Spending time with friends costs me petrol or bus fare, both are extortionate.
Reading books I want to read costs money to… buy said books. Libraries are an option but see travel costs above.
Watching films costs money unless you have the education, money, and ability to not worry about cops enough to pirate.
Listening to music, see above.
Cooking can be cheap, but requires knowhow and energy that most over-worked people don’t have. And experimenting to learn can be costly if you ruin tonight’s dinner. It also benefits significantly from a bit of money for tools/quality ingredients.
I do sort of agree with your take here. But as someone who really did live penny-to-penny for the first 20 years of my life, there many times I wanted to do all these things you suggest are “free or cheap”, and could not afford it. I literally couldn’t afford to spend time with friends (nor go out and make friends) most weeks, because they… weren’t in walkable distance.
So I kind of object to the idea that these things AREN’T a privilege, given that I have literally previously been too poor to do them. They all can cost substantial money.
I do sort of agree with your take here. But as someone who really did live penny-to-penny for the first 20 years of my life, there many times I wanted to do all these things you suggest are “free or cheap”, and could not afford it. I literally couldn’t afford to spend time with friends (nor go out and make friends) most weeks, because they… weren’t in walkable distance.
So I kind of object to the idea that these things AREN’T a privilege, given that I have literally previously been too poor to do them. They all can cost substantial money.