Things that have gone up in price so much, you just had to reluctantly stop buying/using

[DawnM]

Something else that has gone up tremendously......TRAVEL.

I used to get great deals on hotels/condo rentals/travel experiences, etc....

No more.   

I have a girls' trip to the beach every May and typically it isn't difficult to get a deal, but this year was a bear.   It took me triple the time and lots of talking to the girls and saying the prices were high and we may need to kick in more $$.

And then my Disney trips.....I used to get fantastic bargains....no more.   Even the bargain sites where I used to get great deals are not close to good deals anymore.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I know it isn't a food, but I had to take twin 1 to his annual children's hospital appointment. 

 This time last year a hotel room was $123 overnight for a 2 bed room

Today I paid $198   overnight for the exact same room

Ouch! I am sad so sorry.

[HomeAgain]

17 minutes ago, DawnM said:

And then my Disney trips.....I used to get fantastic bargains....no more.   Even the bargain sites where I used to get great deals are not close to good deals anymore.

A lot of this is the result of things that are not affected by inflation.  Only greed.

DH wants to go to WDW next year and I'm a bit leery about the idea  The nickel & diming reached an extreme level under Chapek.  We still have the dvds from 2009 or so, when they were sent out as vacation planning videos.  Nearly every perk is gone but the price is much higher.

[Garga]

3 hours ago, 73349 said:

What's TBTB?

Probably The Powers That Be

[Ann.without.an.e]

My favorite salmon is the frozen at Whole Foods but we've cut back on eating it and are using the Keta Salmon from Costco instead. 

GF Bread has gotten even more insane it was 4.99 a loaf and now it is 7.99 for a tiny loaf. I need to start making it again. I really think that saved us a lot of money. 

I also really need to start making granola too. DH eats a lot of it. 

Vegan Yogurt - I'd like to start making this myself somehow? If anyone has ideas then I'm all ears. 

We have chickens so we still eat a decent bit of eggs. 

I'm so envious of y'all that can eat beans. I can but DH has a legume intolerance so I can't make meals out of beans or lentil. 

 

[Melissa in Australia]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

A lot of this is the result of things that are not affected by inflation.  Only greed.

DH wants to go to WDW next year and I'm a bit leery about the idea  The nickel & diming reached an extreme level under Chapek.  We still have the dvds from 2009 or so, when they were sent out as vacation planning videos.  Nearly every perk is gone but the price is much higher.

I am not sure it is completely greed.  If the accommodation has a mortgage, their costs  will have gone up vastly. 

 

[HomeAgain]

53 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I am not sure it is completely greed.  If the accommodation has a mortgage, their costs  will have gone up vastly. 

 

Well, yes...if they were staying off site, the accommodations will have gone up.

So have the ticket prices.

And Magic Bands are now $45 each, rather than free for onsite guests and $20 for off.

Transportation is no longer free (no Magical Express from the airport) and rental car prices have gone up because of supply/demand due to no Magical Express.

Fast Pass system has gone away and been replaced with a tiered one.  If you would like to ride Rise of the Resistance be prepared to fork over $20 per person.

Table service has moved to a Prix Fixe menu, so there's $80 a person.

Dining Plan is just now starting to come back in a strange form of a debit card.

 

Our first trip to WDW dh managed to get me to go because when we priced out the costs, it was very comparable to the price for a week in a mountain cabin for us. There was a "Stay 4, get 3 free" promotion going on, where in addition to the free dining plan, we also stayed in a deluxe hotel and only paid for half the week. Oh, and they added the military discount on top of that.  DS received an $80 gift card for his birthday from WDW because it coincided with that week.  We didn't need to rent a car, and we paid $25 for babysitting one night at the kid's club in the hotel so dh and I could ride a few things ds wasn't interested in.  It was a great week, overall. 

Even our last trip we managed to do on a pretty nice budget.  I kept track of everything and we didn't do the dining plan at all, but our food costs were half as much as they would have been if we had done it - and that included just as many sit down meals, airport meals, and a dessert party.

Now......I'm tired.  I'm sick of them finding a way to continually raise the rates and offer less and less.  The rides are breaking down much more often, mousekeeping is next to non-existent, the park is dirtier, the rules about park hopping are stricter, and we're looking at doubling our costs almost for a worse experience.  It's not inspiring me to want to go back.  Joe Rhode leaving was a canary in the coal mine about how they've been hemorrhaging employees because they won't take care of them.  When the imagineers back away, it's time to reassess.

