How are you handling rising food and energy costs?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just saw this today on a news article although it went into effect on the 2nd

"Like everything else, Thanksgiving is getting more expensive. Market research firm IRI predicts this year’s meal could be about 13.5% more costly than last year.

Aldi announced a Thanksgiving Price Rewind sale to combat higher grocery prices for consumers.

The grocery store chain will match 2019 prices on holiday essentials like appetizers, desserts, sides and drinks starting Nov. 2.

“Providing amazing products at the absolute lowest prices is what we’ve always done, and we know right now that’s more important than ever,” Aldi president Dave Rinaldo said. Shoppers can look for the Thanksgiving Price Rewind icon in their local ad and throughout the store for extra savings.

According to an IRI survey, about 38% of consumers expect to pay more for Thanksgiving meals, even though they’re planning to buy the same amount of food."

Just thought of this thread with all the Aldi talk.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I just saw this today on a news article although it went into effect on the 2nd

"Like everything else, Thanksgiving is getting more expensive. Market research firm IRI predicts this year’s meal could be about 13.5% more costly than last year.

Aldi announced a Thanksgiving Price Rewind sale to combat higher grocery prices for consumers.

The grocery store chain will match 2019 prices on holiday essentials like appetizers, desserts, sides and drinks starting Nov. 2.

“Providing amazing products at the absolute lowest prices is what we’ve always done, and we know right now that’s more important than ever,” Aldi president Dave Rinaldo said. Shoppers can look for the Thanksgiving Price Rewind icon in their local ad and throughout the store for extra savings.

According to an IRI survey, about 38% of consumers expect to pay more for Thanksgiving meals, even though they’re planning to buy the same amount of food."

Just thought of this thread with all the Aldi talk.

I saw this from Aldi and Walmart and my 1st thought was "they raised every other price in the store, so to avoid you noticing, they've dropped the price on the Thanksgiving related stuff and advertised the heck out of that price drop" - here's hoping I'm wrong, but I should be at Aldi's sometime this week to check...

 

[DCLMP]

Hate to break it to you, but it won't help. Who one votes for for or who ends up in a majority will not play a role on food or energy costs.. I bang when head against the wall whenever people blame ANY President for their IRA balance or what they pay at the pump... there is a much bigger monster out there globally. It's called the global economy

This is true, but on a local level it can make a difference. In the US things vary greatly from state to state and city to city so elections can make a difference.

 

[DCLMP]

Both the US & global economy move in cycles usually measured in YEARS, not weeks or months. Those cycles don't change based on any one group waving some magic wand over things.

I hope you are joking.

 

[DCLMP]

I believe there are people who push for things to assist with climate change and those that push for things that contribute to climate change. Whatever either person/party decides to do to enact policies in whatever direction, takes time and YEARS to come to fruition.

Personally I'm not enough of an economist to know if policies are in place right now that have caused GLOBAL price increases but having lived through 3 of these cycles now, it doesn't seem to be that anything an elected official does rectifies it. So while everyone is going out to vote to "fix this" (and no one is discouraging that), it seems like an oversimplification of the problem.

You really don't know what causes inflation? What cycle have you lived through that is similar to what is happening today. Please don't say the 70's because that was not similar.

 

[DCLMP]

I wouldn't say voting has no effect on the economy as a whole; there are certainly some economic factors that are more affected by policy than others, but inflation is one of the least impacted, particularly in the short term. But climate change is more directly impacted by policy because it will largely be determined by areas that are solely a matter of government decision-making, things like infrastructure and energy and mass transit. Inflation is driven by things bigger than policy, from avian flu and drought and war interrupting agriculture to a global pandemic disrupting supply chains to the decisions of boards and investors in a largely unregulated marketplace. No matter how the election turns out, China will still have their zero-covid policy shuttering factories and farmers will still be culling flocks when the flu is detected and Wall Street will still look to maximize profits. So our costs will continue to rise.

You forget to add the government will continue to spend money we don't have and the debt will keep growing.

 

[TippyThomas]

I'm sensing a theme.

 

[HeatherC]

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THIS THREAD POLITICAL. Let’s just keep it going in how people are handling the rising costs in their daily lives. I know it is all tied together, but just hearing Aldi is keeping prices at 2019 levels for Thanksgiving May help someone out. If we turn it political it will be shut down.

Any ideas may help others navigate the rising costs which is a great thing.

 

[Bethislucy]

I've switched a lot of my products to store brand. Not all because somethings just don't taste the same. I've also been trying to do leftovers for lunch later in the week.

