Have 2020-2023 inflation and real returns affected your financial habits?

[Ron Scott]

When the current inflationary period began, it was popular for people to try “beating inflation“ by refusing to buy or substituting products. But as would be expected, this approach has proven difficult to maintain as price increases became more cost-based, due to increases in wages, etc., and therefore more widespread. Those early increases are now baked into today’s prices, and still growing. At the same time, the real rate of return for 50-50, or 60-40 portfolios has been flat or negative.

I’m wondering what effect this has had on your thinking, planning, and spending.

I personally am thankful for the long stretch of low inflation and solid returns, and assume the last few years has been just payback. I am spending more money in the new normal. I expect stock returns to be lower going forward due to higher borrowing costs.  I’m not sure the party is completely over, but my attitude changed. I am spending my remaining time at the bar and off the dance floor. I do expect a recession within 18 months or so, and will be looking for an equity buying opportunity in 2024/5.

[Zikoris]

We haven't really changed anything. Our spending has increased a bit over the specified time period - in 2019 we spent about $29,000, compared to $31,000 in 2022. Nowhere near the inflation increases a lot of people report. We still pay our cards twice a month and dump the rest into investments, which we've been doing since 2012. I've gotten substantially larger raises over the last couple years in any case.

[GilesMM]

Our grocery spending has gone to the moon.  But we have to eat.

[curious_george]

Our grocery spending has gone to the moon.  But we have to eat.

Our grocery expenses have also gone to the moon (family of six).

We have cut back on how often we go out to eat and cancelled our gym membership (we have a home gym anyway so this was redundant).

We're also holding more money in cash/I bonds than usual.

Other than this it is business as usual.

[Morning Glory]

It seems like the prices on things we buy are actually settling back down for now.  E.g. 5lbs of shredded cheese at Costco is back to 11.99 when I saw as high as 17.99 a few months ago. Eggs are also back to 1.19/doz here, and there are more random clearance items and "deals" to be found.

[curious_george]

It seems like the prices on things we buy are actually settling back down for now.  E.g. 5lbs of shredded cheese at Costco is back to 11.99 when I saw as high as 17.99 a few months ago. Eggs are also back to 1.19/doz here, and there are more random clearance items and "deals" to be found.

I have noticed this same thing for a lot of items, especially in the past few months. Especially the basics - like eggs and milk and cheese - are back to pre-pandemic pricing even it seems.

Other more processed/prepared food - like frozen pizzas and vegetable soup - went up in price and have not gone back down yet (at least where I live).

[rantk81]

It has definitely changed my spending habits - in VERY UNEXPECTED ways.

(Background: We're very close to FI, if not FI, but I'm OMY'ing or 2MY'ing or more maybe.)

Prior to witnessing a rapid rise in prices of many of the things I buy, I had a very good memory of what the normal and sale prices of stuff were.  However, when prices were changing rapidly, that quickly became irrelevant.  At first, I was very frustrated that I had no more "feeling" for whether stuff was a "good deal or not" relative to their "normal prices."  At some point, I basically just gave up, and started buying whatever I wanted, without evaluating if something is a "good price" or not.  This mentality has kind of stuck with me now.  I also have feelings of "prices seem to go up every few months, so I might was well buy whatever I want now anyway."  I know it's not purely rational, but these are some of the thoughts that have gone on in my mind.  I've become much more "spendy" than I previously had been (even more than what accounts from the general rise in prices), and that has stuck with me.  We still spend a lot less than the income from I earn from the "day job", and we have a huge war-chest of investments.  But my spending habits have definitely changed.


Edit:  An anecdote from Walmart, yesterday, with my spouse and myself.  There was an item my spouse uses.  Prior to the recent inflation, the name brand item used to cost about $3.50.  Now, the name brand item is $6.00.  The store brand equivalent of that item was on the shelf for only $4.00.  My spouse reached for the cheaper "store brand" item because it was less expensive.  I asked, "Do you like the name brand one better?"  Spouse said "Yeah".  I said, "Just get the store brand one, then. We can afford it, and we only buy this item once every few months."  So that's what we did.  This type of scenario has been playing itself out all the time, in my mind over the past year or so.