Chapek was fired, but everyone is cautiously waiting to see if Iger will start to clean up the mess or add to it.

[Shoeless]

7 hours ago, Eos said:

Super easy, and you can easily grow enough in a pretty small patch to have a year's supply without having to dry and powder it.  Fall planting works best around here, but some years I've put in a spring crop and it's really fine.  You can eat the flowering buds, too, which you have to snip off to get the bulb to form underground.

I'm in Texas, so I think I've missed the window for planting this year.  My great ideas for gardening always come a bit too late!

[DawnM]

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Well, yes...if they were staying off site, the accommodations will have gone up.

So have the ticket prices.

It is now well over $100 per day if you pay for regular tickets (not Annual Passes).   

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

And Magic Bands are now $45 each, rather than free for onsite guests and $20 for off.

I have never gotten a Magic Band, it is just as easy to use my phone.

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Transportation is no longer free (no Magical Express from the airport) and rental car prices have gone up because of supply/demand due to no Magical Express.

That stinks.   We don't fly, but I didn't know that had been taken away.

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Fast Pass system has gone away and been replaced with a tiered one.  If you would like to ride Rise of the Resistance be prepared to fork over $20 per person.

It does depend on the availability of RotR.   I was able to get up early (before 7am) and get us on in January, without having to pay extra.

The Geanie Plus thing makes me mad.   I prefer fast pass.

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Table service has moved to a Prix Fixe menu, so there's $80 a person.

Oh man, we learned the hard way.   Well, we didn't end up staying, it was LUNCH and we were hungry but not $80 per person (plus tip, so roughly $400 for a family of 4 for LUNCH!).  

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Dining Plan is just now starting to come back in a strange form of a debit card.

That's weird.

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

 

 

Even our last trip we managed to do on a pretty nice budget.  I kept track of everything and we didn't do the dining plan at all, but our food costs were half as much as they would have been if we had done it - and that included just as many sit down meals, airport meals, and a dessert party.

Now......I'm tired.  I'm sick of them finding a way to continually raise the rates and offer less and less.  The rides are breaking down much more often, mousekeeping is next to non-existent, the park is dirtier, the rules about park hopping are stricter, and we're looking at doubling our costs almost for a worse experience.  It's not inspiring me to want to go back.  Joe Rhode leaving was a canary in the coal mine about how they've been hemorrhaging employees because they won't take care of them.  When the imagineers back away, it's time to reassess.

Chapek was fired, but everyone is cautiously waiting to see if Iger will start to clean up the mess or add to it.

Yes, yes, and yes.   The parks were so much dirtier, the joke about dropping something and a CM picking it up within 10 seconds is LONG gone.   

And yes, the park hopping rules are STUPID.   DH wanted to hop at noon and when I told him we had to wait until 2pm he about fall off his chair.

Never mind that you have to have reservations ahead of time for the park you will enter and stay in until 2pm.   In some ways the tracking system was helpful to Disney to find patterns of which parks were the most crowded, etc....but it is no longer a "just show up on a whim and buy a ticket at the Maingate and have a magical day" place that it used to be.

But the people keep coming.   The crowds are still there.

[cintinative]

13 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

 

GF Bread has gotten even more insane it was 4.99 a loaf and now it is 7.99 for a tiny loaf. I need to start making it again. I really think that saved us a lot of money. 

Could you PM your recipe? I have one that works but it gets so crumbly after a couple of days it's just not good for sandwiches.

[Ann.without.an.e]

2 hours ago, cintinative said:

Could you PM your recipe? I have one that works but it gets so crumbly after a couple of days it's just not good for sandwiches.

I think refrigerating it helps. 

 

Here is the one I used and it was always great. I'm not at home or I would send you any changes I made, but I will check when I get home to make sure I didn't make any. I don't have a bread machine so I just mixed it with my kitchen aid. I didn't buy the small bags of GF bread mix (too $$$). When I made it routinely I bought a 25# bag of Pamela's bread flour and just added yeast (the only difference in the bread mix and the bread flour is that the bread mix already has the yeast). The bread flour also makes a wonderful French bread which can be converted to a pizza crust easily. 

https://www.pamelasproducts.com/blogs/recipes/amazing-bread-1

 

ETA:  Here since it isn't easy to locate lol. I would try a smaller bag first though. 

https://www.pamelasproducts.com/products/pamelas-bread-flour-blend-25-lb

Edited March 20, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[SKL]

For me, it's not that I can't afford it, but this long-term economic and societal mess has put me in a funk.  I don't want to buy anything or go anywhere.

