I've stoped buying junk food / prepackaged snacks because it's all too expensive now. We get takeout once a month, max. This has kept our food budget stable so far. If prices go up anymore, I'm not sure what we can cut back.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly since 2020, things are actually cheaper. Our household is not struggling? We are firmly UMC. Maybe it has to do with job sectors?

Sort of the same here. Despite the rampant inflation under Biden, I also make significantly more money compared to 2019-2020. So I can swallow the higher prices more easily. I am also naturally frugal, cook everything as I love cooking, and it goes a long way at keeping costs under control. Also haven't really seen major price increases at supermarkets in the last two years, nothing like under covid. It also helped I bought the house in 2020 when rates were record low and just before prices exploded, there was a magical window of about five months when this was happening. I now complain about the golden handcuffs of a super low mortgage rate, but in retrospect it's going a huge way towards to feeling financially secure and not living paycheck to paycheck and easily affording trips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never lived lavishly so no changes.

Same

Same here. Some of us went through hard times in 2001 and 2009-2010. I have gone through way more than the two. Couldn't let those experiences go wasted.
When the times come, perhaps like now, I'm so ready. Amy Dacyczyn would be so proud. I'm not handy like her though and found my own way to cut expenses.
The real worry and scare is health and well-being of family and friends.Those things money can't really buy.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly since 2020, things are actually cheaper. Our household is not struggling? We are firmly UMC. Maybe it has to do with job sectors?

It’s all such an individual experience. We moved to a lower COL in 2019 for work. We did feel the pinch in the DMV at our salaries but in this new location, we’re completely fine.

For people who can, if you’re in a HCOL area, look for options outside of that area. Take some of the pressure off.

Of course not everyone can move but many people aren’t even open to the idea.

Honestly since 2020, things are actually cheaper. Our household is not struggling? We are firmly UMC. Maybe it has to do with job sectors?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really find the economy too bad? Inflation has come down. Restaurants are always going to cost more than cooking at home. And gas prices always go up and down.

Inflation has come down???? Maybe you mean the pace of inflation increases has slowed but what prices have come down?

Inflation is the rate of changes. Inflation could be down to zero without prices falling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put hedges in when COVID hit and doubled down when Biden turned on the financial spigot. So many more people on the planet, so much debt, so little wiggle room, inflation will be on the hunt for your money for years to come (absent calamity). Plan people!

"Put hedges in" for what?!

Inflationary action!

i really enjoy cooking and am good at it. Also good at making food that not only tastes good, but is economical. I have large venerable gardens and just got in my cool weather seedlings. Use compost to fertilize. it’s self sustaining.

Anonymous wrote:Put hedges in when COVID hit and doubled down when Biden turned on the financial spigot. So many more people on the planet, so much debt, so little wiggle room, inflation will be on the hunt for your money for years to come (absent calamity). Plan people!

"Put hedges in" for what?!

Put hedges in when COVID hit and doubled down when Biden turned on the financial spigot. So many more people on the planet, so much debt, so little wiggle room, inflation will be on the hunt for your money for years to come (absent calamity). Plan people!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is so insane about the economy?

Spouse & I are both working & not making very much. We are barely middle-middle class by most standards. One kid is military officer & other is a CPA.

We have all traveled all over the US, along with a lot of foreign trips. The 4 of us have no mortgages, no car loans, & no credit card debt. The 4 of us managed to get 11 college degrees without any college loans.

Kids went to public schools k-12. We haven’t bought any used cars (some new, quite a few leased, which has allowed us to avoid large auto repair bills). We paid off our modest new-construction suburban house in 9 years.

Bottom line: minimize your debt.

You are not coming out ahead with leasing vehicles because it "allowed [you] to avoid large auto repair bills." You are not saving money leasing cars. At all.

Oh yes I am. I bought a Toyota & put nearly 200,000 miles in it. Even with that super-reliable car I had significant repair expenses, plus once I was past 100,000 miles I didn’t trust it for longer trips.

The key to making a lease affordable is to get a salesman who will bend over backwards for you. My guy gets me every conceivable discount & rebate, even ones I don’t actually qualify for, like being an employee of the manufacturer. They can do all sorts of things IF THEY WANT TO. And since I’ve leased so many cars from him over the years, he really wants to keep my business.