[Cranky]

No, but with the proviso that it’s not really apples to apples with us - since 2020 dh has retired and we have moved twice. We are definitely spending less now.

I do see grocery store prices coming down but restaurant prices are eye watering! We’ve eaten out twice in the last month, which is a LOT for us, but we were traveling, and I was astonished at the cost of mediocre food.

[jnw]

It's affected my spending habits.  Now we are spending much less than we were before inflation.  I have some weight to lose anyways, and have been losing some.  Groceries are $400 per month now compared to $600 per month pre-covid.  Keeping better track of sales etc w/ a price book.

I can't help the increase in price of electricity and natural gas.. but at least the natural gas is coming down in price significantly in past few months.

[wenchsenior]

Groceries definitely more expensive but it hasn't changed our shopping habits much... we eat how we eat and pay the extra.

Insurance is what has really been shocking me though. To the point that I'm wondering going forward if it's even going to be affordable at all 10 years from now.

[jnw]

Insurance is what has really been shocking me though. To the point that I'm wondering going forward if it's even going to be affordable at all 10 years from now.

Yeah it's crazy my homeonwer's insurance quote went up from $1250 to $1750 in one year.  I had to settle for a 5% deductible ($9400) instead of $5000 for roof and $1000 for the rest.   Now it's $850 per year -- hope I won't need to do any claims, cross fingers lol.

[dividendman]

That's interesting because our homeowners insurance actually went down (we shopped around with a broker though). I figured to just try because they were trying to raise it so much and we got about a 10% reduction with a different company!

As for other habits, the biggest one is eating out. We rarely if ever eat out now compared to maybe 1-2 times a week pre-pandemic. I don't think it's the prices though, it's just that every time we got to a restaurant we are underwhelmed with the service and taste. Maybe because we got a lot better at cooking during pandemic times or maybe things have generally deteriorated in the restaurant industry, who knows.

[jnw]

The restaurants are saying 25% is the standard tip now.. What a joke.  That's ridiculous.  I generously tip 15% and 20% if I REALLY like their service.. that's the max.  The employers need to pay their workers better.  Will be 30% tips expected soon, watch.

[GilesMM]

After spending time recently in countries with Real service, I am dialing our tips back to 5% basic, 10% good and 15% outstanding.

[wenchsenior]

Insurance is what has really been shocking me though. To the point that I'm wondering going forward if it's even going to be affordable at all 10 years from now.

Yeah it's crazy my homeonwer's insurance quote went up from $1250 to $1750 in one year.  I had to settle for a 5% deductible ($9400) instead of $5000 for roof and $1000 for the rest.   Now it's $850 per year -- hope I won't need to do any claims, cross fingers lol.

Yeah, and we'd had no homeowner's claims for about 20 years! And right after the monster increases, we had to file a claim, so I shudder to imagine what the premium will be next year.

[Metalcat]

In the city our groceries dropped substantially because we now buy groceries from a non-profit that collects food from grocery stores that is at it's best-before date, so we can get a week's worth of generally high end food for $40, and I just make sure to freeze or cook everything that day. Years of working in commercial kitchens made me exceptionally good at handling food inventory that needs to be used.

In Newfoundland though, food is insanely expensive, along with everything else you buy that needs to be shipped into the island, but so many other things are much, much cheaper. So it balances out.

We eat out often in Newfoundland during the fishing season, but seafood out there is so cheap compared to here in the city that we don't feel any inflation on it. $13 for a massive lobster roll just doesn't feel expensive to me. Plus tipping culture out there isn't crazy. Also, we can buy seafood straight from the dock, usually at $5/lb. I also bring enough dried legumes and spices with me for the entire summer, which usually costs about $50 from the bulk store. So that keeps food costs out there manageable as well.

Our mortgages are all variable rate, so those have jumped a lot. Our home insurance and car insurance have risen.

Other than our housing and insurance costs being higher, I can't say I've really noticed much impact from inflation. Certainly not enough to alter our behaviour.

[MrGreen]

Grocery prices are starting to fall. It's quite shocking to me that virtually every grocery isle in Walmart is full of "rollbacks." They are significant, 15-20% mostly. This is the tail end of "we raised prices because we could, and now we're dropping them back to normal-ish before a recession bites and people stop buying our products in favor of cheaper brands."

