Crazy Price Rises

[SilverGlitterBaubles]

So we’ve been in this ‘Cost of Living’ crisis for a while now but has anyone else notice some insane price increases for everyday items more recently. Today a deodorant I have usually bought for £2.50 is priced at £4.75, toothpaste £7.00 and a pack of throat lozenges £6.50 pretty sure the last time I bought these they were around £4. Yes I know I can probably shop around and find these things on offer somewhere but they are just an example of items in a high st pharmacy that I would have previously purchased without a second thought. Don’t get me started on food costs even buying some sweets for trick or treating tonight had me wincing, it’s just really frightening and I don’t know where it will end or how people are just accepting it.

Please share some more of your Crazy Price stories so that we can see how mad this is all getting.

Tunnocks caramel wafers were £1.30 before Covid and £1.60 during Covid. Now they are £2.60.

Ceriel used to also be a filler, cheap meal.now its about £5 a box! I only ever have porridge these days.

I’ll never scrimp on toothpaste either.

but of course I know where she shops (or at least doesn't) and whether she buys things on offer because she literally quoted the price of them in her OP! From, you know, taking my own advice I am well aware that you don't HAVE to spend £7 on toothpaste or nearly a fiver on deodorant or £6.50 on lozenges.

None of these things are scarce specialist items you can only get from magic shops. They are readily and cheaply available everywhere. Nurofen cold & flu has exactly the same active ingredients as Boots own version. Colgate bought from home bargains is exactly the same as bought from Tesco.

If you want to spend 3,5, 7xmore on things than you have to then by all means go for it, it's your money, but I reserve the right to think it's a bit silly (and privileged) to moan about something you've chosen to do.

The fact remains, moaning on MN isn't going to either keep more money in your pocket or result in Tesco lowering their prices. Talking with your feet and shopping elsewhere might do both.

I think some shops are taking the utter piss. I also noticed toothpaste was to to £7 in boots the other day with the cheapest being around £2.50. You can buy the same tootpaste in Aldi for half that price.

I think it can be both. An awful lot of people still don't appreciate that the active ingredient in medicines is exactly the same - legally, it must be - and so you're paying a hefty premium for the familiar name that's advertised on the TV.

Also, people might have tried a couple of supermarket own-brands and not rated them highly, and thus determined that the big brand probably is the best after all; but there is a huge difference - from product to product and from shop to shop - meaning that A & B own-brand alternatives might be rubbish, but X & Y brand are as good as, or frequently even better than, the big brands... and (in my experience) no single supermarket comes out top in ALL product lines.

Personally, I keep an open mind. We don't mind paying extra for brands if we believe they are better quality or nicer in taste, having tried the alternatives; but they have to work hard for that extra cost before we'll consider putting them in the trolley.

Fairy was one brand that we used to willingly pay extra for, to get what we determined was a higher quality, more effective, longer-lasting product; but since they've chosen to significantly reduce the quality, but not the price, they're now out of the running for us and have lost our future custom permanently. Conversely, we used to find Lidl basic double-length toilet rolls excellent quality and value, so that's all we bought; but they too downgraded their spec dramatically a few years back, so now we buy Asda's own standard stuff instead (always on offer if you buy two big packs).

Bisto skyrocketed to buttock-clenchingly 'having a laugh' prices a couple of years ago, but has come back down quite a bit more recently. Still nowhere near as cheap as supermarket own-brand, though, or even other independent 'beta' brands like Golden Fry, so it's still a firm No from us.

The standard Radio Times is now £5.75 - just for the one week!

I don't get people saying cereal is expensive - I've just put a 375g box of hoops on the Tesco order for 79p which isn't really pricey! 1kg of porridge oats is 85p.

I’m exactly like this. Some stuff is own brand, some stuff is a brand…depending on taste and quality, and how it performs.

I just find it funny when people make an observation about something becoming more expensive, and the response given is ‘well buy a different product because it is cheaper’ - imagine if we didn’t know that 🤷‍♀️

A bag of groceries cost me £36.50 in Morrisons today. I wanted to cry.

Adapt, many do, bulk up or make a veggie version, please remember costs are up due climate differences we can’t change

I get toothpaste from Amazon now as it's generally cheaper and get a few at a time when a good price, I also get cans of drink, and lots of other groceries from there too

£5 for a box of cereal in the CoOp!!!

We buy lots when its on offer or bulk buy from costco thats how we try to keep costs down. So if our toothpaste is full price will pass on it but when its half price will buy 6 tubes. I refuse to buy a 75ml tube for £5.50. DH will keep an eye out too and will pick bits up if he's heard me complain about costs

I have just checked our toothpaste is now £6.60. Its gone up in the last 3 months. Madness

Exactly. Modern day definition of more money than sense is buying non perishable branded stuff that is frequently on offer when it is not on offer.

I know prices have risen but the only crazy part of your OP is that you paid those prices instead of buying when on offer or choosing something else.

Also look at the loyalty card deals. I got Halloween sweets for free in the Morrisons app and a free bag of nuts from Lidl. Most of the big shops frequently have freebies like this.

@FunPartyIdeas The porridge will last a lot longer and be more filling and nutritious than the cheap box of cereal.

I realise it’s not the point. And many people like a physical magazine. But the majority of magazines and newspapers can be read for free online if you have a library card.

£5 in our local supermarket for multi pack of malteasers ! Walked away . Just one of the many hikes I have noticed .

Time for a facebook break I’d say…. Bit dramatic

’Our toothpaste’. This brand loyalty is what brands rely on and why they spend so much on advertising. Change your toothpaste to a cheaper one. Apart from clever marketing, they’re all pretty much identical.

YANBU. When we became empty-nesters 4 years ago, the weekly Sainsbury’s shop for DH and I was about £45-50 including a bottle of wine. Nowadays it costs almost that for a couple of days, and the wine has gone.

We already eat mainly vegan and I buy own label. I’m not sure how we could make it cheaper.

It’s ok now while we are both working but we will be retiring in a couple of years so money will be tighter.

Vote with your feet. The Coop is notoriously expensive, as is OneStop, Tesco Express etc, you have to pay for the convenience factor and the different opening hours. For the retailer it costs the same to deliver 5 cages of goods as it does to deliver a full trailer load, the security van that delivers takes away the takings costs the same, so the customer has to pay. Next you'll be telling us that Fortnum & Mason is more expensive than Aldi and wondering why.

As it’s been said many times including in the actual OP, this is not a discussion about buying choices.

It’s a thread about noticing crazy price hikes.
Have you noticed any?