On the surface, a bar of chocolate and a bikini wax may not have that much in common, but over the past week, my experience with both has driven home the stealthy nature of the enduring cost-of-living crisis.

Sure, we’ve all noticed the crunch in the macro things: mortgage repayments, utility bills, health, home and car insurances. But what also continues to bite are the micro-stings, which brings me to chocolate bars and waxing.

Research showed Woolworths customers are paying as much as 3.7 per cent more for a basket of groceries than they were last year. Credit: Bloomberg

Last week, while perusing the Woolworths app for my weekly shop, I was recommended a 100gram block of Lindt chocolate … for $8.50. Let that sink in for a moment. There are French perfumes on the market that cost less than $0.85 cents a gram! Even a humble Cadbury’s Family Block, which weighs 360 grams, hovers at around $8.

I used to buy Lindt regularly, even during the cost-of-living crunch and usually when it was on sale. Most of the time, the “special” price was about $3.50 – almost 150 per cent less than what was being shown to me last week.

One reason for this is the rising price of cacao. During 2024, the global price rose........

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