Prices around here are getting out of hand!!!

[dgthree]

We live in an expensive area in Northern NJ, approx 15 miles from NYC. The median house in our town is probably $500K and I do know salaries are higher in the area as well. Yes, groceries have gone up, as well as gas and everything else but last night we visited a Dairy Queen. I had my children get a SMALL scoop (probably a scoop and a half), no toppings, $3.50 each. When ice cream goes on sale in the grocery store it's $2.00 a half gallon.

I live in a less expensive part of Northern NJ, closer to the PA & NY borders. Moved from the more expensive Bergen County area just about 10 years ago. I joke around that I moved from the northeastern corner of the state to the northwestern one.

Anyhow, I went to the DQ about 10 minutes from home yesterday, and a small soft vanilla cone was $1.99. It was a darned tasty $2.13 after tax. Yes, I could have bought a container of Turkey Hill (no longer a half gallon, but 1.5 quarts) at A&P for less, but it wouldn't have been the same.

 

[nadira36]

You forgot one major thing though.....I wouldn't want to pay their horrendous health care insurance premiums!!! I think that alone negates all the things you mentioned....I'd still rather live in AB Canada than pay premiums equal to my monthly mortgage!!! crazy....
Being military family most of our life, I've lived from coast to coast of Canada, and I'd say economically, AB has it pretty good.....As a country, we
are a blessed nation

We are. I've lived in both the US and Canada - and there are aspects of the states I miss, however there's no way I'd ever actually move back there.

 

[chimo2u]

We are. I've lived in both the US and Canada - and there are aspects of the states I miss, however there's no way I'd ever actually move back there.

I've always thought the states where great! As a whole, I never really thought of the difference between taxes, I just assumed tax levels would be pretty common between both nations.....To me , 35-40% tax has always seemed the norm, and our tax goes to so much more than just health care, as does the US tax.....so I wouldn't say it's just our tax that pays our "free" healthcare.

Our system isn't perfect, we have long waits for things....but I'd hate to pay monthly health premiums of $700 and up for my family, and the large deductibles just to use it. I think there's struggles all over due to the economy, no matter what country you live in....... I wasn't at all seeing a "my country is better than yours" debate..... As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind living in the States if it could offer me equal living experience! -- where id be about the same as we are now financially. I'd love to be closer to the Mouse's House and a lot of things about the USA is different and WONDERFUL! Many things there I can't get here. now my hubby, he's British born, and he's just content to stay in Canada....no wandering/adventurous side to him!

My BFF (whose coming with me on her first WDW trip ever in 30 days ) -- is currently living in PA with her Canadian soldier hubby who's posted there and they are having a great time....,one things for sure, be it Canada or the USA, I think we all live in pretty great nations!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I wouldn't want to pay the taxes that you pay in order to support your health care system. I've traveled all over the USA and would rather live here than anywhere else in the world, Canada and its free health care included.

Yep

I was just going to mention that to you and to the poster from the UK... I'd take higher prices on a lot of things over the $772/mo that we pay for health insurance for our family... That would buy a lot of $5 milk! I can't wait until DH has been at his new job long enough to qualify for their coverage because for the last 3+ years our insurance has been our single largest monthly bill, more than housing, all the utilities combined, or groceries.

LOL. I also think it depends on the state of your health. My dh is battling cancer and even with great health care insurance, the out of pocket is ungodly. nightly shots to bump up the immune system at 45 bucks a shot!! not to mention the copay on a gazillion different doctors. He has leukema and has to see an oncologist, cardiologist (make sure chemo is effective his heart), nephrologist (make sure his kidney don't shut down) on and on.
Believe me, lately there are days when I look at the out lay and

Truthfully it may simply be whatever system you are use to. don't want to turn this into a "my country is better than yours" debate.

