Hacker News Reader

Comment by silisili | Hacker News Reader

Without going into deep details and a budget... everything has gotten more expensive. Groceries are at least double what they were, over $1000 a month. Summer electric bill is over $300. Internet is now $140 a month. Health insurance is now over $500 per month, and that doesn't even cover the out of pocket stuff I have to pay with the kid's various visits. All streaming services have increased in price. And so on and so on.

I could go on and on, I'm sure I sound like a 'back in my day' old man. But the 'my day' in this case was just 5 years ago...

View on HN

I don't understand how it's possible to go from thousands a month in savings to almost none. That's at a minimum an extra 24k in spending. Sure prices have gone up but not that much

Some comparisons. My electricity (large SFH with 2 people) is 35$ a month (11c kWh)(in Seattle I let the 2nd floor get hot and only turn on AC from like 4-7pm, and most appliances are fairly energy efficient. So I’m not sure how to spend more electricity without an EV). My internet is maybe 70$ for 1gb (which I’ve never maxed out and could lower to like 300mb if needed) for Xfinity.

Seattle is one of the most temperate regions in the USA. Outside of Alaska I doubt there's significantly lower AC use anywhere in the USA.

A quick Google search shows ~60% of households in Washington state don't even own an air conditioner. Compare that to nearly every home in the south, Atlantic states, and Midwest where AC is near universal.

No disputing that. Though the days of not having AC are numbered. Summers have been having many hot days. It’s 86F today.

Anyways all this really shows is to compare inflation what matters is price per kWh over time right? That excludes variations in usage.

Another thing to keep in mind, my utility company says my household is in the bottom 15 percent of comparable houses! So just because it’s temperate doesn’t mean individual choice can’t make a difference :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com