Modern Cost of Home Alone Groceries

 During the Christmas season a number of places were comparing the cost of Kevin's shopping spree in "Home Alone" to current prices and coming up with some really big numbers. The Daily Mail came up with $68.99 for Kevin's $20 worth of items in 1990 which sounded a bit high to me.

I checked with Stop & Shop online in New Jersey and the total came out to $46.41. Of course one of the variables is size which isn't specified for all items. I included 8 rolls of toilet paper, 45.5 ounces of laundry detergent, 60 dryer sheets and a pack of 50 army men. If we go to 105 oz of detergent and 120 dryer sheets it goes up to $54.86 but I don't think the detergent was that big or he had 8 rolls of toilet paper. 

The other side of the coin is that median household income in 1990 was $30,636. In 2022 it was $74,580 which represented a drop due to Covid because in 2020 it was $76,330. 

 I will also say that Stop & Shop online is typically more expensive for non perishable items such as laundry detergent and toilet paper than say Walmart. The 8 rolls of toilet paper was $8.59 but I can get 9 rolls of the same brand at Walmart for $6.36. The 105 oz laundry detergent was $9.48 at Walmart rather than $10.24. The 120 dryer sheets were $4.92 rather than $5.99. So buying the paper goods and detergent at Walmart in even the larger sizes would only be $50.88 or an increase of 2.56 times. 

And the really good news is if you spend $35 Walmart delivers, for free, right to your door. So the prices increased between 2.34 times and 2.77 times according to the numbers I found and median household income increased by about 2.43 times. So this seems pretty close to right especially since I don't think Kevin bought the larger sizes. 

 An increase to $68.99 would be a big issue because that would be an increase of 3.48 times compared to a household median income increase of 2.43 times. My advice to the Daily Mail is find a new place to shop.