33 Things That Have Gotten So Expensive, People Now Avoid Buying Them
Interview With Expert
The economy is in a truly bizarre place right now. Some countries are on the verge of a recession. Others may or may not have already gone through one and have rebounded, depending on what expert you ask. Inequality is deepening while shrinkflation is rearing its ugly head. And despite people grumbling about their expenses, not everyone is changing their spending habits. It’s a confusing time for many of us.
But something that many people have noticed is just how gosh-darn expensive things have gotten compared to years past, from second-hand clothing to even regular fast food meals or just a cup of coffee in town. The r/AskReddit community shared what has completely shocked them in terms of prices, and we’ve collected their most relatable insights. Scroll down to read them.
Bored Panda reached out to personal finance expert Sam Dogen for some insights on living with a tighter budget and how breadwinners can treat their loved ones even when times are tough. You'll find our interview with the author of ‘How To Engineer Your Layoff’ and the host of the ‘Financial Samurai’ blog below.
This post may include affiliate links.
Movies at the theater. That ship has sailed for my family. Major movies now are at home within a few months. Even faster if they don't light up the box office. I chose to invest in a kick a*s home theater and I have zero regrets.
Yes!! You can pause it anytime and the snacks don't cost an arm and a leg!
Personal finance expert Dogen, the host of the 'Financial Samurai' blog, likened tightening your budget to wearing braces to realign your teeth.
"When you first get braces, they are painful. But after a while, as your teeth shift, that discomfort fades. Then the orthodontist tightens them again and you feel it afresh!" the author of the bestseller ‘How To Engineer Your Layoff’ shared with Bored Panda.
"Similarly, if your new saving rate isn’t somewhat painful each month, you haven’t cut expenses substantially. But over time, you adapt to lower spending levels again. That signals the need for further reduction, tightening back up bit by bit. Keep incrementally trimming 10% more elements until reaching solid financial bones," he suggested.
Concert tickets. It’s gotten to be over $100 to sit on the grass, in August, in Houston.
Candy bars
69 cents? I'll grab one from time to time. Full grown adult.
$2.69? Lol wut? That's like actual money. For a candy bar? How are they still in business?
Personal finance expert Dogen suggested keeping one 'Financial Samurai' mantra in mind when it comes to budgeting and cutting back on expenses: "If the amount of money you're saving each month doesn't hurt, you're not saving enough!"
He also shared a savings guide by age with us that can help anyone keep on track "for a wealthy retirement."
Bored Panda was curious about how people can still treat their loved ones even when they're working with considerably tight budgets.
Dogen, the author of ‘How To Engineer Your Layoff,’ explained to us that it's not money that should be the main focus here.
Housing
Second hand clothing stores. Some of the things in there I can buy for same price, if not less, for brand new!
I pop into the Salvos (Salvation Army Store) for my work shirts. I'm a contractor and I do use boots, heavy duty shorts/trousers but my shirts get shabby real quick, so some $5 second hand ones are great.
Fabric. When my daughter was little, I sewed clothes for her myself. Now, fabric is so expensive that it's just cheaper to buy the clothes already made.
"The best gifts we can give our family are our love, time, and attention—all of which are free. Younger children simply want to play with their parents. Older kids appreciate being heard as they navigate various emotions and dilemmas at school. Partners and spouses cherish words of affirmation about how much we care, along with listening to what we appreciate about them," he said.
"Whether our families are young or old, large or small, remembering to actively express our selfless love through quality time and engaged listening connects us in profound ways," the expert told Bored Panda.
"The daily stressors that distract us will come and go, but the bonds nurtured between those closest to our hearts are what matter most."
tip culture, no way i have to tip on everything and be pressured too lmao
Frozen dinners. The entire appeal of the product was that you could buy a meal for $2-3. Now that they are $10, you might as well just buy actual food for dinner.
OP nailed it when saying buying actual food instead of so much fat, additives, salt and the rest.
