Redditor iaskureply wanted to hear about all the things people are choosing to drop thanks to world financial issues, so they asked:
"What have you given up because of inflation?"
I drink at home.
Did you know that the cost of a decent bottle can match the cost of a single drink?
Everything!
Episode 5 Drinking GIF by The BachelorGiphy"Not too much! Mostly just my future."
Green0livesAndHam
"Right, I was going to say hope."
Fabulous-Spread6120
Time to stay in...
"Buying a home."
Anonymous_Enigma_
"Not just this. But moving out entirely. I’m 24 and renting would take up well over half of my monthly income. Plus the cost of utilities, I’d be broke before I’d even got round to buying food."
keep_giving_up
"If you are good where you are, I wouldn't stress about moving out. This is a lot of people's reality these days. No use working yourself crazy to be broke and struggling for the sake of moving out 'just because.'"
DifferentBand1121
Money after...
"Pre-tipping. What if it's all f**ked up when I finally get my food?"
_joeBone_
"I've stopped that crap, give zero if it's fast food style - like order at the counter and pick up at counter or drive-thru. Even beers at outdoor events where it's overpriced. I'm paying for a $10 Coors light at a counter, therefore I'm assuming the bartenders are paid very well, no tip."
"How about the airport bars now you have to order through the app, no talking to the bartender. They just bring it to you, once you order and pay through the app. I'm not giving you a tip to pour an overpriced beer and turn around take 2 steps and set it on the counter. Sh**s getting ridiculous."
WinterCool
Bye Bye Baby
"Any hopes and dreams of a family? I don't think I'll ever be comfortable enough for children."
Mercenary0527
Skip It
Taylor Swift Vmas 2019 GIF by 2022 MTV Video Music AwardsGiphy"Concerts for the most part. The rising costs of touring for bands made ticket prices go insane. Now instead of catching a good lineup, my attitude has become, 'I've seen all these bands before, I can skip this," instead."
6-2Noob
Concert prices are OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Like, who is coming up with these prices?!
Spending Pennies
noodles ramen GIF by HUANG'S WORLDGiphy"Food in general. I am currently eating less than $3 a day. Sometimes all I eat is a pack of Mr. Noodles for 49 cents."
CTMom79
"Reach out to a food bank! No one should be eating only one meal a day. So much food is being thrown out. Search some places near you."
ozzythegrouch
PASS!!
"I’ve really just given up on dining out and getting delivery in general aside from the rare occasion. Tips and delivery and service fees and massively increasing menu prices… pass. Fast food is the most hilarious to me. I can’t believe people are still paying that much for that awful garbage."
"For $8, I can make a pot of cheap, healthy food and then freeze the leftovers and eat it five more times over the next few weeks. My wallet and my health thank me. And cooking is fun."
tinyhorsesinmytea
Luxuries
"Netflix, clothes shopping, and occasional food delivery services."
_Light_The_Way
"I’ve given u ok food delivery, completely. And even takeout. Every time I do I’m let down by the quality. A couple of weeks ago, for the first time in a while, I picked up a pizza. Spent $30 and it left me wishing I would have gotten one from the frozen section of the grocery."
geometricpelican
Less fancy grinds...
"Buying coffee. It was a waste of money 5 years ago or so but it wasn't that bad. These days it's $4-$5 dollars just for a basic one, which adds up pretty quickly. If you want anything fancy it's pushing $7-$8. Office coffee for me these days."
passionfruit_vodka
"For $500 you can get a solid espresso machine and grinder. Then most syrups you can make at home for a fraction of the price. Even vanilla extract is super cheap when homemade. Then you just need beans, which Amazon has their own brand that regularly goes on sale for very cheap."
"If that's too much for $10 you can get a nut milk bag and take coarse ground coffee, and soak 1 lb of coffee beans in 1 gallon of water for 18 hours at room temperature. Squeeze the bag out and remove it and you got a quality cold brew that can be used to make a lot of iced drinks similar to an espresso machine. The one trick I would recommend is not using cow's milk for flavored iced coffee. Most people seem to prefer oat milk."
Abigail716
Generic Deals
Season 3 Food GIF by TallBoyzGiphy"I buy a lot of house-brand stuff at the grocery now. I don't eat out much anymore either."
darrellbear
That is a lot to give up.
But we have to do what is necessary.
All pennies add up.
Do you have any savings hacks? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor ubewankenubi wanted to chat about how we spend and all the risks involved.
