Been a long day; tired and rambling post. I don't know how any of the fast food places stay open.

Yea it seems like its all in volume.

I have no idea what Great Clips charges for a haircut. I just go, add $5, and swipe the card. The chances of me going to any effort to get a haircut beyond the two minute drive I take is zero.

15 bucks at Great Clips. Up from 9.00 about 5 or 6 years ago. I'm sure it'll go up again soon.

But I have a pretty simple cut and there's like 4 gals there who know how to do it up right, (the haircut, you ****ers) so I'm OK with it. Still get in and out in 20 minutes (again...the haircut you ****ers).

I’ve been cutting my own hair for the last 25 years. Cut my boys hair, too.

We live 15 miles out to town. Cooking is mandatory.

My wife and I are both good cooks. Had been dining out 3+ times a week pre-Covid for convenience. That dropped to about 3 times a month post Covid. Mostly stick to mom-and-pop Mexican and Asian restaurants in the neighborhood. It is nice to chat and know the owners appreciate our business.

Those times we have gone to chain restaurants lately, both the quality of food and service have diminished. Not sure if it is lack of staff, cutting corners on ingredients, or just knowing that I could make it better at home for a fraction of the cost.

OMG...I worked at McD's in 1986. That was a trip to watch.

Did you notice that there was not ONE fatty in line at all? All the workers were efficient and smiling (granted they were on camera but still). Honestly, it was a fun job and I had a blast working there, especially if I was closing. We'd be cleaning up with Metallica or Iron Maiden blasting the boom box.

Good times. 99 cent Big Macs were a bitch though...

Local business > chains 99% of the time

19 dollars at the one I go to the girl who cuts it is real nice I always give her 5 bucks tip. I go every 5-6 weeks my hair gets thick.

Only time I eat out is when it's an ASS

Prices too high at the restaurant? You're still getting ****ed at the grocery store.

You either don't eat, or you start going out in the wild and hunting/scavenging for food yourself.

Road kill is free my guy

People gonna eat.

Granted there is a point where they say enough

USDA documented this week sales and demand for organics has dropped as prices have risen

Beef herd is in a major contraction that will reduce supply of beef but Americans have always enjoyed protein supply that is majorly Beef, pork and chicken. As prices rise for one people change to lower cost options

Restaurants face a rough time as they have to jack prices. But people have always tended to change buying habits in order to allow for other things

Tighten your belts if you are a renter with car payments and not much cash. Inflation is brutal on fixed income/elderly and mid to low income folks....only gonna get worse

$5 is a high tip for a haircut.

Not really.

I knew things were ****ed when IHOP was charging $15 for most of their entrees. Eating out is pretty much a crime now.

Now we know where your welfare money is going.

So is jizz, depending on the source

Getting a steer delivered in two weeks, can't wait to find out how much that will set me back.

LMAO what a response to being called out as a cheap tipper.

Folks don't need to be tipped for doing their job.

If this keeps up, everyone should have a tip job at their place of employment.

Whatever makes you feel better man.

I was eating out 5-7 days a week for 10 years while living in NoVa. I'm now down to 3-5 times a MONTH.

Not only have prices gone out of control, the food is shittier and the service is abysmal.

Unless you have your guaranteed places that are well worth it, going out is a worthless endeavour at this time.

You better tip me on DoorDash you cheap BASTARD!!!!!

You are officially a cheapskate. Any person providing you a service from cutting your hair to delivering your food, if they did good work, deserve a good tip.

You don’t want to do that, fine and dandy, don’t use their services.

From what I know of the industry reducing portion size recognizingly is a death knell for an existing restaurant. A couple of years ago my clients started using 1oz smaller spoons for ladeling out the rice and beans...said it made a real cost difference without the customer noticing.

My wife goes to a one woman salon...what she charges she keeps...but insists on tipping her. Not sure why that makes sense.

I used to spend about $1100 a month on food. Now I spend like $1300. It isn't 3x or 4x more like people are saying, but it's noticeable.

It's getting tight everywhere. I've been wondering how bad the waitresses are getting shorted on the tips from customers trying to counter the inflation.