 

[Minnesota!]

Because of our ability but unwillingness to tap our own energy sources, natural gas, propane and home heating oil prices are expected to increase by as much as 30% this winter.

Also, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated the U.S. had only a 25-day supply of distillates on hand, raising the possibility of shortages before the end of the year. A shortage of diesel fuel could result in fewer deliveries of the products consumers purchase every day.

My, how things have drastically changed in only a couple of years.

The 25 day supply is ONLY if they were to completely stop right this minute and not produce another drop. Which obviously is not happening. It is ALWAYS 25 days if nothing else is produced. It is just something someone brought up to invoke fear.

I haven’t met a single family that’s better off, I’m not sure if you and I live in the same country or era. I must be misunderstanding you, because wage increases have to outpace inflation in order to be considered an extra money on pocket raise.

Hi, I am Minnesota. My family is better off. Making more money, spending less money, far happier than we have been in decades. I know these prices must really be regional based on this thread, and my heart goes out to those that are struggling, but it is definitely not EVERY person who is reeling from it.

 

[mousefan73]

I think part of what’s driving inflation is simple wealthy people taking advantage of the market. Just chatted with my stepmom and this was interesting.

Two years ago the rental house she was living in was sold. The new owner paid cash and after about six months gave her notice to leave. She Learned yesterday from her old neighbor that he rented the place and is charging double. Rent went from 1000 to 2000 a month. Property taxes haven’t gone up either in the area and this guy has no interest costs, And nothing needs to be done to the house. So here’s a situation where costs significantly increased for the “consumer” yet “production” costs havent. Maybe the guy increased to raise cash to eventually stick it back in with renovations but a 100% increase?
It’s simply a case of how it is in this country often. one person with the assets looking to make a higher return on their investment, taking advantage of a market situation where the little guy pays.

 

[mousefan73]

How we are saving money is driven by the fact that I work more from home now and the gas prices have gone up my commuting has gone down. So it’s basically a wash.

We have also learned that setting the house temperature 69 is actually comfortable. In hindsight it was a luxury and added expense heating it higher and we don’t miss it. I’ve actually noticed I’m less congested in the morning when I wake up.

Our grocery costs have always been low and continue to be low because we don’t buy prepackaged food, lots of snacks and cook from scratch. Makes a huge difference if you avoid convenience items. You pay double for pre-chopped vegetables versus having to peel and slice yourself for example

 

[Colleen27]

I think part of what’s driving inflation is simple wealthy people taking advantage of the market. Just chatted with my stepmom and this was interesting.

Two years ago the rental house she was living in was sold. The new owner paid cash and after about six months gave her notice to leave. She Learned yesterday from her old neighbor that he rented the place and is charging double. Rent went from 1000 to 2000 a month. Property taxes haven’t gone up either in the area and this guy has no interest costs, And nothing needs to be done to the house. So here’s a situation where costs significantly increased for the “consumer” yet “production” costs havent. Maybe the guy increased to raise cash to eventually stick it back in with renovations but a 100% increase?
It’s simply a case of how it is in this country often. one person with the assets looking to make a higher return on their investment, taking advantage of a market situation where the little guy pays.

And that in itself can create feedback cycles. If all we're hearing is news about inflation, we're going to expect more inflation. And so companies know they can raise prices, and may do so just to test the waters of consumer response. If consumers keep buying - and when it comes to food, gas, and utilities, most of us will - the higher prices will stick. And they'll fuel more news stories about inflation, which will set the expectation of higher prices, and on and on it goes.

 

[TippyThomas]

I must live a very frugal lifestyle because I've noticed some increases here and there, but I'm not seeing anything like some of you are describing here. It really must depend on where you live or how you live.

 

[lowlight]

Hi, I am Minnesota. My family is better off. Making more money, spending less money, far happier than we have been in decades. I know these prices must really be regional based on this thread, and my heart goes out to those that are struggling, but it is definitely not EVERY person who is reeling from it.

In the interest of full disclosure, are you/spouse retired with a pension and/or 401k, when did you retire, and when you worked, were you considered working class? I ask because there is context to the quote you responded to and it isn’t as easy as yes I’m doing better or no I’m not. The pandemic made a LOT of people wealthier, mostly the white collars that shifted to drinking their lattes from their home office instead of the commute into the city, but for the people in my world, we aren’t better off. None that I talk to daily are, all we do is talk about how the inflation is killing us. Again, my comments were in response to someone who made a wildly inaccurate comment and then proceeded to tell me why his research of the middle class is more well researched than my “lived experience”. It’s like that guy that thought he was best friends with the grizzly bears because he spent years living among them, and then one ate him because he stayed too close to hibernation season. He found out he wasn’t a bear after all.

