Y'All Finding Things More Expensive These Days?

[drynot]

Hey folks. How you all doin? Financially? Besides the obvious (fuel,food,housing) I've been finding the cost of goods and services in my neck of the woods has quietly snuck up into the stratosphere. We Canucks pay a few pennies more for the same items than our American cousins but geez louise prices seem way outta line IMO....

I bought 50 dollars worth of groceries the other day and carried it out of the store in 2 bags. Took in a film tonight (Rango, by the way...excellent) and that set me back 25 bones.....shoulda skipped the popcorn! Priced out a set of tires for my truck....ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS....for 4 tires!!!!

Now I know I am like alot of folks out there. I do have toys and I can cut back in plenty of areas....but it seems a little out of whack when people are seriously contemplating spending 70 GRAND on a brand new truck. My first house cost 69 grand and even then I thought that was too much....

Sigh....I guess I am gettin old....

[nhdl]

I agree. Everytihng is getting way too expensive.

[Rani]

Prices are going up and wages aren't. A weekly shopping bill for us is nearly twice as much this year than it was last.

We don't drink much more than the cheapest bottle of wine a week, don't smoke, buy papers or have the latest entertainment centers (I'm a gadget geek so this one is tough). Our last holiday was our honeymoon nineteen years ago and our car is nearly as old.

Times are getting harder .......... but I'm still smiling. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones; you can't miss what you didn't have in the first place. Hugs.

R.

[Guest munchkitten]

LOL ,I just spent 27 dollars and walked out with one bag.. with 6 items (one in hand.)

[LuvsGurl]

It's a global war against the middle class, orchestrated by the super rich. They manipulate energy and food prices so we are all put in the poor house.

[lil_baby_wet_n_squishy]

Supposedly there is a housing recession, but you wouldn't know it around here. Still costs 500k for a nice 3 bedroom house in a good school district..

[drynot]

Man...that's just nuts. 500k for 4 walls and a roof? Ouch!!

[LuvsGurl]

There is a housing recession, but that doesn't mean lower prices. The problem with most of these houses is that the owners (or the bank) have much more money sunk into the house than it is actually worth. Real-estate values dropped nationwide, but the banks don't want to take a loss so they sit on houses hoping the market will recover.

I hate to tell them... it's not coming back, not this decade at least.

So we are either going to have a large number of houses sitting vacant year after year or prices will be adjusted b/c, let's face it, some money is better than no money.

Same goes with food prices and everything else. It will get to a point where people drastically cut back on non-necessity spending (much like what happened in 2008) and companies will either lower the prices or face the possibility of going out of business due to loss of sales. Our economy is still driven by consumer spending, so as consumers pull back prices will eventually fall (like they did in 2009 when gas was down to $1.80/gal).

We just have to survive long enough to get to that point.

In 2008 the median household income in America was $52,000. In 2009 it had dropped to $48,000. I haven't seen 2010 numbers yet, but I fully expect it to have fallen to about $46,000. Jobs lost during the recession were mostly upper and mid-level ones, paying $25,000 - $50,000/yr. Jobs being added back during this "recovery" are mostly below the $25,000/yr range. So average income is falling falling falling. Unless some drastic changes are made to bring high-tech jobs back to the US I expect the middle class to be virtually extinct by 2015.

But, as I said, things will eventually balance out. All we (as consumers) have to do is stop spending.

If you think gas prices are too high, cut back on unnecessary trips. Go to work, go to the grocery store, go home. If you think food prices are too high buy only the essentials. Get hamburger and pork chops instead of steak and chicken. Buy store-brand or off-brand stuff instead of the name brands. If you think clothes are too expensive check out your local Good Will/Salvation Army/Thrift Store, lots of good deals there. If it costs too much to eat out, don't. If it costs too much to see a movie, wait for it on DVD. If you think cable TV is too expensive, cancel it. You can watch tons of shows online now for free and a Netflix subscription costs far less than cable. Not using that home telephone? Get rid of it. Getting fast food? Buy only from the dollar menu, skip the soda and get water (it's free).

