r/canada • u/LaconicStrike • Jan 25 '23
22% of Canadians say they’re ‘completely out of money’ as inflation bites: poll - National | Globalnews.ca
https://globalnews.ca/news/9432953/inflation-interest-rate-ipsos-poll-out-of-money/373
u/jivoochi Nova Scotia Jan 25 '23
I, a Nova Scotian, bought a singular red bell pepper yesterday (not even an organic one, just a regular-ass pepper) and it cost $3.09.
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u/bada_bing Jan 26 '23
I tried growing bell peppers from seeds out of store-bought peppers last summer. They grew vigorously and I ended up with a bunch of peppers that were more flavourful than store-bought ones. not as big though.
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u/heedles Jan 25 '23
Hot tip, pull off as much of the stem as you can before taking it to the register. Remove that excess weight and save your pennies.
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Jan 26 '23 edited Mar 24 '23
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u/dospinacoladas British Columbia Jan 26 '23
4011.
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u/Final-Dimension-9090 Jan 26 '23
Bahaha. I was a cashier at Safeway for 7 years. I can still remember a few codes. I stopped working there 20 years ago Lol it was scary when I actually started thinking mmm I’m craving a 4011
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u/TheLargeIsTheMessage Jan 26 '23
Also, pick the most "hollow" peppers, (e.g. big and light), those have less of the white stuff you have to trim off.
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u/TheDrewCareyShow Jan 26 '23
cries in Newfoundland prices
Since our weather in the winter is so garbage we frequently have ferry delays and produce spoils pretty much as soon as you buy it. It's fucking insane and our government is doing nothing about our food security.
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u/Godlike1972 Jan 25 '23
Food prices are crazy.
We cut our buying down by half and it feels like we’re spending the same.
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u/Mimical Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
I mean, it's exactly what has happened.
People on low income must be utterly strung to their limits. At some point it snaps.
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u/UnicornsInSpace Jan 25 '23
I was thinking about this the other day. How the hell do lower income families survive? I purchase nearly all of my families groceries at Costco. Lots of meal prep, freezing, and long term planning so there is never waste. While there certainly has been noticeable increase in our grocery bill, it's been manageable so far. Most items have indeed gone up, but it's nothing crazy at the local Costco for the most part. Maybe 10-15% overall. Feeding 3 adults and one child.
However, I take a trip to Loblaws/Sobeys once a week or so just for some odds and ends I can't get at Costco. And MAN... The prices have gone bananas. In some cases nearly doubling or more since last year. I'll see carts with just enough food for maybe one person for a week, and their bill is bigger than what my entire family goes through in a week. No frivolous shit either, just basic ass groceries.
It's sad... Something is indeed gonna give, and I fear both the short and long term consequences are going to be ugly.
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u/SpiralToNowhere Jan 25 '23
It's not just cost either, lower income families are often unable to take advantage of cost saving measures like bulk buying and freezing stuff due to lack of space and equipment. They might not be able to get to different stores to take advantage of better deals or have the equipment they need to cook larger quantities. Our local food bank has 2x the requests they usually have this time of year, and their donations from the public is half what they expect- lots of new people who never thought they'd be asking for groceries.
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u/SuperStucco Jan 25 '23
Yup. A few stores have slightly lower costs on a few items, but by the time I tack on transit costs it's at least as much. Buying bulk kind of works the same way, either struggle getting it home on transit or the extra money for hiring transport kills the savings. Kind of the same boat, people recommending saving money by dropping hundreds of dollars on a half or quarter cow or the like, but don't seem to realize that there are people who don't have that kind of money immediately available and don't have the money to pick up a spare chest freezer.
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u/audeo13 Jan 25 '23
So I volunteer for my community association and we've started running our own community pantry. We pick up donations of food that are about to expire from a few different grocery stores once a week and set up a pop up pantry in the evening for people to come thru and pick up what they need. Most of it is actually still good quality or has been frozen before it expired. We started this last year by running a bread pantry on the weekend for local seniors and residents in need and now it's grown and we offer alot more. We only started running it weekly at the beginning of the year but every week we're seeing more people.
We're one of the smaller community associations but are serving people from almost a dozen different neighborhoods most weeks. Its alot of work but it seems to be making a difference and helping out alot of families so it's worth it. But it's some serious horse shit that a bunch of volunteers have to band together because the government isn't doing shit.
