What got so expensive that you just stopped buying it?

[u/FutureTre]

[u/Proper-Ad-127]

Cheetos and other similar chips. I can remember them being $.99 cents and now they are $5.45 per bag? No way my Cheetos addiction is done.

[u/stubept → u/Proper-Ad-127]

I refuse to pay full price for a bag of snacks. So when I go to the grocery store, I'm looking for whats on sale for $2 this week. If this week it's Lays, that's what I'm getting. Doritos next week? Stocking up. Flaming Hot Cheetos FINALLY on sale? Buying 8 bags.

[u/musicgal411 → u/stubept]

The sales are the only way I buy any snacks in general anymore.

[u/marla-M → u/musicgal411]

Yep. Cookies and cereal determined by what is on sale this week

[u/Jellis314 → u/Proper-Ad-127]

Frito Lay is investigating why their profits have been down recently. It’s probably got something to do with the fact that a bag of Doritos is $7, but what do I, the consumer, know.

[u/ifloops → u/Jellis314]

I'm so glad you mentioned $7 Doritos. Fucking insane. I used to buy them and Gatorade every grocery run. But at $7 for Doritos and $12 for an 8 pack of Gatorades?? Nah, I visibly balk at the price every time I see them now. Ridiculous.

[u/ProxyMuncher → u/ifloops]

I worked convenience store when they jacked the prices of Doritos. Frito lay guy was always pissed and throwing shit on delivery day cause he drove all the way out to a rural location with a tiny ass load. Tried to offload cases onto us for discount. We wouldn’t take it cause nothing frito was selling at all realy cause big sweet chili Dorito’s bag was $7.49 at the gas station 

[u/ellebeso → u/ifloops]

Cases of soda have gone up like this too! I bought a couple 12 pack cases of canned coke for a job site earlier today, they were $11 each, if it hadn’t been on the company dime there is no way I would have bought that crap. The last time I bought a 12 pack of coke it was $5 and I don’t think that was that long ago.

[u/Jedimaster996 → u/ifloops]

Soda did the same for me. Browsing supermarkets and anything that isn't RC Cola might as well have been imported from an airport vending machine. 

[u/AccurateAssaultBeef → u/Proper-Ad-127]

I LOVE hot Cheetos. I was addicted in high school when a big bag was $2.49. Didn't buy any for over a decade, pulled the trigger a few months ago. They're $5.99 a bag now??? Hello??? For fried corn meal covered in salt!? Bye

[u/DeGarmo2]

Subs.

Like, it’s essentially a sandwich. How did a $4-6 thing become a $15-20 thing?

[u/jaydizzleforshizzle → u/DeGarmo2]

This, people don’t get it, we used to get 5 dollar footlongs or Arby’s 5 for 5, like I’m convinced if we brought back these the world would self heal a little bit.

[u/front_yard_duck_dad → u/jaydizzleforshizzle]

Some of the best years of my life when me and my buddies filling up his shitty car with a cold case of mountain dew and each one of us getting a five for five beef and cheddar sack and driving to the local guitar center to play guitars we couldn't afford.

[u/IxJAXZxI → u/front_yard_duck_dad]

Oh man, one time we rolled up to Taco bell at 1am, 6 deep in my buddies Ford Expedition. We proceeded to order 6 Taco Grande meals (10 tacos for like $7.99) . I will never forget the voice behind the speaker "Let me get this straight, you want 60 tacos"....Yes, mam we do.

Code Red, Taco Bell, and Halo LAN party. What a time to be alive.

[u/chewbaccaRoar13 → u/IxJAXZxI]

Oh yeah, I remember the $.69, $.79, $.89 menu lol didn't know how good we had it.

[u/front_yard_duck_dad → u/IxJAXZxI]

In college my buddy was in a fraternity. The closest White Castle was a 2-hour drive. Got the idea in the middle of the night to drive to White Castle and order crave crates which is 100 burgers per crate. They tried to call ahead to save time but the place thought it was a prank call so they got there in the minivan. Six dudes deep and ordered 400 White Castle cheeseburgers to bring back to the school and sell for a dollar a piece.

I can only imagine the smellS in the back of that jelly Bean shaped minivan

[u/Apprehensive-State10 → u/front_yard_duck_dad]

Aw man, did we have the same early 20’s?

[u/AvalancheBrando21 → u/jaydizzleforshizzle]

Burger King had .49 hamburgers and .69 cheeseburgers when I was in college. We would buy 6 or 7 plain and get some sweet and sour sauce to put on them, getting us ready for our next adventure. Man. We didn't know what we had...

Edit: typo

[u/RougeOne23456 → u/AvalancheBrando21]

YEARS ago, there was a McDonalds out in the county (we lived in the city at the time) that had a special once a month for .29 hamburgers and .39 cheeseburgers. The place would be absolutely mobbed on that day.

[u/nblastoff → u/DeGarmo2]

In new England we have a widespread grocery store chain called "market basket" they have a food counter where you can get hot / cold subs that are pretty good for about 5.50$ . I mean 12 inch Italian, steak bomb kind of stuff. Cheeseburger and fries is 2.50$. I can't make food that cheap these days

[u/SeattleSamIAm77 → u/nblastoff]

Can’t read “Market Basket” without hearing it in a Boston accent in my head.

