Matt Fiddes runs a multi-million dollar martial arts franchise in Britain. His family’s weekly budget runs around $2,058. He’d never really looked at a price tag before buying something.
For a social experiment documented by the YouTube channel Only Human, the Fiddes family swapped lives with the Leamons (Andy, Kim, their two kids, and two dogs) who get by on $230 a week. Kim had a life-saving surgery after an accident and now lives with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. They lost their savings. Andy works alone to support the family.
On day one of the swap, Matt learned his weekly budget was $230. “That basically fills up the fuel tank of my car,” he said.
A man calculating his budget on his laptop. Photo credit: Canva
What followed was a week of grocery bills he had to think about, a neighborhood with nothing much in it, and night shifts, something he’d never worked in his life. His wife Moniqe cried when she heard about Kim’s condition from the Leamons’ friends.
By the end of the week, Matt had something to say that was harder to shrug off than the budget: “I feel guilty; no one should live like this.”
He also said the week brought his family closer together. The Fiddes left a gift behind for the Leamons when they returned home: a mobility scooter for Kim, so she could get around on her own.
The Leamons, meanwhile, spent the week in the Fiddes’ house taking their kids to a theme park and doing a little shopping experiencing, briefly, what it feels like when money isn’t a constant calculation.
One YouTube commenter put it plainly: “I feel this was a much-needed vacation for the poor family and a grounding experience for the rich family.” That’s about right.
Starting a hobby and keeping at it can be difficult. A person might feel discouraged because they aren’t good at it from the get-go. Another person might enjoy it fully but think their time and/or money could be put to better use. Embroidery illustrator and author Sara Barnes offers a tip that can help people stay motivated in their pastime: investing in professional resources and equipment.
Barnes argues that, while experimenting with a new hobby on your own can be fulfilling, putting money towards classes taught by professionals can help a hobbyist stay motivated to grow and further enjoy it. Depending on your hobby, purchasing professional-grade equipment can keep you interested and invested. The thought process behind it is that, if a person spends money on a hobby, they’re more likely to stick with it to justify the cost.
Always buy the best art materials ❤️ Top tips for artists. Buy the best you can afford. Like all things in life there are levels and I truly believe that the better quality of tools can help in no end. There are times when I look at the colours I’m able to make with my pastels and think ‘how is that possible’ it amazes me. ❤️ Same goes for my paper, sculptures etc etc. ❤️ This if from a list in the book of top tips for artists ❤️ Art for all ❤️
A painting class taught by a pro means person-to-person input and lessons. These advantages expand your knowledge and skill, encouraging you to play around with more techniques as you learn and grow. After all, it’s hard to keep a hobby without a sense of growth or accomplishment attached to it.
Signing up for professional boxing training forces you to get off the couch and grab your gloves. In return, you’ll learn more about boxing, get quality exercise, and have fun incorporated into your schedule. Also, investing in quality gloves will similarly motivate you to be intentional about your training.
Purchasing expensive gear and supplies for a simple hobby you might not maintain may sound risky or foolish, especially given the current state of the US economy. On the contrary, it can be a quality investment of both money and time. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic uncertainty, hobbies were necessary investments to promote good physical, mental, and social health.
Pricier classes and equipment might actually save money on hobbies
Even financial expertsrecommend investing in your hobbies as long as you’re not taking on debt to pursue them. They say it might even improve your budget.
After all, budgeting for an expensive pair of high-quality running shoes only once will end up being less expensive than paying for monthly streaming services you barely watch. Getting a pricier but sturdier table saw for woodworking will save money compared to frequently buying replacement parts when cheaper models break. Taking a cooking class can encourage you to cook more at home and eat out less in the long term.
On the surface, it may look silly to spend money on a weird color of paint, professional-grade ice skates, or a Thai recipe cooking class, but what you’re really spending money on is your well-being. Hobbies not only provide mental breaks from the stress in life, they offer opportunities to socialize with and befriend others who share your interests.
With time and experience, the initial investment in your hobby will become cheaper. You’ll either already own the equipment needed to do the hobby, have enough expertise to pursue it without attending a class, or both. It depends on what hobbies you pursue and enjoy, but this philosophy can apply to almost anything.
So, while figuring out where to invest your money, consider making your hobby a priority. It not only keeps you motivated, but can provide a positive impact on your body, mind, and long-term finances, too.
In the current economy, people are looking for ways to make and save save money more than ever, given the poorer economic outlook. One way folks have been trying to make extra money, or even a full living, is through rideshare services like Uber. However, after one man shared his take-home pay once Uber took its cut, the result has both passengers and passengers and drivers seething.
An English Uber driver shared a breakdown of his seven-day earnings summary. He worked 13 hours, with Uber taking out 1.5% of his pay for rider promotions, 4.5% in third-party fees, and a whopping 26.1% going directly to Uber itself. In the end, the driver took home only 67.9% of his earnings. That means that out of the 13 total hours he drove, he was effectively paid for just under nine hours of work. How is this the case?
