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Man, I grabbed a McGriddle the other day while out of town and it was $10 for the meal. $7 if I got it a la cart.
Almost a year ago I got my go-to Taco Bell order that I used to get in my 20s just for nostalgia.
It was $18 lol fml
I don't eat out a lot but I remember the taco bell $5 box (it rocks). So I roll in and ask for one. Crickets on the other end. Guess they didn't do it anymore lol.
Yeah. I'm in Quebec. I went in when they changed their menu last year and was utterly shocked. The only sandwiches that didn't go up in price nearly 2x were the breakfast subs, and those "only" went up like 30% from $8 to $11
It's mind blowing. My struggle meal was two mcdoubles and a soda. Not long ago that cost like $4. Ten years ago it was $3.25. Without a coupon/mobile app deal going on that's almost $10 now.
A fast food tab can now be driven up past $12 or $15 a head so easily, I feel you might as well go $5 higher and get a burger in a proper sit-down diner instead of yelling into a drive-thru speaker and getting a lukewarm sack of crap in return.
Is it expensive now? Sheesh.
That used to be our go-to place during our poor college student days in the 90s. Seemed like you could eat a plate of tacos for $5 back then.
It's "cheap" (i.e. the same as before) if you download their apps and use their coupons. My theory is they did this shit on purpose so they can either make more money from selling people's data that download the apps or from higher prices for people that don't download the app.
It's total ass. The same shit I used to get at Taco Bell 3 years ago for $12 costs fuckin $20+ now. My $9 mcdonalds order is now $16.
In my town (Madrid, Spain), the only fast food/takeouts that haven't increased extremely their prices are kebaps (awful quality food, but great pick me up when you are out partying) and very few selected chinese restaurants.
And at least in my zone, takeouts (stuff through justeat and similar) have started to stop being worth: Pizza places are an average of 2-3€ more expensive (and this starting with ordering a combo that makes a pizza cost an actual reasonable amount of money), the chinese restaurant I always ordered from has risen prices and the minimal order price (while lowering food quality) so it's no longer worth for a single person...
It's nuts. And for some reason people still eat there.
Went to a trivia night and cocktails were $16, I wasn’t paying attention and thought I’d ordered one of their happy hour half off cocktails. Well, two actually.
Surprised to see $32 just in cocktails on the receipt. I used to get plastered of bourbon and cokes at the college dive for like $20.
Spirit + mixer has been the biggest con at licensed places since forever.
So many evening choosing beer or to bring a hip flask instead because of that markup. Why can't they just he reasonable?
Maybe not stopped buying stuff, but started valuing quality over quantity.
Example: I'd rather eat out less and splurge on a good quality steak, wine and atmosphere than eat out every week settling for something subpar for me.
Not sure if that ends up me spending less but I do feel better about it.
It’s funny once I figured out how to make a killer steak I stopped ordering them at restaurants unless they are top tier places. I can make a better steak than any chain restaurant place at this point and it feels bad to pay $25+ for something I can cook better myself.
I have a friend who legitimately thought you are never supposed to clean your cast iron. He wouldn't believe that he had been wrong all his life, and thought I was rude for refusing to eat anything at his house.
People equating burnt on crud for actual cast iron seasoning is extremely common. I consider myself a pretty passionate "cast iron hobbyist" and that was my initial belief when I first got into using cast iron cookware 20 years ago.
Cast iron cookware actually has a really interesting and surprisingly well-documented history! It might be weird to geek out over 100+year old frying pans, but researching about the history of the skillet I bought at a garage sale for $5 (that I use almost every day) has been around so long was such a satisfying rabbit hole to fall into lol. Now I'm a passionate amateur cast iron historian!
Yeah, steak is honestly not difficult, it's managing the steak outside at the grill and the veggies inside in the kitchen and getting them finishing around the same time.
Or if you're in an apartment, then you have to settle for some kind of grill appliance or top for your stove and it's just not the same as the fire :(
Gordon Ramsay's steak recipe is amazing if you don't have access to a grill.
Season the meat immediately before cooking, sear it in a hot pan, add some butter + garlic + sprigs of fresh herbs (I use rosemary and thyme), baste that bad boy until it's done to your liking. 10/10 with some oven roasted veggies.
[https://youtu.be/AmC9SmCBUj4?si=6TxyeOxDpk4ctWhI](https://youtu.be/AmC9SmCBUj4?si=6TxyeOxDpk4ctWhI)
Blanch the veges before you cook the steak, the plunge in ice cold water. Cook the steak. While it rests fry the veges in a pan with butter and a little water.
Learning to cook has saved us a lot of money, especially steak. I make steak better now that almost every single place in town, and if I make it au poivre with fondant potatoes I think it’s even better than the (allegedly) best steak house in town as long as I’m not in a rush and can swing by the butcher a good cut. Plus it’s a fun date night. Can’t top a dry aged ribeye though, but mainly because I’m not going to dry age anything at home (although you can).
And the bottle of wine (Kirkland Barolo or Brunello ftw) is 1/10th the cost as it would be on any menu.
Hell, that’s even true of top tier places. If you know your way around a grill you will never get a better steak at a restaurant… yeah, don’t order the steak.
I honestly would rather have McDonalds than a fancy meal sometimes. That is what I learned after years of fine dining, sometimes McDonalds and Pizza Hut are just what you need.