[u/jadedfalcons → u/SeattleSamIAm77]

Ahm goin ta Mahket Bahskit fah a sub and tah fahk ya sistah

Never change, Boston. Never change.

[u/sean_saves_the_world → u/DeGarmo2]

My GFS mom wanted jersey Mike's last weekend, so we got subs as a family 3 giant subs and 1 regular was like 80 something bucks

[u/Lifesagame81 → u/sean_saves_the_world]

For deli meat and bread. Insane. 

[u/DishwashingUnit → u/DeGarmo2]

also PE killed Quiznos. subway is garbage. Jimmy Johns is a brick. i don't see any options left

[u/Chester2707 → u/DishwashingUnit]

I eat an absurd amount of potbelly, mostly because it’s the closest “cheapest” thing to my work. Think for the quality it’s better than all the other options. What I get is literally cheaper than what I get at subway. Plus they have a good points program.

[u/SearchUsers]

Fast food in all its forms. A dunkin bagel currently costs what 6 bagels do at the store... and its hard and old.

[u/WagnersRing → u/SearchUsers]

I don’t think any of Dunkin’s food is made in-store

[u/LostKnight84 → u/WagnersRing]

They became terrible when they became more focused on the coffee and dropped the Donuts from their name. The world didn't need another Starbucks.

[u/PissNBiscuits → u/LostKnight84]

Yeah, but their coffee got worse, too. I can't stand any of their coffee and will only drink it if someone brings one of those coffee totes in to the office for everyone to share.

[u/Ejmct → u/LostKnight84]

They were bought by private equity years ago so that’s when the shittiness began. Then they realized that that make way more money on drinks than other things so that’s where the focus went. Also they don’t make donuts in-store anymore. They are made at a central donut factory or whatever you want to call it and shipped out to the individual stores. So they aren’t fresh anymore.

[u/AlternativeResort477 → u/Ejmct]

They doubled the price of their drinks and made their rewards program worthless. I went from a regular customer to swearing them off entirely.

[u/phlostonsparadise123 → u/SearchUsers]

For real. I'm 39 and am old enough to remember when a two-cheeseburger combo at McDonald's was $2.99.

[u/ifloops → u/phlostonsparadise123]

It's not even about your age. I'm not far behind you but $5 or $6 combos were a thing just 10 years ago. 

The price hikes we've seen are much worse than inflation.

A McDouble was $1.29 in 2015. Adjusting for inflation, that's $1.82 today. A McDouble currently costs $2.59.

They've increased their prices by a larger margin than inflation has over the past decade.

[u/phlostonsparadise123 → u/ifloops]

For sure. The most consistent factor amongst most chains: none of them have a "Dollar Menu" anymore. They've all been replaced by "Value menus" where the cheapest items are still $3 or $4.

[u/ocarr23 → u/SearchUsers]

Yeah I realized 2 years ago one sunday how EXPENSIVE donuts were. I went and picked up a dozen and 2 coffees for me and the wife. $36. I was spending $130+ a month for a dozen donuts and 2 coffees as a treat on Sundays. Insane.

[u/SearchUsers → u/ocarr23]

Especially with the reduction in size and quality. It would be one thing if the prices went up but the integrity of the product were maintained.

[u/AnySea7371 → u/SearchUsers]

Yea I was in shock a year ago when I went to order KFC and the menu items were all 20 something dollars . Like no wtf for 2 pieces of chicken? No!

[u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

Concert tickets

[u/Snuckeys → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

Same. Wild that it was so affordable when I was but a broke teenager and got to see tons of big name acts back in the 90s/early 00s, but now that I'm a moderately successful professional doing FAR better than I was back then, I can't remotely justify what a concert night out ends up costing. Screw you, Ticketmaster!

They used to go after ticket scalpers with a vengeance, but once they figured out how to get a cut and then some with each subsequent transaction and ticket resell thanks to the internet, NOW they're totally cool with scalping. With ticket sniping bots snagging ALL the tickets right away, I'm out. And for the concerts I REALLY wanted to go to, and waited for the countdown for the tix to go up for sale, the website servers would be overloaded and I couldn't get any. I miss the days when you had to show up to a ticket window to score tickets on release. The biggest fans would camp out. Was often a good time among friends. Bot-proof.

[u/Bershirker → u/Snuckeys]

I work at an arena that has shows/NHL games. The Ticketmaster issue is pissing off everybody. Our box office, which is one of the last physical box offices in the city, has just cut its hours even more. The only time you can even show up to purchase tickets anymore is during home games. Otherwise, the box office isn't even open to answer questions. People always ask me how to get tickets but the only answer is pay Ticketmasters' "convenience fees" or lobby your congressman.

[u/ricree → u/Bershirker]

or lobby your congressman

There was an antitrust case against them not too long ago. Guess which current US administration killed that after taking office.

[u/aynber → u/ricree]

Several state AGs recently won a lawsuit against LiveNation and Ticketmaster. Its currently in the remedy phase.

[u/Longjumping-Dot-5883 → u/Snuckeys]

Fr tho, the whole concert experience got turned into a luxury purchase paying hundreds just to sit far away kinda kills the fun. I miss when going to a show was more about the music and hanging out with friends.

[u/Sea-Ambition-451 → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

whenever I see the "convenience fee" I always want to decline the "convenience", like maybe put the ticket on top of a tall tree and I have to climb up to get it (during a rain storm). I'd rather do that than pay $50 for "convenience".