I was born into a working-class family of 8.  Then I used a lot of student debt to get educated.  Even though I am financially comfortable at present, I still have a lot of stress surrounding money matters.  Watching my retirement funds (aka my kids' education budget) tank isn't helping.

My Amazon purchases have gone way way down.  I'd already stopped shopping in person except for my kids' birthdays / Christmas.  For myself, I buy when something is holey and needs replaced.  I eat OPLs ("Other People's Leftovers") as my main diet.  I try not to think too much about common household purchases that we don't strictly need.

I don't want my kids thinking about applying to expensive colleges.  Even if they could get in and even if there was a real differential in the value.  My brain can't justify it.

The other 4 people in my house do not suffer from this phenomenon.  😛  I guess that is a good thing, because not doing things now (we're in our 50s & 60s) will likely mean not doing them ever.

One thing I've consistently increased is my charitable giving.  When the economy is tight, the need is greater.  How can I be stingy when I haven't felt hunger in decades?

And health care expenses.  We go when there is a need, which wasn't always the case in my past.

Edited March 20, 2023 by SKL

[shawthorne44]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:44 AM, Quill said:

Put me down as another who (mostly) does not eat out now. Also, if I do, I’m not getting an adult drink. 
 

I was in Ulta yesterday, getting root touch up, when I looked at face sunscreens. I had one in my hand but when I looked at the price, I thought it must be mis-shelved. $48! Nope; that was the price. I figured I’ll scrape by on the old Neutrogena one I have. Sheesh.

Thanks for the warning on the sunscreen.   As a sun-phobic pale redhead with a family that loves the outdoors, I BELIEVE in sunscreen.   I usually buy fresh every spring, I'll brace myself.  

[Spryte]

I thought of another major increase that I have not stopped (because I can’t), but would if it was optional: medical.

I have an OOP ozone treatment weekly (peer-reviewed, solid results, this is my best hope to have a normal life again kind of thing, just not covered by my insurance). It’s $200 per treatment. I can see online that the same treatment in 2019 - early 2020 was $50. Ouch.

 

[teachermom2834]

Well I haven’t had any choice in the matter but I have purchased a clothes dryer, a dishwasher, and (just yesterday) a clothes washer in the last year. We are the kind of people that buy the second or third cheapest option available. No bells and whistles or special features or fancy brands. I spent an unspeakable amount on a very basic clothes washer yesterday. Shocking. 

[HomeAgain]

6 hours ago, DawnM said:

Oh man, we learned the hard way.   Well, we didn't end up staying, it was LUNCH and we were hungry but not $80 per person (plus tip, so roughly $400 for a family of 4 for LUNCH!).  

<snip>

But the people keep coming.   The crowds are still there.

I find the meal thing to be infuriating.  I tend to eat lighter at the parks: usually vegetarian, never dessert, and water or tea to drink.  I'll grab a sweet later if I want one.  It means that a prix fixe menu is a gigantic waste of food for me.  They began outsourcing to........I cannot remember the name of the restaurant company but you can see it worming its way through the parks.  The fixed menus with no substitutions scream that the food is simply reheated instead of cooked there. It's part of why Space 220 ended up disappointing so many.

I don't know if the people are continuing to come or whether there are more troubling signs that Disney is cluing into.  The Star Wars hotel experience is most likely to be shuttered by next year.  DVC units had a high turnover the past two years.  They are building a new hotel at Epcot, but it remains to be seen if they will continue the 'legacy' approach or Chapek's "once in a lifetime" approach to park attendance.  Treating it as a one and done will impact the company further down the road.  I don't think they realized just how much they relied on generational business.

The sting?  We priced out a trip to Paris and one to Disney.  Both the same length at the same time.  With food, accommodations, and all the sites we wanted to visit, Paris was cheaper.

[Clarita]

6 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

The sting?  We priced out a trip to Paris and one to Disney.  Both the same length at the same time.  With food, accommodations, and all the sites we wanted to visit, Paris was cheaper.

