A mom on TikTok went viral after sharing a detailed list of things her family has had to give up due to the cost of living increasing.
Alex (@alex.ishere1) has reached over 976,000 views and 104,000 likes on her video by Tuesday afternoon.
@alex.ishere1 #stitch with @Ebonie #cuttingcosts #costofliving #fyp #foryoupage #genz #momsoftiktok #parentsoftiktok #1yearpostpartum #cna #itbelikethat #thestruggle #inflation #pricegouging #housingcrisis ♬ original sound – alex.is.here
Alex starts her video by saying the number one thing her family had to give up was their subscriptions. “We didn’t really have that much in the first place, but we had Hulu, DisneyPlus, and Amazon Prime,” she says.
She says that after canceling these subscriptions, her family downloaded free TV apps like Free V and Plex on their Roku. “Now we don’t have to pay for TV anymore,” she adds.
Next, she says her family gave up her “once-a-month Target trips.” She says she gets no time to herself as a stay-at-home parent. So, she would go to Target once a month and “set aside like 25 bucks for myself just to get a coffee, some face masks, and maybe a T-shirt,” she says.
“Now we can’t afford that anymore, so no more Target trips,” she adds.
Alex says the next thing they cut out was eating out for dinner. She explains that she likes to tip at least 20% when she eats at restaurants because she used to be a server and knows they don’t make much money. “But honestly, we just cannot afford to eat out anymore,” she says. Alex adds that her family now only eats out at McDonald’s or Wendy’s “a couple times a month,” and they use the restaurants’ apps to get free items with reward points.
One viewer told Alex, “I hate that you guys can’t enjoy eating out, but can really appreciate the self awareness that if you don’t have the money to tip, you don’t eat out.” Alex responds saying, “This is a PSA, please don’t go out to eat if you can’t tip.”
In her video, she says the next thing she gave up was working. Alex says she started working part-time in July. She explains that since her husband is in the military, they share a car, and can’t afford child care, she only worked on weekends for around 24-28 hours a week.
“But, because I went back to work, we ended up losing our WIC benefits and the food bank that we used to go to because it was income-based,” she says.
Alex adds that going to the food bank once or twice a month saved her family around $150 on groceries. “Honestly, with how much money I was bringing in, it wasn’t really covering entirely what we lost anyway,” she says.
“At that point, there was no point in me working,” Alex adds.
“It’s crazy how poverty is such a trap. My mom couldn’t work my entire childhood because we would lose more benefits than she was making,” one commenter agrees.
Alex says her family was able to get their WIC benefits back about a week after she quit her job, but “the food bank, you have to wait like a whole month and then reapply.”
Next, Alex and her husband have had to give up buying new clothes. She says that anyone who has been postpartum knows that your body changes a lot within the first year. “I’m still wearing the clothes that I wore when I was pregnant because I can’t afford to buy new ones,” she says.
A few commenters suggest that Alex creates an Amazon wish list for viewers to gift her family clothes. Alex says in a video response that she appreciates everyone making such offers, but she doesn’t feel comfortable taking them up. “With so many people struggling right now, I just don’t want to do something like this,” she says.
Other things Alex says her family has had to cut out are going to the movies, weekend trips, and out-of-town doctor appointments. “With gas being $3.50 a gallon, we can’t afford to drive an hour away,” Alex adds. She says when she was pregnant with her daughter, she had to make a 55-minute drive to her doctor because the offices in her town were all full.
“So yeah, that’s literally all the stuff we’ve had to give up,” she says. “Some of it is simple stuff that we used to enjoy, but with the cost of living increasing, we just cannot afford it anymore,” Alex ends her video.
One viewer shares her struggles with Alex, commenting, “I haven’t had a haircut or pedicure in almost 2 years. I miss small luxuries. I work full time, life shouldn’t be like this.”
“This is exactly why I’m pushing back having kids, I can’t imagine having to take care of kids in this economy,” another says.
The Daily Dot reached out to Alex via TikTok direct message.