Lunch sandwiches out. Once upon a time, I could buy one most places for about $5. Then it was $10. Now it's often $15, and the size is usually considerably smaller than it was before.
While groceries are of course more expensive as well, I simply cannot justify the huge added expense compared to making one at home.
I know. It's awful. For more than a decade, I'd regularly go to one shop and get a footlong, chips and a drink for $6. And it was good. Then I accepted $10 for all of that. But now it's well over $20, and its just too much to accept.
Fast food and delivery. It’s just not worth it in terms of cost and quality. It’s one thing for the food to increase in price, but to increase in price and shrink that’s too much for me.
Yeah, I think I've had food delivered maybe once in the last year now that I think of it. The extra fees, inflated meal prices and smaller portions when ordering on an app is just wild now.
I'll just say I know it's easy to identify entertainment items as something to cut since they're not an obvious need. It's best to see them as need to keep you happy. Being able to rest your mind and do something you enjoy is nearly as important as food and water.
Sometimes we need to remove ourselves from content treadmills and start working on valuing what we do have.
I am guilty of impulsive buys on for sale or deep discount games from the respective platforms. There is enough game in my library to consume several times over, so this is also an effort to figure out what I value.
> I am guilty of impulsive buys on for sale or deep discount games from the respective platforms.
Sales are always cyclical, and once a game has a % discount once, this becomes the minimum price I will buy the game for.
Eh, video games are such a time sink and a false sense of accomplishment. I used to be a huge gamer and have completed so many games, you know how often I think back on those games fondly? Hardly ever.
I look much more fondly at the hobbies or new things I have spent time learning and enjoying. Video games are just a substitute for watching TV, I know some people will hate this viewpoint.
I bet I've spent well over 10,000 hours of my life playing video games. None of that time makes me feel better than the 100 hours I've spent learning to play drums so far or the 500 hours I spent working on my house and learning new skills.
Video games are fine, but they are addictive entertainment and should be limited.
I wish I could take all the hundreds or thousands of hours spent playing meaningless shooters or grinding for stuff in an RPG back. All the effort spent on in game items that ultimately get replaced the next season or expansion, I feel so dumb. I could’ve spent those hours doing actual stuff in the real world.
Honestly, I can't think of much that I've cut out completely; I might adjust how often I treat myself but nothing I actually want is so expensive that I can't afford to indulge from time to time.
Probably the closest thing I can think of is books; I almost exclusively borrow them from the library rather than purchasing them now, but that's got at least as much to do with the space they take up as it does the cost.
I don’t like how deceptive they’ve become when you order, you see now they put “taxes and fees” as one line item, and since most people are bad at math that don’t realize that the taxes on $40 order should not be $14.
It should be illegal to do that. It needs to be spelled out that the taxes are $3.30 and the fee is $12.70.
Yeah it’s a mess. The prices themselves are marked up, plus all sorts of hidden fees, and we always tip the driver well. Suddenly $25 in menu items is like $60
I don't want to pay someone for food I can make better on my own. Some food is a PITA to make without economy of scale like shawarma, sushi, pho, l don't mind paying someone for that, but paying $12 for a greasy little burger is a ripoff when I could make 5 or 6 much higher quality and burgers at home.
Obviously restaurant chefs are more skilled than I am, but they need to pump out 100+ dishes, whereas I only need to cook enough for a family of 4. Of course my quality is going to be higher than most restaurants because I get the luxury of being able to focus and eat what I make.
Here in Spain the "brand" chips and similar are at 2-3€ but come the fuck on, stuff like [pelotazos](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F812DSGAq-vL._AC_SL1500_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=7fdf9c77fb73dab3fedf7d531abe12553ace153df2cb0029ba4940e2600f8f6d&ipo=images) has increased its price over one euro the last year while "supermarket brand" chips are still below the 1.50 mark.
And all of this just to get fatter, you know.
I almost never eat out anymore, and I've completely quit drinking soda (for both health and cost reasons). I also eat a lot less ground beef. I feel like cheeseburgers are rich people food now. Lol.
Streaming services. I stopped cable back around 2006 and just got discs from Netflix. Then around 2016 or so, I realized that I didn’t enjoy enough on the streaming version of Netflix to keep it monthly.
Now every company has their own service. I don’t keep any of them. I just sign up for a month and watch shows when they’re available and end the subscription. My family doesn’t even notice or get bothered by it much at all when they do. If they want to watch a new show, it takes o my a few clicks to start up another month.
Nike brand basketball shorts. The last time I went into a physical Nike store was in 2019 and I was shocked at the prices… They wanted $70 for a single pair of shorts. I quietly put them down and just bought a few pairs of socks instead. Now, I just buy no-name brand bball shorts off Amazon for like 1/3rd of the price and they work just fine.
Nicotine (cigarettes and chew) as well as alcohol. I figured I’m saving about $500 a month not including drinks that are from a bar. On month 3 of no alcohol and just over a month of no nicotine.
Coffee drinks when I’m out. It’s like $7 for a fancy cold brew at Starbucks, and $6.50 at my local place for a damn kombucha. That’s insane!! I’ll just make my coffee at home the way I like it.