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Jan 25 '23
I was thinking about this the other day. How the hell do lower income families survive?
They forgo discretionary spending. Birthdays become less extravagant. Clothes and toys become hand-me-downs. You wear layers, because the "Furnace is broken.". You eat a lot of value-menu stuff, processed foods, etc. Real cheese? Nope, it's sliced for the sandwiches now. The meat you can afford is baloney, if you can get meat at all. I was raised on Cheese-whiz and jam sandwiches. The parents don't drink, or go out; or do much at all. The kids don't get to participate in sports, or school lunches, or any of that.
Eventually when their kids old enough, they get a PT job and pay back to the family. The unfortunate part is that their kids may not know how close to homelessness they are; but they'll always hear the arguments about money, or how they can't afford XYZ. Little ears can take a lot in.
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u/-Moonscape- Jan 25 '23
Our grocery chain cartels are claiming record high profits while people can’t afford groceries
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Jan 25 '23
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u/NotMyFkingProblem Jan 25 '23
8% increased sales, 11% increased profit. So, they make more profit on sales. They say they reduced cost to increase profit, it's hard to believe when they have still expenses from covid measures and salary increase... They just make more margin on everything they sell.
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u/Tap_Z_or_R_Twice Jan 25 '23
Which is exactly what is happening, high up execs and CEOs have seen the greatest increase in pay/bonus while the rest of us struggle.
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u/TheRussianCabbage Jan 25 '23
Not enough people drawing that line yet
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u/mrpanicy Jan 25 '23
Because the media isn't doing their "supposed" job of reporting on this rampant profiteering. They, the corporations the media they own, just throw out the word "inflation" as a smoke screen to drastically increase prices and legally steal from customers.
They make bank and we go broke. They COULD take a bit of a hit on their profits to keep everything at pre-COVID prices and help the customers that keep them in business... but no. The stockholders come first.
Seriously, FUCK capitalism.
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u/DrDerpberg Québec Jan 25 '23
They eat worse and worse.
I'm fine financially, but even then on some level when I look at something like blueberries I ask myself if I really want to eat $2 of blueberries for breakfast in my yogurt. I end up buying the good stuff for my kid and eat worse almost just out of principle.
Some of it is hopefully seasonal, but I'm worried in the spring and summer they just won't lower prices as much as they could and tack even higher increases on what should be cheaper produce. I don't expect cheap blueberries in winter... But they better be cheap during blueberry season.
You can still get cheap calories if you cook big batches of stuff like rice and beans or potatoes... But people shouldn't be expected to live like peasants from the 1800s and we all need vitamins.
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u/breadispain Jan 25 '23
They eat worse and worse.
This is me. I used to eat big salads at lunch and cook a nice dinner several times a week, now I eat mostly cheap deli meat sandwiches and scrambled eggs because I can't afford to do otherwise.
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u/Throwaway47321 Jan 25 '23
They eat worse and worse.
This is really the big take away.
When I go to the store I see that things like eggs, produce, and raw meat have almost doubled in price in the recent few years. You know what is still $1.75, a box of Kraft Max and Cheese.
Your frozen, processed, and shelf stable foods have been hit much less hard by inflation (for obvious reasons) but it’s really causing people to make some poor food choices, even if they know it’s not the best.
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u/Zergom Manitoba Jan 25 '23
I’ve noticed too that prices have not gone up quite as extremely at Costco.
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u/Stockengineer Jan 25 '23
Because costco actually doesn’t rip of its members by price gouging Did you know loblaws has contracts with its vendors for certain prices per good, so when “inflation hit” they jacked up their prices anyways to increase profit margins. The supplier didn’t get any increase in profits they had to supply at the pre-inflation contract price
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u/CDNChaoZ Jan 25 '23
Even then, some items have prices that float. Tins of corn for example went crazy high about six months ago and have come down a bit.
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u/veggiecoparent Jan 25 '23
How the hell do lower income families survive?
I imagine a combination of foodbanks, being extremely frugal with sales, coupons and price-matching, dollar store food, going into credit card debt to afford groceries, relying on family/friend support and going hungry.
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u/jrobin04 Jan 25 '23
Spot on, this is how I lived for a long time. Still paying down that credit card debt now, it took a while but thankfully I was able to get out of extreme poverty. I'm just getting by now, able to pay my bills and pay off debt at a slow and steady pace. I don't have a lick of savings, I'm just thankful that I'm not going into more debt (for now...)