I’m learning to cook again. Fast food and premade food is too expensive
Fast food had three things going for it: it was fast, it was cheap, and it was kind of tasty in a greasy/salty way. This was the trade off for it being very bad for you and making you feel sick later. Now, it’s slow, it’s expensive, and though it’s still kind of tasty, it’s just not tasty enough to offset the other major pain points.
Feeling wealthy isn’t about any exact number in your bank account. Feeling wealthy comes down to how you manage your income, expenses, savings, and investments. If you’re taking care of your and your loved ones’ needs and have enough cash left over to indulge in travel, hobbies, and fun activities—you’re living the life.
On the flip side, no matter how much you earn, you’ll never feel like it’s enough if you’re in debt and dipping into your savings to maintain a luxurious lifestyle.
Ikea furniture. IKEA particle board junk is now the same price as real furniture made from real wood. Not only that, but there has also been a noticeable decline in quality. Greedflation and ensh**tification all in one.
Restaurants. Recently went out to eat for the first time in a year and spent 100$ for 2 and it wasn’t very good. Felt guilty spending almost a days pay on one meal.
Netflix, Prime, all the streaming services are too much these days.
Me too, a lot of the streamers are giving cheaper prices if you allow advertising. I don't have a problem with the ads themselves, but the greed of these corporations is astounding.
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And...and Amazon just gave everyone a Christmas present today. An email explaining they are adding commercials to movies...unless you pay an extra $3 a month.
There are still free streaming channels. They carry older stuff, but a movie I haven't seen from '95 (or one I've seen a zillion times because I love it) is just as good as a movie I haven't seen from '22. The old sitcoms were actually funny, and I laugh at them. Documentaries are informative/silly/spooky whether they're from now or '07. Yes, there are commercials. Bathroom and BP breaks!
Some old sitcoms are great, and held up. And some are painful to watch and make me wonder what I was thinking at the time when they were first run. Sturgeon’s Law applies.
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That's the comment I was looking for. It might be the generation I'm from (internet literate in the early 2000s) but piracy is always on the table, unless the paid option is incredibly convenient. It's not anymore, time to hoist the flag again.
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We can't afford cable so we gave that up and use streaming services. Cheaper than paying almost $150 a month.
I do not know how anyone can afford more than one or two of these streaming services. I have two and that’s enough.
Streaming serial monogamy. We get one service for a couple months, catch up on things, then switch to the next and then the next.
I'm sure they're working to make this impossible.
Load More Replies... Tubi is free and has a surprising amount of good stuff. Pirating is really the best way to watch. You don’t need Netflix and Hulu really. YouTube is the only one who’s content you can’t really pirate. Prime is also free btw. I pay for Hulu anyway because it’s only like $7 but if I couldn’t spare it, I’d just pirate those. I pay for YouTube premium and peacock as well. Peacock is only like $5-10
I rotate among most of them. There are two I keep because we watch them all the time (one is Amazon with the PBS and BBC channels), and the others I only activate when there’s something specific we want to watch. They just cost too much to keep all the time.
Especially when they are bloating it with adverts... DOWN WITH ADS!
Cut out Netflix, their home brew content has eaten a turd sandwich lately.
We got suckered into giving up regular cable TV to going to getting multiple subscriptions to all sorts of companies
Eh....it's really not. At this point they've eaten eachother enough times to start packaging services into one, like Hulu/disney, HBO/paramount/discovery. Yes, if you ignore the crossover from competing services, or try to collect the more niche ones it's easy to spend an obscene amount....but, Netflix/prime/Hulu/AppleTV+ still work out to a much cheaper deal than paying for cable.
I really enjoy Discovery+, it has a bunch of stuff and isn't very expensive with ads. They have so many categories, we like food Network and true crime, they also have a bunch of docs and stuff as you'd expect. We've never had a problem trying to find something to watch, and we've had it for a year
Discovery lost all credibility when they started putting “alien autopsy” style crep on their “science” channels, and “aliens built the pyramids” crep on their “history” channels. The only thing left worth watching is Mayday/Air Emergency, and I’m pretty sure that’s because they haven’t gotten their “make it stupid” hooks into the production team.
