One thing that helped me tremendously since I’m a cheapskate is the realization that:

" wait, you’re telling me I will stay healthy AND save money by eating leftovers every other day!? Sold!"

It’s actually quite scary the amount of money one can save when they buy and eat food to stay healthy instead of using it to feel good ( nothing wrong with that, I just don’t overindulge in this habit)

Spot on, and I’m not even American, but were are all affected by this.

My solution since 5 years ago is to embrace open source, embrace indie games, embrace organic food, indpendent products/producers, etc.

I’ve been saving quite some money and I have never been healthier physical or mentally wise