This is what lease people tell themselves but it’s not true.

Well, even if it is, it is not applicable to anyone else because her guy is breaking the rules for her.

Sigh.

Sales 101:

Tell the buyer you really shouldn’t be doing this…and your boss would kill you if he finds out…but he will give you the super special deal that means he’s barely making any money just for you…

^^^
Falling for this is precisely why women are typically taken advantage of by salespeople.

Ok, keep buying your funky used cars. And your new cars that will need new tires, shocks, brakes…. And I’m not a woman. I’m a guy who can do the math on what all those repairs cost, and how even after the repairs, you’ve got an unreliable car. But you’re so smart, that’s why you’re the ones whining about how you can’t save in this “insane” economy.

DP here. Maybe there’s a degree of luck. I’m 51 and have never bought a new car and have never leased a car. I’ve also not spent much money on repairs on any of my cars. I currently own a 2015 Dodge and I did have to replace the battery two years ago so that was something but it wasn’t expensive.

Anonymous wrote:What is so insane about the economy?

Spouse & I are both working & not making very much. We are barely middle-middle class by most standards. One kid is military officer & other is a CPA.

We have all traveled all over the US, along with a lot of foreign trips. The 4 of us have no mortgages, no car loans, & no credit card debt. The 4 of us managed to get 11 college degrees without any college loans.

Kids went to public schools k-12. We haven’t bought any used cars (some new, quite a few leased, which has allowed us to avoid large auto repair bills). We paid off our modest new-construction suburban house in 9 years.

Bottom line: minimize your debt.

LOL another bad troll who hasn't been to the grocery store for a year or the gas station last week.

Anonymous wrote:I don't really find the economy too bad? Inflation has come down. Restaurants are always going to cost more than cooking at home. And gas prices always go up and down.

Inflation has come down???? Maybe you mean the pace of inflation increases has slowed but what prices have come down?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is so insane about the economy?

Spouse & I are both working & not making very much. We are barely middle-middle class by most standards. One kid is military officer & other is a CPA.

We have all traveled all over the US, along with a lot of foreign trips. The 4 of us have no mortgages, no car loans, & no credit card debt. The 4 of us managed to get 11 college degrees without any college loans.

Kids went to public schools k-12. We haven’t bought any used cars (some new, quite a few leased, which has allowed us to avoid large auto repair bills). We paid off our modest new-construction suburban house in 9 years.

Bottom line: minimize your debt.

You are not coming out ahead with leasing vehicles because it "allowed [you] to avoid large auto repair bills." You are not saving money leasing cars. At all.

Oh yes I am. I bought a Toyota & put nearly 200,000 miles in it. Even with that super-reliable car I had significant repair expenses, plus once I was past 100,000 miles I didn’t trust it for longer trips.

The key to making a lease affordable is to get a salesman who will bend over backwards for you. My guy gets me every conceivable discount & rebate, even ones I don’t actually qualify for, like being an employee of the manufacturer. They can do all sorts of things IF THEY WANT TO. And since I’ve leased so many cars from him over the years, he really wants to keep my business.

This is what lease people tell themselves but it’s not true.

Well, even if it is, it is not applicable to anyone else because her guy is breaking the rules for her.

Sigh.

Sales 101:

Tell the buyer you really shouldn’t be doing this…and your boss would kill you if he finds out…but he will give you the super special deal that means he’s barely making any money just for you…

^^^
Falling for this is precisely why women are typically taken advantage of by salespeople.

Ok, keep buying your funky used cars. And your new cars that will need new tires, shocks, brakes…. And I’m not a woman. I’m a guy who can do the math on what all those repairs cost, and how even after the repairs, you’ve got an unreliable car. But you’re so smart, that’s why you’re the ones whining about how you can’t save in this “insane” economy.

We moved to a much smaller city. It was for spouse's career. Could easily afford a house and I don't have to work. We're not super wealthy, but comfortable now. We struggled constantly in the big city suburbs. Every time we drive a few hours to the big city suburbs where we used to live to shop (a few times per year) my eyes bug out at the higher prices. Everything is so much more expensive. I don't know how people are making it there. Now people are moving to our town. I see license plates from California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Florida in the grocery store parking lot. Even saw a Hawaii plate.