Total household energy consumption (including gas and only the delivered amount of electricity, not the energy losses associated with generation and transmission) is the 120,000,000 btus of gas plus 8,000x3412 btu of electricity (1 kwh equals 3412 btu) or 147.3 million btu. This is 30% high relative to U.S. average for households in climate zone 2 of 114.0 million btu.  However, four person households run 19.3% above the average household, leaving only an 8% difference from average which appears very consistent with residence in full-sized single family home as opposed to an apartment.

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