Ok, who's feelin' it?

Who's feeling the pressure of these tough economic times? I went into shock yesterday when I went to the grocery store and saw the prices - especially potatoes. The same 10 lb bag I bought just three weeks ago is now nearly DOUBLE, from $2.79 to $4.77. And the variety next to it was $7.99!

I always saw this recession and inflation coming but I never imagined it would be this bad this fast. And word is it's only just beginning.

How are some of you getting along in these inflationary winds?

I've cut way back on all spending, try not to drive anywhere, don't use the a/c, I make sure to eat my leftovers & I shop at thrift stores.

I am eating lots of rice, beans which I buy in bulk and veggies and fruit from the farmer's market.
Tofu, yoghurt,eggs,and cheese every once in a while. I save up my errands to do all at once...
have really cut my driving down a great deal.

a little ... milk is closing in on ten dollars a gallon in the bush up here.

I've come full circle, from living in a complete dump and barely scraping by to a house in the hills (Hollywood), and now back to the dump.
:rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl:

Trying not to waste anything. Eating a lot of toast and eggs. Convinced my wife to stop drinking bottled water. Now just fill up jugs from the tap and leave them in the fridge long enough for the chlorine to evaporate.

buying good food like I used to.The vegetables are so high I dont buy many of them

Discount off brands mostly. Bring your own bags.

I was looking at Spam. Next to it was generic Spam. Just before the checkout there was a battered cardboard box full of dented generic Spam for 25 cents a can.

The store has been more crowded than usual for the last three months. I know a woman who lives four blocks from there and can't afford either the cost of a car or the gas. She bikes down there every day and plans her meals solely on what's available that day. She has four small sons and gets as much each day as she can bike with.

The economy is being peeled back like a rotting onion.

and our stories, are not being heard in the M$M where it needs to be heard to give it credence.

I'm in the middle of a career change and have a much lower paying job to get my foot in the door of this new career field. I've cut everything I can think of: I only drive to work, stopping at any stores on the way home; I've cut my car insurance down to the absolute bare minimum; Always pack a lunch for work; Buy the cheapest groceries I can find - which usually means unhealthy foods; Keep the AC at the highest temp tolerable and turn the temp up when not home, etc.

I've also sold a lot of things to help pay the bills.

And, after all of this, I found out my rent is going up next month!

The total was $7.52. The guy behind me was shocked too.

2.49 to 5.99 in that same period of time. Went to buy milk and all of the one brand was expiring that day. I notified one of the clerks. She was surprised too.

the pinch of the middle class will not be left out.

Even prices there have gone way up. I knew it would get this bad under Bush, but the reality of it is still a shock. I've actually been looking to buy a house right now, but part of me isn't so sure that's a good idea. I also have this growing urge to start stockpiling canned goods, blankets and the like.

Close to 300 bucks. I am barely making it but sure don't know how others with kids are managing it?

Don

all in about 6 weeks!

Wonder how I broke the tilt wheel post?
I asked the mechanic -- someone new I'm using --- and he said that . . .
"actually, we probably put more pressure on the wheel post when we are
servicing it than you'd ever put on it!" ....

and I think he was telling me that the people who used to service my
car probably broke it?

I thought the MOTOR for the window was probably gone --- my husband
was mentioning something like $700!!! But it was the switch, fortunately.
$130 for new swtich/45 for labor ---

Yes . . . that's simply the switch! The little button --

a lot of money on the parts.

middle man.

Republiconomics will really have kicked in by then.

So buy seeds, till the soil, and plant. It may be the only way to survive the republicon depression.

I would plant big time...but being a renter and having people sell their homes out from under me and have to move every year, it's hard to plant and make it work.

and it is easy to grow in pots with a good mix of soils.

is that Obama is probably going to be made a scapegoat for that.

:(
:(

<<2009 is going to make 2008 look like the 'good old days'.

Republiconomics will really have kicked in by then.>>

Grocery outlet is IT, though I have had to change our diet significantly too...more processed and frozen stuf, but I think I am depressed anyway so I have no motive to cook. my mom will hit the BIG discount places once a month and pick us up some stuff too...meat, cheese etc

Single with 3 kids and barely any income,(and I work 3 jobs!) my parents help when they can...which means they bail me out in time for the power to not get turned off. If we didn;t have help (scetion 8) with rent, we'd be homeless for sure.

I am still storing up on canned goods, rice & flour...you never know if you may need it in a pinch :scared:


what's really hard to understand is that I live in a vacation place, and I see all kinds of folks up here for the week or weekend from the SF area, LA, etc... how do they DO it? are they just putting it all on a credit card...? food, gas, hotel, everything...?

that's just crazy IMO

when I bought lunch at my local Wendy's. It came to almost nine bucks just for myself. And I wasn't being
extravagant either. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago that the same lunch was less than five bucks.