Paris is going to win hands down for me. To think I thought the whole Disneyland thing was too expensive 15 years ago. 

[skimomma]

27 minutes ago, Clarita said:

Paris is going to win hands down for me. To think I thought the whole Disneyland thing was too expensive 15 years ago. 

Not to mention ridiculously confusing!  I feel like one needs a BS-level degree in WDW-planning to even consider a trip.  I don't even know what most of the words used in these posts about WDW even mean!  WDW is 100% not our family's jam, so not an issue, really, but I do wonder how newbies actually plan one of these trips.  Can you not just show up, buy tickets, stand in line for rides, and buy food at snack bars like it's 1985?  Do you really have to have all these passes, bands, meal reservations, and stuff?  I would think that would a be a bigger turnoff than the prices.

 

[Faith-manor]

All of this WDW talk makes me nervous. In just under four years, eldest grandson turns 11 and we are throwing a Harry Potter themed Bday party where he will get his letter. We hope to take him to Universal Hardly Potter world to buy his wand on Diagon Alley. I am worried that the pricing and complexity of trying to figure the whole thing out will be similar a to WDW.  I have never been to Universal. The last time I was at WDW was 1978. I did go to Epcot in 1987 with mother in law's educator discount (she was a nursing professor at that time), and I think it cost about $28 a piece plus parking. We pulled a small wagon with packed lunches. So cheap. And since Dh's folks lived on Merritt Island, we didn't need accomodations. Y'all are scaring me! 

[Frances]

Given Disney’s action several years ago of letting go lots of IT workers and then using an outsourcing company to replace them with H1-b visa holders who the laid off workers had to train in order to get severance, our family won’t support anything Disney related with our $. While what they did was technically legal, I find it very unethical.

https://money.cnn.com/2016/01/25/technology/disney-h1b-workers/index.html

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/disney-it-outsourcing.aspx

[teachermom2834]

We went to Disney twice - like 15 amd 13 years ago or similar when they ran an awesome deal for homeschool days. We got one of those discount condo vouchers someone on here used to post about (Sky something?) and had a seven night condo in Orlando for $150. We packed food into the park and ate at the condo and did Disney on the cheap. It was the only way my family ever could have done it. People said we were missing the magic by not staying on site and not doing the dining etc but it was perfect for us and we aren’t Disney fanatics and it was really fun. 
 

My almost 15 yo dd has no memory of Disney and luckily she isn’t interested or I would have guilt over another thing the baby missed out on. She would definitely choose Paris! 

Edited March 20, 2023 by teachermom2834

[marbel]

25 minutes ago, skimomma said:

Not to mention ridiculously confusing!  I feel like one needs a BS-level degree in WDW-planning to even consider a trip.  I don't even know what most of the words used in these posts about WDW even mean!  WDW is 100% not our family's jam, so not an issue, really, but I do wonder how newbies actually plan one of these trips.  Can you not just show up, buy tickets, stand in line for rides, and buy food at snack bars like it's 1985?  Do you really have to have all these passes, bands, meal reservations, and stuff?  I would think that would a be a bigger turnoff than the prices.

 

I remember thinking of taking the kids to WDW many years ago, getting a book from the library to help with planning, and just throwing my hands up in frustration trying to figure out food plans, fastpasses (or whatever it may have been called back then), lodging options, etc. I had been to Disneyland several times as an adult, and have great memories, but WDW seemed just too hard. And that was at least 15 years ago. I can't imagine it now.  I've had a bit of parenting guilt over never taking my kids to Disney though they have repeatedly told me they are not interested anyway. Still, seems like a rite of passage for USA folks, at least to me! 

Edited March 20, 2023 by marbel

[ScoutTN]

Another no WDW family here. It has never been within our means to go and it has always seemed more complicated than it’s worth.From pp, that is even more so now. Not a big deal for us at all. 
 

