Originally Posted by barry123400

What I have noticed is two things. Everytime I go to town that is four miles away . So it is pretty well daily. The money I expend is much more than it was in the 2008-2009 period.

The other item is we are fortunate to have surplus income. The surplus is now somewhat smaller each year. It is not our buying and spending habits as at our age they are pretty static. It has to be the higher average overall costs.

An example that is perhaps not typical. I needed some brushed nickle trim today for a granite tile countertop. The last time I purchased some it was twelve dollars a length. Perhaps two to three years ago but no longer since I last purchased.

It was twenty one dollars and some change a length today. So eight lengths were not 96.00 but 170.00. Gas was also 5.89 an imperial gallon in town today. Or 4.97 per american gallon.

Wages are definatly not on the increase yet. So it has to be hurting many. You are right in that we have become by and large a more materialistic society as well.

Perhaps about the most noticeable change in our buying habits is I source a lot of items off ebay and the web now on a very frequent basis. Usually after mailing costs I pay approxamatly 50 percent or less of the average local retail prices. Also save the 15 percent sales tax as well on most transactions. The savings on one item may not seem signifigant but over the year it really adds up. We are talking many thousands of dollars here alone. Primarily since I always seem to have a house build or rehab job of some sort going on.

Also the low return on investments that are fairly safe is now far lower than inflation. This is a concern. I understand low interest for borrowers will persist for many more years unless it stimulates too much inflation. Even then the current policies may stay in effect. The whole mess is still far from sound at this time. There is still not a lot of room left to absorb any form of major hit or even moderate one on the current economy.

I am well aware of how fortunate we are as a household at this time. We do not take it for granted either. We also feel badly about the amount of families in distress. The amount of bankrupcies and other forms of insolvency no longer indicate a healthy enviroment for a growing percentage of the population.