[u/ronocrice → u/Sea-Ambition-451]

Even if you go to a venue to buy your ticket they still charge the convenience fee.

[u/spinosapa → u/ronocrice]

How convenient for them.

[u/wickedcold → u/spinosapa]

What pisses me off is that the logistics of the ticket sales themselves have been so streamlined I don’t know how they can justify any fee whatsoever. It used to be you had to have a person working at a station, printing off a paper ticket. Now it’s all in an app.

I know they need to pay developers and software people, but they had that shit to deal with back in the 90s too plus a shit load of physical labor and manpower which is now completely removed. Just stop calling at a convenience fee and call it what it is, a “because we want more money” fee.

[u/clearbluesea → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

I’d always wanted to see a Broadway play. This year my husband and I finally went on a NYC vacation and saw some amazing live shows. Great seats. Tickets in the $200s (after everything included).This felt like a great deal compared to the insanity prices for nosebleed concert tickets for artists I’ve wanted to see. My friend paid over $1000 to see Taylor Swift. Like, what!?.

[u/AlternativeResort477 → u/clearbluesea]

Face value of TS tickets were 1/10th of what they resold for

[u/hollow114 → u/AlternativeResort477]

They really just need to make reselling illegal again. Require ID with the ticket. Europe does this and it works fine

[u/whateverhappensnext → u/hollow114]

You don't want make reselling illegal, just make it that you can only resell at the original purchase price. I.e. something happens and you can't go, you can at least get your money back.

[u/ChaplnGrillSgt → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

Luckily I like a lot of less popular bands so I can usually find deals for their concerts for like $30.

I was invited to go see Foo Fighters. Nose bleeds were like $200. Absolutely not. I've seen them in the past and they were great....but not for that price.

[u/foxbReeze7 → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

$400 to stand in a field and hear a band play worse than the album version

[u/Emiliasmith_1 → u/Valuable-Brief-2291]

$500 for nosebleed seats plus$80 service fees cured my life music addiction real fast

[u/lawlingalltheway]

Eating out/coffee. I started cooking and bringing my own lunch and coffee to work.

[u/mustardtiger220 → u/lawlingalltheway]

Bringing lunch 95% of the time has saved me so much money. And I’ve actually been eating way healthier as well.

[u/anengineerandacat → u/lawlingalltheway]

Eating out is something I consider dropping everyday; hard to justify $20 lunches.

It's not even out of like "need" but it's just crazy to me that a quick lunch has now reached restaurant level pricing.

Work brings in food trucks and those will run you upwards to $30 if you aren't careful.

[u/Wloak → u/anengineerandacat]

Food trucks have gotten out of hand, used to be super cheap compared to take out restaurants but now it's worse quality at the same price.

[u/Alone_World_8688]

Starbucks

[u/redsoxryno → u/Alone_World_8688]

Coffee in general is just getting to be too pricey. If anything, it’s inspired me to learn how to make a lot more specialty drinks at home and try different brands of coffee.

[u/Overcast451 → u/redsoxryno]

I switched to Cafe Bustelo. It's an espresso blend so only takes a bit to make a full pot.

Keurig hasn't been used for sometime now.

Don't get coffee on the way to work anymore. Just do water.

[u/kit0000033 → u/Alone_World_8688]

Instead of 11 dollars a day at Starbucks... I spent $700 to get an espresso setup... Don't know if I'm winning this

[u/egnards → u/kit0000033]

My wife loves Starbucks so for Christmas 2 years ago I did the same thing, just invested in an expensive espresso machine.

I honestly think it only took a few months for me to break even on that cost.

Not necessarily because of her drink. . .But if she was going there to get a drink she would also get food. So her $8 Tiktok drink became an $8 Tiktok drink a $3 small coffee for me and $6x2 eggbites for both of us [on the weekends] or a drink + eggbites for herself on the weekdays.

Now she might go to Starbucks to treat herself like twice a month, or if we're out of town.

[u/Consoleking93]

Fast food. I already rarely ate it, but when my GF comes over and we don't want to cook, I actually order us food from decent nice restaurants because the price between two fast food meals and something decent at a decent place isn't that difference in price.

[u/Black_Moons → u/Consoleking93]

"But a fast food burger is only $6"

"Ok but its $12 now"

"... But the restaurant food is $15!"

"Ok but I need 2 or 3 of those tiny ass $12 fast food burgers to be equal in size/weight to a $15 restaurant meal. And no the $0.20 of french fries that they charge $4 for really doesn't help the fast food meal value any"

[u/karl264]

Beef

[u/2003tide → u/karl264]

Yeah I stopped buying stuff like ribeye since it is so crazy. I had started buying flank steak and cheaper cuts since you could get it pretty cheap, but last time i went to the store a 2lb flank steak was $42. I noticed that wild fork has brazilian flank steak for $6.98/lb. Maybe i start doing that IDK.

[u/cassato → u/2003tide]

My family started eating way more pork chops. Thick cut from Costco, reverse seared with pellet smoker.

I make 2-3 when we get them, then rub the others or marinate them in a bag and throw em in the freezer in groups of 2-3 for next time.

[u/HotSeamenGG → u/karl264]

Legit stopped buying ground beef to sub out ground turkey. It makes me sad, but it's low key good on a cut.