We get a family vacation about once every three years and that is usually a week at the beach or camping or something similarly simple. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

37 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

All of this WDW talk makes me nervous. In just under four years, eldest grandson turns 11 and we are throwing a Harry Potter themed Bday party where he will get his letter. We hope to take him to Universal Hardly Potter world to buy his wand on Diagon Alley. I am worried that the pricing and complexity of trying to figure the whole thing out will be similar a to WDW.  I have never been to Universal. The last time I was at WDW was 1978. I did go to Epcot in 1987 with mother in law's educator discount (she was a nursing professor at that time), and I think it cost about $28 a piece plus parking. We pulled a small wagon with packed lunches. So cheap. And since Dh's folks lived on Merritt Island, we didn't need accomodations. Y'all are scaring me! 

I take my kids to Universal for their wand at age 11. I am planning out DD’s trip in May.   The complexity is easier than Disney as the parks are smaller, but the price point really is about the same.  I have an annual pass now but before that I paid about the same for Universal as I have for Disney.  I did two days at Universal and one at Disney last December and if I didn’t have the AP, it would have been about the same.

But you can do either park cheaper or more expensive than I do it.

[Pawz4me]

45 minutes ago, skimomma said:

Not to mention ridiculously confusing!  I feel like one needs a BS-level degree in WDW-planning to even consider a trip.  I don't even know what most of the words used in these posts about WDW even mean!  WDW is 100% not our family's jam, so not an issue, really, but I do wonder how newbies actually plan one of these trips.  Can you not just show up, buy tickets, stand in line for rides, and buy food at snack bars like it's 1985?  Do you really have to have all these passes, bands, meal reservations, and stuff?  I would think that would a be a bigger turnoff than the prices.

 

Over the weekend we were talking to a couple who just got back from WDW. They explained the app and all the hoops they had to jump through to get reservations for some ride (or maybe rides plural--it was all very confusing), the restrictions on park hopping, etc. I said it sounds like you need an advanced degree in Disney to be able to figure it all out. We went twice when the boys were younger, back in the day when you bought a couple of books and studied them to plan things out to maximize the experience and get the most for the money. That was stressful enough. It made me tired just listening to them explain it all.

[HomeAgain]

23 minutes ago, marbel said:

 I've had a bit of parenting guilt over never taking my kids to Disney though they have repeatedly told me they are not interested anyway. Still, seems like a rite of passage for USA folks, at least to me! 

I wouldn't feel guilty at all.

Youngest ds used to say he wasn't ever going to have children because he didn't want to have to do Disney with little kids. 😂  He finds many of the trappings to be about as fun as a root canal. 

[Kassia]

32 minutes ago, marbel said:

I remember thinking of taking the kids to WDW many years ago, getting a book from the library to help with planning, and just throwing my hands up in frustration trying to figure out food plans, fastpasses (or whatever it may have been called back then), lodging options, etc. I had been to Disneyland several times as an adult, and have great memories, but WDW seemed just too hard. And that was at least 15 years ago. I can't imagine it now.  I've had a bit of parenting guilt over never taking my kids to Disney though they have repeatedly told me they are not interested anyway. Still, seems like a rite of passage for USA folks, at least to me! 

exactly the same for us!  I grew up in FL and went to Disney many times and always felt guilty about not getting my kids there even though none of them were interested in going or regret not going.  

[shawthorne44]

9 hours ago, DawnM said:

It is now well over $100 per day if you pay for regular tickets (not Annual Passes).   

I have never gotten a Magic Band, it is just as easy to use my phone.

That stinks.   We don't fly, but I didn't know that had been taken away.

It does depend on the availability of RotR.   I was able to get up early (before 7am) and get us on in January, without having to pay extra.

The Geanie Plus thing makes me mad.   I prefer fast pass.

Oh man, we learned the hard way.   Well, we didn't end up staying, it was LUNCH and we were hungry but not $80 per person (plus tip, so roughly $400 for a family of 4 for LUNCH!).  

That's weird.

Yes, yes, and yes.   The parks were so much dirtier, the joke about dropping something and a CM picking it up within 10 seconds is LONG gone.   

And yes, the park hopping rules are STUPID.   DH wanted to hop at noon and when I told him we had to wait until 2pm he about fall off his chair.

Never mind that you have to have reservations ahead of time for the park you will enter and stay in until 2pm.   In some ways the tracking system was helpful to Disney to find patterns of which parks were the most crowded, etc....but it is no longer a "just show up on a whim and buy a ticket at the Maingate and have a magical day" place that it used to be.

But the people keep coming.   The crowds are still there.

