Does everything seem more expensive to you?

Yesterday getting "the munchies" I went to a vending machine thinking of a candy bar. They wanted a whole dollar for a candy bar!

This is a guy who remembers five cent candy bars and there is no way that I am going to pay a dollar for a candy bar. Somehow it's just morally offensive.
 
We're feeling the increase in grocery costs. Generally for special family gatherings, we like to have a nice little feast of porterhouse/ribeye steaks, salmon, lobster, etc.

10 years ago, one can usually buy porterhouse/ribeye steaks and salmon for $3.99 a pound, now it's $9.99. Not even buying lobster anymore. This is on sale and not a fancy place.

Let's just say my investments did not grow like that over the last 10 years!
 
Walt34 said:
Yesterday getting "the munchies" I went to a vending machine thinking of a candy bar. They wanted a whole dollar for a candy bar!

This is a guy who remembers five cent candy bars and there is no way that I am going to pay a dollar for a candy bar. Somehow it's just morally offensive.
Click to expand...

Walt, they might hurt your wallet a lot more, but these new dollar candy bars keep your waistline a lot smaller. Have you noticed how much a candy bar has shrunk over the years? I bet they are at least a third smaller than they used to be.
 
Walt34 said:
Yesterday getting "the munchies" I went to a vending machine thinking of a candy bar. They wanted a whole dollar for a candy bar!

This is a guy who remembers five cent candy bars and there is no way that I am going to pay a dollar for a candy bar. Somehow it's just morally offensive.
Click to expand...

That just shows what a dollar is really woth these days - 5 cents.
 
Chopped meat and cookies are the two items I have noticed the biggest price increses the last few years. Just a few years ago chopped meat's per pound cost was around $2.90-$3.60, depending on the cut (chuck, ground round, and sirloin) but now those prices are $4.30-$5.10. As a result, I am buying the lower cuts more often. Unlike chicken, chopped meat is never on sale.

With cookies, the price per pound not long ago was in the $3.20 range but now for most brands it is now $4.00. I will try out more of the generic brands but if they turn out to be mediocre quality I will have to switch back to the other, costlier brands.
 
scrabbler1 said:
Chopped meat and cookies are the two items I have noticed the biggest price increses the last few years. Just a few years ago chopped meat's per pound cost was around $2.90-$3.60, depending on the cut (chuck, ground round, and sirloin) but now those prices are $4.30-$5.10. As a result, I am buying the lower cuts more often. Unlike chicken, chopped meat is never on sale.
Click to expand...

Beef prices are being affected by the drought in Texas and the midwest.

Texas Heat Wave Affects Idaho Cattle Prices - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls
 
Potatoes. I remember getting white or red potatoes in 10 pound bags for 10 cents a pound about 10 years ago at my local cheap place. That's right, ten cents a pound. Starting about a month ago, you can't even find a 10 pound bag, only 5 pound bags, and the lowest price is 50 cents per pound, even at the el cheapo places. Horrible. On a positive note, I was able to get bone-in chicken breast for 99 cents a pound, at the same store, a couple weeks ago :) And a half gallon of OJ from concentrate for $1.79
 
Concerning the corn/ethanol thing- Not all is lost to making fuel. After the 'crush', a byproduct results commonly called the 'cake'. This cake is sold to livestock and poultry producers.
 
Well, at least stocks got a lot cheaper today:(
 
I have started to pull back on eating out, we now try to limit it to once every 2 weeks.

Fortunately, I am a rice & noodles kind of guy, so can whip up a satisfying meal with just some stir fry noodles, some leftover scraps of meat and veggies.

We stopped our expensive T-Mobile cellphone plans, and have gone to a no contract, monthly plan ( Straight Talk ). It was incredible seeing 7 different line items for taxes ( FCC taxes, CA taxes, 911 taxes, etc etc ) on our bills adding up to about 17% or more of the actual service!

With $1 evening rentals, I now rent from the red kiosks in WalMart and Safeway, instead of having a cable service. Savings are great - probably around $30/month.

Unfortunately, food, gas, utilities and taxes continue to go up, up up. Totally out of my control :mad:
 
Coffee seems to be going through price increases and package shrinkage....
 
Purron said:
Well, at least stocks got a lot cheaper today:(
Click to expand...
You know, as much as some in Washington were sounding an alarm about what happens to the financial markets if the can weren't kicked down the road a bit longer, I have watched Wall Street long enough to feel confident it was going to tank today no matter what. Buy on the rumor, sell on the news...
 
If any of you are Direct TV subscribers and buy the NFL Sunday package, they jacked the rate up on it again. Call and tell them your dropping it.They immediately lowered it from $53 a month to $33 for me. Lowest I've paid for it in over 5 years. Newbees to Direct tv get it free for signing up, that's what really got me going. My self esteem has risen a bit today since I fought back and won a bit.
 
I agree that things are more expensive. I also find that it is harder to compare one product vs another. Things are often packaged differently or have slightly different features.
 
Aldi takes some getting used to.

They only take cash or debit cards for payment. If you want a cart, you need a quarter to use as the key. If you don't bring your own bags, theirs are 5 cents each.

Produce quality varies day to day, and can range from marginal to excellent, at the same store. Produce is not refrigerated, so I try to get there early.

They only sell their own house brand products. Some are great, some are loaded with all sorts of artificial crap. I read the ingredient lists carefully and note what meets my standards.

With a little patience, quality food can be had at prices 33 to 50 percent lower than anywhere else. I consider it a worthwhile trade off.
 
I think a major component of item inflation over the past few years is diesel fuel costs. Trucks, trains, and tractors run on the stuff and the more it costs the truckers, train haulers and farmers they will pass the costs along the way. The consumer eats the bulk of the increases at the time of purchase.

There is no end in sight for fuel prices and therefore, no end in price inflation for goods and services that rely in any part on fuel. Don't expect these current prices to be lowered any time in the near future. '

There is also a component to inflation from bottled up price increases over the past 3-4 years where merchandisers could not raise prices due to curtailed buying by the consumer so these retailers have been living on razor thin margins for a while and once the dam breaks on prices higher and higher prices will happen as the retailers try to pay off their debts from lower cash flows over the past several years of lower consumer spending.
 
Seeing some food inflation here in Chiang Mai. Pork fried rice with an egg: before 40 baht; now 45 baht. Small bag of pop corn: before 10 baht; now 12 baht. Not a deal breaker but inflation none the less :)
 
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