3 ms·

Great data...thank you

by ragnot 3y ago

roflyear 3y ago
It's good for a specific reason: you can see if this person did not buy the worst 6-7 items (or changed brands, you can find similar items for similar to 2021 prices today), their increase in grocery spending would have only been about 20%. That's still a lot, but it isn't 50%. Walmart still sells organic milk for $5.98. You can get 8 packs of yogurt for $4 still. I can't find something for his breaded fish, but I guess that's not a luxury item. :(
- jonhohle 3y ago
  Walmart claims to sell organic milk for $5.98, but it's been unavailable in our area since April. It was $5.68 at that time the last time we could buy it (April 6th, 2023). We can get Shamrock Farms for $5.78/96oz ($7.70/gallon, -26¢ from the table above), which would bring the total increase to 47.0%. I can't find a cheaper equivalent for the frozen fillets[0]. There are differently breaded fillets for cheaper (23.8¢/oz vs 29¢/oz, wheat vs. corn), but they are still around 120% more than we paid for the ones we like in 2021. If I substitute those for this particular example receipt, the increase is _only_ 42.7%. My point wasn't that I can't reduce my standard of living to live more cheaply. My point was that food prices have risen dramatically in the past two years. If I had already started on the cheapest foods and had nowhere lower to go, my prices would still have risen by approximately the same amount. For fun, however, I went through and replaced each item with the cheapest equivalent at Walmart, including cases (like the fillets) where I would consider a decrease in my quality of life. That still leaves me at 32.8% increase in cost. And I'm eating soggy fillets, yogurt that tastes like aspartame, have to doll up my cornbread with extra ingredients, etc., etc. If your cost of food has only gone up 20% since 2021, consider yourself lucky. That certainly isn't the case in our area. CPI says it's only gone up 14.3% in that same time period.
  - roflyear 3y ago
    Don't buy frozen fillets if they cost too much. Buy chicken, or whatever. I'm not saying you need to eat worse food, I'm saying prices of things fluctuate, and not everyone's grocery bill looks like yours. Being realistic, if you're upset that yogurt has gone up so much, don't buy it. Or, do buy it, but realize that not everything has gone up 35%. It's not true. 15-20% is the average.
    - jonhohle 3y ago
      I said prices went up, you say buy something else to keep the costs the same. Those are not equivalent. Even if I bought differently, I could not keep them the same (as commented elsewhere), and changing brands or products to keep costs the same does not prove that costs haven't risen. I'm missing the point you're trying to make. I showed the numbers. Not everything went up, some things went up a lot. The average price of my bill has gone up 47.5%. Show me a comprehensive receipt that hasn't. Do the same with mortgages. In October 2021 a 15-year fixed rate mortgage was 2.55%. Right now it's 7.59%. What product can I replace if I need to move today vs. then? I'd have to go back one month to get 100% increase for gas, but September 2021 gas was 2.36 vs. 4.61 average September 2023, 95% change. What can I substitute for fuel?
      - roflyear 3y ago
        I don't know what you want me to say, sorry. Good luck to you.

Great data...thank you

by ragnot 3y ago

Great data...thank you

It's good for a specific reason: you can see if this person did not buy the worst 6-7 items (or changed brands, you can find similar items for similar to 2021 prices today), their increase in grocery spending would have only been about 20%. That's still a lot, but it isn't 50%. Walmart still sells organic milk for $5.98. You can get 8 packs of yogurt for $4 still. I can't find something for his breaded fish, but I guess that's not a luxury item. :(

jonhohle 3y ago
Walmart claims to sell organic milk for $5.98, but it's been unavailable in our area since April. It was $5.68 at that time the last time we could buy it (April 6th, 2023). We can get Shamrock Farms for $5.78/96oz ($7.70/gallon, -26¢ from the table above), which would bring the total increase to 47.0%. I can't find a cheaper equivalent for the frozen fillets[0]. There are differently breaded fillets for cheaper (23.8¢/oz vs 29¢/oz, wheat vs. corn), but they are still around 120% more than we paid for the ones we like in 2021. If I substitute those for this particular example receipt, the increase is _only_ 42.7%. My point wasn't that I can't reduce my standard of living to live more cheaply. My point was that food prices have risen dramatically in the past two years. If I had already started on the cheapest foods and had nowhere lower to go, my prices would still have risen by approximately the same amount. For fun, however, I went through and replaced each item with the cheapest equivalent at Walmart, including cases (like the fillets) where I would consider a decrease in my quality of life. That still leaves me at 32.8% increase in cost. And I'm eating soggy fillets, yogurt that tastes like aspartame, have to doll up my cornbread with extra ingredients, etc., etc. If your cost of food has only gone up 20% since 2021, consider yourself lucky. That certainly isn't the case in our area. CPI says it's only gone up 14.3% in that same time period.
- roflyear 3y ago
  Don't buy frozen fillets if they cost too much. Buy chicken, or whatever. I'm not saying you need to eat worse food, I'm saying prices of things fluctuate, and not everyone's grocery bill looks like yours. Being realistic, if you're upset that yogurt has gone up so much, don't buy it. Or, do buy it, but realize that not everything has gone up 35%. It's not true. 15-20% is the average.
  - jonhohle 3y ago
    I said prices went up, you say buy something else to keep the costs the same. Those are not equivalent. Even if I bought differently, I could not keep them the same (as commented elsewhere), and changing brands or products to keep costs the same does not prove that costs haven't risen. I'm missing the point you're trying to make. I showed the numbers. Not everything went up, some things went up a lot. The average price of my bill has gone up 47.5%. Show me a comprehensive receipt that hasn't. Do the same with mortgages. In October 2021 a 15-year fixed rate mortgage was 2.55%. Right now it's 7.59%. What product can I replace if I need to move today vs. then? I'd have to go back one month to get 100% increase for gas, but September 2021 gas was 2.36 vs. 4.61 average September 2023, 95% change. What can I substitute for fuel?
    - roflyear 3y ago
      I don't know what you want me to say, sorry. Good luck to you.