A new Mexican joint was opening up and quickly realized how bad the situation was in town. .... so they called the feds on the long established Mexican joint. LMAO The place was crawling with INS and DHS vehicles for days and was completely shut down for a while. The service and food was so good I didn't even pay attention to what it was costing, until I realized just how much I was saving because they were closed down.

Is that you, Mr. Pink?

We decided to spend on big quality things that saved money. As I mentioned, the blackstone was huge. Also the air fryer was too. We buy in bulk from Costco and plan our meals accordingly.

I also spent a shit ton of money on a good espresso machine and grinder since I was spending $6.50 a pop on Cafe Corazón a lot.

It all pretty much paid for itself. We only eat out for date nights and that goddamn coffee set up was so damn worth it.

Thats interesting and makes me wonder if something similar is occurring near me as we seem to being seeing an uptick in calls to regulatory agencies for peoples side hussles.

Ladies selling homemade tortillas, tamales and such out of their houses. The neighborhood Facebook group which was 92% cringe and 8% bomb ass abuela fare on the cheap is now just 100% cringe.

Pizza was my takeout kryptonite because a) its delicious and b) I always felt it was one of those things that I can't make better myself. I received a portable outdoor pizza oven as a gift last year and haven't ordered a pizza since.

There's a learning curve, but if anyone likes to cook, especially outdoors, its hard to get less expensive than flour, water, yeast, and salt.

I use the grocery store deli as a substitute for fast food when short on time. I'd say it averages about 5 bucks a meal.

You sound like a guy who eats well like me. :thumb:

I've always tipped my barber $5 ever since I started paying for my own haircuts

Girls tip at least $20 for anything under $100.

We're good with budgets but not math.

I rarely leave a bad tip, but if the service is just average or below... meaning, I've had to flag you down in a less than half full crowd to get a drink refill or something like that, you're just not trying. That tip is typically 15%.

Outside of that, I'm at least 20%... maybe 25% if you're just good at your job.

I tip the girl at Sports Clips 20% every time.

Now, tipping options are out of control with the new tablets/apps. If I'm driving through for coffee or fast food and all you're doing is turning around, grabbing my meal and handing it to me - no tip. If you really did nothing extra aside from just taking my order... there's nothing to tip.

Food prices are crazy - we're trying to be smarter and maybe we have pulled back on eating out a little bit, but not as much. Our issue is time to actually cook if we haven't planned for it.

My wife and I go out to eat about once a week. Last night two enchilada plates, ice tea and two house margaritas was $60 before time.. WTF.

Shoot Chick-fil-a is $13 for a deluxe chicken sandwich meal with large fries and an iced tea..crazy...

The margs were probably a combined $25.

Weird nexus with this thread - if you want to see some lol-inducing shrinkflation, go to DD and see what they're calling a long john these days.

I saw an item on another site last year about them supposedly raising the bottom in their coffee cups to shrinkflate them too. Can't vouch for it, but fiendishly clever if true.

https://i.imgur.com/TqmrNkw.png

For the past few years, we have cut our eating out to around once a month when going to town, if we even do that. Sometimes I will take a healthy sandwich with me to avoid a 1000 to 1500 calorie overpriced offerings available.

The proliferation of fast food has long been something I have noticed adjacent to the increased belt lines of the American people for many years. What used to be an occasional treat is now the norm for many.

The prices vs. value is absurd. $40 for a sit down lunch!?

The 15% vet discount at Freddie's and their excellent service/quality is always tempting when going to Branson though. The California burger is a pretty good knock off of In-n-out.

That is what I have been giving them for years. Usually $15 for a senior haircut, give them a $20 and we are both happy.

In the last couple of weeks, I've noticed many of the prices at the grocery store starting to trend down. Eggs, for example, are plentiful and down to $3.19 a dozen. Still high, but nearly half of what they were a month ago.

JFC that is insane.

The average US family spends about $438 per month on food. Not individual, family...

There were a couple of months after covid, where for my family in particular, rising grocery store prices vs eating out were about comparable although both budget breaking compared to where we were. Now, although grocery prices are still up and seem to be rising, it's finally getting back to us "saving" money by just cooking at home.

