Minis On The Edge Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Gas prices around here are at $3.71 per gallon, food costs has risen too. How is all of this affecting you? How are these prices changing your life? Is it cramping your miniature shopping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathi17 Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 It is definitely cramping my style. I always relied on sales of my stuff in the summer to help support us in the winter, as well as to help buy new minis, but last year was awful, and this winter practically killed us. I haven't bought anything for almost a year. The worst part is that everyone on this island depends on tourists to make money to get them through the winter, but being on an island, people weren't coming last year, and I expect it to be even worse this year. We are also almost completely dependent on lobster fishing for or economy, and lobsters aren't selling, and the price is half as much per pound as it was last year. Then the government insisted on changing all the rules for the lobstermen which costed them about $15,000 and up each to comply with the rules. With the price of everything, especially diesel fuel being up and making half as much money, no islanders can afford to buy from the businesses. It's really scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uppitycats Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Yes. I'm particularly cutting back on charitable giving, "discretionary spending" (which includes dollhouse stuff), and doing a more careful thinking about trips, even those local trips to town. We have a reasonable "cushion", but if the economy keeps tanking, that's going to disappear at a rate that is much greater than I'm comfortable with. Bummer, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 We had our "sticker shock" when we retired, and have stopped dropping money into the outstretched hands of all the charities. We are also trying to pay off our big-ticket goodies and it looks like we are finally going back to being a one-vehicle family again, since I rarely drive any more (my reflexes aren't as good as they were). Because of the way we always grocery-shopped & our diet, and the way I cook, grocery prices are affecting us only marginally, and we have been expecting the gas price increases for some time, so that's budgeted. I feel sorry for the younger families in danger of losing their homes because they can no longer afford their "variable-rate" housing loan payments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesterfieldzoo Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 We need a president who cares more about the people than how rich he is getting off his oil wells. The high gas prices affect everyone on down the line. I am not buying new plants for the garden - I use perennial exchanges and seeds. I cook more at home. We car pool as much as we can. I do my shopping while driving for work (going past the store - may as well stop instead of going back later) I stopped the charitable contributions but still do one that is close to my heart, no cash is involved with it. I haven't been buying minis as much as I have been building all winter on home and work construction projects and I need the extra money for them. I feel bad for the families with small children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anya Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Yes Tracy it's the same over here in the UK. Food prices have gone up especially, it's ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I would not say we are growing broke but the purse strings are being tightened more then before. Gas is $3.77 a gal regular (as of yesterday) in most of the stations in my area. Everything you can think of is going up in price. I hate shopping at Walmart (it is too big for my weary bones and I do not like the way they treat their employees) but I did the majority of my grocery shopping there this week. I bit the bullet. I jumped with glee when our local grocery store was selling hamburger for 99c a lb. I grabbed as many as I could afford and put them all in the deep freezer. Cooking more then I usually do instead of buying prepackaged or getting take out. Not going to the movies. Not shopping at AC Moore. Not doing much of anything. My Spring Fling consists of things I had already around the house and the kindness of friends. That is how we are doing. I wanted to tell you all about a food program my friend told me about. She does it and I am going to do it next month. Angel Food Ministries. You pay for a base package of food (they have a menu listed) for $30.00. Then they have other packages you can order along with the base package. They range from $15.00-$20.00. You go to the place in your area that is having this (they list all the places in the country) and order and pay. Then you go back at end of the month and pick up your order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bea Killion Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 We are down to one car. Food prices are crazy. I bought 2 oranges at Walmart for .54 each and when I peeled them one was black on the inside. Green peppers are .82 each at wallmart and1.25 at Krogers. This is getting out of control. I hate to go food shopping anymore. It's so depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyG Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I can't say it's affected us a whole lot...my husband and I were able to pay off all credit cards a couple of years ago and keep our spending to what we can pay off at the end of the month. We both have short drives to work, so the gas has not affected us much...however, I don't make the 35 minute drive to Annapolis to shop like I used to. I do all my shopping in town, and luckily we have had a lot of retail expansion lately as far as the large stores..so I can get what I need easily. During the week, I go to work and home. On the weekends, I stay home and work around the house. The gas is horrendous, but not as bad as other areas. Yesterday, I bought gas for $3.41 a gallon at WaWa's. Cheapest I could find. I also bought some food items yesterday..used one of the small carts...