"Back in my day" ca. 1985, there was an old timer with a shack on Fulton Beach Road in Rockport who would sell/rent you a used bicycle for $5. At the end of your vacation, you could sell it back to him for about $3 and then come see him next time.

The golf cart situation is totally out of control IMO.

Quote:

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Family of 4
AirB&B $1,000
Golf cart $300
Fishing guide $900
nice meal $200 a pop
Ice cream for kids $50 a pop

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Quote:

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My issue is…the OP agenda should be accessible to the middle class family. It no longer is. This is only one of many many examples.

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What has changed is middle class expectations to live like upper class or the "Insta-Famous" on social media. Now, not only do some need to keep up the our local Jones', we have to keep up with them all over the world lest we or our families are missing out.

I can promise you that everything on the OP's agenda was never a standard "middle class" thing. It would have been absurd to my middle class family back in the day to rent a house, golf cart, fishing guide and get hand-scooped ice cream. Maybe ONE nice meal when you went to the beach. Maybe.
Drive through Dairy Queen and get a dip cone. Bring a fry daddy and cook your own fish you caught. I promise the memories will be just as sweet 30 years from now.

Apache said:

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Quote:

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Family of 4
AirB&B $1,000
Golf cart $300
Fishing guide $900
nice meal $200 a pop
Ice cream for kids $50 a pop

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Quote:

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My issue is…the OP agenda should be accessible to the middle class family. It no longer is. This is only one of many many examples.

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What has changed is middle class expectations to live like upper class or the "Insta-Famous" on social media. Now, not only do some need to keep up the our local Jones', we have to keep up with them all over the world lest we or our families are missing out.

I can promise you that everything on the OP's agenda was never a standard "middle class" thing. It would have been absurd to my middle class family back in the day to rent a house, golf cart, fishing guide and get hand-scooped ice cream. Maybe ONE nice meal when you went to the beach. Maybe.
Drive through Dairy Queen and get a dip cone. Bring a fry daddy and cook your own fish you caught. I promise the memories will be just as sweet 30 years from now.

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It all comes down to the social media and marketing. How many people feel like they deserve to buy a new vehicle for each other as a Christmas present?

It's easy to complain about of cost of things that don't bring us fulfillment. If someone else likes it but we don't, then it's odd and a waste.

Yet how many here actually work up the cost of a hunting weekend? Including your gear. Fuel. Truck. Deer corn. Rifle. Optics. Boots. Loooong list.

Not a cheap weekend if you work out the numbers.

Canyon Lake Agbu94 said:

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Apache said:

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Quote:

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Family of 4
AirB&B $1,000
Golf cart $300
Fishing guide $900
nice meal $200 a pop
Ice cream for kids $50 a pop

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Quote:

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My issue is…the OP agenda should be accessible to the middle class family. It no longer is. This is only one of many many examples.

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What has changed is middle class expectations to live like upper class or the "Insta-Famous" on social media. Now, not only do some need to keep up the our local Jones', we have to keep up with them all over the world lest we or our families are missing out.

I can promise you that everything on the OP's agenda was never a standard "middle class" thing. It would have been absurd to my middle class family back in the day to rent a house, golf cart, fishing guide and get hand-scooped ice cream. Maybe ONE nice meal when you went to the beach. Maybe.
Drive through Dairy Queen and get a dip cone. Bring a fry daddy and cook your own fish you caught. I promise the memories will be just as sweet 30 years from now.

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It all comes down to the social media and marketing. How many people feel like they deserve to buy a new vehicle for each other as a Christmas present?

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I blame white women

It's obviously not about the money, but if you did the math on cost per/lb of deer meat, it's really not a good deal.

TFAAGG said:

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one safe place said:

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TFAAGG said:

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one safe place said:

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zooguy96 said:

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1. Camp in a tent.
2. Take your own food and cook on a barbecue grill. It doesn't have to be complicated. Hotdog, hamburgers, breakfast burritos, etc.
3. Fish, crab, etc.

It doesn't have to be super expensive. We had more fun waking up at 3 AM in the morning to go crabbing before church, or spending the weekend camping out when I was a kid.

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Exactly. Don't go out fishing with a guide, instead go crabbing, fishing off a pier or jetties, get a lantern and walk the shallow water even if you are not gigging flounder just to see what is there, small seine and/or a cast net are basically free activities.

