Increased cost of Food, Goods, and Gas...How are you coping?

[Only Me]

My gas to go to the store cost me $2.25 agallon, I got 3 gallons, the cheapest around here. I paid $4.12 for a gallon of milk. I paid $ 1.82 for CHEAP and FATTY ground beef. I got two pounds. I spent $1.79 for a pack of buns, and 1.27 for ONE tomatoe. Minimum wage hear is about $5.45 an hour.

To feed Four People ONE Not well rounded meal.
$6.75 GAS
$4.12 milk
$3.64 meat
$1.79 buns
$1.27 tomatoe
$1.49 chips
________________
$ 19.06 Excluding Tax
and I still need more gas.


People can't afford to live...they can't afford healthcare and the
sure can't afford to die.


How are you coping with George W. Bush's Economy?

[Streetdoc270]

1. badly....

hard making ends meet with the increase in gas, plus local taxes are going up...

[gauguin57]

2. not driving anywhere ...

... went on Weight Watchers (should reduce my food bill!) ... mending clothes instead of buying new ...

[mountainvue]

3. Since I own a business,

a lot of the costs are being passed on to my clients.:(

[vetwife]

5. I am keeping up two familes...three actually and hubby fixed income

I am ready to pull my hair out ! My husband is a disabled Veteran.
we adoptd our three grandkids when my son lost his business and his wife ran off with about 4 different men, he couldn't find the kids and he lost most of his mind during that time..The kids were taken by the state and he signed the papers for us to adopt when the Mother lost her rights. He is now caring for my blind 81 year old Father and we take care of them as well and I just buried my Mother.
Two of the kids have phyical problems. Juvenile Diabetes and the other cleft pallet. No social security, except my husband's. & Va Pension.. Anyone want to buy my Take it back CD. I am actively working to oust Bush ! We don't get foodstamps and my son gets nothing for taking care of my Dad. This is one sorry state of affairs. Ousting Bush has become one of my full time jobs.

http://cafeshops.com/focusgroupnow.9200633

[Only Me]

12. We have shared goals, ousting Bush in November. n/t

[DAGDA56]

4. As a single person, lactose intolerant, who drives a little car...

...that gets 30 miles to the gallon, I STILL have found it harder to make ends meet in May than it was during the Christmas Holidays. Something is very, very wrong. I work in a State Welfare Office, and business is booming.

[fairfaxvadem]

6. basically the same here.

I thought I was just "overspending" at the grocery store but the price of everything has gone up hugely.

I love milk and have to have my cereal every morning but I am going to have to cut back on other things.

I've noticed that I don't seem to have as much disposable income as I used to, and while I have a few extra bills, it's just overall a lot worse than 6 months ago. My only saving grace is that my company's insurance just kicked in and I don't have to pay for my own from now on. That was really expensive. But had to wait 90 days for coverage, at least my healthcare premium is now 100% employer paid, at least until they can't afford to that anymore.

[Digger]

7. It's tough.

I'm retired, on a fixed income and things keep getting worse. If we lose in November I'm afraid to think of how bad it could get. My wife and I barely survive on my tiny income now; if it gets much worse...we're screwed.

I'll never understand how any middle or low income American could vote for Bush. Don't they realize he is the one who is screwing them?

[Only Me]

11. Over the winter I saw the most pitiful family

Everyone of them small child included look like they had it hard, extremely hard. They got in an OLD beat up truck loaded practically to the ground with firewood, and on the very bottom of the bumper was an old Bush sticker. I honestly can't figure the logic there.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

8. Imagine how the elderly are doing now

It breaks my heart. Food, gas and medication have gone through the roof.

[theoceansnerves]

9. the price of food

has really gone up. i only buy for myself, normally $20 a week would get me by, last week i paid $30 and some change.

[Only Me]

16. The trucking business is really being hit hard, my grocery ...

stores assistant manager said that the cost of getting stock in was adding to the increase to the customer.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. DOA put it best:

I want a war,
between the rich and the poor.
I wanna fight and know what I'm fighting for.
In a class war

[pop goes the weasel]

13. except for gas, not too bad

I live extremely frugally to begin with, have a garden on the brink of productivity, and live in a farm community--what doesn't get bought by the grocery business gets sold at the farmer's market. If I only had goats and chickens, I'd be set. But I need to fence the yard away from the garden for that, which would be another expense. The way things are going I will do that next year.

The gas is a significant problem, though. To live out here where I can keep my other costs down, I have to commute quite a ways to work. For a lot of people, they are about at the break even point on commuting to work. Gas goes up any higher, and they will have to quit their jobs. I might be among those folks within a couple more months at this rate. I don't really know what I will do when that time comes.

Still, there could be something good squeezed out of this in the long run. I have found that, if I am not able to purchase what I need along my daily commute, that I will buy it in my small town. Talking to other folks, especially those who don't make the commute, it seems that spending the extra money for what is available locally, even if it is a narrow selection, is making more and more sense.

I think if these high gas prices continue, we may end up creating something new that we like. But the trip there is going to be very expensive, long, and unpleasant.

[Only Me]

17. I live kind of out too, I try to make the most of my trips out when I can.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. Drinking.

I've made a conscious decision to go on an alcohol-based diet.

[the_real_38]

15. Eating beef is a destructive act...

... it wastes resources like oil, land , and grain to produce, industrial beef production is brutal to the animals during their short lives, and you could get Mad Cow disease - you could eat cheaper food, and you could probably ride a bike or walk to the store.

Adapt or die.

[Only Me]

20. I appreciate you opinion. I was a Vegetarian for 9 years , and

I do limit my meat intake for humanitarian reasons. I also have a garden and 7 laying hens. I usually get my beef from a local farmer, one beef does my family of four the entire year. But he died and his family is fighting over who gets what. So I am buying from the supermarket til I find someone else. And as far a riding a bike or walking, I live in RURAL america. I am about 17 miles from my nearest small grocery, and about 30 miles from a cost saving grocery store. One way.

By the way, my degree is in Environment Science, Land Management. The biggest determent for the use of beef is cruelty to the animal. But your statement about the waste of resources by the beef industry, including the small farm, is not a totally accurate statement. It can be properly managed and be an asset to the economy and to the environment if done properly.
Farming, a necessity, was also very hard on the land for years. But better methods that have been developed over the years have changed that.

[Peak_Oil]

18. Sold out of stocks, bought commodities and TIPS

Stocks suck and will for a while. Inflation is eating cash for breakfast, commodities are rallying. Might see a dip in commodities in the fall, but this winter should see commodities roar.

Load up on supplies this fall.

[Only Me]

21. Sugar has gone up, do you think Coffee will go up too?

[SmileyBoy]

19. This week's shopping: 3 1/2 bags of groceries for over $109.

And this was a lean shopping week for my family. We didn't need half of the stuff on our list.

[BiggJawn]

22. Just waiting to re-live the 80's again...

I don't think it's gonna get that dire, like I don't see myself calling in sick a coupla times a month because I can't afford the gas to get to work , or eating fatty gut-filler shit again...

I'm glad it's just me. I'd hate to be raising a family again in this Enronomy...

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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[Lorien]

24. Just eating salads, pasta

and nuts for protein. Still driving my ten year old car (but as little as possible). Let the yard go to seed-who cares if it's hideous? Deeply in debt after six months of unemployment in 2001. And to think I had a six figure income during the Clinton years! Those days are long gone. :-(