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If people want to forego meat or certain items, that's on them, but I don't think folks should be blamed for a "normal diet," whether it's on a cost-basis or otherwise. Keep in mind all the meat below was frozen around a month ago and is raised/slaughtered/packed within an hour of my residence.
Last night's filet thawed completely for today's lunch. At $17.99/lb., the filet is so tender that you could cut with a plastic case knife, or with a regular dining fork. It's far better than anything I can get a grocery store around here. A little olive oil, a bit of Montreal steak seasoning, then cooked to medium rare to medium is all I need. I had about half a pound of that steak, grilled a brat leftover from Aldi last week (did not eat all of it), boiled an ear of corn, and sliced a yellow, local tomato. A superb lunch. If you take away the brat, it was basically $10. I could barely get a medium Arby's combo for that.
I'm thawing the $3.49/lb. boneless pork chops for tomorrow's lunch. Grilled with blackberry BBQ sauce made from a Jamaican guy in Asheville. Sometimes I do the chops with panko bread crumbs or Oven Fry. The other ear of corn. Maybe a half pound of meat at that price and another $.50 ear of corn.
I did go out tonight. I changed the local brewery to Buffalo Wild Wings. BO/GO free boneless night. 12 wings, and two house beers ($3/each), with tax, were a little under $18. Compare that to $35-$40 at the local brewery.
I can save a lot shopping at Aldi and Sam's Club instead of trying to get everything at Food City or Ingles (two regional grocers). Sam's had a 3.5 lb. bag of frozen Tyson chicken tenders for $5.03/lb. They are well over $8/lb. at Kroger - probably more at Food City or Ingles. I can get 42 local sausage links at Sam's about $9 - at the grocery store, an 8 pack is about $6. Sam's was $.15-.$25/gal cheaper than any other gas station I passed. My parents and I are on the same Sam's Club Plus membership, so we get 2% in-store credit on all Sam's purchases, including fuel, redeemable monthly now. Sam's Club or Costco can save a tremendous amount vs. traditional grocers like Publix
I had $60 in my pocket at the end of the day on Sunday. Aside from Sam's Club and the local farm stand, I've made it on that $60 all week. $4 are leftover. Also, keep in mind I'll often go out for dinner and beer at least two to three times per week, most weeks, for at least $25 per trip. Aside from tonight, every dinner since Sunday was eaten at home.
I didn't track my expenses, but my guess is that I've spent maybe a third of what I normally do, if you smooth out the Sam's purchases.
We buy groceries every ten days = 3 x's a month. In January our grocery bill was running about $1000/mo. Today it is about $1400. Admittedly, we buy from Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods) and Thrive but still that is still a substantial jump in price for groceries we haven't changed in 5 years. We are not meat/fish eaters--now. I assume many here have encountered such jumps in costs for food. Such prices are not sustainable. Even if inflation is brought down these prices will stay high because you know food manufacturers--once they get prices this high they never lower them. I believe unaffordable food products are here to stay, along with high gas and everyday item prices. I have no idea how people of lower means with children to support are going to survive in the coming years. The era of cheap prices is over.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 06-03-2022 at 07:58 AM..
We buy groceries every ten days = 3 x's a month. In January our grocery bill was running about $1000/mo. Today it is about $1400. Admittedly, we buy from Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods) and Thrive but still that is still a substantial jump in price for groceries we haven't changed in 5 years. We are not meat/fish eaters--now. I assume many here have encountered such jumps in costs for food. Such prices are not sustainable. Even if inflation is brought down these prices will stay high because you know food manufacturers--once they get prices this high they never lower them. I believe unaffordable food products are here to stay, along with high gas and everyday item prices. I have no idea how people of lower means with children to support are going to survive in the coming years. The era of cheap prices is over.
$1400 a month? I'm guessing you have a large family?
Whole Foods can be a conundrum. You can find good deals, but they have so many yummy things that are more expensive. I had gone to use their flour bins, which the site had just done away with. Still I got broth boxes that were cheaper (and better) than Walmart's brand, and prime steaks for six something a pound.
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I like to keep some cash, especially for tips. I had a tire blowout last week, and while waiting for AAA (over an hour estimate) a man stopped and offered to put my donut on. He didn't take the $20 I offered after he was done, but I was glad I had it to offer. And right before the holiday, I bought a large and heavy cornhole set at Walmart, and requested assistance to put it in my car. I always give a tip to the person who helps me. The salon I go to won't allow tips to be put on the card. I usually have $30-$50 in my wallet for "just in case" scenarios.
Me too...
I don't often need to tip anyone for the kind of help you describe, but you remind me how I'm always looking for cash bills when traveling, to tip the people who load and unload your bags from the shuttle bus for example. Also at garage sales I sometimes like to rummage through. I also just used $100 in cash to buy a wedding anniversary gift for my wife. Since she does all our bills, I sometimes don't use a credit card, so she won't see the charge come through on our online statement. More generally speaking, however, I've always got more cash in my wallet than I really need.
I like to have cash too. But for the gas station I normally go to, I downloaded their app and now pay through that. It's so simple, and I get a 15 cent a gallon discount for using the app with their credit card (you can put other payment methods on the app too though).
I once discussed using cash to buy gas with my wife, and she pointed out she would rather get the points by using our credit card. She recently found a card that credits you back 3% on all purchases! Now that we have an EV, it's a mute point anyway.
Oh wow. That's way WAY north of us here on the Monterey Bay.
We broke it up. My sister's house is about 5 hours from us, stopped for 2 nights before camping, stopped for one night after. We were all going, 9 of us.
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Or just try a new teller. Some bank employees know shockingly little.
I went in to change my name last year. I had my SS card with my new name, and a temporary driver's license with my photo on it, plus the court order that changed it. The guy I was directed to wanted the SS card with my previous name. I said SS told me to destroy that one immediately. So he wanted my old driver's license. I told him the DMV took that when I went in for my new one. He insisted the court order wasn't enough to prove what my old name was.
So I drove over to another branch and the guy there only needed my SS card (with my new name) and my temp driver's license (with my new name) and he got it done right away. He didn't even look at the court order.
They must do name changes all the time! Absolutely flabbergasted that the first guy didn't have a clue.
I hear you...
During this recent banking deal that had my wife and I inside a bank (actually a credit union), they told me my credit score was zero and that their system said I was a minor. I have about the best credit score a person can have and I'm 65. I told them just looking at me and my gray hair made clear I was not a minor. They told me I should take it up with Experian. Try getting anything done with Experian if you want some real frustration!
Fortunately we could get done what we needed done, because my wife co-signed...
Maybe they've gotten burnt in the past. Maybe someone has a printing press in their basement.
They have a machine that checks for bad bills. Used to run the near $10K in $100 bills we deposited into our account.
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