First, thank you. Now, I'll make cuts according to how people without means would.
Rent: There are studios and 1-bedrooms to be had. Depending on who your +1 is, share a bed or put someone on the couch. $3166->$1500-$2000
Health insurance: Hah. Order your meds from overseas and cross your fingers. Or go without. $600->$0-$200
Groceries: Everyone on HN keeps telling me healthy food is cheap, you just have to be responsible enough to cook. $400->$250-$300
Cell: Budget plan and wifi. $150->$50-$80
Cut a few bucks from electricity by being super thrifty on energy usage, and save a bit of that debt for your tax refund.
Looks like a few thousand dollars a month in "fat," and you still don't have creditors hounding you. Nice.
I'm not saying that it's ideal to make these kinds of cuts. In fact, in the richest country on the planet, it's practically unconscionable that someone would work full-time and not live with the kind of stability, if minor uncertainty, you currently enjoy. I'm just saying that some of us also dropped half their paycheck into rent, at a quarter the pay, and made due. Well, lost ~$150 a month.
With all due respect, there's zero chance I'd be irresponsible enough to be making 6 figures and still be living paycheck-to-paycheck. I say this not as an attack, but as a call for you to maybe interrogate and recalibrate your expectations for your spending and, by extension, your expectations for other people's spending.
I agree with you that most people can, and should, make some cuts, however, some of your listed cuts aren't feasible in the short term.
Rent: From my experience (n=1) most lease agreements force the remainder of the terms rent due within 30 days of early cancellations, making it infeasible to drastically reduce in the short term.
Health Insurance - If you are getting it through your employer most follow open enrollment periods and cannot be reduced/eliminated in the short term
Groceries: Fairly accurate for a single person, but in the context of the nCov situation many of the more affordable options are out of stock leaving more expensive alternatives.
Cell: Simple expense to cut in the short term, I would add non-essential subscriptions (streaming, etc.)
In order to live a fiscally responsible life, you cannot have such high expenses you are forced to live paycheck to paycheck. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for people to live within their means, but I don't think it is reasonable to expect extremely drastic cuts in the short-term (though I am not saying it was a prudent idea to put oneself in this financial position in the first place).
Rent: There are studios and 1-bedrooms to be had. Depending on who your +1 is, share a bed or put someone on the couch. $3166->$1500-$2000
Health insurance: Hah. Order your meds from overseas and cross your fingers. Or go without. $600->$0-$200
Groceries: Everyone on HN keeps telling me healthy food is cheap, you just have to be responsible enough to cook. $400->$250-$300
Cell: Budget plan and wifi. $150->$50-$80
Cut a few bucks from electricity by being super thrifty on energy usage, and save a bit of that debt for your tax refund.
Looks like a few thousand dollars a month in "fat," and you still don't have creditors hounding you. Nice.
I'm not saying that it's ideal to make these kinds of cuts. In fact, in the richest country on the planet, it's practically unconscionable that someone would work full-time and not live with the kind of stability, if minor uncertainty, you currently enjoy. I'm just saying that some of us also dropped half their paycheck into rent, at a quarter the pay, and made due. Well, lost ~$150 a month.
With all due respect, there's zero chance I'd be irresponsible enough to be making 6 figures and still be living paycheck-to-paycheck. I say this not as an attack, but as a call for you to maybe interrogate and recalibrate your expectations for your spending and, by extension, your expectations for other people's spending.