Is there an item that you used to frequently purchase for a blend of simplicity and affordability? You thought the constraints of inflation would never reach these items because how could a simple trip to the barber become an ongoing wallet hindrance? Today, we’re exploring items that have shifted from discount deals into payment plan purchases. However, remember cheaper alternatives and extra solutions exist alongside the expensive majority.
1. Concert Tickets
Imagine waiting in a pre-queue for the chance to possibly score a pair of tickets to a two-hour show. These lines pop up around nine months before shows, expecting you to arrange funds to align with the decided prices of the concert the following year. Once you enter the virtual queue, you see a startling fact: 9,000+ people are ahead of you, hoping for the same luck.
After entering the virtual line and clicking on the scraps, you gawk at the revealed prices: $1,000 for two nosebleed tickets. Of course, certain shows still exist for $20 a pop, but the majority turn into a price-gouging battlefield.
2. Magazines
The first job I snagged out of college was a bookseller at the local Barnes and Noble. Our responsibilities included the selling of books, shelving, and inventorying paper supplies, including magazines. The amount of magazines we had to shred and toss out overshadowed the product we sold. I’d attribute that to the price of the leaflets. Few customers wanted to scrounge upwards of $15 for a one-time, flimsy dust collector, with limited return opportunities. Sometimes, magazines sold for a higher cost than the books.
3. Airbnb
Planning a vacation in the next few months? Are you searching for a hotel with an upfront deposit, or will you opt for the cheaper, roomier option with uncertain fees tacked onto the price post-stay? Airbnbs are great options, in theory; however, each host differs in the requirements of the guests. According to an article published by NerdWallet, Airbnb hosts can charge guests an incredible percentage on top of the base rate for a cleaning fee.
On a subreddit dedicated to breaking down Airbnb questions, an Airbnb host explains the exorbitant cleaning fee cost boils down to what the host pays for professional cleaning services. Another host chimed in to mention they clean the suite themselves, which saves money, not time. While hotels staff their properties with cleaners who receive a legal (albeit maybe not fair) wage, Airbnb is a third-party service, relying on each host to take cleaning matters under their own control.
4. Video Games
A few years ago, my best friend and I walked into a GameStop, excited for the newest version of Mario Party. We split the price of the game we’d both play, ignoring the red-flag ticket price of $75. After purchasing the game and grinning on the drive home, we realized we forgot one important factor: checking to see if the game was inside the box. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. In an irritated manner, we drove back to the store, attained the physical copy of the game, and then circled back home. All for us to dislike the content.
We understand video game inflation depends on the quality of the game design, popularity, and a host of other randomized factors, but we couldn’t justify spending that much money for a subpar adventure into a Mario subdivision. Not when video game subscriptions offer individuals unlimited gameplay for a fixed price. Service preference depends on the game console, though popular services include PlayStation Essential and GamePass.
5. Nail Salon Visits
Is adding a set of claws to your hands part of a necessary beauty upkeep? Or do you favor a sliver of paint atop your toes? Nail salon prices are not immune to inflation and rising wages. A combo mani/pedi that used to cost $70 altogether approaches the $100-$150 mark, which may work for some people but not for everyone.
On an internet thread, nail salon patrons discuss the massive price increase in treatments over the years. The gradual uptick causes nail salon customers to re-prioritize their beauty routines, asking themselves questions like “Do I need these nails?” “Can I afford these services?” “Should I DIY my nails?”
Of course, like anything, specific nail salons offer services at a much-discounted rate than the common prices. Recently, I visited a nail salon that asked $15 for a simple nail painting and $25 for an all-intensive pedicure. I gasped at the prices, as I was used to paying closer to three digits for the same treatments.
6. Hair Cuts
How much money does it cost a single person to get a lock of hair chopped off their head? We’re not talking about fancy blowouts here, but rather simple haircuts or trims to maintain a healthy head of hair. I’ll list a few state average haircut prices for perspective.