There's probably a little inflation creep in there but our base spending is still holding at 45k. We haven't stopped buying our regular things and I don't feel like our habits have changed to I'm not sure how that's happening. We even have a kid in the mix now, though she costs almost nothing right now.

[bacchi]

We're spending the same on groceries this year as last year, without any effort. Whether this is subconscious or we're riding the price wave down is unknown. We certainly aren't trying to spend less.

We are going out to eat less often. Even the local diner is 40% more yoy.

[vand]

Personally speaking, real life events that have unfolded have mattered much more to me than market returns and macro factors - 2023 has been pretty crappy for me... can't wait to see the back of it  tbh.

[Dave1442397]

Nothing changed here. We are maintaining our 30% (of gross) savings rate while paying for our daughter's college (she just started), so that's good.

We took our daughter off our health insurance and car insurance and sold her car, which saves us $330/mo plus ongoing expenses for the car. Of course, that money is being redirected to her college expenses, which are approx $2200/mo in total at the moment.

[Louise]

Yes, in a way. It's been much harder to save money than it was in the past. I find that a little bit distressing. We've had a salary decrease in addition to inflation. We have a pretty good little nest egg, but I don't like being so close to the bone every month. I have to really pay attention to our budget and we've had to make some cuts.

[Metalcat]

Personally speaking, real life events that have unfolded have mattered much more to me than market returns and macro factors - 2023 has been pretty crappy for me... can't wait to see the back of it  tbh.

I'm sorry to hear this. I've often said it's the personal risks that can kick your ass a lot harder than the market risks.

Whether financially or personally challenging, or an awful combo of both, I hope yours eases up for you.

[weebs]

To answer the original question - definitely.

I'm not happy about it, but I'm seriously considering pushing out my RE date from Q3 2025 to Q1 2028 due to the inflation we've seen over the last couple of years.  Our net worth has decreased slightly since posting our case study in 04/2022.  We bottomed out at -20% and have been clawing our way back ever since.  It could be worse, but the only reason we're close to the peak is because we're maxing out our pre-tax savings and I'm stashing just over 70% of my take home pay.  It's scary to think where we'd be if we pulled the plug in early/mid 2022.

In addition to our investment losses, our monthly expenses increased from 3K to 4K, with property taxes, insurance (home and auto) and groceries making up the bulk of the increase.  We live in a high risk area, so switching providers isn't a viable option.  We probably wouldn't switch regardless because our insurance provider is recognized as one of the best in the nation and is known for standing by their members when things actually do go bad. 

There are a couple of silver linings - we've cut back our alcohol consumption which has had a noticeable positive impact on our health.  We're debt free, so higher interest rates work in our favor and I've taken advantage of the higher rates by moving a large portion of my 'stache into low risk investments. 

[Greystache]

I'm holding more money than usual in a money market fund waiting for an opportunity to buy stocks at a reasonable price. The money market funds came mostly from the bond portion of my portfolio so I have been less affected by the recent carnage in the bond market.
I haven't really changed my spending habits. My wife does all of the grocery shopping and she is really good at it. Haven't experienced too much of a price increase there.  The other big areas of inflation, transportation and housing, have not affected us much.  We don't drive much except for the occasional epic road trip. We live in CA, so when we drive out of state it still seems like a bargain. We own our house and our property taxes are capped so we haven't experienced much of the recent housing inflation.

[BlueMR2]

Canceled all of my remaining magazine subscriptions and all but one of my club memberships.  I'm also skipping most of the video game purchases I would have made in the past environment.  Cutting back even more on our already limited going out to eat.

[dignam]

Food spend has become much higher.  And we cook almost all of our meals at home now, which was not the case three years ago.

My gf and I went to a local cafe for breakfast a couple weeks ago.  It's not even a nice place.  Two basic breakfasts of eggs, meat, and toast + one coffee was...wait for it...FORTY DOLLARS with tip.  My mind is still blown by that.  Not even a decade ago I remember grabbing the same breakfast with a buddy of mine and we'd be out the door paying no more than $15.