I'll be glad when these assholes are in jail.

I wanna se who else is getting pinched or suffocated as the case may be!

we don't have any children at home, so that makes a difference. I really feel for families with several children. It has to be rough for you all.

My husband was laid off several months ago and has been unable to find another job so far. We have cut way back on driving and combine errands when we do go anywhere. He has an old sports car that gets great mileage, so he uses that, as we don't live near any stores.

We also cancelled our yearly vacation. Just couldn't justify the expense this year. I dread having to buy home heating oil. That is where our vacation money is going!

Good luck, everyone! We can get through this together. :hi:

My daughter and 2 grandkids are feeling the pinch in a big way.

We needed help to pay the rent. My partner's hours were cut, and her checks have been pathetically thin. Our food stamps only go a quarter as far as they used to--now they're barely enough to make it through 2 weeks, much less a month. We're hitting food banks as often as we're allowed to, but that isn't very often these days, because donations are way down. Our electricity bill is ridiculously high, they're raising our damned rent AGAIN next month (fourth time in less than two years) and I'm only washing my hair once a week, and shaving my legs twice a month, in order to save money on shampoo and razor blades. We're using cheap dollar-store laundry and dish soap that's watered-down and doesn't go very far, because it's all that we can afford. We haven't eaten fresh fruit or vegetables in a month--everything canned, and the cheapest possible brands. We're eating a LOT of tuna fish, Kraft dinner, and cold cereal with tiny amounts of milk. We feed the kidlet a little better, but he's not getting the nutritional quality that he *should* be getting, either.

Being poor is a fucking nightmare right now. Seriously. If not for occasional help from compassionate friends, I don't know what would happen to us. :(

Fresh produce is delicate and perishable, which means there are often bargains available if you're prepared to hunt for them.

For example, farmers' markets often have slightly damaged produce on sale cheap. If you don't mind cutting out the bruised bits, or making do with something that may be a bit past its prime (but is still perfectly wholesome and palatable, especially when cooked), you can get your fresh veggies at bargain rates.

Also, I don't know how common it is, but at our weekend-only farmers market, some places auction off whatever is left at 3:30 on Sunday for relative pennies.

If you have a local farmer's market or roadside stand, ask whether anything of that sort is available. You might be pleasantly surprised.

downtown, but since we don't have a car, it's difficult for us to get there. I'm also not sure if they accept the Food Stamp card, and we don't always have cash to work with. But I'll definitely look into it and find out.

WINCO in the NW is an employee owned grocery store: MUCH is generic, and I buy it gladly ....

Albertson's for chicken breast (1.79 lb. on sale) ... more turkey stuff than ever ... very little red meat .....

Ya have to be price-picky ... much more than before ...

THANKS to the greedy idiots in power .....

I stock up on those when they run that special.

I don't bake much and when I do it is from a recipe.
I eat at home most of the time.
Daughter is grown and my husband is on a 3 weeks out 2 weeks in (approximately)schedule. He is paid extremely well when he is working, and I have unemployment right now. House payment is stable and electric is on averaging so we don't have the scary summer bills and the teeny winter bills. Gasoline is the killer; he racked up a hugh !!11 Conoco bill last month. Fortunately his employer gives him a very generous mileage bonus when he is travelling to and from Texas and (currently) North Dakota, and when he does any driving that is actually for the well while he is there....and they reimburse it quickly.

As for me, am driving less..using a tank every 2 weeks instead of a tank every 8 days.
combining errands, that sort of thing.

I haven't quit shopping at my favorite market because the produce is much fresher and higher quality so I don't have to shop as often and I get fabulous coupons each week for significant freebies. Last week it was $10 free produce, the week before $10 free seafood, next week free chicken breast w/a seasoning rub. Steak is next and somewhere in there is a coupon for a very nice lunch bag/insulated cooler. Paper products, cleaning supplies etc I get at Costco or dollar store depending on what it is.

for everything else if it isn't marked down at least 40% I don't look at it.

I did some major penny pinching over the years and I know I can do it again, it just isn't as much fun as it used to be. Back then it was a challenge, now it is making me angry. It is different when it is just because you yourself have had an employment setback, and the whole damn world is in a similar or worse situation.

