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Businesswoman working at laptop with fast food on restaurant table
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Climb, climb, climb, life — and all of its associated costs — goes. It is honestly a wild and overwhelming time to be alive. There were those jokes from older generations about how movie tickets used to cost a nickel or a quarter, but now we find ourselves joking about when those movie tickets used to cost $10. 

As you traverse a landscape with its series of towering dollar signs, it becomes of the utmost importance to cut out the expenses that simply aren’t worth it anymore. Maybe this insightful AskReddit thread can serve as a guide of sorts, or you’ll have your own ideas to contribute to the productive conversation. 

So About That Whole “$5 Footlong” Thing.

Reddit screenshot about how $5 footlongs used to be much cheaper
Reddit

Seriously, what happened? Have we lost our senses completely, and is nothing sacred anymore? They should’ve left the $5 foot longs out of it. 

Related: 10 Best Subway Secret Menu Hacks: Chicken Parm and Beyond

The Grocery Store Simply Isn’t What It Used to Be.

Screenshot about grocery store products being more and more expensive.
Reddit

The grocery store DJs can play whatever they want. They can put together an absolute 5-star playlist, but it’s not going to negate the fact that so many of the products that reside within those aisles are stamped with utterly disagreeable price tags

Related: 7 Money-Saving Grocery Store Hacks, According to Redditors

Nothing Is Safe.

Reddit screenshot about how streaming services is crazy expensive.
Reddit

Streaming services actually used to be something to get excited about, in terms of not putting too sizable a divot into your hard-earned funds. 

Related: 6 Best Streaming Services, According to Frugal Redditors

The Speed At Which It’s Served Doesn’t Even Matter Anymore.

Reddit

Yeah, “value meal.” As if. 

It’s Become Its Own Kind of Delicacy.

Reddit screenshot about how food delivery is crazy expensive nowadays.
Reddit

Ordering food via delivery has devolved to be its own kind of special occasion kind of occurrence. 

Being alive is expensive. But it doesn’t have to painful thanks to our free newsletters.

The Tides Have Shifted.

Reddit screenshot about how hotels are a better deal than AirBnBs.
Reddit

There was a time when this was not the case, and it really opened the door to so many rewarding possibilities. 

The YouTube Playlist It Is Then.

Reddit screenshot about how live concerts are very expensive.
Reddit

Granted, there are cheap concert tickets to be found, and it’s always a good thing to support artists in their work, but wow, concert prices continue to rise to newfound heights. 

This Is Just Not Fair.

Reddit

To think that back in simpler times, the value of being able to fix something yourself not only gave your ego a nice gold star and pat on the back, but it also saved you sizable amounts of money in the process. Well, this seems to be less and less of the case. 

Why’d They Have To Bring The Chicken Wings Into This Mess.

Reddit screenshot about how chicken wings are getting more and more expensive.
Reddit

Chicken wings used to be one of those food items you could grab from your grocery store that were such a good deal, you almost were helpless to shake the misplaced guilty feeling that you were getting away with something. Well, no more. 

Yeah, They Should Have A Warning Sign Outside Some of These.

Screenshot from Reddit about farmers markets
Reddit

No doubt, there are great finds at Farmers Markets, but you’ve got to be ready to dig deep into your wallet. 

Oof To All Of This.

Reddit screenshot about how health insurance is wildly expensive to keep.
Reddit

A “bad year” shouldn’t look this grim. 

Butter Thinks It’s So Clever, Sliding Along, Getting Pricier By The Day.

Reddit screenshot about how butter continues to climb in terms of its pricing.
Reddit

Yeah, the other person had it right: Kerrygold might as well be the move at that point. It’s pretty much dessert disguised as butter. 

Related: Butter Shortage Could Jeopardize TikTok’s ‘Butter Board’ Trend

Could Probably Save Precious Funds By Making That Next Pizza At Home.

Reddit screenshot about how pizza is crazy expensive to eat out compared to making it at home.
Reddit

There are pizza restaurants that are worth the extra financial hassle, but then there are a whole lot of other pizza places that have gotten completely carried away with themselves. 

That’s Just Plain Old Sad.

Reddit screenshot about how a trip to Disneyland has grown to be wildly expensive.
Reddit

Just make sure to not tell the kids about this one. 

Related: 18 Expensive Mistakes to Avoid at Disney

Need To Break Out The Big Bucks For Cars Nowadays.

Reddit screenshot about how car insurance is crazy expensive these days.
Reddit

Those cars will get you, and in some cases quite literally creep up on you without the headlights on, only to leave you blinded by a mountainous, seemingly insurmountable insurance situation. 

Related: Buying a Car Can Be a Huge Waste of Money — Here’s Why

Meet the Writer

Matt has spent the last 8 or so odd years as both a writer and editor in Seattle and Brooklyn, where he is now based. He loves escaping the tirelessly fast pace of the “Mad Apple” that is NYC by taking walks and runs through parks where he’s able to catch up on the latest tea about society from the city’s ever chatty, always hungry, occasionally rabid, pigeons. When he’s not taking his urban nature strolls, or dutifully combing the deepest rabbit holes of the internet to find the content that’s worth sinking your mind’s teeth into, he’s likely holed up at a dark-lit dive bar with a book and/or some friends, or just easily he could be on the hunt for the next addition to his steadily growing plant family.