An average haircut in Florida costs $50, while the minimum wage is $12. This price point leaves individuals confused about whether scraping together wages from four hours' work is worth letting a stranger clip their long locks. In California, an average man's haircut costs $36, while a woman’s haircut nears the $100 mark. At $16, the minimum wage in California is higher than in Florida, thanks to the higher cost of living. Yet the overarching question we ask is, “What is worth spending copious amounts of money on?”
7. Delivery Food
In college, I wrote for the newspaper. Out of all the benefits the club provided, one that stuck out to potential members was the seemingly unlimited access to pizza and Chinese food. During each Monday meeting, the editor-in-chief ordered an extraneous amount of these foods delivered for the few dedicated, recurring members. We found that each Monday a new face popped into the meeting, bright-eyed about writing, even more ecstatic about the food asset. As the following Monday rolled around, we noticed new faces in search of the same thing. We didn’t intend to lure people in with the promise of food access; it just happened to attract hungry college kids.
This pizza/ Chinese food anecdote points to the old price of delivery food. Our college gained access to discount deals on pizza and Chinese delivery, but even when we used up our discounts, doling out a few extra dollars for convenience made sense. Today, delivery carriers charge extra fees on top of the original delivery fee. Say you want to order a pizza from Uber Eats. After adding a delivery fee, service fee, and tip, a $15 order morphs into a $30 meal. I’d argue it still makes sense in select scenarios, depending on the fees and price of food. Although, in situations where delivery fees and service fees double or triple the price of the food, why not dine in or pick up the food yourself?
8. Fast Food
Who doesn’t love a statistic about fast food? Here’s a whopping one to consider while eating a whopper. Over the past ten years, the price of fast food in restaurants like Burger King rose 55%. Chains like McDonalds one-upped Burger King with a 100% increase in food prices.
Dollar menu, who? The famous affordable $1 meal menu sprouted cousins with the $1 $2 $3 menu after realizing a heavy amount of customers stuck to ordering off the $1 menu. $5 meal deals also make an appearance, allowing customers to indulge in limited-time meals for a Lincoln. Apps let customers save on their food orders, providing different deals each week.
9. Produce
Fruits and vegetables, two main parts of the five-component food pyramid, are delicious additions to an everyday diet. Juicy fruit enhances meals with sweet, natural sugar taste, while vegetables supplement meat and dairy dishes with a savory embellishment, perfect for maintaining health. Yet, the cost of fresh produce causes shoppers to shy away from tasty, healthy products for cost-effective frozen, canned, or preserved produce. As far as health benefits go, frozen fruit is as close to fresh, though it still doesn't shock the senses as much as biting into a ripe peach.
Finding bargains on produce is difficult, though not impossible, as seasons, demands, weather (extreme events like droughts and hurricanes can increase the price), and labor costs control the price points for produce. Pay attention to the high seasons for specific fruits and vegetables to snag those budget blueberries or priced-down peas.
10. New Car
To finance? To lease? Brand new or used? Those questions keep potential car buyers up until the sun rises. After combing through relevant financial information, you slap on a smile and drive your beat-up Toyota to a dealership. Hoping to trade in the scrap metal for a hefty down payment, you beam through test drives, yearning to find the car that matches your vibe. One thing stops you from bursting through the door with a brand-new car. The price tag.
Even with a profitable trade-in and monthly payments, you can’t justify paying nearly $50,000 for a vehicle that depreciates after you drive it off the lot. Lots of prospective car buyers opt for certified pre-owned or used cars to save money and optimize their budgets.
11. Meat
When was the last time you ordered a rack of ribs at a BBQ restaurant? Or a tender filet mignon during an anniversary dinner? Do you remember the price of the last meat-centric dish you ate at a restaurant?
Restaurants up the price of their food to gain a profit and stay open. Nonetheless, the price of restaurant food indicates a significant rise in grocery store prices. Beef, one of the most consumed meats in the world, hit a record high in October, when one pound of beef reached $5.67 per pound. A pound of sirloin steak reached $11.79 per pound, leaving meat eaters wincing.
