The price of natural gas has tripled. I know there are reasons, but seeing our bill go up by over 225 dollars in a month was a shock. We keep the temperature at 66-68 during the day and 54 a night and only have a gas furnace and hot water heater. Per our bill last year was 2 dollars a therm and now it’s over 6. Edit and it’s going up again in a few days.
Here too. Our heating bill this month was awful and we barely even had the heat on because it hasn’t been that cold yet. I’m not pleased and horrified for people who can’t absorb the cost like we can - while it isn’t fun and will require moving things around in our budget it won’t make or break us. It’s too damn cold for people to have to worry about affording heat.
ETA: for me it’s fruit. My 2 year old eats so much fruit. He’s part fruit bat and a picky eater to boot so I indulge the 1000 varieties of fruit he will put away and I swear we spend like $100 on fruit every time we go to the grocery store.
Do you have an Aldi near you? My son was the same and still eats a ton of fruit. Only fresh, nothing in the cans or cups. Aldi has great prices on fruit and the quality is excellent. I'm still getting grapes for 1.99 a pound or less.
Ditto others that groceries are more expensive. I’m spending $250 a week (vs the $175 I used to spend) for the same stuff.
I’m a teacher and buses have been the one I’ve noticed most. I can’t do field trips because it’s impossible to afford a bus. I take kids to DC for 3 days and the bus used to be $4000. They quoted me $12,000 this year 😳
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Haircuts. Supercuts is $24 for kids! I take DS(6.5) every 2 months.
I found a few years ago, when my boys actually started caring about their haircuts, it was nearly equivalent for them to go to my stylist. Still close, and I think it’s around the $24 you note above.
I can't schedule DS months out for his haircuts with my stylist. I tried and he was always getting sick so I had to cancel the appt. She actually only charges $15 for kids.(I told her the disparity so she could bump her price up too if she wanted.)
Board games and card games! We’ve been having a lot of game nights and they are so expensive. When I look up reviews from 2-3 years ago they always list the price and some games are $20+ more now.
Going ou5 to lunch with my neighbor. We go weekly, and it’s pretty much always at or above the $30 mark. Used to be $20 when we started this a few years ago.
Beef jerky! I know it’s always been a more expensive snack, but today I saw a small bag that’s usually $9.99 or so for $16.99. And the large bag was $28.99. Insane.
Post by midwestmama on Dec 24, 2022 21:45:04 GMT -5
I never do Shipt or Instacart, and my recent order reminded me why. Everything was much more expensive. I only put in an order because we were still in FL and I wanted groceries when we got home so I didn't have to brave the pre-blizzard craziness when we got back home (to MI) one day before the blizzard started.
Fast food is not cheap. Meals for the 4 of us from Culver's (for example) is usually around $40-$45. A sit-down restaurant is usually $75+ after tip (and if both kids order off the regular menu and not the kids menu, it's usually closer to $100 after tip.)
We went to Kennedy Space Center while we were in FL. I was able to get discounted tickets ($10 off per ticket) through a discount program from my employer, and we got a children's ticket for DD. Even with the discount and 1 children's ticket, it was still $260 for the 4 of us.
Since Christmas was rearranged due to illness I ran out today for some home improvement supplies. Everything that used to be $5-6 is now $10: Painter's tape, bathtub caulk, etc. I guess I'll freehand it without tape but still...yikes.
My local farm store which used to have crazy good prices had a 3 pack of Romaine Hearts for $8.59. DS
Diet soda. DS gave it up for seltzer and I don't drink it, but DH is an addict. He also drinks tonic water nightly which has not gone up in price although sales are less common and not as good. Seltzer is up a bit, but not like Diet Coke.
My local farm store which used to have crazy good prices had a 3 pack of Romaine Hearts for $8.59. DS
Diet soda. DS gave it up for seltzer and I don't drink it, but DH is an addict. He also drinks tonic water nightly which has not gone up in price although sales are less common and not as good. Seltzer is up a bit, but not like Diet Coke.
