Last week, Lindsey wanted to know which expenses you would never want to cut from your budgets. I thought it’d be fun to ask the opposite this week: What’s something that is necessary or recurrent that you have to spend money on that drives you crazy?
This is one of my favorite Home Ec questions. It’s always fun to learn more about peoples’ financial bugaboos. Answers have ranged from cellphone plans to clothing to kids’ temporary obsessions, like Legos.
For me, it’s what I think of as the NYC grocery surcharge. Pop into many grocers or corner stores, and a simple box of pasta could cost over $5. Don’t even get me started on the produce prices.
This wouldn’t be as big of an issue if it were easy to grocery shop in the city. But I’ve never had a car while I’ve lived here, and so I always need to go somewhere within walking distance of my various apartments. That really limits where you can shop.
And then there’s the $670 I pay each month for health insurance on the marketplace (double that to cover my husband). Luckily Chris and I are both relatively healthy and don’t really need to use our insurance much, but that almost makes paying the bill every month even worse. Groceries might be expensive, but at least I get to eat them! Health insurance is our third largest monthly expense after rent and food.
What’s something that pains you every time you have to pay the bill? Leave us a note in the comments!
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Lindsey Stanberry
