Back-to-school shopping for her three children, Stephanie Maddox recently picked up a bottle of hand sanitizer and noticed it was more expensive than she remembered. Then, she looked at binders, finding fewer options, all with higher price tags.
"My budget is bigger this year ... but it seems like it doesn't matter much," says Maddox, from Alabama. Deals feel less like deals, she says, and more like normal prices she used to see.
