The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Trudie on February 12, 2022, 10:02:54 PM
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I’m wondering what sorts of contrarian hacks Mustachians have developed to address the inflationary time we’re living in? Ways of reducing consumption? Adjusting what goods you buy? I realize that basic MMM habits are good at times like these, but what’s been helpful in particular?
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We've done a lot more DIY projects rather than hiring them out. We've made slightly different choices when grocery shopping to avoid inflated items. We stock up when we see good sales and we put off purchases when items seem overpriced. We combine errands more now to avoid driving. We've optimized utility bills by dropping the thermostat significantly at night...and are sleeping better when it's a bit chilly. We traded direct TV for cable and saved $80 month. We've optimized insurance bills by shopping around. We've avoided traveling during the pandemic which has saved a lot of money, and we've used the time at home to organize, optimize, and improve our diet and exercise habits. Losing a little weight and not drinking much alcohol also had the unintended consequence of reducing expenses.
All of these little things resulted in a 15% drop in our expenses in 2021.
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I have 28 years left on a 30 year mortgage. Since housing and taxes are my two largest expense inflation hasn't hurt much.
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Wringing more money out of my employer... (I highly recommend this strategy.)
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By being a Mustachian ;)
This stuff works.
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I’m being pretty careful about the groceries at this point. There just aren’t many bargains to be had at this point!
And we turned the thermostat down to 66°, at which temperature I’m cold all the time, but I was outvoted on this. Luckily I bought electric throws last winter!
Otherwise, our housing costs are stable and we don’t need a new car. We don’t drive all that much so gas prices don’t affect us too much.
Long walks and the library continue to be free.
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We turn the thermostat down to 61 at night (and use flannel sheets and a down comforter to keep us toasty) and up to 68 during the day. I'm rarely uncomfortable and the bills are WAY down from last year when we kept it at 70 all winter.
P.S. We have a furnace. I would NOT recommend this approach with a heat pump since it would be less efficient.
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I’m being pretty careful about the groceries at this point. There just aren’t many bargains to be had at this point!
And we turned the thermostat down to 66°, at which temperature I’m cold all the time, but I was outvoted on this. Luckily I bought electric throws last winter!
Otherwise, our housing costs are stable and we don’t need a new car. We don’t drive all that much so gas prices don’t affect us too much.
Long walks and the library continue to be free.
How much do you save on the electric bill with temp set at 66F compared to around 70 to 73? At 66F my bones start aching and I cough more at night. Never thougth about electric blanket.
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We turn the thermostat down to 61 at night (and use flannel sheets and a down comforter to keep us toasty) and up to 68 during the day. I'm rarely uncomfortable and the bills are WAY down from last year when we kept it at 70 all winter.
How much do you figure you save each year running heat at 61F at night compared to 70F?
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30 year 3% mortgage, as much money as they'd give us. Paying the minimum. Make FIRE a lot quicker AND makes inflation no big thing.
I am paying more for avocados, but screw it. Avocados are delicious.
Do people really keep their houses at 70 degrees? We do 62 in the daytime and 58 at night. I can't even imagine 70 degrees, I'd be roasting alive.
-W
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Flexibility in where you spend your money. Ground beef just shot up in price? Use ground turkey, or even better, a vegan substitute if you're willing to consider meatless options. Fuel prices skyrocketing? Use public transportation or a bicycle more often if possible. Like someone said upthread, "by being a mustachian". We're pretty resilient to things like this such as spending inflation, and in many cases we can leverage it as a reason to make even healthier choices!
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30 year 3% mortgage, as much money as they'd give us. Paying the minimum. Make FIRE a lot quicker AND makes inflation no big thing.
I am paying more for avocados, but screw it. Avocados are delicious.
Do people really keep their houses at 70 degrees? We do 62 in the daytime and 58 at night. I can't even imagine 70 degrees, I'd be roasting alive.
-W
You're just overdressed. I get my wood stove cranking and it's 75* in no time, but I generally wear shorts and a t shirt in the house.
I got a great deal on avocados the other day, packaged up as a "guacamole kit", they were so ripe they barely made it into guac that evening.
I have a well stocked freezer and I've been stocking it less and eating out of it more, which is really just putting off the inevitable I suppose.
My fuel bill has increased about $30/mo so I'm trying to drive less, too.
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We turn the thermostat down to 61 at night (and use flannel sheets and a down comforter to keep us toasty) and up to 68 during the day. I'm rarely uncomfortable and the bills are WAY down from last year when we kept it at 70 all winter.
How much do you figure you save each year running heat at 61F at night compared to 70F?
For electricity this winter, we used 2124 KWH...same period last year it was 2528 KWH. Consumption is 16% less.
For gas this winter, we used 356 CCF...same period last year was 445 CCF. Consumption is 20% less.
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At the risk of sounding tone deaf, we're mustachian and really haven't changed anything. Our real estate holdings have skyrocketed. Our old, gently used cars have held their value shockingly well. I continue to shop at grocery stores that prioritize having ever-changing bargains over places that put the exact product in the exact slot every day. I maintain a well-stocked pantry. Sure, some things have gone up, but we just roll with those. Why freak out about things we have little control over?
Example: Prime is going up $20. Our NW has soared by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nothing to fret over. Do we absolutely need Prime? I don't but DH typically buys parts to repair/maintain things, doing the work himself. Trips to stores for esoteric parts that aren't in stock waste far more time and money than $20, or even $140, for that matter.
Oh, and we keep the heat at 65. The bill has more than doubled. Meh. We're getting old, we don't want to be cold. Warm now is more important than a leaving a bigger pile of cold, cash to our heirs.
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Sold an extra car that I just didn't have time to deal with. Fortunately got window replacement done last year at a price that was near normal and found that I can keep the temperature in the house set lower and still be comfortable. Gas bill is actually lower so far this Winter. Not buying extra/fun things at the grocery store anymore, sticking with the staples. Dropping most club memberships and magazine subscriptions. Cut our going out to eat from occasional to very rare.
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The biggest impact of inflation that I've personally noticed is the utility (gas/electric) and grocery bill. Thus far I haven't really changed anything, it's tightened the money a bit not enough for me to pull back on savings.
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I landed a new job with a 40%+ raise. If you're still working, the job market right now is bananas and likely sufficient to blow away any negative impact inflation would otherwise have.
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I’m being pretty careful about the groceries at this point. There just aren’t many bargains to be had at this point!
And we turned the thermostat down to 66°, at which temperature I’m cold all the time, but I was outvoted on this. Luckily I bought electric throws last winter!
Otherwise, our housing costs are stable and we don’t need a new car. We don’t drive all that much so gas prices don’t affect us too much.
Long walks and the library continue to be free.
How much do you save on the electric bill with temp set at 66F compared to around 70 to 73? At 66F my bones start aching and I cough more at night. Never thougth about electric blanket.
We have a gas furnace and the bill has gone up a LOT this winter. It’s more about cutting into the increase, as it’s easily 30% higher than last year.
Plus we turn it down to 60° at night, which is really cold. The cats are crawling under the covers with us.
I can hardly wait for summer.
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Ive decided to quit buying bacon due to inflation. $4.20 to $6 per pound of bacon is outrageous.
