I hope this won't be the norm. Shadow Ridge went up drastically again. I understand they are doing an update, but this cannot continue.
I consider anything over 8% as a drastic increase. When the fees are already $2,000 on Shadow Ridge, another $160 is significant. The talking heads keep saying the economy is getting better, but we all know as timeshare owners that costs to run resorts have increased dramatically.
Groceries (nothing to do with timeshare) have gone up significantly. I buy a couple of chuck roasts a month, and I used to get some great deals at Costco, because the beef is just better, but I walked right on by a few days ago, when I saw the price. I make two different meals with those roasts, beef stroganoff and pot roast. Rick's favorite two meals. I think it's ground beef for a while, and even that is expensive, unless you hit a sale. Our local Safeway and Kroger (King Soopers) have sales often enough that I buy it in large quantities and freeze it.
Chicken is something that is also a good deal on sale. My stepdad doesn't like chicken at all, nor will he eat fish. He eats with us every night that we are home and not out of town. When we have chicken, he gets leftovers. He apologizes for not eating chicken but it works out okay. We never throw out food, which helps the food budget. If we have leftovers we know we won't be able to eat, we send them home with him. He is going on 90 now, and I wish his daughters in Georgia would take more responsibility for his health and welfare, but they do not. I actually don't know what they can do.
Before Covid, we went out to dinner twice a week. Now it's more like once a month, which is a huge savings and probably balances out the higher cost of meat. On vacation, we cook a lot of meals. After all, what's that kitchen for? If timeshares all had crockpots, we would cook even more. Breakfast is always in the unit.
The kitchen makes the timeshare worthy of the cost. Hotels have everything one needs, except that kitchen.
) to break that calculus.
