I recently took a trip to McDonald’s for the first time in years, and I was extremely disappointed. After waiting 45 minutes for a cold meal, my partner and I realized that for the same price, we could have had a much better dinner somewhere else! Isn’t the appeal of fast food supposed to be that it’s quick and affordable?
Well, as we all know, some things just aren’t what they used to be. Redditors have been discussing items that have become surprisingly expensive in recent years, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts below. Enjoy scrolling through this list that will remind you how out of control inflation has gotten, and keep reading to find a conversation with Laura Turner, aka Thrifty Londoner!
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To gain some more insight on this topic from a personal finance expert, we reached out to Laura Turner, founder of Thrifty Londoner, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
"The most obvious items that I’ve noticed have become increasingly more expensive are food items," Laura shared. "I think this is because when we buy things frequently, we get to know the prices over time (plus, the cumulative cost becomes very obvious!)"
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Petrus_Rock:
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SaltySpitoonReg:
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"The most expensive things in our baskets will also have the most obvious percentage increases," the Thrifty Londoner noted. "For me, I’ve seen salmon fillets costing £10 a pack in some stores, to other items like olive oil increasing by at least £1 per bottle."
"As someone with dietary intolerances, I also buy a fair amount of dairy free and gluten free products, and these are also more expensive than ever before," Laura added. "Whether it’s £3 for a chocolate bar, or £4 for a pack of wraps!"
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gayforequalrights:
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Laura says she started to notice a shift in these prices around a year ago, but they have significantly accelerated in the last 6 months. "I have changed the way I shop a little to accommodate the increased prices," she told Bored Panda. "For example, instead of salmon being my choice of an omega 3-rich oily fish, I now opt for the cheaper, but still omega 3-rich, mackerel."
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uffdathatisnice:
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Laura also provided some tips for those of us who need help budgeting. "The starting point of any good budget is to know exactly what your essentials cost each month (your rent or mortgage payments, bills, travel, fuel, groceries etc)," the expert noted. "Look at your bank balance to get a true picture."
"See if you can reduce any of these fixed costs- for example, negotiating your bills, as a head start on your budget," she continued. "Then, you can work from there to see what’s leftover for non-essentials and saving."
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Honeypott615:
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Inked_Chick:
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"My best advice is to try and increase your income to help combat increased costs resulting from inflation," Laura added. "Things like asking for a pay rise, side hustling, or making sure that your savings are in a high interest savings account."
If you'd like to hear more wise words and financial advice from Laura, be sure to visit Thrifty Londoner!
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spiciestbeans:
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notnexus:
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Pretend_Star_8193:
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Fast food in general. Five guys and McDonalds specifically. How is the price of a burger, fries and a coke the same as a full service sit-down restaurant?Canned Tuna. (The cheaper stuff tastes like c**p and why do they put a picture of a cat on it?)I’m old enough to remember when ramen was 10/$1.I usually don’t brag about owning expensive things, but I just left the grocery store.Just groceries. We used to be able to fill a cart to the brim with 200-250 euros. Now it’s *cheap* if we can fill half a cart for that price.Rent.It's insane how quickly it's gone up. When I started renting 5 years ago, my apartment was just over $1,000 a month.Now it's just under 2k.5 years and nearly doubled. Insane.Fruit. How the f**k is a cantaloupe $8.00???I accidentally bought a $15 bag of grapes and a $15 bag of cotton candy grapes. Panicked when I got home but even worse the next day they were moldy! I actually returned them to the store. I’m not cheap but $30 is $30.Concert tickets.
I mean I don’t buy them anymore, but when I go to buy them… I don’t.Potato chips. I’ve lost ten pounds. My doctor says that inflation is the best thing that could have happened to me. No joke.Sanitary pads.It costs me $16 and my sanity to get my period every month.Auto insurance.I literally pay almost 300 for just liability on a car that is paid off and I’ve been in no accidents and my car is 11 years old !! That’s how much I was paying for full coverage when I was leasing my car. Their reason is just the cost of living. Okayy glad yall can jack that price up while I haven’t gotten a raise and I ask for a raise and I get laughed at (literally by the boss) DISGUSTING.Prescription medicine.My migraine medication, without insurance, is 2400$ a month for SIXTEEN pills (two 8pks). And there isn't a cheaper generic version. You also can't split up the amount to pay less in an emergency. It comes in an 8pk for 1200$. All of it or none of it.It's criminal. I'm in debilitating pain. It's not like I want it for funsies.Edit to add: my insurance does cover it so I only pay 11$ but every month insurance screws around for 10 days wanting to deny it so it's an agonizing waiting game where I can't get emergency doses :(I don't drink pop, I don't eat meat, I don't eat chips, but I used to years ago and the prices are shocking now. I just bought some protein bars and when I was putting them away I came across a long forgotten one from the same company that somehow got lost in the pantry. I swear it was 1/3 bigger than the new ones for the same price.Baby Formula.Horribly expensive. Apparently, it’s the most commonly shoplifted item. So sad.A small can of hypoallergenic formula is $37.00. My 7-month-old goes through multiple cans per week. I pay more for my baby’s formula per week than I do groceries for me and my husband.Bras are freaking insane. And they’re not something you can cheap out on. I lost weight recently and had to replace my bras. I wanted to cry.A house. I recognize this is different than "every time you buy it", but whenever I casually browse houses for sale in my area, I think to myself, "How does anyone these days ever save up enough to even pay a 10% down payment? Let alone pay the mortgage with interest rates these days."Old subway commercial was 5$ footlong, 15$ dollar foot long doesn’t quite have the same jingle to it.Diapers being $48 a box is wild.My child is finally clicking with using the toilet and I’m so relieved (no pun intended).Toilet paper.Every time I see it’s like 25-30$ for a big pack of tp I question why I’m paying to wipe my own a**.Tuition
