How much money does Lorelai have exactly? They order takeaway for practically every meal. She's an apparent shopoholic. Rory doesn't have a job in high school but it's said that she orders tons of books on Amazon. They don't lead inexpensive lifestyles at all, but then when they *need* to afford things, Lorelai acts as tho they're living on pennies.
And then I have to wonder, if they couldn't afford to fix the house without getting a loan, how did they afford to travel around Europe for 2 months and buy everyone in town a souvenir? A flight for one person to almost any European city is astronomical by itself. But two flights and then travel expenses for everywhere from Spain to the Netherlands to Turkey and everywhere in between, plus eating (especially the way they eat) that trip is suddenly costing thousands they claim to never have..