I live in Ontario, Canada. I have a very healthy budget for fabric, as I don't have any other hobbies. I flat out refuse to pay the prices in Canada most of the time, unless I am desperate. I travel to the states to to three times a year and I will spend a couple of days there, enough to get me six to $800 Worth of duty free goods. I will spend that money on Fabric. I can easily get double to triple the amount of fabric in the states and I can here in Canada with that price. I also shop online, and again even with the exchange and the cost of shipping it is still cheaper than buying fabric at my local quilting store I have seen batiks go for $25 a meter. And I will not pay that It is very unfortunate that the costs have increased so dramatically. I make really good money, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be frivolous about it either.