Not worth it

[DailyDiapers]

Thinking about giving up coffee as it's just getting too expensive. As much as I love my morning cup it's getting harder and harder to squeeze it into the grocery budget.

I've recently stopped by Solo cups to drink soda out of. I'll just drink straight from the can for the price of cups these days.

Switched to store brand cherry cola... and I kinda like it better than coke now anyway.

 

What has the economy made you change?

[tuffy]

1 hour ago, DailyDiapers said:

What has the economy made you change?

We buy a lot more store brands than we used to. Found out that the store brand ketchup is a good enough substitute for Heinz and with the way our grand kids suck it down, that's a big help.

We also kicked our cooking skills up a notch and stopped going out to restaurants. We now have restaurant quality BBQ, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian food fairly often at less than half the cost. While the pandemic is mostly responsible for that, we liked what it did for our bottom line and kept doing it. We also make sure all the leftovers get eaten.

[Babygeebee]

Generally I use more generic brands now. Certain things I won't substitute, like Heinz ketchup. Beef is horrendously expensive right now so I'm eating more chicken and pork. I also try to fix one or two vegetarian dishes a week. I bake my own bread. It's about 1/3rd the price and is way better quality. 

[rusty pins]

Solo cups are plastic - you don't have to use them once and toss them out (unless you are talking the Styrofoam coffee type cups, but you said you used them for soda and now drink out of the can).  I rinse mine out with hot water and just put it on the counter upside down.  At work I use the same plastic solo cup day after day and have it on my desk.  With the exception of diapers, not everything that is disposable has to be.

[DailyDiapers]

1 hour ago, tuffy said:

We buy a lot more store brands than we used to. Found out that the store brand ketchup is a good enough substitute for Heinz and with the way our grand kids suck it down, that's a big help.

We also kicked our cooking skills up a notch and stopped going out to restaurants. We now have restaurant quality BBQ, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian food fairly often at less than half the cost. While the pandemic is mostly responsible for that, we liked what it did for our bottom line and kept doing it. We also make sure all the leftovers get eaten.

We've been getting more store brand products as well. We've been using Kroger's grocery delivery and so far I have been impressed by their store-label products; such as the cola I mentioned; but also the quality of the canned veggies and such.

41 minutes ago, rusty pins said:

Solo cups are plastic - you don't have to use them once and toss them out (unless you are talking the Styrofoam coffee type cups, but you said you used them for soda and now drink out of the can).  I rinse mine out with hot water and just put it on the counter upside down.  At work I use the same plastic solo cup day after day and have it on my desk.  With the exception of diapers, not everything that is disposable has to be.

I tend to use the same cup all day unless I have a cup of milk or something that wouldn't mix well with flavored drinks. I don't like to use glasses because of my shaky hands.

[ValentinesStuff]

Store brand soda, less than half the brand name. I switched right after COVID, because the price jumped so much so fast.

 

Store brand canned and frozen veggies.

 

PS I live near where they make red Solo cups. 

[Crinklz Kat]

I rarely ever use disposable cups.  I have a few around... but I have glassware.  "Pub" glasses (aka Pints).  Re-use forever as long as you don't break 'em.  Which I have.  But they're really cheap.   Picked them up at this outlet store up in PA.  

https://readingchina.com/products/libbey-pub-glass-16-oz-heat-treated?_pos=4&_sid=643ff5565&_ss=r

And I buy 2L bottles for home -- which until recently were by far the cheapest way to get soft drinks.  Not so much anymore.    As far as coffee.... I don't drink it.  But I have to expect it's gone up about the same as everything else --- meaning 30-40% increase. 

[Alyeskabird]

Honestly, most of the store brand caned vegies and stuff, are the exact same as the name brands. Same with stuff like frozen pizza and a lot of other things. I picked up enough of them at canning plants and frozen food factorys. Now to be fair, there are at times slight diferences, like frozen pizza will use less cheese or whatever for the cheeper brands, but, the diferences are pretty minor. 

I never use disposable cups, feels easyer for me to wash cups now and again than to use plastic. Still, cheep glassware can also be found at dollar stores, and places like goodwill.

There are a lot of good 'generic' sodas out there, just gotta try all the verious diferent ones to find wich one you like. Some are better than others. On the other hand, theres only like half a dozen diferent companys that make most of the store brands and generics.