So they asked:
"What have you given up because of inflation?"
I've tried giving up vegetables. I'll only pay so much for corn.
$20
Pay Day Money GIF by MOST EXPENSIVESTGiphy"Ordering any kind of takeout. $20 for one person for a mediocre meal. No thanks."
dinoroo
Ridiculous
"Chicken wings."
nineelevenairways
"This has been my big one as well. Wings at restaurants are well over a dollar each. Some places are closing in on two dollars. I like wings, but I can literally buy steak at those prices."
CrayZ_Squirrel
"I went to the grocery store and a pack of chicken wings was $24!!!! Ridiculous, needless to say I got the drumsticks instead."
klb1204
8 Months
"I haven’t purchased anything relevant to any of my hobbies in around 8 months."
chungoglungus
"I run a local club for my hobby and the first half of the meeting was people sharing what new things they bought and tried (or haven't yet tried). Now the time set aside for that is halved and most people get up and talk about what they 'rediscovered' in their stash."
Many-Conclusion2217
In the Freeze
"I've started tossing out significantly less food. I'm lucky that I've been able to afford a chest freezer before inflation hit, and it's been a life saver. Any leftover scrap just goes in there. It's mostly for proteins for me as well. Normally I'd just go beach fishing and take at most two or three flounders, turbots, plaice or sole home at the end of the day, but now the entire catch is ending up in the freezer. Great fish to have in stock."
UnoriginalUse
Go for Water
See Ya Peace GIF by PepsiGiphy"Quite a few branded products like Pepsi. Also don’t eat out out much these days."
isham66
"Seriously. Soda prices have jumped so much, i hate buying it but we have a Coke problem in the house lol."
Get_off_critter
There is no issue with generic for most things anyaway, even soda.
Passions
Music Video Popcorn GIF by Chris MannGiphy"My husband and I have given up our expensive hobbies and date nights so we can still afford to pay for our kids extra curricular activities. We would live on rice and beans before we made them give up their passions. We had a date night at home last night while they were with their friends. Frozen pizzas and Netflix in sweat pants. It was still fun to us."
bmy89
paycheck to paycheck
"Just when I started to live comfortably, inflation hit hard and now I’m back to scraping by paycheck to paycheck because, like always, my pay doesn’t keep up with inflation."
Shinagami091
"Exactly that, I moved out from my parent's house nearly a year ago, and at first I had a lot of leftover money to buy new furnitures and even a 3 grand computer that I built myself."
"But since a few months now inflation went right into my a** and my groceries went from costing me like 50$ a week to 100$ a week. It's absolutely demential these days, and I can barely live now."
Craftspirit
For Fun
"Slowly but surely giving up little side purchases and funsies. It's just now getting to me how expensive essentials have become. My depression specifically makes it difficult for me to meal prep and cook for myself and with both groceries and takeout rising in price I've just been eating less overall."
peachpinkjedi
Choppy
"My hair. I just cannot afford the splurge on the amount of products it needs to be healthy. Chopped it all off."
escapefromallreality
"Been cutting my families hair for years now. My husband, lucky likes wearing it short. My kid is in college, and really doesn't care. And I just hack mine to shoulder length now and then. Normally a salon appointment would be $90- tip included. It was hard before all this. Now? I just can't pay that."
LowkeyPony
Life
Joe Biden Jobs GIF by GIPHY NewsGiphy"Moving out of my parents. Even if I get a job in my field with my degree I just received, in my area there's no entry level jobs that would permit me affording an apartment, barely scraping by with a roommate as well. Jobs out of state or across the country don't seem to be hiring either."
Neurotic_Neurologist
Well this is depressing. We need some hope.
Which dropped luxuries would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
Reddit user r4tzt4r asked:
"What has absolutely no real reason for being so expensive?"
That sounds like a nice innocent question. Maybe someone will finally talk about why I'm suddenly paying so much more for an empanada.
Or maybe someone will offer a nihilistic view of the sociopolitical climate and we'll all need a hug.
Maybe both! Let's get into it.
Big Textbook
"College textbooks."
"I had a professor that was really against the college textbook industry and said it was a huge scam, so for the class I took with him he used a textbook that he wrote and provided a PDF version of it for free to all of us."
- -eDgAR-
"My geography teacher wrote her own book and workbook."
