I made my earlier point from my experience of living in Spain and now in the US. I find that in the US, you've got to spend money to enjoy. Like I said, if you are not in California or New York, you do not have much activity to do during free time. Going out to bars, restaurants, amusement parks can be fun for a while, but it gets too old too quickly.
When I was in Spain, they had farmer's market in almost every village at least once a week. It was fun to visit these markets and then take a break on a cafe for a cup of coffee and spend your entire morning without having the waiter come to kick you out. There were many activities in summer since it was a vacation time for everyone that ere organised by cities. Just walking around was nice. But in the US, there's hardly a place to walk and get from point A to point B. Cycling is also very dangerous in the US, unless it is in big cities.
For me it feels like in the US, people talk about work and money all the time. In europe people talk about enjoying life.