I was born in Utah, grew up in Idaho.

Sometimes people will say “oh! so lucky! All that skiing!”

I look at them like they are from Planet Denial.

I have never been downhill skiing.

Like most, we were a middle class family, with a Victory garden, fruit trees and fished and hunted for meat.

Skiing was for the rich:

modified from pinterest.com

And it still is:

Don’t think so?
Park city-a family of 5: 2 adults and 3 kids for a day:
$214+$207 lift
$230. skis, poles, boots
*******
$651 for ONE DAY

Lets add food and gas:
Gas $3.39/gal, old car got 10mpg. 82 miles RT. $28
Food at resort:$125 for lunch

Total for 1day of skiing:
$804

OMG

You might say “well, that’s today’s prices!”

Nope. I checked historical prices and adjusted for inflation. Same as today.

We were a middle class family. And middle class families then did not ski.

*******
Park City was where we went to feed the “starving elk” on a cold hayride. I thought we were some sort of animal missionaries and have good memories there.

modified from nationalgeographic. com

There are more Elk in Utah today because of our generosity prolly…it fed right into my dream of being Dr. Doolittle with a station wagon, shovel and pet cemetery for roadkill.

modified from lostsoulentertainment.net

I’m a total math nerd, so let’s break it down:

Median income in Utah for 2012 was
$58000/year
Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $60k
Assume standard deductions, 25% tax

That leaves $45,000 after taxes.
$3750/mo total

Let’s use Gazelle Lite from daveramsey.com to figure the budget:

daveramsey.com

$187.50 for recreation….hmmm

$804 for 1 day of skiing.
$187.50/mo for recreation.

A family of 5 would need to save over
4 MONTHS for a SINGLE day of skiing!

What sort if income would the family need to easily afford this?

$300,000/year

WHAT?!
$300,000 (in 35% tax bracket) leaves
$195,000 after taxes
$195000/12 is $16250/mo

daveramsey.com

We have $8 left! month Netflix! Awesome!

modified from comicvine.com