Dealing with a spending addiction

One of my problems is that I love drinking soda and eating food at local restaurants and pizza places. As you know, the cost of food has increased. Last year, I used to pay $10 for a small thick crust special pizza. When I bought the same pizza yesterday, it cost me $17. In this case, buying food and soda strains my budget where I have to take out extra money out of my account to support my habit. I wish life were as easy when I worked in a factory in the late 1970’s since my income was enough to buy a car in cash. The realization that we are not in the 1970’s where money was plentiful to buy the products we want is painful. The only way to deal with this problem is to save even though it hurts the economy. However, I have not found economic alternative interims of getting a good job to increase my wealth because of the greed of the wealthy.