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

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.

Image credits: uzoiswho

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

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?”

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.” 

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

Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)

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