I had pretty much given up my diet soda habit before prices went up, but this pretty much sealed the deal. It’s just too damn expensive to have more often than just for special occasions, which is probably better for my health anyway. I’ve switched over to unsweetened iced tea, which I brew myself….though price of tea has gone way up too.
6.29 a bag as of yesterday… and 6 bucks for 18 eggs.
We typically have had frozen fries once a week for a quick side, but I can’t stomach the price, so I just stopped buying them. Store brand is cheaper but not marked gluten free and my husband has Celiac.
Eating out… we have basically stopped because even quick service places are 60-70 dollars for five of us.
We are also a GF family and Thrive market has helped a lot.
We went to the movies today…aside from the high ticket prices ($13), a single bottle of water was $6 (double what it costs even at a sporting venue!!!) and a medium popcorn was $10!!! Made me happy we smuggled in the candy….
Starbucks, a cranberry bar and a small iced latte is $9. We don’t go out to dinner any more, at most we do take out sandwiches or a pizza and it’s always way more than I expect.
Health insurance co pays are going up an insane amount in January.
I try harder to buy in bulk, look for coupons etc. but it’s still nuts. I am praying we get a decent tax refund this year.
Board games and card games! We’ve been having a lot of game nights and they are so expensive. When I look up reviews from 2-3 years ago they always list the price and some games are $20+ more now.
Check out boardgameoracle.com and you can track board game prices. A lot of websites do daily deals. Also there’s a subreddit for alerts on good deals!
Board games and card games! We’ve been having a lot of game nights and they are so expensive. When I look up reviews from 2-3 years ago they always list the price and some games are $20+ more now.
Check out boardgameoracle.com and you can track board game prices. A lot of websites do daily deals. Also there’s a subreddit for alerts on good deals!
Soda is insane! We don't really drink it much at home, for me it's a rare treat when we get fast food or go out for something like wings. But I wanted to buy some to have on hand for Christmas guests, and holy lord it was $8 for a 12-pack. I did find a 3/$12 sale at Walgreens so I'm all stocked up, but most stores were way more.
We don't buy it for home either, so my H will usually get a coke when we order food or go out. Lately it's been $3-3.50 everywhere for fountain soda! That's just insane to me. I don't drink it much anyway but the price has meant I've stuck to water even more frequently now.
I think prices for drinks at event venues are shocking. No way should we be paying $15 for a draft beer at a concert.
Our gas station Quick Trip has such a good deal. For a dollar, I get a fountain soda and they have this vanilla and cherry syrup you can add to it. I'm doing a 75 day no drinking challenge so I'm so glad I can get a small soda for a dollar and it's so good. I feel like the fountain tastes better anyway. I would look for better deals at gas stations. I stopped at Five Guys one day for small soda and it was $3!!!! Also my grocery store has fountain soda for $1.00. Publix.
Post by basilosaurus on Jan 1, 2023 4:47:18 GMT -5
Uber and car rental.
Yes, I know a whole lot has changed in my 4+ years away from the states, but holy hell was it a sticker shock!
Andplusalso covid tests.
I've got the sweet hookup of my local store for 50c each if anyone wants some. I have 8 I purchased for my trip back and never needed to use, thankfully. Even with shipping it's probably still cheaper. Why?! Healthcare industrial complex, to mis paraphrase Ike.
Lest anyone take me seriously, I would absolutely mail them to anyone who needs, but I truly think it's not allowed. I know early in pandemic we couldn't mail more than 10 masks. I think tests are similarly restricted.
Post by tacoflavoredkisses on Jan 1, 2023 8:28:59 GMT -5
I wanted to get tickets to take my son to the hot wheels monster truck show and the Ticketmaster fees for the 4 of us were more than the cost of one ticket- it was like $65 in fees.
I don’t like that Impossible Whoppers (veggie burgers) cost more than regular whoppers. I’m sure there are a lot of factors that go into it like proprietary info and lower demand but since there’s no actual beef and “we” should be incentivizing people to eat less meat it seems like the veggie version should be cheaper.
The 60 pack of eggs that I normally buy went from $16.99 to $28.99. I know a big part of it is the avian flu but ouch! Colorado also passed a bill that all chickens have to be cage free so that is causing egg prices to rise as well.