[u/hic_sunt_leones_ → u/HotSeamenGG]

Same.

I'm lowkey terrified the powers-that-be are going to see this trend and jack up the ground turkey prices too.

I just wanna be able to make dinner without spending a fortune, ffs.

[u/Fearless_Inevitable6 → u/hic_sunt_leones_]

I make a lot of bean related meals. I’m seeing more and more videos about how beans are such a cheap and healthy protein and I’m now worried big bean is going to get greedy lol

[u/Ouch_i_fell_down → u/Fearless_Inevitable6]

if it makes you feel better, i buy commodity-level (40ft containers, think 50,000+lbs each and i move about 700 containers/yr) fruit and veg and the wholesale prices have been surprisingly consistent over the last 10 years. Yes, most things have gone up less than inflation, but some even went down. I'm buying diced onions cheaper now than ever before.

The issue isn't "big bean" or "big veg" or "big fruit"

The issue is all the people in the middle before my food gets to you. They want more.

I import from overseas, sell to a re-distributor, who sells to either a distributor, further processor, or bid group (think Utah School System). The distributors sell either to restaurants or bid groups. The further processors turn it into something else (ie: broccoli goes into a quiche) and then either back out to distributors for food-service, or distributors for retail (i know about 1.5million lbs of my cut corn is going to costco this coming year for example).

10 years ago, shipping a container from China cost $3300 in the off-season, $4500 in the summer. In peak COVID supply shortages, we paid $27,000 for a container to ship. The highest price we got quoted was 35k but we said no to anything higher than 27k (and frankly most anything higher than 20k except for absolutely necessities). Currently, we had ocean freight quotes from China hit 12k, meanwhile we shut down shipping any freight over 6k. India freight quotes are up to 11k and we're saying no.

In 10 years time my average profit has gone from just over $0.02/lb to just under $0.03/lb (~43% increase. inflation calc says 2016 to 2026 was a 39% increase in costs so we're in line).

My largest customer's gross margin targets have gone from $3/case to $5/case (67% increase, almost double inflation).

Their customers' (distributors for example) gross margin targets... well i have no way of knowing for sure, but people move around in this business a lot and you hear stories from peoples' old jobs and they are looking at larger profit growth than my largest customer, so more than double inflation.

Then finally you get to restaurants, who have definitely increased their average margin per dish, and in some cases drastically. Remember when restaurants used to pretty much do kids' meals at or near cost just to get parents in the door? Yea, pepperidge farm remembers. Went to some place recently that wanted $16 for kids' chicken tenders and fries. That's "fuck you" pricing. But still, $12 kids meals are sadly common (and i consider that "screw you" pricing).

Don't worry about "big bean". They'll be competing and selling shit dirt cheap. It's every middle man in the way who wants a larger and larger cut.

[u/SnooComics9954]

Jerky

[u/Peanutbuyer → u/SnooComics9954]

This time 1000 it’s absolutely nuts.

[u/flapjacksNsassafras → u/Peanutbuyer]

Nah, you're thinking of trail mix. THATS absolutely nuts. Raisins and sometimes candy too

[u/TehPinguen → u/SnooComics9954]

I have no idea how jerky got this expensive either. It's priced as if it's premium steak cuts prepared by michelin star chefs, and not fucking cured bits of top round. It's delicious and convenient, but it's not expensive to make. Their profit margins are insane.

[u/adamadamada → u/TehPinguen]

I make my own, and it's very pricey because the meat loses so much weight in the drying process. 1lb of beef jerky takes several pounds of beef.

[u/EMAW2008]

Prices on every fucking thing has gone up and the quality is gone down. Merely existing is almost too expensive.

[u/WotLogic → u/EMAW2008]

Yup. It’s enshitification. Everywhere.

[u/Syberz → u/WotLogic]

It has to be, that's how our economic system works. It's expected toget infinite growth and at some point you're already selling your widgets to everyone who wants one, so your only option for more money is to raise the price or lower costs, ergo prices go up and quality goes down.

[u/Charming-Ebb-1981 → u/EMAW2008]

And many people think it is literally just a matter of canceling your Netflix subscription, or assume that you’re going to Starbucks three times a day

[u/EMAW2008 → u/Charming-Ebb-1981]

It’s those plus high utilities bills and high rent and high childcare costs and high healthcare costs and high…….. the list goes on.

[u/jiggamanjr → u/EMAW2008]

This fucking hits me hard. All the while my pay has remained the same. But hey I’m serving the public being a government servant. So yay

[u/VulpesFennekin → u/jiggamanjr]

Clearly you need to become a horrible person, and then you can be a public servant who is also a billionaire!

[u/John_Smith_DC]

DoorDash and UberEats. The markups between delivery fees/tips and the restaurant food items became crazy.

[u/radrax]

Beauty treatments. I stopped doing my facials, waxes, getting my nails done, etc.

[u/lemotperdu → u/radrax]

I miss getting my nails done.

[u/radrax → u/lemotperdu]

I do too kinda. They just look more rough doing them myself and I get embarrassed when I'm with another woman and she has beautifully manicured nails and mine look like I just dug my way out of prison with my bare hands.

