Everything is so expensive!

Published in the Chronicle Herald-July 2023

Everything has gotten so expensive! How is the average, single income household surviving right now?!

Every single business and service seems to be impacted. Even Frenchy's doesn't feel like a deal anymore! Who am I kidding? It's still an awesome deal...but come on?! I remember when $30 bought an armful of clothes for me and my kids. Now it's 5 items or less! Gross!

Gas was 173.1 today, 4 chicken breasts were $16 and a litre of coffee cream was over $6! Now don't get me wrong...I could do without the coffee, but my car requires gas and my kiddos and I need to eat!

So many "experiences" are now out of the average person's price range and things that used to be free now have a price tag attached. People are working their tails off for the basics! How is this sustainable?

Parents work more, kids are alone more...so now there's more money, but no actual time to do things together. It's no longer the norm to see a single parent working a single job, unless they have additional supports. Why do we set society up to fail?! We need to be helping them to thrive!

Don't get me started on flights... just about anywhere. One of my most favorite humans can't afford to fly home to visit this summer because her previously $200 flight from Toronto is now over $500! How can domestic flights be so insanely expensive now?! How are airlines justifying this?? These inflated prices are making it impossible for the average family to travel, even within their own country!

Movie theatres. Another enormous pet peeve. Charging $25 (probably higher than that now) for a basic combo of a single beverage, popcorn and candy is insanity! By having these totally unreasonable prices they are perpetuating the issue of illegal movie downloads, or at minimum, forcing people to smuggle in treats from the dollar store. It shouldn't cost over $100 to take a small family out to the movies. So gross!

The cost of housing. I can't even.

I guess it's time we all get a little creative and find new ways to save and have fun...but don't have too much fun and wind up in the hospital. They won't help you there either.