Prices around here are getting out of hand!!!

[granmanh603]

Ok in case you have not noticed there is no more 1/2gal of ice cream!!! it is 1.5qt or 48 oz or that is the Edys ice cream that I buy....but I noticed years ago when it didn't go as far that it was not a 1/2 gal(64oz) looked the same but did not get as many servings..same with tuna used to be 7oz now 5 oz.
Oh 1st I lived on LI, brother in NJ and now live in NH. My sister in law made well over 90,000 in NJ many years ago!!! and so did the teachers on LI. I do not know about the schools up here, since moved here after kids grown... we have no income or sales tax and real estate/school taxes are high? relative to what...in NY they were high and we paid sales tax 8%, income tax and real estate taxes that were more than we started paying here? but still I hate it here and would love to move but who wants to live in the woods with dial up and awful winters...so it would take years to try to sell, It looks pretty and is peaceful and has lake/pond access(which we never us, miss ocean) but try to find a buyer.
I did notice that some food priced items up here (I shop at Market Basket) are lower than down in Ma.. so I hear you people...
As as someone said , just wait we supposedly haven't had inflation???? with this drought things I expect the prices of alot of things will be heading up.

 

[LilyWDW]

Prices will begin rising within a month or two due to the drought. We won't have to "wait" until next year, unfortunately. Prices where I live (WI) have already gone up dramatically, on apples and cherries due to the drought. Meat and other produce as well as dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc) is soon to follow.

Everything is a chain, and that means everything will be increasing in price.

Yep... the next month or two is when we will really see a price jump around here. Though for us a good amount of it will be because the Farmer's Market will shut down and we won't have as much local produce in the stores. That is going to make an increase for my grocery bill and I am not looking forward to it. I am really going to have to try and eat more seasonally to save money.

 

[Colleen27]

Prices will begin rising within a month or two due to the drought. We won't have to "wait" until next year, unfortunately. Prices where I live (WI) have already gone up dramatically, on apples and cherries due to the drought. Meat and other produce as well as dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc) is soon to follow.

Everything is a chain, and that means everything will be increasing in price.

Yep. Even here in the relatively low-cost midwest prices are starting to head up and aren't likely to fall. And even if next year's season is good, prices are never as sensitive to cost declines as they are to cost increases so the higher prices are here to stay.

The problem with apples & cherries are a different issue than the drought that's killing the corn & soy - that freak warm snap we had in March brought the blooms out early, and then the return to normal temps killed them. No blooms to be pollinated, no fruit. And the entire Great Lakes region was affected; our usual u-pick apple orchard lit huge bonfires and used fans to circulate the warm air around the trees, so they "only" lost 80% of this year's crops (compared to 95+% losses at other farms in the area).

 

[Donnainnj]

OP if you are looking to cut the expense of bowling, sign up for the emails for the bowling alley you go to. We have Brunswick nearby, and can cut the price in half or better, with the coupons they send. Rarely use them but they are there.
Donna (grew up in Bergen County, live in Monmouth County)

 

[Lucille1963]

It everywhere. I did see that Burger King had there cones on sale for 50 cents

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.

We pay about $3.50 for a small gelato at our local place. Its pricey for us to go out for it, but its all handmade and I feel like its good quality. We don't treat ourselves nearly as often as I'd like though.

 

[nadira36]

Ha! You all have it easy. Around here our prices make Disney dining look cheap. A jug of milk is $5, a gallon of gas is $4.52 - and you don't even want to know what a starter home sells for in my neck of the woods. Our cars cost twice a much as yours - and you can't tell me the speedometer is worth and extra $15k. Flights to get from one end of the country to another cost $800. Our weekly grocery budget is $250 and that's bare bones - ice cream is a luxury we can't buy or we go over budget. We get meat frozen veggies and rice or potatoes each night.

If it wasn't for the horrendous politics int he US we'd move there in a minute - admittedly I don't like our politics much better - but lesser of two evils and all that.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

That's standard costs here. Our gas is down to 3.75 and everyone is excited. It was up to 4.40 earlier in the summer.

Everything is expensive up here and incomes are about the same it seems as the lower 48. No wonder there is so much crime.

 

[maxaroni]

We moved from NJ to NH 6 years ago, and between, fuel, food, medical and taxes it has eaten away at the extra cash we had been earning. All our utilities keep creeping up, and my property taxes have doubled (for what?? nothing I can see yet) It sucks, however we are thinking about moving again and hopefully finding somewhere to get a decent school for our taxes, commute less and hopefully run away from old man winter and his ridiculous heating bill...