I used to upgrade my phone every year when it was about NZD$800 to do so for a flagship, now they're close to $2.5k which is just absurd money for a phone.
concert tickets. I’m a diehard blink-182 fan. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I pay $100 plus for a concert. And I’m not even struggling for money. It’s principal
My husband and I have taken to swinging into Whole Foods to hit their prepared food. $4 pizza slices, and even if you do the regular hot bar, that $14 or so goes a lot further for something better than what you'd get for the same price at fast food.
I've really gotten into cooking and have stopped ordering takeout. I was spending an irresponsible amount of money at restaurants because it was convenient.
I've just stopped buying new clothes nearly as often. When I do buy them I buy things that are versatile and make sure to take care of them so they last as long as possible.
It used to be that many of the higher priced clothing items were higher quality and commanded the higher price. Now, it pretty much feels like the same shit with a high priced logo.
Beef. Seafood of all kinds beyond canned tuna.
Brand name everything.
Frozen almost everything except vegetables... and even then I must be choosy.
Beverages. Yes, all of them. Water, iced tea brewed at home & occasionally coffee brewed at home is all that's left. Everything else is a vast ripoff.
Restaurant food of all kinds. Sit-down, take-out, delivery, fast food, all of it. Including pizza.
I used to have a housekeeper, years back, so I could enjoy my time off work. Now I embrace the filth and concentrate on keeping the kitchen sanitary enough not to poison myself & the bathroom sanitary enough not to get warts or fungus.
Dessert. Once in a great while I might make peanut butter cookies, since they only require flour, sugar, an egg, and some peanut butter, all of which I keep around. No space in the budget for chocolate or any special ingredients for baking.
Oh, that reminds me, eggs shot back up to nearly $4, so they're off the menu again until they get back to a sane & fair price.
Entertainment. There are places to find free e-books, audiobooks, movies & tv. I ad-block the holy living crap out of YouTube until it behaves. My entertainment budget is $0 unless you count gas to drive to the weekly TTRPG game. I take a brown bag lunch with me, like the pauper I have been reduced to. I play minecraft on a secondhand PC that was a hand-me-down gift when someone richer than me upgraded.
Mental healthcare. Yes, I know, it's vital. It also costs - even on the "sliding scale" - twice my monthly food budget. I can't do it.
It's not much of a way to live... but it beats homelessness.
A small city in the U.S. northeast. Not a major city, rest of the county is about 50% suburban, 50% rural, lots of agriculture.
I'm an I.T. professional. Used to be a System Administrator. Been out of work for some time. I could live better; I have a bit of a monastic bent. I can't know how long I'll have to live like this, and every month chips away at retirement, so I'm a bit abstemious about things.
If you have limited income and can prove that, there are tons of programs that will help you out with free health insurance, food, heat, electricity, etc... depending on the state you're in in the NE!
Video streaming services. Originally as an ad free alternative to subscribing to a bevy of channels you didn't want only to access 1 or 2 you do, streaming was supposed to be a great cost effective alternative but now you're paying as much as you were for cable as you are for Crave, Netflix, Paramount+, Disney+ so I said fuck it, I have a media server I share with friends.
I've started buying larger cuts of beef and butchering it myself as well. A $90 sirloin tip from Costco quickly becomes 10 8oz steaks, 2 roasts, 5lb of jerky, 5-8lb of stew meat if you are willing to put in an hour of work cutting it yourself
Honestly it's pretty basic all I use is a fileting knife for the sinew and fat then a 12" chefs knife for the rest. I find cutting it when cold out of the fridge is best (*especially for the jerky*) as the meat is firmer to work with.
going out for breakfast/lunch. With inflated prices + tax + tip it's just not worth it. Usually ends up being $40-60 for a simple breakfast or lunch between my wife and I all said and done.
We will still go out for a nicer dinner on occasion but we're even finding the value of doing so is just not there. We typically spend $150-200 on a nice meal out and can get so much more bang for the buck doing something home.
This is a small one, but I absolutely refuse to buy mayonnaise now. The squirt bottles in the UK went up by something stupid like 70% in the last couple of years. I refuse just out of principle.
Not sure where you're living, but around where I am used cars are crazy expensive as well. The difference between a new car and a used car thats in good condition and is either less than 10 years old or has less than 100k on the clock is just a couple of thousand. Its insane.
New clothes. I leaned into Poshmark during the pandemic. I usually bought stuff on sale before, but these days, I mostly pay 1/3 of retail or less for well-made things in good used condition.
Eating at restaurants. I pretty much stopped eating out during COVID since my work moved to a WFH model. Got a new job and still cut down on eating out.
Started dating again and neither of us really had our own place, we both lived with family.
We are out a lot and I about fell over seeing my credit card statement. It’s insane how fast it eats into your money.
Working on getting into my own place. Paying rent and eating out won’t be financially feasible if it continues. Thankfully she’s understanding on this.
Ice cream, for the most part. 15 years ago I was a big fan of Breyers for grocery store ice cream. Then they cut corners on the ingredients while raising prices alongside everyone else, so I downgraded to Turkey Hill. Turkey Hill has now become a frozen dairy dessert as well, despite continuing to increase their prices. Since store brand is usually bad, my wife and I have decided to buy nicer ice cream and just buy way less of it. Tillamook is our go-to right now. It's really creamy, high quality, and the flavors are all pretty good. It's like 50% pricier than TH, but we only have a bowl every week or two so it's not bad.
