Apparently getting corrective eye surgery. Not that I ever had the procedure. How could I when I’d be dropping $7000?! I even tried applying for financial assistance, but my application was denied.
You are not rich enough not get financial aid. It’s only applicable to people with $$$, not plebs like us.
Politicians, they used to be expensive. Now it’s almost downright affordable.
Oh, you!
Already said a lot, but should be said again. Food.
Food, my weekly grocery bill has risen from ~80€ to ~130€ and I’ve started to limit and reduce snacks. Store is the same, amounts have gotten smaller, only difference is time. Few years ago when the first Lidl(Aldi) was opened and became the closest store to my home. Overall weekly bill never reached to triple digits, nowadays it never stays below that.
And i bloody hate triple digit numbers, my heart weeps every time i need to pay it and think about quitting eating all together.
I’ve had to change the priority of stores I shop at. Not even gonna touch international stores at this point. Only going to Aldi first, then Lidl for anything not stocked at Aldi.
Lidl has a larger variety than Aldi, but Aldi’s groceries are more affordable.
I though those are the same brand? Mostly because every time i mention Lidl in online discourse people automatically switch over to using Aldi or every time there’s a picture of some goods that for me are sold in Lidl, the description says Aldi.
Food is so expensive. I’ll be like I’m going to cut back and save money this week, so no meat, no fresh fruits or veggies, no snacks, no prepared meals and only 1 meal a day this week. I’ll leave the grocery store with one small bag of food and a $85 bill and I’m scratching my head going “how the fuck?” It feels like no matter what I buy it all costs the same
Cow. Ground beef got so expensive. Good for me in the sense that I am eating less red meat, but bad in the sense that meal prep takes longer now.
Gotta thank the screwworms that Trump let into the country over the borders.
It’s nearly $8/pound in Los Angeles
80/20 is around $6.00 per lb on the east coast (at least near me), and 90/10 was over 10 bucks a pound last I checked. Though I have not bothered to look in a while.
Having teeth.
Them luxury bones. Had to get a front tooth root canal and crown and it was $1,600 WITH insurance.
Sounds weird but, chocolate chips.
Oh, and a $70k Toyota Tacoma. $70,000, for a taco. The fuck is Toyota smoking?
Agreed on chocolate chips.
I found getting the small bags of ready-made cookie mix is more affordable at this point.
Eggs are back to 1.90-2 per dozen, but velveeta slices are $6 and a gallon of milk is $5-6 also
Scallions are still cheap but fish and shrimp, chicken and beef are way up. I cook most of my family’s food but if we want Uber Eats it’s always like $60-100. We are in Manhattan, but honestly when I visit family in FL or GA it’s not much better. Coffee is double what it was 2 years ago.
Careful about flashing that kind of cash
Healthcare
I just spent $109 for a Valvoline oil change in the Los Angeles area. I found this old coupon from 2014. Crazy how much it’s increased.
Do oil changes yourself. It’s very simple and kind of fun. First time took me 45 mins. Every time after that, about 10 mins, and most of that is sitting around waiting for the oil to drain before screwing the plug back in.
Really, for most cars, if you can pump gas then you can do the oil and oil filter, fluids (coolants, brake, power steering, etc), air and cabin filters. They generally involve unscrewing or unclipping something, then popping it back on. Brake pads are also very simple. These are parts designed to be replaced regularly so are quick and simple with 1 or 2 tools, if a tool is even needed.
In this economy I learned how to do my own maintenance. I refuse to pay someone else over a $100 to unscrew something then screw in something else.
You’re paying for the labor, the time to check everything else and giving you actual decisions. That’s where the rest of that 50 bucks is going. Yes you do need ONLY the oil change, and maybe you don’t need anything else but the one thing I learned about cars is that they’re like fickle people. They won’t open up unless you deliberately ask them all the right questions lmao!
I knew how to change oil before I even had a license. You need to be able to handle your own shit because you’ll be gouged every single time otherwise
The way I see it if anyone opened a drivers school that also taught basic maintenance they’d make a killing here.
Same. Did my brakes last weekend and saved like $700. And it’s about as hard as an oil change.
Its kinda crazy what mechanics charge in the US. I get that they have significant tooling costs to recoup, and every job isn’t so straightforward and that all gets spread out, but shit I paid $5 for 2 new footpegs and bending my shifter back onto place with a torch, then $4 for an oil change after I got hit by a taxi.
Last year they said I needed a new turbo. Quoted me $2300. I got the part and tools for under $1200
Turns out that didn’t fix it and it was the catalytic converter - bad misfire clogged it with gas. Replaced the downpipe for $800 and then sold the old cats as scrap for $250.