Used cars
Daycare
Insurance
Medicine
Groceries
Toys
Hygiene products
Games on Steam
Tips - when did 10 to 15% become not good enough?Looked at a magazine while standing in the grocery store check out. Magazine was $15!Deodorant! It’s over $8.Cereal. Literally $9.50 a box with tax. Absolutely ridiculous.Freaking oil changes! Wasn’t it like a few years ago they were $20? Now I get coupons for $75 and I’m supposed to act like I’m robbing them.Panera bread. It used to be like $10 for you pick two a few years ago. Now, it's $18. The quality has deteriorated as well.Cat food.Seriously! Within a year, the cat food I get went from $12 to $19. I literally could not believe it. I had to go back and check my receipts because I thought I was going crazy.Electricity.As a truck driver, I no longer eat any meal out of a truck stop restaurant anymore. A T-bone steak dinner at the Petro cost almost $40 out the door after taxes and a tip. I was able to justify investing in a vacuum sealer, a dometic 12 volt fridge/freezer and a gas one camping stove. All in all my total initial cost to start saving more money has been almost $1k to prep my own food and I'm going to make all of it back after 3 or 4 months if I just cut the restaurants out of my budget entirely. I've also found that brewing your own tea or coffee,and using drink mixes cuts back on costs significantly seeing as a bottle of Gatorade cost like $3.45.McDonald’s! I mean it’s cheap compared to other things but now it’s just as expensive as Wendy’s or any other fast food joint. I’m Canadian it’s about $14 after tax for a Big Mac combo at my local McDonalds.Beer in Australia. It's the national beverage for anyone above the age of 8 and you need to take out a mortgage just to buy 1 schooner.
It's a bloody disgrace it is. Razor blades. What the hell? You would think these are individually forged by hand by master craftsmen.
Edit: the only cartridge blades I now buy are for my wife. I’ve grown a beard and use Wahl clippers for both my noggin’ and face. For the most part I use a Braun electric to trim and tidy (Mr. Neck Beard is not attractive to Mrs. Maverick)."Cheap" hotels and restaurants. With the cheapest meals available it costs $200 per day to travel alone now, and that's staying in fleabag hotels where being robbed if I go outside is a real possibility.Car batteries! I bought one back in 2017 for like $125. Bought one back in November and my eyes almost popped out of my head—$378. And I have a smaller and s****ier car now.Lunch meat.We used to live on cold cuts in school and idk how my mom would feed us if they were priced what they are today.I saw a can of Spam at the grocery store for $7, almost $8, and I near fainted.Getting something framed. It's always way more insanely priced than I remember.Went to buy those small black runner bands for your hair and couldn’t find any under $4.. they used to be 99cents???I went to make a birthday cake for my father in law and realized my vanilla bean paste (the good stuff - Nelson-Massey) expired in 2018 so it was probably time for a new one…
It still had a William Sonoma price tag on it for $12.95. I went back to William Sonoma for a new one: $36!Soda! A twelve pack on sale is $6… I remember buying full cases for that price pre-pandemic… And if it’s a Coke product, it’s even worse.Mayo, How is it $8.00 for mayo!!!Any decent furniture.Chicken, especially wings. Used to make wings at least once every football season but didn't this year. Used to eat chicken multiple times a week, only about once per week now.I bought a pack of Mentos at the grocery store and it was $2.35.
I'm so old.Heinz baked beans have doubled in price. Source: my wife is English.Bleach. 2019 it was 0.99 a gal. Now it’s over $6 a gallon in most places.Frozen french fries. $7 for a regular 32oz bag of Ore-Idas. Now I'm like: Hey kids! Let's make our own French fries. They'll taste much better because we made them with LOVE!My wife just bought a basic pack of floss for $6.95…Milk.
A simple loaf of bread .I saw a meme about how decent trash cans are shockingly expensive. And it’s so true. I thought about getting a new one because mine is a little beat up. The metal ones are like $100 minimum.I was just looking at a pound of See's Nuts and Chews Chocolates and it was 29.50. No thanks.Olive oil.notnexus My BIL is in the import business, he was telling me yesterday that the price of EVOO will go up even further in the next 12 months. There’s now no profit left in the industry. So he is importing the product because he has supply contracts but actually losing money because the retailers can’t put the price up any higher. It will mean a huge number of growers/suppliers will go under and make the supply issue even worse in the next few years.What I've been using as a gauge for how expensive groceries have gotten is a can of Progresso soup and Near East Rice Pilaf; before the pandemic you could get each for $1 now the Progresso is $3.50 and the Rice Pilaf is about $2.70.Peanut butter was $9 yesterday - one of the larger Jiff jars but I remember them being like $5 the last time.Cat litter.Coffee. I hate feeling guilty for getting my little drinky drink but i spent $7 on a latte two days ago.Quarts of motor oil. $8.50/..? That's almost $35.00 a gallon.Plumbing fittings. What used to be .50 cents or a dollar is now 10 or 25 now. Valves that used to be $35. Are $150. Now. We’re talking overall price increase in a 20 year span, with the majority happening during Covid when everyone started price gouging.Olives. Pitted olives aren't cheap. Like... Wow. Also, honey too. The good stuff. And no, I'm not talking about Manuka honey. Greeting cards.Socks/Underwear.Bras are freaking insane. And they’re not something you can cheap out on. I lost weight recently and had to replace my bras. I wanted to cry.Butter.$7.99 for a four cube boxBeef jerky.Yeah it's pricey so I tried making my own and it wound up costing not that much less. You lose so much weight jerking itSkiing lift tickets in the US.