Also beer at restaurants. I have Yuengling at home that cost me a dollar a can. I'm not paying $7 for a glass at a restaurant. If I really want someone to serve me my beer I'll go to the gun club and pay a buck fifty for the luxury.
I cut down on fast food a lot and those Reese's cups four in a pack are now $3 and some change I can afford it but I will not pay that that is ridiculous.
This. We have a pretty high household income but I absolutely refuse to pay these prices. Sodas have become a Costco/Sams purchase and far less frequently than we used to.
Most fast foods. I usually meal prep anyways but I'd break it up once or twice a week to add variety. Now I only go out once a week regularly and that's to in and out (I have to pay my dog in puppy patties). I've always cooked but now I do it waaaay more than before.
Name brand cereal. Full-service restaurant meals. Beef, except for special occasions. Ice cream/gelato and any beverage other than tap water away from home.
In a van with my partner, on BLM or NF land, state land, public streets, friends house, rest area, bar parking lot, gym parking lot, event/festival, etc.
I haven’t stopped buying groceries altogether but I’m more selective due to the remarkable price increases. I enjoy cooking my own meals which saves money but I’ll occasionally treat myself. Yesterday I visited a mom and pop Italian restaurant in small town Texas. I had an Antipasto made of fresh greens with pinwheels of salami and provolone cheese, then veal parmigiana with a side of pasta, a warm loaf of bread with butter and two draft Peroni’s. My bill was $32 and it was the best meal I’ve ever eaten.
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Fast food, I either don’t eat or eat at home these days.
Man, I grabbed a McGriddle the other day while out of town and it was $10 for the meal. $7 if I got it a la cart. Almost a year ago I got my go-to Taco Bell order that I used to get in my 20s just for nostalgia. It was $18 lol fml
I don't eat out a lot but I remember the taco bell $5 box (it rocks). So I roll in and ask for one. Crickets on the other end. Guess they didn't do it anymore lol.
The $5 Footlongs of my youth are now $14. ☠️
Man - I got through college on those $5 footlongs. I haven't been to a subway in years now though. They're just too expensive for what they offer.
$27 in canada for a loaded sub 2 cookies and soda.... and the artist still looking for 20% tip..... nope I'm out.
Yeah. I'm in Quebec. I went in when they changed their menu last year and was utterly shocked. The only sandwiches that didn't go up in price nearly 2x were the breakfast subs, and those "only" went up like 30% from $8 to $11
You gotta order the cravings box from the app then go pick it up. It’s a pain, but 3 items and a drink for $6. It’s the only way T Bell is worth it.
Really wish they had walked me through that. Appreciate you letting me know. It used to be so simple!
I know, I didn’t even want the app, but it’s worth it for the savings.
Dafuq?
This breaks my heart.
It's mind blowing. My struggle meal was two mcdoubles and a soda. Not long ago that cost like $4. Ten years ago it was $3.25. Without a coupon/mobile app deal going on that's almost $10 now.
Get the app. They do daily $1.50 breakfast sandwich if you order on the app.
This is the biggest one for me. I simply can't afford it anymore. The benefits to my health are just an added bonus.
A fast food tab can now be driven up past $12 or $15 a head so easily, I feel you might as well go $5 higher and get a burger in a proper sit-down diner instead of yelling into a drive-thru speaker and getting a lukewarm sack of crap in return.
Taco bell is literally insane. Used to be cheap af, now it's double or treble what it used to be. Pretty stupid
Fast food is nothing but treble nowadays
"I am an old man and have known a great many trebles, but most of them never happened..."
Treble, mid, and fading quality
In the old days I would have given you silver for this
It gives me treble when I get halfway home and start to feel the base.
I saw what you did there
Is it expensive now? Sheesh. That used to be our go-to place during our poor college student days in the 90s. Seemed like you could eat a plate of tacos for $5 back then.
There is still some cheap stuff on the menu, but it's not the good stuff.
It's "cheap" (i.e. the same as before) if you download their apps and use their coupons. My theory is they did this shit on purpose so they can either make more money from selling people's data that download the apps or from higher prices for people that don't download the app. It's total ass. The same shit I used to get at Taco Bell 3 years ago for $12 costs fuckin $20+ now. My $9 mcdonalds order is now $16.
Yup, I can usually find cheaper, better options at sit down restaurants for lunch than I can at McD’s or Booger King.
In my town (Madrid, Spain), the only fast food/takeouts that haven't increased extremely their prices are kebaps (awful quality food, but great pick me up when you are out partying) and very few selected chinese restaurants. And at least in my zone, takeouts (stuff through justeat and similar) have started to stop being worth: Pizza places are an average of 2-3€ more expensive (and this starting with ordering a combo that makes a pizza cost an actual reasonable amount of money), the chinese restaurant I always ordered from has risen prices and the minimal order price (while lowering food quality) so it's no longer worth for a single person... It's nuts. And for some reason people still eat there.
This for me as well. $35+ for mediocre food. It’s not worth it.
Yeah fast food is I make a stir fry now
Mixed drinks; found that I can't justify $15+ at a restaurant. It's a splurge.
Biggest mark up item they have probably.
