It’s wild how quickly the basics have gone from “eh, manageable” to “wait, how is this that much now?” Groceries, gas, random bills it all just feels like it snowballed. I’ve been doing the usual stuff cutting back, meal prepping, trimming subs but it still feels like there’s never quite enough room to breathe.
The hardest part isn’t even the money itself, it’s the mental weight. Like this constant pressure humming in the background. I recently found a site that walked me through a few relief options based on my situation completely no pressure. Just having a breakdown of what I could do without a hard sell was actually a huge mental relief.
Curious how others are coping lately. Have you found anything that genuinely helped ease the weight or at least made the chaos feel more manageable?
Anyone else feel like life just got way more expensive overnight?
byu/OldIsland4901 inFrugal
Posted by OldIsland4901
13 Comments
the full effect of 15% tariffs is not even here yet.
I’ve actually noticed that several of the grocery items that I buy have fallen in price recently – most notably, peanut butter and yogurt.
That’s within 2025, but if you look back over the last say five years, I think pretty much everything is up in price. But quite frankly, I don’t really think it’s anything other than the dollar being weaker.
Almost numb to it at this point. But it does reinforce the point that this economic cycle is not the same as the 2010s. At least I don’t think we’re going back to that period. What comes next and when, I can’t pretend to know.
It’s time to revolt against Trumpism
“constant pressure humming in the background” is a perfect way to describe it
I’ve basically lived my entire life in a pretty frugal state (grew up in poverty, now make good money and own my home in a VHCOL area) so feel as prepared as I can be – but yes, the cost increases across the board are still painful.
I don’t know what website you used, but my only suggestion to you would be to do a full budget breakdown of your monthly expenses, and really hone in on what’s essential versus what’s not, and figure out where you can mitigate expenses where possible. I’ve been able to negotiate down my monthly Internet bill, and have really leaned into my library and local buy nothing groups. I basically have a fully vegetarian diet cooking home as well, which is honestly saving money and made me healthier.
The other alternative would be to increase your income, which might be difficult given the current economy and job market.
Just ordered my groceries for pickup tmrw. I try to keep it at 200.00 every two weeks for 2 people and then 50.00 for any items we forgot or topping off fresh fruit, milk etc. I must have taken out 8 items to get it in budget, items I can stretch or live without. I’m glad I can shop this way but dang, it’s getting harder and I keep my meals simple.
I’m starting to get very bitchy about paying for things lol! Like I used to tip based on the whole bill when we went out to eat, now it’s only the subtotal. If something that we want is not in coupon or sale, we don’t get it. It’s needs only and even then I’m building my needs around what’s on sale.
I’m so over this. We are very responsible people but I feel like our government has been forcing us on a roller coaster for almost 10 years and we aren’t allowed off.
everything feels like a luxury item now
I have honestly felt this for the last 5 years. We printed money like no tomorrow during the covid19 era to stop that and since that era we have been printing none stop for wars like Ukraine, Isreal etc. so the dollar never stopped falling. Then you have the tariffs on top.
Yup. My healthcare costs (copays, deductible, and out of pocket) have jumped, and even though I’m super careful with groceries I’m still noticing higher prices by as much as as a dollar. I’m also doing some household repairs now (replacing central ac) rather than wait because who knows how much materials will cost in a few months?
Wait, how could that be if Trump reset inflation on Day 1? Aren’t egg prices down 400%? /s
I do know one thing, reading Reddit doesn’t help me feel less stressed about it.