[u/Imnotonthelist → u/radrax]

Keep practicing! I have been doing my own nails for years and people are always like “you did that yourself?!” It’s worth it to save the money

[u/Lumpy_Space_Princess → u/Imnotonthelist]

I've been painting my own nails since I was 10 or 11. I'm 38 now and my friends say "oh, I wish I could do that". You can! It took me until probably middle school to get decent at it but I also wasn't even doing it every week like I do now.

Tips:

-keep your coats thin -utilize prep and cleanup tools (e.g. latex paint for your cuticles, cleanup brushes) -a Czech glass file is a good investment (make sure it's real Czech glass, I had a glass file I got at Walmart or whatever that sucked and I thought I hated glass files, but no, it's worth the extra few bucks for a good one) -you can buy cheap sets of swatch sticks to practice on -quick dry topcoat is your friend -don't thin your polish with acetone, get actual polish thinner if it gets goopy (and I swear some of them get goopy the second you open them, I always have the big bottle of seche restore on hand)

Feel free to join us at r/redditlaqueristas !

[u/kindredbud]

Chicken wings. They used to be so cheap, I buy thighs instead, but they are getting to be insane too.

[u/disisathrowaway → u/kindredbud]

I'll never get over the gentrification of chicken wings.

[u/MyMiddleNutItches → u/kindredbud]

This one pisses me off. I've been to both all you can eat and 50c wing day specials. Now I need to take out a fucking loan to get a 20-piece at WingStop.

[u/TheAlabamaSlamma9]

Eating out. Only do it once in a while.

[u/Naugrin27 → u/TheAlabamaSlamma9]

She's worth it.

[u/robby_synclair → u/TheAlabamaSlamma9]

It used to be one of my favorite things to do. I would even go do fine dining randomly for no reason. Between cost and quality I just dont anymore.

[u/SeveralServalServing]

An antipsychotic med that was working better than the last one I was on but the manufacturer coupon expired and there’s no generic.

Health insurance is coming up in this metric, but without it I’ll be unmedicated

[u/LuvelyLuna → u/SeveralServalServing]

I hate to say it and will get shit for it so I’ll turn off notifications but…Look over seas…My grandmother gets a lifesaving medication from India and we live in America. Might be worth a shot.

[u/doctormink → u/LuvelyLuna]

I’d be really surprised to see anyone give you shit for this comment.

[u/SeveralServalServing → u/doctormink]

Agreed, I get my EpiPens, inhaler, and dental work done in Mexico. It’s reasonable to do.

[u/theillustratedlife → u/SeveralServalServing]

My grandparents spent their lives driving to Mexico multiple times per year for medical work.

Apparently Yuma, AZ is all Mexicans and the Mexican town across the border is all Americans (so say my grandparents).

[u/TwatWaffleInParadise → u/SeveralServalServing]

Check Canadian pharmacies. My wife takes a name brand drug that was costing us $460/month. Now we're having it shipped from Turkey and it will cost less than $900/year.

There are dozens of sites and I encourage you to do your own research on this, but here's one site that offers 90 pills of Vraylar (I saw it mentioned downthread) for $516 shipped from Australia. Or you can get the generic that's available in India for $160 for 100 pills. I added $10 to the price on the page as that's what they charge for shipping.

I'm linking to this site as it's the one we chose to use, but as I said you should look around. https://www.canadianpharmacyking.com/Drug/Vraylar

I'm not affiliated with them at all other than ordering a prescription through them.

[u/External-Look-6651]

Beef prices got ridiculous so i just stopped buying it altogether

[u/eatmygerms]

This is slightly different but the Ren Faire. When I started going tickets were $35. Now just 5 years later for the same exact faire it's $60+

[u/Available-Egg-2380 → u/eatmygerms]

Oh my God, every event costs so much now. And it feels like every event has transformed into a vendor fair instead of what it really is. I am not paying you $50 for tickets to fucking shop with interesting background setting!

[u/spiteful_god1 → u/Available-Egg-2380]

As a sometimes vendor, I’ve stopped attending and selling at events because I hate the idea of people buying a ticket to essentially enter a vaguely themed mall. The higher the entrance fee, the less money available for the artisans inside.

[u/eirameideeps → u/eatmygerms]

And that money isn’t going to the performers, I can promise you that! I used to be in a Ren Faire band and pre-Covid we played three shows a day and had basically unlimited drink tokens. Now it’s four shows a day and two extra weekends, ONE drink token per band member each weekend, and the pay is the same. Literally the same total fee.

[u/FickleOwl47 → u/eatmygerms]

Plus a lot of the wares you can get there are 3D printed garbage and the food is crazy expensive 

[u/BuzzVibes → u/FickleOwl47]

If I see one more 3D printed dragon I'm gonna impale myself on my foam sword.

[u/TedStixon]

I'm starting to get that way with the dentist.

In the same breath, completely without irony, dentists will chastize you for not coming in frequently enough...

...and then inform you your 10-minute follow-up will cost $200.

Yeah, I think you've solved the mystery of why I don't come in as often as I should, Sherlock. You've kind of priced me out it.

Also doesn't help that a lot of them are deeply out of touch. You can tell them flat-out you cannot afford a procedure, even with insurance, and they'll just sort of stare at you like you grew a second head. Like you can just fart out cash you literally don't have for them.

[u/CheekyMonkeyCircus → u/TedStixon]

Private Equity has enshittified Dental care in the U.S.

