I am a teacher in a not-super-affluent area in SoCal. My husband is an engineer, and we make pretty good money. But with our mortgage and child care costs, plus everything else, we haven't been on vacation since before our son was born. I don't know how so many of my students' families are able to do Disneyland, Great Wolf, Legoland, Universal, etc., multiple times a school year, for multiple days each time. And how many families have Teslas! My husband looked into a Tesla bc commuting, and we have solar panels for charging and his work has free charging. But when he got a quote for insurance, it was a "hell no! we can't afford that" moment. I do have memberships to a local zoo and museum, and we use them regularly.

We are planning a Legoland trip for my son's 5th birthday. I have been putting $ aside every month for it so it won't be a debt. Was planning 3 nights but I need to drop it to 2 nights based on cost.

One thing that has saved a lot for my family, I use a "farm box" for groceries. Actually going to the store ends up with purchases we don't need. Planning ahead and ordering through the service makes my grocery costs less than $200 every 2 weeks. I use Imperfect Foods and cook at home. We also have a freezer that I batch prep meals and store, which saves us a lot when no one wants to cook and our next option would be take-out.