Economy & LaborOCT 12, 2023

30 Things That Have Gotten Too Expensive And People Think Are No Longer Worth The Money

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Current prices continue to stress out Americans, even as inflation eases from four-decade highs. In fact, 67% of the country's workers say the increasing cost of living is outpacing their salary growth, according to a survey from last month.

Reddit user GuyWhoStillHasNoName got interested in which products and services people have crossed out of their shopping lists, so he made a post on the platform, asking, "What is no longer worth it because of how expensive it has become?"

From live entertainment to various foods, here are the most popular answers he has received.

#1

At this point? Food... Im no criminal, but its getting to the point where I often wonder "If I just walk out the store with a full grocery cart, is anyone really gonna stop me?"

When food becomes too expensive, stealing it becomes a moral obligation. Making food so expensive that its unaffordable is the real immoral and criminal part of it.

Youpunyhumans

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220points

#2

30 Things That Have Gotten Too Expensive And People Think Are No Longer Worth The Money

Streaming services, we're back at cable like again.

Haven't worn a pirates hat in many years but I can smell the salty air.

Grizzly_Corey, freestocks

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186points

We got in touch with GuyWhoStillHasNoName and he was kind enough to tell us more about his now-viral post.

"I was just outside in a random place when I thought of the question," the Redditor explained to Bored Panda. Contrary to what you might think, he said he "wasn't at a store or anything, the question just came to me in the middle of nowhere."

#3

How everything is now a subscription. Ok, I guess I don’t need it.

Soakitincider, Marques Thomas

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168points

#4

*gestures broadly at everything*

I_see_thy_soul, Nathan Dumlao

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138points

After scrolling through the replies, GuyWhoStillHasNoName said that fast foods was probably the most popular one, adding that it was the first answer that he himself thought of to his question too.

And understandably so. Fast food prices jumped about 13% in 2022, according to Pricelisto, a website that tracks menu prices for US chains. That's even more than the cost of groceries, which bounced roughly 12% last year.

#5

Going out to eat. I just make all of my own food, now. I look up recipes of the dishes I used to get at my favorite restaurants, and I learn how to make them at home (except for sushi, I just don't eat sushi anymore.) It's definitely less expensive, although the cost of food is still higher than it should be. We're definitely living in the Silent Depression, and it's due to Corporate Greed.

midnight_reborn

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135points

#6

Cost of living/housing. We may as well just all f**k off at this point

Taurus0594

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125points

GuyWhoStillHasNoName thinks the huge popularity of his post is indicative of a wider context, as "there are almost endless numbers of problems that can be reflected because they are money related."

Indeed, Americans remain guarded about their personal finances, with the majority (55%) saying their financial situation is "only fair" or "poor" rather than "excellent" or "good" (45%). More also report that their financial situation is worsening (50%) than improving (37%).

#7

Concerts! By the time all the extras and fees are applied they're out of reach.

xenoclownpanda, Vishnu R Nair

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118points

#8

Air BnB

All of the add-on fees usually drive the cost higher than an actual hotel stay in the same area.

TheRealTinfoil666, cottonbro studio

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110points

#9

most fast food

lawlpony, Khalid Boutchich

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105points

#10

fixing things, which i used to love doing.

it's often much cheaper to just buy another one.

koyaaniswazzy, Kenny Eliason

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101points

#11

Boxed cereal. A box of Cheerios for $7+?? Get the f**k out of here with that nonsense. I'll buy the store brand for $2 that comes in a bag instead of a box, at least until that gets too expensive as well. I need to figure out something else to eat for breakfast that's not boxed cereal.

Senbonbanana, Joseph Keyser

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100points

#12

Thrifting has become crazy expensive. All of the thrift stores I used to go to have increased prices. On top of that garage sales are crazy, My favorite is pulling up to garage sales and see the owners have just printed out random listing from ebay. "No Bob, I am not gonna pay $100 dollars for a microwave from 2010 because it sold for that on ebay 5 years ago".

xElementop, cottonbro studio

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98points

#13

Rent is the big one- renting should be a decent deal for people who don't need or want to own a home yet. It's a fine deal as long as it's reasonably priced. But if it's eating 50% of your income, then it's just a financial burden that prevents you from saving $ and takes away the hope of owning a home. I have no issue with renting housing conceptually, but the way it's ended up, it just sucks for the most part. It's gotten genuinely unethical.

CaptainAction

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98points

#14

Junk food. $6 for a bag of Lays? I’ll eat some damn baby carrots and hummus for less. Can’t remember the last time I had a Coke either.

Invisible_Friend1, Olga Kozachenko

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87points

#15

Health insurance. We pay about $12,000 year in premiums, and also have an HSA that we contribute about $8,000 a year to. We have a deductible of like $10,000 that we have to hit for the insurance to pickup most of the costs. So in a bad year we are out at least $20,000 for medical insurance. We have 2 kids, and are pretty healthy, but seem to hit this every year now.

Chewbuddy13

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81points

#16

It's wild how many of these answers are food related, that's so scary to me. Past a certain point, what do people eat? Even instant noodles have gone way up

nick3790

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80points

#17

I honestly don't know how to survive anymore. Everything is getting more and more expensive, yet no one is getting a raise. Something has to give.

jgeradsfdh

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79points

#18

Farmer's Markets.
Everything was like 1/4 what it'd cost at the store, grown closer, and by smaller local farms.
Then everything changed when it became trendy; now it's more expensive than stores and I question if it's even from local farms and not Costco.

colbymg

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78points

#19

Honestly.. living in general.

KidNamedBlue

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76points

#20

Children.

The cost of living is so high, and the job market is so volatile, that I wish I didn't have kids because the stress is insane.

I lost my job yesterday cos I work in the games industry and it is genuinely bleak and terrifying.

I love my kids but living in the UK is awful right now.

monkey_in_the_gloom

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73points

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