The financial crisis takes no prisoners. If there is something we have learned in the past months, it is that people are losing it all to recession: their jobs, their houses, their sanity.

People have limited their lives in various ways, but up to what point? A recent survey taken by people between 20 and 30 years old shows that desperate times do call for desperate measures… to a certain extent.

Out of the students surveyed, 100 percent answered “yes” when asked if they had seen changes in the amount of money they had to spend. Not all is lost though: only one person said that his or her expense ability had been cut over 50 percent, with most of the people surveyed (80 percent) seeing their amount of money to spend reduced in between a 25 and a 50 percent.

When faced with the question of what had to go to make ends meet, entertainment such as travel, hobbies and nightlife was the first of the list for 54 percent of the people surveyed. Other things up there in the list “to go” were eating out (24 percent) and shopping (17 percent).

The survey also explored different strategies people are taking to cut expenses. 22 percent are cooking and using their lunch boxes more often now. 20 percent have started making lists to avoid buying on a whim, while 18 percent are buying more generic brands and second-hand products. Another 18 percent have cut back on nightlife, and 14 percent have switched their usual means of transportation to cheaper options like the subway (7 percent) or have gone further and got themselves a bike (7 percent).

But people are not giving in entirely to the crappy financial situation: there are some things that simply can’t go, according to the survey. Just 10 percent of the people said that anything could go, while the rest sticked to their guns and stated that they were not giving up the quality of the food they buy (30 percent) or little luxuries like music shows, pedicures or Starbucks (25 percent). 20 percent even said they were not cutting back on nightlife: “I need to destress from work!,” said Antía Fernández, 26.

The key? Compromise: “My philosophy is to cut things that aren’t worth it,” said grad student Paulette Safdieh, 24. “Like movie tickets, which are way too expensive. Instead, I try doing more things at home with friends and family, so it still feels like a night out – on the cheaper.”

Is the expense diet paying off?

Apparently it is, according to the survey. Only one person did not notice any significant changes to their ability to spend, no matter how hard they tried in cutting back non-essential expenses. More than half the people (66 percent) have seen their savings increase somewhere between a 10 and a 35 percent.

So to whomever is still trying to figure out how to make ends meet, a piece of advice: Prioritize, but keep your head straight. “What’s life if you can’t do the things you enjoy?”, Mario Vidal, 25, summed it up. “The occasional beer with friends helps me remember I’m alive.”