A lot of these posts is sounding like life is more expensive because you had kids. Compared to the wages today versus the wages then, the prices of things might not be so bad in some cases, but you're not paying for just yourself now you're paying for kids too and that's why it's out of reach. Things like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, in my family we did those things on the years we didn't go on the annual camping holiday, they weren't additional treats they were instead of, and there was no buying food or drink inside either, a packed lunch was brought along.
The thing about the church hall yoga etc classes, the church was bringing in money from the congregation, which is dwindling now for most, so hiring the hall was a side hustle for the church. The teacher doing the class was a side hustle because not their main source of income or if it was, it was an additional source with the spouse being the main earner for the family. That poster's retired friend doing it is retired, that's the point, they have a pension. When it's a side hustle things can be run cheaper. Your church hall is now often a community centre owned by council or private owned building, not attached to a church, so the building needs to make profit hence higher costs to rent space. The teachers are doing it not for a side hustle but for a job, they're teaching across many venues or multiple classes per day and need to earn enough to pay taxes as well as enough to live on. So cost of classes are higher.
Horses definitely used to be more accessible. It is a myth they're only for rich people though. That's always been the non-horsey-person's viewpoint and it's always been wrong. Plenty keeps horses on a shoestring, curtailing everything from a career to having children to do so. Although some manages to have those things too. You probably don't know those shoestring equestrian people, they're always at the stables looking after or riding their horse and they have no spare cash to hang out with you, so they're not really on your radar. You might know the odd one through work and perhaps have fleeting thoughts of how do they afford that on their wages?! Assuming they have someone else subsidising their life, which isn't necessarily true.
What I see now is an increase in basic neglect of these shoestring-kept horses. People who haven't learned the basics and who have no desire to read a book or practice their riding. People are less likely to offer unofficial teaching or training of any kind because people are too quick to point the finger of blame these days if anything goes wrong. The less well you look after the horse the more often it needs the vet and the more expensive owning one becomes. People these days more likely to prioritise flashy gear than basic healthcare and good daily management. The cost of vet fees and the desire to treat absolutely everything, means they feel they need insurance, which can be very expensive and comes with a lot of exclusions most of the time. People didn't used to do all this. Like someone said for dogs, people were more pragmatic. Most weren't spending thousands on treatment or keeping lame/chronically ill animals in retirement, the animals were PTS instead. People had the best gear they could afford and didn't treat their gear like a fashion show changing it out each season, they kept and repaired the bare minimum of basic stuff until it was unrepairable many many years later.
To the person feeding an old neighbours cats, those cats are abandoned, an animal charity will likely take them if you want to stop caring for them yourself. Not RSPCA because you're feeding them and they're healthy so they won't help, try a cat charity. Especially if you have contact details for the owners daughter who can agree to relinquish control of them. Other than that there's PDSA for free vet care if you're on benefits but you'll still have to be nurse until they're healthy. There's no shame in PTS in this circumstance.
You've already kept the cats alive longer than they would have been. The owner and his daughter were happy to leave them to starve to death 2yrs ago. PTS with kindness and dignity because they've become ill or injured is way better than that. It costs a bit but it's the cremation that really bumps the costs up. If you can bury them in your garden or on your old neighbours land if it hasn't been sold, that's going to save a lot. The vet might even PTS for free since they're not your cats. The thing is to be firm about it to the vets - no tests, no treatment, no chargeable examination - you can't afford it and the cat is obviously ill/injured and suffering so just PTS please. They don't have any choice, animals are legally property so it's not about whether the animal can be saved, it's about what the person paying wants to do.