Is $100 a significant amount, a lot for you? A threshold?

[b2bailey]

They won then. Live there as long as they can then walk away.

Yes, I understand that point of view.
But, where do they walk away to?
I live in a town where you would be fortunate to find a studio.for $2000 per month

 

[Tia]

I understand that restaurants in the USA cost more because of labor and insurance. What I don't understand is that restaurants and services in Cabo cost the same as the USA but I was told by the local cab driver that service employees only get paid $20/day. Someone is making a fat profit.$32

I noticed when you buy a lobster live from where the lobstermen bring them in prices started at $8 each for their 1lb size and up, a pound of picked lobster meat there was $50. I wish I'd taken a picture of the price board .

Going out to eat was much more for a lobster listed as Market everywhere. A lobster roll $32 , lobster club sandwich $45, or the lazy lobster in the 2 pictures above . A big middle man difference .

 

[rapmarks]

All this talk of lobster
I am having lunch with book club Wednesday
The restaurant has a lobster roll and lobster bisque for $30
It the real question is, will it be any good in central Wisconsin?

 

[Brett]

All this talk of lobster
I am having lunch with book club Wednesday
The restaurant has a lobster roll and lobster bisque for $30
It the real question is, will it be any good in central Wisconsin?

According to some posters here, no
Might be imitation lobster ......... enjoy your lunch

 

[Timeshare Von]

I guess my answer would be "it depends."

For lunch (or any meal for that matter) $100 is a number I benchmark off . . . but lately dinners are more and more hitting that for the 2 of us at a nice place. ALTHOUGH . . . for breakfast, it seems $50 is becoming a new normal for two. YIKES . . . so we've stopped eating out for breakfast, unless we have no other reasonable options.

Vacationing . . . and tours, etc. the number is $500 for me. I'm going through that now as we finalize our plans for an upcoming week in Alaska. Fishing & tours are expensive there, so $500 for the 2 of us is really expensive in my mind.

And for airline flights . . . $1,000 for roundtrip for 2. Used to be easy to go places for $200-$300pp, but unless we are using miles, airfares have gotten stupid expensive too.

 

[Timeshare Von]

All this talk of lobster
I am having lunch with book club Wednesday
The restaurant has a lobster roll and lobster bisque for $30
It the real question is, will it be any good in central Wisconsin?

Great question. For us, living here, we don't general eat seafood anywhere in the state. (And a Friday fish fry, doesn't count, because we all know the cod or whatever they use, will be frozen.)

I'd love to know how it goes for you. And the city & restaurant name . . . for future reference of course. Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer.

 

[HitchHiker71]

A sub $100 electric bill would be nice again. I had that not all that long ago, but now that I am at home a lot more now, vs traveling, the bill has gone up considerably. We haven't been to a concert in a very long time and I don't remember what we paid when we went.

Our home is 100% electric - no gas lines - oil backup heat (dual-fuel system). We have an inground pool, home was built in 1985 and is not very energy efficient at present (next year we'll be sealing up the house and adding more insulation to the attic and outer walls). I don't think I've ever seen a sub-$100 electric bill and we moved into this home in 2008. Our average bill was around $425/month for electric last year - before we had a large solar array installed. We're saving about $250/month with the array installed, and the payment on the array is $300/month - so we're approaching breakeven and once we seal the house up next year we should be at breakeven hopefully. I should note that our usage includes an EV that we charge at home - which is actually probably our single biggest consumer of electric outside of HVAC (which we just had replaced last year with a much higher efficiency 20.5 SEER Bosch Premium heat pump unit). Our solar kw production has outproduced our kw usage since April of this year - August will be the first month where we start eating up our credit balance.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Another question is, when you go to the grocery store do you look at or are concerned with price? We know someone who isn't. They go, put stuff in their cart and pay. They don't worry about the price, they get what they want. It seems when you have a certain level of wealth, those things just aren't as important. What is the difference between a $300 shopping trip vs $400.

