Double the Horror, Double the Poverty
Posted by Lynnster on September 4, 2008
Last night was depressing. I went to the grocery store.
Back in the spring, I mentioned that I had noticed a lot of the things I pretty much HAVE to buy on a regular basis had gone up relatively significantly. Well, now (in just the past week or two), they’ve gone up AGAIN.
40 lb. bag of (store brand) dog food – up from $7.99-8.99 in April 2008 to $13.99.
20-ish lb. bag of (commercial) cat food – up for around $11 to $15.
Box of (store brand) dog treats – used to be two for $2, now $4 ($6 somewhere else for something similar).
Kitty litter – I always buy cheap kinds and store brands because my cats simply usually prefer them. The store brand cat litter at my usual grocery stores is now costing what Tidy Cats, Fresh Step, etc. USED to.
All totaled, well over $15, possibly even up to an additional $20 a month or so if you’re a pet owner.
So yes, that is all pet stuff and I suppose some people would scoff that pets are a luxury (even though they’re the only “kids” I have). So let’s look at stuff for ME.
Nearly all the food and personal items I buy for myself are, these days, generic and store brands. Nearly all of THEM have increased in cost similarly. Thank goodness I don’t habitually eat very much or often – which is bad, I know – but the simple fact is right now I couldn’t afford to eat TWO meals a day, much less three, so right now my borderline eating disorder is a blessing.
One of my preferred easy quick cheap meals is not so cheap anymore. Formerly 89 cents, I discovered just over the weekend the price had gone up to $1.09. And now it’s gone up to $1.29 SINCE the weekend.
Here was the real shocker for me, though. I actually noticed this at another store last week, but thought maybe it was just one of those things, since I was at a retail drugstore where things sometimes are higher than they are at, say, Kroger or Wal-Mart.
But no. Angel Soft toilet tissue, usually acquired for $1 or less per four-roll package many places – now pushing $2, at $1.85. This isn’t Northern, this isn’t Charmin, this isn’t Kleenex – it’s ANGEL SOFT, for goodness’ sakes. Granted, even if I had lots of money I’d probably buy it anyway instead of the others. I like it just fine, think it’s great anyway, and after what a plumber once told one of my best friends after a thousands-of-dollars plumbing repair job, I probably will buy it forever (well, if I can afford to).
And I have long lamented the high cost of feminine hygiene/protection products for years, as that is something most women HAVE to have on hand and cannot do without, yet even the store brands are often horrifically expensive. I have always considered that one of those things that’s just simply not fair and borderline sexist. Fortunately I stocked up on that stuff a few months ago with the generous gift of a kind friend of a Wal-Mart gift card. I am NOT looking forward to seeing what that stuff costs when I’ve depleted my current stock.
But seriously – do you see what I’m getting at here? This is GROCERIES, people. This is generic and store brand people food, as well as pet food. This is “lesser brand” TOILET TISSUE, for Pete’s sake.
And most of it’s nearly DOUBLED in cost in just the last four months. 100% inflation, folks.
Gasoline prices were bad enough, and I realize they have decreased somewhat (at least temporarily). It still sucks that I have a compact car and it costs over $50 to make a two and a half hour trip to my hometown there and back, and that I’m 42 years old and my mom has to send me the money if I want to come home for the weekend.
But this – this is groceries – and TOILET TISSUE, for crying out loud – doubling in cost. What happens next year? Tripling? Quadrupling?
I can’t afford any of it, and my income is tentative enough as it is. What really sucks is that I’ll still be owing taxes next year on what pitiful, way below average “poverty level”, amount of income I have actually earned this year.
All I’ve been hearing about lately is people getting laid off, hundreds here, a few there, hundreds more over there. I suspect few of you reading right now could tell me you’ve gotten a raise this year that’s helping to offset this incredible rise in not only cost of just living, but cost of necessities.
I know I’m sounding like a broken record here lately. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked this in the last five or six months, and I’m getting kind of tired of asking it and wondering about it at this point, but anyway…
Where does it stop? When does it end?
You want my vote in the Presidential election? Then tell me it is going to stop, and where it’s going to stop, and when it’s going to end, AND make it happen.
Preferably before we’re all homeless and out on the street, starving, and having to tear up family Bibles and dictionaries and encyclopedias because we can’t afford to buy four rolls of toilet paper.
Kathy said
Kitty litter – I always buy cheap kinds and store brands because my cats simply usually prefer them. The store brand cat litter at my usual grocery stores is now costing what Tidy Cats, Fresh Step, etc. USED to.
My cat prefers the store brand, too, until they stopped selling theirs. Now I have to go to the fancy stuff, which she doesn’t like and usually will tell me by using the carpet as a litter box.
Grocery Store Blues « Newscoma said
[...] Read the whole thing. [...]
Rachel said
Lynnster, I feel you. Let me just suggest maybe getting something like the Keeper or Diva Cup for the feminine hygiene issue – you spend ~$30 up front, but it’s all you have to pay for 10 years.
chez beziat said
We’re feeling the same pain. Working for tips, the income has decreased while gas and groceries are doing what they’ve been doing. You’re getting killed paying your taxes while big businesses get tax breaks left and right. Our best your way.
Lesley said
I hear ya. I’m buying groceries for two now and I’m astounded at the cost.
Also, I second the recommendation on the Diva cup. It takes a while to get used to it and get the hang of it, but I’m no longer using up cellulose to collect my uterine lining. :)
Lynnster said
I’m just so sick of it all, y’all. And thanks for the moral support.
Kathy, mine used that cheap brand Ike’s used to carry for years and would turn their noses (or butts, as it were) up at Tidy Cats or the others. We did switch to (generic) clumping litter for a while but at a point when dogs had access to the litter box again, I ruled that out – for reasons too gross to go into but, you know.
Rachel & Lesley – thanks for the tip, I have heard of that but haven’t really checked it out, I will investigate. Frankly $30 up front compared to what’s basically $96 (store brand) to $192 (commercial) a year? No brainer really there.
Bez, I hear ya. And you really ought to check out one of those ad/car options you wrote about recently, bro – they aren’t going to come to you! :) I hear it’s not a bad deal at all.