Where are you noticing inflation the most?

[Anonymous]

If inflation was around 8% most upper middle class people wouldn’t notice it.
I think people are noticing 30% to 40% increases in some items compared to pre Covid-19 prices.

[Anonymous]

Why are we calling it inflation and not price gouging?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we calling it inflation and not price gouging?

+1

But to answer the question, food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we calling it inflation and not price gouging?

+1

But to answer the question, food.

+2

[Anonymous]

My favorite sushi restaurant prices are up probably by 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we calling it inflation and not price gouging?

+1

But to answer the question, food.

The data supports this that food prices have increased by a substantially larger percentage than other product categories.

[Anonymous]

food, hotels, entertainment

Our housing costs are pretty low and we only have 1 car that we barely use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If inflation was around 8% most upper middle class people wouldn’t notice it.
I think people are noticing 30% to 40% increases in some items compared to pre Covid-19 prices.

Healthcare, utilities and property taxes.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely food. It's insane.

[Anonymous]

Food. I spent $12 on hotdogs last week! The type of milk we buy is now $16 a gallon. Insane.

[Anonymous]

Food. Like just grocery store items. But I'm not UMC, I'm middle class and have always budgeted groceries (bought on sales, used coupons, price compared to buy items with the lower unit price, etc.). But there are a number of things where I've seen a 40%+ increase over this time last year. You especially notice it in anything packaged and the more processed, the higher the price -- cereal, crackers, frozen foods. I think one reason I notice this in particular is that as a parent who has always budged for groceries, packaged food has often been a way to save money. Like I tend to buy a lot of frozen fruits, which have about the same nutrition as fresh fruit but don't go bad quickly and can be used more easily in items that pack more nutritional bang for their buck, like smoothies or breakfast bars or muffins. But frozen fruit has skyrocketed in price and fresh fruit less so -- even pricy fruits like berries are now more economical fresh. I used to be able to buy a bag of frozen mango or mixed berries for $4 or less (the higher price would be for organic or higher quality). Now they can cost $7-8 for the same bag.

Bread, cereal, crackers -- we're really seeing the pinch there as well. Also baking supplies -- flour, sugar, yeast, salt and other seasonings. Much higher.

Interestingly, the places where I've seen smaller increases, aside from produce, are meats and dairy.

We have not substantially changed how we eat but I have been doing things like cutting the amount of a more expensive ingredient in a dish by half and supplementing with something like beans or vegetables to fill it out. We try not to skimp on seasoning so our food always tastes good.

The biggest impact is just the stress I now feel around meal planning and grocery shopping. The budget has gotten very tight. It's a bit of an exercise in self-denial. Whereas I used to go with my budgeted list an, if I found good deals on things (which I often did by shopping carefully and using coupons), I could splurge on things like ice cream or buying expensive fruit or getting something from the bakery. I never do that anymore, and I'm frequently over budget even sticking to bare bones.

I hope it gets better soon.

[Anonymous]

Food. Just got Giant delivery this morning. 12 packs of Diet Coke are $9.99, were routinely $4.99 2 years ago. Butter is $7.5/lb. Eggs have doubled. Bonne Maman jam has gone from $4 to $7+ a jar. So definitely not 8% price increases.

Restaurant food is worse. One place we go has raised the fish taco price from $14 to $22 in the last 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food. I spent $12 on hotdogs last week! The type of milk we buy is now $16 a gallon. Insane.

what kind of milk is that?

[Anonymous]

Food is the most obvious one. But I'm also seeing it in clothes. Sounds stupid, but I basically bought no clothes the past two years and am trying to buy some stuff now. Not as many sales, prices are higher.

[Anonymous]

Childcare. I say this as a nanny who used to babysit through and agency for $25-30/hr in Los Angeles. Sometimes even $20. Now all the jobs are $35-45 and I regularly turn down families who will only pay $22-28.

I would rather stay home than babysit toddlers for $28/hr. I know it’s bad and I’m trying to not think like that, but I don’t want to work daytime anymore for little kids for less than $35/hr. There’s so many jobs, when I turn down one, another pops back up and someone will always pay my inflation rate. In the past year I’ve made over $20k babysitting on the side, outside of my regular nanny job.