I buy my own pork products in bulk, by the case from Sam's Club at $1.48 to $1.68/lb.
Today I processed a pork butt -- which costs $1.48/lb. I cut it in half lengthwise to get a nice portion about the size of slab of bacon, but a little wider than bacon. The rest of the pork I butchered into stew meat; the leftover bone with some meat around it is become a soup for dinner tonight.
This bacon is called Buckboard Bacon and tastes great as there is plenty of fat in the cut. I cure it myself in the fridge over two weeks with a dry curing rub. I'll also cut a pork loin into 3 pieces and cure that at the same time for Canadian Bacon. I'l smoke everything together at same time for about $2.50 in charcoal and wood chunks. (Actually I think I'll cut up antoher pork butt for another Buckboard Bacon slab, with the excess pork butt made into ground pork... the more I smoke at same time the more I save.) I can freeze the buckboard bacon as well as canadian bacon after it's smoked -- I'll portion into 1 lb chunks or so which I will slice as needed each morning for breakfast.
So I smoke 15 pounds of cured pork butt & loin. At an average cost of $1.58/lb. 15 x $1.58 = $23.7 plus the $2.50 (charcoal and wood chunks) and total cost is $26.20. Wherease 15lbs of bacon at Aldi is 15 x $4.19 = $62.85. $40 savings. And btw, buckboard bacon (home smoked in bbq pit) tastes a lot better than the cheap $4.19 Aldi bacon in my opinion.
EDIT: oh add like 50 cents for the curing rub which is cure #1, kosher salt and brown sugar.
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That sounds like a really really difficult way to save $40 that involves many hours of labor, but if you must have cured meat, good work, I guess?
-W
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You're just overdressed. I get my wood stove cranking and it's 75* in no time, but I generally wear shorts and a t shirt in the house.
I got a great deal on avocados the other day, packaged up as a "guacamole kit", they were so ripe they barely made it into guac that evening.
I have a well stocked freezer and I've been stocking it less and eating out of it more, which is really just putting off the inevitable I suppose.
My fuel bill has increased about $30/mo so I'm trying to drive less, too.
I'm concerned enough about climate change and local air quality that I'm willing to wear a long sleeved shirt in the house, but to each their own.
-W
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Ask for raises or look for new jobs that pay more. Difficult to cut your way to save 7% if inflation stays at this rate for long.
I will eat less protein per serving. Two slices of bacon instead of 3-4, smaller portions, maybe eat more potatoes. Travel is usually a place to cut back but travel is ridiculously cheap right now, so likely to travel more in the near term.
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That sounds like a really really difficult way to save $40 that involves many hours of labor, but if you must have cured meat, good work, I guess?
-W
I already process pork products with knives, grinder and meat slicer in a large batch, so I don't have to do it very often.. maybe every 3 months at most. Saving TONS of money on stew meat, boneless pork chops of my desired thickness, buckboard bacon, canadian bacon, sliced pork loin (for homemade jerky, pho and stir fry), ground pork, etc.. Bacon is just one small part. To process the bacon at the same time isn't much more work; since the setup and cleanup would be the same amount of time regardless. I think it takes an hour to do a many months worth of pork butchering.
The curing of two buckboard bacon slabs alogn with say a whole pork loin , takes all of about 15 minutes I'd say. It's not any labor the two weeks it sits in the fridge curing. This 15 mins includes the weighing of the meat, the percentage of rub needed calculation based on the weight, the weighing of the rub, the placing in a gallon zip lock bag, the rubbing down of it in the bag, putting the slabs in a tray and placing in fridge. It also covers the taking out of the slabs two weeks later, rinsing off, drying and placing on a rack in the fridge to form a pellicle over 2 days. After that it's ready to smoke.
I love BBQ'ing stuff, it's a hobby of mine and well my BBQ tastes about 5 times better than any BBQ you can buy from most any restaurant. (I also BBQ pork butts for pulled pork; chicken as well.. even turkey -- I don't BBQ ribs & brisket very often because they are expensive.). I am used to getting the pit set up fast and automating things. Sure it takes a couple hours to smoke but I dont' have to sit there out side watching it.. I have remote pit temps (wi fi) which alert me inside the house.. then I go outside and make a tiny adjustment to the vent and then wait for the next alert. I get the pit fired up fast because I use a charcoal chimney with a propane burner to start it. That takes about 10 mins total.. 2 mins to pour charcoal in and clean up mess.. and 8 mins for it to burn enough to throw the chimney in the pit.
I also have a lot of time on my hands and enjoy the outdoors/bbq so it's no biggy. I play with the dog outside while the pit is going sometimes.
If I were to guess I'd probably save about $60 per hour at a minimum processing all this pork myself. I don't work, so that's a lot of money per hour for me. All the while, performing custom butchered cuts you just don't get anywhere else; that along with achieving flavors beyond that of the best restaurants. Now if I can find other ways I can save $60 per hour here at home I will do that as well (and have) -- processing of pork being one example.
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I wouldn't mind a bit of inflation, but we just aren't finding the meat products we want and can't justify paying more for something we are going to be less satisfied with. And so, we are eating more beans these days by default.
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Biting the bullet. There's not a lot of fat to trim from the budget. We already have roommates and don't have a car, and we do most of our grocery shopping at Aldi so there's not a lot to optimize. Thermostat is 65 during the day and off at night. Roommates complain and use space heaters at 65, so lower isn't an option. We could change our diets, but we're not really willing to go that far. I only bought beef twice last year anyway so there isn't a ton of low hanging fruit. Expenses are going up. At least being mustachian helps me try not to fret too much.
SO will be finishing his master's in engineering soon and is job hunting so hopefully something good materializes there. With all the stories about how everyone is looking to hire, he's only had one interview so far (for a job he didn't even want) and lots of rejections, so that's pretty demoralizing.
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Wringing more money out of my employer... (I highly recommend this strategy.)
same
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I really haven't noticed much inflation in my daily life, but that might be because A) my housing costs are more or less locked in, B) it should be another ~10 years before I need to buy another vehicle, C) I haven't been doing much traveling/driving for the past two years, and D) my food costs were already quite low to begin with.
EDIT: I did notice January's natural gas bill was ~$50 higher than last year, so assuming three months of that, it means my annual housing costs are up a paltry 0.75%
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I'm getting eaten up at the moment by inflation. I'm on a fixed income because I'm disabled so I can't increase income to offset inflation. My housing costs have gone up 75% (fun with living in a resort town!) but will be stable going forward because I bought a house. I've been living in furnished housing for a long time and so I'm having to buy just about everything to furnish a house. And not just furniture which I haven't gotten around to buying yet, but also all the stuff like dishes, pots & pans, a mattress, etc. Because of my disability, I can't go shopping in stores, thrifting, or even into other people's homes to buy used things and, while I can get help from friends for the occasional shopping, I don't want to exhaust their goodwill buying all the million little things I need so I'm buying almost everything new online. #criptax
My food costs haven't really gone up because I eat almost entirely vegetarian. And I don't drive much so not getting dinged much by fuel costs. My new house is pretty similar size to my former rental so energy costs pretty stable. 60 degrees daytime temp is my usual. There's an acclimatization period every fall that's chilly but I'm totally comfortable at 60 by this point in the winter.