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u/RubberReptile Jan 25 '23
It definitely depends on where you are, too. I was at Walmart in a medium sized town recently and bacon was more than double the price compared to Superstore back in the Vancouver area. At a friggin Walmart! I thought WM was supposed to be cheap. Not like this was a boutique grocery in a tiny town with no other options either....
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u/LuangPrabangisinLaos Jan 25 '23
Foodbanks are seeing a massive influx of applications with donations down.
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u/TheBathrobeWizard Jan 25 '23
As someone on ODSP, we're already broken. My income, with one dependant, is less than rent for a 1-bedroom apartment. That's before food and expenses. We're in a Family shelter in Niagara and they have no rooms left. Welland, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, St Catherines... all the same story.
Those of us with lower incomes have already been consumed by the system... nobody noticed. Nobody cared.
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u/Organicgrowth Jan 25 '23
Feels like a slap in the face, doesn't it? It's not like people were living high on the hog on ODSP twenty years ago.
People are dying.
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u/Mine-Shaft-Gap Jan 25 '23
They absolutely are. My wife teaches at a school in a low income area. They run a community services program that will provide students with a meal. 4x as many kids are showing up since Christmas. They come at lunch. Then they come at the end of the day as they know there is a chance that there is no dinner at home. I think she told me last night that they blew through their January budget after the first week.
Edit: at the same time, people I work with who complain about the cost of food still buy their smokes, weed, beer, scratchers and other gambling bullshit.
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u/varitok Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
You're allowed to have your vices in life. I am very tired of the stuck up opinion that you're not allowed to complain about the costs of food and living while at the same time still being able to take what little you have to buy a case of beer or a few joints.
That kind of behaviour is just idiotic class in fighting. We're all struggling down here, who cares if someone buys a six pack while doing so. Stop gatekeeping what is considerED struggling.
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u/v13ragnarok7 Jan 25 '23
I cut a meal out of my daily routine and still can hardly afford food, always looking for sales or stickers on almost expired meat.
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u/black_cat_ Jan 25 '23
I've started eating 1 meal a day of oatmeal. Not the small packages, the giant bag of quick oats. It's like $4 for a KG of quick oats. I opened a new bag a couple weeks ago and I've barely made a dent in it.
Cheap, delicious, healthy.
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u/DeviousSmile85 Jan 25 '23
You should add in some rice recipes. A 40lb bag is like, 25-30 bucks and will last a stupidly long time.
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u/geoken Jan 25 '23
This comment string feels like what the internet would have been if it was around during the depression.
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u/Axemetal Canada Jan 25 '23
Absolutely! Add in a little spice or some chicken broth and your rice dish is exponentially better too.
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u/SirHector Jan 25 '23
Potatoes are versatile and can offer a lot of fullness and nutrition!
Also, for vegetables, I’m planning on having a small container garden this summer. Seeds are free if you harvest them from food, and pretty cheap otherwise.
Being vegetarian also helps cut down costs, but I do end up having an extra expense with daily vitamins ($14-$20 a month)
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u/NottheBrightest27783 Jan 25 '23
So what you do is: get Costco card. Eat substituted the chicken and sausage. Costco chicken is much bigger than anywhere else. Eggs, milk etc is much cheaper there. One Costco chicken is good for 4 portions at minimum. That $120 fee has $60 refundable if you don’t use the card enough.
We did a challenge w my wife on how low can we push the food cost and still have 3 meals a day each. We ended up at $48 incl tax. a week.
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u/martymcfly9888 Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
So this is the first time I've ever used a foodbank.
I've got to tell you - the last 3 years has been a rollercoaster.
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u/BlindOptometrist369 Jan 25 '23
The people I know just started stealing food
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u/martymcfly9888 Jan 25 '23
My BIL said he does this and I believe him But I can't.
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u/CyberMasu Jan 26 '23
I'm considering this, considering Loblaws record profits the past couple of years I think they deserve to get fucked.
PC financial straight up stole money from the account I started with them and then closed my credit account which tanked my credit score. And they have refused to even acknowledge anything happened.
FUCK YOU LOBLAWS I HOPE YOUR BOARD MEMBERS ROT IN PRISON. if it were my way they would be the ones starving.
