I could live cheap if I was homeless. My cost of living is like 35k per year and I rarely go on vacations or do anything. I eat out about once a week. Bills, mortgage, and healthcare are just huge. After the mortgage is paid off the house will still cost half the mortgage in taxes and insurance
The economists are right, luxuries got cheap and necessities got expensive. Maybe I should buy a PlayStation.
>After the mortgage is paid off the house will still cost half the mortgage in taxes and insurance
After the mortgage, the house isn't necessarily cheap though a newish condo may not be as bad depending upon where you live.
But I figure my house is easily $15K or so per year for necessary expenses unless you're incurring major maintenance debt. And, for example, I just had a random spontaneous kitchen fire in the middle of the night and, even with good insurance and quick fire response, I'm sure I'll be spending a bunch of money out of pocket related to that.
The economists are right, luxuries got cheap and necessities got expensive. Maybe I should buy a PlayStation.