to trim	to economise, to cut back on
to sub	to substitute
anguish	severe physical or mental pain
prudent	wise, shrewd
to ham along	to be active
strife	state of conflict, angry disagreement
next to nothing	almost nothing
precariousness	an instance of depending on chance
to spook sb	to frighten, to scare
lackluster	dull, lifeless, uninteresting
it behooves you	it is right to do sth
thus far	so far
newbies	novices, things that are new
gourmet	food; sth that requires knowledge to be cooked
pantry	a small room where you keep food
to nibble at sth	to eat slowly by small parts
to mitigate	to make sth less severe, to overlook, to forgive
fickle	often changing/ not constant
vigilance	an instance of being watchful
to undo	to cancel, to unbutton, to unfasten
to spill	to cause sth liquid to run over the surface
haul	an amount of effort to do sth
to haul	to drag sth behind you
lot	destiny, fortune
to repeal	to withdraw (ex. of a law)
to take its toll on sb	to have a bad effect on sb/ to cause a lot of damage
prevalent	dominant
contemporary	living at the same time
first and foremost	the most important