I had a brief relationship with an English man *1/2 his income went to taxes and he didn't make a lot of money - for the "free health care"

 

[Anne34]

I've always thought the states where great! As a whole, I never really thought of the difference between taxes, I just assumed tax levels would be pretty common between both nations.....To me , 35-40% tax has always seemed the norm, and our tax goes to so much more than just health care, as does the US tax.....so I wouldn't say it's just our tax that pays our "free" healthcare.

Our system isn't perfect, we have long waits for things....but I'd hate to pay monthly health premiums of $700 and up for my family, and the large deductibles just to use it. I think there's struggles all over due to the economy, no matter what country you live in....... I wasn't at all seeing a "my country is better than yours" debate..... As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind living in the States if it could offer me equal living experience! -- where id be about the same as we are now financially. I'd love to be closer to the Mouse's House and a lot of things about the USA is different and WONDERFUL! Many things there I can't get here. now my hubby, he's British born, and he's just content to stay in Canada....no wandering/adventurous side to him!

My BFF (whose coming with me on her first WDW trip ever in 30 days ) -- is currently living in PA with her Canadian soldier hubby who's posted there and they are having a great time....,one things for sure, be it Canada or the USA, I think we all live in pretty great nations!

Totally agree with you. We sometimes forget with all of our complaining that we really do have it pretty good.

 

[meggiebeth]

Also was going to ask the poster from England if so much of their tax is being used for their "free health care"?

We have lots of taxes. Income tax- where we as a family pay 25-45% of our earnings. We also have national insurance which is also a lot of money. This supposedly goes towards the NHS (national health service) but the truth is it all goes towards completely different things, like social security benefits and schools, as well as healthcare. We also pay a huge amount on fuel tax- probably close to $600 a month. We also have VAT of 20% on most things.

We have lots of taxes people call 'sin taxes' where the government claims they are taxing you because you are damaging the environment. So that includes driving cars, fuel for your car, airplane journeys, cigarettes, etc.

We also have to pay something like 40% tax on any bonuses we earn. Money you inherit from passed away relatives is also taxed a huge amount.

I would not want to add up how much my family pays overall in tax because it would make me feel sick lol.

I watched a programme the other day about how your tax money is spent. Turns out that someone earning what my family earns- pays in three times more than they get back in services, healthcare, etc. So for every $3000 we pay in, we only get $1000 worth of services back.

I don't think you could really work out how much tax we pay in gets spent on healthcare because it isn't a 'fair' system so to speak. A majority of the tax we pay goes towards other people's healthcare and services, and social security benefits.

The free healthcare works out GREAT for those who pay little or no tax, but for middle class families, it is a bit of a rip off. In addition the waits are absurd- when I had a kidney problem I had to wait four months just to get an appointment at hospital. I then needed to wait another three months to get another appointment to get medication to control my problem. So overall it took me 7 months- over half a year- to get the help I needed and went through agony in the meantime.

We are debating getting private healthcare insurance because you get seen in a matter of days or a week or two. The NHS drives me crazy. It is also in massive debt and keeps cutting back- making it even worse for patients. Two things make it even worse- a growing population of of obesity and also more people coming from eastern Europe, who are also entitled to it. There's just not enough money.

To the person that mentioned 50% tax- only the extremely well off pay that amount. Most people pay nowhere near to that amount.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Philly can be just as bad, although the property taxes are less. Dh and I want to retire to the city (crazy I know but we are city folks, he is philly, born and raised, I'm NYC.) we went looking for some duds in center city.

We looked at a 3 bedroom 3 floor ROW HOME!! asking price 1.1 mil
Yikes.
More surprisingly our second choice is Charleston SC where I would have sworn prices were dead cheap. wrong. don't know about the cost of living but the south is quickly catching up.

and here I thought the real estate was supposed to be dirt cheap due to the recession.

Yikes! Were they like the ones they show on House Hunters?

Can you imagine what the same row home/brownstone would cost in NYC?

I couldn't move to the South. People from the South do not care much for Northerners from what I hear.

South Florida is as far South as I'll go.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Yall come on down south. Its cheap to live but it does get hot!