 

There are grumblings that the revenge travel is nearing the end for them and they are about to hit the Trust Thermocline.   The recent boot of Cheap-Ek is a sign that corporate is recognizing that. 

Disney benefited probably the most from revenge travel.   If you'd had vague plans for three vacations that you would have taken during the two years you spent in the basement, and you have kids, Disney is the first and most certain that you'll still do.   As long as you are still working, if you told your kid you are going to Disney, you are going to Disney.   

I'd waited 40+ years to go to Disney World, and we had a great trip (with an extreme effort on my part), but I have no interest to go again.  But Universal Florida keeps calling my name.  

 

[Brittany1116]

Lifelong Floridians here (read: cheaper Dis trips). We are priced out now. Whole family went when kids were infant and 5.5. Took one to Epcot FWF Nov 2019 (geographical and culinary field trip), the other for his first "real trip" to MK early 2021 (no character meets + masks = saddest Dis pics). I can't justify it anymore, with all the extra fees added and perks gone. 

[DawnM]

3 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

There are grumblings that the revenge travel is nearing the end for them and they are about to hit the Trust Thermocline.   The recent boot of Cheap-Ek is a sign that corporate is recognizing that. 

Disney benefited probably the most from revenge travel.   If you'd had vague plans for three vacations that you would have taken during the two years you spent in the basement, and you have kids, Disney is the first and most certain that you'll still do.   As long as you are still working, if you told your kid you are going to Disney, you are going to Disney.   

I'd waited 40+ years to go to Disney World, and we had a great trip (with an extreme effort on my part), but I have no interest to go again.  But Universal Florida keeps calling my name.  

 

Revenge Travel?   Is that the after Covid travel?

And I have no idea what Trust Thermocline is......I feel like you may have thrown in a few non-English phrases.  😂

[kbutton]

On 3/19/2023 at 7:19 PM, Ann.without.an.e said:

I'm so envious of y'all that can eat beans. I can but DH has a legume intolerance so I can't make meals out of beans or lentil. 

I don't do well with beans either. Or rice. 

8 hours ago, SKL said:

For me, it's not that I can't afford it, but this long-term economic and societal mess has put me in a funk.  I don't want to buy anything or go anywhere.

 

I don't want my kids thinking about applying to expensive colleges.  Even if they could get in and even if there was a real differential in the value.  My brain can't justify it.

I totally get this!

[City Mouse]

In Disney’s defense, a Disney vacation is not a frugal family vacation. It is solidly an upper- middle class vacation destination, but it is no more expensive that vacations at the ski resorts near where I live. Between lift tickets, equipment rentals, and costs to stay on resort property, a ski vacation can cost nearly as much as a Disney trip, and that is not even at a premier destination ski resort such as Vail or Breckinridge.

There are cheaper places to ski, just like there are cheaper amusement parks to visit, but somehow both types stay busy.

Edited March 21, 2023 by City Mouse

[Shoeless]

13 hours ago, SKL said:

I don't want my kids thinking about applying to expensive colleges.  Even if they could get in and even if there was a real differential in the value.  My brain can't justify it.

I feel you on this.  I am feeling very negative about college. There is a very average school in my town that charges $52K a year for tuition, room, board. They proudly proclaim that "Everyone gets a scholarship!" to attend. If everyone automatically gets $5K off the price, then just charge $47K a year instead!  "If you attend this pre-registration event, you get another $2K off the first year tuition!" You're a university; stop acting like Kohls! 

I have a pervasive feeling of "The emperor has no clothes" about so many things.

[fraidycat]

I was a travel agent in my pre-kids life. I have helped people plan and book their complicated itineraries to Asia and Europe and I have zero desire to ever try to figure out the complication that is DisneyWorld.

We lived in California and did Disneyland  a few times and will go back there if we ever feel the need to experience Disney again. 
 

I do hope to take the family to Universal FL some year, but it will not be any time in the near future.
 

 

[HomeAgain]

We had a celebratory dinner for oldest ds last night.  I have a traditional meal I make for him of braised short ribs.  It's a recipe that I reserve just for this one kid.  Well, there were changes made due to the price of beef.  The dinner turned out well, but there were several substitutions made, including the cut of meat.  Short ribs for 5 of us would have run about $45 for the meat alone.  I went to the store first thing in the morning to look and ended up finding a marked down cheap roast for $12.  The rest of the meal was padded with vegetables prepared 3 different ways, rice, scallion pancakes, and little potstickers.  I spent about 5 hours cooking for this child, lol. But everything turned out as good or better than how we usually do it.