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u/respectedwarlock Jan 25 '23
I've stopped judging people for stealing food. You do what you gotta do to survive and/or feed your family. Big box grocery stores meanwhile are raking in profits
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u/Phaze_Change Jan 26 '23
My grocery bill doubled in a matter of a few months.
Using this one simple trick, my grocery bill only increased by 40%.
What else are the peons supposed to do? Even just buying necessities for 2 people is $150/week. It’s absolutely insane.
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u/Happy_Trails4u Jan 25 '23
Don't forget this part:
Our lovely government gave Loblaws 12 million dollars of taxpayers money so they could buy freezers. Record profits and they are asking for handouts. The Gov and corporations do not give a shit what the people are going through.
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u/TheDrewCareyShow Jan 26 '23
In NL our Dominion (Loblaws name here) workers went on strike and they didn't give a single fuck. You know what they ended up receiving after months of striking? A $50 Dominion gift card.
I do work on their bakery/meat room equipment and I enjoy charging them lots of money.
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u/jimmyhoffa_141 Jan 26 '23
I wpuld love to start an old-school co-op style grocery store chain. Customers pay $20 to become a member of the co-op, the store buys and sells food at a minimal profit, creating reasonably paid unionized jobs with benefits, and any net surplus goes towards opening more co-op based grocery stores that don't pay Galen Weston a penny. I'm pretty sure a lot of people would shop there if a few could get off the ground.
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u/yashdev1 Jan 25 '23
Am surprised it's only 22%.
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u/Magnamus0 Canada Jan 25 '23
Well I mean SOME of us are simply burning through our savings accounts at an alarming rate to stay afloat. So not technically "out". But on the way LMAO
The future is grim
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Jan 25 '23
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u/TeamGroupHug Jan 25 '23
Sad thing is as people struggle that money has gone somewhere. Bombardier is selling record numbers of private jets.
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u/Drunkpanada Jan 25 '23
Yup, that's the scary thing. Burning through savings to sustain hlthe new reality. Prices won't drop. This is the new baseline.
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u/Windsor_Salt Jan 25 '23
Burning through the money we saved up in hopes to buy a house. Not like that's going to happen anyways.
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u/Saiomi Jan 25 '23
Burning through the living allowance of my student loans. Being disabled blows.
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u/Windsor_Salt Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
Shit, that's real rough. I applied for that years ago when I wrecked my back and the entire experience was absolutely dreadful. Good luck, hope things change soon!
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u/Rechamber Jan 25 '23
Yes that's the thing - and the thing is these are savings, they are not meant to be used just to survive - they are for a house, a car, retirement or other such large ticket items - certainly should t be used just to survive with basic essentials and food. The percentage will continue to rise from this number.
My mother and sister live in Canada, and I'm here in the UK where we're also feeling the squeeze. It is not a good time, particularly with energy prices. I hope governments step in and actually do something at some point .
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Jan 25 '23
They won't step in as they are getting more tax dollars, then the government will give themselves a nice raise.
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u/Tangochief Jan 25 '23
The other 68% just aren’t saying it.
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u/Yewbert Jan 25 '23
All this interest rate stuff is to SLOW inflation, this is our new reality, prices will never go back down, just maybe, maybe slow down its rise a little.
As a blue collar family dad, it's beyond disheartening and I'm on the brink of just giving up, things aren't getting better, the powers that be aren't even trying, they are just trying to slow down everything getting worse.
I was okay giving up ever owning a house, but now things like a used car, a bi-yearly local vacation and so much more are completely off the table. I work to survive, no frills, just keep the lights on and it's only going to get worse.
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u/neg_meat_popsicle Jan 25 '23
When people get hungry thats when true revolutions happen.
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u/Jagrnght Jan 25 '23
Don't give up. But keep talking about your situation. We need sane voices like yours in the conversation.
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u/SorrowsSkills New Brunswick Jan 25 '23
You are right that most prices will not be going down (they never do). The only thing people can hope for is grow their salary by as much as inflation, which obviously isn’t happening.
I think, and I hope, that we will see a lot more unions going on strike this year and the next and a lot more workers trying to form unions.
Hopefully the NDP is still able to get the anti scab bill to pass..
