I’m afraid this thread might not be good for my grocery budget 🤣I’m now craving all sorts of things I shouldn’t be

Ouch… We were getting mini supermarket trays for $6 or so with 4 in a tray. That was all pre December no cheap mangos since then sadly, but I guess that’s because they’re not in season now. And I got lucky a couple of times - there’s an Italian fruit and veg shop near where DS has his maths exam and they got a big lot in really cheap a couple of times - couldn’t believe it seeing them sold at $3-4 kg. They were pretty ripe but we froze them up for smoothies! This reminded me of something else that’s been a splurge here this year… watermelon. Usually I see it as a pretty cheap fruit for the kids but this year it’s rarely been under $3kg. (Which by the time you take off the rind etc is actually quite expensive).

Yeah I wouldn’t … they were $3.50 at our IGA but we all had Easter bunnies a couple of weeks ago so are chocolated out. Seems like our food prices are slightly lower here in SA for the moment for some reason.

As a non-American, I have to ask what on earth is government cheese? It makes me think of war rations or something

Weirdly chocolate has been quite cheap here, and I pay less than that for coffee. Is it rural prices that are the issue or is VIC just more expensive, I wonder? I imagine chocolate will go back up now Easter is over.

How often would you buy things you consider a splurge item? Some of these things we have pretty often (avocados and mangoes) though only when they’re seasonal. Mangos were only $7kg here this year and apples were $6 so hardly felt like a splurge at all.

Oh yes to the pens!!! I love my sharpie gel pens. I have never had great handwriting and they make a massive difference. I don’t think I have great pressure control so having a really smooth flowing ink is awesome. I kind of justify them as a work expense though - I buy nice whiteboard markers, sharpies and erasable pens for work - they make a big difference for my students as well. I do wait for the post back to school clearance or half price sales and stock up though, rather than paying full price.

One of the science shows here had a kind of giant smoke ring machine they made up. It was pretty cool.

What small extravagances or indulgences do you have that really feel worth it to you? I have a couple. During a really stressful and difficult time last year I grabbed a NYT games subscription - it was a good deal at the time and I got 12 months worth. I’ve definitely got my money’s worth out of it. I love the new games they come up with from time to time and it really helps me destress having a few minutes to push my brain to do something slightly but not impossibly challenging. MCT for writing. This is ridiculously expensive and I could achieve the requirements for writing much more affordably. But it has made all the difference for my kids actually finally understanding parts of speech- and even I have gained a lot of clarity about how clauses and phrases work. I only have the e versions though I’d love to own the physical books. What are yours?

Wow! Jealous…

Maybe the water quality is really bad where they are and they don’t have a filter? Or they’re going camping? That’s a lot of plastic waste!

DHs would be steak occasionally. We mostly eat venison, so other meat is a treat. I splurge on spice/meal kits that make my life easier. The kids like flavoured yoghurt and packaged cereal or snacks. When we host, I’ll do fancy cheese platter and nice ice cream, but that’s fairly rare. Our grocery budget has loosened some recently and we have so much garden produce we can afford splurges.

Expectations have changed but they’re not necessarily more… just different. My parents generation all expected to buy a quarter acre block. My generation are so happy if they get something over 500sqm. My parents generation expected to have health care that the government provided. My generation know that without private health there’s a massive waiting list and you will get sent home from hospital four hours after you have a baby. Many of the milennials I know are great savers, have worked really hard to save for small houses, have waited longer to have kids so they can afford the houses. They camp, they cook, they fix things. I definitely am not of the mindset that all boomers had it easy… my own folks had it pretty rough at times. My Mil had an awful childhood. But the reality is a lot of the poverty she grew up with was related to dysfunction and her parents spending on their wants not the kids needs. My parents generation expected to be able to send their kids to public school and know their kids would be relatively safe there and get an education. My generation are increasingly turning to lower-cost private education - not for status or really superior outcomes but just to get the minimum standards of safety and education for their kids. What sends me crazy is the assumption that if millennials or Gen Z are complaining about how hard they have it right now it’s because they’re buying lunch out every day and going to concerts etc. no one in my social circle is doing any of that stuff except as a rare treat. Many of us have subsisted on granola bars for lunch etc etc. DH and I did years of being super-frugal to pay off our first home (early morning markets to save money, everything was cooked at home from scratch, even after working a full-time week). And I have younger kids (never sure on the generations but early 20s) with parents criticising them all the time. The young mum has gone back to work and occasionally buys take away coffee with friends. Her parents say she should stop buying take away coffee and stay home with her baby. Only problem is the coffee she has once or twice a month is never going to cover their mortgage. And they’re not even urban they’re in a cheaper small town area. There just doesn’t seem to be that comprehension from the older generation that no amount of saving is going to make it possible to buy a basic house on one income now.

