Car dependency is definitely not bankrupting people... The wealth Gap and wage Gap and unrestrained capitalism are bankrupting people. But sure car dependencies definitely a part of that

The car is not the issue here. There is so much wrong with how much this person has spent a lot of items/services.

$1500 isn't nearly enough for a vacation.

You missing a $150 monthly expense for weed. Other than that I can tell you're overspending on your car, $70 on car insurance is cheap lol as a 26 yo.

Not the point of the post, i know, but who spends 70$ a month on on "gym"? I bought weights and a pullup bar for a one-time payment of like 50$, and i jog outside for free

I mean life is just expensive, yeah some of these items are a bit high but honestlyly overall it's pretty realistic if you aren't actively saving money and trying to live on the cheap.

And cars are this expensive after we've made almost all roads completely free to drive on.

WTF $70 for internet? Is it that normal?

I pay 21€ for mine.

I have a degree and I have never made 85k in my life. I never get a yearly vacation either, I hate to break it to whoever this person is but this is not “middle class” in 2026. This is upper middle class at least.

Sell the $20,000 suv and get a 2004 Honda Civic or similar, and dont borrow any money to buy it

It's wild how much these numbers vary across the Atlantic. Those car costs are tiny compared to living in the Netherlands or the UK for example. Fuel is much more expensive, as is parking.

Phone and internet access on the other hand... you poor bastards are getting robbed. You can get a good mobile plan here for £10/mo for example. I have fibre to my home for £32/mo.

Also, $60/mo for clothing? How often are you people buying new clothes?

It's interesting to compare these figures to my own situation, for sure.

Housing costs: I live in a 3 room apartment (2 bedrooms + kitchen + living room + 1 bathroom), it's our equivalent of a condo which I had to spend ~$50k on a down payment. The total monthly cost on it is ~$1600, which I share with my partner. Some of that goes towards paying off the loan, and some of it becomes discounted because interest payments are tax deductible in my country. The apartment is located in what I would call not the most desirable but fully acceptable area of the capital of my country, with a 15 minute bike ride to reach the central station of my city, and the same to the office where I work. There's also plenty of transit available, but I prefer biking because it's fun, less expensive and gives me built in exercise.

The insurance on the apartment is somewhere between $20-30/month, and covers both the apartment, accidental damage to property and travel insurance.

For the garage, I pay $25/year for a private bike parking spot in one of the bike sheds in my apartment coop.

I don't have a car, but there's some amount of cost to the upkeep of my bike. Generously I'd put it at $200/year maybe, but I've also spent some amount of upfront cost buying the thing.

Health insurance is free in my country. A visit to the doctor will set you back perhaps $30, with a cap of ~$150 per year. There's also a cap on prescription medicine at $300 per year.

Water + electricity + internet was included in the total monthly cost for the apartment. Our electricity/water costs represent maybe $30 of that expense post, and the internet comes at no extra cost in the apartment coop. I get a phone plan as a part of my employment contract, so I don't have to spend anything on that.

For food at home, me and my partner spend maybe $400 between ourselves generously on home-cooked meals. For eating out it's maybe $100 a month at most.

I cut my hair once every three months for around $30. My gym membership is $40/year, which covers both me and my partner (seriously, I love my apartment coop, it's the best). The only subscriptions I have are a VPN subscription setting me back a little under $4/month and Nebula which is $37.5/year. The toiletries I included in the food expenses.

Student loans are comparatively inexpensive to service in my country. I pay about $200 quarterly on it.

Weddings are not particularly common among my friends, and the last time I attended one was more than 5 years ago.

I don't really drink any more, so there's no expense to be had on the alcohol front.

Where I spend more is on vacations - I have 6 weeks of paid vacation per year, and I try to make good use of it. Sometimes this means taking the train to visit family, which is not particularly expensive since the train is cheap and food and accomodation with family is free, but at least once a year it means a longer vacation where we stay at hotels and eat out every day, making it a more costly affair.

Being able to take home $5500 a month in my country would be extremely uncommon though, placing you very highly on the income scale.

Its nice to see a breakdown like this, but in the figures the "savings" section has a higher total than the "transportation" section...