Even if you aren’t treating people to stuff you still end up spending money. Just being out and about costs gas in the US because everything is so spread out. You get hungry and need to eat, there’s 10-20 bucks unless you’re lugging around a lunch box with you.

You want to socialize every once and a while it’ll add up. If you want to socialize consistently (which is key to establishing strong friendships or finding a significant other) you honestly need to be touching grass everyday and then it really adds up.

Also, pay attention to my words: Trying to maintain this is unsustainable in the US. I did not say it was impossible to do once in a blue moon, but that’s not really a meaningful social life. Seeing a person for an hour once every few weeks to play frisbee at the park (or equivalent activity, in my case board games) isn’t going to create a meaningful bond. Most people in my area make maybe a little over half what I make in pay at best and I can barely afford to socialize consistently. I do almost all my socializing at work and that shit doesn’t really count.