There are lots of ways that we can all cut back, and if we cut back companies will get the message and lower prices.

[spectrumshade]

I also think part of the rise in prices is also the rise in prices of transportation. The said stores need to also increase prices to make a profit because the transportation costs have gone up. At least in the place I work, making stained glass, it's gotten more expensive because it costs us more to transport it here.

[Lanthey]

£90 to fillup a car. thats like 150$

The average UK price of petrol has soared to 128.62p a litre

Which is why we are a car free household. It's irritating and impractical but we just can't afford to run one. *shakes fist angrily at the petrol people*

[dmavn]

Another reason why it irritates me to see the train lines here in the us turned in to walking/bicycle trails. One of the things i loved about germany was that i could ride my bike to the station, ride to frankfurt, ride around the city on my bike the back again for ver little money. The us just doesn't have the infrastructure anymore. Where i live is 10 miles from work so i ride my bicycle, but if i want to go in to the nearest city to go shopping, 32 miles and accross a bridge with no pedestrian traffic, then i have no choice but to drive a car. No public transportation whatsoever here.

[DLK]

Supposedly there is a housing recession, but you wouldn't know it around here. Still costs 500k for a nice 3 bedroom house in a good school district..

jeez move to ohio. the taxes don't suck nearly as bad either.

[DLK]

£90 to fillup a car. thats like 150$

The average UK price of petrol has soared to 128.62p a litre

maybe we in the us should try some off shore drilling again.

[sarah_ab]

oh course things are more expensive. I was born in 83 and prices have always gone up... rarely gone down.....

inflation, recession.... the way of hte world....

i would be more shocked if you had said "notice things getting more inexpensive"....

[drynot]

I mean dramatically more expensive Sarah. Used to be that prices would increase a small amount over the course of...oh about 5 years or so. Now it seems like everything has taken a big jump and is on the verge of taking a big jump again.

[LuvsGurl]

maybe we in the us should try some off shore drilling again.

Won't help. Oil cartels, big business and speculators are controlling the price of oil at the global level. It doesn't matter how much we produce, we'd still be paying the same. As it is US refineries are operating well below full capacity and there are tankers parked offshore waiting weeks to unload. US demand for gasoline peaked in 2008 and has actually fallen off a good bit since then, but the speculators still want their money so they keep prices artificially high.

Plus, I'd rather not risk another BP type disaster caused by greed, corruption and poor regulations.

Just give it time, prices on everything will eventually readjust to a sustainable level or the nation will go belly up. Either way, I believe it will happen before 2020.

[Diapered Jason]

Plus, I'd rather not risk another BP type disaster caused by greed, corruption and poor regulations.

Don't get me started on the BP oil disaster, a result of BP incompetence and Halliburton's business as usual. Halliburton is the epitome for cutting corners. They are known best for their war profiteering in Iraq. I will never work with that company or do any business with them.

Another thing that pisses me off is oil prices. The US gets most of its oil from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico and Nigeria. We get a very small amount of oil from Libya, but yet the oil companies use the civil disorder in that country as an excuse to raise oil prices.

Not only does oil prices effect our entire economy, but guess what truck tires are made out of Drynot.

[LuvsGurl]

Don't get me started on the BP oil disaster, a result of BP incompetence and Halliburton's business as usual. Halliburton is the epitome for cutting corners. They are known best for their war profiteering in Iraq. I will never work with that company or do any business with them.

Another thing that pisses me off is oil prices. The US gets most of its oil from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico and Nigeria. We get a very small amount of oil from Libya, but yet the oil companies use the civil disorder in that country as an excuse to raise oil prices.

Not only does oil prices effect our entire economy, but guess what truck tires are made out of Drynot.

Yes indeed... good ol' Haliburton, run by our friend Dick Cheney.

