I've never been so happy to own a fuel sipping vehicle than I do right now looking at gas prices.
I'm even happier that, cold weather be damned, I started adjusting myself to using public transit months ago.
Apparently gas prices in Edmonton averaged $1.018/L as of February 22nd this year, which was the lowest out of 19 cities surveyed. The highest city surveyed was Vancouver, at $1.2430/L on average (my heart goes out to you guys). The country as a whole came in around $1.151/L
For you guys in the US, those I believe those prices translate to $3.853/gal, $4.705/gal and $4.357/gal respectively.
I know the prices are going up as a result of what's going on in the middle east, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't see it as a purely supply vs. demand issue causing this.
Conflict goes up - Prices go up
Conflict goes down - Prices.... yeah.... about that....
I kind of wish it would warm up already so I could try riding my bike to work. 18km in little over an hour? That's doable. Just means I have to wake up early. That part may be a little less doable.
The guy I'm seeing drives a larger truck; it cost him about $90 a tank last week to fill his truck, and he goes through SEVERAL tanks a month. I try to keep mine under $20 every 2 weeks. Now that I remember what it costs to feed a truck, the recent price hikes mean a little more to me. Before, not so much.
I don't foresee the price of gas breaking us up, but the 40km between our respective homes sucks a little more now.
Have you guys noticed the price of fuel impacting your budgets lately? How are you dealing with it?
Showing posts with label Prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prices. Show all posts
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Avoiding Temptation
Reason #437 to bring something interesting (and filling) to work for lunch:
Avoiding the brand new shiny restaurant downstairs. Damn does it smell good.
For the last 8 months or so the restaurant on the first floor of our building had been under renovation. And I believe new ownership. What that meant for me was that my office, conveniently located directly above the bulk of the work, has been noisy as hell with them sawing, drilling and banging away to their hearts content on the kitchen ceiling and plumbing. Those pipes run up my office wall, and the sound was downright deafening at times. I actually went to the safety department, got a stash of ear plugs, and went around my corner of the office offering them to people. Everyone took a pair. I think someone may have finally taken us seriously and lodged a complaint, because towards the end the louder noise held off until 5pm on the dot. We all thought we should get coupons to the place for having to endure that, but no such luck.
But, it's over now, and what was once a fairly dated run of the mill restaurant and salad bar is now a brand spanking new Brazilian BBQ joint.
*insert drool here*
If I'm not mistaken it will be featured on the show "Opening Soon", because their camera crews were hanging around the last few days. Opening day came, so I decided to check out their website rather than tempting myself by going in to have a look.
Holy crap. It's going to be a while before I go there.
It's a fixed price meal that uses what is apparently called a "rodizio" concept. You have a little disk you flip back and forth between the red and green sides. Green signals the servers to bring over a selection of meat skewers from the BBQ, red signals them that you don't want any more meat at the moment. You pick up your side dishes from some form of salad bar off to the side. It doesn't say whether or not appetizers, drinks and dessert are included in the price, but considering they have a bar in there and the dessert pictures look plated, I'm going to say probably not.
Lunch is $22
Dinner is $45
This girl will go broke(r) in there.
I can see why they need the keep the price up, especially since it looks like an all you can eat meat bar. Very Alberta friendly. Very not Cassie's wallet friendly.
And I smell it every time I go downstairs now.
So not fair.
Avoiding the brand new shiny restaurant downstairs. Damn does it smell good.
For the last 8 months or so the restaurant on the first floor of our building had been under renovation. And I believe new ownership. What that meant for me was that my office, conveniently located directly above the bulk of the work, has been noisy as hell with them sawing, drilling and banging away to their hearts content on the kitchen ceiling and plumbing. Those pipes run up my office wall, and the sound was downright deafening at times. I actually went to the safety department, got a stash of ear plugs, and went around my corner of the office offering them to people. Everyone took a pair. I think someone may have finally taken us seriously and lodged a complaint, because towards the end the louder noise held off until 5pm on the dot. We all thought we should get coupons to the place for having to endure that, but no such luck.
But, it's over now, and what was once a fairly dated run of the mill restaurant and salad bar is now a brand spanking new Brazilian BBQ joint.
*insert drool here*
If I'm not mistaken it will be featured on the show "Opening Soon", because their camera crews were hanging around the last few days. Opening day came, so I decided to check out their website rather than tempting myself by going in to have a look.
Holy crap. It's going to be a while before I go there.
It's a fixed price meal that uses what is apparently called a "rodizio" concept. You have a little disk you flip back and forth between the red and green sides. Green signals the servers to bring over a selection of meat skewers from the BBQ, red signals them that you don't want any more meat at the moment. You pick up your side dishes from some form of salad bar off to the side. It doesn't say whether or not appetizers, drinks and dessert are included in the price, but considering they have a bar in there and the dessert pictures look plated, I'm going to say probably not.
Lunch is $22
Dinner is $45
This girl will go broke(r) in there.
I can see why they need the keep the price up, especially since it looks like an all you can eat meat bar. Very Alberta friendly. Very not Cassie's wallet friendly.
And I smell it every time I go downstairs now.
So not fair.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Going A Little Far Don't You Think?
