‘What items are ridiculously cheap nowadays compared to 10-20 years ago?’ – 21 inflation-busting purchases
There’s a lot in the news at the moment about inflation going up and up, and gnashing of teeth over the price of things like energy bills and Lurpak (both, frankly, outrageous). But there are some items that are actually pretty cheap, which might make you feel better about shelling out a fiver for a little tub of butter.
Reddit user MootMoot_Mocha asked ‘What are the items that are ridiculously cheap now adays compared to 10-20 years ago?’ and followed it up with their own example:
I’ll start, TVs. Crazy how expensive they were compared to now. I can get a 4K TV for £100-£200. It won’t be exceptional but it will work and show decent picture quality.
And it turns out there are plenty of bargains to be had in 2025, as the replies showed …
1.
‘SD cards. I just bought a 128gb one for £14. When I first got a digital camera in 2005 an 8gb card was £100.’
–Spencer-ForHire
2.
‘Phones, minutes and data packages. Been paying £25-40 per month for 20+ years (£5-£15 sim only).’
–Spadders87
3.
‘Music. A brand new album would be £15 minimum in the late mid-early 00s and I wouldn’t even know if it was going to be good until after I’d paid for it. I spend less on music now than I did then but I have a lot more variety.’
–ooh_bit_of_bush
4.
‘It may not feel like it, but video games. A NES game could be up to £40 in the 80s.’
–poptimist185
5.
‘VHS recorders. £800 when they first came out, next to nothing now.’
–bowen7477
6.
‘I started work as a television engineer in the late 1970s when a colour TV cost the same a small new car.’
–pat8888
7.
‘You can get a smartphone that connects to the internet, records better quality video than anything from 10 years ago, has multiple cameras and more storage than you can use – for under £100. HONOR X6b, I have no idea how good it is, but for £90 can you really complain? That’s mental to me.
Luxuries are cheap and houses are expensive is a phrase I heard recently, back in the day houses were cheap and luxuries were expensive. When someone says ‘he can’t be too bad off he has a phone’ they are thinking that the phone is a 1.5k iPhone 16pro max, when really its £100 for a do everything, only lifeline to the internet device.
A smartphone is almost the best investment anyone who is hard up could make if they have no other internet enabled devices.’
–Mrfunnynuts
8.
‘Levi 501 jeans were £20 when I started work in the 1980s. My first proper wage, as an apprentice, was £40 a week. Now you can pick a pair up for £50.’
–Glueshooter68
9.
‘Almost everything! Ford used to pitch their entry level car (like the Fiesta) at the average UK salary, would be around £30k today?. You can buy a pair of jeans for about 2 hours minimum wage today. When i flew to Washington DC in the 1980s it was £650 return for economy flights. I earned £12k as a graduate engineer. I just looked and it is slightly cheaper today.’
–TheNextUnicornAlong
10.
‘School uniforms. I remember 30 years ago my mum crying when I put a hole in my school trousers in the first week. A new pair were £20 then! I bought four pairs of £2.50 asda smart price trousers for my son for school so I didn’t have to wash every day. It’s mad.’
–Key-Moments
11.
‘Good guitars (and more generally musical instruments) are significantly cheaper and better quality now than 20 years ago. The standard of production in Asia is easily up to the standard of what were mid-tier instruments. A £200 – 300 guitar can easily be used as a professional instrument which was certainly not a choice when I was starting out.’
–Ghostofjimjim