Everybody notices when the price of gas goes up or down a penny or two, but when have you ever seen a news article re a package of Walmart-brand tortillas going up $.60, or 62% since last week? Or a package of cod going up $.50, or 12.6% in the last two weeks? I drive little; probably less than 60 miles per week, or about 2.5 gallons. If the price of gas goes up 10 cents per gallon, that's 25 cents! Far less than the 60 cent rise in lousy tortillas. Heck, between the tortillas and cod, I spent over a month of gas rises in Walmart's grocery store. Now, this isn't a complaint about Walmart (not much that is) since the equivalent items at other grocery stores are about 30% higher than these! Do you realize that people who shop the other grocery stores (except for buying ONLY sale items) spend between 30-70% more per item? Does anybody care but me (only because wife cares)? Take a reasonable budget of $350/month (two old adults). Had I shopped other than Walmart, I would have increased that monthly budget to at least $525. That's $2100 per year. Geez. I have better uses of $2100 than to eat it!
Here's an exercise for you. If you save $2100 per year and add a 7% return per year to the savings, how much will you have in 15 years? Would you believe $42,295.00? Can you think of something to do with that rather than eating it?
It's time to look at inflation and get your mind off the pennies at the pump. Sure, they add up too. But every time gas goes up, the cost of transportation (TRUCKS, Trains, planes) go up more dramatically costing the food distributors even much more exponentially. Guess who pays for all this? Check your grocery prices more closely and you'll see. Want to save money, stop eating; or at least learn how to shop cheaper. Whereas the average return in the stock market may be something around 8-9%, MUCH more can be saved by just switching stores, like up to 50% returns. Think about it.
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