271–280 of 327 posts
- Homeschooling at-home parents take on a side hustle (teach piano lessons, mobile notary, dog sitting)
- Buy a side of beef
- Buy beans in bulk (25# boxes)
- Grow a small garden for salad greens and herbs
- Don’t eat out
- No extracurriculars that cost money
- Use the library whenever possible
- Vacations are now camping with 2nd hand gear
- In general, buy used. As a result, prices in 2nd hand market are also inflated.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disposable income as an aggregate doesn't show a income-level class (my point). Unfortunately having up to date information on economic status given the income level is hard to get.
One reason is that in aggregate it doesn’t matter all that much: The differences between US means and medians for household financial stats are substantial but not overwhelming—and more importantly in this context, largely trend together. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=17Pem https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=17Ped
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How? Where is all of your money going?
Without going into deep details and a budget... everything has gotten more expensive. Groceries are at least double what they were, over $1000 a month. Summer electric bill is over $300. Internet is now $140 a month. Health insurance is now over $500 per month, and that doesn't even cover the out of pocket stuff I have to pay with the kid's various visits. All streaming services have increased in price. And so on and…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is hard to make a comparison for my grandfather, but my father's home is right in my hometown and still exists. You raise all great points. My father's home was in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn NYC. It cost under $50,000 in 1980. The same house has a Zestimate today for $1,049,800. I wish we still owned it. For comparison sake, yes, there are 4 decades of upgrades and also 4 decades of deprecation, floods, hurricane…
> $50k -> $1,049,800 You can't look at the price increase for the same house without accounting for the changes in the neighborhood and surrounding areas. A neighborhood increases in desirability, it now costs more to live in that nicer neighborhood. The population of a city increases, such that you now have to live farther away from the city to find comparably priced real estate etc... That's why I said if you want…
That said, I would totally disagree that the real apples-to-apples comparison would be to find an equivalent home further away. That literally proves my original argument -- that the current generation has to work the same for less. That our parents could live in the city while we commute from the exurbs.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
IMHO vehicles are the main reason Americans don't feel as rich as they actually are. I've spent the past year living in 22 countries in Europe, Asia, and South America and it's pretty clear in comparison that this is where the money is going. Americans have way, way more income than basically anyone else, but it's all going to cars and driving and the necessary infrastructure and costs associated.
No, it's going to housing. Auto expenses are trivial, but housing, especially where the jobs are, is astronomically expensive. In the expensive housing markets, contracting prices (new roof, electrical, remodels, landscaping...) are all priced far higher than other places in the country.
Every apartment I've lived in outside the US I've been closer to at least one grocery from my front door than a parking space I'd be likely to find in a US suburban shopping center would be. A two minute walk down a cobblestone street usually. When I was in the US I tried to stay in as "walkable" places as I could and (other than in NYC* ) I still needed to hop in a car and drive 5 minutes down usually a 6 (!) lane street, wait at no less than two traffic lights at large intersections. We are talking about around $15-20 million of infrastructure involved in my trip to the grocery, plus wear and tear on my car, gas, a parking garage at my apartment compared to some trivial amount to maintain a pedestrian walkway. You don't notice it when you live in the US because it's just part of the background.
Not only are there the direct costs of the infrastructure, but the wasted space reduces available land and drives up prices significantly.
* NYC is a special case, Manhattan is essentially the only walkable place in the country (and even there it falls short of global standards), the geography and history impose unique constraints, and the city draws a lot of people for reasons that aren't generally relevant when we're talking about the housing situation globally.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a _LOT_ of debt being added, household debt is up to something like 17 trillion dollars from like under 10 trillion pre pandemic. IMHO vehicles are huge drivers of debt. There are almost no cars under $30k now, and the average sale price of new cars is pushing up near $50k. This is for bog standard stuff like Hondas and Fords, not luxury cars. Used cars are incredibly expensive too. People are financing cars…
>IMHO vehicles are huge drivers of debt. There are almost no cars under $30k now, and the average sale price of new cars is pushing up near $50k. This is for bog standard stuff like Hondas and Fords, not luxury cars. I went on toyota.com and a base level corolla is only selling for $22,795. This includes a "Delivery, Processing & Handling" charge of $1,095. If for whatever reason you think that driving a compact car…
Cars are dramatically more reliable than they used to be, so you will get more utility than you would for the same (inflation adjusted) expenditure 20 years ago.
My vehicle is 16 years old and I have no intention of replacing it any time soon.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are now officially 10 year car loans, 40 year mortgages.
In many cases, people getting 40 year mortgages would be better off just continuing to rent. We just bought our first home with 10% down and a 30 year note and we’re now basically paying rent to the bank.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having gone through this two years ago at the height of car unavailability, it really was take what was available. You don’t want that $50 first aid kit that comes in a canvas bag and has a few band aids in it? Too bad, you’re buying it. (I offered to sell mine to the sales person, but he wouldn’t bite.) don’t want the rails that could just be unscrewed by literally anyone at the dealership, too bad, $500. Fortunatel…
Nitrogen fill on the tires. Complete bullshit. It's a marketing company
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Governments are afraid of deflation (prices going down) because consumers can go into a holding pattern (stopping spending while waiting for prices to continue to decrease) which can cause the economy to stall out.
Nobody is going to wait a year to save 3% on food or energy.
My spouse and I have been talking about this quite a bit lately. Even with two incomes from tech employment we are watching our budget since it feels like everything is extra expensive lately. The income gains we’ve made have only allowed us to maintain versus climb to the next level of lifestyle. It makes me wonder where we will start falling behind. Obviously we are fortunate to not live on credit cards and have ou…
I feel like these anecdotes make more sense with numbers. What is your combined household income? > $250k? I mean, if this is where people are feeling pinched I agree I have no idea how the middle class is surviving