around 1956 or so I was devastated when my huge double dip ice cream cones in my small home town went from a nickel to a dime.

Wow, Charlotte, you must have been devastated, since you were only about 10 at the time, and yet you still remember this!

But then I guess we are talking about "childhood trauma," as suddenly you were impacted by 100% inflation!

Back in the mid-fifties, my allowance was only about 10 cents a week, so with that inflation, I'd have been only able to buy an ice cream cone about once a month.

Here's an interesting website that chronicles the price of food. I loved their "Hershey Bar Index."

Went shopping yesterday. Some items were more expensive at Walmart than the regular grocery chain. Dog food rose 2 cents a can in just days. Mouthwash is $1.50 more per bottle and these stores are across the street from each other. Go figure!

Hey Jabber, I guess that proves that you need to be vigilant with your comparison shopping. Though Wal-Mart had a big campaign in our market just before the holidays in which they touted their price matching service.

Prior to that I had seen price-matching in action at my local Wal-Mart.If you find a better price elsewhere, and can prove it with a newspaper ad, they will match it.

Of course, this DOES take extra time in the checkout line, and I did get frustrated waiting for the customer in front of me to get her prices lowered.

But if you are willing to shop with all your newspaper ads in hand, I'm pretty sure your local Wal-Mart will match any lower prices being promoted by your local grocery chain... As for me, I like to support local business owners so I buy all my meat and some specialty items at my local grocery, and go to Wal-Mart for staples.

I also get half my prescriptions at the local pharmacy and the rest at Wal-Mart. I'm sort of on the fence about this one, as the Wal-Mart pharmacy has longer hours, offers a generic prescription I can't get at the local drug store, and the pharmacists are friendly and helpful at both locations.

Recently, I was about to buy a new diabetes testing kit at Wal-Mart as my meter had broken -- and the pharmacist told me not to do this.

She pointed out that there was an 800 number on the back of my meter and told me that if I would call it, I'd get another meter sent to me FREE. And she was correct. Who doesn't love saving THAT kind of money?

That's a good idea Anne but I have seen an ad for the type of mouthwash I was comparing. $1.50 is a big difference. IMHO.

It's a HUGE difference!

That mouthwash price was a labeling mistake. By yesterday it was changed. The prices are now the same at both stores. The canned dog food we buy is $.05 cheaper per can at Wal-Mart than at the area grocery store acrossed the street. Laundry products, dish soap, paper goods and meds I buy at Wal-Mart, too: more reasonable pricing there!

How I got from "double dip ice cream" to mouthwash, I haven't a clue!!! LOL...