Stay-At-Home Mom Lists All Of The Things Her Family Was Forced To Give Up Because They Can No Longer Afford It
This is the sad truth about the cost of living.
Gladskikh Tatiana / Shutterstock It’s no secret that the average person is struggling to live a financially comfortable life. Especially now that this phenomenon has started to trickle into "wealthier cohorts," it’s gained rapid acknowledgment by the general public as a huge issue. Between 2010 and 2020, the cost of housing and food rose between 21 and 27%, respectively — with recent years only expediting that growth across more industries.
One stay-at-home mom of two named Alex, known on TikTok as @alex.ishere1, posted a video to share her experiences with inflation and rising costs by listing average things she’s been forced to sacrifice from her family’s typical routine in order to make ends meet.
Here are 8 things Alex and her family have given up to make ends meet:
1. Paying for subscriptions
Alex acknowledged that her family’s subscription services were the first to be cut in an effort to save money. Hulu, Netflix, subscription boxes, grocery deliveries — all subscriptions that add up over time. For this family, it was a luxury they could no longer afford.
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An annual subscription survey conducted by CNET revealed that the average U.S. adult spends $1,080 per year on subscriptions, many of which often go unused. Though the convenience of having groceries delivered right to our door or access to all of our favorite movies and shows is nice, it's one of the major things that families can cut out to save a little extra cash.
2. Taking monthly Target trips
TikTok is constantly filled with influencers showing Target hauls, but Alex's idea of a monthly trip is much different. For some, a typical shopping trip to Target can rack up hundreds of dollars in total, but she admitted she only goes as an excuse to get out of the house, not to buy.
That time away is often used to grab a quick coffee or treat, which is almost always under $25 a month. However, with the rising cost of living, she said it’s no longer feasible to even take these quick moments for herself.
3. Dining out at restaurants
Not to mention the cost of the meal and the potential transportation costs to get there, eating out at a restaurant means additional costs for tipping, as well. An unsuspecting expense — especially with the rising costs of food and service — as the average American family spends around $500 each month when going out to eat, according to WalletHub. Alex and her family were unfortunately forced to swap sit-down restaurant time for quick drive-through dinners to ensure they’d have enough money to last throughout the month.
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Consumers are choosing to eat out more and more, as data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that American households are spending 41% more on dining out than they did 10 years ago. A U.S. Foods survey also found that the average person dines out about four to five times per month, but this just isn't realistic for many families in the current economy.
4. Having a job
Narratives of unemployed people in poor communities are some of the most misguided arguments in the media today. Research suggests that unemployed people are making the most fiscally responsible decision by remaining jobless. According to a LendingTree study from 2024, over 20% of American parents have been forced to leave their jobs to care for their children at home and avoid paying for childcare.
Not only is childcare extremely expensive for families where both parents work, as Alex addressed, but social and public services are often linked to income in harmful ways. There are two sides to a similarly negative coin when discussing welfare or social program benefits — work requirements and income regulation. Attaching benefits to work requirements can be innately discriminatory towards certain communities, like disabled communities or families with young children who would find it more destabilizing to have a job.
Conversely, for people who receive benefits below a certain income threshold, a side hustle or part-time job to fund outside expenses can actually push families over that threshold. Meaning if a stay-at-home mom decides to take a part-time job making an extra $50 a month, the $300 grocery voucher provided by SNAP can be taken away if that $50 puts them over the income threshold. Both of these scenarios are the reality for many working and middle-class families in the United States today.
5. Buying new clothes
Another important point, not often acknowledged by social media, is the reality that clothing is frequently overlooked as a necessity within social or welfare programs. Alex mentioned that she’s been wearing her pregnancy clothes for almost a year despite the significant changes to her body because she can’t afford to buy new ones. Not only that, but something as simple as a correctly fitted undergarment has become a luxury that's outside their budget.
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The good news is that it is possible to find high-quality clothes for cheap. Don't be afraid to browse through a store's clearance or sale racks. Local thrift stores and consignment shops also offer great bargains on secondhand clothes, and you can sometimes even find brand-new items, especially for kids.
6. Going to the movies
We’ve all been there — the big screen on a Friday with our parents and siblings awaiting a new movie that’s been promoted for months. What was once a fun bonding experience for families is now often financially unattainable.
According to a study performed by cabletv.com, the average price of a movie ticket is $16.08 in the U.S. in 2025. When you consider buying tickets for, say, a family of four, that's over $60 for tickets alone. This price doesn't even include food, drinks, and transportation. These increased costs, alongside the value of time for many impoverished families, make small experiences like this unattainable.
7. Taking weekend trips
Many families rely on the weekends to spend time together, especially when school, work, and other obligations take up the majority of their weeks. Even though these outings are the perfect way for families to spend quality time together, it has become both more difficult and expensive to achieve in recent years.
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“Now we can’t afford that anymore,” Alex confessed, “with gas being expensive, we just can’t afford it.” Coupled with the costs of transportation, the rising cost of living has affected family trips like petting zoos or water parks, as Alex mentioned.
8. Going to doctor’s appointments out of town
An unfortunate reality about living in the United States is the inaccessibility of healthcare. However, for this family, health insurance is not what holds them back from seeing a doctor or specialist. It's the commute.
Alex detailed how living in a smaller rural area means the closest doctor to them is around an hour's drive away. With the price of gas and the time it takes to travel there, the family has been forced to get care only in desperate times. For a 55-minute trip to her OBGYN while pregnant, Alex said the costs to travel there “drained their bank account” for months leading up to her daughter’s birth.
In our current world and with the financial crisis on the doorstep of so many of our neighbors and friends, don’t forget to be kind.
Everyone deserves the right to have food, a roof over their heads, and a means to live. More than that, though, families and individuals living in poverty deserve to do more than just survive. they deserve to be happy. Be quick to have empathy, not judgment.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