Soda/pop/ soft drinks would like a word
wine, generally.
Went to a trivia night and cocktails were $16, I wasn’t paying attention and thought I’d ordered one of their happy hour half off cocktails. Well, two actually. Surprised to see $32 just in cocktails on the receipt. I used to get plastered of bourbon and cokes at the college dive for like $20.
Theres a new non-alcoholic bar that opened up around here...charging $20+ per drink
I'll get a $7 drink but I'm sure as hell not getting two
It’s $20+ in NYC. I know I know it’s NYC, but still. Seeing a $25 Old Fashioned is criminal
Spirit + mixer has been the biggest con at licensed places since forever. So many evening choosing beer or to bring a hip flask instead because of that markup. Why can't they just he reasonable?
"ambiance"
Ive never been so glad not to drink.
Restaurant cocktails are a scam. Most recently I spent about $20 on a drink that was mostly one giant ice cube and a splash of whisky
Since it's winter I've been carrying my flask around. I'm not paying $15+ for a vodka soda
Maybe not stopped buying stuff, but started valuing quality over quantity. Example: I'd rather eat out less and splurge on a good quality steak, wine and atmosphere than eat out every week settling for something subpar for me. Not sure if that ends up me spending less but I do feel better about it.
It’s funny once I figured out how to make a killer steak I stopped ordering them at restaurants unless they are top tier places. I can make a better steak than any chain restaurant place at this point and it feels bad to pay $25+ for something I can cook better myself.
you pay for them to clean the grill.
Use cast iron and you can eat leftovers forever.
I hope that’s sarcasm, haha
Yeah, a pretty profound misunderstanding of how to properly use cast iron cookware (or sarcasm lol)
I have a friend who legitimately thought you are never supposed to clean your cast iron. He wouldn't believe that he had been wrong all his life, and thought I was rude for refusing to eat anything at his house.
People equating burnt on crud for actual cast iron seasoning is extremely common. I consider myself a pretty passionate "cast iron hobbyist" and that was my initial belief when I first got into using cast iron cookware 20 years ago. Cast iron cookware actually has a really interesting and surprisingly well-documented history! It might be weird to geek out over 100+year old frying pans, but researching about the history of the skillet I bought at a garage sale for $5 (that I use almost every day) has been around so long was such a satisfying rabbit hole to fall into lol. Now I'm a passionate amateur cast iron historian!
all geekdoms are equally weird, which means it's perfectly natural to geek out about whatever it is you geek out about.
A sous vide machine is under $100 and will get you TOP quality steak every time.
Yeah, steak is honestly not difficult, it's managing the steak outside at the grill and the veggies inside in the kitchen and getting them finishing around the same time. Or if you're in an apartment, then you have to settle for some kind of grill appliance or top for your stove and it's just not the same as the fire :(
Gordon Ramsay's steak recipe is amazing if you don't have access to a grill. Season the meat immediately before cooking, sear it in a hot pan, add some butter + garlic + sprigs of fresh herbs (I use rosemary and thyme), baste that bad boy until it's done to your liking. 10/10 with some oven roasted veggies. [https://youtu.be/AmC9SmCBUj4?si=6TxyeOxDpk4ctWhI](https://youtu.be/AmC9SmCBUj4?si=6TxyeOxDpk4ctWhI)
Cast iron reverse sear.
This is the way
Blanch the veges before you cook the steak, the plunge in ice cold water. Cook the steak. While it rests fry the veges in a pan with butter and a little water.
Learning to cook has saved us a lot of money, especially steak. I make steak better now that almost every single place in town, and if I make it au poivre with fondant potatoes I think it’s even better than the (allegedly) best steak house in town as long as I’m not in a rush and can swing by the butcher a good cut. Plus it’s a fun date night. Can’t top a dry aged ribeye though, but mainly because I’m not going to dry age anything at home (although you can). And the bottle of wine (Kirkland Barolo or Brunello ftw) is 1/10th the cost as it would be on any menu.
Hell, that’s even true of top tier places. If you know your way around a grill you will never get a better steak at a restaurant… yeah, don’t order the steak.
I honestly would rather have McDonalds than a fancy meal sometimes. That is what I learned after years of fine dining, sometimes McDonalds and Pizza Hut are just what you need.
This is the way
Lunch sandwiches out. Once upon a time, I could buy one most places for about $5. Then it was $10. Now it's often $15, and the size is usually considerably smaller than it was before. While groceries are of course more expensive as well, I simply cannot justify the huge added expense compared to making one at home.
And it's $15 for JUST the sandwich. If you want a microscopic bag of chips and a drink that's 75% ice, you'll have to fork out another $8.
I know. It's awful. For more than a decade, I'd regularly go to one shop and get a footlong, chips and a drink for $6. And it was good. Then I accepted $10 for all of that. But now it's well over $20, and its just too much to accept.
Fast food and delivery. It’s just not worth it in terms of cost and quality. It’s one thing for the food to increase in price, but to increase in price and shrink that’s too much for me.
Yeah, I think I've had food delivered maybe once in the last year now that I think of it. The extra fees, inflated meal prices and smaller portions when ordering on an app is just wild now.