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Prime is now starting in January putting commercials. They are going to charge extra for no commercials
ROKU, about $20-$30. Not an overabundance of new programming...but a lot of older shows are more entertaining, less PC , less offensive.
You can spend eternity watching movies and tv on the internet and never run out of programing. The only cost is the internet service.
I got an email yesterday from Amazon Prime Video stating starting: Dear Prime member, We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month* that you can sign up for here. Prime is a very compelling value. blah blah blah.
I've stopped paying for Netflix. I don't like everything they show. I have Amazon prime and now they are going to show commercials
When it comes to spending money, you want to make sure that you’ve put together a budget and covered your core necessities (e.g. food, fuel, rent, clothing). Then, make sure that you’re thinking about the future and setting a certain portion of your cash aside either in your savings account, investing it, or a bit of both. Many personal finance experts call saving a portion of your paycheck “paying yourself first.”
However, just living off rice, beans, and tap water isn’t going to do wonders for your emotional and spiritual health. People need more than just survival. So even if you’re on a tight budget, set aside a small part of your wage to have some fun.
My sons' college tuition was 10 times what mine cost. I have a grandson coming up in a few years. Will it be 100 times more than mine?
My first semester at community college was $80 for up to 18 credits. The books were $300 for my classes. But, I was only making $3.35/hr and my share of the rent was $220 for a cockroach infested sh*thole. That was 86 in SoCal. I feel lucky to have grown up where and when I did.
Lyft / Uber aren’t nearly the deal they used to be.
More expensive than a cab ride in some places. They've become the thing they tried to destroy.
Say, if you used to enjoy eating dinner downtown or grabbing a cup of coffee with a friend, do that from time to time. Or go see a movie at the (ridiculously overpriced) local cinema, treating yourself and your date to some popcorn. It’s the frequency of these activities that matters, not that we avoid them altogether. Otherwise, life is going to be very bland.
Of course, there are plenty of cheap and free ways to enjoy life, too. Learning to cook awesome meals at home is a ton of fun, improves your skills, and can really impress your social circle. Going for long hikes out in nature is a fine way to get fit and detach from all the tech in your life. It can be a good alternative to going to the gym if the membership costs have gone through the roof.
Starbucks. A medium soy latte costs 7$ now.
I don’t understand this obsession with Starbucks. They failed in Australia for a very good reason. It’s overpriced c**p.
Delivered food - uber eats/door dash/grub hub... Who even uses them
At the end of the day, every tiny bit of additional income and every small saving quickly adds up. It’s up to you to decide what your priorities are going to be. If you’re a big fan of music, then naturally, you’ll still want to attend concerts. You’ll find ways to pay for those shockingly expensive tickets by cutting back in some areas of your life that you care less about. Like letting go of the half-dozen subscriptions you might have, slowly eating away at your bank balance.
Meanwhile, if you’re passionate about painting, traveling, or rebuilding that sweet 1967 Chevrolet Impala in your garage, you’ll find the budget for these things. You might have to reduce your expenses, but you’ll find that the cliche of skipping lattes at Starbucks can give your budget some additional flexibility.
Fast food. It’s literally cheaper to go to my local burger joint and get a burger than it is to go to Wendy’s and the burger is outrageously better. Plus they have beer.
I agree Wendy’s has gotten expensive but I can’t find a sit-down restaurant where you can get a burger, fries and a beer for less than a burger, fries and a drink at Wendy’s. The former would be at least $20 while the latter would be $12.
I'm only just coming to terms with this, but potato chips
Childcare
I don't know why these were downvoted. It's true. Good childcare is expensive because if you cheap out, you're not going to get someone well educated or trained. Who do you want to trust your child to? Until we start valuing the people who watch and teach our children, it will be hard to find good people to do those jobs. My daughter in law made more as a receptionist than she did as a teacher. That's sad.
Grapes
I saw they were on ‘sale’ and at the till they were $10…for a bag of grapes…I said to the cashier, “please take them back. I can’t justify a half hour of work for a bag of freaking grapes”.
Soda. I could buy a 12 pack for $2.50-3.00 back then. Now theyre $12+. Like f**k that s**t. I switched to drinking coffee mixed with chocolate milk now cause of it.