$85.00!! Eeek!! Luckily my husband brings a large portion of our food from the club he chef's at. I eat mostly diet meals, etc..and I shop for the sales and stock up. Our rent is dirt cheap for this area since the landlord is a friend...but it's an old house and lacks in closets and has one bathroom for 3 people. Still not bad. I'd love to move to a larger house, but you can't beat $660 a month. Our area doesn't really suffer much since it's a large percentage of retirees with a LOT of money...however, jobs pay less around here than larger areas. My son, though, is hurting what with having a large work van that gobbles gas, and having to drive distances to jobs. He installs satellite systems, and is thinking of just getting a job with a local company so his paycheck every week is HIS, and not have to buy gas, pay for equipment, etc. Right now he lives with us..and there is no way he could make it on his own financially. He's in the same boat a lot of the young people are in these days. Times are tough..and I hope they don't get worse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4miniloves Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 We were in active forclosure in Feb ( we whittled our way out and are keeping the house), my husband is unemployed, we want to splurge and put gravel back in our dirt drive way... the money just has not been there. I guess that is why I make so many of my minis. My Bff and I share cooking so it feels like we get to go out. We had a car repoed in Jan, it came to the car or the house. We did get a mini van to replace it for $2000 and have no payments that has really helped. But when I started a depression era house I didn't mean contemporary!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Because the building market has pretty much busted, the neighbors who puppysit for us have been in a bad way; she finally went to work at the local filling station/ convenience store and he has begun getting jobs again, but it was bad for them for about six months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what2craftnow Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Oh my, I shouldn't even get started on this topic, but my better sense has left me (as usual) We bought a Dodge 3500 diesel in 1996 (new), and it has been a real work-horse - nearly 500,000 miles on her to date...but she really needs to be retired - NOT from age or mileage, simply the cost of diesel to run her! How ironic that diesel is a "BY-PRODUCT" of gasoline, but it is MORE expensive?? I'm almost praying that the trucker's in this country will go on strike just to bring the powers-that-be back to some sense of reality...when the "necessities" stopped being delivered, maybe it will grab someone's attention. DH paid $4.25/gal yesterday (that's $125 just to fill this tank) and with summer coming, I'm betting it will only get worse. I'd buy a cheaper vehicle if I could afford it, but that won't be happening anytime soon, so we are stuck with it for now. At least the Dodge is paid for, but it sure is costing us at the pump. As for food prices, well, thank heavens Summer is almost here...am thinking I will grow more veggies than pretty flowers. Paying 75 cents for a cucumber or $1 for a green pepper is absolutely ridiculous. Seems to me it is getting back to real basics more and more..am thinking I may start canning things too. And all these so-called candidates still think we are not IN a REAL recession, or the country is not in REAL TROUBLE? Guess you can't see the forest for the trees from Capitol Hill :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I'm not sure but I think there are 3.78 litres in a gallon? our petrol is NZ $1.89 a litre...a NZ dollar buys US.77 cents at the moment, so 1.89 = 1.47 US..3.78x1.47 = 5.56 US per gallon... There is a saying there is always someone worst off than yourself... Our food has gone up 28% in the last year, our intrest rates on houses is about 9-10% We are waiting for the downturn to start, if you ask me it's already here....... We are luckier than most, only because we did not party up when we where younger......sometimes being a bit boaring has it's rewards....it just takes a while to be a reward LOL. Lots of people are putting in vegie gardens, and the mags here are showing how to bake! I always have but it's suprising to see how to make scones for beginners, and blind stich lace on to a plain tea towel to give as a present,and that is in the HOUSE AND GARDEN a real snob mag.....