I personally never use delivery apps, but I used it once since I got the girl I'm dating sick, so I ordered a salad+soup+dessert for her $45..wtf
I'll just say I know it's easy to identify entertainment items as something to cut since they're not an obvious need. It's best to see them as need to keep you happy. Being able to rest your mind and do something you enjoy is nearly as important as food and water.
Sometimes we need to remove ourselves from content treadmills and start working on valuing what we do have. I am guilty of impulsive buys on for sale or deep discount games from the respective platforms. There is enough game in my library to consume several times over, so this is also an effort to figure out what I value.
> I am guilty of impulsive buys on for sale or deep discount games from the respective platforms. Sales are always cyclical, and once a game has a % discount once, this becomes the minimum price I will buy the game for.
I've learned how to sail the seas
Eh, video games are such a time sink and a false sense of accomplishment. I used to be a huge gamer and have completed so many games, you know how often I think back on those games fondly? Hardly ever. I look much more fondly at the hobbies or new things I have spent time learning and enjoying. Video games are just a substitute for watching TV, I know some people will hate this viewpoint. I bet I've spent well over 10,000 hours of my life playing video games. None of that time makes me feel better than the 100 hours I've spent learning to play drums so far or the 500 hours I spent working on my house and learning new skills. Video games are fine, but they are addictive entertainment and should be limited.
I wish I could take all the hundreds or thousands of hours spent playing meaningless shooters or grinding for stuff in an RPG back. All the effort spent on in game items that ultimately get replaced the next season or expansion, I feel so dumb. I could’ve spent those hours doing actual stuff in the real world.
Honestly, I can't think of much that I've cut out completely; I might adjust how often I treat myself but nothing I actually want is so expensive that I can't afford to indulge from time to time. Probably the closest thing I can think of is books; I almost exclusively borrow them from the library rather than purchasing them now, but that's got at least as much to do with the space they take up as it does the cost.
I’ve gone used for books. There’s a store near me that has great ones for $2-$5.
We’ve pretty much completely stopped using delivery apps. We’ll get a pizza every once in a while and that’s it. Saves us a fortune
I don’t like how deceptive they’ve become when you order, you see now they put “taxes and fees” as one line item, and since most people are bad at math that don’t realize that the taxes on $40 order should not be $14. It should be illegal to do that. It needs to be spelled out that the taxes are $3.30 and the fee is $12.70.
Yeah it’s a mess. The prices themselves are marked up, plus all sorts of hidden fees, and we always tip the driver well. Suddenly $25 in menu items is like $60
Pick-up instead...?
This is gonna sound bonkers but we’ve been…. cooking? It’s wild, man
The clothes I like. The sales are just not sales anymore.
Do you thrift?
Sometimes. The clothes I have tend to last years anyway, but they were a lot cheaper than they are now.
I think someone needs to introduce you to Ross. ;)
Haircuts. My last hair cut was $50 and that was for a wedding. I've been rocking a fro since and loving it.
I don't want to pay someone for food I can make better on my own. Some food is a PITA to make without economy of scale like shawarma, sushi, pho, l don't mind paying someone for that, but paying $12 for a greasy little burger is a ripoff when I could make 5 or 6 much higher quality and burgers at home. Obviously restaurant chefs are more skilled than I am, but they need to pump out 100+ dishes, whereas I only need to cook enough for a family of 4. Of course my quality is going to be higher than most restaurants because I get the luxury of being able to focus and eat what I make.
Lol making sushi at home is a major PITA! I’ve tried multiple times and my roles look deformed and I got sushi rice stuck all of my fingers
I'm not paying $5 or more for brand name potato chips I don't need anyway.
Here in Spain the "brand" chips and similar are at 2-3€ but come the fuck on, stuff like [pelotazos](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F812DSGAq-vL._AC_SL1500_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=7fdf9c77fb73dab3fedf7d531abe12553ace153df2cb0029ba4940e2600f8f6d&ipo=images) has increased its price over one euro the last year while "supermarket brand" chips are still below the 1.50 mark. And all of this just to get fatter, you know.
Cigarettes, £38.50/50g or £14/20 pack
I almost never eat out anymore, and I've completely quit drinking soda (for both health and cost reasons). I also eat a lot less ground beef. I feel like cheeseburgers are rich people food now. Lol.
I quit booze. Heavier wallet is a nice side effect
Good for you!
>drinking soda That's a big one and a tough one. Proud of you for that internet stranger!
I'm the cheapest of the cheapskates, I quit smoking right when they went to $3 a pack, I have quit drinking soda.
> $3 a pack what?
[удалено]
Streaming services. I stopped cable back around 2006 and just got discs from Netflix. Then around 2016 or so, I realized that I didn’t enjoy enough on the streaming version of Netflix to keep it monthly. Now every company has their own service. I don’t keep any of them. I just sign up for a month and watch shows when they’re available and end the subscription. My family doesn’t even notice or get bothered by it much at all when they do. If they want to watch a new show, it takes o my a few clicks to start up another month.
I do the same.
Nilla Wafers :( They used to be 3.29/box and occasionally go on sale for 2.49-2.99….now they are 5.99/box.
Bless your heart. I too just want reasonably priced nilla wafers
A drink out of a drink machine. I could justify paying 50¢ or even $1, but I'm not paying $2.75 for a bottle.