Despite grumblings and grievances of meat eaters pledging to turn vegetarian, produce prices are also on the rise. Grocery shopping became an expensive task, making it essential to look out for discounts, sales, and markets happening in your neighborhood.
12. Soda
My dad drinks approximately eight diet cokes a day. He’s noticed a hack in the system where the corner store down the street sells extra large fountain drinks for $0.79 cents. He’s such a frequent customer they permit him to get refills once or twice a week. At the same corner store, a bottle of Diet Coke sells for $2 with a fraction of the fizzy substance sealed into an airtight bottle. Down the next aisle, a 12-pack of the same drink sells for $10.
Sometimes, he harps on the outrageous price gouging of soda (calling back to times when it cost $2.99 for 12 cans of the carbonated beverage). But for now, he’s content with his early morning convenience store runs.
13. Chips
If you type “chip prices” into Google, a swath of brightened bags displaying discount deals appears. Walmart showcases a traditional bag of Lay’s chips for $3.50, $.50 more than the usual price of $3. Over on Reddit, in the subreddit entitled Shrinkflation, someone holds an 8-ounce bag of Classic Lays, commenting that $4.79 for 8 ounces of chips in a half-filled bag is a ridiculous excuse for a snack. Another netizen responds, stating that “party size” chip bags are what the normal bag of chips used to be packaged in. Now, the big chip bags imitate children-sized portions.
14. Rent
I graduated college during the pandemic, meaning our school kicked us out two months before graduation. With no place to go, loads of us scrambled our college cash together for an Airbnb or a temporary place to stay before we figured out our post-college summer plans. A few of us thought about getting apartments, but how could we? We were broke, almost-graduated college students saving money for post-grad adventures. Those of us who managed to snag apartments filled the spaces with 5-7 people to alleviate the high cost of lodging.
Four years later, we found ourselves living back in our parents' homes or relying on the same method we used in lockdown. Anything to mitigate the outlandish rent prices. Luckily, rent assistance programs and stabilized rental properties exist to combat the ever-rising prices of housing.
15. Coffee
A cup of Joe keeps the senses alert and the mind bright for a long day at the office. Splash some cream and sugar into a pure black cup of coffee for a milky, sweetened flavor, or maybe even dazzle your drink with butter pecan creamer, or another extravagant flavor.
Similar to everything else on this list, coffee prices are rising because of fertilization, equipment, and labor inflation. The average price for a regular cup of coffee at a coffee shop is $3.08. That price does not include any fancy embellishments like non-dairy milk or flavored cream.
At home, coffee prices dip into the affordable range, but you must take into consideration other factors like the price of the coffee machine, the time it takes to brew a cup of Joe, and the price of additives you put in the beverage. All things considered, a cup of homemade coffee costs, on average, $0.23 per cup.
16. Subscription Memberships
Stand up if you forget how many subscriptions you sign up for until a strange email pings your phone, alerting you of the recent charge to your bank account. I am standing.
Subscription memberships are sneaky ways to lose money, based on the sole fact the majority of people who subscribe forget they enrolled. Another reason making subscription memberships expensive relates to the discount deals attached to tiny fine print guidelines. For example, one time, I subscribed to a hair product service through a YouTuber sponsorship deal. The product promised three months of 50% off the shampoo and conditioner. Elated at that, I rushed to the website, logged in the promo code, and thereafter received the best shampoo I had ever used.
Three months passed, my hair looked sleek and healthy, and then a glaring issue occurred. The shampoo service charged me the normal price of the shampoo in the fourth month. Entranced in the stupor about hearing of the discount, I neglected to read the fine print. The agreement explicitly stated using the discount would lock you into a six-month contract, where the price returns to the normal value after the three-month promotion.
Rocket Money, PocketGuard, Simplifi, and Billbot are all apps and services allowing customers to find hidden subscriptions. Plus, they list out payments connected to the subscription. In addition to using these services, always read the fine print, no matter how tiny the font size. Don’t repeat my mistake.
