How are You Fighting Inflation?

[ThistleMae]

This was the same in downtown Columbus 2 weeks ago - restaurant prices were nuts, so we ended up eating 1 meal out in the city and doing the hotel for breakfast/dinner (it was included) and doing grocery lunches/desserts. We have never eaten out so little on vacation.

As for other changes, we used to eat out 1x/week...now, we eat out 1x/ 2 weeks or twice a month, for the same reason from the vacation.

I also now have mental prices for proteins for grocery shopping and dinners. We're eating fresh swai tonight vs fresh salmon b/c we normally try to have fresh fish for Sunday dinner. I have a mental price of $5 for swai and $10 for salmon. The salmon was $12.99/lb and the swai was on sale for $4.99/lb, so swai it is. The kids don't like it as much, but they like it more than having chicken for dinner, so it's still "treat enough"...

Yes, I'm buying on sale treat items, checking my three local grocery stores weekly. Also picking up canned goods when on sale. My eating out now consists of a frozen pizza...LOL!

 

[ThistleMae]

LOL. No pension for my wife or I. Well, I had a choice of a $28 a month pension or cashing it in for $5,600, so I cashed it in. 40 years of 401k savings are what we are living on.

Wow, so I guess you do have to start collecting as soon as you can, unless you have a really large savings account! Hang in there. You can do it!

 

[ThistleMae]

This. And driving habits are a big help. Watch the engine tachometer more than the speedometer, and try not to get above 2000 rpm. Time red lights, absolutely no jackrabbit starts, etc.

This is so true, it makes more of a difference than you think. I have a prius plug-in and it is one of the things they emphasize about driving. No "jackrabbit starts" as you say. Keep your speed consistent and within the speed limits. It does help for sure. Mine recharges going downhill, so I let her coast when I can...

 

[ThistleMae]

that sale used to be my go-to for paper goods and cleaning products until they restricted it to eliminate shipped orders. it's a great deal but it ends up costing me $10-$15 for a round trip to the nearest target (and they don't do deliveries here) so unless one of us has a preexisting errand near target we no longer take advantage of it.

No target for me up North in Vermont. Limited shopping altogether but still watching local sales flyers weekly.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, so I guess you do have to start collecting as soon as you can, unless you have a really large savings account! Hang in there. You can do it!

Well people forget that Social Security was designed to be a supplement to your retirement savings, not your entire retirement. So yes, 15% of everything I earned for 40+ years went into savings.

 

[ThistleMae]

We sold the big house with 5.5 acres almost 7 years ago and downsized to a smaller house on 1/4 acre with a one car garage. We have no mortgage. I just had that feeling it was the right thing to do and after convincing DH we did it. It is liberating!

Each year I try to find an expense to cut without affecting our lives...a challenge and almost a game. Now it is more serious. Thankfully, we put a new roof on the house and redid the interior including bathrooms when we moved in, so other than a few small projects we're good there.

Last year we cut the cable and went from $225 to $100 (internet and landline) and spend about $15 month streaming. We bought a Samsung smart tv and had it installed. We spent about $800 which was paid for in less than 7 months and now we are saving $125 month.

DH only commutes 10 miles a day and I don't drive that much so our gas usage isn't extreme. Our oil bill nearly doubled from $1200 to $2000 (I pay once a year). I know our food bill has gone up 30% (I don't buy the "8.6% inflation rate" BS) and I am paying more attention, especially to meat prices. DH rearranged the garage yesterday so we have room for a small freezer. Thankfully, I always keep at least 6 months of laundry detergent, TP, PT, soaps and cleaners on hand but will eventually have to replace those. We turned our central a/c back to 74 from 73. Spring and fall I turn the HVAC system off completely when I can. Electricity has gone up about 15% this year so I need to pay more attention to the dryer cycle. I bought an old fashioned kitchen time and set it for 30 minutes so I can take out dry and almost dry items. The laundry then dries faster (I set the alarm again for 10 minutes so I don't forget).

We maintain our cars, HVAC systems and pay attention to our home as it is cheaper to keep them in good shape than pay for emergency repairs.

Vacations are still in play as we own lots of DVC and have AP's (freeloaders as far as Disney goes) but spend lots when we are there! SWA credit cards earn free flights. Rental cars are a serious expense right now. We've worked hard to get to where we are so we are still doing two weeks/twice a year.

The scary part is we can handle and absorb this 20% (more realistic) inflation rate for a year, but what happens if it continues for years? I think we are all sunk except the 1% who don't care what they drive, fly or number of houses they own...as long as we peasants sacrifice our meager savings for the greater good... Sorry I hope I haven't offended anyone with my rant!!

OMG are you in my head! I don't buy the inflation rates, right now they are buying me! I'm very nervous about this continuing and wondering what will happen if this continues. We are lucky to have decent incomes in my family but my son-in-law is very concerned about fuel oil prices doubling. We just got someone to come out and give us an estimate on a propane furnace. Waiting on that. He seems to think we will recoup our expenditure within a year to a year and a half even with the cost of a new system. We'll see what the estimate comes in at because like everything else, costs are going up.

Well people forget that Social Security was designed to be a supplement to your retirement savings, not your entire retirement. So yes, 15% of everything I earned for 40+ years went into savings.

Exactly right! But I think many folks haven't done that or are living pay check to pay check and can't do it. I often ask people, when do you plan on retiring...and they say "never, I'll be working till I die!" Then there are those who end up with lots of medical issues and pain due to long term physical jobs, who have to keep working just the same. I really feel for them. I also feel very lucky to have my pension. I also sold my house and live with my adult daughter and her family, in a mother-in-law apartment. We just bought this house two years ago, before all the spikes happened. Again, lucky to sell and buy at the right time. There could be a point in time, when even all the things we do now, may not be as much help. What happens then I wonder, what happens then?

