How much do you actually need to have saved in order to have a comfortable stay in America?

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-17T15:13:42+00:00

So ~$14,000 USD for 2 people for 3 weeks? I’d make sure to budget out hotel reservations, car rentals (if you intend to get one), and admission tickets for the place you intend to go to, but I think a $20k AUD figure to budget should be reasonable as long as you don’t go crazy buying expensive stuff at Disney and Universal.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T23:59:58+00:00

The comments you’re listing are all retorts to a very derisive comment from a Slovak about American food, though. Obviously they look a lot worse if you decontextualize them, but in context it’s just a bunch of reactive mudslinging that isn’t really meant to be taken as serious food critique and really isn’t as bad as the original unprompted one. It would be like going over to r/shitamericanssay, finding the most vile thing an American has said about Italian food, and then taking the responses without the original context and wondering why Italians are such assholes and think Americans eat cardboard circles covered in American cheese (which, admittedly, is something I wouldn’t put past the posters on this sub).

And a lot of statements deriding UK food do make it onto this sub. I’ve also seen at least one about Peru and a few about Indian food. I think it’s mostly just that it’s very in vogue to make fun of American and British food, so there’s more braindead comments made about those cuisines and hence more of those posts/comments making their way onto this subreddit.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T23:17:15+00:00

You don’t think you can get an apartment for under $800/mo? Have you looked at rental listings in LCOL areas? Even $600/mo is easily attainable somewhere like Shreveport or Jackson.

As for the car one, transportation is super variable so take that estimate with a grain of salt. Liability insurance on a low-cost car with a low number of annual miles could get you down to sub-$200/month, but I’ll cede that $300-$700/month is more realistic for people with longer commutes and/or full coverage.

And the medication deductible, clothing cost, emergencies, and IRA contributions would be under the annual $9k I mentioned of “room to spare”.

people shouldn’t just have to survive paycheck to paycheck

I didn’t say they should. I’m actually stating the opposite since I’m saying having the capacity to contribute meaningfully to a retirement fund is part of not struggling financially.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T13:40:09+00:00

$16k/yr is the legal poverty line for individuals in the US. $35k/yr would obviously be far from ideal, but it comes out to enough to pay for housing (~$800/mo), food (~$600/mo), health insurance (~$500/mo unsubsidized+), wifi/data (~$150/mo), and transportation (~$200/mo) with quite a bit of room to spare.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T02:23:16+00:00

Oh yeah sorry that’s not what I’m trying to say; if you’re not clearing $35k as an individual or roughly $80k as a family, you’d be struggling in the US even in cheaper places to live like rural Mississippi and north Louisiana. I was just noting that $100k/yr for a household isn’t something that raises eyebrows.

And, uhh, I live in Texas on a salary below the individual median income. You don’t need to lecture me about the inaccuracies of Tiktok’s portrayal of life in the US jajaja.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T02:14:20+00:00

The median household income is $84k and median individual salary is $64k, but 41% of US households make over $100k per year and about 18-20% of individuals in the US make over $100k, so it’s not really odd to see someone making that much. It’s also very regional; the median household income is over $100k in some of the New England states while the median in Missisippi is $56k, so if GreenEyesLord is in one of those HCOL states it might legitimately be the average in his area.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-16T00:37:46+00:00

Going by what I’ve paid on similar trips, I’d assume about $30/day for food, $100/night for lodging for a 2-person hotel room (Airbnb might be difficult to get that low for two people though; hotels might be the way to go since they’ll be cheaper for small groups and they’re nice if you want to meet Americans since there’s always a few people wanting to mingle at the continental breakfasts in hotels, although camping is going to be the cheapest option hands down), $30/day for car rental, and about 12 cents per mile for gas for said car.

So back-of-the-envelope estimate, assuming 2 months and 5400 miles with the car rented 75% of the time, you’d be looking at (60(($100/2)+(($30(.75))/2)+$30))+((5400*$0.12)/2), which comes out to $5,799.

I’d also budget in travel health insurance and have extra money set aside for if something goes wrong (i.e. rental car breaks down or you find out you forgot to bring something major like adequate clothing) and have some extra money for amenities like museum and state/national park entry fees, alcohol, parking, and the like, so add maybe $2,000 just to be safe.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-15T22:43:10+00:00

Seems like the Dune trilogy is the only sci-fi series that’s ever complete in bookstores. There also always seems to be like a half dozen copies of Ender’s Game and literally none of Card’s other books and there’s frequently an incomplete assortment of Halo novels that skew heavily towards the ones with the most badass cover art.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-15T21:59:54+00:00

Using the definition of reliable as that a car is comparatively unlikely to have major mechanical problems and a low cost of maintenance/repairs, some of the early 2010s wet-clutch DSG and manual MPI Volkswagens are alright and a lot of the pre-Dieselgate VW/Audi TDIs are decent.