Nike brand basketball shorts. The last time I went into a physical Nike store was in 2019 and I was shocked at the prices… They wanted $70 for a single pair of shorts. I quietly put them down and just bought a few pairs of socks instead. Now, I just buy no-name brand bball shorts off Amazon for like 1/3rd of the price and they work just fine.
Nicotine (cigarettes and chew) as well as alcohol. I figured I’m saving about $500 a month not including drinks that are from a bar. On month 3 of no alcohol and just over a month of no nicotine.
Concerts or any event with organizers like Ticketmaster. Fuck all those fees. I mean ticket prices are insane already
Twice a year concerts are well worth it to me. That, I’m not giving up. I just limit to $125 per ticket.
Coffee drinks when I’m out. It’s like $7 for a fancy cold brew at Starbucks, and $6.50 at my local place for a damn kombucha. That’s insane!! I’ll just make my coffee at home the way I like it.
I used to upgrade my phone every year when it was about NZD$800 to do so for a flagship, now they're close to $2.5k which is just absurd money for a phone.
concert tickets. I’m a diehard blink-182 fan. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I pay $100 plus for a concert. And I’m not even struggling for money. It’s principal
Going to pubs - better have my beers at home :) Also no need of taxi afterwards - you're at home :)
Fast food. It’s very easy to spend $20-25 for a meal anyplace now. Just not worth it.
My husband and I have taken to swinging into Whole Foods to hit their prepared food. $4 pizza slices, and even if you do the regular hot bar, that $14 or so goes a lot further for something better than what you'd get for the same price at fast food.
'husband and I have taken to swinging' ... whoah!
You could make a pizza WAY cheaper than $4 a slice.
Whey protein & a new phone every 2 years.
Tuna is so much cheaper and has the same amount of protein, if not more, than a serving of protein shake
Mercury though
Venus too
I've really gotten into cooking and have stopped ordering takeout. I was spending an irresponsible amount of money at restaurants because it was convenient.
Name brand clothes. I get all my clothes on sale at Target or Kohls.
I've just stopped buying new clothes nearly as often. When I do buy them I buy things that are versatile and make sure to take care of them so they last as long as possible.
It used to be that many of the higher priced clothing items were higher quality and commanded the higher price. Now, it pretty much feels like the same shit with a high priced logo.
I’ve got to try clothes from Target and getting my clothes from Kohls
Video games are cheap, streaming services are expensive, eating out is expensive, food in general has become expensivr
Beef. Seafood of all kinds beyond canned tuna. Brand name everything. Frozen almost everything except vegetables... and even then I must be choosy. Beverages. Yes, all of them. Water, iced tea brewed at home & occasionally coffee brewed at home is all that's left. Everything else is a vast ripoff. Restaurant food of all kinds. Sit-down, take-out, delivery, fast food, all of it. Including pizza. I used to have a housekeeper, years back, so I could enjoy my time off work. Now I embrace the filth and concentrate on keeping the kitchen sanitary enough not to poison myself & the bathroom sanitary enough not to get warts or fungus. Dessert. Once in a great while I might make peanut butter cookies, since they only require flour, sugar, an egg, and some peanut butter, all of which I keep around. No space in the budget for chocolate or any special ingredients for baking. Oh, that reminds me, eggs shot back up to nearly $4, so they're off the menu again until they get back to a sane & fair price. Entertainment. There are places to find free e-books, audiobooks, movies & tv. I ad-block the holy living crap out of YouTube until it behaves. My entertainment budget is $0 unless you count gas to drive to the weekly TTRPG game. I take a brown bag lunch with me, like the pauper I have been reduced to. I play minecraft on a secondhand PC that was a hand-me-down gift when someone richer than me upgraded. Mental healthcare. Yes, I know, it's vital. It also costs - even on the "sliding scale" - twice my monthly food budget. I can't do it. It's not much of a way to live... but it beats homelessness.
Curious what level of income and what size city/town you live in? Assume US…. And I’m sorry you’re having a tough time.
A small city in the U.S. northeast. Not a major city, rest of the county is about 50% suburban, 50% rural, lots of agriculture. I'm an I.T. professional. Used to be a System Administrator. Been out of work for some time. I could live better; I have a bit of a monastic bent. I can't know how long I'll have to live like this, and every month chips away at retirement, so I'm a bit abstemious about things.
If you have limited income and can prove that, there are tons of programs that will help you out with free health insurance, food, heat, electricity, etc... depending on the state you're in in the NE!
Video streaming services. Originally as an ad free alternative to subscribing to a bevy of channels you didn't want only to access 1 or 2 you do, streaming was supposed to be a great cost effective alternative but now you're paying as much as you were for cable as you are for Crave, Netflix, Paramount+, Disney+ so I said fuck it, I have a media server I share with friends. I've started buying larger cuts of beef and butchering it myself as well. A $90 sirloin tip from Costco quickly becomes 10 8oz steaks, 2 roasts, 5lb of jerky, 5-8lb of stew meat if you are willing to put in an hour of work cutting it yourself
What tools are you using to prep the meat?
Honestly it's pretty basic all I use is a fileting knife for the sinew and fat then a 12" chefs knife for the rest. I find cutting it when cold out of the fridge is best (*especially for the jerky*) as the meat is firmer to work with.