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I'm getting eaten up at the moment by inflation. I'm on a fixed income because I'm disabled so I can't increase income to offset inflation. My housing costs have gone up 75% (fun with living in a resort town!) but will be stable going forward because I bought a house. I've been living in furnished housing for a long time and so I'm having to buy just about everything to furnish a house. And not just furniture which I haven't gotten around to buying yet, but also all the stuff like dishes, pots & pans, a mattress, etc. Because of my disability, I can't go shopping in stores, thrifting, or even into other people's homes to buy used things and, while I can get help from friends for the occasional shopping, I don't want to exhaust their goodwill buying all the million little things I need so I'm buying almost everything new online. #criptax
My food costs haven't really gone up because I eat almost entirely vegetarian. And I don't drive much so not getting dinged much by fuel costs. My new house is pretty similar size to my former rental so energy costs pretty stable. 60 degrees daytime temp is my usual. There's an acclimatization period every fall that's chilly but I'm totally comfortable at 60 by this point in the winter.
Have you tried joining your local "Buy Nothing" facebook group? They always give away furniture and free household items. And I'm sure if you explained your situation many might take heart and drop stuff off at your house. I know I'd probably drop off a couple free things to your house if I was a neighbor.
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FWIW I keep my upstairs at 68°F during the day and I turn my heat off at night. But this is nothing new. The downstairs can be up to 10°F cooler which I usually deal with by adding layers. Occasionally I'll run a space heater.
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Yeah, we bought a house a few months back, so we're figuring out our new cost of living now. Our electric consumption went down from Dec - Jan, but our bill went up by $30, so agreeing with others that I'm noticing it in our utilities! I'm waiting for our new gas bill to drop, because I expect that'll be a doozy.
We've been doing weatherization projects and caulking everywhere we can, so at least cold gusts of air are no long coming in around the windows. We keep the heat at 67-68 during the day and drop it to 58 overnight. I don't even feel the difference because I sleep under a pile of blankets that keep me toasty. And happily our dog is a winter dog who opts to sleep in the coldest room of the house.
But yeah, along with Dr. Kidstache, we're still trying to buy stuff that we didn't need before. Checking out the thrift shops on weekends for deals. My company did very well apparently last year, and I did receive the very first year-end bonus from them, so we'll see what happens with this year's raises.
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I'm considering looking for a new job (for other reasons, but this doesn't hurt to add to the reasons either). My current one is locked in at a 2% raise in July.
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As a low-consumption vegan who doesn't buy most of the high-inflation categories at all, it really has not been an issue for me so far. If I was having problems with inflation, I would just lean harder into anticonsumption/zero waste. It's worth keeping in mind that there are many people at every point in the spending spectrum, including people who spend $0, so unless you're already spending $0/year, you always have options and the ability to spend less if you choose to.
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Wringing more money out of my employer... (I highly recommend this strategy.)
same
Did the same thing. They didn't even blink.
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I noticed it in my rent, which increased by $150 last month (honestly it's not that big of an increase, especially when it didn't go up last year), and my electricity bill in January, but since I've already lowered my consumption this fall/winter, it's still under last year's bills. Maybe I'll turn the thermostat down another degree or two.
As for groceries, I've decided to stop eating crap - because of inflation on my hips, not my wallet, so it helps keep it down. I mostly buy raw meat, milk, eggs and veggies. I did balk at the price of smoked salmon, which is one of my favorite treats, but it's now way over what I'm willing to pay (not to mention, I only buy wild, preferably Alaskan). So no more processed food, no more cheese, no more cold cuts, and unfortunately no more smoked salmon. My grocery bill is actually lower than it was before I started my diet - for more food, and I feel so much better too.
One thing that hurts is coffee. I guess I really need to use my French Press more often, but it's apparently too much of a hassle lol. Maybe I need a bigger one.
I don't drive much, so gas prices don't really impact my budget.
The rest of it, well, I just try to be more intentional when I buy something, and I just bite the bullet. As someone else said, not much fat to trim in the budget.
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By spending more money!
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
We walk at the mall sometimes when the weather is terrible, and I was startled to notice the price of food court lunch these days - almost $5 for a slice of pizza???
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
We walk at the mall sometimes when the weather is terrible, and I was startled to notice the price of food court lunch these days - almost $5 for a slice of pizza???
We got hit in the pizza bone first. An x-large pepperoni pizza with 12 wings came to over $50 (with $5 off coupon)
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
We walk at the mall sometimes when the weather is terrible, and I was startled to notice the price of food court lunch these days - almost $5 for a slice of pizza???
We got hit in the pizza bone first. An x-large pepperoni pizza with 12 wings came to over $50 (with $5 off coupon)
Jesus, is that what it costs these days? I've been making my own pizza for about 20 years now, and I'd be surprised if the ingredient cost came to more than maybe a few bucks tops.
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
We walk at the mall sometimes when the weather is terrible, and I was startled to notice the price of food court lunch these days - almost $5 for a slice of pizza???
We got hit in the pizza bone first. An x-large pepperoni pizza with 12 wings came to over $50 (with $5 off coupon)
Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
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Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
We quit making pizza at home because it was cheaper to order it. Not sure how you're making it for $1.50. Our average spend to make our own pizza ran around $20 and that was from scratch crust and everything.
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Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
We quit making pizza at home because it was cheaper to order it. Not sure how you're making it for $1.50. Our average spend to make our own pizza ran around $20 and that was from scratch crust and everything.
LOL, WTF were you putting on it that cost $20??
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I may spend as much as $3 to make a pizza if I use pepperoni, but honestly, pizza is kind of a “clean out the produce drawer” thing? What needs to be used up?
I’ve always used a particular brand of jarred sauce and it’s not available here. The local brands aren’t that great. I’m going to have to make it from scratch and it annoys me because I don’t even like pizza all that much. Other people in my house do, though.
Aldi has take and bake pizza for around $5.
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Pizza sauce from scratch: Start with whatever amount of tomato paste. Add a little olive oil. Then some orgeno, basil, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Perhaps add a little water to the spread consistency you like, then salt to taste. Easy peasy.
All these spices can be bought for $1 per bottle at Aldi and last for many meals.. great for italian, mexican etc.
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Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
We quit making pizza at home because it was cheaper to order it. Not sure how you're making it for $1.50. Our average spend to make our own pizza ran around $20 and that was from scratch crust and everything.
$1.50 for a medium pizza for two. The crust is just flour, water, salt and free sourdough starter.. Big bags of flour cost next to nothing. Doesn't take much flour for the crust. Tomato paste is 25 cents a can? You use maybe a tablespoon or two? You use very little amt of spices in making the homemade sauce.. buy the $1 spice bottles at Aldi. Mozzarella , maybe $1 worth of it -- this is by far the most expensive part of a pizza. Say some sliced onion rings (thinly sliced).. 10 cents? Maybe 3 slices of semi fried bacon for the topping? (or same some home cured canadian bacon for $1.68/lb.. couple slices of that as topping?)
You can make a batch of sourdough and leave it in a bin in the fridge for a week or longer, and take out what you need, shape into a ball and let rise on counter.. then stretch it out into a pizza once risen.
A can of tomato paste can be portioned however you like and wrapped in plastic wrap and put in a sandwich bag or 1 quart zip lock in the freezer.