This may be a bit weird…I still buy it, but not as much as I used too…Gum. I used to buy 2 packs for $2.50 now it’s almost $4.50 for 1 pack.
Anything that is pre-sliced/portioned/cut. It is like $8 for cut up cantaloupe where i live! I can get 3 cantaloupes and just cut them up in 5 minutes for the same price. Anything done for convenience in that way is out in our house!
Are people so time short they can’t cut fruit? Then you also have the extra waste of a tray and cling wrap.
Brand new video games. I wait for a sale. I cannot pay 70 bucks for a base game.
Disney tickets.
I remember when they switched from paper tickets for each ride to day passes with unlimited rides. I think it was $6.95/day pass. Disneyland had a disco called Videopolis that was only open 2 years, during the summers of 86 and 87. They offered a summer season pass for $40 one year and $60 the next. It was only good after 7pm. We would go like 6 nights a week to dance and pick up girls. Also, DISNEYLAND HAS A JAIL. I was arrested multiple times. My friends and I would get off of *It's A Small World* and sneak around on the catwalks as people rode underneath. We would walk through the employee/behind the scenes areas as a shortcut. (and SO much more) I don't know why they never thought to take my pass away. I was 17-18 and my apartment was only 5 miles away. I will stop now because I could write 10 pages on growing up next to Disneyland.
Replacing the windows for your house.
Obviously, if you need to replace one... you need to replace one. But there was once a time where replacing your windows for the energy savings over 15 years + increase in potential resale price was well worth it.
Now? You're looking at $20k-$30k for what? $20 a month savings in energy usage? In a market where there could be a body in the basement which the potential buyer would let you leave so long as they got the house?
25 years ago we replaced all the house windows with Window World's vinyl design that had a lifetime warranty. Half of those windows seals leaked and we had to use the warranty a lot. Then the local Window World franchise was bought out and the new owner tried to charge us for warranty labor. We had to threaten him with legal action.
Funyuns.
Those were my jam. We spent many a good time together. $5.49 for a 6oz bag though is criminal.
I could get almost 2 gallons of refined, dead dinosaur juice for that price.
Acrylic Nails. I miss having them but omg
The thing that worries me most is the people that blame Biden for inflation (as if he, alone, controls the economy) and think that Trump can make things all better (they’re already getting better, btw). You think things are bad now? Just wait until you see how bad it can get under a fascist, maliciously corrupt government.
Presidents always take blame/credit for things they had nothing/little to do with.
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So many of these utterly fail to give any sort of comparison. Yes, everything's more expensive than it was, it's the way of the world, and those of us with longer memories can recall when annual inflation of 10% or more was the norm. Year after year after year. If your earnings aren't at least keeping track with inflation then I'm sorry for you; maybe people have forgotten that you need have inflation-related salary increases every year?
Assuming you can get them this makes sense.
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As it should be. The actual prices doesn't even slightly cover the environmental damage it causes.
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Deli meat. $12.99/lb for deli ham! Yet it was $0.89 for a spiral ham for Christmas. Guess who spent an extra $8 and got a second ham to slice for sandwiches later!
$14.50 a pound for turkey. I remember when it was like $6 a pound and that wasn’t really that long ago.
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Comics (magazines). I used to read them all the time as a kid but while I still enjoy it, they're not worth the price compared to the 20-30 minutes they last.
for comics its often cheaper to buy the trades/TPB if the series has them. Not always, but often. Like in my country single issues are around AU$8. But a TPB is around AU$30 and it collects 5 issues. So its ~$AU10 cheaper. Still expensive imo for what it is, but a cheaper option if someone really wants to read a series.
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Where the heck are some of these people shopping? $10 for a microwave meal? Yeah, they jumped by about 30% since COVID started, but, even the premium ones aren't even $6 (not that I'll spend that on one).
Stores can vary in price depending on the local competition. Many Americans live tens of miles from the nearest store, so that store knows that they can charge whatever they like for the food and people have no choice. In areas with greater competition, the prices are lower.
