Across the board, costs are up %50 or more. I don't know about you guys, but my salary hasn't increased by 50% over the past 4 years. I drive a 23 year old vehicle and I do all of my own repairs and maintenance. We live in a small home with a very low mortgage payment. All in all, we try to live frugally. My wife and I both have decent paying jobs and are entering the "prime earning" part of our careers, and I feel absolutely blessed to have what we do, because we are in a far more stable place than the VAST majority of people in the world, and even moreso than many people in our own country. But it is a bit alarming to me how even we seem to barely have anything left over each month. We are not contributing nearly as much to our retirement savings as we should be, but we simply feel like we can't right now. I know I'm not alone. There's a reason the song "Rich Men North of Richmond" blew up. People have had enough.