That said, I am counting my blessings on my housing and work situation.  There are people that have to deal with paying $1500 for a one bedroom in a mid sized Midwestern city.

[Cassie]

The past two years I have either eliminated or substituted items so that I can live on my pension and SS without using my savings. In January I started consulting part time which I was hoping to save but have had to use on various expenses such as vet bills. 

Of the 7k I have earned so far I’ve had to spend 5k. Since it depends on how many injured workers get sent to me for evaluation I can’t depend on a certain level of income monthly. I rarely eat out now and groceries have skyrocketed. I have raised my deductibles on all my insurances.   We have had to raise our condo dues 50/month and will be having a special assessment. Fortunately I carry insurance for the special assessment with a 1k deductible.  One of my little dogs has developed a host of issues so I spend 200/month just for her.

[Bee21]

Yes. But i lived through inflation years which were way worse than this, so I am still grateful that I can afford everything we need.

Groceries are more expensive,  but finally my husband gave up on his coffees and work lunches, so overall we are spending about the same on food. Eating out is ridiculously expensive so it's now a special occasion event.
We now do a big shop every second week, and just pick up the fresh stuff in between.

we were hit with the mortgage interest rate rises, so i decided to throw all the extra money on the house. It's at 6% now, so it's probably a wash. I let the investments do their things in the background and will reasess our strategy next year. Last year it was hard to see money evaporate days after invested, but at least the mortgage was reasonably priced. Not anymore.  This year i find huge satisfaction in seeing the mortgage balance go down.

I have bad days, when I find this whole year hugely depressing. We are doing all the right things and yet this FI thing seems to be harder and harder to achieve. But still, i am very grateful for this pleasant middle class existence we enjoy. That's all. The inflation in eastern Europe in the nineties was so bad, that my monthly salary was not enough to buy a winter coat. I keep reminding myself that we are nowhere near that these days. It is an inconvenience not utter despair.

[Cassie]

Bee21, your last few sentences really puts things into perspective and I will stop complaining:)). My DIL’s family lives in Poland and I know that they have gone through many tough times.

[vand]

Personally speaking, real life events that have unfolded have mattered much more to me than market returns and macro factors - 2023 has been pretty crappy for me... can't wait to see the back of it  tbh.

I'm sorry to hear this. I've often said it's the personal risks that can kick your ass a lot harder than the market risks.

Whether financially or personally challenging, or an awful combo of both, I hope yours eases up for you.

Thanks 👍
And I'm pretty sanguine about it. Life has ups and downs, and the setbacks are mainly to my chequebook, not to health or family's wellbeing otherwise, so nothing to really be too upset about.

Sadly, we see in many other parts of the world people who long wish their biggest problems were something similar.

[Metalcat]

Personally speaking, real life events that have unfolded have mattered much more to me than market returns and macro factors - 2023 has been pretty crappy for me... can't wait to see the back of it  tbh.

I'm sorry to hear this. I've often said it's the personal risks that can kick your ass a lot harder than the market risks.

Whether financially or personally challenging, or an awful combo of both, I hope yours eases up for you.

Thanks 👍
And I'm pretty sanguine about it. Life has ups and downs, and the setbacks are mainly to my chequebook, not to health or family's wellbeing otherwise, so nothing to really be too upset about.

Sadly, we see in many other parts of the world people who long wish their biggest problems were something similar.

Yeah, I've had a rough year too, but not financial. Mine has been all horrible health nightmares for me and my family. Going into this year I said to my DH "I'm not going to come out of this the same person."

Some things are more noticeable than inflation.

[weebs]

Just got our homeowner's insurance bill and it increased 40% over last year.  Ouch.

[kanga1622]

My household has a fairly average income and we will probably never FIRE. But we have a healthy savings rate. We had to dip into our medical savings this year because that has been our largest single increase. Even with a really good insurance plan the copays add up quickly with 3/4 of our household having weekly appointments currently. Other inflation related changes have been minor in comparison. Even the 30% increase in homeowner’s insurance was a minor issue.

Yet another reason I am thrilled that we have chosen live debt free so that the raises we receive have been able to keep pace with our increased expenses. Hopefully we will continue to receive larger than normal raises so we can increase savings again soon.