I think that’s a lot of what ticks us people off, the complete lack of perspective of how this whole thing has played out differently for different castes of society. One half of the country got to work from home all day for 2 years and increase their wealth through overpriced rentals they owned, saving in gas, “inflation raises”, selling an extra car, and having their financial advisor make money off the yo-yoing stock market, the other half had to go to work, work mandatory overtime to make up for lack of staffing, and watch our bank accounts drain slowly with increases in gas, price, and food, and then listen to people tell them how things aren’t all bad. Next time someone comes to your house to fix something, or when you go to pick up some bagels, ask them how they are doing. If they aren’t afraid to be truthful, you’ll find out.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have also learned that setting the house temperature 69 is actually comfortable. In hindsight it was a luxury and added expense heating it higher and we don’t miss it. I’ve actually noticed I’m less congested in the morning when I wake up.

That's what our winter setting has been for years and drops to 68 after 5pm or so until 8am or so. We do every so often bump it to 70 for a tad but never for too too long. We tend to bump it up for guests though and that may be higher than 70 at times. In the winter I do layer and bundle up in the house but I get more cold easier than my husband. From time to time we use the gas fireplace or the space heater to offset the chill if we're just in the great room. In our bedroom we have a space heater (the ones that look like a mantle with a fake fire) but haven't used that in a while. We have 2 vents in our bedroom and so in the winter and summer we just keep the door closed to trap the heat or cool.

We had a rather warm day yesterday for this time of year and it was sunnier. Today the temps dropped significantly (30 or so degrees with a feels like even more than that) and it's rainy however the house has been able to hold yesterday's temperature that it got up to just by the warmer and sunnier temps and it's presently 72 in the house at noon central time. By the end of today though that will drop down more.

I think for us it helped that we had similar enough temps in when we lived in a rental house so for almost 10 years we've been more or less around the same temp.

 

[Colleen27]

In the interest of full disclosure, are you/spouse retired with a pension and/or 401k, when did you retire, and when you worked, were you considered working class? I ask because there is context to the quote you responded to and it isn’t as easy as yes I’m doing better or no I’m not. The pandemic made a LOT of people wealthier, mostly the white collars that shifted to drinking their lattes from their home office instead of the commute into the city, but for the people in my world, we aren’t better off. None that I talk to daily are, all we do is talk about how the inflation is killing us. Again, my comments were in response to someone who made a wildly inaccurate comment and then proceeded to tell me why his research of the middle class is more well researched than my “lived experience”. It’s like that guy that thought he was best friends with the grizzly bears because he spent years living among them, and then one ate him because he stayed too close to hibernation season. He found out he wasn’t a bear after all.

I think that’s a lot of what ticks us people off, the complete lack of perspective of how this whole thing has played out differently for different castes of society. One half of the country got to work from home all day for 2 years and increase their wealth through overpriced rentals they owned, saving in gas, “inflation raises”, selling an extra car, and having their financial advisor make money off the yo-yoing stock market, the other half had to go to work, work mandatory overtime to make up for lack of staffing, and watch our bank accounts drain slowly with increases in gas, price, and food, and then listen to people tell them how things aren’t all bad. Next time someone comes to your house to fix something, or when you go to pick up some bagels, ask them how they are doing. If they aren’t afraid to be truthful, you’ll find out.

I don't think any of this is that clear cut. My family is solidly blue collar - my husband is in a skilled construction trade, my newly-launched son is in a skilled manufacturing trade, and my bonus son is a factory worker who just landed a union job that is a big step up - but we're in a better position on whole as we were a few years ago. Despite gas prices, despite inflation. My son bought his first house when prices were high but interest rates were low, so he's paying less than renting and less than we did on our first real house in '04, and he downsized from a pickup to a (much newer, nicer) sedan just in time for the gas prices to jump. And as I've posted upthread, our area hasn't seen the huge grocery and other price increases that some have shared. I know the overall trend is a divergence between a thriving investor class and a struggling working class, but our experience has been one of that trend stalling/reversing a bit since the pandemic rather than accelerating.