In 2023, Uber introduced an algorithm to determine fares and pricing, dubbed “dynamic pricing,” as an alternative to the old “surge pricing” model, which increased fares during periods or areas of high rideshare demand. The new system uses a different supply-and-demand formula to calculate the cost of a ride. There was a presumption that while rides would cost more, a greater portion of the fare would go directly toward the driver’s earnings.
In 2025, a study from the University of Oxford found that Uber’s “dynamic pricing” not only raised the cost of rides for passengers but also took a significantly larger cut of the driver’s overall pay. Research by academics at Columbia University found that the algorithm harmed both American Uber drivers and their passengers..
Haa anybody heard of Uber’s “dynamic pricing”? First it was surge pricing & NOW you’re just showing us cheap prices to charge us expensive prices once the ride is complete?
According to study author Len Sherman, Uber’s dynamic or “upfront” pricing model has allowed the rideshare company to “raise rider fares and cut driver pay on billions of rideshare trips, systematically, selectively, and opaquely.”
This is just one of several issues that has led Uber drivers to take the company to court. After all, many frequent Uber passengers assume that higher fares mean drivers earn more, not less—especially when those same drivers take a financial hit for rider discounts or promotions they aren’t responsible for offering.
There’s also the reminder that Uber drivers are still considered independent contractors, meaning that fuel costs, repairs, and other vehicle maintenance are their responsibility and must be paid out of pocket in order to work. However, some areas have driver pay rates or compensation structures that are fixed or adjusted to comply with state or city laws, but those changes appear to be handled on a case-by-case, city-by-city basis.
If you want to see improvements in both prices and driver take-home pay, rideshare drivers and frequent riders should contact their app’s customer service and reach out to local elected officials to push for fairer fares in their area. After all, drivers and riders should benefit more than the company that isn’t even in the vehicle.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
Photo credit: Canva, pixelshot (left, cropped) / Garakta Studio from Garakta Studio (middle, cropped) / Imágenes de gabriel paz (right, cropped) – Your tipping generosity might be related to your generation.
Tipping is awkward because there are so many unwritten, ever-shifting social niceties at play. This is a somewhat embarrassing confession, but I didn’t realize until about 10 years ago—as a full-grown man with a mortgage—that many people add a bit extra for haircuts. I grew up in a small town with two tiny barber shops, and absolutely no one tipped for that service. I would have happily done so if I’d known better, but there wasn’t a sign on the wall. (As with most things in life, my wise wife had to school me on that one.) And this is all before factoring in the amount you’re supposed to tip.
All of that makes me wonder: Is there a generational element involved here? If you get used to one price of gas or a fast-food combo meal, you probably groan when you see those numbers inflate. There are a ton of factors to consider, but perhaps researchers can shed some light on them. In June 2025, the personal-finance site Bankrate published the results of an in-depth survey of the tipping habits of 2,445 adults. They found several trends, including that 63% had at least one negative view of tipping. Their results also showed that the likelihood of tipping generally increased with age, with Gen Z and Millennials as the “least frequent tippers.”
Which generation tips the best?
They found that 25% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennials “always tip their hair stylist/barber,” while Gen X (67%) and Boomers (71%) are at much higher rates. That pattern continued for both “always” tipping at sit-down restaurants (Gen Z at 43%, Millennials at 61%, Gen X at 83%, and Boomers at 84%) and “always tipping taxi/ride-share drivers (Gen Z at 23%, Millennials at 36%, Gen X at 50%, and Boomers at 61%).
Point-of-sale company SpotOn took a different approach, surveying 1,000 U.S. restaurant industry workers in 2024. The respondents voted the most generous tippers as Gen X (35%), followed by Millennials (31%), Boomers (17%), Gen Z (10%), and The Silent Generation (7%). Asked the inverse, 48% picked The Silent Generation as the worst tippers, with Gen Z at 42%.
But why exactly? It’s hard to say for sure.
So why do certain generations tip more than others? We have to assume there are exceptions to even the loosest rule—it’s not as if everyone from Gen Z is automatically a bad tipper, despite how many surveys roll in with similar results. “This trend might be cultural, economic, or both,” BankRate noted. “Notably, the two younger generations were most likely to say not having a stable income is the reason money negatively impacts their mental health, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Money and Mental Health Survey. If a young person’s paycheck is already stretched thin, they may be less inclined to add extra dollars to the bill.”
No matter who’s tipping or who they’re tipping or how much they’re tipping, the whole custom is the subject of seemingly never-ending debate. In one recent example, one Redditor went viral by sharing their encounter at a restaurant. After being handed a bill for $197.87, they left what they thought was a sensible tip of $25. But the server disagreed, handing it back to them and stating they only accepted tips in the 18-20% range.
