#like! they’re frugal people and didn’t even do OOS college when They went

[caswlw]

ok but like the income/financial situation thing...i recommend looking up NYT's The Middle Class Crunch (https://www(.)nytimes(.)com/interactive/2019/10/03/your-money/middle-class-income.html). people kind of ignore personal choices and i get that it can be uncomfortable but they are very, very important. where you choose to live, house size (which massively affects your utility bill and the amount of space-filling stuff you buy), the car(s) you have, how frequently all those things change. also habits, e.g. regularly buying expensive alcohol is normalised in upper-middle-class economic tiers and that can EASILY cost hundreds a month. same thing with eating out/ordering in. america in particular has such a fucked-up idea of living within one's means that a lot of people struggle unnecessarily. i firmly maintain that folks making upward of 100k could live comfortably if they had an older (but fuel-efficient) car, lived in a smaller house, and bought less shit (especially on credit cards--cc debt will put you in the hole for a long time). like yes it's fucked that healthcare and college cost what they do in the us. that is something that needs to be fixed with policy, not personal choices. however, people COULD make better choices for their own individual situation a lot of the time. the average american dies in $62k of debt and i recommend looking up the breakdown bc $25k of that is student loans but $17k is auto loans. fundamentally, income, financial situation, and standards of living are deeply influenced by how you are raised. none of this is meant to be a personal critique bc i don't know you or your life, but you see your parents' financial situation through the lens of someone who has grown up in that situation. the things your parents choose to spend money on may not strike you as conscious decisions bc they're parts of your environment. it might be an interesting exercise to do a cost/budget breakdown on what your family spends every month on different things, and maybe compare it with the middle class crunch ones

this is like weirdly assuming but let’s go with it

i’d say that the situation a family like mine is in isnt normal !! a few years ago we were pretty solidly normal middle class and then fast forward a few years and we’re on our way to that cusp of upper class and based on what my mom thinks, over that bump by the time i’m out of college in 2026

but like ? some of these suggestions aren’t feasible ? like we Have to move to certain locations bc my dad’s job has yanked us around to work in spec areas and if ur talking good schools that means housing costs go up immensely. we only every had enough cars for both of my parents and they’re both cheaper than what they can definitely afford until my dad inherited his dad’s cars a few months back which aren’t like. in use or anything. they don’t drink, we never vacation, and our house is the size for the shit we buy and def can afford bc since both my parents grew up pretty poor and my mom is an immigrant they are insanely careful when it comes to spending money and carefully documenting literally Every single time they spend anything in this mass taxes spreadsheet system 😩 they’re still paying off student loans and w my mom’s job we’re lucky to have pretty good health insurance to cover my poor dad’s insane bills and they still have time to do hobbies w money that’s specifically budgeted out for them to do so and bc this is newer money we’re coming into- there’s no college fund set up for me ! it’s all just up in the air and bc my parents have a perception of college from 30 years ago they’re expecting it to be wayyyy less than the insane amount college actually is rn and u can poke holes in their system all u want but as far as my family goes we’re considered living more frugal !! so like. yeah an article put it down for u like that but i’m pretty aware that if my family went from Solid middle class and no where near upper to where we are now bc they can handle money- it’s just the college is an out of left field new contender that’s more expensive than it would’ve been if we never left a job my dad took a few years ago due to financial aid n stuff so i Get it but. i know what my family is struggling with ok?