 

[mrsklamc]

My BFF (whose coming with me on her first WDW trip ever in 30 days ) -- is currently living in PA with her Canadian soldier hubby who's posted there and they are having a great time.

Why does the Canadian army have soldiers posted in PA?

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Why does the Canadian army have soldiers posted in PA?

They have some here on our base in Alaska too. Joint operation type stuff. I've also seen a handful of other nations.

 

[chimo2u]

Why does the Canadian army have soldiers posted in PA?

Joint operations.... We also have soldiers posted all over the world....my brother is currently posted in London, England....my BFF whose currently in the US was posted to Ukraine for a few yrs, there's postings all over depending on the need, it leads to an exciting life for sure! My DH also did a posting in Germany when we first where married, we decided to ask for him to come back to Canada instead of me moving there though, as finding housing was difficult. Also, we have US soldiers posted here as well in Canada, along with other nations (Britain for example) so it goes all ways with allied troops

 

[LBIJim]

But their "cones" aren't full of ice cream. I see their adds all the time and they never say "ice cream" once, because their soft serve doesn't qualify as ice cream.

Yeah, they can't call it ice cream because it's not. But they don't want to say "artificially-flavored non-dairy frozen dessert product" either, so I guess "soft serve" is a reasonable (and legal) compromise.

I took the kids to carvel here in town, and don't remember how much it was for a small, but they were HUGE! From now on, we're getting the junior cone, which probably has enough ice cream for our entire family.

That seems to be a problem with lots of ice cream stands here. Their "small" portions are HUGE, much more than I want to eat. We ask for the child's size; sometimes we get a funny look but that's all we want.

As for half-gallon (well, 48 oz.) packages, the supermarkets ALWAYS have some brand as their loss-leader each week. Edy's, Breyer's, Friendly's, Blue Bunny, Turkey Hill, etc. Shop Rite and Super Fresh both have Turkey Hill on sale this week, $1.88 at one and $1.87 at the other. But usually the sale price is in the $2.50 range.

Jim

 

[IUTBAM]

I guess I am glad once again I live in the undesirable state of New Mexico. We paid 60 K for our house..all paid off and now worth only about 120K..1,900 sq ft. Property taxes about 500 a YEAR, gas is $3.42, about $200 month covers natural gas, electric and water. Milk is over $3.00 a gallon but can go on sale for $2.50. You can still go to the movies before 6pm for $6.50 pp (just went up). Not a whole lot of stuff do do, but the mountains are 20 minutes away and the biggest sand playground ever is 20 minutes the other way. Closest airport is 90 minutes away, closest SAMS and Target and Kohls are 60 minutes away. Pretty poor state, not too bad in comparison with costs, I suppose. My son is a cop and makes mid 30's, teachers make that and much more, I make less but we still do fine. Health Insurance..I don't get why it is so much for everyone..I guess it is true that if we could shop around across states it would be better. I have a high deductible HSA BCBS plan for my DH that costs $200 a month. We have used it for fairly big things and been happy with it. We don't have hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or much snow. Not so bad I guess

I don't think there's anything undesirable about New Mexico (I am your neighbor to the north in Colorado). It's a beautiful state!

I have noticed prices going up at the grocery store, but definitely not the level those on the East Coast have indicated. We live in a half million dollar house, but it's 4,500 sf in a nice neighborhood, and our property taxes aren't bad at all (I don't know off the top of my head, but less than $5K a year). I buy milk for $1.98/gallon at Sam's Club, and gas is in the $3.35 to $3.45/gallon range. Blue Bell ice cream (one of the few left who sell it as a half gallon) goes for around $5.50/gallon not on sale, and a 12 pack of Coke is around $3.50. I paid $1.49/lb. for Pink Lady apples the other day. We are very blessed that DH (the sole breadwinner..I've been a SAHM for almost 20 years) works in middle management in the lucrative oil & gas industry. We pay $2 a month TOTAL for our health/vision/dental insurance for our family of four...the company pays the rest. His company is incredibly generous with benefits and salary...I told him he can never leave them, lol.