Yep and the issue so not doing it for a couple of years while being a student to work toward something better. It’s that this generation we’re talking about are way past the student stage… they’re getting to the stage of life where things are supposed to maybe get a little easier financially.

And to add to the irony post-Covid (well… whatever you call this thing we’re in now) there was an absolute glut of avocados and article were printed begging people to buy avocados and chastising people for not buying enough! We ate more guacamole than we ever have before!

Yes correct! I remember the *storm that created at the time

So true! I’m on the boundary between x and millennial and most of these generation articles feels like they are talking about my kids generation not mine when they say millennials!

Yep! This has been a mindset shift for me with work. Don’t have access to a kitchen or refrigeration and I can’t make it through the day without eating so a couple of muesli bars are cheaper than buying food. Plus I can eat them while doing my notes and prep work which means I don’t have as much to do when I get home.

I think this is true, but also at least in my country the quality of basic no brand food has degenerated a lot. So for example, where most ham bought was higher quality Australian produced ham, now most of what’s found on our shelves is imported and slimy and texture less. To get the equivalent of the ham we ate as kids means splurging on a more expensive brand. Same with milk (lots of very thin milk made with permeate). Many breads have weird additives so again, to buy bread that’s similar to what we had as kids that doesn’t mess up our guts is a splurge. So there’s two sides to that coin. Yes, younger generation will spend more for authentic food, but that’s because if they don’t they are eating literal rubbish half the time.

We are in Y7 this year - calendar year schoolers due to being in Aus. I’m posting because I feel like I have a few holes. Maths - AOPS algebra - planned to do pre algebra but he was bored so he jumped. So far so good though a few issues with exponent laws and need to review some fraction concepts. English - MCT Essay voyage and grammar voyage. Word Roots. Spelling Power. I really think we need something with a bit more writing - I love the way MCT teaches but I don’t think it has enough practice. Science - kind of hotchpotch. First term we did an online science class but that has run out. I have him reading Joy Hakim Story of Science series but I think we need something else with some writing output. History - SWB History of the Ancient World. We’re just reading the text - probably need some output. Geography - another hotchpotch - we are using some Jane Goodall produced books that were provided free to homeschoolers and schools - they are beautiful books and a very generous project. Also some national geographic videos. I’d really like something that tackles geography more from a conceptual/skills angle. It feels like a lot of homeschool stuff just focuses on locating places on maps. I want something that talks more about land forms, water cycles, formation etc. Language - Duo Art - this is a major hole: this student doesn’t like art and I really need to get him doing something.

I’m almost having the opposite problem now. So many younger generation don’t use top sheets that last time I went to buy a sheet sheet it was hard to find one that wasn’t just fitted sheet plus pillowcase. (This was for a single - the double beds and larger seem to still come with a top sheet).

My mum always used flat sheets only. She hates folding fitting sheets and she trained as a nurse so she was a brilliant bed maker!

“Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude. In terms of energy, each whole number increase corresponds to an increase of about 31.6 times the amount of energy released, and each increase of 0.2 corresponds to approximately a doubling of the energy released. Events with magnitudes greater than 4.5 are strong enough to be recorded by a seismograph anywhere in the world, so long as its sensors are not located in the earthquake's shadow.[7][8][9]” copy/pasted from WIKI

I’m pretty sure it’s 10 to the power of - so richter 3 is 10^3 and richter 4 is 10^4. So two steps up is multiply by 10 twice so x100.