Now I know that I can do all that stuff and I saved $550.
I’ve only ever once paid someone to change my oil, and that was because I physically couldn’t do it. A filter is less than $10 and 5 quarts of full synthetic is less than 30. The whole job takes longer to find all my tools than to just do it.
For conventional or synthetic? That’s pretty fair price for synthetic.
Yeah, I’ve been making it a habit to budget $300 for routine maintenance when I have to go to Valvoline. At least the car runs well, even if I’m hungry.
Gasoline isn’t even that expensive. At least, not compared to the 2008 oil crunch when prices got up to a 2026 adjusted $6.30/gal.
Even 2022 saw higher prices, shortly after the COVID supply shock, at north of $5.
Given the percentage of my budget that’s gasoline related, I just don’t see how it ranks beside the sudden spike in water bills we’ve been seeing. Or the inflation in rental rates. Unless you’re driving an absolute hog of a car, it’s just not that much by comparison.
The media has been hyping the shit out of how bad gas prices are, when they’ve not really gotten bad yet, but wait as we run out of strategic reserve.
literally everything. I stopped getting fast food and lottery tickets because they were no longer inconsequential amounts. I mean its not exactly a bad thing for my health and well being but its kinda crazy. Ironically. Relatively speaking. Healthier stuff is cheaper because less and less people can afford it. I even see soda companies desperately trying to raise prices but folks don’t have it. Every sale the shelves get cleared because everyone is stocking up to make it to the next sale. when no sale then none of it moves.
Bread. Even bread is too expensive now. Rice has been climbing but is still affordable. For now.
I came here to comment “bread”. We have gone from 99¢ to $3.99 for a loaf of french bread in a bit over a decade.
Where do you live that a 10 kg sack of rice is expensive?
Bread being expensive in the US is so awful, they gave us wonderbread and because it was cheaper and we have fuckall for bakeries, it let the few bakeries increase the price of fresh bread.
I am in a country that doesn’t grow wheat, yet the price of fresh bread is less than I paid at the only non-cake bakery near me, Publix, in America
I bought two individual russet potatoes, came to about $5.50. In the past Ive always bought bags of potatoes, but they go bad sometimes before they get eaten, so Ive just been buying individual potatoes lately.
I’ve found transferring potatoes, onions, and other produce from the default bags to Ziplog bags and leaving them in the fridge helps to preserve them.
In Australia, surprisingly and disappointingly, medical appointments. Seeing a specialist for anything is about $500 AUD, after Medicare rebate. So you need to have more than that much liquid cash on the day, and be able to tank the hit.
I still remember being in line behind this mother whose child was clearly extremely unwell mentally. When she heard the price for the psychiatrist appointment she’s like, I can’t pay that… Let alone 2 or 3 times because psychiatrists never diagnose on the first visit. She had her own (understandable) mental breakdown, and stepped outside to call family to borrow money.
You shouldn’t need a payment plan to get antipsychotics. Somehow still cheaper than the scam that is private health insurance though.
Sorry to hear that. I didn’t realize the Australian healthcare system was as bad as the one in the USA. $500 to see a specialist is not ok, especially not for psychiatry when the medical support is literally life changing.
It’s not that bad yet, but I feel like we’re on the way there. Luckily we still have a pretty good public sector for emergencies. But there is no public sector psychiatrists, at least not around here. So you’re covered for some things but not others, especially specialist treatment. That’s why I specified appointment, because most of the time appointment refers to private sector. And outpatient stuff, but the line is confusing and arbitrary.
For example,
- Dentists are essential but also elective.
- The hospital will cast your broken leg for free but you’ll pay a lot for the rehab physiotherapy privately.
- They’ll CT scan a tennis ball sized tumour for free, but refuse to remove it because even though it’s growing it’s “benign” i.e. if it won’t kill you then we don’t care.
- Two doctors will cost wildly different prices even though both use Medicare.
- You can go to the hospital 10 times for the same cardiac problem for free, but getting it investigated or fixed is private, unless you’re critically in danger.
It’s hard to know whether something will cost you or not until you try and get it treated. It’s very “reactionary” instead of “preventative” is how I’d describe it. Like they’ll chop off a diabetic foot for free, which is hugely expensive medical procedure requiring a surgeon, but seeing a dietician to learn how to manage your diabetes costs $200+ per appointment.
I almost feel like if I had to choose, the reverse should be true. Focus on preventing problems rather than putting out fires.