Oil prices are being manipulated on a global level. All oil produced in the world goes into what is essentially one big pool and countries buy from it as they need. Blame the speculators for driving up prices more than the oil companies though. Energy speculation is pure evil and needs to be stopped before it does further damage to the global economy.

[BabyJune]

I was paying $5.49 for a bag of ground coffee (13 ounce bag). The last time I purchased a bag it had gone up to $5.99. Then I noticed that the quantity was only 11 ounces. That sucks, but not enough to make me give up my morning pot of coffee at work.

Gas is the killer, though. Between last Friday and this Friday, I've put $105 worth of gas in two cars.

[sarah_ab]

well theres you rpoblem.... quit driving two cars at the same time

[bbgirlmichelle]

Gas prices here are $1.40/litre ($5.29/US Gal). I try to avoid filling up on gas here and usually wait until I drive across the border which is only 3 miles away. Our dollar is right around even so anything below $5/gal in washington state is a savings.

I also buy certain other things while I'm there, a 2lb block of cheddar cheese costs $20 here, it's $7 in WA, all dairy is way cheaper there. I bought my last TV in WA, it would have cost me $1,200 here in Canada, but I got it for $600 in WA.

I buy things through Amazon US and have them shipped to a shipping address just across the border and bring it home myself, a lot of things Amazon won't ship from their US site to Canada, but are perfectly legal to bring across yourself and are at least 30% cheaper than buying it in Canada.

I've also just started buying my Bambinos directly from them and having it shipped to my US address saving me $20/case.

As far as other things like everyday needs, I'm a bargain hunter. I'll go grocery shopping a couple times a week and buy things I need when they are on sale, if it's something that we use I'll buy a bunch of them when they are on sale rather than having to buy it when I need it and it's not on sale. Prices are artificially inflated all over, if you can wait for it you can almost always find what you need on sale. Coupons are also a great way of saving money as are rewards programs. We've gone to see 3 movies this year in the theatre and haven't paid a dime for it because of a rewards program through our bank. We also have another one we use for our grocery shopping and a mastercard we carry that has earned us another $200ish a year in benefits.

[bbgirlmichelle]

well theres you rpoblem.... quit driving two cars at the same time

We've had 2 vehicles for about 2 years ago, but up until last november I was the only driver in the house. Our camper van usually sits for months at a time while we use our car to get around. The van gets 10mpg the car gets 25, it probably costs $5 just to warm up the van, but we use it for camping so it's nice to have

[Bettypooh]

This is a pretty deep subject so I won't go into hours of details. When I was a mere (or not-so-mere) child a pack of crackers and a 12 oz Coke could be bought for less than half a buck anywhere Now less than 50 years later those same items average $2 or more Inflation? Yes. Why? It's not what they want you to think, and it doesn't have to happen, but look at who makes money on percentages of interest and then you'll see who profits from inflation Now see who has power to influence the government and you'll see the same faces I remember a "gas war" between two stations, and Dad filling the car up for $0.17 a gallon. So we're paying more to better protect the environment than back then, but that doesn't come anywhere close to explaining the current prices There's not much use complaining about it until we the people decide to do something about it; until then it will only get worse Welcome to life.

Bettypooh

[BabyJune]

well theres you rpoblem.... quit driving two cars at the same time

Actually one car is Mom's. That one gets much better gas mileage, so I drive that as much as I can. (She only drives her car one or two days a week and doesn't go very far). My long commute costs me about $10 a day in my car and about $6 a day in her car. Wait until I get the Volkswagen out for the summer and have to fill three cars! Changing our carpool schedule this week from just Fridays to Mondays and Fridays. That should help a little.

[Creepymouse]

My Dad and I were exploring my late grandfather's house yesterday and found an 'essay' papa wrote about the Federal Reserve and who runs it, and why it doesn't work the way it is 'supposed to'. Of course they're going to do what is in their best interests, and not those of the middle/lower class.