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u/Vostroyan212th Jan 25 '23
There hits a point where getting in the streets and at the least scaring our politicians is absolutely acceptable. These bastards are taking high pay and giving nothing back for it, many even trying to take away what is left. Don't give up, get furious and see what groups locally will help you channel that.
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u/cfrey Ontario Jan 25 '23
Meanwhile, the oligarchs are doubling their wealth every few years, and don't want you to see any connection there.
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u/Healthy-Lifestyle-20 Jan 25 '23
Oligarchs have used mainstream media to get voters on either right or left. That’s why majority of Canadians don’t want to protest because they don’t know who’s organizing the protests. The real enemies are those hoarding wealth while middle class has been eroding for decades now.
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u/actingwizard Jan 25 '23
Entire pay checks are going to the line of credit which are used for paying power, gas, food and rent. Living off of credit over here. And can never catch up. Maybe I can ask the power company if we can self disconnect for a few months and use an old fashioned fireplace (I mean barrel) with logs.
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u/YesIamaDinosaur Jan 25 '23
Then the insurance company hits you with a higher monthly because of your fireplace in your home! Haha!
In all seriousness, though, it's ridiculously expensive to be alive.
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u/Apprehensive_Idea758 Jan 25 '23
Enough is enough. People are getting sick and tired of this horrible inflation. Surviving is getting almost impossible for a lot of people.
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u/Logical-Check7977 Jan 25 '23
The inflation is what it is what im really getting sick of is the insane inequality of wealth distribution that is growing fast
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Jan 25 '23
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u/ywg_handshake Jan 25 '23
Not only that but I see a good number of people still going on big vacations, doing big renos, etc. Granted, they all may just happen to not be in that 22% but I am not seeing any change at a superficial level.
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u/GuidotheGreater Jan 25 '23
a lot of people were forced to take vacations due to COVID cancellations that were only refunded in the form of travel credits (fuck you westjet). Or they made plans in 2021 before things started getting really nutty.
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u/karnoculars Jan 25 '23
Depends on the mall. You should go to City Centre Mall, it's a ghost town.
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u/sloppies Jan 25 '23
Foot traffic is a bit below pre-pandemic still, but spending-per-shopper has increased a fair bit. Most of that is explained by inflation, but it seems people are still spending. I reckon that this is going to change soon though - we will see a downturn to this type of spending by Q2 for sure.
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u/Stunning_Working6566 Jan 25 '23
Puzzling to me.
Definitely increased number of homeless, they are taking over the parks and green spaces here in Kitchener.
And yet, every other vehicle is an expensive pickup or suv and you can't seem to buy a new one because they are sold out. Restaurants are busy and there are help wanted signs everywhere. Construction is booming, lots of new buildings going up. Apparently a million jobs are going unfilled.
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u/Existance_Unknown Jan 25 '23
So I have 15 yrs of construction experience and I just moved back to northern Ontario, I've applied at tons of jobs in the last 6 months, I've gotten 3 interviews and 2 job offers. One job offered me 20$ hr, and the other offered 25$ an hr with nothing else, no ot pay, benefits, nothing.
I have not worked for the last six months because I can't find a decent job, but every company is complaining they can't find any workers, I don't know what I have to do to get a career job, but I'm not taking underpaid garbage,
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u/Colonel_Fart-Face Jan 25 '23
My mom works for a landscaper and called me up the other day to ask if I knew anyone who needed a job. Asked her what the hours and pay were like and she audibly groaned and started giving me attitude.
"No job in the world is going to pay you more than $15/hr for your first year."
Then she told me that it's 10-14 hours a day 7 days a week and FUCKING SALARIED AT 40 HOURS WITH NO OT.
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u/Vassago81 Jan 25 '23
10-14 hours a day 7 days a week and FUCKING SALARIED AT 40 HOURS WITH NO OT.
How can company still try to do this illegal shit? OT is mandatory, other than for some sales or management position.
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u/Colonel_Fart-Face Jan 25 '23
Because it's all under the table. What are you gonna do, complain that the company you don't legally work for is ripping you off?
The owner also likes to fire employees by pretending not to recognize them and accusing them of stealing tools, usually done when someone with authority is investigating the company.
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u/Better_Ice3089 Jan 25 '23
"No job in the world is going to pay you more than $15/hr for your first year."
Minimum wage in BC is higher than that lol.
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Jan 25 '23
"No job in the world is going to pay you more than $15/hr for your first year."