[FIRE 20/20]

No change.  Our spending hasn't changed very much over the past 4+ years of FIRE.  I'm not sure how we're avoiding increased inflation, but our overall spending has been remarkably steady.  We also did OMY, have a bunch of other backup plans, and ended up underspending compared to what we predicted, so we ended up in a solid enough financial position we have no reason to worry even if our spending does increase significantly.  We had planned to spend a lot more on "fun" stuff to keep us engaged after FIRE, but we found that once we didn't have to work we were pretty happy with simple things like meals at home, walking/hiking, road trips to visit family and friends, and other inexpensive entertainment.  It turns out that if you oversave (OMY) and underspend (being happy with inexpensive hobbies) things like the moderate levels of inflation we've had just don't have much of an impact. 

[Fomerly known as something]

I have no clue.  I made a massive change, moving to the San Francisco area in 2021, just before all the inflation truly kicked off.  I’m not sure what is inflation and what is just higher cost of living (outside of housing of course).  Where I notice it is fast food prices when traveling for work, I stop by because it’s fast food.  Dang with those prices I go to a cheaper sit down restaurant for the same amount of money.

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

As many others have said, groceries have gone down, but eating out is crazy expensive. We're definitely eating out less and being more selective when we do as some restaurants have only increased a few percent while some seem to have almost doubled.

[VanillaGorilla]

Nope. Housing expenses are effectively fixed, transportation solutions are extremely efficient, so fluctuations in energy prices or similar don't affect my household.

Investment strategy is same as always - 100% equities.

Groceries are up a tad, but so is income. Overall, expenses are trailing inflation and income is beating it.

One of the many perks of mustachianism is that you're relatively insensitive to economic shocks. Thank God.

[Dicey]

Not really. I still shop frugally, but I don't worry about the totals. We're FIRE, and there is plenty saved.

Just today, DH got a free stand for one of his saws via next door.  When he came home, he must have told me three times that it was "brand new". He looked it up and it's $70. He could have bought a brand-new one and it wouldn't have made a dent, but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.

We just drove to/from the Magnificent Moab Meetup in our [paid for] RV. It was 2300 miles RT. The diesel bill was probably huge, but I have no intention of adding it up. We camped for free along the way,* and didn't eat out. In my mind, it all evens out.

*The campground in Moab was not free, but we got it for 50% off on a Black Friday deal.

[coppertop]

Food spend has become much higher.  And we cook almost all of our meals at home now, which was not the case three years ago.

My gf and I went to a local cafe for breakfast a couple weeks ago.  It's not even a nice place.  Two basic breakfasts of eggs, meat, and toast + one coffee was...wait for it...FORTY DOLLARS with tip.  My mind is still blown by that.  Not even a decade ago I remember grabbing the same breakfast with a buddy of mine and we'd be out the door paying no more than $15.

That said, I am counting my blessings on my housing and work situation.  There are people that have to deal with paying $1500 for a one bedroom in a mid sized Midwestern city.

DH and I went to an Italian restaurant in late September. Vegetarian meals - he had eggplant parmesan and I had ravioli - garlic bread cost extra; and so did his side salad.  We each had one glass of wine. No dessert.  Bill was $82 including tip.  We used to get away with no more than $30-40 for a similar meal pre-Covid and inflation.  We eat at home almost all the time, but we are trying to get out together a little bit more, and the Italian dinner was to celebrate our birthdays and our anniversary, which all fall within four weeks of each other.  DH is still talking about it and lamenting the cost.  LOL. He is one of those guys who can squeeze a penny so hard Lincoln screams, so this is major tooth-gnashing territory for him.

[Purple_Crayon]

Inflation hasn't impacted our habits in any way. We may complain a tad more, but we still buy exactly what we would've anyway. I looked back and compared my first-nine-month spending for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Looks like very little change.

• From 2021 to 2022, our total spending increased by 2.8%
• From 2022 to 2023, our total spending decreased by 0.63%

From a look at our situation, inflation hasn't impacted areas where we typically consume in a meaningful way. Granted we drive very little and eat at home for the vast majority of our meals.

