fkt, didn't we always have to pay taxes on unemployment?

Hard to believe prices have actually doubled in Ohio - that's scary!

Canmitch1971,look over in Recipes Section i have put something over there i think you and maybe all the other fine Ladies would like with the price of Conensed Milk it's like almost 3dollars a can here in W.v

from another Jerseyan...we have shoprite, A&P and a few other supers in our area.

My hubby is a BIG mild drinker..so I check out the circulars each week as they arrive and go to the one who has the lowest price.....works for me as there usually is one that is running a sale on milk.

I know........nothing political but I cannot keep still. As everyone has observed, prices for even basic foods have increased over the years. The government says there is no inflation so the Social Security for retirees does not get a Cost of Living increase this year! Humpf!!!!!

And then there is how they make the packaging larger to get you to pay more. I understand that costs rise and so they must charge more for that reason. But to spend more on larger packages to con us into paying more - that's just, well, a con.

Not just food containers. A year or two ago, they started making some paperback books taller for some reason. And charging more. Or they'd bring a mass market paperback back as a much more expensive trade paperback. People seem to think nothing of paying $11 now for a paperback. I remember when they were 75 cents...

We go to Winco to buy our milk--last time we bought it, it was $1.99. Gas seems to be holding fairly steady here--regular is about $2.69/gallon but when we shop at Fred Meyer, we can get at least 3 cents off each gallon, and sometimes, even 10 cents off a gallon. My husband and I are very budget-minded, and watch every cent.
I don't know about the natural gas bills though. We had a new high-efficiency gas furnace put in, for which we got a $900 rebate from our utility company, and will get a $1500 energy tax credit on our Federal income taxes--but one of the best things is that our gas/electric bill for last month was only $150--last year it was over $400! Granted, the average daily temperature was much higher this year, but...what a nice surprise to see that low of a bill!

Nellebelles we had 24 new windows and a new gas furnace put in this fall and our gas bills compared to last year at this time are about half the amount of last year. We will also be getting some money back from the government too.

I bet that you noticed your home is a lot more comfortable too! I know ours is. The furnace kicks in and it seems almost instantly it is warm. We also added another layer of insulation in the attic. Along with keeping the house warm, that provided some noise control as well. We live a block away from a busy street, and now we can barely hear the traffic. We added new windows last year, all except for the big windows in the front of our house.That is our next project, slated for this summer!

Yes we have really noticed a difference in the warmth and the noise level. I just love my windows. I wanted new windows for so long and now I have them. We had also finished the attic when we first moved here and they put lots of insulation in it. It is my sewing room and I love it. This house was built in the 1920's and it had the original windows and furnace. Yikes!!!

I'm also tired of "re-packaging". Same size package, less contents. Don't buy bacon often, but it used to be a pound, now it's 14oz. Dog food used to be 20 lbs per bag and now it's 18 lbs.
I've always been the "coupon queen". I check the circulars and shop the specials with coupons. You don't want to get behind me in the checkout line because it takes the cashier forever to ring up my order. But with DH unemployed since Nov 2008 (now self-employed) every little bit of saving helps. Thank goodness there's only 2 of us at home--I can't imagine feeding a big family these days.