ground floor: Since writing some time ago about goods price inflation and service price inflation, as well as the perception that Ireland is a high-cost country to live in, several people have regaled me with stories about how everything - not just eating out - is cheaper on the continent, writes Sheila O'Flanagan.

And they refer to those generic shopping lists that show the week's shopping in Clontarf costing twice as much as in Carcasonne.

The trouble with those mythical shopping baskets, of course, is that they have varieties of brands and produce which make it difficult to determine if, like for like, Ireland is more expensive than the official figures would have us believe.

So in the interests of research I decided to compile my own shopping basket of goods and services while I was in Spain last week. Basically (and I know that this is not as controlled as the economists might do it) I took down the price of everything I bought one day in the local supermarket and compared it with the same goods at home.

I realise I may be opening up my somewhat pathetic shopping expedition to popular amusement and derision. But even if the contents of my trolley are not very inspiring, you might be interested in the results! And although this isn't a truly exact exercise I did stick to some rules. Whenever possible I bought branded goods for ease of comparison.

I discovered that for some reason the measures of the product aren't necessarily the same in the two countries, so in those cases I've given you a price per 100 grams or per unit.

If it wasn't possible to make exact comparisons, I chose the cheapest equivalent available on my supermarket shelf at home. And I didn't include fresh vegetables or fruit because it's clearly easier and less expensive to grow them in a country where the sun shines for more than two days in a row.

(Also, I get my lemons free from the tree in the small garden of my holiday home so obviously any price in Dublin would be more expensive than the sheer joy of picking one from the branches.) I also included two items on my shopping list - which do not appear on the table below - that would fall under the heading of services.

A trip to the hairdresser and the cost of getting a key cut. You might recall that it was the cost of getting a key cut that made me rant about inflation in the first place.

So here's the list: It may not be a controlled experiment but the table is a real shopping list and it cost €11.83 less in Spain than in Dublin.

I suppose for it to be of research value I should have done it last year too and then we could see how much prices in both countries had gone up. But still - nearly €12 more at home - to be honest I was truly shocked.

And I was shocked, too, at my services items. The key-cutting cost €5 each in Dublin. In Spain it was €1.05. I've discovered that there are cheaper places to get keys cut at home, apparently you can get one done for a couple of euros.

So maybe a difference of €3.95 is being unfair. But what was I supposed to do at the time - drive around the traffic-clogged city to find another key-cutter?

My trip to the hairdresser was mindblowing though. Owing to my advancing years (and also to the fact that I've been dumping varieties of colour in my locks for as long as I can remember and therefore have no idea what my original shade of brown is) I usually get my hair tinted at the same time as I get it cut. The cost of this in Dublin is €110.

At this point I can see male executives laughing merrily at the fact that someone would have to shell out so much money on something as simple as a hair cut.

But that's one of those male-female anomaly things, like you guys getting paid twice as much for half the work.

Anyway, while the hair experience wanders into the three-figure scheme in Dublin, it's a mere €33 in Spain.

I've followed my favourite hairdresser around a few different Dublin salons over the past few years. Now I'm wondering if I can persuade her to relocate to Alicante.

So there you have it. Goods inflation in Ireland might be running at EU averages but the actual cost of those goods is phenomenally higher. The cost of services is higher, and that differential is increasing if the hairdressing trip is anything to go by.

In the week we were away, other costs went up too. When we left the car in the long-term carpark at Dublin airport, Aer Rianta was charging €40 per week. On our return it had gone up to €43 - a 7.5 per cent increase in seven days. To cap it all, it was cold and raining.

At least we voted Yes to Nice.