The state of shopping continues to be...uh...challenging.
I was surprised when I went to Dollar Tree yesterday and saw that everything in the store is no longer $1.25. Apparently, it was a quiet rollout of higher prices, but seeing things that were $5 was shocking to my frugal brain. I guess they are just trying to survive in an inflationary market but Dollar Tree no longer being a dollar and the 99 Cent Stores closing completely is just sad. I'm sure this is how my grandmother felt as she watched five and dime stores close up in her day.
In other shopping news, I received the expensive backpack and while I was impressed with the quality and organizational features of the bag, I stuffed a bunch of clothes in it and wore it around the house and felt there was no way I could carry this bag for any length of time. It was big and unwieldy, so it is back to my hiking backpack I go for my future travels (it has a great hip belt and narrower profile so I can wear it for hours). I packed the bag up and sent it back to the store for a refund.
Hubby was shaking his head over the cost of the pack (it's just a bag you put stuff in! you can do that with a pillowcase!) but he doesn't understand the value of a good backpack (I tried to explain this but he loves his el cheapo Walmart backpack that he has been using for years so he thinks any backpack over $25 is unreasonable!). Then the next day I came thisclose to buying a Tumi backpack I saw at Ross (it was $315 which is a steep drop from its usual $500+ price...I could hardly believe that Ross had such a high-end bag for sale as the backpacks they sell are usually lower end) but I didn't get it because it really is just a bag you put stuff in and I could not really justify paying so much for it. Bummer.
On the house shopping front--not that we are actually shopping for a house, but we have been talking about selling our current house because it is two stories and some of our guests (and ourselves) are getting old so we want a single story house without stairs--prices are equally dismal. There is a house in our neighborhood that just came up for sale and it is a 4 bed/2 bath single story house. It is listed for $500k which, again, to my frugal brain is a ridiculous price to pay for a basic house but I guess the housing market is still all kinds of crazy so it is actually considered a good deal in a nice neighborhood. Add on top of that the increase we would pay in property tax (our tax base is super low since we bought our house at such a low price many years ago and the tax cap keeps taxes from increasing very much year over year), then add on top of that about $75k to repaint and put in all new flooring plus make any other fixes needed and...I am not so sure that buying a new house would be a good financial move. I told hubby we should just install a chairlift and be done with it!
tldr; prices on everything, everywhere are just insanely expensive :(
I can't even fathom a $500k house! The variance in cost in different markets is wild. We are considering selling our house & moving somewhere less expensive when Nick graduates from high school. Nothing in our neighborhood has sold for under $4M in the last year. Our house is a 1960s rambler & nothing to write home about. We did remodel the kitchen, and the previous owners put in a beautiful back patio, but the house has a ton of quirks. You'd hope you were getting something crazy fancy for the price we paid, but...nope. (Hawaii Planner)
ReplyDeleteI think that is the best idea--sell your house in an expensive area and use the money to pay for a house in a much cheaper area and reap the savings. Unfortunately hubby loves Las Vegas otherwise we would be out of here is a heartbeat with the proceeds from our overpriced house!
DeleteTumi I know. If you were going to use a backpack a lot, I would say get it if it will work for you. As you get older, a filled backpack might not work for you.
ReplyDeleteA chairlift would solve the problem. Better yet, look at elevators. They don't take up much room.
I would LOVE to have an elevator, unfortunately our house isn't that big. We will continue to look for a single level house but the prices ayayay
DeleteI like the chair lift idea. Not sure on what those cost..but a good idea. We used to live in a single level mobile home, moved and got one with a basement. I dont like a basement but...it was what was available at the time when we needed a home. I know the resale value will be good though when the time comes to leave. But just for the record- basements creep me out.
ReplyDeleteI agree, basements are creepy (especially my MIL's basement in her house from the 1800s eeekkk)!
DeleteI'm also sad to see the Dollar Tree increasing prices. We have one in our town, and we are also getting a Five Below. Wow at the housing prices where you are! Our small town is getting ridiculous as well when it comes to home prices. Yikes! I'd be tempted to just add the chair lift as well.
ReplyDelete