Oh, and I did NOT get the garlic powder. 😆 I wasn't paying $10 for a little one and the other grocery store only had garlic salt.  We go through tons of bulbs each year and I thought it might be nice to have the powder on hand for bbq sauce this summer, but I'll just wait.

[Ann.without.an.e]

11 hours ago, kbutton said:

I don't do well with beans either. Or rice. 

I totally get this!

 

We are gluten, dairy, beef, and legume free and it’s expensive even if we try to eat cheaper. We eat a lot of rice and I can’t imagine not being able to lean into rice based meals. We actually eat a lot of international dishes and rice is the base of most of them. 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Laura Corin]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:45 PM, Faith-manor said:

Agreed. Beef can only be kept for so long before it gets freezer burn. So in the short term, beef eaters can mitigate the issue, but that lasts maybe a year at most and then the consequences of our farm policy mess will still intrude.

I have been watching Clarkson's Farm, and reading on a social media farmer/rancher/agricultural support group thing, and the insanity of farm policy of the UK as well as the US is just astounding. On the surface, it looks like ignorance and political BS for the sake of BS. But it isn't, it is a corporate driven, capitalism sponsored mess to deliberately cause family owned farms to tank so their land can be sold to two entities, one being corporations like ConAgra and their ilk, or the other being wealthy, huge contracting firms who want to develop luxury homes/subdivisions/resorts on the property, acquiring it for dirt cheap when the farmer goes bankrupt and the property is auctioned to pay creditors. D.E.P.R.A.V.E.D. Local zoning boards and councilors/commissioners do go along with this crap out of ignorance and well stubbornness at not being willing to change, and also feeling entitled to cheap food as well as general discrimination against farmers as often local politicians see themselves as better than and above the farming community. They play right into these corporate entities and their bribed politicians' hands.

I haven't watched Clarkson's farm. I don't doubt the lunacy of the UK farming policy but Clarkson is not a reliable source of information  - he has a history of self-publicising twisting of the truth.

[QueenCat]

Garlic on Amazon, price isn't bad:

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Brand-Garlic-Granulated-Ounces/dp/B07VVGKHLH/ref=sr_1_9?crid=3P8D9ZWN3OMOE&keywords=garlic+powder&qid=1679403433&sprefix=garl%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-9

 

[Pawz4me]

I don't understand the garlic power pricing. At my Walmart according to their app an 8.75 ounce container of McCormick's garlic powder is $7.20 and a 3.12 ounce container is $4.23. I wonder if what @HomeAgainposted was a pricing error?

[Starr]

I was at Walgreens and the saline nasal spray brand I like was about  $10.00. It's still $2.98 at Walmart. I'm really watching pricing and not just grabbing something and figuring it will be just a little higher priced.

[73349]

39 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

 At my Walmart according to their app an 8.75 ounce container of McCormick's garlic powder is $7.20 and a 3.12 ounce container is $4.23.

I've been seeing weird prices on Walmart.com generally, like $7 for a can of corn.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

I haven't watched Clarkson's farm. I don't doubt the lunacy of the UK farming policy but Clarkson is not a reliable source of information  - he has a history of self-publicising twisting of the truth.

Oh, I agree it had a slant for sure. But the other farmers who agree to be interviewed, it is just heart breaking. I don't see how any family farms can survive with the current policies. It is the same here though. I am not poking at the UK alone. It is staggering how little respect there is for food producers, and especially non corporate food producers. I have watched documentaries, other farming and environmental series, and they definitely back up some of what Jeremy is saying just without any entertainment value or bragging. His ego is pretty enormous for sure.

[prairiewindmomma]

2 minutes ago, 73349 said:

I've been seeing weird prices on Walmart.com generally, like $7 for a can of corn.

Those products tend to be supplied by parties other than Walmart direct, though sold on Walmart.com.

[Faith-manor]

McCormick garlic powder, and garlic granulated were just under $5.00 usd/each ($4.64 EU, $4.09 GBP,  $7.51 Au $6.84 CAD) same size as above yesterday when I checked. 

