Sunday, March 27, 2011

The rising cost of living...


According to this story from ABC News, food prices are up a staggering 29 percent worldwide. The heat wave in Russia and flooding in Australia have sent wheat prices soaring 67 percent over last year. And here in the United States, floods followed by droughts in the Midwest mean corn prices jumped nearly 60 percent in one year. Add to that the recent events in Japan, and, well, you get the picture.

And it's not just food: the cost of cotton is now at a 15-year high. As the price-per-pound ticks upward, so does the cost of your spring wardrobe. Meaning: the cost of your average T-shirt is liable to increase by $2, while a pair of Levi's 501 Jeans is expected to jump as much as $4.

I've certainly noticed higher grocery - and Target - bills. It might sound trivial, but one of the first things that caught my eye was the price of cat food. Our cats favorite canned brand (Fancy Feast) used to be 47-cents a can just a couple of months ago. It's now 67-cents a can. And that's the Target price; at my local grocery store, it's a whopping $1.09 a can!

How about you, dear readers? Have you noticed the cost of just about EVERYTHING going up? How are you adapting, and are you needing to scale back in certain places to make up for increasing costs?

2 comments:

charcoal and lime said...

Yup, I have a Super Target and I make a roast chicken almost every week. I went this week and the price was $6.99...it is normally $4.62. Also just in general everything is just a little more. Yuck!

DamnCuteBunny said...

Yeah, I just had to buy some emergency Fancy Feast at Safeway and it was $.75 a can with the discount, up .25 since the last time I bought it, maybe November of last year.