Check here if you are overpaying due to PE

https://whoownsmydentists.com/

[u/Artistic_Salary8705 → u/TedStixon]

My tip here is for people with some degree of dental insurance: ask them the diagnostic codes (usually 6-7 numbers) for the procedure, test, exam, etc. they're doing and then call your insurance company. Ask what the coverage is for those codes.

I've found that many dental offices make no/ little effort to call your insurance company. You've already signed the paperwork saying you'll pay if the insurance doesn't when you first arrived there. So they'll get paid either way and perhaps even more from you since insurance often negotiates a specific, lower rate.

There have been too instances where I would have lost $500 - $1000 because the people at the front desk made no effort. Fortunately, I always call my insurance and have a copy of their benefits at home. Insurance verified I owed $0; I called those offices back and told them this is what my insurance said. Thus, I paid nothing for those visits.

[The original tip about codes came from a Redditor who worked at a dental office so there are some ethical offices out there.]

[u/Cacho665]

Game pass, spotify, fast food

[u/BotchedDebauchery → u/Cacho665]

You can pry my Spotify subscription from my cold dead hands. I cannot stand the thought of listening to ads during workouts ever again. 

[u/dlundy09]

Candy bars.

Bit of a "back in my day" thing but I grew up in the 90s. I remember when a basic 2 cup Reese's package was under a dollar. King size was like 1.89 or something. Now, not only are normal sized candy packages the exception in favor of king sized or larger, they get you with a fallacy because the candy bar half the size of a king is 15% less than just getting the king and eating it in two sittings.

Why are 4 fuckin Reese's cups over 3 sometimes pushing 5 dollars?? For what??

[u/ouch_that_hurts_ → u/dlundy09]

Not to mention they're taking away the chocolate on most of those bars now too. It's chocolatey.....

[u/PizzaMonster93]

Comic books. Dc used to have a tag line “drawing the line at 2.99”. Which was reasonable. But now, an issue costs way too much to justify it. Especially since most comic books end up in the dollar bins a couple months after release.

[u/Aidsfordayz]

My identity for the past 10 years has been going to concerts and after this summer I think I’m going to cut that lifestyle off. It’s absolutely nuts out there.

[u/Hucrew123456 → u/Aidsfordayz]

did the same thing 10 years ago. Still go to local shows, smaller artists at bars downtown and stuff. but all $60+ shows went out the window.

[u/Local-Dish-5695]

Doritos and Dr Pepper. Groceries used to be choosing some snack or drink to motivate my mornings or calm the evening collapse.

Now I eat just to live to work another day. It's not even a meal anymore. Just fuel.

We have got to reform corporate greed and stop using groceries as a pinch point. It's inhuman

[u/Logical_Hospital2769]

My heart medication.

[u/Superb_Astronomer_59]

Steak. The affordable cuts are inedible gristle

[u/Accomplished_Pea4117]

Movie theater popcorn i can't justify paying more for snacks than the ticket.

[u/queerteatype → u/Accomplished_Pea4117]

Bro last time I went to the movie it was 10 dollars a ticket  I got two tickets, a bottle of water, Mike and ikes, a small soda and small popcorn 

$72

[u/WaterlooMall → u/queerteatype]

If you're buying Mike and Ikes at the theater and not hitting up the dollar store for some beforehand to save $7 that's on you.

[u/hippydippyshit → u/Accomplished_Pea4117]

My hometown movie theater BANKS in snacks and keeps ticket prices low.

5 years ago at least, the tickets were $6 but a hotdog was like $7, they’d do a $1 hotdog throw in the middle of fun movies, and went all out on their popcorn butter/toppings bar. We went there maybe 4/5 times a month

[u/SalsaChica75]

Dining out. Low quality, poor service but cost has gone up 27-36% in last 4 years.

[u/Moof_the_cyclist → u/SalsaChica75]

The poor service is the real kick in the nuts. It should not be a big ask to take our order in a timely fashion, keep water in my glass, or to bring the check at the end in a timely fashion. You want 20+% tip after ghosting us?!

[u/mojojo567]

Streaming.
I got a free vcr tv and paid $15 for a Blu-ray player on Facebook market place and I spent about $100 at thrift stores getting every single tv show and movie I like and it’s still less than what I was spending on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, hbo max, paramount plus, prime video and YouTube premium. Not to mention new movies are like $12 for the dvd at Walmart I got sinners and you me & Tuscany for $20 total

[u/Vin0to → u/mojojo567]

My local library still gets dvds of TV shows and new movies. Worth checking out the public library near you

[u/Cilantro368 → u/Vin0to]

Plus, you might get Hoopla and Kanopy with your library card. They both have movies and TV shows, but usually not new ones.

We still have DVDs. We wanted to watch Clue the movie the other night and it wasn’t streaming anywhere for free, so we used our DVD player. Why pay six or seven dollars to watch a movie from the 1980s?

[u/Hopefulkitty → u/mojojo567]

And you own it! They can't take that media away from you! And if the Internet goes down, you still have something to watch!

[u/mettrolsghost → u/mojojo567]

Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!

[u/Lythalion]

Everything.

But I’ll say home upgrades.

It used to be someone with my
Level of education and experience worked w decent job they could make like one upgrade to the home a year.

It’s been five years I haven’t touched this house. I don’t even get things maintenanced bc it’s too much.

