Thanks for your reply. I think your advice is reasonable, and I've been trying to get my family to lower the expenses (which they have been receptive to try and do).
What you say is reasonable, but it feels scary for me to take the plunge. In particular, say I take a 10 times salary reduction, and discover 2 years in that the new job is actually as boring as the old one. I'm afraid of feeling even worse then...