"The workbook consist of free use blank maps of the world and makes up 1/4th of book. The other 3/4ths is a notebook. Best $150 dollars I've ever spent."
"Her 'book' is organized like a badly structured Wikipedia page and cost $200. Both are required."
- JustASpeck765
"I had a professor that wrote his own textbook because he hated that the university’s recommended book was $600."
"He printed it through Amazon and sold them for cost - I think $40 or less. My class was the first to use it and we got to help him edit it."
"Unrelated, he died the next semester."
- FetusFritter
"He was definitely taken out by big text book."
- Taxitaxitaxi33
GiphyOh Canada
"Canadian internet and mobile plans"
- ReeG
"I had this argument with someone on Reddit once haha. They didn’t believe me when I said that the Canadian mobile plans are straight up robbery."
"$160/month for mine :( "
- [Reddit]
"Recently moved to the UK for my studies after being stuck in Toronto during the better half of the pandemic."
"It's ludicrous how much they're charging."
"My UK phone plan cost nearly 1/5th of what I pay in Canada, and I get better perks too."
- samakbarizadeh
GiphyPaying For The Privilege Of Paying
"My apartment charges $25 to process online payments."
"I just get a cashiers check at the bank and deliver it by hand because I can't pay that much extra for absolutely no reason."
- iremovebrains
"So my apartment complex charges a $35 processing fee for online payments. BUT, if I walk a paper check to the front office that they have to bring to the bank, no fee."
"Guess who still pays in paper checks, this guy."
- Mythradites
"We get charged $50 like what the f*ck is it doing that costs money?"
- bdizzle805
"Oh mine was $62 dollars a month lol"
- zazerite
"Mine charges 3%. Do the math."
"I just hand them a check in the office."
- pox_americus
"Mine charges 95 if I pay through PayPal, my other option is to give them my bank account login info."
- buttplugpopsicle
"In the last jurisdiction I rented in this was illegal: payments for rent could not themselves incur a payment, or indeed, any burden on the part of the tenant (or, e.g., drive across town to hand-deliver cash or a cheque)."
"What do the laws in your jurisdiction claim?"
- exfalsoquodlibet
GiphyHearing
"Hearing aids."
- pghreddit
"As an audiologist, I 100% agree!"
"Unfortunately the prices are the way they are due to two problems. One is most clinics 'bundle' services. This is mostly because insurance doesn’t like to pay for our testing or rehabilitation/counseling we provide."
"Two-if you’re a small clinic, the manufactures that make the hearing aids sell them at a higher price to you. For example, a small office might pay $1,500 for a pair of hearing aids. Whereas Costco, who can buy a lot more, only pays $100 for the same hearing aids."
"Its sucks because to become an audiologist you have to get a doctorate. You go through all that schooling just to end up 'selling' hearing aids nobody wants to buy from you because they can get it cheaper at a big box store."
"I wanted to help people, not be a sales person. One of the biggest reasons why I’m not practicing right now."
- Zelda_cat22
Giphy300%
"Born in the US, but lived in two different countries. Can confirm that medication in the US is in many cases more than 300% of what you’d pay for elsewhere."
- senseofphysics
"Xyrem. It can be absolutely life-changing for people with narcolepsy. However, most insurance doesn't cover it, and the out-of-pocket cost is about $6k for a 1 month supply."
- thotkeys
"Came here for this answer. No one pays the sticker price, but my insurance pays about $18k/month for this medication. It's nuts."
- PureKatie
"It's free in U.K."
- Attach_helicopter
"I've stopped my seizure treatment because its $100/month with insurance and discount card from the pharmacist."
"It's not working well anyway and the doctor refuses to change it. Why pay $100 to still have seizures when I can pay $0 to still have seizures?"
- Professor01011000
GiphyLike Any Other Fast Food
"Panera is literally the only restaurant I deliberately avoid solely because of the prices. Last time I ate there it was like $40 for two people to eat f*cking sandwiches. Insane."
- trymyomeletes
"I worked there for a week (quit because I hated it lol) and the worst part is everything is frozen and prepackaged just like any other fast food place, yet they act like it’s some “farm to table” “healthy artisanal” option."
"That’s how they justify the price. Absolutely bonkers."
- bby_bambao
GiphyHousing
"Houses. Long time homebuilder here:"
"Homes for purchase or rent- for humans to live in are TOO EXPENSIVE for no good reason."
