Thursday, July 3, 2008

Time to tighten the belt

I stole the picture from Texican--no telling where he procured it but it certainly came to mind when I was at Walmart this noon time.

I just ran in for a few things--cat food, laundry detergent and envelopes. Well, then, on impulse, I added a carton of seltzer water, some clip-on sunglasses and contour blush.

Standing in line, I pulled a $20 bill out of my wallet and thought hmmmm, it will probably come to just over $20 and it will be nice to have some smaller bills before I drive to New Hampshire, so I pulled out another $20---NOT ENOUGH!!!

Six items at Walmart came to $46.87. How can this be?

10 comments:

KGMom said...

Oh Beth--where to start? I know your question is rhetorical, but for too long Americans have lived a kind of subsidized life. We had cheap gas compared to the whole (almost) rest of the world. Now gas prices are way up, tied to a WEAK dollar, and we begin to feel the pinch. Sad thing is, we won't get much sympathy because we have paid too little attention to folks elsewhere.
Oh, I could go on. But I won't. Yup--we will all have to tighten our belts.

SJ said...

I spent over $80 on a dinner party last night

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

It's time to adjust to a new way of life, one that most of us have never known. I'm horrified too, every day. As I said to Texican, this picture is funny, but in context it's heartbreaking. We'll have to buckle up and hold on and learn to live with it for a while.

Lavinia said...

The times they are a-changin....20 doesn't go very far. At least you aren't in Toronto--you would have had to add 13% sales tax. Ouch!

Anonymous said...

I know exactly how you feel! I was a Walmart today grunting my teeth!

Pappy said...

I haven't seen that prices are falling at Wal-Mart add in a while. Our dollar is weak only because our well paid and well feed politicians won't get off their collective duffs and do what needs to be done. We have the reserves and the best technology, but the lawyers controlling our legislatures have made it illegal for Americans, and no one else, to drill where we need to drill. Time for a big change there. China is drilling off the Florida coast using Cubans to do the drilling - How in tune to enviromental issues are the Chinese? Wake up! We're spending billions on folks elsewhere and most of them repay us by sending their suicide bombers here to kill the Golden Goose. Glad I'm not in charge. And while you were waiting to check out, there were probably dozens of folks in line whose bill you paid in addition to yours. Folks who could work, but won't because the assistance is so good and so easy to get. I no longer enjoy shopping. Pappy P.S. Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend - if you can afford it. :)

steviewren said...

I would just like to say, Beth I feel your pain. It is hard to see our hard earned dollars slip away so quickly.

With that said, Pappy I have to agree with you. Individually on a daily basis I might not think very far beyond my home and personal check book but collectively American's are very generous. We respond to the suffering of others as well or better than anyone else. Times are changing. We do need to tighten our belts. We don't need as much stuff. We can find a solution to this problem.

God Bless America-Land That I Love!

Stephanie said...

the price of averything a jut crazy these days

Genevieve Netz said...

Most of us could be a bit more frugal in many ways. It won't hurt us a bit. We need to build state-of-the-art nuclear power plants so we can run more things on electricity. The extra electricity would help us weather the storm until a real alternative fuel is found. (I don't consider corn a real alternative fuel.)

julochka said...

just entering a wal-mart is a mistake in and of itself, isn't it? even more so if it's actually expensive now! :-) on the bright side, maybe now they'll be able to pay their employees properly and get them some health insurance!