Since we're shopping for just the two of us now, I don't tend to watch the grocery bill like a hawk - but I would say I'm more conscious of what we're spending since our overall spending on necessities has risen quite a bit over the past several years - inflation is and continues to eat away at our earnings and our monthly bills show it clearly. We're probably spending about 20-30% more on necessities - which we're using less of these days actually - than just a few years ago - while our incomes have not increased anywhere close to that amount to compensate. We had, fortunately, a fair amount of disposable income already, but we have much less of it now - so less "cushion" so to speak - which makes me nervous on some level - hence why I'm more watchful now than I was a few years ago at least. We are also more coupon/special conscious now than in recent memory - every little bit we can save adds up over time - especially given our disposable income has decreased over the past several years as prices on most necessities have risen substantially - including energy (both electric and gasoline) - food - services - etc. For example, in 2017 I had our garage door serviced - all parts replaced outside of the garage door opener and the door itself - so the wound spring - rollers - all bolts/latches - etc. - for around $600. Sunday the spring finally snapped - and the cost of the very same replacements from the same vendor - whom we've always used - was $1250 - more than double the price from roughly nine years ago now. I'm not making anywhere close to twice my income from 2017 in comparison though.

 

[Timeshare Von]

Regarding groceries, because my hubby does 95% of the cooking here, he does all of the grocery shopping. He's very mindful of prices and shops deals and coupons a lot. When I am forced to do my own shopping at a grocery store (like last month while in New York), I face significant sticker shock and if I allowed it to bother me, I wouldn't buy anything. LOL

 

[clifffaith]

I guess my answer would be "it depends."

For lunch (or any meal for that matter) $100 is a number I benchmark off . . . but lately dinners are more and more hitting that for the 2 of us at a nice place. ALTHOUGH . . . for breakfast, it seems $50 is becoming a new normal for two. YIKES . . . so we've stopped eating out for breakfast, unless we have no other reasonable options.

Vacationing . . . and tours, etc. the number is $500 for me. I'm going through that now as we finalize our plans for an upcoming week in Alaska. Fishing & tours are expensive there, so $500 for the 2 of us is really expensive in my mind.

And for airline flights . . . $1,000 for roundtrip for 2. Used to be easy to go places for $200-$300pp, but unless we are using miles, airfares have gotten stupid expensive too.

$50 breakfast frosts my behind! We have a breakfast/lunch place nearby that has a terrific Monte Cristo sandwich. I get that with home fries, Cliff gets pancakes, bacon and eggs. Add two cups of coffee, tax and tip, there’s $50. What makes it slightly more palatable is that we take half home for the next day, but still! We haven’t made it there yet this year. And combine regularly leaving about $100 pre-paid/no-refunds on the books every month in Reata Glen dining points, we probably won’t go out for breakfast anytime soon.

 

[Elan]

Regarding groceries, because my hubby does 95% of the cooking here, he does all of the grocery shopping. He's very mindful of prices and shops deals and coupons a lot. When I am forced to do my own shopping at a grocery store (like last month while in New York), I face significant sticker shock and if I allowed it to bother me, I wouldn't buy anything. LOL

My way to overcome this is to remind myself that groceries allow for homemade meals that are probably 20% (or less) of the cost of the equivalent meal out.

 

[dioxide45]

My way to overcome this is to remind myself that groceries allow for homemade meals that are probably 20% (or less) than the cost of the equivalent meal out.

I was shopping over the weekend and noticed if you continue to shop the perimeter of the story, fresh foods, produce, meats, dairy, eggs, that prices aren't up as much as we are led to believe. 8oz blocks of cheese are the same price at Aldi today as they were 10 years ago. I can get fresh chicken breast for $1.99/lb. Legs, quarters, thighs are 99 cents a pound. Chicken wings even seem to be reasonable as does pork. The one exception is certainly beef and there are a lot of factors at play causing increased beef prices.