Don't get me wrong, I love my Starbucks, but don't you think you're going a little too far?
http://www.everydaymoney.ca/2011/01/starbucks-adds-whopping-drink-size.html
A 31 fluid ounces of sweetened beverage? 3 ounces shy of 1 liter? Is this really necessary? No, it's not. It's enabling gluttony. Why not just make the people walk out the door with 2 grandes or 4 shorts? They're the same thing!
I've always been a bit miffed by the fact that Starbucks doesn't list it's short beverage prices on the menu. I was right ticked off when I heard they were planning to take the talls off the menu as well. Marketers know full well that people order what they can see, do most people even know that they have a short option?
The problem here is twofold. Larger sizes come at larger prices. Only show people the larger sizes, and more often than not that's what they'll buy. Waistlines get larger and wallets get smaller.
I like the small coffee shop concept of Starbucks. Yes, the charm has taken a considerable hit during it's global hyper-expansion, but it's still there. Competing with McDonalds and 7-11? Come on Starbucks, I'm disappointed in you.
http://www.everydaymoney.ca/2011/01/starbucks-adds-whopping-drink-size.html
A 31 fluid ounces of sweetened beverage? 3 ounces shy of 1 liter? Is this really necessary? No, it's not. It's enabling gluttony. Why not just make the people walk out the door with 2 grandes or 4 shorts? They're the same thing!
I've always been a bit miffed by the fact that Starbucks doesn't list it's short beverage prices on the menu. I was right ticked off when I heard they were planning to take the talls off the menu as well. Marketers know full well that people order what they can see, do most people even know that they have a short option?
The problem here is twofold. Larger sizes come at larger prices. Only show people the larger sizes, and more often than not that's what they'll buy. Waistlines get larger and wallets get smaller.
I like the small coffee shop concept of Starbucks. Yes, the charm has taken a considerable hit during it's global hyper-expansion, but it's still there. Competing with McDonalds and 7-11? Come on Starbucks, I'm disappointed in you.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Frugal Blog Bone to Pick
I like reading blogs that teach me a thing or two about how to stretch a buck. I even subscribe to the daily mailings of one such blog, and read the entire e-mail religiously. I love reading about how I can repurpose my items that would otherwise collect dust, use the last of my milk up before (or even after) it's starting to turn, and get new ideas for saving money on my utilities. However, I'm thinking about stopping. Specifically, I'm thinking about stopping reading the ones about how to save money on groceries. Why?
They aren't realistic.
Admittedly, most of these blogs come out of the US, and for where they are the prices they're writing about may be reasonable. For me however, they're not. For example, I recently took the unit prices from the recipes of one blog, and decided to compare them with my trip to the grocery store today:
Their prices:
2L organic milk - $1.28
1 dozen organic eggs - $0.90
1 lb butter - $0.80
My prices:
2L regular milk - $2.89
1 dozen regular eggs - $2.35
1 lb butter - $3.99 (On Sale)
This is not from a high end grocery store, it's from an average one. These are not top dollar prices, in fact they're store brand. These aren't organic items, they're regular ones. If you want to go organic the price for the milk hits $5-6, and about the same for the eggs. I'm scared to look at the price of organic butter. Don't even get me started on meat and vegetables, because they're worse than the staple prices.
The suggestion that going to the farmer's market will lower my grocery bill is laughable. If anything, it's more expensive than the store. I go for certain things so that I can support the local farmers, but $5 for a dozen eggs hurts my wallet. I would love to go 100% local, but it just isn't realistic. Ditto for organic. We don't have clearance stores and I've never seen a double or triple coupon day (ever, in my life). Most of the coupons I've come across have "cannot be combined with other offers" written on the bottom of them, and they are a pittance off of pre-made foods that I don't use.
So to all those bloggers out there who come up with solid meat and potato meals for under $5... good on you. To those bloggers/commenters who look down their noses at those of us that can't meet your arbitrary dollar figures.... bite me.
They aren't realistic.
Admittedly, most of these blogs come out of the US, and for where they are the prices they're writing about may be reasonable. For me however, they're not. For example, I recently took the unit prices from the recipes of one blog, and decided to compare them with my trip to the grocery store today:
Their prices:
2L organic milk - $1.28
1 dozen organic eggs - $0.90
1 lb butter - $0.80
My prices:
2L regular milk - $2.89
1 dozen regular eggs - $2.35
1 lb butter - $3.99 (On Sale)
This is not from a high end grocery store, it's from an average one. These are not top dollar prices, in fact they're store brand. These aren't organic items, they're regular ones. If you want to go organic the price for the milk hits $5-6, and about the same for the eggs. I'm scared to look at the price of organic butter. Don't even get me started on meat and vegetables, because they're worse than the staple prices.
The suggestion that going to the farmer's market will lower my grocery bill is laughable. If anything, it's more expensive than the store. I go for certain things so that I can support the local farmers, but $5 for a dozen eggs hurts my wallet. I would love to go 100% local, but it just isn't realistic. Ditto for organic. We don't have clearance stores and I've never seen a double or triple coupon day (ever, in my life). Most of the coupons I've come across have "cannot be combined with other offers" written on the bottom of them, and they are a pittance off of pre-made foods that I don't use.
So to all those bloggers out there who come up with solid meat and potato meals for under $5... good on you. To those bloggers/commenters who look down their noses at those of us that can't meet your arbitrary dollar figures.... bite me.
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