[Holocene]

The biggest impact is that I'm still working part-time.  I was planning to FIRE in spring 2022, but I had a good opportunity for a sabbatical and part-time work that I thought I'd enjoy.  I told myself this was largely a non-financial decision.  But the state of the world at the time played at least a small part in my decision.  That included really high inflation, stocks and bonds both performing poorly, and the start of a war in Europe with the invasion of Ukraine.  Holding onto a bit more certainty with a job was somewhat appealing.  No regrets on my decision.  I don't think I want to stay in this position long term, but I'm no longer clamoring to get away ASAP.  Depending on how things look in another 6 months, I may quit for good or try and negotiate even less hours and fully remote so I can travel more.  It's nice to have options and not have money be the leading factor in making decisions anymore.

I've tried to spend a bit more freely since I decided to work longer.  I still bike everywhere and don't really go out to eat and do mostly free hobbies.  But I've been traveling more and had some really amazing experiences.  I decided to buy a brand new EV with the $7500 tax credit (thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act) rather than get a used car.  I probably spent at least $10k more than I would've a few years ago for decent used car.  But with the used car market where it was earlier this year, I decided to splurge on the new car.

Somehow my grocery spending hasn't really increased over the last few years, even though I notice higher prices in the store and feel like I'm spending more.  I guess I'm just more likely to wait for sales or go without certain items if they feel too pricey for me.  Switching to Aldi for most of my shopping several years ago already reduced my grocery spending a lot.  Going anywhere else is a bit of a sticker shock, so I only go every few months for stuff I can't get at Aldi.  I've noticed pretty big increases in utilities, property taxes, and insurance.  But my mortgage payment is pretty low and locked at 3% so that keeps things a bit more stable.

My expenses have definitely increased in the last 2 years.  But it's a combination of inflation, irregular lumpy expenses, and consciously spending a bit more now that I have enough.  There aren't really any specific actions I've taken to directly try and beat inflation or to combat bad market returns.  But I think the recent economic conditions have affected my thinking and decisions at least to some degree.

With interest rates up, I'm earning at least 5% on my idle cash now (money markets and T bills).  Between that and rewards credit cards earning mostly 5%, that takes a bit of the sting out of the high inflation as well.

[Arbitrage]

As many others have said, groceries have gone down, but eating out is crazy expensive. We're definitely eating out less and being more selective when we do as some restaurants have only increased a few percent while some seem to have almost doubled.

Agreed.  We already do what we can on groceries by cross-shopping, bulk-shopping, being flexible, etc.  Beyond a massive change in our diets, there's not a great deal we can do to save much more there.  Don't like the price increases, but they are what they are.

Eating out, though?  It's insane how expensive that has become, with a few exceptions.  In some ways, it's good for us; we're even less likely to grab some fast food when feeling lazy, but sheesh.  We're lucky that our kids don't really like most restaurant food.

[By the River]

Babylon Bee has "Terrifying Haunted House Just Displays Current Gas and Grocery Prices Along Dark, Creepy Hallways".   Reminded me of this thread.

[SomedayStache]

After spending time recently in countries with Real service, I am dialing our tips back to 5% basic, 10% good and 15% outstanding.

You should stop eating at restaurant's where servers rely on tips to survive.

I think that tipping should be done away with and all employees paid a real wage. But unless that happens then tipping 5% in the USA is a real jerk move.

[Cawl]

Not really though dinners at the grocery store seem to be going up.

[jnw]

Not really though dinners at the grocery store seem to be going up.

Make stuff from scratch?  There's a sell on 10lb rolls of 80/20 ground beef for $3.09 here.  Boneless Skinless chicken breast for $1.29 /lb.  Drumsticks for 60 cents per pound.  Pork butt for $1.58/lb.  Pork loin at $1.78/lb.    When there are sell on meats I stock up the chest freezer. Makes meals affordable.  I portion all the meat into 7 to 8 oz portions.. and freeze -- meals for two.

[Cawl]

Not really though dinners at the grocery store seem to be going up.

Make stuff from scratch?  There's a sell on 10lb rolls of 80/20 ground beef for $3.09 here.  Boneless Skinless chicken breast for $1.29 /lb.  Drumsticks for 60 cents per pound.  Pork butt for $1.58/lb.  Pork loin at $1.78/lb.    When there are sell on meats I stock up the chest freezer. Makes meals affordable.  I portion all the meat into 7 to 8 oz portions.. and freeze -- meals for two.