EDIT: Instead of sourdough starter you could use 1 tsp of dried yeast, you can buy it in bulk and put in a mason jar in the fridge.
EDIT #2: maybe it's $1.75 now instead of $1.50 due to inflation. Pizza is so cheap and easy to make, that's why there are so many pizza joints.. costs next to nothing to make. I made a sourdough crust pizza here at home one time for a friend and she was blown away and said it was the best pizza she's ever tasted.
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I've only noticed it at the grocery store and gas. We try to stick to Aldi and shop sales anyway. Gas is infrequent but noticeably much more to fill the tank. We had sticker shock on last two restaurant meals via takeout at normally cheap options. So I think we'll be avoiding that for a while.
We walk at the mall sometimes when the weather is terrible, and I was startled to notice the price of food court lunch these days - almost $5 for a slice of pizza???
We got hit in the pizza bone first. An x-large pepperoni pizza with 12 wings came to over $50 (with $5 off coupon)
Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
We normally make pizza at home and have been doing it for years, but order occasionally. That's why I was taken so off guard when we ordered from a shop recently. Even if you buy the dough and sauce, which we do, it takes the same amount of time and effort as takeout but a quarter of the cost.
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To be honest, even with 5 mouths to feed, I never even look at food prices. If you mostly eat produce and grains, food is so stupid cheap that price changes are just totally irrelevant. I guess I notice the price of avocados because it's a discreet unit, but I buy them when they're 50 cents and also when they're $2.00, doesn't matter much.
-W
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Pizzas cost like $1.50 to make at home :) Really easy. I used to make them with sourdough starter, but don't eat grains anymore. Now I eat keto pizzas with mozz/almond flour crust, so add a couple dollars for that.
We quit making pizza at home because it was cheaper to order it. Not sure how you're making it for $1.50. Our average spend to make our own pizza ran around $20 and that was from scratch crust and everything.
I wonder where you are and what you're making it with - perhaps local costs really are that much higher, but if that were the case I wouldn't think ordering it would be cheaper. My general is close to what others have said - $1.50 or $2 a pizza (not including the fuel to cook it) and I use brand name bread flour (King Arthur), brand name canned tomatoes (Muir Glen usually), and other not-particularly inexpensive ingredients. Now if you're making 5 or 6 pizzas, I could see spending the $20 to make it at home, including having to buy a whole bag of flour because you don't usually use it and a new bottle of olive oil - but those generally contain enough to make multiple batches of pizza. (A 5 lb bag of flour will make about 16 pizzas; said bag of flour costs $7.50 at the most expensive store around but more like $4.50 at a normal store)
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To be honest, even with 5 mouths to feed, I never even look at food prices. If you mostly eat produce and grains, food is so stupid cheap that price changes are just totally irrelevant. I guess I notice the price of avocados because it's a discreet unit, but I buy them when they're 50 cents and also when they're $2.00, doesn't matter much.
-W
Indeed, the relative price of food at home has dropped by more than 50% in the last 60 years.
(https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/charts/61842/thr-income-spent-on-food_450px.png?v=851.3)
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=78028 (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=78028)
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To be honest, even with 5 mouths to feed, I never even look at food prices. If you mostly eat produce and grains, food is so stupid cheap that price changes are just totally irrelevant. I guess I notice the price of avocados because it's a discreet unit, but I buy them when they're 50 cents and also when they're $2.00, doesn't matter much.
-W
Indeed, the relative price of food at home has dropped by more than 50% in the last 60 years.
(https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/charts/61842/thr-income-spent-on-food_450px.png?v=851.3)
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=78028 (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=78028)
Not to nitpick, but the graph is of "per capita disposable income spent on food". Disposable income also increased significantly from 1960 to 2013. It doesn't show 2022 which could be the first time that there is a significant reversal in this trend...
Currently food costs have increased significantly while buying the same items in our household, but raises are supposed to outpace inflation this year also.
It would be really interesting, in aggregate, to see if % disposable income remains flat (either through substitution / skipping avocados) or wages outpacing inflation. I get the impression that people are generally going to be OK this year, absorbing the initial vestiges of inflation, but could begin to struggle more and more over time.
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Food inflation has run about 3%/year over the last 100 years, so pretty close to the same as general inflation.
But incomes have skyrocketed in that same timeframe, so the portion of income spent on food (as per the chart) has declined dramatically.
-W
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Not to nitpick, but the graph is of "per capita disposable income spent on food". Disposable income also increased significantly from 1960 to 2013. It doesn't show 2022 which could be the first time that there is a significant reversal in this trend...
Yes, that's why I described it as the relative price of food dropping by more than 50%.
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Not to nitpick, but the graph is of "per capita disposable income spent on food". Disposable income also increased significantly from 1960 to 2013. It doesn't show 2022 which could be the first time that there is a significant reversal in this trend...
Yes, that's why I described it as the relative price of food dropping by more than 50%.
Ah that makes sense, I misinterpreted what was meant by relative... Also, I was wondering where @waltworks got the 3% figure on food inflation. Obviously higher during high inflation times and lower during the mechanization and conglomerization of farms. Also depends on what is considered 'food' - Twinkies? Taco Bell? Or fresh fruit / produce and grass fed free range animals??
Edit to add - Wow, the CPI gets really detailed on food! - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm
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To be honest, even with 5 mouths to feed, I never even look at food prices. If you mostly eat produce and grains, food is so stupid cheap that price changes are just totally irrelevant. I guess I notice the price of avocados because it's a discreet unit, but I buy them when they're 50 cents and also when they're $2.00, doesn't matter much.
-W
+1. I go to store with a list and buy the list.
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Today’s Aldi trip was interesting! First of all, they were *much* better stocked than I’ve seen since sometime last fall. The only thing on my list I couldn’t find was cream cheese, but I still have a spare anyway.
(And the flowers were really crummy, but I suppose that’s Valentine’s Day related?)
Prices are coming down! I really noticed it with the meat. Salami, which has been over $5, was $3.39. Even the fresh meat was all down a bit. The Aisle of Stuff was fully stocked, too.
So maybe things are starting to move a bit better?
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I wonder where you are and what you're making it with - perhaps local costs really are that much higher, but if that were the case I wouldn't think ordering it would be cheaper. My general is close to what others have said - $1.50 or $2 a pizza (not including the fuel to cook it) and I use brand name bread flour (King Arthur), brand name canned tomatoes (Muir Glen usually), and other not-particularly inexpensive ingredients. Now if you're making 5 or 6 pizzas, I could see spending the $20 to make it at home, including having to buy a whole bag of flour because you don't usually use it and a new bottle of olive oil - but those generally contain enough to make multiple batches of pizza. (A 5 lb bag of flour will make about 16 pizzas; said bag of flour costs $7.50 at the most expensive store around but more like $4.50 at a normal store)
Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
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I’m wondering what sorts of contrarian hacks Mustachians have developed to address the inflationary time we’re living in? Ways of reducing consumption? Adjusting what goods you buy? I realize that basic MMM habits are good at times like these, but what’s been helpful in particular?
I'm keeping my spending habits the same and thus my expenses for personal consumption will go up. I raised the rent on my rentals to account for my increased spending on personal consumption. No real change here.
