davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2023

[davidd]

26 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

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26 December - When you're so naughty a lump of coal is too good for you

At least it was in a jar.

[Alliecat]

Goodness. While I can think of one or two people that I would give this to, I also am not sure I want to know what the inspiration for its creation was.

[davidd]

I also am not sure I want to know what the inspiration for its creation was.

I was making some miniature bottle labels based on a photo I saw on Flickr. Some of the labels I was looking at were "fanciful" or "weird." Others were based on "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "Star Wars," and similar pop-culture lore. I tried to come up with a few that were weird or spooky or "ooky" without being too Star Wars-ish.

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27 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

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27 December - A Doll A Day 2023
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Remember when something like twenty-five or fifty... wow, fifty... bucks was enough to get either a lot of fun and funky little stuff or else something pretty cool? Yeah, well, them days are gone. Seems like everybody has unlimited money except for me anymore.

[Alliecat]

Haha, I certainly don't think I recall anything about mucus in Star Wars

$50 used to get you a lot of groceries too. Now every trip to the grocery store is a chorus of "HOW MUCH???!!" and food banks are overwhelmed. No, not everybody has unlimited moneyz.
Have you seen the meme with the little doll-size basket of food and the caption about here's $100 (or whatever) worth of groceries in 2023?

[davidd]

$50 used to get you a lot of groceries too.  Now every trip to the grocery store is a chorus of "HOW MUCH???!!" 

Oh, I know! Coincidentally, I was muttering about this very thing last week: how, not so very many years ago (or so it seems), fifty bucks was a "major shopping trip." Now, fifty bucks is "a quick stop to pick up a few things." A "regular" grocery trip easily costs over $200. A "big shop" can be $300 and up.

And despite the "official numbers," anybody who shops for groceries and who understands math (why do people think "percentages" are so difficult?) realizes that in the past year or so, grocery prices are not "up two percent" or "up five percent" as the media report, they have increased 50% to 100%. When that box of crackers went up from $3 to $4 since last week, that's not "only a dollar," that's a thirty-three percent increase. Since last week. And it happens every few weeks.

There used to be a lot of snobs here in the States who claimed they never shopped at Walmart, which would have required them to rub shoulders with the great unwashed masses. Now, there are just as many Lexus and Teslas and even the occasional Porsche in the Walmart parking lot as there are beat-up old clunkers with duct tape holding the windows in place. The store shelves at Walmart are mostly full... of name brand products. The shelves dedicated to the "store brand" versions, which retail for one-half to two-thirds the price of "name brand" products, are almost always stripped bare.

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28 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

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28 December - A Doll A Day 2023

[fishy]

Hahaha I need a bottle label like that to stick on my family's shampoo bottles as a prank.

[davidd]

29 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

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29 December - A Doll A Day 2023

[Alliecat]

That looks very pointy!

Ha, I've seen plenty of Walmart jokes. But I suppose one way you get to be a millionaire is saving money by shopping at thrift stores and Walmart??
I was griping about the price of... birdseed, this afternoon. I just wanted a little bag to go with the feeder I got the housesit owners as a housewarming for their new place, and even that costs a ridiculous amount.

[davidd]

But I suppose one way you get to be a millionaire is saving money by shopping at thrift stores and Walmart??

I think the way you get to be a millionaire is to start out with a lot of money which seems to almost magically generate more money.

Until you get "a lot of money" the day-to-day ex'penses... like a little bag of birdseed... will eventually erode your capital.

I'm not sure anymore how much "a lot of money" is; that is, how much is enough that you don't end up spending it all just to get by.

As for the thrift stores: they have begun separating out "the good stuff" and retailing it at higher prices on eBay or other online outlets.

I believe it used to be possible to "get ahead" by saving a dollar her and a dollar there over time, but these days, inflation alone negates any savings unless the savings are being squirreled away at a prodigious rate and invested in a high-yield account of some kind.

Are you gonna put your house on the market? You'll have a lot more options when it comes to finding a new one if you have cash in your pocket.

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30 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

30 December - A Doll A Day 2023

[davidd]

31 December - A Doll A Day 2023:

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31 December - A Doll A Day 2023

[Alliecat]

Oooh, fire and dolls… Always a tricky combination!

Is the old year “dead?” Is she lighting a candle of hope for the new one?

Happy New Year!