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90% of the reason prices go up is because of the increase of money into the money supply. Every time the Federal government inserts more money into the economy, that drives the worth of those dollars down. Inflation is what's called the "Unseen Tax",
Haircuts. $25-30 plus tip. For an older man with thinning hair. On the bright side, the more hair you lose, the more head you get...
American tipping culture. Never ever tipped my barber, never ever expected. They make without tip nice money though (Slovakia). Only place i tip is restaurant and only if i was satisfied with the service and food.
Load More Replies... anything from disney, even toys. my kids love disney. i refuse to buy anything directly from disney. everything we have disney related has come from thrift stores, second hand shops, auctions or is handmade. its too expensive. if we cant find it second hand or make it ourselves, we dont need it.
Today I bought a cornish pasty and a custard slice . It cost me£5!!! Never again!
Train fares. At least in the UK. I wouldn't mind so much if they were comfortable and reliable but often they're running late or cancelled and then so crowded you can't get a seat. I had to travel to Glasgow from Birmingham last year and it was cheaper for me to fly than get a train and also a lot quicker.
The thing that worries me most is the people that blame Biden for inflation (as if he, alone, controls the economy) and think that Trump can make things all better (they’re already getting better, btw). You think things are bad now? Just wait until you see how bad it can get under a fascist, maliciously corrupt government.
Presidents always take blame/credit for things they had nothing/little to do with.
Load More Replies... So many of these utterly fail to give any sort of comparison. Yes, everything's more expensive than it was, it's the way of the world, and those of us with longer memories can recall when annual inflation of 10% or more was the norm. Year after year after year. If your earnings aren't at least keeping track with inflation then I'm sorry for you; maybe people have forgotten that you need have inflation-related salary increases every year?
Assuming you can get them this makes sense.
Load More Replies... As it should be. The actual prices doesn't even slightly cover the environmental damage it causes.
Load More Replies... Deli meat. $12.99/lb for deli ham! Yet it was $0.89 for a spiral ham for Christmas. Guess who spent an extra $8 and got a second ham to slice for sandwiches later!
$14.50 a pound for turkey. I remember when it was like $6 a pound and that wasn’t really that long ago.
Load More Replies... Comics (magazines). I used to read them all the time as a kid but while I still enjoy it, they're not worth the price compared to the 20-30 minutes they last.
for comics its often cheaper to buy the trades/TPB if the series has them. Not always, but often. Like in my country single issues are around AU$8. But a TPB is around AU$30 and it collects 5 issues. So its ~$AU10 cheaper. Still expensive imo for what it is, but a cheaper option if someone really wants to read a series.
Load More Replies... Where the heck are some of these people shopping? $10 for a microwave meal? Yeah, they jumped by about 30% since COVID started, but, even the premium ones aren't even $6 (not that I'll spend that on one).
Stores can vary in price depending on the local competition. Many Americans live tens of miles from the nearest store, so that store knows that they can charge whatever they like for the food and people have no choice. In areas with greater competition, the prices are lower.
Load More Replies... 90% of the reason prices go up is because of the increase of money into the money supply. Every time the Federal government inserts more money into the economy, that drives the worth of those dollars down. Inflation is what's called the "Unseen Tax",
Haircuts. $25-30 plus tip. For an older man with thinning hair. On the bright side, the more hair you lose, the more head you get...
American tipping culture. Never ever tipped my barber, never ever expected. They make without tip nice money though (Slovakia). Only place i tip is restaurant and only if i was satisfied with the service and food.
Load More Replies... anything from disney, even toys. my kids love disney. i refuse to buy anything directly from disney. everything we have disney related has come from thrift stores, second hand shops, auctions or is handmade. its too expensive. if we cant find it second hand or make it ourselves, we dont need it.
Today I bought a cornish pasty and a custard slice . It cost me£5!!! Never again!
Train fares. At least in the UK. I wouldn't mind so much if they were comfortable and reliable but often they're running late or cancelled and then so crowded you can't get a seat. I had to travel to Glasgow from Birmingham last year and it was cheaper for me to fly than get a train and also a lot quicker.