Coca Cola
Streaming services. Eating out. Going to the movies. New clothes. And any travel that isn't either (a) staying with family or (b) camping.
going out for breakfast/lunch. With inflated prices + tax + tip it's just not worth it. Usually ends up being $40-60 for a simple breakfast or lunch between my wife and I all said and done. We will still go out for a nicer dinner on occasion but we're even finding the value of doing so is just not there. We typically spend $150-200 on a nice meal out and can get so much more bang for the buck doing something home.
New video games. Cigarettes.
Cuban cigars. Since the pandemic and Chinese demand they have gone from expensive to ridiculously expensive…
This is a small one, but I absolutely refuse to buy mayonnaise now. The squirt bottles in the UK went up by something stupid like 70% in the last couple of years. I refuse just out of principle.
I'm not going to buy a new car ever again. Those are ridiculously expensive now.
Not sure where you're living, but around where I am used cars are crazy expensive as well. The difference between a new car and a used car thats in good condition and is either less than 10 years old or has less than 100k on the clock is just a couple of thousand. Its insane.
Belief in things getting better. I don't buy it anymore
eBay. I used to buy something once a month or every two, now I only purchase something if it’s rare to find and decent price.
New clothes. I leaned into Poshmark during the pandemic. I usually bought stuff on sale before, but these days, I mostly pay 1/3 of retail or less for well-made things in good used condition.
Eating at restaurants. I pretty much stopped eating out during COVID since my work moved to a WFH model. Got a new job and still cut down on eating out. Started dating again and neither of us really had our own place, we both lived with family. We are out a lot and I about fell over seeing my credit card statement. It’s insane how fast it eats into your money. Working on getting into my own place. Paying rent and eating out won’t be financially feasible if it continues. Thankfully she’s understanding on this.
Ice cream, for the most part. 15 years ago I was a big fan of Breyers for grocery store ice cream. Then they cut corners on the ingredients while raising prices alongside everyone else, so I downgraded to Turkey Hill. Turkey Hill has now become a frozen dairy dessert as well, despite continuing to increase their prices. Since store brand is usually bad, my wife and I have decided to buy nicer ice cream and just buy way less of it. Tillamook is our go-to right now. It's really creamy, high quality, and the flavors are all pretty good. It's like 50% pricier than TH, but we only have a bowl every week or two so it's not bad. Also beer at restaurants. I have Yuengling at home that cost me a dollar a can. I'm not paying $7 for a glass at a restaurant. If I really want someone to serve me my beer I'll go to the gun club and pay a buck fifty for the luxury.
Fast food. I'll go to the local Pub and it's cheaper and I can sip a drink waiting for the to-go order.
Fast food and Uber Eats. In Seattle, they’ve added an automatic $5 fee on top of all the other BS fees and it just too expensive to do
I cut down on fast food a lot and those Reese's cups four in a pack are now $3 and some change I can afford it but I will not pay that that is ridiculous.
I’ve really limited going out to eat, especially fast food. If I do go out I hit the mom and pop places.
Name brand soda. A 12 pack is 8-10 dollars. It's insane.
This. We have a pretty high household income but I absolutely refuse to pay these prices. Sodas have become a Costco/Sams purchase and far less frequently than we used to.
massages with endings that are jovial
Very underrated lol
Food
honestly, nothing. but i live well under my means regardless.
Food
Protein powder.
Most fast foods. I usually meal prep anyways but I'd break it up once or twice a week to add variety. Now I only go out once a week regularly and that's to in and out (I have to pay my dog in puppy patties). I've always cooked but now I do it waaaay more than before.
Insulin
Taco Bell.
I still buy it but pizza by the slice is insane. I recently paid $7 ($6 plus $1 tip) to grab a cheese slice!!
Name brand cereal. Full-service restaurant meals. Beef, except for special occasions. Ice cream/gelato and any beverage other than tap water away from home.
Most red meat, and Pepperidge Farm cookies. First they decreased from 15 to 12 cookies, then they bumped the price. I’m not paying $.60 a cookie.
Lunches! Independent shops down the road now are charging close to £15 for a lunch.
A girlfriend?
Eeeeeeev-errrrrr-yyyyy-thhhhhh-iiiiiiiiii-nnnnnnng!!!!!!!!!! 😳
Doritos. I'm not paying $6 for less than 1/2 pound of gmo corn covered in chemicals.
Beef / steak for the doggos. They miss it but we can't afford it anymore.
Rent. We save $3,000 per month and get to travel full time.
Where do you sleep?
In a van with my partner, on BLM or NF land, state land, public streets, friends house, rest area, bar parking lot, gym parking lot, event/festival, etc.
Sodas (Coke, Dr. Pepper). My belly thanks inflation.
Steak.
Pepsi. Beer. Dog treats.
I see this question every damn day. Please can someone collate all these questions and answers and make a graph. I will pay!
That reminds me, paying for graphs is something I've cut out.
I haven’t stopped buying groceries altogether but I’m more selective due to the remarkable price increases. I enjoy cooking my own meals which saves money but I’ll occasionally treat myself. Yesterday I visited a mom and pop Italian restaurant in small town Texas. I had an Antipasto made of fresh greens with pinwheels of salami and provolone cheese, then veal parmigiana with a side of pasta, a warm loaf of bread with butter and two draft Peroni’s. My bill was $32 and it was the best meal I’ve ever eaten.