Top Tips to combat Inflation in your budget 🧾
Inflation! 😱
The news outlets are shouting INFLATION at every opportunity. The CPI (consumer price index) un-adjusted 12 months ending in June 2022, was 9.1%. This is the highest CPI we’ve seen for 4 decades.
This is worrisome for many people, especially in the short-term as we figure out how we may be able to adjust our spending 🧾 to minimize inflationary impacts on our own household budgets. There are many reasons behind this inflation figure, but I want to stick with the make-up of the CPI, not the reasons behind price movements.
So I decided to dive into the figures, to determine some of the KEY drivers of that 9.1%, and see if there are any substitutions or changes to make to spending habits to strive for a lower (personal) inflation rate.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov) posts all data, in a fashion that is relatively easy to explore – so that is what I did. You’ll find below MY interpretation of the data, and, where warranted, suggestions for possible alternatives for your budget, while inflation remains high.
When we dive into Table 7. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): US city average, by expenditure category, 12-month analysis table, you’ll find some interesting numbers.
Of course, energy costs, specifically, Gasoline, unleaded regular, have increased 61.1% year on year. What can we do?
· Ride share. 🚕 Partner with a colleague or 2 on your commute to work so that you’re paying less than 100% of your commuting gas bill.
· Combine trips. Instead of making multiple trips for errands, plan ahead so you’re hitting each venue on the way home from the furthest away.
· Bike/walk. 🚴🏼♀️ I don’t have to say much on this – but if it is possible, think about not only your monetary savings, but also your health gains. Don’t forget your helmet!
· Do not idle. I’m always amazed at how many cars I see idling unnecessarily. Why would you do this when you’re paying almost $5/gallon? Not to mention, it is terrible for the planet. 🌎
Let’s turn to some food 🥗 🥓 items you may buy.
· Prepared salads. 🥗 Wow, this increase is 17.6% year on year! I know we’ll have to move towards just plain heads of lettuce that we wash and cut ourselves.
· Peanut butter. 🥜 We eat a lot. This has ‘only’ increased 9.5%. Which brings me to the next item to highlight.
· Meat. The highest increase is in chicken 🍗 , up 18.6% overall. Beef and veal, however, have only increased 4.1%. For those of you who are meat eaters, on the occasions you do eat meat, perhaps beef should substitute for chicken for the time being. I would also look to replace chicken with other sources of protein. Shelf stable seafood, think tuna 🍣 fish, has only seen a 7.4% increase. And lunchmeats are also up 18%, so perhaps that tuna fish sandwich becomes even more appealing.
· Eggs. 🥚 Eggs are up 33.1%! This bums me out, in particular. We don’t eat a lot of meat in our family, but we do eat eggs. I have no idea what/how to substitute for eggs – if you have ideas, please share!
· Cheese and related products are up 9.7% -- still high, but not as high as eggs and lunchmeat. Grilled cheese 🥪 is sounding really good right now – especially as the price of tomatoes has seen the smallest increase of many other fresh vegetables – 0.6%.
· Apples, 🍎 bananas, 🍌 and other fresh fruits have seen prices increases of 6.6% max, while cookies have risen 14.7%. This is a great, healthy substitution for families. Have cut up fruit available before family members ask for cookies. I also love making popcorn in a glass microwave popcorn-thingy I bought years ago. Or, make it on the stove top as kettle corn by popping it in oil and sugar.
And the last category, is called, “All items less (or excluding) food and energy. The overall inflation rate for this category is 5.9%, however, there are some interesting variations within the category.
· Major appliances have increased 7.5%, but “laundry equipment” has actually seen a price decrease of 1.6%.
· Men’s suits, sport coats, 🕺🏿 and outerwear have seen an astonishing 24.9% price increase! Thrift stores or DePop anyone?
· While men’s pants and shorts have actually decreased 0.5%. Perhaps that remote job is looking better. Who hasn’t worn shorts on a zoom?
· For those of us with daughters (I have four of my own!), girls apparel has only seen a 1.8% increase.👯♂️
· Televisions 📺 have a seen a price decrease of 12.7%. Maybe we skip the road trip, and opt for a staycation with TV upgrade, instead?
· And smartphones 📱have seen a 20% decrease. I can’t figure that one out, as we also have a chip shortage.
· And one last piece of good news among all these prices increases, is that college 👩🏾🎓 tuition and fees have only risen 2.2% year on year 👏👏.
I could go on and on. I know we all see the prices at the stores, but I found digging into the BLS statistics helpful, and I would encourage you to do the same.