The cost of living is out of control, my wife and I never go on vacation and haven't since before the pandemic, work like dogs, and we wanted to upgrade our home to get a little more space for the kids and stop paying condo fees, but due to interest rates and high prices we could barely even buy the house we currently live in.
Cost of living is absolutely out of control and wages seem to have stagnated. How are others handling this? Everywhere I look there are fast cars, full restaurants, people just getting back from Mexico. What the fuck are all these people doing for work?!
PS: I'm in Canada. Things here I feel are much worse than the USA.
Those people are mostly living a false lifestyle thanks to their credit cards. One day soon they'll come up short, having maxed out their cards. Then they'll either spend the rest of their lives in poverty and paying off their debt, or they'll bankrupt out of it and start over. Lotta stress in that kind of lifestyle - don't go there.