Personal Inflation Rates - (Not the current CPI or CPIW Rate)

[Mulligan]

Tell us about your golf expenses and trips to Vegas to bet sports?

That has dropped a lot too. We have been car pooling and one guy wants to drive all the time, so I dont drive anymore and I just pay his green fee every 3rd or 4th trip. The other cheap asses riding dont pay him squat.
I dont go to Vegas anymore to bet as Illinois has sportsbooks and only 50 miles away. I sheet you not. I have been over there 20 times since they opened and won at least $200 every time. Just went Sunday and went 3-1 and won a bit over $300. If Pereira hadnt choked on 18 like I would under the pressure I would have won over a grand! But he lost 2 million so I doubt he is worried about my money that went up in smoke.

 

[SecondCor521]

Last six months' expenses this year compared to the same period a year ago, I have had personal deflation of about 12%. Some portion of this is real, most of it is a consequence of how I account for the food my middle kid eats - it's college expense if he's on campus (and thus excluded from my personal expenses); it's groceries if not (and thus included in my personal expenses).

I have records going back about 10 years, and over that time frame the best fit exponential curve indicates about a personal 0.5% annual inflation rate.

I don't gamble so I've neither won nor lost any money there.

 

[aja8888]

That has dropped a lot too. We have been car pooling and one guy wants to drive all the time, so I dont drive anymore and I just pay his green fee every 3rd or 4th trip. The other cheap asses riding dont pay him squat.
I dont go to Vegas anymore to bet as Illinois has sportsbooks and only 50 miles away. I sheet you not. I have been over there 20 times since they opened and won at least $200 every time. Just went Sunday and went 3-1 and won a bit over $300. If Pereira hadnt choked on 18 like I would under the pressure I would have won over a grand! But he lost 2 million so I doubt he is worried about my money that went up in smoke.

Mito should have hit a smooth three wood and let the ball roll all the way down the hill instead of that crazy slice swing he took with the driver.

 

[Another Reader]

I dunno why everyone is so upset about inflation. The roast chicken at Costco today was still $5 and just as heavy as always. You can squeeze a lot of meals out of one of those.

 

[almost there]

I dunno why everyone is so upset about inflation. The roast chicken at Costco today was still $5 and just as heavy as always. You can squeeze a lot of meals out of one of those.

I notice "energy" and food shopping / restaurants the most. Gas has been over $6.00 for 3 months now. My elect bill doubled etc. Maybe its not in all states yet? Who knows. But it seems impossible not to notice.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I dunno why everyone is so upset about inflation. The roast chicken at Costco today was still $5 and just as heavy as always. You can squeeze a lot of meals out of one of those.

2 in our case (for 2 people).

 

[Fermion]

I dunno why everyone is so upset about inflation. The roast chicken at Costco today was still $5 and just as heavy as always. You can squeeze a lot of meals out of one of those.

Heh, Costco doesn't make any money on those, nor the hot dog and coke for $1.50. It is just to get you into the store so you buy $300 worth of other stuff while you walk all the way to the back.

 

[GTFan]

I have been much more intentional about grocery shopping and eating out, so we have kept our costs the same. We don't drive that much either. Our Property tax assessment just came and the Property tax (Atlanta Area) has gone up 45% since we bought our house last summer. I am appealing, but don't think I will be successful.

Yup just got ours as well, our modest house in the burbs assessment went up $100k in one year. Asked our county commission chair if our millage rate would go down to compensate and got a frown in return.

 

[Sue J]

I mostly noticed inflation in our utilities. For a long time our city was known for their low cost electricity and water/sewer. The past few years this has increased and is no longer a bargain. What gets me is that the sewer cost is more than double the water cost!

Our natural gas (heat, hot water, stove and clothes dryer) was on a 1 year contract that ended and I had to re-up. All the new prices were about double what I had before. Our DirecTV had their expected yearly increase and in addition to that they would not renew my loyalty discount for the previous amount, just a $10 smaller amount.

