The cost of living continues to soar in many places across the world. For example, the typical American household spent $709 more in July than it did two years ago to buy the same goods and services.
Interested in what drives this number, Reddit user Just_Some_Troglodyte made a post on the platform, asking everyone, “What is horribly overpriced?” It immediately went viral, and as of now, has over 5.7K replies. From groceries to funerals, here are the most popular ones.
#1
Groceries
It is so stupidly expensive to buy groceries right now. Even if I just need a small list, specifically for the dinner I’m making that evening, it’s always $50–$75. I feel like in the past two years, groceries have skyrocketed.
Image credits: BGoodOswaldo
#2
Funerals
Mortician here. Go to a privately owned family mortuary. They actually give a shit most of the time about what families want and are generally more flexible than corporate mortuaries. Private mortuaries rely on returning families so they have to do a good job to survive.
NEVER go to an SCI location. I worked for that company for two years too long, and it’s astounding how little they cared about people. They had NO issue nickel and diming everyone while doing the bare minimum if that. They regularly buried people without their belongings and never told the families. They had numerous occasions where the body was not ready for a funeral, bodies were used as doorstops, people were put in the wrong urns, etc. They do not care about you and are no better than car salespeople. Family-run mortuaries do what they do because they care.
Image credits: Ok-Mushroom-7292
#3
Being alive. And I’m not even having a good time.
Image credits: shaqdeezl
#4
Anything for weddings. If you say “wedding” to any vendor or business, the prices go way up. It’s ridiculous.
Me and my fiancé are trying to plan a cheap wedding. Yeah, we are going with the eloping idea right now.
Image credits: railmanmatt
#5
Subscription plans.
Five dollars per month doesn’t sound so bad, until there are 10 of those you have to use, and every one of them has an ‘ultra-premium’ tier for 10 dollars that has all of the feature things you actually care about.
Image credits: SkyAir457
#6
Gasoline. So sick of hearing about record profits by oil companies almost every quarter.
#7
Airport food.
I travel a lot for work. I leave the house at least 2 1/2 hours prior to my flight just to get food before going to the airport. Usually, like a Subway footlong or something that fills me up for half the day. Also, bring your own water bottle.
Image credits: No-Reputation-4869
#8
Women’s self-care/cosmetic products. It’s the same exact stuff as men’s just with a different smell, but it costs SO much more. Don’t believe me, read the ingredients.
Image credits: GiftInteresting8482
#9
Diamonds. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not a rare gemstone and their perceived value is almost entirely artificial.
#10
Concert tickets.
Ticketmaster gave me a $75 service fee. Why does it cost $75 for you to send me a digital ticket when these venues are probably paying them to sell their tickets anyway?
Image credits: SoleParadigm
#11
Airbnbs are through the roof. I used to get great deals for under $100 for nice places. Now, it’s impossible to find something decent under $200.
When I was a lowly unpaid government intern in 2017 in another state, I really wanted to explore. I managed to find so many $20–$25 Airbnbs. They were rooms in people’s actual houses or their basements, and so many of them made me dinner. Now, it’s $130 a night for a literal shed in Kansas and another $150 for a bullshit cleaning fee. No thanks, I’ll sleep in my fucking car.
Image credits: bobbywise82594
#12
Insulin
In America…
Image credits: Delicious-Let8429
#13
Just saw Oppenheimer at 11:00 am on a Sunday. $43 with a popcorn and soda.
This is why I don’t go to the movies. And I have four kids. My three girls want to see the Barbie movie, but I know it would cost a month’s worth of rent to take them all.
Image credits: Agnostickamel
#14
Lego
When I was little, I used to be really excited to earn money and then be able to buy all the Legos I wanted. It didn’t work out, of course.
Image credits: Diabeato11
#15
I swear that it would be cheaper to melt some platinum and pour it into a printer cartridge than to buy some regular printer ink.