I don't use McCormick. It end to buy in bulk from the Mennonite bulk food store or get Simply Organic brand. I have not been in a supermarket recently that carries Simply Organic so I have no idea if the price has skyrocketed or not. I have a fair amount of garlic powder here, and it is the back up for when I run out of dried cloves.

I did notice that several items had gone up again including jarred items like spaghetti sauce, olives, pickles. It looked to me like about a 15-20% increase, and they had already gone up 25% in the last year.

[prairiewindmomma]

55 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I don't understand the garlic power pricing. At my Walmart according to their app an 8.75 ounce container of McCormick's garlic powder is $7.20 and a 3.12 ounce container is $4.23. I wonder if what @HomeAgainposted was a pricing error?

I would guess she was at a smaller Safeway or the like that isn’t posting competitive pricing but is using the retailer’s MSRP. I have seen (but won’t pay for) similar prices here in a few chain stores.

Our Stuffmart used dynamic pricing for groceries…what I would pay for if I order online is often different from what I would pay if I filled my cart in store. 
 

It’s all madness. I hate it.

[shawthorne44]

14 hours ago, DawnM said:

Revenge Travel?   Is that the after Covid travel?

And I have no idea what Trust Thermocline is......I feel like you may have thrown in a few non-English phrases.  😂

 

Revenge Travel, similar to after-Covid travel, except that many people went big on their first vacation after the lockdown, so they 'vacationed with a vengeance.'

Article on Trust Thermocline.

https://therightstuff.medium.com/the-trust-thermocline-explains-how-companies-suddenly-lose-customers-and-employees-2657c9535e6a

The general idea is that a company can cut back on quality and quantity of their product and raise the prices by a certain amount, and they don't lose many customers.  There is a lot of inertia in what people do and buy.   Then the bean counters notice that the changes weren't a problem, and they make more changes and more.   Then one change causes a huge drop-off in business and the bean-counters say "What happened?    Customers had no problem with all the other changes we made and then we added this one tiny change and now we're in trouble."

 

[Pawz4me]

2 hours ago, 73349 said:

I've been seeing weird prices on Walmart.com generally, like $7 for a can of corn.

 

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 

Our Stuffmart used dynamic pricing for groceries…what I would pay for if I order online is often different from what I would pay if I filled my cart in store. 

Those are the actual prices at my local Walmart. I checked yesterday when I was there, and noted a huge difference in what HomeAgain had posted. I just double checked on the app before making my previous post, to make sure the prices were still correct. 'Cause for all I know they could have jumped tremendously in 24 hours..

Edited March 21, 2023 by Pawz4me

[prairiewindmomma]

The Rx toothpaste a lot of us use has gone up from $15ish a tube to $25ish a tube. I just spent $75 on toothpaste. All of that is obviously cheaper than a filling…but paying $75 when I paid $45 six months ago is frustrating.

[kbutton]

13 hours ago, Shoeless said:

I feel you on this.  I am feeling very negative about college. There is a very average school in my town that charges $52K a year for tuition, room, board. They proudly proclaim that "Everyone gets a scholarship!" to attend. If everyone automatically gets $5K off the price, then just charge $47K a year instead!  "If you attend this pre-registration event, you get another $2K off the first year tuition!" You're a university; stop acting like Kohls! 

I have a pervasive feeling of "The emperor has no clothes" about so many things.

You could probably make a viral meme with the bolded, lol!

The college I attended way back when is on the bandwagon with this kind of pricing, but when I attended, it was the same bottom line for everyone except for the financial aid that was out of their hands, such as Pell grants, outside scholarships, etc. They did that on purpose and talked about it freely--they didn't feel like they should be leaning heavily on some students and not others. 

 

[Shoeless]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

You could probably make a viral meme with the bolded, lol!

The college I attended way back when is on the bandwagon with this kind of pricing, but when I attended, it was the same bottom line for everyone except for the financial aid that was out of their hands, such as Pell grants, outside scholarships, etc. They did that on purpose and talked about it freely--they didn't feel like they should be leaning heavily on some students and not others. 

 

I'm so over the "hustle, hustle, hustle!" mindset in this country.  I don't know if I've officially become old and cranky or if it's truly gotten worse over the last few years.  It feels worse than before. Everything is complicated, expensive, and of lesser quality than before, from garlic powder to university educations.

It all feels like a sham. Or a scam. A sham scam.