Idk how you are running out of budget so fast. My usage is basically unrestricted tokenmaxxing ("/goal", flagship models at xhigh reasoning, etc) and my monthly burn is single digit thousands of dollars (maybe ~$350/day). Granted, my employer foots the bill so I don't care at all. But the return-per-spend is easily worthwhile and I'm not worried about the cost at these ratios.

Nerves of steel? Not even close.

I think 90% of the article is the author complaining about (predictably) bad small-model behavior. The large models are much better!