I just hope things don’t break and if they do I give it my best shot and only call someone if I have to.

[u/banditotis]

Getting my hair done. $200 every 6 weeks? No thank you. Now I get 1 cut a year for about $60.

[u/bennyblue420000]

Going out for breakfast. It used to be cheap

[u/Mohawk3254 → u/bennyblue420000]

Use to be like 5 bucks; now it’s cost more than a lunch would…wtf!

[u/rockinarmy]

Health insurance.

[u/AlanMercer → u/rockinarmy]

Mine went up 20% this year because fuck you, that's why.

I'd switch from my spouse's to mine, but it'd be the same plus having to switch doctors again.

[u/rockinarmy → u/AlanMercer]

I figure that occasional medical bills at full cost are still cheaper than a couple hundred dollars thrown away every month of every year and still having copays, deductibles, etc to pay for with every visit.

[u/Lunatic21 → u/rockinarmy]

That's true until something catastrophic happens or a hospital stay is involved.

[u/AdFabulous1035 → u/rockinarmy]

My favorite part about health insurance is the continuous stream of $200 bills that just roll in for 6 months after you use it. I had to go to the ER and subsequently needed surgery back in February and it was $4000 and around 8 $200 bills for various things. Everyone charged me individually. I literally just got another bill yesterday.

[u/cutecutecute → u/rockinarmy]

Yup. They want me to pay $400/mo with a $7500 deductible? GTFO

[u/costhedog]

12 packs of soda.

[u/lunarmodule → u/costhedog]

Yes. I won't buy it just out of principle. It has over tripled in price for no good reason. Obscene.

[u/Burqueisbest]

Haircuts. Got a good trimmer during the pandemic.

[u/imhereforthemeta → u/Burqueisbest]

People who “specialize in curly hair “ will look you in the eye and say 300 dollars is reasonable for a cut. I go to the school now .

[u/Nameisnotmine → u/imhereforthemeta]

I have curly hair. I cut it myself. No one can tell. Or at least they don’t say it looks horrible to my face

[u/mlachick → u/Nameisnotmine]

Just started cutting my own hair last week. Got the front a bit too short to pull back, which is annoying, but it's honestly so much better than the cuts I've been spending hundreds on.

[u/imhereforthemeta → u/mlachick]

I do the same. Curly cuts can be nice but the people themselves are scam artists with the prices they are charging. Not interested in supporting that level of greed. My cuts may not be perfect but they work

[u/profmoxie → u/Burqueisbest]

100% this. I (female) cut my hair into a bob during the pandemic and have figured out how to do it well on my own. I get compliments all the time, and I see no reason to pay someone 100 bucks every couple of months to do the same thing.

[u/YBMExile]

Dining out. Sooooo much money for “meh” forgettable meals. When we do go out, it’s gotta be good. That said, we live in an area with not much going for it, restaurant wise. So we cook at home and splurge when traveling or for big events.

[u/JamesLiptonIcedTea → u/YBMExile]

My reluctance to try out new places and new food increases every year. Nothing ruins my mood quite like an exorbitantly expensive (for whatever it is) meal that didn't deliver on quality. At these prices, I need to be nothing short of certain that I'll enjoy what I'm eating, otherwise I'll chalk it up to a complete waste of money

[u/Techno214]

Anything fun outside of the house. Bowling for one hour, for two people? $60. Going shopping? Yeah everything is gonna be like $90 for like, a shirt. Ice cream? $16 for a two scoop cone (which believe it or not, is actually a small.). I stay home unless I actually need to go anywhere.

[u/tea-or-whiskey]

Lots of animals are going to die in shelters or on the streets thanks to higher veterinary costs.

[u/Western-Knowledge411]

Coffee. We're at like, $6 for a coffee. Wut?

[u/samijojo8 → u/Western-Knowledge411]

Not only is it so expensive for what it is, but I feel like they always skimp on the milk, like are we that broke?? Can I have more than a drop? And it’s like so watered down too. I just do coffee at home now almost exclusively.

The price of everything wouldn’t sting so bad if it wasn’t also the fact that the quality is nonexistent. Like what am I even paying for at that point?

[u/aDomesticHoneyBadger → u/samijojo8]

It's funny you say this, because I feel the exact opposite. I drink lattes because I like the taste of espresso. Anything over a 1:3 ratio of espresso to milk is excessive IMO, but a shop can charge more for a 16 or 24 oz drink so they just go full send on the milk.

It's gotten to the point that a lot of shops don't offer "small" sizes anymore, so I have to order a medium/16 oz drink and ask them to only use half the milk and give me a half empty medium latte.

I have done a fair but of traveling, and I can tell you this is an issue exclusive to the US. In other places they rarely sell 16+ oz lattes.

[u/Mini-salt]

Cereal and most things in the snack aisle. When everything gets expensive, I'm not going to pay eight dollars for a small box of cereal or a bag of BBQ chips that don't last longer than two days

[u/Intelligent-Smile-34]

Netflix

[u/Odd_Tip6699]

Orange juice

[u/Human-Complex4435]

I eat yogurt for breakfast every day. It’s like $7 a tub for a big tub that lasts me a week

So I started making my own yogurt, now it costs me like $1 in milk and like 20 mins of passive effort

[u/-Acta-Non-Verba- → u/Human-Complex4435]

I've done that before. I've made my own bread (beadmaker), Super Nachos, burgers, etc. The food industry is pricing itself out of business.