"Artificial scarcity: lets talk materials- only a handful of MEGA manufacturers are producing the bulk of construction materials and softwood lumber. when there are only 2 or 3 mega suppliers and they raise rates at the same time due to "market forces" that is not illegal. when they lower prices to destroy competitors - that is also OK as long as they do not state that goal publicly."
"Additionally the MEGA wood producers- (Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, West Fraser Timber) hold politicians in their pocket. Lumber is the biggest line item cost on most builds after land."
"Trump raised the Tariff to 20% on Canadian imports, the WTO ruled against this move and it was lowered to 9%. Now Biden admin is raising it back up again despite the ruling."
"Shingles are made of gravel and oil- not much has changed in the last 50 years. They are better- no doubt- but no major change in cost to produce. Yet, cost of basic materials with mature, highly automated production continues to skyrocket- (Market forces- supply and demand)."
"Land- homes are mandated by code to be safe- that is good. They are also mandated by code and zoning to be bigger, and more expensive that makes sense for many people."
Giphy"Builders must work within this framework and deliver what they can profitably, which pretty much means build the biggest house possible because density rules and overheads imposed on home construction make building smaller less expensive homes not viable."
"It is hard to find a 'starter' home for under a quarter million dollars- no real reason for this."
"Codes are written by industry lobbyists- (sound familiar?) Once a new patented (safety, energy improvement) device is mature and ready for market, the owners of the patent will promote/ push through code changes REQUIRING their product be used on every single new home if possible. I am all for safe homes - but where does that push the market?"
"I am a builder for 30 years and strongly believe new houses are WAY better than old by just about every measure. However, manufacturing and material improvements we routinely see LOWERING costs of other durable goods do not apply due to the artificial scarcity keeping supply low and cost high."
"Demand will ALWAYS be there- everyone needs a home. A super clunky supply chain primarily focused on shielding from liability adds tons of cost for no reason."
"Too many ways to get sued if you are a home builder - so all employees are separate contractors, distributers are separate from manufactures. Even new home sales are often done by realtors independent from the builder, offering separation and legal defense from the endless expensive lawsuits that can result from no cause other than customer preference, customer neglect, neighbors or other issues not related to the builders performance."
"And Finally- Financing: You are encouraged to buy the biggest house you can afford as early on in life as possible because your home is your 'biggest investment.' "
"Banks will loan CRAAAAZY money and the government supports, promotes and funds this process in loaning as much as possible (Trillions) to a market of people determined to have a home and a stake in real estate."
"Is there NO other way to save money other than building equity in your home? A much smaller home with a larger investment portfolio is not a mainstream option. Federal policy views home ownership as a positive to be supported no matter the cost."
"PROFITABLE New small homes for under 100K could be and should be a thing in every American city. Homelessness would evaporate if there was an alternative other than putting people in motels."
- Bulldogsleepingonme
Education
"Honestly, I can't believe that nowhere in this post as of right now can EDUCATION be found."
"College doesn't have to be free, but recently the prices have gone through the roof and based on this post, it seems to have been normalized."
- AnonymousMemeing
"I would argue that cheaper tuition is good for the economy as a whole. The more educated people are, the more likely they are to invent, improve, or otherwise contribute to society."
"Absolutely everybody getting a free university degree is not ideal from a value to society point of view, but the way it has become these days, it is going to cost the country in 20 or 30 years."
- CanuckSalaryman
"Yes, I don’t think college should be for free but it shouldn’t cost as much as a house. It should be where you can still pay out of pocket for it."
- crazygirl2981
GiphyBy The People?
"Running for office in America."
"The cost to run a successful campaign in America for virtually any state level or higher political office is simply unattainable for the common person and prices out anyone but the ruling class of oligarchs and those with connections to it."
"Sure there examples of candidates outside the typical wealthy and ingrained political establishment, but they are the rare exception, not the rule."
"With US House races costing over $2 million and Senate races costing over $16 million the average person, no matter how well educated and how well qualified, is automatically eliminated without a vast amount of personal wealth or connections to the individuals, corporations, and parties that do hold that power."
"So the halls of congress and the seat of power is never filled with our best and brightest, but instead those with the wealth to attain that power and the conviction to maintain that status quo at virtually any cost to the people."
- Pursuitofsleep
GiphyThat certainly took a turn for the depressing there at the end, huh?
I mean... we were already feeling pretty poor but that last one ... ouch.
We need a nap—and a revolution, apparently?
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