This is literally under minimum wage in a few provinces lol.
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u/Cassian_Rando Jan 25 '23
Unemployed here since April. My EI has run out. I don’t get any interviews. I’ve had one since April. My wife makes good money.
I’m in my early 50s and I think ageism is real for me. I’m getting worried. I’m over qualified for minimum wage jobs and like I said, people want to hire someone they can squeeze for 20 years.
Fuck.
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u/purplegreendave Jan 25 '23
Getting no interviews is crazy. You might want to adjust your resume, there's no reason for your age to be on it. Slim it down, remove some of the older experience so you aren't dating yourself, remove years from qualifications etc. At least get someone to interview you.
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Jan 25 '23
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u/-ArthurMorgan Jan 25 '23
As a person who managed to buy a home about 10 months before covid, I can assure you that I am not riding any high whatsoever. Except for the drugs of course.
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u/SCROTUM_GUN Jan 25 '23
If you have money for drugs AND housing then you are better off than lost
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u/v13ragnarok7 Jan 25 '23
I can hardly afford food and will never retire. I have what's considered a decent paying job. Luckily there's overtime. So I can bust my ass with 16 hour shifts so I can pay my bills. Until I die.
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u/Berkut22 Jan 25 '23
Yup, this is me.
My plan is to kill myself when the day comes I can't take care of myself anymore.
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Jan 25 '23
Perform ritual seppuku on parliament steps
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u/Berkut22 Jan 25 '23
This isn't a bad idea. Might get the point across
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u/Better-Director-5383 Jan 25 '23
We had a climate activist set himself on fire in DC in the last year.
Media totally ignored it and covered the stories of people throwing paint on paintings while clutching their pearls instead.
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u/GhostyRosey Jan 25 '23
So can we revolt yet? Working three jobs and yet still going into overdraft every month has been so fun but I'd really rather not anymore lmao
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u/astroturfskirt Ontario Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
i look at france losing their shit and i’m asking “why not here? why not now?”
edit: me fail english? that’s unpossible! “i saw at france…” come on.
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u/JustFerne Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 26 '23
a ton of Canadians (and north americans in general tbh) are super politically apathetic. i feel like a lot of us tend to just roll over and take the punches instead of fighting for better things.
really makes me wonder what causes this difference - is it a cultural one or is it intentionally pushed on us somehow?
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u/chickenwhatsapp1 Jan 25 '23
Remember the guy who could skip high school, get a job at a factory making tires, pay for a house and a cottage, have a family of five and a wife who was a stay at home mom? Ya, he had it tough…..
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u/oxblood87 Ontario Jan 25 '23
Buy a house for 3 years salary without graduating highschool, sell it for a lifetime of current earnings of a professional.
Put 3% into CPP and gets 40% out. Voted for successive tax cuts to services as soon as they no longer applied to them, without realizing that they might need to fund them again in their old age.
Polluted with reckless abandon to leave us a broken world and 1/5 the resources then call us slackers.
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u/Cold_Beyond4695 Jan 25 '23
Have a relative who works in finance. Says you wouldn't believe how many people are one paycheck away from bankruptcy.
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u/SIXA_G37x Jan 25 '23
I remember reading articles before 2019 about 50% of working Canadians being less than $1000 from insolvency. So yeah...who knows what that number is now.
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u/LastInside6969 Jan 25 '23
So is it gonna happen or not? I've heard that line for a long time and even with these rate increases there's no mass insolvency
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u/HugeAnalBeads Jan 25 '23
There are other steps before bankruptcy. Steps the bank and government want you to take first. Like consumer proposals and debt consolidation
Bankruptcy is like someone shitting in the hot tub. It doesn't benefit anyone
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u/x100fGuy Ontario Jan 25 '23
Currently working in finance. Previous roles allowed me to see customer accounts for fraud / other tasks.
It's insane just how many people are in debt to their eyeballs.
Often I'd see accounts overdraft 1-2k, yet people were still making uber eats purchases, lcbo, etc etc.
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u/Mr_ToDo Jan 25 '23
I worked in payroll. The only thing that surprises me is that it's only 2k.
There were always a few that, no matter how much they made, were out of cash by the time pay day came around.
It takes all kinds. Generally those kinds adapt to income changes well enough, they sell off some of their junk, downsize their house, miss/skip out on a few bills, and go back to living pay cheque to pay cheque.