If we could move out of NJ we would. I know things are bad all over but real estat taxes and car insurance are the highest in the country

 

[maxaroni]

agree, thats crazy. for $4 i get a small frozen yogurt with two toppings from the truck in midtown, so $3.50 for a cup of processed DQ crap is overpriced (which i eat DQ im just pointing out the huge difference in quality).

i almost had a heart attack when i moved to hudson county and went to the food store. my budget trick is i will still food shop at the shore when i go to visit my mother.

i think we could start an entire thread on the cost of things and how they are skyrocketing. i think the one thing that has me scratching my head some days is the cost of a candy bar. i remember when it was always under $1, now its a steal if you can get one that cheap.

We moved from Bergen county to Burlington county. Could never go back. Our property taxes have tripled in the 16 years in this house

 

[BBandDisney]

That is terrible that you live in a half million dollar house and had to spend $10 on ice cream.

 

[Karabee]

Agree with all this! It's really insane how expensive things are getting. In the Philly area, prices for ice cream (half-gallon) are easily $5 at the grocery store, gas has almost hit $4 and fruit and veggie costs keep rising and rising. I grew up in CT, have lived in D.C. and now Philly so I'm used to expensive areas, but I'm starting to feel it more and more. I feel like it doesn't matter where you live in the Northeast, you're basically going to be paying a pretty penny for everything - especially housing and taxes. The nice thing is our condos value will continue to rise, the bad thing is we wont be able to afford to move anywhere!

 

[eliza61]

That is terrible that you live in a half million dollar house and had to spend $10 on ice cream.

Actually it is bad because your salary is not keeping pace with the cost. Let's say you buy a house in my neck of the woods in NJ, let's say you brought it say 8 years ago at 300K and price went up and down. Now I guarantee when you moved in you property taxes may have been at 6500 a year, now there is a good chance of they could be up around 9K or 10K.

Now if it was just your property taxes most folks could probably adjust but as other posters have pointed out it's PT's, gas, food, utilities and ice cream cones.

My property taxes have doubled in 17 years, my salary most definitely has not. not only that my outlay has gone up with illnesses and college tuitions.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

That is terrible that you live in a half million dollar house and had to spend $10 on ice cream.

In some part of the country that's the average cost of housing regardless of income...

 

[mjkacmom]

In some part of the country that's the average cost of housing regardless of income...

I recently read an article about the cost of housing in NJ with regards to salaries, and even though salaries here are higher, they're not high enough to compensate for the cost of housing. My property taxes were $5000 when we bought our home 15 years ago, and have more than doubled.

 

[DawnM]

I actually prefer McDonald's fake ice cream cones better and they are $1 per cone. Some areas they are $1.20. Dairy Queen is way overpriced.

Bowling on discount days is $6 for two rounds, including shoes.

You can always find ways to do it for less.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I recently read an article about the cost of housing in NJ with regards to salaries, and even though salaries here are higher, they're not high enough to compensate for the cost of housing. My property taxes were $5000 when we bought our home 15 years ago, and have more than doubled.

I definitely believe you. Housing averages up here is the mid 300s and it's continuing to rise. Average income is $70,000 per household. The market here is still a sellers market with not many homes on the market anyways.

 

[mefordis]

That is terrible that you live in a half million dollar house and had to spend $10 on ice cream.

I don't know where you live, but a $500,000 house in NJ, within 15-30 min drive from NYC will get you a 1960 ranch with 3 bedrooms and .25 acres. Not the McMansion you are probably visualizing.

 

[ge0rgette2]

I don't know where you live, but a $500,000 house in NJ, within 15-30 min drive from NYC will get you a 1960 ranch with 3 bedrooms and .25 acres. Not the McMansion you are probably visualizing.

How about living on Long Island, 30 minutes outside NYC/Manhattan -- older house - 2bedrooms, 1 bath -- 4 people on 50x130 lot, house used to be worth about 450k, now lucky if 300k and taxes almost 11k per year..

Let's not forget the car insurance for us NY'ers..truth be told, I pay $4800.00 for 3 cars/3 drivers in NY, don't drive high end cars either.... my electric bill for 4 in the home, with lights off, is normally $200. pm, plus gas (80.), water 40.), etc...

Not all LI teachers make 90k or more, the Admin's do...

A gallon of milk is 4.25, gas 3.89 on a good day, up to 4.19..

It's horrendous how bad it is!
No jobs to be found for a housewife around LI either...

 

[Ciao Mickey]

I don't know where you live, but a $500,000 house in NJ, within 15-30 min drive from NYC will get you a 1960 ranch with 3 bedrooms and .25 acres. Not the McMansion you are probably visualizing.

Most people would faint once they see what half a million dollars would buy you here in NJ. Especially in the NY Metro area. A real nice fixer-upper.

 

[eliza61]

Most people would faint once they see what half a million dollars would buy you here in NJ. Especially in the NY Metro area. A real nice fixer-upper.

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.