Sticker shock at grocery store

[Amanda's mom]

I find it weird that you guys over in the U.S. have so much difficulty staying afloat financially.
You have absolutely and relatively less taxes than us dutch, your gasoline costs less than ours and generally speaking everything is more expensive here.
I have quite a debt here, but still i can manage on my own and have quite a positive balance on my bank account.
I understand that the distances in the U.S. are larger, but that can't be the sole reason for the financial problems you face.
Could you people explain me how you U.S. citizens have so much more problems than us dutch citizens?
Barachem, I don't know how the Dutch society works. Does your government provide things like health care and prescription medications at low or no cost? Are you paying for things like health insurance, car insurance, house insurance, property insurance? Do you live in a location where the government is providing things like public transportation at low or no cost (busses, subways, trams, trains, etc)? What about the cost of your housing (which because of the recent housing bubble has gone up exponentially here and is not really coming down with the burst bubble)? In order to compare apples to apples and to explain the difficulties here, I think we need to know those things.

[shayera]

You must live in a large city where there are multiple options for purchasing and you can "put the petal to the metal" to find good buys. I live in a country setting and we don't have much in the way of competition for groceries. The stores here don't accept any coupons off the internet at all because of cheaters who have modified them. Even with double coupons, the one store that offers it here still is not competitive with BJs or Sav-A-Lot (which don't double coupons and I don't think our local Sav-A-Lot even accepts coupons). I also need to go to only one store because of saving gas...I can't afford to go from store to store or town to town looking for good buys.

No, on the contrary. I live in a town of 4,000 or a county with 10,000 people. Only 1 town, and only 2 grocery stores, plus a Dollar General Store. We have 1 grocery store chain, not as big as a Schnucks, but a chain and a 2 year old Supercenter. We get circulars every week in the weekly newspaper for Dollar and the grocery store. We just go twice a month to the store for groceries, (I get chicken strips there from the huge deli for lunch all the time, so that doesn't count), so I pick my weeks to grocery shop.
But Wal-Mart takes everything competitive wise, if you have the circular. They treat it as a coupon entry. You also have to tell them this upfront and they check it out last. Then the printable or regular coupons and I do very well.

And, I too, only go to one store, mainly Wal-Mart, becuase it's 1.5 minutes from my driveway. But shoot, the other store is just 3 or 4 minutes the other way, at most. They are on opposite sides of town but on the main drag. So travel and gas isn't a burden here for people, I don't think, for grocery shopping.

So no, nothing special. Welcome to Southeast Missouri. Come on down, there's plenty of room to rent or build. Low cost of living but only 1 hour from St. Louis.

(Also cheapest gas in the country! - according to www.gasbuddy.com)

[Cindy S.]

Everything is going up except for my paycheck !!!:aha If I dwell on it to much then I start to worry so I have decided to get serious now about saving every penny that I can and I am ruthless, I am on a mission to get by on what I make and to do that I have to be very thrifty. My daughter starts school in a couple of months so I am stashing money away now for her new clothes, I started making my own laundry soap too, Carpet shampoo, I am not buying paper plates and paper towels any longer. I have quit buying processed foods ( except for chips since I can't make them ) I am making teas instead of sodas, I am cutting wood now for winter, Made about 100 fire starters already :aha, I think the faster I adjust to cutting back and doing things the old way the better since I need the practice and to be honest my daughter and I are enjoying the baking and canning! I am selling every bit of worthless stuff I have piled up here on e-bay, I need the room anyway!!! So for now I am enjoying seeing the savings and amazed at how much the little things add up !!!! Now I am going to sit back and wait on the Lord !!!

You can make tortilla chips.

You cut flour tortillas into triangles and deep fry.

That's what they do at restaurants.

[Cindy S.]

I find it weird that you guys over in the U.S. have so much difficulty staying afloat financially.
You have absolutely and relatively less taxes than us dutch, your gasoline costs less than ours and generally speaking everything is more expensive here.
I have quite a debt here, but still i can manage on my own and have quite a positive balance on my bank account.
I understand that the distances in the U.S. are larger, but that can't be the sole reason for the financial problems you face.
Could you people explain me how you U.S. citizens have so much more problems than us dutch citizens?

Does the Dutch government offer free healthcare?

[WCG777]

Niether me or my mom have noticed a price increase except on a few items. However we noticed that way before there was a problem. However I do shop Kroger,Winn-Dixie, publix, walmart and food depot and buy iteams that we need that are good priced.

[ALS6347]

I think you're right. If I look at the increase in my salary in the last 15 years it looks impressive. However, recently I can tell that I'm losing ground financially even as my salary goes up.

None of us like this but it is necessary to push America into the North American Union and to get Americans to accept the Amero in place of the dollar. We are seeing prophecy fulfilled as we move towards a one world government.




The government has been tricking us with their numbers, too. If you adjust for inflation, even the government's ridiculous "inflation" numbers, my DH was making more in 1998 than he is now, even though his salary seems much higher now. If you go back to the 60's and adjust the amounts for inflation, he's making the same as his blue collar father, even though he's a professional. His standard of living expectations are raised, he's supposed to fit in and drive a nice car and eat lunch in restaurants and dress nice, even though in adjusted terms he's making the same as a welder ot telephone installer in the 60's.
Imagine if you were using the real numbers, and not the gov't whitewashed ones. We've been losing ground for years and never knew it. Productivity is up through the roof, so it's NOT that we're "not working hard enough."
Inflation calculator:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

[ImHis]

i joined a couponing/price-listing website a month ago.

it has worked tremendously for us.

[christianmom]

i joined a couponing/price-listing website a month ago.

it has worked tremendously for us.

Yep, I just joined the https://www.thegrocerygame.com/index.cfm?function=memberhome&method=default to try it out....it's only $1 for the one month trial. It looks good so far. We'll see if I will continue with it and pay for the full price. Not too shabby for what they get you. :)

[RebMel]

Yep, I just joined the https://www.thegrocerygame.com/index.cfm?function=memberhome&method=default to try it out....it's only $1 for the one month trial. It looks good so far. We'll see if I will continue with it and pay for the full price. Not too shabby for what they get you. :)

Please, let us know how this works out for you. :hat

[christianmom]

Please, let us know how this works out for you. :hat

I will do that :)