While I get what the OP is saying, there are a lot of ways to still get to go have fun and it not break the bank.

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My issue is…the OP agenda should be accessible to the middle class family. It no longer is. This is only one of many many examples.

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I have no idea on what the middle class is entitled to or not, but at what income level is middle class to you?

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I'm not sure there is much of a middle class anymore. When I think traditional middle class, it should be an average salaried job where one parent can provide for a family of 4. But that has eroded away for decades now

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I agree, I think those days are long gone.

My dad was the sole earner until my two brothers and I were junior high and high school age. He quit school and ran away from home when he was 11. We got by on just his income and, as you can imagine, it did not pay a lucrative amount of money. We did nothing extravagant. My mom might have had one new car, my dad never had a new pickup. I don't think we were middle class, at least it doesn't seem we were. But we always had food, good food too. Every house we lived in I was embarrassed that we lived there.

A lot of the affordability issues with today's middle class is how and what they consume, i.e., it is self-induced. Easy credit, and nots of it, add to the woes. Family of four with four $1,000 mobile phones, and iPad or three, laptop or two, two new or fairly new vehicles (that number goes up once the kids hit 16, though the kid's cars likely will not be high dollar or new, but still not cheap), dance lessons, cheerleading classes, gymnastics, softball lessons and/or travel league expenses for Penelope, baseball for Junior, a boat or jet skis, RV, deer lease, high dollar clothing, and so on. Add the ever increasing costs of insurance and property tax to the way they consume, and there just ain't much left.

Farmer_J said:

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Talk about things you miss - a cheap getaway weekend to the coast!

Family of 4
AirB&B $1,000
Golf cart $300
Fishing guide $900
nice meal $200 a pop
Ice cream for kids $50 a pop

Getting to the point where you have to plan and budget for a weekend fishing trip.

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I can find a "nice meal" and "ice cream" way under those numbers

So true. I've done the math. Won't do it again. lol.

Can we stop with the "disappearing middle class" BS? Every single study on the matter the last 30+ years has shown that the "middle class" has shrunk but because the people who were "middle class" moved UPWARDS to higher income tiers. Even when accounting for inflation and COL. The numbers of people considered "low income" or "lower middle class" have shrunk too as those people have largely moved upwards.

My family has a boat and a house at the coast. Even with that, it's expensive as hell to go down for the weekend. Gas, boat gas, bait, food. We love it but it's not cheap, even with not going out to eat. Luckily there is only one place close by to eat so it's not tempting. We did work out a guide for next week for a severe discount because he is just getting his boat out of the shop and we will be the guinea pigs before he takes the real clients out lol.

You left off stopping at Waterloo Outfitters each trip and dropping $1000 on lures and gear. Your trips seem to be no fun. You can keep your high tone ice cream!

Seriously though, I do not add up amounts that fun things cost me. That's no fun at all. I know what bills run me, because they suck.

I love your mom's fishnets.

EVA3 said:

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I love your mom's fishnets.

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Hahaha!! No way that was going to go unmentioned.

That's the really expensive part of the trip to the coast

One thing I disagree with is the Guide! If ya wanna catch fish, and have a great time doing it, GET A GUIDE! Unless you live on the Coast, and know what you are doing you are not going to CATCH ANYTHING! Spend the money, if for only one day, and have a good time, or throw the same amount or more away just pi$$ing into the wind!!

100% agree. Even though I have a boat and significant experience, if I'm having friends down that don't get to come to the coast very often I'm usually hiring a guide. I learned something new almost every time, it takes the pressure off me to put friends on fish, I don't have to risk my gear, and the guests have a better time because they're almost guaranteed to catch.

Rent an RV and stay at an RV park, cook yourself, $900 per day for what (offshore or inshore ) ? That's high for inshore. Gallon of blue bell or even better make your own ice cream altho probably more expensive but also more fun. Probably could cut the overall bill in half if you wanted to.

We have a house in Port O Conner and I overspend on every trip down there

zooguy96 said:

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Col. Steve Austin said:

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zooguy96 said:

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1. Camp in a tent.
2. Take your own food and cook on a barbecue grill. It doesn't have to be complicated. Hotdog, hamburgers, breakfast burritos, etc.
3. Fish, crab, etc.