Now when I shop the aisles, soda, snack items and other processed food is way up. So while inflation certainly stings, if one can cook fresh meals mostly from scratch you don't have to spend that much more than 10 years ago.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I was shopping over the weekend and noticed if you continue to shop the perimeter of the story, fresh foods, produce, meats, dairy, eggs, that prices aren't up as much as we are led to believe. 8oz blocks of cheese are the same price at Aldi today as they were 10 years ago. I can get fresh chicken breast for $1.99/lb. Legs, quarters, thighs are 99 cents a pound. Chicken wings even seem to be reasonable as does pork. The one exception is certainly beef and there are a lot of factors at play causing increased beef prices.

Now when I shop the aisles, soda, snack items and other processed food is way up. So while inflation certainly stings, if one can cook fresh meals mostly from scratch you don't have to spend that much more than 10 years ago.

Yes this is true - and why we're eating more white meats than red meats these days - in addition to the health benefits - and we only buy red meats on sale these days as well - unless it's a special occasion - and even then most of the time we buy it when it's on sale and keep it in our garage freezer for special occasions. We have been eating more pork as well because it's less expensive. For recipes that call for ground beef, we've mostly switched to ground chicken or turkey instead - much better for us overall and since ground beef has gone up so much. Still, we do enjoy a good steak or beef burger now and again!

 

[chapjim]

Cool
I suppose finding a $100 dollar bill feels more significant than getting a $100 discount when buying a car or house

It's all about context!

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

I was shopping over the weekend and noticed if you continue to shop the perimeter of the story, fresh foods, produce, meats, dairy, eggs, that prices aren't up as much as we are led to believe. 8oz blocks of cheese are the same price at Aldi today as they were 10 years ago. I can get fresh chicken breast for $1.99/lb. Legs, quarters, thighs are 99 cents a pound. Chicken wings even seem to be reasonable as does pork. The one exception is certainly beef and there are a lot of factors at play causing increased beef prices.

Now when I shop the aisles, soda, snack items and other processed food is way up. So while inflation certainly stings, if one can cook fresh meals mostly from scratch you don't have to spend that much more than 10 years ago.

Red meat has more than doubled in just the last 2-5 years....... it is quite amazing the cost increases.

That being said, I haven't seen $1.99 chicken breast.....nor 8 oz blocks of cheese the same price as 10 years ago......

 

[dioxide45]

Red meat has more than doubled in just the last 2-5 years....... it is quite amazing the cost increases.

That being said, I haven't seen $1.99 chicken breast.....nor 8 oz blocks of cheese the same price as 10 years ago......

Cheese is still $1.75 for 8oz at Aldi, The cheapest I ever remember it prior to now is $1.79 and that is a long time ago. I suppose chicken was on sale over the weekend. But the cheapest I ever remember buying legs, thighs and quarters is perhaps 79 cents /lb on sale. That was at a store that closed 20 years ago. Eggs and milk are still very cheap, though they are heavily subsidized products.

 

[am1]

No one should forget that a $1 or $100 is not really that anymore with inflation and worse. Printing money, raising minimum wage. I have never been a fan of people fighting over minimum wage when the fight should be over productive wage. But minimum wage wage is the war cry.

 

[Bucky]

I see this thread as usual has delved into a catch all. Probably a good thing rather than so many individual threads.

I will never forget the first time we paid $15 for a Cheeseburger and fries. Had just got off a flight to LA for an overnight stay before flying to Maui. Was starved so we went into the hotel lobby and found the restaurant. Looked at the menu and about gagged when I saw the prices. Ended up ordering an over done piece of meat they called a burger. The good thing is it prepared us for sticker shock before we got to Maui. Told her I would never pay that again for a burger. That ended up being a lie as the going price in a decent restaurant can be more than that easily now.