I go to work with two meals (breakfast and lunch). Go to the gym after work. Home is in the opposite direction.

I could fit in some fruit or vegetables for dinner but sometimes a person gets really hungry.

[Ron Scott]

As many others have said, groceries have gone down, but eating out is crazy expensive. We're definitely eating out less and being more selective when we do as some restaurants have only increased a few percent while some seem to have almost doubled.

Agreed.  We already do what we can on groceries by cross-shopping, bulk-shopping, being flexible, etc.  Beyond a massive change in our diets, there's not a great deal we can do to save much more there.  Don't like the price increases, but they are what they are.

Eating out, though?  It's insane how expensive that has become, with a few exceptions.  In some ways, it's good for us; we're even less likely to grab some fast food when feeling lazy, but sheesh.  We're lucky that our kids don't really like most restaurant food.

I have felt for many years that dining out is more about the event and socializing than a meal. My wife and I aren’t big fans of it mostly because restaurant food is so badly prepared…salt and butter and mystery sauces. Fancy, expensive places are actually the worst! We are mediocre cooks at best but we can easily do better!

We do have a few places we like that make a real effort to avoid converting fine ingredients into junk food, but sometimes we just have to go along with friends’ requests.

The prices are what they are. We will never see dining as a favored activity, but we pay what we have to and move on. I can’t let it be about pinching pennies.

[Metalcat]

As many others have said, groceries have gone down, but eating out is crazy expensive. We're definitely eating out less and being more selective when we do as some restaurants have only increased a few percent while some seem to have almost doubled.

Agreed.  We already do what we can on groceries by cross-shopping, bulk-shopping, being flexible, etc.  Beyond a massive change in our diets, there's not a great deal we can do to save much more there.  Don't like the price increases, but they are what they are.

Eating out, though?  It's insane how expensive that has become, with a few exceptions.  In some ways, it's good for us; we're even less likely to grab some fast food when feeling lazy, but sheesh.  We're lucky that our kids don't really like most restaurant food.

I have felt for many years that dining out is more about the event and socializing than a meal. My wife and I aren’t big fans of it mostly because restaurant food is so badly prepared…salt and butter and mystery sauces. Fancy, expensive places are actually the worst! We are mediocre cooks at best but we can easily do better!

We do have a few places we like that make a real effort to avoid converting fine ingredients into junk food, but sometimes we just have to go along with friends’ requests.

The prices are what they are. We will never see dining as a favored activity, but we pay what we have to and move on. I can’t let it be about pinching pennies.

Salt, butter and mystery sauces is a spot on description of the direction fine dining has gone.

Before I found MMM and went from being a broke student to making a lot of money basically overnight, DH and I started dating and went out to A LOT of nice restaurants, because I guess that's what you do when you are dating in middle age and have money.

It got SO boring. I swear no matter where we went we had essentially the same damn meal over and over again. All just different shades of brown sauces and artfully arranged vegetables soggy with butter. And these are very well reviewed restaurants. It's not that the food is bad, necessarily, it's just all the same, and not really my style.

It doesn't help that the service in our city has always been mediocre, so we pay an enormous premium just to hope that the server isn't awkward or rude.

There are a couple of nice restaurants that are just do beautiful and the service is good, and I'll happily go to them, for the spectacle, a few times a year, especially with friends.

Otherwise, it's easy not to really want to go out for fine/trendy dining in my city. Hole in the wall casual ethnic restaurants though?? They make a lot of stuff that I can't/won't make at home, but many of those are takeout. And that's all about the food, not the spectacle.

There's a pop-up Indian and Korean kitchen that operates out of a Bagel shop at night, and if DH is out with his buddy, he'll pop in there and pick up some amazing treats. He's told me that for this one thing, I'm not allowed to ask about the price, I've ordered to just enjoy the treats. Lol.

[Dicey]

In the space if a week, our incredibly affordable insurance provider announced they're leaving the state next year, and our Healthcare is going up by $400/month. Yeeks! I'm sure it's going to be a bumpy ride.