There's no way that holds true any more. What size family? For one adult male, one toddler, one teenage girl and a pregnant woman, while couponing and going to different stores for sales, we're spending about 200 a week(on the low end).

Yeah right. Prove it.

The short answer is that they aren't staying open.

Seen tons of them close in recent weeks, mostly because they can't find enough help.

I would never shortchange the Propane Man.

My dad used to cut my hair as well. Then, one day, he was just like "I'm not cutting your hair anymore. Figure it out."

Worked out well because I did figure it out and it's saved me thousands over my lifetime.

Prove I'm lying, dummy.

We live out in the country too. We've taken to using those boxed home delivery services (Home Chef, etc.) and we're finding that with the prices at the grocery store lately, it isn't all that more expensive. Plus it's all properly portioned so we never have waste or anything. So in the end, it might actually be a wash.

That seems way too low. If you price out your grocery meals it's hard to get below 3 dollars, which would be 270 per month per person. I think normal is between 300-400 per person.

Really? I haven’t seen any close in Des Moines.

Yeah Des Moines is a larger market with a larger employee base. It's not as prevalent there as it is in the smaller towns outside of Des Moines.

Around here, if the stores haven't closed down completely they're opening later and closing earlier because they just don't have enough staff.

Our favorite place closed down recently. Had our first date there, normally went there on our anniversary. The owners said on FB they weren't really intending to retire yet but the combination of working long hours with a skeleton crew for a couple of years and the continuing rent increases made it impossible for them to continue.

I’m not buying those numbers as accurate.

He also once said his A/C bill was $600/month and had no idea why... just throwing shit against a wall to look reeruned on the internet.

Granted, that does seem low, even though I'm sure a whole lot of people eat the cheapest food available.

Yep, in addition to losing a couple of fast food places, pretty much all of our family-owned restaurants are either on drastically reduced hours, have switched to take-out only, or just shut down completely. The only niche that seems to be immune is Mexican food. Without making it political, let's just say they have plenty of help.

We can afford to eat out, but it has become the principal of it at this point. I'm not paying $70 for the wife and I to go to a restaurant just to eat food I can make at home. I started shopping at AlDI more and it's amazing how much less expensive that place is. Plus, I really enjoy cooking so it hasn't been a sacrifice at all.

BTW, if you don't mind the knife work, bone in, skin on, chicken breast can still be found for around $1.50/lb and leg quarters are even less. We purchased half a side of beef and it ended up being less than $4 a pound when it was all said and done. Shop smart and cook at home and you can eat for pre 2020 costs

Last time i had BK it was 16 dollars for my "value" meal, normally when I eat fast food I combine it with two meals usually lunch and dinner, I guess when you look at it like that it isn't too bad. But still....

I try to skip drinking the soda so even 3 McDoubles and a medium fries is like $13. The price is way up and the quality of the food is garbage. When I was in my 20s that was my go to meal and iirc it was under $7.

Nothing worse than seeing your town's dining options reduced to a bunch of shite mexican places.

We run the gamut here. The closest town to us is about population 15K. They have as many Mexican restaurants as fast food places combined.

A couple of them are pretty good and a couple of them are trash. The rest are just blah.

In the same boat - totally agree.

Soda is what usually drives up the prices. You can save a good amount by just ordering water at many places.

Fast food is still relatively cheap, though prices have increased of course.

I used the first source. Looking at some others, it was a little low. But not much. Even for a liberal meal plan, 1 middle aged male averages ~$450/month. Here's straight from the USDA:

https://i.imgur.com/wpttyeN.jpg

https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/...2LowModLib.pdf

Not sure how. I don't even really eat at nice places outside of Friday or Saturday Night.

