The Price Increases Have Begun

[Buckeye]

After getting my Scrabble fix this morning at the nursing home, I stopped by Wendy's for a baked potato and a side salad for lunch. They cost $1.19 each last week. Today they cost $1.49 each. Yikes, a 25% increase! "Due to the cost of gas" says the youngster at the window when I inquired whether prices had gone up.

[ziggy29]

Yes, fuel prices have a ripple effect on the cost of almost everything, but I think blaming everything on gas prices is a cop-out and a convenient excuse.

[RockOn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeye After getting my Scrabble fix this morning at the nursing home, I stopped by Wendy's for a baked potato and a side salad for lunch. They cost $1.19 each last week. Today they cost $1.49 each. Yikes, a 25% increase! "Due to the cost of gas" says the youngster at the window when I inquire if prices had gone up.

...have begun.

Don't worry the BLS CORE CPI is running below 3%, you'll be just fine. All you have to do is not eat or drive, just buy more other linens and clocks lamps and decorations. It's really easy.

Awhile ago I said at least my car insurance isn't going up very fast despite the fact they lowered what they cover (when from a no fault system to a tort system for injuries). That was then, now is now; just got my yearly renewal statement, up around 10% on my increased depreciated vehicles. So much for that!

[2B]

After all the ways high gas prices are killing the economy, I decided to look at what impact gasoline has on my spending. YTD, DW and I are averaging $300 / month for gasoline. If gas went to $2, we'd save $100 per month. That's hardly going to make or break most family budgets if they actually had a "budget" and not a credit card to meet their whims.

Commodity and energy costs are creeping into our cost structure. People are becoming more selective where they spend money and I suspect some of the price increases are designed to make up for lost customers. I think they will find themselves in worse trouble as more customers opt out.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2B After all the ways high gas prices are killing the economy, I decided to look at what impact gasoline has on my spending. YTD, DW and I are averaging $300 / month for gasoline.

You got me thinking so I took a look at our trend on gas spending since retiring:
2006 - $153/mo
2007 - $229/mo
2008 - $303/mo

Certainly not a good trend but hardly a budget buster...until I saw my average for the last two months: $440. Yikes!

[FIREd]

According to Quicken:

average monthly gas spending:
2006 - $118
2007 - $151
2008 - $145... Don't know why it's lower this year, we're not trying to drive less.

average monthly food spending (groceries):
2006 - $470
2007 - $561
2008 - $584

So this year a slight increase but nothing too concerning.

[dgalbraith100]

Average gas:
2003: $67/month
2004: $110
2005: $148
2006: $ 91 - Moved closer to work.
2007: $140
2008: $150



Average "Groceries"/Dining Out:
2003: $427/Month (3 in family)
2004: $503
2005: $622
2006: $742 (4 in family)
2007: $927
2008: $859


Unfortunately when it comes to food/groceries, you can't look at my budget to say things are getting more expensive at least not at this level. The second child adds quite a bit because I count diapers and that sort of items in groceries, not just pure food items. Groceries in my budget are the go to the store weekly and buy the things you "need". Items outside of that are tracked differently, but some non-food items (shampoo, diapers, toothpaste, toilet paper, Misc DVD, ..., get counted as groceries. If I buy a large item, say a computer printer in the same trip, I would mark that different, but a DVD movie I just don't bother to remove that from the grocery category.)

The big change from 2006-2007 is we started eating out more
In 2006 we went out to eat a total of: 229 times
In 2007 we went out to eat a total of: 386 times
In 2008 so far we have gone out to eat a total of: 177 times which should put us ~350 times for the year.

I know eating out is expensive, I enjoy it, I can afford it, I do it. Get over it.

Laters,
-d.

[Notmuchlonger]

1/1/06 to 5/31/06- 5110
1/1/06 to 5/31/06- 333

1/1/07 to 5/31/07 groceries,booze,cleaning supplies 5700
1/1/07 to 5/31/07 fuel- 381

1/1/08 to 5/31/08 same-6674
1/1/08 to 5/31/08 fuel- 419

[RockOn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger 1/1/06 to 5/31/06- 5110 1/1/06 to 5/31/06- 333 1/1/07 to 5/31/07 groceries,booze,cleaning supplies 5700 1/1/07 to 5/31/07 fuel- 381 1/1/08 to 5/31/08 same-6674 1/1/08 to 5/31/08 fuel- 419

That sure doesn't look like 4% inflation to me.

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RockOn That sure doesn't look like 4% inflation to me.

Who said anything about 4% inflation?

[ladelfina]

REWahoo, you gotta heed 2B. It's not just what you personally spend on gasoline. Look around you and find something not made with, or brought to you by, petroleum. Who hasn't seen the effects in other stuff, will. I don't know how much is speculation, or decreased production, but the fact is this will be passed on if it hasn't been already. I think I heard either Dow or Dupont was raising prices 20% across the board.

PPI (Producer Price Index) appears to be double CPI:
ESBR: Prices

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladelfina REWahoo, you gotta heed 2B.

Oh, I did. No annuity for me...

[RockOn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger Who said anything about 4% inflation?

Independent and the your BLS

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RockOn Independent and the your BLS

My tinfoil hat protects me from the radio waves.

[RockOn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger My tinfoil hat protects me from the radio waves.

Good job, radio waves can be damaging to ones health.

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RockOn Good job, radio waves can be damaging to ones health.

I know they might make people sterile too..

[plex]

I am certainly concerned with the increases in prices, but on the other hand, I live on so little, that even a 50% increase from almost nothing really isn't that much more than almost nothing and as such I could easily handle it.

The more you LBYM, the less you are affected by temporary spikes in prices for basic commodities.

I haven't really noticed my food costs increasing all that much, it might have gone up from $100-110 to maybe $120 or so a month. The gas prices hurt a bit though, gas is probably my second highest expense after rent, regardless though, quite manageable.

[Helena]

I bought some nice packages of sunflower seeds
at the dollar store a month ago... so I went back
to buy more... the cost was the same, but when
I got home, I notice the package was a different
color... and sure enough, the weight had been
reduced from 10 oz to 7.5 oz.


~

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgalbraith100 The big change from 2006-2007 is we started eating out more In 2006 we went out to eat a total of: 229 times In 2007 we went out to eat a total of: 386 times In 2008 so far we have gone out to eat a total of: 177 times which should put us ~350 times for the year. I know eating out is expensive, I enjoy it, I can afford it, I do it. Get over it. Laters, -d.

Your post made me check how often we ate out last year... Quicken says only 9 times for the whole year!!!!!! We really got to start living it up a bit!

[Midpack]

Sure is refreshing to see one of these threads with actual data for a change to give the discussion some factual basis...