I don't want to return to beans and rice and mac and cheese because I worked very hard to get 60 pounds off my body and I don't want it back! But if I had to, I would.

all i hear about from my staff is how expensive THEIR food is and how this somehow means i need to give them all raises. as if! they're supposed to keep my vacation homes a refuge for me to get AWAY from employees whining about their pay!

but i am feeling the pinch, myself. it's gotten to the point where i told my broker to only buy on dips.

:evilgrin:

... in the last few months, and i'm getting laid off. job prospects look horrible, and i'm starting to go into full panic mode.

:hug: It's a very scary time. Try and remember to breathe.

I cut back in spending as much as possible a while back . But with the price of food and gas it is almost impossible to make it. I never eat out, can only buy small amounts of gas and count my mileage and so on. Today I bought food at Winco and the bill was 81 dollars. I live alone, am too old to work and have health problems.I shopped very carefully but am appalled at the the food bill today.Have to find a way to cut more. I do not use credit cards and have very few bills but am wondering how I will make it through the month.I have a small garden but our weather was so bad that a lot of things are very late, even at the local produce stands. All very depressing.

:argh:

I'm a vegetarian, so at least I don't pay the high cost of meat.

It may sound trifle, but one of the side effect of foreclosure has been the abandonment of dogs and other pets, when people are forced out of their homes. And this saddens me. Here are animals that did nothing wrong and can never perceive what has happened.

Also the increase in prices, when people have to choose between feeding their kids or feeding their pets.

Right now, that's sweet corn, 'maters, okra, pole beans, cukes, eggplant, summer squash, basil, two kinds of potatoes and seven kinds of peppers -- plus blueberries and blackberries. In a few weeks, that will include cantaloupe, watermelons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, spinach, beets, turnip greens and mesclen.

If I could grow coffee and milk cows, I could avoid the grocery all together.
(Well, if I could make soap.)

A country boy WILL survive. The rest of you better get out there and buy some seeds.

While you still can.

I'm a single mother of 3 (only two at home now). My two teenage boys deserve alot of credit. They don't ask for much and they never complain about not having the things their friends have.

My take home including child support is around 40k. I live north of Providence, south of Boston. Good schools and about 15 miles from work.

In the last 5 years or so my gas had gone up 300-350%, my heat has gone up 400% and food has at least doubled over all.

I shop carefully, there are no extras but even with all that, I think I will be forced to work a second job this winter just to pay for oil. Right now I think it will be close to 1000.00 a month during the coldest months.

I am praying for a mild Winter.

I couldn't believe it.

eat all my meals in, walk to the grocery store carrying my groceries home in an old gym bag, don't have a cell phone or subscribe to cable, and do my own concrete, plumbing, and electrical work.

yeah I'm feeling it.

Opened some sugar packets...and...they seemed to hold only half the normal amount of sugar? Has anyone else seen that?

It's getting painful to justify going out to lunch anymore. The cost of a soup/salad combo has risen from $4.95 to $6.45 in the last couple of years. I'm down to saving only $400/mo. Just a year ago, I was able to save $800/mo.

a college fund (birth years 1986 and 1990) I haven't been able to put money away in savings
for years. We've been paying our property taxes out of savings for several years. We fund
vacations out of money inherited when my father died in 2002.

I have always shopped carefully. I buy meat on sale or reduced. I go for the BOGO specials.
It was the rare time I'd go to the grocery store and spend more than $200. in one trip.
Now it seems that I spend that much about once in every 5 or 6 trips.

Hubby is 65. Although he was beginning to think about retirement, now he says he'll keep working.
He's working too hard (he closes his office door at lunch and falls asleep immediately).

Fortunately, our youngest was awarded a significant college scholarship. It will almost
pay in-state tuition for him. We'll pay his board and room. Money his grandmother left
him will pay for his books.

We're better off than most--but we are definitely noticing how pricey everything is getting.

behemoths are.

At some point Americans will catch on that this corporate model only benefits executives and shareholders at the expense of everybody else. Either that, or we will die by the thousands.

I bought my house in 1994.

Fast-forward to a refinance in May 2003 to a fixed-rate loan for 15 years. That was the best single financial move I have ever made. I am pretty much immune to direct impact of the housing "bubble", sub-prime "crisis", etc.

However, my present job does depend on the housing market. With sales down, business is down and I have managed to dodge a few rounds of layoffs.

In the meantime, I have paid my credit card debt to zero and am saving aggressively for "retirement" which I see coming in about 10 years (at which time I will be 60 years old).

How are some of you getting along in these inflationary winds?

Eating out less, travelling less, making my own coffee at home, line-drying my clothes, putting more in savings and less into discretionary purchases, and maintaining a diverse set of investments.

and am seriously considering trying the local grocery stores. I may have to start by parking carts or something but there is an employee discount on food.