Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

We cannot deny that it’s hard to live in today’s economy. Everything, even necessities, usually cost a fortune. And just as it is hard to live in such an economy, it is hard not to complain about it.

Last month TikTok user @uzoiswho did not resist this urge. They posted a short video on their account, which accumulated over 1M views. In this video, they ranted about how everything costs too much now.

More info: TikTok

Last month, a TikTok user expressed something we all have been thinking about – everything costs way too much – and went viral

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: whoisuzo

“I do not need to budget. Prices either need to go down or my pay needs to go up.”

I think I’m someone who’s fairly reasonable with my spending. I pay my bills, I take care of my needs first and foremost, I take care of my wants within a reasonable parameter. I don’t spend exorbitant amounts of money to the point where I need to track down how much I’m spending because money’s just flying out of my ears.

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: uzoiswho

“Things just cost too much! So again, either prices need to go down, or my pay needs to go up.”

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: uzoiswho

Watch the viral video below

@uzoiswhoWHY DOES A ROTISSERIE CHICKEN COST $10?!?♬ original sound – uZo

You probably already know what a budget, which was mentioned in the video, is. If not, don’t worry, Bored Panda has you covered!

A budget is an estimation of income and expenses over a specified period of time. To put it in simpler terms, it is an estimate of how much money a person will make and spend over a certain period of time. Usually, budgets are used to manage monthly expenses, prepare for unpredictable events or even to afford costly items without going into debt.

Now, let’s give the voice to an expert in finance, Lucy, instead of trying to explain the complexity of budgeting ourselves. Make sure to check out her website!

Lucy stated that in her opinion, the term budgeting has kind of lost its meaning. Being on a budget is not equivalent to being on a diet. According to her, being on a budget is a short-term decision to mitigate overspending or lack of income. “Like overeating at Christmas, you tend to eat less in January, right? Essentially, budgeting is deciding what you want to do with your money and doing it. “You don’t have to track every penny or do anything complicated but you do need to be on top of it – after all, you spent all that effort earning it, why not make it do great things for you?”

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: Mark Stebnicki (not the actual photo)

And while budgeting can be useful, she believes that “making better lifestyle choices in the long term is better for our wellbeing. Same with how we manage our finances.” She added, “When we can’t control the actual economy, the only control we do have is our home economy.”

When asked why people tend to be scared of budgeting, Lucy said that they simply don’t want to get close to their money. “Using food again as an analogy, most of us eat too much. If we managed our food portions & nutrition with more attention to detail, we’d have much better health. Same principle with our money. It feels daunting, it feels like it’s too much of a hassle, that it will take too long to set up & manage, it’s complicated, it’s boring.” She added that not being good at math is not an excuse either. She compared it to cooking – you might not be good at first, but you learn. After all, it’s a life skill.

Lucy stated that no matter how much you earn, you must manage it. “People are scared of looking too deeply at their debts & bank accounts because they know they won’t like what they see. It’s much more fun to spend money until there’s none left.”

Talking about the high costs of various goods and services, Lucy stated that it is influenced by many factors. “The economy grows and shrinks on repeat. Wars broke out, oil prices and so many things hit different elements of our lives from fuel to food production. When it hits hard like it has now, we can’t have our wages going up exponentially because that is unsustainable – the economy will stabilize like it always does but it takes a lot of effort & some short-term pain.”

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: Wendy Wei (not the actual photo)

Lastly, we talked with Lucy about strategies to mitigate the impact of high costs. She stated that the best strategy is living to your means. “When your income has shrunk in real terms against how much things cost, we can’t buy as many things. It’s a fact of life that our families over many generations knew only too well, you have to sometimes go without. Once this recovers & everyone can afford nice things again, I hope that we all remember this will happen in another several years so don’t go nuts with the credit cards! Create some savings!”

Lucy ended the interview by saying “We all have a right to be exhausted, angry, upset & frustrated and the prices do need to come down on things we need. They will.”

Coming back to the TikTok video, people online wholeheartedly agreed with the video creator. A lot of them shared examples of things costing way too much. And most of these things were basic goods such as cereal or T-shirts. And everyone expressed the idea that they don’t want to run themselves down just to afford necessities.

Netizens agreed with the video creator and shared that they don’t want an overly fancy life, they just want to have fun

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)

Man Goes Viral After Stating That Things Cost Too Much And His Budgeting Habits Are Not The Problem

I am a writer at Bored Panda. I have loved creating and writing down stories about people and things since I was little and I think this passion led me to get degrees in sociology, communication, and journalism. These degrees opened various paths for me, and I got a chance to be a volunteer in the human rights field, and also try myself out in social research and journalism areas. Besides writing, my passions include pop culture: music, movies, TV shows; literature, and board games. In fact, I have been dubbed a board games devotee by some people in my life.

Read less »

Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

Read less »

What do you think ?

POST

Kathryn Baylis 1 year ago (edited)

There comes a point in budgeting and cutting out expenses when there’s absolutely NOTHING left in the way of expenses to cut, without cutting necessaries like food or electricity or housing. You can only tighten the belt so far before you cut yourself in half. Why should people kill themselves working full time, and also having to moonlight with another part or full time job as well, and STILL not be able to support themselves, much less any dependents relying on them. This situation has finally ground itself down to the point where it is untenable and cannot continue. There will be a backlash amongst working people that I hope spurs the entire country on to make things right again.

31points

Ashtray 1 year ago

People getting angry at people who want to be able to afford more than the bare minimum in life is beyond me. Literally everything in life has double even tripled except our pay checks but cool be mad people who want more in life.

11points

Jessica SpeLangm 1 year ago (edited)

For those of you buying fancy Starbucks drinks multiple times EVERY week, you need to budget if you can't afford your rent but you're buying that. I like buying those drinks, but they are an every great ONCE IN A WHILE treat. I have to budget because prices aren't GOING to go down any time soon and I'd rather live in my house than get coffee out.

8points

venintherogue 1 year ago

I think you’re missing the point though. Like the video is about how people SHOULD be able to buy a coffee a few times a week. It’s just that everything costs too much and people are paid too little

11points

Load More Replies...

Sunshine Lady 1 year ago

Yes, that's true. Starbucks is not a big deal for me, but while I was working in an office, the fancy bakery coffee was at the same price as Starbucks. And I was usually getting coffee, sandwich and homemade lemonade. At some point I decided to budget to check where my money went and the result was I spend 200 out of my 1800 salary in the bakery for my daily treats. Yes, it was different time and I could live well without that thing in my life :)

6points

AltBren 1 year ago

This is true, but if your only luxury is a few cups of coffee , which are to help you get through work, then that's pretty bleak.

4points

irishleo8371 1 year ago

Yes, because not spending 20 dollars a week on coffee will pay my rent.

3points

Needmorecowbell 1 year ago

Agreed. That Starbucks three times a week is probably $25 a week, that's $100 a month, $1200 a year! It's the little things that sneak in. I completely get his point, but money leaks out and adds up and people don't even realizing it's happening.

1point