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When I divorced a year ago my income was cut in half. We sold the house and I bought a condo with a small mortgage. Rents are skyrocketing here so owning was key to being able to stay here. I spend 150/month on groceries by shopping at Winco and buy whatever I want. Being 67 I don’t eat as much as I used to. My son found me a T-Mobile plan for 15/month, YouTube tv instead of cable and put led bulbs everywhere which lowered the electric bill by 10.
I only go through a tank of gas a month. My car is a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 68k miles so probably my last car. My priorities are taking trips and having money to spend on medical care for my 2 Maltese. I have really gotten cold since getting older so keep the heat at 73. It’s included in my condo fee.
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We're picking up more stuff on the street. Just last night I convinced my spouse to be ok with picking up someone's thrown out cookies that tasted fine but I guess they didn't like. It has been a challenge to get them to allow me to pick up street food. I now try to only acquire clothes I find on the street rather than go to Goodwill, and we haven't bought anything for the kids to play with in a year. The streets near us have more books than the library and more free toys in people's garbage than at preschool.
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We're picking up more stuff on the street. Just last night I convinced my spouse to be ok with picking up someone's thrown out cookies that tasted fine but I guess they didn't like. It has been a challenge to get them to allow me to pick up street food. I now try to only acquire clothes I find on the street rather than go to Goodwill, and we haven't bought anything for the kids to play with in a year. The streets near us have more books than the library and more free toys in people's garbage than at preschool.
We got a doorknob that we needed out of a trash pile this week. LOL Free is my favorite price.
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
I don't think you've bought ingredients recently. Those prices are a normal jar of sauce, bag of pepperoni, and medium bag of cheese pre-recent inflation, not any huge amount. It'll make a pizza slightly smaller than a baking sheet and by no means overflowing with toppings.
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
OMG that video. Thanks for sharing the link . . . maybe?
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We make pizza here with stuff we normally already have on hand. Mozzarella cheese, bacon, tomato paste, individual spices: oregano, basil, onion powder, garlic powder; olive oil. We don't have to buy anythign special. And it comes to less than $2 for a medium size pizza (enough food for the both of us and the dog).
We make just enough sauce with say a heaping tbsp of tomato paste .. we porrtion the tomato paste with plastic wrap and baggy and freeze. It's like 8 cents of tomato paste. Sprinkle in a little oregano , basil, onion powder, black pwpper, garlic powder and a drizzle of olvie oil into the sauce... add like 15 cents more for the spices and oil. So like 23 cents for the sauce for the entire pizza, and nothing extra to buy.
We use bacon for our pizza topping.. about 4 slices cut up into pieces and friend 1/2 way before topping. We always have bacon here. Now we are making our own bacon for $1.58 /lb out of pork butt and pork loin. So the bacon cost is like what 35 cents, for the amount we use.
We also top with very thinly sliced white onion, the remainder of which we wrap in plastic wrap and throw in veggie bin, preserving the onion for weeks for other meals. The same with green bell pepper if we also use that for topping.
We also top with a bit of basil from our garden which we food process with olive oil and freeze into ice cubes. Has a fresh basil taste and costs next to nothing since we grew it here in the summer.
I challenge you to figure out a way to make pizzas for under $3 -- or $4 depending on size of pizza. Because many of us here are already doing it.
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
I don't think you've bought ingredients recently. Those prices are a normal jar of sauce, bag of pepperoni, and medium bag of cheese pre-recent inflation, not any huge amount. It'll make a pizza slightly smaller than a baking sheet and by no means overflowing with toppings.
Bought ingredients last week. I make my own sauce ($1.19/can of diced tomatoes, Muir Glen). A bag of sliced pepperoni is $2.50; it's got enough pepperoni in it for about 6 pizzas. An 8 oz bag of shredded cheese (enough cheese for 2-3 pizzas) costs $4 for the name brand not on sale (but is normally on sale); fresh mozzarella is $7 for a pound. My pizzas are 12" across, so probably 1.5 of mine is one of yours.
Are you buying ingredients at a 7-11 or similar convenience store? I'm not trying to be snarky at all; I am honestly mystified at the prices you're citing. And if the prices are reflective of the area you live in, buying pizza at a pizzeria must be about $50. If it's cheaper to buy pizza from the pizzeria than to make it yourself there's something very very very far off.
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I make pizza for lunch about once/week, and agree that those are Manhattan food prices, maybe? Even there, shop around. Aldi has a big bag of grated mozzarella for around $3, and you can buy cheese on sale and freeze it.
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
I don't think you've bought ingredients recently. Those prices are a normal jar of sauce, bag of pepperoni, and medium bag of cheese pre-recent inflation, not any huge amount. It'll make a pizza slightly smaller than a baking sheet and by no means overflowing with toppings.
Normally, I would shop at Aldi where prices are a bit lower, but they don't post their prices online so I had to go with WalMart.
A quart to half a gallon of tomato sauce
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572)
2-3 pounds of mozzarella
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185) ($3.20 a pound when you buy 5 pounds)
A pound of pepperoni
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518)
Flour
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200)
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
I don't think you've bought ingredients recently. Those prices are a normal jar of sauce, bag of pepperoni, and medium bag of cheese pre-recent inflation, not any huge amount. It'll make a pizza slightly smaller than a baking sheet and by no means overflowing with toppings.
Normally, I would shop at Aldi where prices are a bit lower, but they don't post their prices online so I had to go with WalMart.
A quart to half a gallon of tomato sauce
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572)
2-3 pounds of mozzarella
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185) ($3.20 a pound when you buy 5 pounds)
A pound of pepperoni
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518)
Flour
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200)
How many pizzas could you make with all that?
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Sauce runs $3-4. A couple bucks for ingredients to make the crust. Pepperoni is around $5. I'll kill a whole $10ish bag of cheese on it. It's delicious, but not cost effective.
2-3 pounds of cheese, a pound of pepperoni, a quart to half a gallon of sauce, a few pounds of flour...
So basically, you're trying to recreate the Epic Meal pizza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpxBe6Amhk)
I don't think you've bought ingredients recently. Those prices are a normal jar of sauce, bag of pepperoni, and medium bag of cheese pre-recent inflation, not any huge amount. It'll make a pizza slightly smaller than a baking sheet and by no means overflowing with toppings.
Normally, I would shop at Aldi where prices are a bit lower, but they don't post their prices online so I had to go with WalMart.
A quart to half a gallon of tomato sauce
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pizza-Sauce-23-9-oz/944712101)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prego-Pizza-Sauce-Pizzeria-Style-14-Ounce-Jar/40601572)
2-3 pounds of mozzarella
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-16-oz/10452421)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Mozzarella-Shredded-Cheese-16-oz-Bag/43981976)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Gluten-Free-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Shredded-Mozzarella-Cheese-5-lb/39171185) ($3.20 a pound when you buy 5 pounds)
A pound of pepperoni
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-21-oz/483646515)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Pepperoni-Slices-6-oz/40495518)
Flour
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-All-Purpose-Flour-5LB-Bag/10403017?athbdg=L1200)
How many pizzas could you make with all that?
Enough for all of us. Yum!
I have to laugh though. I shop at the kind of stores that sell whatever they get deals on, not the kind that have the same thing in the same place 24/7/365. Therefore, my costs are even lower, because I don't buy everything at the same time. I literally always have these ingredients on hand. Including yeast, ahem.
