I’m beginning to wonder (like just about every other person) when will these horrendous price rises end.
Remember the lemons ($9.90 kg December 2024) – last week they’d risen to $14.99 kg – almost double the price. Which is why little bottles like this one are flying off the shelves……you do wonder who’s making the money though
Also….I will admit to having a big grin on my face as I drove past the petrol station recently. There’s one thing we can’t get away from and that’s the ‘fuel up and down’ cycle that goes on here in many of our cities……unlike food prices that never go down after they’ve risen the cost of petrol will slowly fall a few days after what seems like – well actually is – an enormous jump in price.
The big sign said ULP 91 was $1.97 litre……I’d filled up the day before at $1.69. 😊
A 30¢ jump overnight can be horrendous for some drivers – especially those entitled ones who drive whopping great gas guzzling vehicles……so it’s best to be aware of how long the price has been low and top up before you discover It ended yesterday!
petrolspy – an easy to use app to keep an eye on prices Australia wide
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-and-fuel/petrol-price-cycles-in-major-cities
I noticed it didn’t take long after the Reserve Bank announced (today) it had lowered the cash rate (which had been rising for several years) for some of the big banks to lower their interest rates on savings accounts. Not much has been said about when mortgage rates will actually drop (and by how much) which is probably uppermost in people’s minds more so than what they’d get on their savings (if they had any)
There is one group who won’t be too pleased about the cuts though and that’s self- funded retirees and those on part pensions. They are dependent on interest from savings and investments so will be looking at a loss in income.
I wonder if it will please the ‘cafe owners’ who have complained non stop about not being able to make ends meet……rising mortgages meant some regular customers were cutting out their ‘daily’ takeaway coffees – now some retirees who became regular customers won’t be able to afford them either.
Us…..well having no mortgage has meant no worries and the extra interest on savings has been good but we’re more interested in the currency exchange rate. Some of our income is from overseas pensions which can vary due to the exchange rate. If we receive more – our Aus pension is cut a fraction – so we never know exactly what we’re going to get . It’s been a constant amount recently- let’s hope it stays that way.
Still Waters 
Ooof, yes on rising prices. It makes budgeting a challenge (especially when your income is not doing the same rising rate!) We, likewise have no mortgage… I have no idea how one would make ends meet with one! And while I’d love to ditch the gas-powered vehicle… I am waiting for electric vehicles to get a few more “stages” in before jumping on that bandwagon.
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Seeing loaded trolleys in the supermarket makes me wonder how families manage these days- especially when I get ‘sticker shock’ from my shop for just the two of us. I can’t imagine having a mortgage payment on top of that.
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Here in Costa Rica the government announces changes in fuel prices a few days before they come into effect….petrol stations full of eager customers a few minutes after the announcement if the price is to rise.
Currency fluctuations are a pain for working out the pension to be paid out…..thank goodness I don’t have a mortgage! Though, having owed nothing for years I have, of course, no credit profile!
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Your mention of queues at petrol stations had me trying to remember the last time I saw one here. One year (the reason why Is lost to me) there was a petrol shortage and you often knew which garage still had some in their tanks by the queues going down the road. TV stations raced front to another for ‘film’ to go on the evening news
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It’s interesting to hear about how people are handling the economic ups and downs in other countries. Americans are such the whiney-sort who wants everything to remain very inexpensive. And yet, they want their wages to go up at an ever-increasing rate.
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My late partner was entitled to an overseas pension but to him, for the small amount it would have been, it wasn’t worth the bother and complications with his Australian pension. I don’t know who much it would have been, five or so years of paying his ‘stamps’.
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Prices are up here too. It is interesting to read about similar situations around the world.
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I don’t shop as much as I used too. We have been living on home grown vegetables eggs and beef. I did go to stock up on staples and nearly had a heart attack at the checkout
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From all of your post it was the price of lemons that jumped out. I’d be using using those little plastic bottles too. Here they are 1 euro a kilo, though we rarely buy them, having trees if our own.
Prices are climbing here and we are slow in changing our shopping lists. We are going to have to change our lifestyle even more. Coffee is a luxury but it’s also part of our summer living. We will just do our people watching once a week as a treat
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