I did notice at IKEA (we don’t have one near us at all) the same things I bought a few years ago were 50% higher.
100%. 
I find our local Costco has the best watermelons at a great price during the summer. Usually around $4 for a large melon here.
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I’m surprised. I shop at IKEA and have seen prices drop. There’s even been media coverage about it.
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There’s inflation, and then there’s vibe-flation or how it feels. And there’s greedflation, which is happening all now, prices are rising and companies are making higher profits than ever. While wages are rising, that’s generally not what’s driving prices up, it’s corporations wanting to keep and increase their profit margins.
Is there a way to control inflation? During my life, it seems like interventions haven’t been particularly successful in restraining inflation. We have inflation, then we have a collapse that disproportionally harms lower-income people and then we have a bit of stability and then we have inflation again. Rinse and repeat. Maybe we give a huge tax cut to the wealthy and then they don’t feel the need to squeeze more out of workers and consumers for a while, but on the flip side that raises the US debt which also isn’t good.
Yes there is inflation in the US. The good news is ours is much lower than the rest of the G7 nations.
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Shrinkflation is real—bought a bag of dark chocolate mac nuts and it was $10 on sale for only 8 oz. The bags have less in them all the time and prices stay high. Argh! The guy stocking the store agreed!
Happily oranges at Safeway were on sale with coupon, $7 for 8 pounds and I had a $5 gift card!
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The excellent podcast “Stuff You Should Know” recently had an episode called Greedflation Is Real. A great listen, with lots of discouraging information. One fact that sticks in my head is that during the pandemic, 62 new “food billionaires “ were created.
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I may be one of the few on here to recall Ford’s WIN (Whip Inflation Now!) program, or later on the Fed’s fund rate that hit 19%. That adds to our perspective on the current times.
One big difference for us is that we can now afford to buy whatever we need. Back then that wasn’t the case. However, we formed some habits that have stuck with us. We’re still price sensitive for most purchases, including groceries.
I check the weekly ads at several stores before placing online orders for both curbside pick-ups and quick trips to Publix. However, I no longer buy TVP to stretch ground beef or 19 cent chicken necks with which to catch blue crabs (although I wish I could do the latter.)
I shop online for paper products and stock up when there’s a sale. That’s something people living paycheck to paycheck cannot do. The same with some clothing. On another thread, I mentioned buying clothes for our grandchildren during a great sale at Target, including some that are the next size up. A young family of limited means can’t take advantage of sales the same way. I’ve read of more people in our area needing assistance from food banks where there’s a demand for cleaning and personal hygiene products. There were times during our early adulthood when money was very tight, but I was never concerned about buying toilet paper or sanitary pads.
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We too have found ourselves price sensitive with groceries. When it comes to meat we are buying what is on sale that week. We also shop at two stores each week to get the best deals. I will say back when my wife was staying home with the kids she would go three places. So we are used to pinching pennies.
And I have found it a good time to go on a diet with the cost of chips and crackers.
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I’m clearly buying the wrong things at IKEA.
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Or perhaps our statisticians are just better at changing the measures of inflation used to show a lower figure:
Alternate Inflation Charts
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I might buy seeds and grow a few in my backyard.
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Watermelons are, well, water. I love watermelon, but I wouldn’t pay $13 for a whole one because it might not be a ‘good’ one. I buy them at least once a week in the summer and I’m so dispointed when it isn’t a good one because I have to wait a week to try again. Safeway sells them by the pound (never a good deal) and kroger sells by the whole melon.
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I also love watermelon but it seems that at most 50% of the ones I purchase are worth eating.
If I’m paying big bucks for watermelon, I’ll ask the produce people if they can cut it open. I’ve had them be willing to do that before. I don’t have to taste it to see if it’s good or not.
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This is why I pay more per pound and buy cut 1/4’s. I can see the inside. Besides, I don’t want to hog the refrig with a whole watermelon unless we are having people over!
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I would never buy a cut watermelon. Most likely, it was not washed, and chances are not nil that the knife used to cut it was used to cut something else like meat. Happened in the past… kids got E. coli poisoning from contaminated watermelon.
My tips on selecting a good one. Look for Dulcinea Brand. Try to squeeze it lightly. If it feels even a little squishy, it will be over ripened.
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My “good melon” tip is to eye any whole melon before you pick it up and estimate how heavy you think it is. If the melon is weighs less than you thought it would - BAD melon. If it is heavier than you thought it would be - usually good melon.
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Here’s a guide - with illustrations!
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Never had a problem that I’m aware of!
One thing I do appreciate if buying whole is the newer versions of seedless that aren’t the size of a car trunk - easier to handle, easier to store.
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I lived overseas and the melons were very good. My wife absolutely adores watermelons but said you had to be very careful when buying melons as some of the sellers would use needles and inject the watermelons with water to make them a bit heavier as they are sold by weight.
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