Sticker Shock

3552 Views 41 Replies 31 Participants Last post by frugalfoster, Aug 11, 2011

nuisance26

Discussion Starter · Jul 25, 2011

~Every time I go out now I have to fight to keep myself from freaking out.
This weekend we took our 6 and 8 year old to their first ever movie at the theater. $33 for two adults and two children at the matinee. :ack: I hadn't been to the theater since December 2005. I think tickets were $6.50 then.
I never buy snacks but we had free popcorn coupons and I wanted my kids to have a special memory so I stood in line to redeem my coupons. I watched 30+ people move through the lines paying $4-9 for popcorn and $4-6 for drinks. I think my eyes were as big as dinner plates by that point.
I also took my 6 yo to the beach over the weekend. There are still a few free beaches so we went to one of those. But gas cost $12. Sunscreen was $2 higher this year too. We stopped for an ice cream cone on the way home. Prices have gone up! $6 for two small soft-serve cones. :thud: And this wasn't an ice cream stand at the shore, so it wasn't tourist trap inflation.
I feel so ooooooooold. I'm already griping about how bread used to be $.39 at Aldi. What's it gonna be like 30 years from now? I'm trying to take a positive attitude, like I've resigned myself to paying $2.50 a pound for meat now and I'm ok with that. When it goes less than that I do a double-take and a happy dance but I don't expect or often see sales like that anymore. I'm more diligent than ever about getting good deals.
It just seems like every time I try to buy something I haven't picked up in a while I get depressed. *sigh* ~

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nuisance26

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 26, 2011

Palooka said:
I really wanted to take my son to see Cars2. Until I did the math on the matinee for our family. :ack: I'm still thinking about it though...

~That's what we went to see. DH an I loved it. Ds thought it was great but I think dd was too young for the plot. Seems to be more for 8+.
We went to the noon showing and paid $8 for each of the kids and $8.50 for us.
I took it out of vacation money since we aren't taking a real vacation this year.
Expensive but since it was their first time I think it was worth it. But they won't be going to see anything again for about 5 years. :lol:

sinopa27 said:
Is it dishonest to brink your own drink and candy??

~If they post signs saying not to then yes, it's wrong. My theater used to have signs up years ago but I didn't see any when I went this weekend.
I still wouldn't take anything in because I don't like to eat at the movies. I'd take in a water bottle though and I've done that before. ~

sinopa27 said:
I have a question about Aldi's. The brands in that store are not familiar to me. I am kinda hesitant cause I am not sure if it will be good or not and then I lose money. Are those brands good like the name brands that are most popular and costly?

~Aldi products are very good! And you won't lose any money by trying anything they sell. They offer a satisfaction guarantee on everything they sell. Just return the product if you don't like it and you'll get a refund.

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nuisance26

Discussion Starter · #29 · Jul 26, 2011

~Going to the movies used to be something that even the poor could afford on a frequent basis.
In the hey-dey of movie glamour, 1955-ish, the average hourly wage in the US was $2.14. A gallon of gas cost $.28. A movie ticket cost $.52.
So you could work for 15 minutes at your job and enjoy 2 hours of entertainment at the theater.
Now the average worker makes $22 an hour(somebody send that memo to DH's review team!)so they work 30 minutes for 2 hours of entertainment.
My hubby had to work for 3 hours to pay for a 2 hour movie for the 4 of us. No wonder we never go. That's just stupid.

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nuisance26

Discussion Starter · #39 · Jul 27, 2011

McD said:
Have you signed up for living social? Twice now we were able to score two tickets for 9 dollars.

~Yes, no deals for tickets in my area yet.

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