Mental trivial inflation

[LongRider]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:38 PM, Jaxom 1974 said:

Potato chips.  Seriously.  $5+ for at most a 14oz bag...?  Oof.

Its been awhile since I’ve bought canned tuna and it seems the cans have shrunk a bit.  
 

@Jaxom 1974
$5.00 for such a small reward sounds so American some how. 

[horangi]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:38 PM, Jaxom 1974 said:

Potato chips.  Seriously.  $5+ for at most a 14oz bag...?  Oof.

Sure- but a part of this is just brain-dead consumers.  Our local chain has them for $5 a bag, but if you buy 5 of them the price is $2/bag.  Yet, I see way more people buying single bags then stocking up. Overall, I am never ceased to be amazed about the poor economic choices of people at the grocery store.  Its like they were given a list of items that must be purchased, at any cost, regardless of substitutes, sales, or 'yellow tags.'  I was on another forum recently where folks were having fun denigrating people that purchase near-sale-date sale products as losers- my SO and I think its one of the best small-pleasures in life to find an item we are looking for at 50%-75% off- its like you won a little lottery!

Edit- I should note that folks in food-deserts are exempt from my scorn above, since they probably dont have access to the larger stores.

Edited September 11, 2022 by horangi

[horangi]

4 minutes ago, horangi said:

 

Darnnit- Edit system got me

Edited September 11, 2022 by horangi

[LongRider]

Hi @horangi what works for me when this happens, refresh, go back to the reply field and click in. 
if you look at the bottom of the field there is a message at the bottom, in very pale letters, that offers a chance to clear the field. Click on ‘clear editor’ and the field will clear. 
Just look for the pale message and click. It’s all fixed. 
cheers,

LR

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 9/10/2022 at 8:36 PM, DireWolfSpirit said:

What used to cost 20% of a median income now costs 35%.

"It currently takes 35.51% of median income to make the monthly principal and interest payment on the median home with a 30-year mortgage and 20% down. That’s up marginally from the prior 35-year high back in June, when the payment-to-income ratio reached 35.49%, according to Andy Walden, vice president of enterprise research and strategy at Black Knight."

eta: The example-

A year ago, a buyer who put 20% down on a median priced $359,900 home and financed the rest with a mortgage rate of 2.86% -- which was the average at the time -- had a monthly payment of $1,192.

Today, a homeowner buying the median priced home, which is now $403,800, with a mortgage at the current average of 6.02%, would pay $1,941 a month in principal and interest. That's $749 more every month.

Ive edited in the example for how homebuyers would now need to foot an extra $750 or so monthly on a median property from what it wouldve been a year earlier.

The bow will break pretty swiftly from here. This doesnt even factor for the extra utilities cost, so lets just say the new monthly expense is an additional "cool thousand".

Not bad right, I mean wages increased 3-6% for most consumers so..........

Edited September 17, 2022 by DireWolfSpirit

[BigFatCoward]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:03 AM, horangi said:

Sure- but a part of this is just brain-dead consumers.  Our local chain has them for $5 a bag, but if you buy 5 of them the price is $2/bag.  Yet, I see way more people buying single bags then stocking up. Overall, I am never ceased to be amazed about the poor economic choices of people at the grocery store.  Its like they were given a list of items that must be purchased, at any cost, regardless of substitutes, sales, or 'yellow tags.'  I was on another forum recently where folks were having fun denigrating people that purchase near-sale-date sale products as losers- my SO and I think its one of the best small-pleasures in life to find an item we are looking for at 50%-75% off- its like you won a little lottery!

Edit- I should note that folks in food-deserts are exempt from my scorn above, since they probably dont have access to the larger stores.

I was being flippant in my previous post re buying 36 bottles of wine to save money, but it speaks to a more important issue.

Many people are too poor to take advantage of multi purchase deals, don't have storage space or just simply don't understand basic maths well enough, they aren't 'brain dead'. 

[lessthanluke]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I was being flippant in my previous post re buying 36 bottles of wine to save money, but it speaks to a more important issue.

Many people are too poor to take advantage of multi purchase deals, don't have storage space or just simply don't understand basic maths well enough, they aren't 'brain dead'. 

That and if I buy 5 packets of crisps I'll eat 5 because I have no self control.

[BigFatCoward]

28 minutes ago, lessthanluke said:

That and if I buy 5 packets of crisps I'll eat 5 because I have no self control.

Same, I make my wife store the crisps in the garage to reduce the temptation.

Edited September 21, 2022 by BigFatCoward

[horangi]

7 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I was being flippant in my previous post re buying 36 bottles of wine to save money, but it speaks to a more important issue.

Many people are too poor to take advantage of multi purchase deals, don't have storage space or just simply don't understand basic maths well enough, they aren't 'brain dead'. 

No doubt- the storage space particularly rings true from years living in a 300 sq/ft apartment.  There is a case though that there is a certain point when you are too poor not to take advantage of those kinds of deals, if you have access to them.  My S/O and I lived through GFC living off of 12/$10 cans of condensed soup and drug store packaged meats purchased with their rebate currencies.  Though I hate to think about the sodium content of our diet back then!  

That being said, the 'brain-dead' part mostly refers to the folks who, you can generally tell, aren't doing the math at all when they shop.  You can generally tell when someone is going through the mental calculations/weighing the purchase and alternatives vs those that are not putting any thought into it before complaining about the final price at the checkout lane. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Gas back to $4 a gallon here this week.

We have quietly slipped into recession by some measures.