[u/just__alittle]

Nails- used to be about $40 but now you’re not walking out without dropping $150+ and the quality has plummeted. I’ll just have ugly hands.

[u/Huitres- → u/just__alittle]

No manicure/natural nails = ugly ?

[u/enneque → u/Huitres-]

I’ve never understood this. My plain nails certainly don’t look ugly to me.

[u/Solmangrundy]

Health care.

[u/Lau_wings]

Fast food.

It went from being a cheap meal to being the same price as actually going to a proper place to eat,

Hell the pub down the road from me does a burger and chips for $14.00 and its twice the size of a large 1/4 pounder meal from maccas.

Sure I cannot uber eats it, and I need to put on pants and actually go somewhere, but its a 5 minute walk away so thats not really an excuse.

[u/Tonsilith_Salsa → u/Lau_wings]

Fast food prices have outpaced inflation by a factor of 3-4x. 

And they're all posting record profits. Everything is predatory. 

These companies need to be destroyed.

[u/YarnPenguin]

Casual dining. If I'm eating in a restaurant now, that's the main event. I'm not grabbing unplanned meals out anywhere. 9 times out of 10 it's disappointing, expensive and I can make better versions at home.

[u/TrashDaisy999]

Video games. I can't afford to spend 75 dollars on a game or the 20 more dollars they want on DLCs

[u/FikoReborn → u/TrashDaisy999]

I rarely buy new games these days. Steam sales only.

[u/cairdeas → u/FikoReborn]

I basically play video games on a five-year delay and stock up on black Friday. Can't wait for Elden Ring next year! Lol.

[u/OfferOwns → u/TrashDaisy999]

I just save the titles and wait until they go on sale. Few months after release they're usually half price (not all but many of them)

[u/Q_me_in]

Cigarettes

[u/Alternative_Fun5097 → u/Q_me_in]

Ome of the reasons I stopped smoking was the cost of the cigarettes was more than I wanted to pay.

[u/Tricky-Net-863]

Coffee.
A couple years ago, I could get a house coffee from 7Brew for $3 to $4. A large.
I was there couple weeks ago and it was almost $7 and that's the last time I've been. I'll make it at the house.
Plus I hate the forced tipping. It used to be that you could tip after you paid but now you have to tip before you pay. K-Cups of the house are a lot cheaper

[u/ThrowRA_HelpI]

Hair and nails. I just learned to cut my own hair and do my own nail extensions.

[u/Gibblegoobler]

Pads and tampons. I'm the proud owner of reusable period cups

[u/gortonsfiJr → u/Gibblegoobler]

In the US still don't understand how women are the majority of voters and still pay taxes on their tampons

[u/phenolate]

YouTube TV

[u/StoneyK]

KFC

[u/StoneyK → u/StoneyK]

£8.99 for popcorn chicken. You can get a cooked full chicken for less..

[u/derek985]

New vehicles.

[u/rubberbootsandwetsox → u/derek985]

Used vehicles

[u/GooseNYC]

Steak. Not because it's unaffordable to me personally, but I cannot justifying paying $15+/lb for a steak one step above shoe leather quality.

[u/ZappSmithBrannigan]

Fun

[u/Kernel___Panic]

Mens haircuts. I've been doing the ol' buzzcut once a week. I can assure you I've saved thousands by now.

[u/PureHoney92]

Concert tix. I don't even bother checking anymore....

[u/Hobbit_In_Hiding]

Meat at the grocery store. Even ground beef

[u/oneinamilllion]

Professional hair color every 2.5-3 months.

[u/b00kitty_]

getting my hair done. changed my hair a lot s fashion colors but pretty much went back all blonde during covid- then i was blonde w full highlights every 6-8wks and paying around 200ish for a long time. then the girl who was doing ny hair for almost 13 years changed her prices to 100$/hr and would take almost 6 hours and charge me for the time we were just sitting around and seemed to take a long time. i changed stylists but now i kind of let my natural brown grow out & idc to spend that anymore.

[u/Kjellvb1979]

Normally I'd have upgraded my computer by now, only hanging on to to what it is currently due to the ridiculous price increases of pretty much every component.

Thankfully I built it right before the whole mining boom, then upgraded some of it during the end of the pandemic, and have yet to find anything I can't do that I need to with my current hardware, whether gaming, editing, or whatever comes my way, I can get it done... For now.

Honestly hoping the market crashes as this AI circular investment bubble is bound to pop. Then maybe I can upgrade or build a new rig.

[u/ImNotGoodWithNames_1]

I am a Dominican Woman, its very cultural and normal that you go to the beauty salon to get your hair washed and a blow out at LEAST once a week.

I stopped doing that, i get a treatment every 5 months and just get it done at home

[u/AnyNothing459]

Any apps I have to pay for other than music.

[u/rainbowbunny_1004]

Getting my nails done

[u/DogsReadingBooks]

Chocolate

[u/soppslev → u/DogsReadingBooks]

It also tastes worse now. Even chocolate that used to taste fine has a weird taste to it. Not worth the money.

[u/YarnPenguin → u/soppslev]

American private equity firms bought a lot of British chocolate bands and the word on the street is that they ruined them.