You're telling me! In my area, there are frequently fabrics that are as much as $22 per meter (which is just a little over a yard). I steer clear of those! I watch for sales, and go to thrift stores. I was lucky enough to buy a bunch of fabric from a lady who was de-stashing, so I occasionally just need a bit of solids to complete a project.
Once my stash winds down, I'm thinking of taking up fabric dyeing. I can get plain white cotton fabric for about $4 per meter, which is way more economical after the initial investment into the dyes. Plus fabric dyeing sound like fun and the results are so beautiful.