Reply to I don't understand how people cant afford to go out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I sort of see OP's point -- if you look at marginal cost. Let's say gas is $2/gal higher than a year ago, and you have a car with a 15-gallon tank you fill twice a month. That's 15 * $2 * 2 = $60/month more fuel costs than before. True for some people, an additional $60 monthly expenditure would be unbearable, but not for most. It does ignore that other costs have gone up also though.

Personally if I needed to save, I'd just look to public transporation when possible, or even drive the short distance to make that an option. For example, Ride-On buses in MoCo are free for everyone currently. Then, I'd look at less costly options for eating out or food -- more cooked from scratch vs. ready-made.[/quote]

It’s not just gas. Everything has gotten more expensive. [/quote]

This. We're a middle class family (HHI 120k) and don't even rely on a car to get around. We have one but don't require it for commutes. However our grocery bills are 10-20% higher than they used to be. Buying new summer clothes and shoes for our kid cost a bit more this year. We went out for a birthday dinner recently and the restaurant bill was 50% higher than it was last year for the same meal. And so on. We're not broke by any means and we know how to be frugal when we need to be (we've lived on less than this before). Our housing costs are fixed because we own, thankfully (rent is really bad right now and going up). And we are still benefitting somewhat from the boosts to our savings from Covid (both decreased costs from not going anywhere for a while and the economic stimulus, much of which went to childcare but some of which got saved). So it's not like $5/gallon is the difference between putting food on the table or not. But it feels like a luxury to me. We have scrapped two road trips due to gas costs because it would have increased the cost of the trips by a couple hundred dollars. That is not nothing to us. And with everything getting more expensive, we want to be extra cautious with our spending.

Anyway, if a friend thought we were unreasonable for not wanting to go somewhere due to gas prices, that's their problem. Frankly, I avoid the kind of judgmental, obtuse people like OP in general, so if the high cost of gas gave me an excuse to not hang out with them, then I'd definitely take it.[/quote]

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