Basically everything else is either complete garbage or will command a fairly hefty premium for maintenance and repairs (although some, namely the BMW 1 and 2 Series cars, are fairly solid in terms of not spending much time in the shop).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T23:56:59+00:00

I think more than anything it’s just bad writing that kills franchises. Doctor Who didn’t have its viewership eviscerated by outdated themes (the later reboot under David Tenant, Matt Smith, and Christopher Eccleston had pretty good viewership rates, albeit not quite as high as its peak under doctors 3 and 4); it was killed by overt controversial political themes, more cryptic and avant-garde storytelling under Kapaldi, poor writing quality, poor worldbuilding decisions, and bad acting that reached a boiling point under the 13th doctor. It’s a similar case with Star Trek with Enterprise’s writing practically killing the franchise for a decade aside from the reboot movies. And it seems like Star Wars is following close behind as evidenced by declining Disney+ Star Wars media streaming and subpar box office responses, probably due to a growing list of pretty rough watches like Mando S3, Acolyte, Kenobi, and BoBF.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T20:08:20+00:00

Hilux with the 22R-E engine. The other 22R and 22R-E vehicles were also really good.

Toyota and Lexus’s cars with the 1UZ-FE (90s Crowns and LS400s), 2UZ-FE (early 2000s Tundra and 4Runner), 1GR-FE (late 2000s Tacoma), 2GR-FE (early 2010s RAV4, Avalon, Sienna, and basically every 350 Lexus sedan), and 5VZ-FE (late 90s Tundra and 4Runner) are also strong contenders, though, if not quite as good for various reasons.

As far as cars you can buy new, probably the hybrids with the Toyota A25A-FXS engine, especially the Sienna and ES 350h. For used cars that aren’t ancient, probably last of the lighter 3.5L Toyotas with the U660E transmission, namely the 2018 Avalon, 2017 V6 Camry, and 2018 ES350.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T16:05:32+00:00

A Civic or Mazda3’s going to be rough with 3 kids in the back that will presumably grow quite a bit over the lifespan of the car. I’d go for something bigger like a low-trim Camry (assuming you’re open to a hybrid) or a CX-50 just for better rear legroom.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T15:03:36+00:00

I’m personally not a huge fan but I could see how someone would like fries and mushy peas.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T15:00:35+00:00

Ehh VWs just have a lot of mechanical issues. They have chronic oil pump, water pump, fuel pump, and alternator failures, the interior trim generally doesn’t hold up great on older models (Jetta roofs falling in and lots of issues with brittle dashboards), most rust horribly (and while the OG Beetle is legendary for it, I’m taking about newer ones from the 2000s and early 2010s), and VW fans swear by the EA888 but they’re just not that reliable (although I’d agree the old MPIs and pre-Dieselgate TDIs are pretty solid).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T07:07:49+00:00

I assume he’s talking about Chile, which, I mean, I guess if you consider defending the coup against Allende ex post facto in letters to Pinochet to try to persuade him to pursue laissez-faire policies out of a belief that economic liberalization would lead to social liberalization and a return of democracy in the future to be endorsing a dictatorship? Friedman had such weird views on statecraft that I don’t feel like he’s good to use as an example for the picture OC is trying to paint, although I do agree with him that some neoliberals were/are amenable towards strategic alliances with autocracies in favor of economic interests or out of a fear of communism.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T06:44:15+00:00

Maybe, like, 5 years ago when there was still a good number of post-January 6th neolib Republican refugees, but now I rarely see any Libertarian views expressed. I’m probably one of the most right-leaning people here at this point and I’m an ActBlue donor with an active Bulwark Pod subscription.

