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My Two Cents<\/a><\/p>\n \n Personal-finance columnist Charlotte Cowles asks the nosy, revealing, sometimes uncomfortable questions about money so you don\u2019t have to.\n <\/p>\n \n Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images\n <\/p>\n Surprising no one, the war in Iran is jacking up prices around the globe<\/a>, pushing inflation to a three-year high<\/a>. For the millions of people whose salaries aren\u2019t keeping pace<\/a> with the rising cost of living, the choice is pretty clear: It\u2019s time to cut back<\/a>. But where?<\/p>\n A recent survey<\/a> found that, of recurring expenses Americans had axed in the past year, eating out was the top category, followed by streaming services, the gym, clothing, coffee, and a car (those who got rid of a vehicle saved the most \u2014 $9,200 per year on average). Many people I\u2019ve spoken to mentioned doing some version of an expense audit:\u00a0They took a hard look at where their money was going and figured out where it would be easiest to skimp. One person told me that he printed out all his statements, circled every charge he\u2019d made without thinking \u2014\u00a0mostly streaming services and other subscriptions \u2014 and then canceled them. He wound up with an extra $300 a month. \u201cIt did not feel like sacrifice,\u201d he says. \u201cIt felt like breathing room I did not know I was missing.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s always nice when you can find spare dollars lurking in your spending habits. But for most people, it\u2019s not quite so simple. Scrutinizing every dollar you spend doesn\u2019t come easily, and most people can\u2019t stick to it for long<\/a>. Instead, it can be more effective to get rid of one spending category completely rather than trying to spend less incrementally across the board.<\/p>\n Of course, which category to choose is up to you. Here, we spoke to dozens of people about what they\u2019re getting rid of just to keep affording their bills.<\/p>\n \u201cI would rather forgo takeout food forever than stop getting manicures<\/a>,\u201d Tess, a 32-year-old elementary-school teacher, told me. She\u2019s not doing that exactly, but she did vow to stop eating non-homemade food for the whole year, a resolution she made in January after she noticed that all her bills had gone up \u2014 health care, groceries, utilities. \u201cI knew something major had to change,\u201d she told me. \u201cEven though it didn\u2019t seem like I was doing anything different, I was barely able to make my rent every month.\u201d At first, she tried to cut back on little things and monitor her spending more carefully, but then she realized it might be better just to cut out one big thing instead. \u201cWhen I looked through my bills, that thing was clear: meals. I was spending hundreds of dollars a month on restaurant dinners, random takeout lunches, a bagel on a weekend. So I decided I was going to quit and make all my own food at home.\u201d She started brown-bagging her lunch to work and deleted Seamless off her phone.<\/p>\n It was hard at first, she says. But once she figured out a few dishes to cook, it got easier. Going out to restaurants and bars is a big part of her social life, though, so she made herself some rules: \u201cI do allow myself to buy drinks, but only if I\u2019m with other people. So I can go to a coffee meetup or someone\u2019s birthday drinks and partake. Just no food.\u201d She did once go to a friend\u2019s birthday dinner at a restaurant, where she abstained from ordering anything. \u201cI told everyone that I was getting over a stomach bug,\u201d she says. \u201cIn retrospect, maybe I shouldn\u2019t have lied, but I didn\u2019t want to make it awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n Her goal is to make it through the year without takeout or restaurant food \u2014\u00a0or save $10,000, whichever happens first. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m almost at $5,000, which is motivating me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Giving up a car \u2014 if you have one in the first place \u2014 isn\u2019t really an option if you need it for work. But a few people I spoke to said that they made some lifestyle changes to do so. Catherine, who works in real estate in Colorado, sold her car after she moved to a more walkable area. Now she bikes or uses public transportation instead. \u201cDoing so enabled me to reduce my monthly transportation costs by nearly 50 percent,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Lena, a newlywed in Philadelphia, told me that she and her husband decided they aren\u2019t going to take any trips this year. \u201cI know that traveling is supposed to be money well spent \u2014 experiences are valuable, etc. \u2014 but after going on our honeymoon last Christmas, we decided that we\u2019re going to stay put for a while,\u201d she says. They\u2019ve turned down destination weddings, bachelorette parties, baby showers, and anything else that involves getting on a plane or paying for a hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cOur families were pissed about it at first, especially since we told them that we wouldn\u2019t be coming home for any holidays,\u201d Lena says. (Her parents are in California, and her husband\u2019s are in Texas.) \u201cBut now that gas prices have gotten so high and plane tickets are even more expensive, they are starting to understand. We explained that we are taking this year to save up our money so that we have more of a safety net.\u201d That said, they haven\u2019t saved as much as they hoped \u2014\u00a0about $1,000 so far. \u201cI wish we had more to show for it,\u201d she admits. \u201cBut our rent increased, and everything is more expensive. We\u2019re cutting out things we used to be able to afford just to keep paying for the things we need.\u201d<\/p>\n Gyms are an obvious cut when money is tight \u2014 several people told me they joined a local outdoor workout group for free instead. Others told me they\u2019d quit Amazon Prime, Instacart, or other membership programs. Amy, a 30-year-old graduate student in New York, decided that she\u2019d cancel her credit card after its annual fee went up. \u201cOriginally I thought I would open a new one, but then I realized that not having a credit card made me less likely to spend money mindlessly,\u201d she says. \u201cNow I just use my debit card or cash to pay for things, and I\u2019ve noticed that my expenses have gone down by about $200 to $300 a month.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure, she knows that she\u2019s missing out on credit-card points, and her credit score did take a slight hit after she closed her account. But she wasn\u2019t using her card\u2019s rewards much anyway, and it feels better to simplify. \u201cSomething about using a credit card made the money seem almost fake, instead of real cash leaving my bank,\u201d she says. She used to impulse-buy things online sometimes, figuring she could return it before the charge hit her monthly bill. Now that she has to plunk down her debit card, she\u2019s more careful.<\/p>\n There are a million ways to be creative about shopping less<\/a> (or not at all<\/a>). But still, it\u2019s not easy when advertisers are trying to sell you stuff all day. A friend of mine recently deleted all her social-media accounts simply because scrolling was too tempting. \u201cAfter I returned the third thing I\u2019d bought off Instagram, I realized it was a waste of my time and money,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m not telling myself that I can\u2019t buy any clothes at all \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s unrealistic, for me at least. But I did make a rule that I can only buy things in person, and not having Instagram is helping me stick to it.\u201d<\/p>\n To be clear, no one\u2019s recommending that you skimp on your mental or physical health. But plenty of people are doing it out of necessity: As health-insurance premiums rise, so has the number of uninsured Americans<\/a>. One person told me that she stopped seeing her therapist after she got laid off from her start-up job in February \u2014\u00a0and coincidentally realized that an AI therapy tool, Ash, was pretty good. \u201cI don\u2019t want to come across as telling people that therapy is a waste of money \u2014 it definitely was not for me,\u201d she says. \u201cBut after I lost my job, spending $100 every week for therapy was just not in the cards.\u201d AI therapy is not the same, of course, and she doesn\u2019t want to suggest it as a substitute. \u201cBut for me it\u2019s been very helpful. It\u2019s much better than nothing, and it\u2019s free.\u201d She has since gotten a new job, but she hasn\u2019t gone back to her old therapist \u2014\u00a0at least not yet. \u201cI have to say, having an extra $400 a month has helped my anxiety in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n Email your money conundrums to\u00a0mytwocents@nymag.com<\/a> (and read our submission terms here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n