13 Products And Hobbies That Cost An Arm And A Leg, And This Is Why We Don't Have "Third Places" Anymore
Even though inflation has gone down, things still feel very, very expensive. So when asked: "What is horribly overpriced?" the BuzzFeed Community had a lot to say on the matter. Here's their honest opinions below
1."My family of three went to see Deadpool & Wolverine. Got the tickets, two drinks, and one popcorn for an 11 a.m. showing. It cost us almost $70. I have to be VERY excited for the film to pay theater prices. Most times, I'll just wait for it to hit streaming, which is happening faster and faster now anyway."
"The last time I went to the movies, it cost about $50 for two of us (one adult, one youth) and two medium drinks, a small popcorn, and one small bag of mini Reese's. Our local theatre closed here, so now that means driving to the city and having to factor in the extra cost of gas. The last movie I saw was The Nun II because my niece and I are huge horror movie fans, and it got decent reviews.
I remember around five-ish years ago, I would take her to see movies we weren't all that excited to see. Having our local theatre helped a bit, but life was definitely cheaper pre-COVID. It makes me sad when I really stop and think about it."
2."When I was a kid, a lot of cuts of meat and bones were dirt cheap. We used to literally get bags of bones from the butchers for free because no one would buy them. Half would go to the dogs, and the other half would be made into soups to get us through the week. Now, those same foods are often very expensive. Popular chefs brought traditional poor-person recipes into the spotlight, often via cooking reality shows, and supermarkets realized they could now add an enormous markup. Bones and cuts of meat that people used to think of as disgusting are now more expensive than steak."
3."Candy bars, like Snickers, used to be 33-50 cents each, or you could get three for a dollar on sale. Now, they’re over $2 a piece and never go on sale. I think they now sell fewer candy bars and do less advertising, so they still make more money."
4."Sporting events. High salaries and inflation make it undesirable to attend any game for any sport."
5."I've stopped getting my hair done. Paying $300+ every other month just so I can have red hair seems wild to me. I'll just be waiting for it to grow too long and getting a haircut every 1-2 years."
6."Funeral flowers are out of control. I used to do funeral flowers, and I can tell you most of the time, they are old flowers to clean out their stock. We did a lot of funerals, so we didn’t have old flowers, and we were fair on price. Death is a big business for something that will only last a few days. But a green houseplant — it will last and be appreciated."
7."We recently brought our pup to the vet for her annual — she had a scratch to her eye and she needed dental cleaning. That’s outrageously expensive enough, but the issue was actually that none of us can afford to go to the human dentist or eye doctor due to lack of insurance for ourselves. It’s absolutely wild the lack of health care options and unless you have a credit card with a high spending amount, it’s not affordable, which is pathetic."
8."My husband and I eloped in 1993 and are still happily married. Usually. The money we briefly considered spending on a wedding made a nice down payment on our house."
9."Airbnb. It was created to bypass regulations that jack up the cost of hotels, and then they needed regulating because the owners are assholes, so now they cost as much as hotels. Same as Lyft and Uber — attempts to bypass and put out of business long-established, regulated industries."
10."Levis! I’m not talking designer, acid-washed, distressed crap. Wearing a pair today is an insult to my ass and the wallet against it."
11."Adult care is an issue for a lot of middle-aged people who still need to work, cannot find a job because they cannot work in a building but only from home because, well, caregiving costs way too much! Whatever happened to support for people who are caregivers? Parents get tax cuts for their kids and their subsidies and other things state by state to help out people who are licensed caregivers, but what about the individuals taking care of their own family and loved ones by themselves who have no income cause no one lets them work from home anymore But they have to because they’re the only caregiver? Absolutely ridiculous."
12."Hotels! I had to book a night at a Marriott Courtyard, but because it’s in a major city, though, still in a shitty neighborhood, it was $300 a night!?! I could have stayed at a better hotel in a better location if I didn’t want the proximity."
13."Just existing fits this list. Just about everything became too expensive. If people discover any way around those purchases, whatever they find will become prohibitively expensive."
Are there particular items that are still just too expensive to afford? Tell us what they are in the comments below