Mon breakfast: Clio Yogurt Bar $2, Perfect Protein Bar $3, Red Bull $3
Mon lunch: Chipotle Burrito with extra steak & chips $17
Mon dinner: Twisted Fresh Southwest Chicken Sandwich & chips $18
Mon late: C4 Energy Drink $2, Cashews $0.50, Yogurt $1.25

Tues breakfast: Toaster Strudel $2, Perfect Protein Bar $3, Red Bull $3
Tues lunch: Panda Express Plate $13
Tues dinner: Hawiaan Bros w/ Pineapple $16
Tues late: CFA Chicken Sandwich and Fries $13, Alani Energy Drink $2.50, Robert Irvine Protein Bar $2

Wed breakfast: Perfect Protein Bar $3, Half a thing of blueberries $3, Red Bull $3
Wed Lunch: Pegahs via Door Dash $27
Wed Dinner: KMachos Mexican Fajita $20
Wed late: C4 Energy drink $2, Cashews $0.50, Beef Jerky $2, Clio Yogurt Bar $2

Thurs breakfast: QuickTrip Donut holes $4, Red Bull $3, Half a pkg of blackberries $3
Thurs lunch: Chipotle burrito bowl with extra steak via Door Dash $30
Thurs dinner: Johnnys Tavern Stir Fry $20
Thurs late: Alani Energy Drink $2.50, Perfect Protein Bar $3

Fri breakfast: Ihop eggs, bacon, waffle via Door Dash $25, Red Bull $3
Fri lunch: Five guys burger and fries $15
Fri dinner: Stockhill Ribeye & glass of wine $80
Fri late: Crumbl Cookies $12, Red Bull $3

Sat breakfast: Perfect bar $3, Red Bull $3, Toaster Strudel $2
Sat lunch: California Pizza Kitchen pizza from Target $10
Sat Dinner: Joes KC Rib Dinner $22
Sat late: Taco Bell Chalupas $13

Sun breakfast: First Watch $20, Red Bull $3
Sun lunch: Chipotle burruto bowl with extra steak via door dash $30
Sun dinner: Street Tacos and rice. $16
Sun late: C4 Energy drink $2.50, KFC Chicken Sandwich $8

Shit I guess it is more than I thought. Thats like $600 a week so $2400 a month. Not sure how you guys with a bunch of mini mes running around can afford it.

I don't drink pop so I always order water or nothing at all (not supposed to drink with my meals after I had stomach surgery). At a fast food restaurant, that's about 2 bucks off an $8-10 meal. At a sit down restaurant, it could be as much as $6.

The Mexican place near my office downtown still has under 10 dollar lunches with 3 dollar margaritas.

Always full.

I was getting pretty close to the breaking point, but yesterday I paid $11.72 for a cold ass personal pan pizza and that did it for me. I brought a sandwich today LMAO.

The restaurants/businesses here in Scottsdale have a affordable housing issue. The restaurants/stores can't hire people to work for $15 an hour because the people who might be interested in filling those jobs have to commute a great distance to work there and it's not worth it to them. We have plenty of kids growing up in our community but it seems they're not filling the jobs either.

I paid $24 for a pan pizza at the Phx airport last weekend and it was terrible. Pretty ridiculous

$23 bucks for a fast food burger meal for two is bad but then they spi the pay gizmo and they expect a tip? **** that. Went in to buy bagels 2 weeks ago. dude tosses 12 bagels in a sack and does the spin for tip move.....nope, aint ever gonna happen

We were in a rush the other day and ordered pizza from Domino's. We ordered via the online app and I went to the drive-thru window to pick it up.

The lady at the window handed me my stuff and then asked if I wanted to leave a tip. I love my service people (both of my daughters worked in food service until their owner died recently) and I generally tip handsomely. I did end up leaving a tip but it wasn't much. I thought it was kind of silly to even ask.

It's all relative. Considering the cost of groceries, eating out aint always all that bad.

Also, the Apps help a lot, as do coupons and promos.

a tip for handing it out the window? No.

I always tip, that's just me. But I'm not above tipping 50 cents for something stupid like what I described.

Yeah. You don't get a tip for handing me something or wrapping up a burrito when your job is burrito wrapper. That's just ridiculous.

Not food or groceries but-
My power bill (gas and elect) was close to 900 bucks last month. A year ago it was 380
I refused to let them put a smart meter on my house. Guess they are making me pay for it now