Like many here, our Medicare went up $22/yr for each of us for 2022. Our Medigap policies increased by $4 for our combined bil. Gasoline prices here are currently $4.49.9/gallon. We each fill up maybe every 4-6 weeks so while that is a costly item it's not as painful as for some.

Our property taxes also went up when we passed a major school levy in late 2019 for taxes paid in 2020. Yes it was "retroactive". Then our county did their reassessments and raised our valuation by 30%. We contested that, got a hearing and were denied. So our taxes went up again for that. Overall we're now at $308/mo which is reasonable but a lot more than we used to pay.

We are feeling the squeeze but we are still quite comfortable and can handle the increases.

We don't travel much but we do have a family wedding coming up in July in New Jersey, where everything is more expensive than what we see here. We are staying in a 4 BR, 2 bath AirBnb with our two sons, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. The recommended hotel was very expensive and we didn't want to be eating in restaurants the whole time. I'm already in the mindset that the long weekend in New Jersey will just be outrageously expensive and I'll go ahead and enjoy it!

 

[John Galt III]

Sue J, those are big increases! SPeaking of water bills, we got a BS fee of $15 per quarter added onto everyone's bill for 'stormwater runoff' even if you don't have any, lol. In other news, ny favorite loaf of bread, the 12 Grain, went from $1.25 per 24 ounce loaf last year to $2.09 now, at Aldi. I was browsing Kohl's today to spend down a gift card, noticed an American Tourister drag behind you on wheels piece of luggage that is only about 24 inches tall and 18 inches wide, on wheels, costs $299.00 (no, not $29.99). Who on earth pays $299.00 for a tiny piece of luggage ? Hopefully no one, lol.

 

[John Galt III]

I dunno why everyone is so upset about inflation. The roast chicken at Costco today was still $5 and just as heavy as always. You can squeeze a lot of meals out of one of those.

Wow! The roast chicken at Giant here in Pa now $7.99 But you can still get drumsticks or thighs for 99 cents a pound raw.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Sue, I just switched to you tube tv and it’s 65/month. You can share it with someone which I did so it’s now half that.

 

[karen1972]

Negative 5 %

We refinanced our mortgage, switched insurance carriers, switched cell phone plans, his prescription went generic, etc.. which all more than made up for the increase to food/gas/utilities. I assume the govt doesn't ask "why" just how much did you spend on x,y,z so using that same premise.. what inflation??

Our utilities are only up because our introductory cable rate expired and since its a monopoly I can't exactly threaten to switch.

Food is up 5% which is pretty good especially since we never ate out last year and I was baking bread and making my own yogurt vs. being back to more normal.

Obviously we are actively working to keep our inflation in check, with 45 year potential retirement ahead of us, it would be a bit frightening if we had to actually increase our spending by that much vs it being a choice.

 

[CardsFan]

Sue J, those are big increases! SPeaking of water bills, we got a BS fee of $15 per quarter added onto everyone's bill for 'stormwater runoff' even if you don't have any, lol. In other news, ny favorite loaf of bread, the 12 Grain, went from $1.25 per 24 ounce loaf last year to $2.09 now, at Aldi. I was browsing Kohl's today to spend down a gift card, noticed an American Tourister drag behind you on wheels piece of luggage that is only about 24 inches tall and 18 inches wide, on wheels, costs $299.00 (no, not $29.99). Who on earth pays $299.00 for a tiny piece of luggage ? Hopefully no one, lol.

Yeah, but almost no one pays sticker price at Kohl's. DW won't even go in the door without a 30% off coupon. Then she shops the discount racks. Then she uses she Kohl's cash from a previous visit. More than once she has left the store paying less than $10, with merchandise sticker priced at over $100.

 

[Koolau]

I wish everything was like my phone bill. Back in early 1990s dealing with land line and long distance bills our phone bill was usually $125 or so a month. Now its been $15 a month with unlimited phone calls and get internet too.

Heh, heh, what's happened to your cable bill?

 

[Mulligan]

Heh, heh, what's happened to your cable bill?