(I buy it for the pictures of the nice houses). I think that things will start to be more home based, and hobbies will start to be in fashion again, watch out mini's.... The reason I say that is that if people are staying home, not out spending money at pubs, bars and cafes, they will need to do something with their hands...and people will start to get back to basis. Well that's how I see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 The price of diesel fuel is precisely why the cost of groceries has skyrocketed, and the cost of everything else. (And peppers went to $1 apiece at some of our stores several years ago) The reason the politicians can say with a straight face that we're not in a recession is because during the recession we had back in the '60s/ '70s the Fed changed the definition of "recession". Didn't you read 1984? Semantics is everything! (hopping back off soapbox) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 There was a news story about diesel runned vehicles a few weeks back. When diesel engines were first made, it was thought (and they were built) to run on peanut oil! Now fast forward to 2008...The vehicle running today on diesel..They are still the same as they were back then. You can run the car on cleaned alternative fuel sources without modifying your engine..it has already been done. I bet if you did a lil searching you would find a biofuel station in your area. Something they did a long long long time ago is actually relevent today! Who would of thunk it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what2craftnow Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Guess I've been living under a rock :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggiemae Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I only have two dollhouses ordered for Christmas, usually by now I am turning people away. So many houses are for sale here it is almost unbelievable and this is one of the few states where housing starts and sales are STABLE! It's ok though because all our federal dollars (4 BILLION $ per week) are going to the cause to spreading "democracy" around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busyone Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I'm usually really quiet, but this is a subject I had to speak on! My husband is an over the road trucker, he is gone for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. The fuel prices are killing the owners of trucking companies, my husband works for a very small company. When my husband leaves out from home, we fill it as much as we can with home foods, jugs of water etc. A gallon of water on the road has cost my husband $3.00!!!! Truckers are hurting all over this country. I would love to see the president of this country spend a week on the road.......maybe then he would have a different viewpoint!!! We live about 2 minutes from a mall. It is a beautiful mall, but, the locals don't go near the place......on weekends we see lines and lines going in there, mostly out of state. What scares me, is the price of utilities and food and fuel are going higher and higher. I can't keep track of the loads my husband's trucking company has canceled daily. The quality of the trucking is down, attitude is poor, and depression and stress are high. Very scary times and I am afraid they are going to get much worse...................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathi17 Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Hi Leslie, one trucker in Maine brought his trucks to the state house for the repossessors to take, so it would be covered on the news. One of the truckers there said that we used to live the American dream, but now it's turned into the American nightmare. In our state capital they raised gas (including diesel) taxes back when the price of gas started to go up because they said that with higher fuel prices they could get even more money for the state by raising the taxes. What part of inflation caused by higher fuel prices don't they understand??? When I had pneumonia a few weeks ago, the hospital kept sending me home from the emergency room because I didn't have insurance. They told me I was too sick to go home, because we are so far from a hospital, and I should stay in a motel in Ellsworth so I would be near an emergency room. I was so sick that my husband had to wheel me in a wheelchair, because I couldn't take more than a few steps without collapsing. By the time they finally admitted me because I was being so vocal and disrupting the emergency room by insisting that they admit me, I was very very sick. There is something very wrong with this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 something very wrong with this countryWhatever do you mean? Just because no one can afford to run for public office unless they have more money than God, and therefore have no clue what it's like for most Americans living from paycheck to paycheck, but go merrily sending our kids off to the Middle East to fight for... oops, almost said it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I worry about Chelsea not having health insurance. We are pushing her (very hard I might add) to take a job at the hospital that Fred works at. She would only have to work 20 hrs and she would be eligible for insurance. I am going to take her out next month to buy clothes for work. I am also pushing her (very hard again) to go to the local Community health agency. They have sliding fee scale for office visits and prescriptions and they can help her fill out the paperwork for state medical assistance until she gets her own benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anns folly Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Things are starting to kick of over here in U.K. due to the high cost of gas. We are now paying around £5 a gallon which is over $9 .....yes I did say $9 a gallon so you can imagin the effect it is