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How many pizzas could you make with all that?
Just one, but it's a heck of a pizza.
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So what I'm getting from this thread is that I'm going to be eating a lot of pizza until the Fed manages to tame inflation? Sounds good to me!
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So what I'm getting from this thread is that I'm going to be eating a lot of pizza until the Fed manages to tame inflation? Sounds good to me!
LMAO :)
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Y'all making pizzas are skimpy on ingredients. Isn't one benefit of cooking at home that you can load it up?!
For two of us, we do 5 or even 6 slices of bacon (no "2-3 slices" here) ($2 for 1/3 a package?), 1/2 an apple (50 cents?) and some slices of red onion for our go to pizza. And most of a bag of pre-shredded* cheese ($2.50? 3? on sale) because divorce is expensive, plus flour etc. So I'm somewhere between the $1.50 and $15-20 estimates. Still cheaper than ordering pizza though.
*Using pre-shredded cheese is a compromise with spouse on certain cooking efforts. He does not feel the effort is worth the cost of grating ourselves. Since I get resentful at doing 100% of the things he deems as non-essential (this ranges from cleaning to cooking), I have compromised in some areas.
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Definitely NOT skimping on ingredients here, though I think it's all a matter of perspective.
LOL on "most of a bag of cheese because divorce is expensive" - love it.
Oooh apple on the pizza. Haven't done that one yet. The best surprise pizza we've made recently was fig preserves with goat cheese and sliced fresh jalopenos. We were in a rental house where the owners said "use what you find in the fridge" so we did. OMG.
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Put whatever you want on your pizza, it comes out to 25% or less compared to buying the pizza from a joint :)
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Definitely NOT skimping on ingredients here, though I think it's all a matter of perspective.
LOL on "most of a bag of cheese because divorce is expensive" - love it.
Oooh apple on the pizza. Haven't done that one yet. The best surprise pizza we've made recently was fig preserves with goat cheese and sliced fresh jalopenos. We were in a rental house where the owners said "use what you find in the fridge" so we did. OMG.
People kept talking about "thin slices" of this or that, or just a few slices of bacon etc.
We stole the recipe from a restaurant. No pizza sauce - just moz cheese, apple, bacon, red onion. It's delicious :)
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What spices? I'm hungry...
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best adder to our pizza is what we call crack.
Mix 1/3 c olive oil with 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and 4 cloves of garlic, crushed. Heat this gently until you can smell the garlic, then turn it off. Brush this on the pizza before any sauce or toppings. Makes enough crack for 5-6 pizzas.
Obviously doesn't work if you don't like garlic.
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best adder to our pizza is what we call crack.
Mix 1/3 c olive oil with 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and 4 cloves of garlic, crushed. Heat this gently until you can smell the garlic, then turn it off. Brush this on the pizza before any sauce or toppings. Makes enough crack for 5-6 pizzas.
Obviously doesn't work if you don't like garlic.
That sounds insanely good :) I'll give it a go. (We already sprinkle top of pizza with crushed red pepper and garlic powder. Also we drizzle olive oil into the sauce :)
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Not much you can do about inflation other than suck it up and move ahead.
You've been dealing with inflation your entire life. Heck gas was $0.39 per gallon when I started driving, and my first new car was $5800.
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All the more reason to buy used stuff when you can. I notice the used prices people are selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace are based of what they paid for the item pre-inflation. e.g. Weber 22" One Touch Gold Kettle is $199 now at the store, just a few short years ago it was $149. I see them all the time for $50 on Facebook Marketplace, same as it was years ago.
I am doing everything I can to battle this inflation by buying used stuff. Or products that haven't inflated in price such as cases of pork butt and pork loin at Sam's Club. Making about 16 lbs of bacon right now with them -- buckboard and canadian bacon. Will smoke it all at same time in my Weber Smokey Mountain. Will taste better than the $6/lb bacon, at only $1.58/lb.
I am battling this inflation and I will win! However, I can't keep the utilities companies from charging more so that's annoying.. so trying to be more efficient with electricity, etc..
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just when I think I've adapted to the "new" prices, they go up again.
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I make pizza for lunch about once/week, and agree that those are Manhattan food prices, maybe? Even there, shop around. Aldi has a big bag of grated mozzarella for around $3, and you can buy cheese on sale and freeze it.
I buy the 5 lb. bag of mozzarella cheese from Costco/Sams Club. It's 2.75/lb. I also buy 4 packs of pepperoni pizza for $10.99. I think the cheese only one is $9.99. I sprinkle an extra 3-4 ounces of cheese on top. I'm around $3.25-3.50/pizza, made to my liking.
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By spending more money!
Same here. The biggest dollar increases in costs for us have been property taxes (because the value of the house has gone up) and health insurance (even after ACA subsidies). The only solution would be to move... but moving would generate expenses greater than the increases in taxes and health insurance.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
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I find the whole pizza discussion hilarious. I don't make pizza from scratch. I buy the Aldi's frozen pizzas. I'm perfectly happy with it, its reasonably priced and easy. Pizza is often the "I'm really struggling to eat right now so the easiest thing I can figure out that will fill me up that I can actually manage to eat" go to, so making it from scratch defeats the purpose. Disordered eating is a bitch sometimes, and it's been tough the last couple months. Its getting better finally. Of course, the reason it's getting better is I adopted a 2nd cat, so that adds expense.
My grocery list this week is funny. My freezer stash of meats is depleted, so I'd like to restock. Chicken, beef, pork chops. Might get a ham and split it with my parents too. I don't technically need to get all of it, but stock has been a factor so if they have what I want I'll just suck it up.
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Here in SoCal the ubiquitous Ralph's grocery is selling medium pizzas for $5. It's terrible for you but still affordable. Trader Joe's salads, my lunchtime staple, can still be had for $5 too.
But I spent way too much on restaurant food before crazy inflation and now I'm just spending more. It's always been the #1 weak spot in my budgeting.
The only change I've made is to start plugging in my hybrid at work. It's still the same $1/hr. With gas prices above $4/gal now it makes economic sense to charge up.
I also was considering buying a new-to-me-car because my Fusion Energi is terrible in the mountains. But I think I've decided to just rent anytime I'm going to be in snowy conditions and I'll get better tires the next time I'm due for replacement.
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I’m being pretty careful about the groceries at this point. There just aren’t many bargains to be had at this point!
And we turned the thermostat down to 66°, at which temperature I’m cold all the time, but I was outvoted on this. Luckily I bought electric throws last winter!
Otherwise, our housing costs are stable and we don’t need a new car. We don’t drive all that much so gas prices don’t affect us too much.
Long walks and the library continue to be free.
We keep our thermostat at 63 during the day, but have a space heater in the main living space, which is much cheaper than heating the entire house. Would something like that work for you?
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I don’t think so - it’s a good sized space to heat and I think it would suck up more electricity than it’s worth.
We’re getting new windows this summer, which will help with costs, but honestly, at 66° I’m always going to be Too Cold.
I’ve got on about 5 layers already. I’m warmer when we go out for a walk and its 15°!