 

[nunzia]

Why does the Canadian army have soldiers posted in PA?

Well, in New Mexico we have an entire training squadron from Germany..and they love it here..really hate to go home where if you have a closet it is taxed as a room

 

[dana1003]

im so glad i found this thread...we live in bergen county also..i can see the ny skyline from my apt and as beautiful as it is the rent is killing us. we cannot afford to buy here. prices in my neighborhood are about 400 and up with taxes between 8000-13000 depending. we recently came from visiting his family in fort walton beach fl and since then i have been thinking of maybe getting out of jersey. we would actually be able to afford a home therethough but the payoff would be leaving my family and my parents whom my girls are close with. my bro left jersey for ohio 4 years ago and never looked back. hubby is not so sure about moving because his thinking is he d rather be poor in jersey then in ohio. what are your thoughts?

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Why does the Canadian army have soldiers posted in PA?

I'm guessing the same reason we have bases all over the world. Why shouldn't they??

 

[ThisIsTheYear]

〰

 

[Zuzu03]

I agree 100%. I have to laugh when the teachers around here (NJ) complain about their salaries and having to pay a portion of their benefits (My SIL being one of them). I think 65k is pretty good for someone who's been teaching for 8 years, 9.5 months out of the year with 'only' a Bachelors.

If you live in NJ and don't work in NYC then it's very hard to live comfortably.

Dang, I'm living in the wrong place! I've been teaching for 9 years, 10 months out of the year with two Master's degrees and I'm not even close to 65K!

When we lived in Wales they taxed the TV, do they still do that? We loved it there, but actually came to the US because my father (he was American my mother was Canadian and us kids were born in Canada) needed eye surgery and couldn't wait the several months it would have taken under the NHS.

Oh and you're right, "free" healthcare isn't free. One of my students was going on and on about it (we have Dr. Dinosaur here in Vermont - free healthcare for under 18's) and how wonderful it is to have free healthcare here in Vermont. My health insurance premium jumped this year 28%. I had to bite my tongue.

 

[angwill]

Dang, I'm living in the wrong place! I've been teaching for 9 years, 10 months out of the year with two Master's degrees and I'm not even close to 65K!

When we lived in Wales they taxed the TV, do they still do that? We loved it there, but actually came to the US because my father (he was American my mother was Canadian and us kids were born in Canada) needed eye surgery and couldn't wait the several months it would have taken under the NHS.

Oh and you're right, "free" healthcare isn't free. One of my students was going on and on about it (we have Dr. Dinosaur here in Vermont - free healthcare for under 18's) and how wonderful it is to have free healthcare here in Vermont. My health insurance premium jumped this year 28%. I had to bite my tongue.

I can understand how an eye surgery would seem extremely important to your father but it is not a life threatening condition either. You do have the choice to pay cash if you choose as well if you have it.

That health insurance premium jump needs to be taken up with your insurance company and hospitals who are big business now and in it for the profit. It is not all about the free healthcare/ or low pay healthcare for children that is increasing those premiums there is a lot more at play that you can not blame it on just one thing. If you don't like your pay/healthcare costs or any other thing here in America I am sure Canada or England will wlecome you back.

 

[Zuzu03]

I can understand how an eye surgery would seem extremely important to your father but it is not a life threatening condition either. You do have the choice to pay cash if you choose as well if you have it.

That health insurance premium jump needs to be taken up with your insurance company and hospitals who are big business now and in it for the profit. It is not all about the free healthcare/ or low pay healthcare for children that is increasing those premiums there is a lot more at play that you can not blame it on just one thing. If you don't like your pay/healthcare costs or any other thing here in America I am sure Canada or England will wlecome you back.

Well, actually, he was going blind and would have lost his livelihood. So, not life threatening, no.

And, wow, didn't really mean to turn this into a "if you don't like it here, go back," type thing. Because I actually do quite like it here, very much, thank you.