$4.80 a gallon gas (though this is going down... slightly)
$4 a gallon milk
$520 to see a doctor (+lab work) because of severe stomach pain... and they tell you that they didn't find anything (and this is with insurance)
$525 to see a doctor (+ prescription) for an ear infection, before getting insurance
$350 for brake repair (on a system that has had problems, repeatedly)
$550 a month to live in a tiny house with a bunch of other people (who wake me up in the middle of the night)
$480 a month for counseling (which makes one ask, what makes me more depressed, my mental issues, or being broke?)
$250-$500 a month for a narcolepsy medicine that I need to simply stay awake and not get fired
...Since moving to California from New Mexico six months ago, I feel like I've walked into a decade's worth of inflation. For New Mexico, my salary would be fine, it seems that just about everything I earn here goes to bills, auto, and food. I bought a motorcycle to save on maintenance and gas from my old car (an old muscle car with terrible mileage), but I find myself putting all of my left over cash toward the payment in a mad rush to pay it off before the crushing interest rate comes into effect.