Inflation spikes to 13 year high.
Rental cars +43% over last Sept
Gas 42%
Used cars 24%
Bacon 19%
Hotels 18%
Beef 18%
Pork 13%
Eggs 13%
TVs 13%
Kids' shoes 12%
Furniture 11%
New cars 9%
Chicken 8%
Apples 8%
Restaurant prices: 5%
Electricity 5%
Rent 2.9%
Obviously, those will hit differently for different people.
I would add that in my experience, even if the price hasn't gone up much, availability has gone down with inventory problems. For example, those shopping for new cars (one of these years, maybe...) will run into continuing microchip-related production issues, leaving the lots a bit lean.
But yeah...the gas and groceries have been wince-inducing.
My wife and I ditched our car about 20 years ago. I spent so much time and money trying to get repairs (a.k.a. 'cheating death for another week') or doing the repairs myself that it no longer made sense. Also, while many revile Toronto's public transportation system, we have found it to be not too bad and capable of filling in most of our needs. We let the car go and started renting cars once every month or so for a little recreation and for the errands we couldn't run on a bus or subway. The recent spike in rental prices has hit us hard, to the point that it is now looking like it might be cheaper to lease a car than renting one every month and holiday.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the price of bacon really hurts as well.
I did appreciate Toronto's mass transit when we were last there back in 2001. It worked well enough to get us around. While it's not DC's, it struck me as good.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the rent--we jumped into the home ownership adventure when rental prices were fairly stable in metro Detroit. Now...not so much.
And I definitely hear you on the car: cheating death it is, with vehicles at age 16 and 12 respectively. Getting new brakes on the 12 year old tomorrow. But the market for replacement vehicles is well outside our budget at the moment. It's madness.
There is a ton of madness around here. Th housing market has been untenable in Toronto for 25 years, now it is flat out insane. I have been believing a correction must be coming for a quarter century, but nothing so far. A few weeks ago they were selling parking spots for over a hundred grand. They say 1/3 of all the construction cranes currently operating in North America are operating here in Toronto. I hardly recognize my city any more.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever come out here again, look me up. I'd love to meet, and I know a bit about the place.