"Latest GDP reading confirms the US economy shrank for two straight quarters"

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/29/business/us-gdp-q2-final/index.html

Eventually these pressures have to weigh down demand and prices. Its just a crapshoot to how much pain we have to endure. How good will the lower prices feel when your part of the mass layoffs?

I think its going to a particularly nasty winter economy.

[Rorschach - 2]

On 8/27/2022 at 2:22 AM, HelenaExMachina said:

Soylent Green is people!

Also, @Soylent Brown

Though a 'pool fan, so more like 62% people.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Blame Firmino.

[Wade1865]

Six-pack, 12-oz plastic bottles, of Diet Coke went from $3.88 USD to $7.99! And that's just within the past 11 months (21DEC21-04OCT22)!! It must have been an error ... but it wasn't!!! Unacceptable (but I'll keep buying them)!!!! Because I get bad headaches if I don't drink them!!!!!

[BigFatCoward]

£6 for a deodorant, you have got to be kidding me.  No chance, i'd rather stink. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

The U.S. has seen major expansion in discount stores under numerous brands- Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Sav-a-Lot, and others. They are everywhere.

I have always pinched pennies by getting generic consumable at these places and then getting my produce, dairy, meats and other perishables at  local grocers like the meat market, Aldis, Piggley Wigglies. Or even better, in season, I can get some stuff direct from farms at stands and markets.

I remembers years back when I first started the whole "buying the generic discount stuff" at dollar stores and then rounding out the shopping at the grocers.

I remember being condescended a bit by a few family members that fealt I was behaving strange.

Almost as if they wanted to come out and say going to those stores was "slumming it".

To my way of thinking, waisting money on overpriced and marked up items is the silly behavior.

Funny how these same people let slip  in off the cuff conversations, how they "picked up such n such the other day at Dollar General."

I have a memory like an elephant, but I just let the irony go unresponded to.

Anyway I know ive rambled now, but the point here for me is that inflation is a powerful force, even a behavior shaping force.

Those that ignore that sword edge, those that foolishly refuse to adjust thier behaviors, do so at a price.

[horangi]

50 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The U.S. has seen major expansion in discount stores under numerous brands- Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Sav-a-Lot, and others. They are everywhere.

I have always pinched pennies by getting generic consumable at these places and then getting my produce, dairy, meats and other perishables at  local grocers like the meat market, Aldis, Piggley Wigglies. Or even better, in season, I can get some stuff direct from farms at stands and markets.

I remembers years back when I first started the whole "buying the generic discount stuff" at dollar stores and then rounding out the shopping at the grocers.

I remember being condescended a bit by a few family members that fealt I was behaving strange.

Almost as if they wanted to come out and say going to those stores was "slumming it".

To my way of thinking, waisting money on overpriced and marked up items is the silly behavior.

Funny how these same people let slip  in off the cuff conversations, how they "picked up such n such the other day at Dollar General."

I have a memory like an elephant, but I just let the irony go unresponded to.

Anyway I know ive rambled now, but the point here for me is that inflation is a powerful force, even a behavior shaping force.

Those that ignore that sword edge, those that foolishly refuse to adjust thier behaviors, do so at a price.

Well said!  It amazes me how much folks will go against their own best interests in the name of keeping up appearances.  We recently held a wine party having lost a bet on a game of pool.  One of the attendees, who is living off of a graduate student stipend, remarked how they loved it when we hosted because we always had quality wines and went on a tirade about unsophisticated (read poor) folks who drink wine under 25$ a bottle... all the while she was drinking a tasty glass of Spanish $5/bottle that we got from the local bargain store.

[BigFatCoward]

8 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

 

I remembers years back when I first started the whole "buying the generic discount stuff" at dollar stores and then rounding out the shopping at the grocers.

I remember being condescended a bit by a few family members that fealt I was behaving strange.

Almost as if they wanted to come out and say going to those stores was "slumming it".

To my way of thinking, waisting money on overpriced and marked up items is the silly behavior.

 

There are some things i won't compromise on but it also comes down to how much i can save.  If i save £2 on generic tomato Sauce instead of Heinz, but a bottle lasts a couple of months, then i haven't saved much.  If i can save 50p on generic beans and we use about 4 tins a week, then its worth doing. 

7 hours ago, horangi said:

Well said!  It amazes me how much folks will go against their own best interests in the name of keeping up appearances.  We recently held a wine party having lost a bet on a game of pool.  One of the attendees, who is living off of a graduate student stipend, remarked how they loved it when we hosted because we always had quality wines and went on a tirade about unsophisticated (read poor) folks who drink wine under 25$ a bottle... all the while she was drinking a tasty glass of Spanish $5/bottle that we got from the local bargain store.

My father in law is a complete wine snob, even he admits the stuff you get at Aldi is really good quality and so much cheaper than the big supermarkets. 

Edited March 26 by BigFatCoward

[Derfel Cadarn]

Imho Australian Shiraz wines are great and there’s a lot of good, cheap ones.

[kiko]

On 9/11/2022 at 5:03 AM, horangi said:

Our local chain has them for $5 a bag, but if you buy 5 of them the price is $2/bag

$2 for potato crisps? That's very expensive.  But for 5, they surely must be gold plated, right?

[Luzifer's right hand]

6 hours ago, kiko said:

$2 for potato crisps? That's very expensive.  But for 5, they surely must be gold plated, right?

You just have to cross the border to Austria. The most popular non-budget brand costs more than 2 € now for 150 g and even the cheapest brands costs more than 1€ for 300 g.