The leading barrier to maintaining friendships is cost. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 2.9% from August 2024 to August 2025, primarily driven by the increasing cost of shelter and food. When rent and groceries outpace wages, $20 cocktails and $18 burgers stop feeling like connection and start feeling like uncomfortable pressure.
Social obligations have become more important than financial wellness and it’s driving us to overstretch, to consume more than create, and to make every moment Instagrammable. And the cost just keeps ticking upwards in a “Friendlation”, tracking with economic inflation.
When costs start to put pressure on our wallets, that’s when an old mechanism kicks in… creativity!
The Rise of Alternative Activities
Diverse responses to rising costs are helping us reframe how we define living in community and friendship.
Trend 1 — New formats. Formats for making memories are getting shorter, cheaper and closer to home as many people have side jobs, extra school, and gig work to contend with in their schedules.
Activities may look like throwing a potluck with a themed playlist, joining a walking club, or attending free community events.
Trend 2 — A bit of risk. That means stepping into settings that challenge your cultural and financial definitions of friendship. Perhaps it’s doing something you have never done before in your city, like an escape room, or meeting up with a brand new group of people every first Thursday of the month.
These moments expand who we see as potential friends and how we connect, not just where we spend.
Trend 3 — The return or recurrence. A blast from the past! Remember weekly programming or Sunday neighborhood gathering? Previous decades saw a drop in scheduled interactions, with the rise of on-demand everything, from shows to experiences.
With choice fatigue, we are now circling back to finding an in-real-life community through scheduled, intimate interactions. No longer is mass programming winning, but rather, culturally and creatively relevant small activities.
Pick one new format, one small risk, and one recurring plan. Put dates on the calendar for the next month and invite your friends to redefine your social gatherings.
The Cost of a Loud Budget
We’re entering an era of unfiltered truth and clear financial boundaries. What is called “loud budgeting”, popularized by Gen Z, may be the way to save our friendships.
It means telling friends your spending limit upfront so you protect your goals and steer plans toward cost-friendly options together.
Saying your budget number out loud helps you avoid financial triggers and stay within healthy guardrails. Because money talk is still taboo in many circles, your honesty may actually relieve others who feel pressured by the same unspoken obligations.
On the other hand, loud budgeting may cost you the wrong kind of friendship. One where your financial health wasn’t a priority to begin with. If living within your means ruffles feathers, take it as the sign you needed.
Some relationships are simply too expensive.
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In this economy, it’s time to step off the “keep up with the Joneses” bandwagon and reimagine low-cost, high-connection alternatives to traditional social plans.
Walk into a new norm where your budget is protected, your relationships are built on mutual respect, and your wallet, credit score, and savings aren’t stressed out.
Friendship often feels pricier than it is. At its core, friendship is about the quality of the relationship, not the length of a receipt after a night out.