It doesn't have to be super expensive. We had more fun waking up at 3 AM in the morning to go crabbing before church, or spending the weekend camping out when I was a kid.

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In a tent, in coastal Texas, in the summer time? F that!

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Well, I grew up in coastal Texas for the first 20 years of my life with no air conditioning, so we were used to it. We played outdoors all summer anytime of the day. I also had to roof with my dad, so I was used to hot temperatures.

It's funny here in East Tennessee when the temperatures get in the 90s, and people freak out. I start laughing.

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I grew up out in the Permian Basin. Summer camping was pretty good. We had low humidity and it actually cools off in the evening. I lived in the Houston area for overtime 40 years. We did a lot of camping around Texas but very little in the summer.

The guy who owns Palm Republic/Palm Social in Port A and I were talking last year about this exact thing. He and his wife grew up in Port A and my wife and I have had a place there for nearly 20 years so we've both seen the changes. I was commenting on how rude and demanding everyone got post Harvey at restaurants and bars and he said if you do the math you could fly to Vegas and spend 4 nights cheaper at the Belliagio than you could rent a house in Port A so that's what they expect.

jt2hunt said:

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We have a house in Port O Conner and I overspend on every trip down there

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I talked to a realtor about a place in port O. she said the place was blowing up. they own an Airbnb and it stays booked every weekend. She said there's concerts on weekends and a lot of new development. I haven't been there in about 10 years.

AnScAggie said:

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The guy who owns Palm Republic/Palm Social in Port A and I were talking last year about this exact thing. He and his wife grew up in Port A and my wife and I have had a place there for nearly 20 years so we've both seen the changes. I was commenting on how rude and demanding everyone got post Harvey at restaurants and bars and he said if you do the math you could fly to Vegas and spend 4 nights cheaper at the Belliagio than you could rent a house in Port A so that's what they expect.

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Property taxes driving up rental prices.

Apparently port A upped to everyone's property taxes quite a bit to pay for all the new development. I heard there dredging the channel to 75 feet to accommodate cruise ships.

Rentals in Port Aransas have been really bad the last couple of years. Tons of rental properties but the majority of renters want only two days. We have two owners in our complex that have double digit rentals and they have suffered.

The deepening is relative to container ships. The Corpus Christi-Portland bridge was rebuilt to accommodate the larger container ships so they can be competitive in that department. I'm not sure if it's started or not but the CC channel is to be widened as it is not wide enough.....somewhere.....along the way for ships to pass to and from CC. As I understand they have to manage the traffic so they don't meet..

Lots of oil and chemical tankers as well as LNG tankers the last couple of years. I have several condo friends that fly fish when we get down there. The traffic is so bad coupled with wave action and the inability to see a big ship before daylight we all wait to sunrise before crossing..

I hear house prices are dropping like a rock in Galveston as inventory is increasing. Maybe now is your time to buy a home down there and start your second hustle with airbnb

Prices have come down along the coast, but the combination of relatively high interest rates, increased property tax, and skyrocketing insurance means the monthly nut has still gone up.

Using the OPs numbers I could get 5-6 trips like he posted for just what the house costs me with no mortgage. Throw in at least 1 more for what I spend on the boat.

We are in Matagorda as we speak, in our camper, having a great time. We cast netted bait in the ditches and have caught a ton of little sharks/trash fish from the shore, which the kids are loving. Cooking our own meals, just lazing around and enjoying being away. It probably cost us less that $600 for everything, gas, food, tackle, etc (although we are still paying the camper off).

I don't know where on the coast you're talking about, but we just made a trip to SPI Mon-Fri. The Airbnb was the most expensive part at $1,200 but we are a large family and it was big enough to sleep 10. Had a fishing trip lined up with a buddy from work while we were gonna be down there(He owns a bay boat). He had to cancel for family reasons the day before. I found a guide for the next morning for $300 for 4 hours. Limited out on specks within 45min of the first cast. Then just did some catch and release while looking for the reds. Spent the other couple days down on the beach splashing in the surf and boogie boarding. Cooked breakfast and dinner at the condo, had sandwiches and fruit on the beach for lunch. Went out to eat one night and it cost about what I expected for a party of 10 on the water with live music. All said it was well worth the money spent and didn't break the bank.

Just spent $300 at HEB so we could save money by eating at the beach house we rented next week.