What have you stopped buying because the price is now absurd? – 19 products that just aren’t worth the expense anymore

It’s fair to say that most of us are feeling the cost of living at the moment, with high prices making us all weigh up our spending choices more closely than ever.

This means our household budgets have had to make some cuts. And while certain luxuries survive, others have been dropped altogether. To get an idea of which things are now too expensive to justify, LockLogical8949 put the following question to r/AskReddit:

What’s one thing you completely stopped buying in 2026 because the price just felt absurd?

Here are the items which have vanished from people’s shopping lists…

1.

‘I stopped personal services like getting my hair dyed, waxing etc.

‘I stopped buying drinks like pop and juice’
-Creative_gal_3153

2.

‘I’ve almost entirely given up on buying concert tickets at this point.

‘I’ve missed out on the last six or seven shows I’ve wanted to attend because I simply can not justify spending over $150 for a ticket to see a show.

‘Not when I’ve been going to concerts for well over 25 years and have paid a fraction of that for mosh pit tickets to some of the most iconic artists of all time.

‘I want to see Lady Gaga this weekend. She has two shows in my area. Get in price is still hovering around $500.

‘Get right the fuck out of here with that shit.’
-NikonShooter_PJS

3.

‘It was late last year, but gamepass.’
-GaussIon

4.

‘Chocolate, prices are crazy high, despite the price of cacao going down’
-ChattyCreator

5.

‘I don’t buy new clothes anymore. The price is absurd while the quality gets worse and worse, especially in women’s fashion. WHY DOES EVERYTHING FEEL LIKE A DENTAL BIB?? anyway I’m only doing second hand now and I’m learning to make my own clothes.’
-pixieofsorrow

6.

‘Cigarettes. 90 days without smoking after smoking at least a pack a day for 20 years’
-KillinBrainCells

7.

‘Not completely, but I rarely buy roast beef anymore. I used to eat it several times a week. I prefer it fresh cut from the deli, but the price per pound has almost doubled.’
-Dildo_Shw4ggins

8.

‘Candy bars. And they’re no good for you, regardless, but they aren’t worth even a couple bucks worth of joy or energy.’
-jekewa

9.

‘Fast food combo meals. Not because I got healthy — I just did the math one day and realized a Big Mac meal costs more than the chicken thighs, rice, and vegetables I need to feed my entire family dinner.

‘When a drive-through burger costs $14 and a home-cooked meal for four costs $12, something has gone deeply wrong with the simulation. Fast food was supposed to be the CHEAP option. That was the whole deal. You traded quality for price. Now you get neither.’
-fan_ling

10.

‘Most subscriptions. I cut out Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, so many of them. They’re fine on their own, but trying to watch everything you want to just means getting multiple subscriptions and they stack up quickly. It’s cheaper to just get cable at this point.’
-magiarecording