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u/Financial-Hold-1220 Jan 25 '23
. me and my family were doing relatively fine before but when i have to pay about 250-400 for maybe if i stretch it out 2 weeks worth of groceries it gets really really hard
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Jan 25 '23
But the restaurants are still full with burger week, and the local breweries are still packed.
Groceries kick my ass every week, so idk how these businesses and patrons aren’t feeling the pinch.
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u/chewwydraper Jan 25 '23
Inflation hits different age groups differently. I make more money than my dad, but his mortgage is only $250/month so it leaves him with a lot more expendable income compared to what I pay in rent.
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u/Schmorbly Jan 25 '23
That's less than my Condo fees
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u/karnoculars Jan 25 '23
The condo fees for my 1 bedroom rental is $520/month. THE CONDO FEES.
At this point, I'm just praying that the building burns to the ground one day so that at least I'll have a new unit.
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u/Max_Thunder Québec Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
Widening gap between the lower and upper middle class.
Real estate ownership is also a huge factor. Imagine being a couple both aged 40 with a paid home bought for 250k ten years ago vs the same couple just getting into a 500k mortgage. The difference on their disposable income is huge.
Another thing that's surprising is just how popular food delivery (Uber Eats etc.) is despite how much more expensive it typically is.
There's a lot of people with money to spend and there's a lot of people being stretched to their limit.
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u/swiftwin Jan 25 '23
Exactly this. Lots of people are actually doing quite well right now. Not just because of real estate. It's not just the ultra wealthy who are doing well. The upper middle class has seen their wages go up a ton, while also saving a ton due to changed spending habits because of covid and WFH.
We've known for a while that the post-covid recovery was going to be K-shaped. This is what that looks like.
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Jan 25 '23
While there is a large demographic of people that still have cash to spend - prices won't ease.
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u/chmilz Jan 25 '23
There's still lots of people who live comfortably. Inflation is hitting them, but it's hitting them in disposable income. I'm an example of that. My income more than meets my needs (home, food, savings, etc), but inflation means I have less for fun after. I've had to cut back somewhat, but I haven't cut back restaurants because that's one of my favorite things to do with extra money.
I'm gonna have a bad time when my mortgage renews in June though. The rate increase will wipe out nearly all disposable income.
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u/Far-Flung-Farmer Jan 25 '23
This is not true. Here in Kingston, ON where we have a huge amount and an amazing quality of restaurants, I'm seeing them no more than half full anymore.
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u/GameDoesntStop Jan 25 '23
These surveys are usually pretty exaggerated. Google "Canadians insolvent poll" and you can see just about any year you have polls claiming 40-50% of Canadians are close to insolvency... yet somehow the economy keeps roaring on, years later.
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u/CheeseburgerLocker Jan 25 '23
These headlines are a real pain in my ass. "soaring inflation", "inflation bites", "inflation hits savings accounts", "37.876% of Canadians now living paycheque to paycheque." FUCK. OFF.
Inflation is causing a lot of chaos for everybody right now. But you know what's worse? Guys like Gaylen Weston and his stupid fucking commercials. Fuck your cedar plank salmon and your $145 shirt. Fuck these guys who are profiting off our hard earned paycheques so they can get another $2mil bonus this year.
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u/Admiral_Odysseus Jan 25 '23
By far the closest store to where I live is a Loblaws, I dont have a car so that one's gotta do. And every time I go grocery shopping I physically want to cry, these prices are nothing less than criminal
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u/jaretok Jan 25 '23
When you have to make $80k+ per year, just to be broke, something is very wrong.
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u/KeziaTML Jan 25 '23
I just paid 40 fucking dollars to buy stuff for tacos for supper.
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u/Mynoseisgrowingold Jan 25 '23
Yep, we just did ground beef tacos the other night for 6 (2 adults + 4 boys) and my grocery bill came to $66.29. I had to lie down in a dark room to recover.