Another recent from was yesterday. We went out looking for a new master bedroom set. The one we have is only slightly over 20 yrs old now but the boss wants something lighter. We were married in 1970 and furnished our whole townhouse including the second bedroom for around $500. A lot of money for a military family only bringing home $400 net mo income! The one place we went yesterday, not a high end shop, was almost $5000 for a king headboard, footboard, frame, 2 side tables, dresser w/o mirror and 2 chests. Talk about sticker shock. But, it didn’t really surprise us with inflation being what it is. Trying another store today but only to check styles since we know it will not be cheap but, we cannot take it with us so we will enjoy it while still here.

 

[Timeshare Von]

My way to overcome this is to remind myself that groceries allow for homemade meals that are probably 20% (or less) than the cost of the equivalent meal out.

EXCELLENT point and way to look at it.

 

[Timeshare Von]

It's all about context!

Agreed! Case in point . . . we're just wrapping up a pretty large exterior home + detached garage project (roof, gutters, siding, soffit & fascia) . . . it's costing upwards of $60k. I don't know that $55k or $65k for that matter, seems like much of a difference. Sure it's A LOT of money, but using our HELOC line of credit, it doesn't feel as real as paying $10/lb for ground beef these days.

 

[am1]

I see this thread as usual has delved into a catch all. Probably a good thing rather than so many individual threads.

I will never forget the first time we paid $15 for a Cheeseburger and fries. Had just got off a flight to LA for an overnight stay before flying to Maui. Was starved so we went into the hotel lobby and found the restaurant. Looked at the menu and about gagged when I saw the prices. Ended up ordering an over done piece of meat they called a burger. The good thing is it prepared us for sticker shock before we got to Maui. Told her I would never pay that again for a burger. That ended up being a lie as the going price in a decent restaurant can be more than that easily now.

Another recent from was yesterday. We went out looking for a new master bedroom set. The one we have is only slightly over 20 yrs old now but the boss wants something lighter. We were married in 1970 and furnished our whole townhouse including the second bedroom for around $500. A lot of money for a military family only bringing home $400 net mo income! The one place we went yesterday, not a high end shop, was almost $5000 for a king headboard, footboard, frame, 2 side tables, dresser w/o mirror and 2 chests. Talk about sticker shock. But, it didn’t really surprise us with inflation being what it is. Trying another store today but only to check styles since we know it will not be cheap but, we cannot take it with us so we will enjoy it while still here.

Hamburgers seem to be the most overpriced food item on the menu other than store bought desserts that have a little sauce or sugar put on the plate. A lot of places even a classic/original hamburger has bacon or other pork product on it. I like a build your own place where the extras are extra.

 

[dioxide45]

Hamburgers seem to be the most overpriced food item on the menu other than store bought desserts that have a little sauce or sugar put on the plate. A lot of places even a classic/original hamburger has bacon or other pork product on it. I like a build your own place where the extras are extra.

Pasta is another thing that used to be cheap on restaurant menus but is now ridiculously expensive. Pasta is cheap, most sauces are cheap. Even ones with chicken as a protein are now expensive. I gasped the last time we went to Carrabba's and their Fettuccini Carrabba was over $20.

 

[easyrider]

I understand that restaurants in the USA cost more because of labor and insurance. What I don't understand is that restaurants and services in Cabo cost the same as the USA but I was told by the local cab driver that service employees only get paid $20/day. Someone is making a fat profit.

It kind of depends where you go but most places in the tourist zones are kind of spendy because many restaurants are buying their items from Costco.

In town there are places that serve locals that are way less for food like tacos. We have friends that moved to Mexico who took us to a little hole in the wall taco joint where the tacos were cheap and the beer was cold. It was very local.

Bill

 

[easyrider]

I was asked to stop at the grocery store for mayo on the way back from fishing. Prices stated at $8.00. It kind of surprised me but it is a tourist area grocery store.

Bill

 

[mvickrey]

We're retired so income is pretty much fixed. Years ago I adopted a rule - if you're going out to eat, do not look at the right side (cost) of the menu. If you want to save money, stay home. If you go out, enjoy it! Don't worry about the cost. Still use that principle 30+ years later. Works for us.