That’s why you need to buy an Epson EcoTank. The ink lasts through literally thousands of pages. I bought one in March 2020, went all the way through school and didn’t buy ink again until January 2022. Plus, when you do buy the ink, all four bottles are, like, $50.
Image credits: upvoter222
#16
The housing market.
Image credits: ClickWorthy69420
#17
Food, rent, petrol.
#18
Insurance
#19
Low end cars like Kia. There’s absolutely no reason whatever to spend 55k on a Kia ?
Image credits: Whitpeacock
#20
Women’s clothing ? including vintage and secondhand these days
#21
Existing as a single adult.
F*****g 100%. Where I live, if I would’ve had a partner with a median salary, we could spend almost half as much per person on housing and get a nicer apartment! Combine that with everything costing less when you buy in bulk, and bachelor life starts to look not too appealing.
#22
Anything for disabled has inflated price like were all rich and living off the government. ?
#23
US healthcare
Yes! Even with insurance, I have a bill for my child’s birth at around $30,000. My OB didn’t even pick up the phone when I went into labor. Nor did her backup. I had to get an emergency C-section, so I was charged accordingly.
Image credits: grptrt
#24
Everything!
#25
Housing, healthcare, and food.
The stuff that matters.
Image credits: Madame_Raven
#26
Apple products.
#27
graphics cards
Image credits: xXDireLegendXx
#28
McDonalds. It was made to be cheap and fast. Why am I spending close to $5 on fries? That’s when I realized corporate greed was getting bad
#29
bean burrito plus sour cream. $3.38, I’m good Taco Bell those were like $.79
Taco Bell has really gone up. I swear my old order used to run around $10, now it’s $20.
#30
A lot if medication. The asthma medication my doctor tried to prescribe when I had a weird dormant asthma flare-up would’ve been $700 a month with insurance
#31
Children from basic care until university
Image credits: Time-Variation6969
#32
Life – that much money to live in a s**t hole? Yeah no thanks
#33
Cars.
#34
For awhile, eggs were. Like, christ. A simple 12 count of large eggs used to run for $5 when they were $1.20
#35
Yeti makes a completely average cast iron 12”
Skillet. Average price for a very nice one $25-$35. Yeti price $400
#36
Groceries are insane they go up every week a noticeable amount. I don’t know how people on fixed incomes afford to eat.
#37
Prescription drugs. At least here in the US. It’s disgusting what some companies charge. I know it takes years to develop medications, but when the cost of the medicine carves out entire subsets of society, that should tell you something. Here if you don’t have great insurance, you’re basically F’d.
#38
Parking at events.
In June I saw Avenged Sevenfold at the Forum, and Blink 182 at the BMO Stadium. Both venues charge $60 for parking. $120 just to park my damn car. That’s highway robbery. Literally.
#39
Living a decent life.
Image credits: the_annoyed_mango
#40
COLLEGE and if you disagree I’ll give you a crumb of an example: my university was charging $50 extra per credit for online courses (even tho literally everything including hw, quizzes, exams were already virtual for every class through an app called canvas). One class I had to take for my major was strictly only available online and it happened to be 4 credits (50×4=200) so that was an extra $200 ~ on top of the original price ~ tacked on just because! <3
#41
Unless you score some crazy deal – most airline travel. Expensive as hell and the quality is garbage.
#42
Even cheap icecream is like 10 bucks…. I cant even stay slightly overweight in this economy
Image credits: steroboros
#43
GoodWill
#44
Oh boy…Buying food here in the supermarket is not even enough. 500 Pesos in the supermarket? Pfft you can only buy vegetables with that. The meat isn’t even counted and most necessities and food!
#45
Cup of Coffee
#46
Education
#47
First class flights. It’s only “better” food and better seats and that’s it. I don’t know why they need to make it 5 times more expensive for seats you can easily get the same experience from a car?
#48
BEEF.M***********G.JERKEY.
Like 14 bucks for a handful of f*****g jerkey. WTAF. I need protein.