Store brand cheddar $11.49 1 flour soft shells $2.99 1 corn soft shells $3.99 Large tomatoes (approx 230g ea/$2.02ea) $8.08 Romaine lettuce $4.49 500 ml sour cream $4.69 store brand salsa $4.69 Family size extra lean ground beef $15.69 (on sale) 1 Black beans can $2.99 1 Avocado $2.99 1 Onion $1.10 Garlic .90 Lime .99 3 jalapeños $1.21
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u/Twyzzle Jan 25 '23
Wealth has been funnelling in to fewer and fewer hands for decades and the pandemic sped that up astronomically. When interest rates rise and cash is equally pulled out of the system, it’s the average and poorest people that will suffer. We need a wealth tax. We need to tackle profiteering. And we need to massively increase compensation compared to corporate profit.
Canada has too much cash yet not enough in normal Canadian hands. Tax billionaires and corporations on their wealth, not income, to fix this. Stop squeezing every dime out of people deciding between food and their heating bill.
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u/Operative427 Jan 25 '23
Yup. Last 3 paychecks have been gone on the first day I was paid. I don't have money for rent this month. Fuck this system dude.
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u/Darkrush85 Ontario Jan 25 '23
Just remember it’s really a labour shortage, and rising inflation or anything else really.
Just don’t pay attention to how much money all these CEOs are making while you go broke.
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u/taxrage Jan 25 '23
...which demonstrates that there is increasing wealth disparity in Canada (and the west, in general).
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u/Fatesadvent Jan 25 '23
Went to the mall on the weekend. It was pretty full. Tons of people in the apple store, line ups for the new trendy coffee shop.
I think many people are doing alright (myself included fortunately), but its also a bit of a sampling bias. You're only going to see the well off in these environments, none of the 22% out of money will be there, why would they?
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u/Status-Ad-7020 Jan 25 '23
Some of it is people can afford it, others is those who can’t but charge it to a credit card. I used to it all the time. Couldn’t afford it but didn’t care and charged it to my credit card.
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Jan 25 '23
There's people in here who will shit on you but the reality is this is probably a good portion of Canadians these days. The question is what happens when that card gets maxed out?
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u/ChangeForACow Jan 25 '23
Debt... we're taking on more debt.
When the powers-that-be started rolling back the progress labour fought for -- literally -- and won throughout the 20th century, first we maintained our lifestyle by becoming two-income households, and then working longer hours, and then taking on more debt.
Indentured workers are less likely to demand higher wages, because we live in a Company Store economy.
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u/iPhoneMiniWHITE Jan 25 '23
I had a comfortable nest egg of $55,000 before the pandemic started. It’s waddled down to about $20,000 now.
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u/Artistic-Ad7063 Lest We Forget Jan 25 '23
$8 for a bag of bagels. Why? Fuck you that’s why.
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u/Ryansahl Jan 25 '23
Maybe the government will have to open Not For Profit grocery stores. It would help the people and help keep the prices somewhat competitive.
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u/I_HATE_BOOBS Jan 25 '23
the heads of broccolis are shrinking every week while the price increases. I'm fucking starving.
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u/1baby2cats Jan 26 '23
Anecdotally, when I go to the ATM, some people leave their ATM receipt by the machine in plain view. Lately I've seen quite a few negative balances.
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u/blindwillie777 Jan 26 '23
Don't worry - the elite rich from other countries will continue to stash their money here, most likely in real estate. Nothing is going to get cheaper anytime soon if the gov doesn't change their policies.
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u/castfarawayz Jan 25 '23
To be fair, Statscan reported that over half the country was $200 away from being insolvent in the years leading up to the inflationary spike. Canadians have been addicted to cheap debt since 2008 and now that we are finally seeing a return to historic averages the cost of that debt is becoming unsustainable.
Inflation sucks, but there are plenty of people I know who have been courting financial disaster long before this crisis.
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u/Hahbug9 Jan 25 '23
Grocery stores are price gouging, its not inflation.
Theyre grabbing as much money as they can in profits before somthing stops them, which obviously wont be the government
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u/knotsbygordium Jan 25 '23
Inflation. Corporate price gouging is now inflation. We need a full funded and ad free news service.
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u/sunflowersav03 Jan 25 '23
Have a friend who has to steal diapers because the cost of her rent runs her funds dry. It's crazy how expensive basic things like a roof over your head cost now. A small 1 bedroom apartment shouldn't cost $2000 + utilities 💀
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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '23
I think most Canadians had been poorer than they thought (thanks Scotiabank) for while, cheap credit and rising equity in their homes led them to believe they were doing better than they were. Well I shouldn’t say they, I should say we. I’m in this camp. I