Something I've seen around me is that in many ways perception dictates reality, though. People who bought new toys like boats and RVs during the pandemic are whining about how much worse off they are than two years ago, even though their income is higher and they own more stuff (probably because that stuff was financed and they're not happy with all the monthly payments!). Pretty much all the new development in my area is self-storage and they fill up as soon as they open, but the popular sentiment is all about how broke everyone is and how hard they're struggling. A friend of mine fills up her tank once a week and swears her gas budget has tripled since Jan. 2021. These aren't evaluations made based on a rational analysis of the budget but based on how they're told they're supposed to feel at this moment in time by the people who stand to benefit from their discontent.

 

[lowlight]

I don't think any of this is that clear cut. My family is solidly blue collar - my husband is in a skilled construction trade, my newly-launched son is in a skilled manufacturing trade, and my bonus son is a factory worker who just landed a union job that is a big step up - but we're in a better position on whole as we were a few years ago. Despite gas prices, despite inflation. My son bought his first house when prices were high but interest rates were low, so he's paying less than renting and less than we did on our first real house in '04, and he downsized from a pickup to a (much newer, nicer) sedan just in time for the gas prices to jump. And as I've posted upthread, our area hasn't seen the huge grocery and other price increases that some have shared. I know the overall trend is a divergence between a thriving investor class and a struggling working class, but our experience has been one of that trend stalling/reversing a bit since the pandemic rather than accelerating.

Something I've seen around me is that in many ways perception dictates reality, though. People who bought new toys like boats and RVs during the pandemic are whining about how much worse off they are than two years ago, even though their income is higher and they own more stuff (probably because that stuff was financed and they're not happy with all the monthly payments!). Pretty much all the new development in my area is self-storage and they fill up as soon as they open, but the popular sentiment is all about how broke everyone is and how hard they're struggling. A friend of mine fills up her tank once a week and swears her gas budget has tripled since Jan. 2021. These aren't evaluations made based on a rational analysis of the budget but based on how they're told they're supposed to feel at this moment in time by the people who stand to benefit from their discontent.

That's good information to know, I don't want to clog this thread up with personal details so I will take it private.

 

[DCLMP]

I think part of what’s driving inflation is simple wealthy people taking advantage of the market. Just chatted with my stepmom and this was interesting.

Two years ago the rental house she was living in was sold. The new owner paid cash and after about six months gave her notice to leave. She Learned yesterday from her old neighbor that he rented the place and is charging double. Rent went from 1000 to 2000 a month. Property taxes haven’t gone up either in the area and this guy has no interest costs, And nothing needs to be done to the house. So here’s a situation where costs significantly increased for the “consumer” yet “production” costs havent. Maybe the guy increased to raise cash to eventually stick it back in with renovations but a 100% increase?
It’s simply a case of how it is in this country often. one person with the assets looking to make a higher return on their investment, taking advantage of a market situation where the little guy pays.

Wealthy people are not causing inflation.

 

[DCLMP]

I don't think any of this is that clear cut. My family is solidly blue collar - my husband is in a skilled construction trade, my newly-launched son is in a skilled manufacturing trade, and my bonus son is a factory worker who just landed a union job that is a big step up - but we're in a better position on whole as we were a few years ago. Despite gas prices, despite inflation. My son bought his first house when prices were high but interest rates were low, so he's paying less than renting and less than we did on our first real house in '04, and he downsized from a pickup to a (much newer, nicer) sedan just in time for the gas prices to jump. And as I've posted upthread, our area hasn't seen the huge grocery and other price increases that some have shared. I know the overall trend is a divergence between a thriving investor class and a struggling working class, but our experience has been one of that trend stalling/reversing a bit since the pandemic rather than accelerating.

Something I've seen around me is that in many ways perception dictates reality, though. People who bought new toys like boats and RVs during the pandemic are whining about how much worse off they are than two years ago, even though their income is higher and they own more stuff (probably because that stuff was financed and they're not happy with all the monthly payments!). Pretty much all the new development in my area is self-storage and they fill up as soon as they open, but the popular sentiment is all about how broke everyone is and how hard they're struggling. A friend of mine fills up her tank once a week and swears her gas budget has tripled since Jan. 2021. These aren't evaluations made based on a rational analysis of the budget but based on how they're told they're supposed to feel at this moment in time by the people who stand to benefit from their discontent.

I fill up my tank once a week and the cost has more than doubled almost tripled so why is your friend wrong saying her gas budget has tripled? When the whiners as you put it bought there RV's and boats they were not expecting the kind of inflation were seeing nor were they were expecting gas prices to double or triple. Saying they aren't happy with their payments is just speculation.

I am worse off then I was two years not because someone has told me how to feel. My decreased disposable income tells me that.