You its probably a complete flip flop. I dont remember mid 90s bill, but I remember paying $13 back in ‘87. And I could use the splitters to run lines to any room I wanted also!

 

[John Galt III]

Yeah, but almost no one pays sticker price at Kohl's. DW won't even go in the door without a 30% off coupon. Then she shops the discount racks. Then she uses she Kohl's cash from a previous visit. More than once she has left the store paying less than $10, with merchandise sticker priced at over $100.

Yeah, a lot of the items were 'buy one, get one half off', but still ended up being more expensive than Walmart. The best deals I found were $3.85 per V neck undershirt for Hanes, if you bought 18 at one time. And a dozen Gold Toe crew socks for $18. I didn't buy anything then, but may go back for the crew socks and use up $18 from my $50 gift card.

 

[John Galt III]

Heh, heh, what's happened to your cable bill?

I'm paying $57 per month just for the lowest tier of cable TV (no internet). One of these days I'm going to call them up and ask for a reduction. Another cable co is now competing with them. I may be the only person in their database paying full price, lol ! I asked for a discount years ago, before the competition was here, and they said 'OK, you want to cancel?' and I said no. They may not ask me if I want to cancel this time, lol.

 

[Koolau]

You its probably a complete flip flop. I dont remember mid 90s bill, but I remember paying $13 back in ‘87. And I could use the splitters to run lines to any room I wanted also!

Ours is included in our HOA dues but each time I return to the old homestead for the summer, I have to get cable and this year it's pushing $150/mo for level 1 beyond basic plus decent-speed internet. No fiber optic., 37 channels of home shopping (slight exaggeration) and ESPN 1 through 19 (another slight exaggeration from a non-sports nut.) YMMV

 

[dmpi]

I'm paying $57 per month just for the lowest tier of cable TV (no internet). One of these days I'm going to call them up and ask for a reduction. Another cable co is now competing with them. I may be the only person in their database paying full price, lol ! I asked for a discount years ago, before the competition was here, and they said 'OK, you want to cancel?' and I said no. They may not ask me if I want to cancel this time, lol.

My experience is that they actually want you to call once a year so they can try to sell you more products and add-ons like cell-phones, alarm systems, etc. I've never had trouble getting them to reduce the bill at least a little bit, sometime I get them to cut quite a bit off. My read on this is that they actually expect you to call and complain. Also I think the customer service rep has some latitude on how much they can offer. If you get a 'good' one they'll work harder for you.

 

[Another Reader]

Heh, Costco doesn't make any money on those, nor the hot dog and coke for $1.50. It is just to get you into the store so you buy $300 worth of other stuff while you walk all the way to the back.

Costco is only half a mile farther away than Safeway and I often walk to the back of the store just to pick up a chicken. At least I used to, pre-Covid. I can make several meals before bringing out the stock pot.

 

[ncbill]

Have a relative who is getting kicked out of their old apartment.

They had kept it for years even after moving into a townhome as a storage space for the items they wanted to keep (but wouldn't fit in the townhome) from a deceased parent's very large home.

The complex apparently had some internal policy of not raising rents more than x% annually.

But now they want my relative out because:

1. relative no longer lives there

2. market rent (price on website) for that apartment is 1/3 more than my relative is currently paying.

 

[rodi]

I used quicken to compare my YTD to last year's same period.

I was shocked it was a 37% higher!!!!!

Then I looked at the categories and realized that this year we put in a rooftop solar package. When I subtract that out it's NEGATIVE 12%.

I think part of the deflation is we sold a car- so lower insurance/operating expenses.

 

[indiajust]

my rent has doubled and that is half my spending. groceries up significantly and that is another third of my spending. not much impact from gas and utilities. all told I am coming in at around 40% rise in costs without any real change in spending patterns. Thanks fed reserve, free stimmy, and 50 years of war spending.

 

[GenXguy]

I've heard quite a few stories about rent really shooting up. I heard 58% increase in rent in Miami since the pandemic began and some anecdotal reports much higher than that. Doubling might be as bad as I've heard.