 

[Sun_soakin]

Since the pandemic I’ve really been making everything from scratch. Tastes so much better and it’s cheap! I don’t know why we ever bought salad dressing, BBQ sauce, etc. We have 4 kids and only buy organic, so the grocery bill is still huge but at least we haven’t been wanting to eat out much.
Other than that, we drive way less nowadays (maybe 1x a week to the office) so we are actually spending less on gas. We also spend way less on clothes now. Overall I’m trying to be more conscientious about unnecessary consumer spending. And I try to walk/bike rather than drive for small errands, groceries.

 

[MillauFr]

Turning our thermostat down. Heat came on yesterday and I went and turned it down to 62 so the furnace turned off.

 

[ThistleMae]

Since the pandemic I’ve really been making everything from scratch. Tastes so much better and it’s cheap! I don’t know why we ever bought salad dressing, BBQ sauce, etc. We have 4 kids and only buy organic, so the grocery bill is still huge but at least we haven’t been wanting to eat out much.
Other than that, we drive way less nowadays (maybe 1x a week to the office) so we are actually spending less on gas. We also spend way less on clothes now. Overall I’m trying to be more conscientious about unnecessary consumer spending. And I try to walk/bike rather than drive for small errands, groceries.

Yes, making things from scratch does go further. I also tend to use less meat in my meals, and smaller portions.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Not much we could do since I was already cooking everything from scratch due to the kids’ allergies. I do watch sales and stock up, but have limited the number of shopping trips. I try to do multiple stops in one go to cut down on gas use.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Turning our thermostat down. Heat came on yesterday and I went and turned it down to 62 so the furnace turned off.

WOW, your heat came on in July- I can't even imagine! It's 95 today w a feels like temp of 103.

 

[MillauFr]

WOW, your heat came on in July- I can't even imagine! It's 95 today w a feels like temp of 103.

I think the high on Sunday was 56 degrees at our house at sea level. There was snow in the mountains over the weekend.

 

[ThistleMae]

I turn my heat down to 60 in the winter at night and use lots of blankets. As a kid our country farm house only had stoves in two rooms and our bedroom was no where near the kerosene stove. We always had heavy blankets. I can't sleep well when it's hot, so having a cold room at night works best for me.

 

[MICKIMINI]

WOW, your heat came on in July- I can't even imagine! It's 95 today w a feels like temp of 103.

It's 66 here in NH right now. Our a/c was set on 74 and we were both freezing...well no wonder!

 

[ThistleMae]

It's 66 here in NH right now. Our a/c was set on 74 and we were both freezing...well no wonder!

 

[penn19]

This was the same in downtown Columbus 2 weeks ago - restaurant prices were nuts, so we ended up eating 1 meal out in the city and doing the hotel for breakfast/dinner (it was included) and doing grocery lunches/desserts. We have never eaten out so little on vacation.

As for other changes, we used to eat out 1x/week...now, we eat out 1x/ 2 weeks or twice a month, for the same reason from the vacation.

I also now have mental prices for proteins for grocery shopping and dinners. We're eating fresh swai tonight vs fresh salmon b/c we normally try to have fresh fish for Sunday dinner. I have a mental price of $5 for swai and $10 for salmon. The salmon was $12.99/lb and the swai was on sale for $4.99/lb, so swai it is. The kids don't like it as much, but they like it more than having chicken for dinner, so it's still "treat enough"...

I love Swai! My husband coats it in almond flour and either bakes or fries it. Great low carb meal.

 

[FigmentFans]

Lots of great comments!

I have done a couple of things to keep costs down (especially since I lost my job during Covid - I found another job that pays less so looking at expenses, but also way happier).
- Got rid of subscriptions such as WW
- I only am required to go into work 2 days/week, so I do that to save on gas. On the way home from work, I will stop by the pharmacy or other stores to pick up anything we need so less trips. One of my criteria for a new job was close to home so no big commute.
- Only going in 2 days a week also saves on new clothes/shoes - I have a lot of shirts I can wear on Zoom calls that look very professional when you only see the top part and not any stains/holes at the bottom - I call them my Zoom shirts
- I make my lunch for work every day. Definitely saving money rather than buying it, and I am eating healthier as well (no impulse buys of bacon cheeseburgers!!) and also using leftovers (instead of them getting shoved into the back of the fridge and re-discovered to be thrown out a week later).
- I am clipping coupons (never did it consistently before) and I also buy whole vegetables even if I need chopped or sliced (whole butternut squash is a lot cheaper than a container of chopped squash)

 

[ThistleMae]

So many great ideas here, love the sharing! I only do laundry every two weeks now. I have enough clothes to do that, just never did before. Washers and dryers do use a lot of electricity.

 

[barkley]

So many great ideas here, love the sharing! I only do laundry every two weeks now. I have enough clothes to do that, just never did before. Washers and dryers do use a lot of electricity.

they do use allot of electricity but this practice can, depending on the machine, end up using more electricity. in the case of our large capacity set i can put an obscene amount in but it extends the drying time extensively. instead of a double load taking less than two individual loads or even twice as long to dry it will take 3-4 runs because there's not as much room to tumble.

 

[CGB]

I'm pretty tight with the budget as it is, but here's a few things we've added this summer:

#1 - Not buying meat. I have a stand-up freezer full of meat/fish that was bought at much cheaper prices. We'll use that and restock with sales when they happen.
#2 - Drinking iced tea/drink mixes instead of soda.
#3 - Replaced ventilation hoses for the dryer and cut drying times in half.
#4 - Pulling our thermal drapes to block the sun's rays from warming up the house.
#5 - Seeds started for fall vegetables - current garden is doing good despite the crazy heat.
#6 - Watching fresh produce sales to buy for canning.