Flavor preference tends to be like that. Out of the main brands I favor RC over coke, and coke over pepsi. Pepsi seems too sweet to me, coke is a bit too acidic to me as well, RC seems to be a good middleground.

As for the cost of things, so long as people pay, the companys will continue to raise the costs.

[feralfreak]

10 hours ago, DailyDiapers said:

We've been getting more store brand products as well. We've been using Kroger's grocery delivery and so far I have been impressed by their store-label products; such as the cola I mentioned; but also the quality of the canned veggies and such.

I tend to use the same cup all day unless I have a cup of milk or something that wouldn't mix well with flavored drinks. I don't like to use glasses because of my shaky hands.

krogers can suck it, if its from them its not welcome in my house.

 

i use to get fountain drinks every day, the one high point of my day, but that was when it was 1.05 for a 32 oz drink, then super quik upped the price to 1.47, and a month or 2 after that, 2.43, i get them once or twice a week now. grass i cut not as often as i should but generally every 10 days, unless the weather dictates i have to cut sooner or later. we changed to a cheaper tv service(but it was not just for the money, we had dish, but they got hacked never notified us, and they also had my uncle as one of their customers, HAD. he had a 75 a month plan, but in 1 month they debited his account for over 3k! he dont even get that much, i think he gets 500 a month to live on, they claimed they dont know anything about it and dont see anything on their end, BUT the bank print outs show dish did the debitting. they are refusing to make it right with him, we went to spectrum, and after we did so did he. i think we save about a hundred a month on tv, phone, internet.

[Dubious]

I don't drink soda at home.  I only drink soda when I have to buy something to drink, cause I wont buy water. 
At home I mainly drink water, and max 1 cup of coffee per day. 

I only use reusable cups and plates.
Wouldn't even consider using one time use plastic, and have no idea why you would.
If you are afraid you gonna smash it, buy plastic washable cups, often used by kids. 

Only place I can save money, is on diapers, and I'm considering going cloth-like as they are half the price. 
 

[Firefly 35]

3 hours ago, feralfreak said:

he had a 75 a month plan, but in 1 month they debited his account for over 3k!

You should publicize this if they continue refusing to make it right. 

[oznl]

I got a letter from our power company today.  It talked about "changes" to electricity pricing.  I hate those kind of changes:  a lazy 25% hike because of, well, whatever...

I'm going to talk to our hostile rescue-cat about her giving up oxygen to save us money 🤣

[DailyDiapers]

9 hours ago, feralfreak said:

krogers can suck it, if its from them its not welcome in my house.

 

Show me on the doll where Kroger's touched you... Seriously I'm sure there's a valid story there, my experience is only with their delivery service and not physical stores. I like them because they are the cheapest and don't accept tips, so the cost is less than shopping in some of the higher end physical stores. (Looking at you Publix.)

[WetDad]

I could NEVER give up the Sacrament Of The Bean. I love coffee and it loves me.

OTOH, I did cancel my subscriptions to the NYT and the Washington Post today.

[rusty pins]

23 hours ago, ValentinesStuff said:

PS I live near where they make red Solo cups. 

Some dark night go over there and root through their dumpster and send Mikey all the good ones you find.

[2sail2]

I always drive slower on the highway to get max fuel economy.  Speeds above 55 your car needs to generate more a lot more power  and push a ton more of air out of the way.   So, I drive 63 to 64 (in 65 zone).  My listed mpg is 30.  I get 32 to 34.  On one run I got 41.5!  I think second time I did it I got 37.  I also try to anticipate stopping: my brakes last to about 50,000 miles.

I have been shaving my cable bill.  First was the home phone it was $34.95 a month and less channels (there were some odd ball credits, but they really didn't want to give me credits anymore) .  So, the phone is down to about $40 a year.  Cable bill was $195, now $95.

My wife is on a 55+ cell phone plan.  It's still not that cheap, but still better than others.

I used to set Netflix to vacation mode for months at a time when there was nothing to watch, but since being home more and more content, I have not done that. 

I have someone cut the grass every two weeks, but he seems to do it every three.  I have to constantly remind him.  I laugh at my neighbors who cut it every week, especially with it being so hot and dry.  