having on everything, food bills have gone through the roof. We are lucky that a seniors we get free travel on all bus journeys in England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Gas here is now $3.95 a gallon, milk is 3.50 a half gallon, canola oil in our local store today? A quart for $6.95! Food prices are out of sight here now....and we see that Seeley Lake is going to be a ghost town very soon. Lots of people live here but work in Missoula 65 miles away one way. I couldn't afford to work in Missoula anymore! I'm glad I'm retired. But we too are seeing big increases. It cost us $350.00 to fill the propane tank this morning! We are considering now buying a pellet stove and retiring our propane stove in the living room. We use it all winter to heat the house, but at the cost of propane, I don't think we will be able to afford that this year. Gas, food, heating - all costs are rising very very fast. This sounds like another "great depression." If this is the case, those people born after the last one have a huge surprize ahead of them. Plan now. Stock up as much as you can. If we do have another "great depression" things will not be pleasant. Read the Grapes of Wrath or watch the old movie. It is so true of what happened. Project the book or movie forward to today and try to figure out how everyone will cope. Sad but true..... We only go to the post office/grocery store once a week now. We only go to Missoula when we absolutely have to for dr appointments etc. It runs us about $25.00 a trip round trip to and from Missoula. We have been quite sick Doug and I, and we have been having many trips which has been extremely costly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathi17 Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Whatever do you mean? Just because no one can afford to run for public office unless they have more money than God, and therefore have no clue what it's like for most Americans living from paycheck to paycheck, but go merrily sending our kids off to the Middle East to fight for... oops, almost said it... I've always said that noone should be allowed to run for office unless they make less than $50,000 per year. That would be more than most of us make, but at least it would be low enough so they wouldn't be able to live too extravagent a life. At that payscale, everyone running for office should have equal press time, provided free of charge as a public service, maybe only debates, or questions from voters, and have them aired on TV and radio, as well as a set number of ads in papers and on TV and radio. If a politician is found to have accepted money from any special interests or lobbyists, he would be impeached instantly, or, if not yet elected, then out of the race. Also, noone who earns less than $50,000 should have to pay income taxes. With the extra money in all of those people's paychecks, they would be able to afford extras once in a while, prescription drugs, doctors appointments, housing and maybe to eat out once a week. The money they spend would stimulate the economy, employ people, keep businesses going, and more people would be able to start businesses. After $50,000, then there should be a sliding scale flat tax for income tax. (We have billionaire summer people here who really do pay less taxes than we do). Every year, the amount to pay taxes should be adjusted for inflation. Also, just imagine, if we could keep our paychecks, we would be able to work over time and actually be able to get paid for it and use it for vacations or things we want or need instead of the government taking it all. I know, those are just pipe dreams, but there are countries which do this, and their people are better off. Small business and what used to be the middle class are the backbones of any countries, only we don't have a middle class any more, and small businesses here are dropping like flies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellandmelissa Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 I feel strange saying the following things, but thought some views from someone struggling may be appreciated. We are struggling. Darrell makes a little over $9 per hour and they cut his days from 5 days a week to 4 days a week. I am on public assistance and receive $555 a month and $213 in food stamps and medical for myself and my son. I also get a bus pass so that I will be able to get to school and look for work. The public assistance, food stamps, medical, and bus pass, will be stopping in June, because my son turned 18 in March and graduates in June. My son and I are both looking for work, I have given my permission (even though he is 18 and does not need it), for him to quit school and go to work if he finds some before graduation. Things are going to get a little tighter around here and all craft spending and non-necessities will stop until we are back on our feet. I have a lot of supplies on hand , so I will be able to work on minis for a while. I am very very grateful for the opportunities I was given while on aide, and the ability to be able to go to school for a while to help me develop some job skills. I am sure I will find work somewhere. I have tried to garden in the past, but our dirt is very poor, mostly clay, and my previous efforts have been disastrous. I will try again in the fall. My biggest fear is that I will be forced to ask my son to move out due to the inability to support myself, let alone support him. Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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