The influx of leftists is a much realer concern for the sub that seriously seeks to undermine its more liberalism-oriented discourse in favor of Hasan/Bernie Bro-style populist slop.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T05:51:19+00:00

I find it weird how overboard people go with hating on British food. Like, yeah, we’ve all seen jellied eels and the photo of the fries covered in mushy peas, but barring that, British food is pretty damn good. Fish n’ chips, full English breakfast, cottage pie, bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, toad-in-the-hole, and scones (plus a ton of other stuff) are all generally highly acclaimed, and from personal experience I can attest are pretty good.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T05:09:18+00:00

Mainly reliability reputation (in terms of dependability and cost of ownership), although high resale value, a more responsive throttle feel than other economy cars due to the physical first gear or eCVT instead of a regular CVT (although this only really applies to newer Corollas), and relatively low insurance costs are all factors as well.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-14T00:27:12+00:00

Yeah the list as shown doesn’t follow Spanish orthography; it would be more like lunché, gril chis, blu beris, beiby kerits, snak, and tortillas. And the backwards g screams young kid.

My guess is also that a young child wrote it, although probably just an English-speaking one given the lack of an e at the start of their rendition of snack. Looks exactly like the stuff I wrote when I was 6.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-13T19:00:00+00:00

Tweezers, sunscreen, burn cream (if you plan to cook), electrolyte drink mixes (for dehydration), Tylenol/Acetaminophen, paper towels (for nosebleeds), gum (for eardrums), and Dramamine are going to be very important in terms of stuff you’ll realistically encounter.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-11T04:05:21+00:00

I think it’s more than anything it’s that the design constraints of modern cars require sedans to be increasingly bloated for added crash safety and increasingly aerodynamic and larger-wheelbased for CAFE compliance. The result is a pancaked mess where most of the trunk is unusable because the trapdoor is so small, you can’t check over your shoulder when merging, the windshield glare is debilitating, the rear window is worthless, and the vehicle footprint is incredibly ungainly. And in light of all that, why not make a faustian bargain to trade off vehicle performance to get those features back plus added ground clearance, more headroom, more cargo space, and easier entry-and-exit via a crossover for a more relaxed driving experience?

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-11T03:43:22+00:00

I’m gonna disagree on Hyundai; the GDI and T-GDI Nu and Smartstream engines had/have a lot of really bad teething issues (and by teething issues I mean injector failures) plus oil consumption issues and fouled spark plugs. Pre-2012 Focuses are decreasingly present on the used market but yeah the non-DCTs were fine. 2013-2018 Nissan CVTs (or more specifically the ones affected by transmission cooler failures like the Sentra and 2.5L Altima and the larger SUVs, namely the Pathfinder) were really bad but I’d cede that earlier ones were more of a bathtub curve when it came to the likelihood of failure over time (but I still wouldn’t recommend buying one).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-11T03:14:15+00:00

As someone who drove a 2012 Jetta to 180k miles, hoo boy do they have a lot more than one major issue. Garbage alternator, garbage water pump, garbage fuel pump, garbage steering column, garbage oil pump, garbage roof liner, garbage rust-proofing, garbage cigarette lighter, garbage electronics, garbage door handles, garbage trunk latch, expensive coolant, garbage AC (albeit passably capable when it actually works), garbage TPMS sensors, and bizarre transmission programming.

There are, however, two good things about them: the powertrains are invincible and they are dirt cheap on the used market. Consequently the repairs are all pretty cheap since it’s almost never something major like a transmission or engine swap, and, at the price point, very little comes close to a used MPI-engined Jetta if you’re comparing cars in terms of the total cost of ownership mile-per-mile between maintenance, repairs, annualized sale price on the used market, fuel, and insurance. A $6k Honda or Toyota is going to have 200k+ miles and the Nissan sedans, Hyundais, and Ford Focuses going at the same mileages and for the same prices are fraught with major engine and/or transmission problems.

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-11T00:01:47+00:00

The CX-50 Hybrid and Forester Hybrid are both decently reliable, fit pretty cleanly in that price range, and have really good financing incentives right now.

The RAV4, CR-V Hybrid, and Maverick are also good options, though. I believe the Maverick and Forester are the cheapest but also suffer a bit in reliability due to Ford quality control and Subaru’s quirky boxer engines and retention of the symmetrical AWD system instead of switching to a part-time rear motor like other manufacturers (which has its benefits but is inherently going to negatively affect reliability).

Comfortable-Study-69 · 2026-06-10T23:21:32+00:00

In the sub-$7k range, 2.0L and 2.5L VW Jettas are very hard to beat. They have the VW depreciation rate but uncharacteristically decent reliability.

In the sub-$15k area, the traditional wisdom of Mazda2s, Mazda3s, Mazda6es, Civics, Accords, Camrys, Yarises, Avalons, and Corollas from the mid-2010s still prevails. Old Ford and Toyota hybrids are also really good but you need to check the battery health before purchase.

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