[feralfreak]

12 hours ago, DailyDiapers said:

Show me on the doll where Kroger's touched you... Seriously I'm sure there's a valid story there, my experience is only with their delivery service and not physical stores. I like them because they are the cheapest and don't accept tips, so the cost is less than shopping in some of the higher end physical stores. (Looking at you Publix.)

i use to work for them, i found safety violations and brought them to managements attention, LIKE THE  LAW REQUIRES, instead of dealing with it, they just fired me, claimed i was too slow, but i was just as fast as others, as of the day they fired me, i refused to to so much as touch anything from them, and their products are not welcome in my house.

[vvp39]

When it comes to driving, the best way to save money is to combine trips. So I'll try to save other errands until grocery shopping day. My Democrat-ruled state put in a cap-and-trade program to "combat global warming"...actually to raise gasoline prices for consumers and get money for the state, so gas is close to $5 a gallon here, even at Costco.

[ValentinesStuff]

2 hours ago, vvp39 said:

When it comes to driving, the best way to save money is to combine trips. So I'll try to save other errands until grocery shopping day. My Democrat-ruled state put in a cap-and-trade program to "combat global warming"...actually to raise gasoline prices for consumers and get money for the state, so gas is close to $5 a gallon here, even at Costco.

That's alright, when the Governor in my State was first elected he doubled the gas tax, and then they implemented automatic increases based upon inflation.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

3 hours ago, ValentinesStuff said:

That's alright, when the Governor in my State was first elected he doubled the gas tax, and then they implemented automatic increases based upon inflation.

Sounds like Caliphoneya or some other Peoples' Republic that is part of some Soviet Union of  states that do whatever CA does Like PRMA or PRNY (that is actually legislated policy in these 'states")

As for coffee, I use TASTERS' CHOICE House Blend. For me, a jar lasts over 2 weeks. You can make it how you like and it is real brewed coffee that has not been subjected to more then the optimal brewing temperature of 200 F. Give it a try

[ValentinesStuff]

6 hours ago, Little BabyDoll Christine said:

Sounds like Caliphoneya or some other Peoples' Republic that is part of some Soviet Union of  states that do whatever CA does Like PRMA or PRNY (that is actually legislated policy in these 'states")

As for coffee, I use TASTERS' CHOICE House Blend. For me, a jar lasts over 2 weeks. You can make it how you like and it is real brewed coffee that has not been subjected to more then the optimal brewing temperature of 200 F. Give it a try

It's the Democratic People's Democracy of Chicago and the lesser portions of Illinois. 

[Dubious]

On 6/15/2023 at 11:28 PM, 2sail2 said:

I always drive slower on the highway to get max fuel economy.  Speeds above 55 your car needs to generate more a lot more power  and push a ton more of air out of the way.   So, I drive 63 to 64 (in 65 zone).  My listed mpg is 30.  I get 32 to 34.  On one run I got 41.5!  I think second time I did it I got 37.  I also try to anticipate stopping: my brakes last to about 50,000 miles.

The power needed is negligible, and the fuel used is minimal.
Your savings are from you not pushing the gas pedal so hard.

Braking is bad fuel economy.
Therefor, roundabouts are much better than 4-way stops, cause you can anticipate what other people do, and roll through the intersection, without braking. 

[2sail2]

US has a couple new traffic circles.  We'll see how those go.  

Here's what I am talking about with volume of air https://hackaday.com/2021/04/20/a-look-at-the-most-aerodynamic-cars-ever-built/

Pushing a car through the air takes work, and the faster you go, the more the air pushes back. Rather unfortunately, drag is proportional to the square of velocity, so as speed doubles, the drag force quadruples.

 

[Cute_Kitten]

Buying more store brands. No more lunch meat, that stuff is too expensive. No cherries this year either. We've had strawberries as a special treat when they've been buy one get one free. Shopping a lot more at Aldi's and Walmart grocery. We've cut out orange juice and iced tea. 

[feralfreak]

8 hours ago, Cute_Kitten said:

Buying more store brands. No more lunch meat, that stuff is too expensive. No cherries this year either. We've had strawberries as a special treat when they've been buy one get one free. Shopping a lot more at Aldi's and Walmart grocery. We've cut out orange juice and iced tea. 

i havent had cherries for years, costs too much, which sucks because i want them, and i want to plant the seeds.