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As a low-consumption vegan who doesn't buy most of the high-inflation categories at all, it really has not been an issue for me so far. If I was having problems with inflation, I would just lean harder into anticonsumption/zero waste. It's worth keeping in mind that there are many people at every point in the spending spectrum, including people who spend $0, so unless you're already spending $0/year, you always have options and the ability to spend less if you choose to.
We are very low-consumption too, but inflation is still influencing us quite a bit. Of course, cutting back is always an option, but I'm really noticing inflation across the board, not just in luxury items.
Our property tax has gone up about 15% this year, and we already live in a location that has relatively low taxes.
Public transit is "only" 2% more expensive than last year, and got 2% more expensive in 2020 as well. That seems pretty low. Until you start to notice that most buses and trains run 2 times per hour now instead of 4, due to lower amounts of passengers due to Covid / WFH. And they start running later in the day. I think the earliest bus in my neighbourhood is now 6.30am instead of 5.30am. And right before the pandemic, VAT on public transit was raised (from 6 to 9%) which resulted in an average 5% increase in price. All in all we're getting half of the amount of buses and trains for a 10% higher price than pre-Covid.
Another staple that has doubled in price since the pandemic are 1 pound bags of oats, that used to cost me €0,30 but are now €0,69.
Still, we're doing more than OK. We've both got a few raises that more than compensate the higher prices.
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As a low-consumption vegan who doesn't buy most of the high-inflation categories at all, it really has not been an issue for me so far. If I was having problems with inflation, I would just lean harder into anticonsumption/zero waste. It's worth keeping in mind that there are many people at every point in the spending spectrum, including people who spend $0, so unless you're already spending $0/year, you always have options and the ability to spend less if you choose to.
We are very low-consumption too, but inflation is still influencing us quite a bit. Of course, cutting back is always an option, but I'm really noticing inflation across the board, not just in luxury items.
Our property tax has gone up about 15% this year, and we already live in a location that has relatively low taxes.
Public transit is "only" 2% more expensive than last year, and got 2% more expensive in 2020 as well. That seems pretty low. Until you start to notice that most buses and trains run 2 times per hour now instead of 4, due to lower amounts of passengers due to Covid / WFH. And they start running later in the day. I think the earliest bus in my neighbourhood is now 6.30am instead of 5.30am. And right before the pandemic, VAT on public transit was raised (from 6 to 9%) which resulted in an average 5% increase in price. All in all we're getting half of the amount of buses and trains for a 10% higher price than pre-Covid.
Another staple that has doubled in price since the pandemic are 1 pound bags of oats, that used to cost me €0,30 but are now €0,69.
Still, we're doing more than OK. We've both got a few raises that more than compensate the higher prices.
Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
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By spending more money!
Same here. The biggest dollar increases in costs for us have been property taxes (because the value of the house has gone up) and health insurance (even after ACA subsidies). The only solution would be to move... but moving would generate expenses greater than the increases in taxes and health insurance.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Property taxes took a big jump for us between the value of the property going up and another round of taxes being voted in. The school taxes are killing us. People automatically vote for whatever ridiculous increase they want just because "it's for the kids". Over 2/3 of our tax is now JUST for the schools. The entire rest of the local government runs on the remaining 1/3. I wouldn't be upset as much if throwing more money at schools made smarter kids, but that relationship doesn't appear to exist once one is past a certain threshold...
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By spending more money!
Same here. The biggest dollar increases in costs for us have been property taxes (because the value of the house has gone up) and health insurance (even after ACA subsidies). The only solution would be to move... but moving would generate expenses greater than the increases in taxes and health insurance.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Property taxes took a big jump for us between the value of the property going up and another round of taxes being voted in. The school taxes are killing us. People automatically vote for whatever ridiculous increase they want just because "it's for the kids". Over 2/3 of our tax is now JUST for the schools. The entire rest of the local government runs on the remaining 1/3. I wouldn't be upset as much if throwing more money at schools made smarter kids, but that relationship doesn't appear to exist once one is past a certain threshold...
I appreciate that they can't really do that in CA. Something people don't think about when they decide to flee...
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
Thanks for the link. Out of all the things that went away "because of covid", I would miss the do not disturb sign the most.
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
Thanks for the link. Out of all the things that went away "because of covid", I would miss the do not disturb sign the most.
YES!! That was my first thought, too! It's not that I sleep in; it's that I don't need someone coming into my room to tidy up while I'm out for the day if my stay is only a few days long. I'll take the privacy/security over the tiny added luxury of having someone else make my bed.
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
Thanks for the link. Out of all the things that went away "because of covid", I would miss the do not disturb sign the most.
Happy to report that every hotel I have stayed at in the last 9 months had the do not disturb sign available.
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A few things I’ve been doing that help a lot lately
-my own car maintenance, I’ve always done my own oil changes, swapping tires and minor work like brake pads and spark plugs, but last year I decided to tackle some harder jobs that in the past ive had a shop do, including timing belt and water pump replacement and brake caliper/bleeding brake system. Probably saved $2-3k last year doing work myself as we had a bunch of things all at once on two cars. On a side note, it helps that I drive two ~$4k Hyundai’s and keep them on the road myself rather than have a couple big monthly car payments.
- we buy a side of pork and do the butchering ourselves, it’s like 1/3 the price of buying in the store and it only takes a few hours.
- I hardly ever buy new stuff, most of what I need I find at garage sales or auctions or if it is new I don’t often pay retail and get it from a liquidation place or Facebook marketplace
Our food cost and heating bill have gone up, but we’ve just absorbed the extra cost for the most part. I’m hoping by next year I can negotiate a significant raise, but in the mean time I’m going to try to ramp up the side hustles
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
Thanks for the link. Out of all the things that went away "because of covid", I would miss the do not disturb sign the most.
Happy to report that every hotel I have stayed at in the last 9 months had the do not disturb sign available.
Yeah me too. However every hotel I have stayed at in the last year had no more housekeeping unless you ask for it a day in advance, barely any food service (breakfast, lunch and/or dinner) and increased prices for everything.
Not that I travel much outside of work these days, but AirBnB it is. For work, well, I don't really have a choice, unfortunately, but I'll check these things before I choose a room to book, even if it's not my usual Marriot (haven't gotten a room upgrade in a year either, although I'm a Gold member).
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So they have Do Not Disturb signs for the housekeeping that... doesn't exist. Genius.
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I’m wondering what sorts of contrarian hacks Mustachians have developed to address the inflationary time we’re living in? Ways of reducing consumption? Adjusting what goods you buy?
We have one car, and we live in a car-centric city. During the pandemic our public transit has become ... sketchy.
Rather than buy a second car (see used car prices), we joined the local car sharing program. It's inconvenient enough that perhaps it's not our forever-solution, but it's good enough for now.
But I wouldn't say we're particularly concerned about inflation.
I drive by the gas stations and check out the price like an accident on the freeway or a citizen witnessing an execution in Plato's Republic: Wait, what?! My curiosity has indicated that we're up to about $3.60/gallon, but like a highway accident, it's a curiosity.
It's sad that we (Americans, and also to some extent western Europeans) have used all of our prosperity to consume endlessly more whatever, without using much/any of that wealth to build resiliency.
On Friday I was listening to NPR's Marketplace coming back from skiing (driving in an ICE car), and one stat they gave was that only a very bare majority (51% or so, if I remember correctly) of Americans would support tariffs on Russia if it meant higher gas prices.
Man, $6/gal, $8/gal, $10/gal, bring it on. It makes zero difference to me. With all the money we've got in the US, at the very least it seems like we should put it to use not having to worry about Russian (mis)adventures.
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Your comment about the reduced public transport schedule is kind of like the shrinkflation we've seen in goods... it's the first example of it happening in the service sector that I have seen.
I guess you haven't been to a hotel lately.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/missing-hotel-amenities/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3784969&utm_usr=82d9cdb74aebb92726074379679f5b8d8d41690e2743188eb9b2c0fcf341afb0&utm_msg=28bb7cb9eb5e4bb98356b55fb1739bb0&utm_date=2022-02-27
Thanks for the link. Out of all the things that went away "because of covid", I would miss the do not disturb sign the most.
Happy to report that every hotel I have stayed at in the last 9 months had the do not disturb sign available.
Yeah me too. However every hotel I have stayed at in the last year had no more housekeeping unless you ask for it a day in advance, barely any food service (breakfast, lunch and/or dinner) and increased prices for everything.
Not that I travel much outside of work these days, but AirBnB it is. For work, well, I don't really have a choice, unfortunately, but I'll check these things before I choose a room to book, even if it's not my usual Marriot (haven't gotten a room upgrade in a year either, although I'm a Gold member).
Oh, we have definitely run into housekeeping in the hallways and had no issues with food.
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continuing in my, only use stuff i find on the street, i found a quart of paint in exactly the color I needed to cover some drywall patches and coat a wall. I was shocked to find just the thing, in the same sheen, in so close a shade my wife assumed I'd gotten a color match at Benjamin Moore. I also found a neighbor retiring out of the country and hit the bonanza, including some nice potted plants, some artwork I'd actually want to hang, some kids toys, stucco patch that saved me from buying a can, and some pottery that gets me out of buying a housewarming gift for a friend. I am a collector, and inflation would be hard if I couldn't turn to the street to provide for me.
As a reminder the garbage can is the ONLY store that never changes its prices!!!
For my fellow collectors do you think the pandemic has increased the quality of garbage or decreased it? In my area I think it is increasing with the churn of stuff going through peoples' homes as they renovate and redecorate.
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A non-Mustachian would 'adjust' to inflation by using it to justify buying a bunch of stuff 'before it gets too expensive!". The way I look at it, I adjust to inflation by being Mustachian in the first place. There are several things I learned here that are making me more robust than I would have been prior to MMM. Things like investing consistently in 80/20 stock/bond index funds. Keeping my 3% mortage on my house and not paying it off early and funneling all my extra money toward investments instead. Living on a reasonable budget. Not living paycheck to paycheck. Going after pay increases when I change employers. Etc.... These are the things that make things like inflation somewhat of a non-issue.
Of course I'm still working and might feel differently if I were already RE.
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Though we've already been Mustachian for decades, oddly our response to the uncertainty of the past couple of years has been to spend more at businesses we want to support. We tip more-- perhaps extravagantly. And I've been trying to declutter faster so that people don't have to spend money, since so many items have been ripening in my garage for years.
Since I am in the organization of some social groups, I've also been trying to influence people toward less consumption, i.e. resisting movement back to in person organizational meetings, questioning expenditures on event swag that will get thrown away almost immediately. I'm also looking into "ripple effect" actions that will make things more efficient for everyone in my community, like traffic adjustments that will make it easier for students to walk to school.
On the personal front, this year I do intend to garden more seriously now that we have our raised beds prepared. And I'm still struggling to get my family to eat less meat though not succeeding well there.
So I guess my reaction has been to accelerate actions that would also help the environment too.
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Since I am in the organization of some social groups, I've also been trying to influence people toward less consumption, i.e. resisting movement back to in person organizational meetings, questioning expenditures on event swag that will get thrown away almost immediately. I'm also looking into "ripple effect" actions that will make things more efficient for everyone in my community, like traffic adjustments that will make it easier for students to walk to school.
I love this so much.
I was part of a "participatory budget" committee at my former address, and we did just this type of "nudge" suggestions for infrastructure spend. I hope to get involved in my new community in some similar way. (I want a tool library at our public library!)
And as a corporate minion, I also really appreciate less swag. (I have so many thermoses that I will never use. Please, just save the plastic... )
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so many items have been ripening in my garage for years.
This ^ is a great phrase. Like bananas, most garage stuff doesn't get better with the passage of time.
I live about three miles from work. I usually bike, but lately I've been walking to enjoy the spring weather.
I somehow managed to lose my only daypack a few years ago, and walking with a shoulder bag for three miles each way is getting a little old.
I've been on the hunt for a new daypack. I started looking around at the usual outdoor suspects, like REI and Patagonia, but do I really need a fancy backpack to walk to work? So I dialed up the old school classic Jansports, and it turns out that they're pretty close in price to what Patagonia offers. I've been unmotivated to buy.
We have a gear thrift store a couple miles away. I think I'm going to ride there on Saturday and see what they have on the shelf. I might end up being the grown man walking to work with a castoff Hello Kitty backpack, but at least I won't end up contributing to the endless stream of nylon crap in the world.
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I use a Hello Kitty daypack that was originally one of my kids’ school bag, and it is darned sturdy! It’s easy to spot and I’m pretty sure no one wants to steal it!
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Definitely noticing the inflation.
Gas bill is up 100% over last winter, thanks to Texas's mismanagement and their bizarre cold snap last February. We always keep it at 68 in the daytime and 65 at night, but the increase is from all the costs being passed on, plus higher costs for natural gas. 65 is actually a great temperature for sleeping, so it doesn't bother us, and the electric blanket turned on for a few minutes takes the chill off of the bed. The kid, who kicks off his blankets and refuses to pull them up properly, is dressed in fleece so he stays warm.
Fuel to drive the car is up a lot too, but that isn't really noticeable since we don't really go anywhere.
Food, well food is a mess. I have a hard time meal planning because the store is always cancelling items from the order. And it's different items every week too! No rhyme or reason to it. But things have gone up in price too of course. We switched brands of butter because our favorite brand got too expensive. Coffee went from around $6, which it's been forever, to over $7, to suddenly this month it jumped a solid $1 more to almost $8.50! So DH is going to have to find another brand of coffee now, or drink less.
We buy most things from Aldi which helps, but even they have price increases, and are the worst at product availability.
Vehicles - the truck needs to be replaced but that's out of the question at the moment, so we're just trying to keep the old clunker running. Taking it in next week to get some bearings fixed which should be fairly cheap and make it safe to drive again for a while. No heat makes it no fun to drive in the winter, but DH doesn't go anywhere anyway. It'll get a lot of use as soon as spring hits and we need to start moving free stuff found on curb alerts, dirt for the yard, leaves and tree branch removal and all those fun spring/summer projects.
Seriously though, spring is amazing in this town. You would not believe what people throw on the curb for free. Not only have I scored tons of items that we have personally needed, I've also picked up things that other people needed, and many items to clean up and resell. DH once went to pick up some paid furniture for me, and came home with a lawn mower that the same person had thrown on the curb for free. He cleaned it up, replaced a couple small parts, and sold it for $50!