Rising Prices: How our Family is Navigating Inflation
Do you feel like your paycheck isn't going as far as it used to? You're definitely not alone my friend! With inflation on the rise, families across Canada and the United States (and the world) are feeling the pinch. In this post, I'll share some strategies my family has used to cope with rising prices and keep our budget on track.
Inflation is a complex economic phenomenon that can have various causes including an increase in the money supply in the economy, rising production costs, supply chain disruptions, and increased demand for goods and services. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: prices go up, and the purchasing power of your money decreases.
Canada’s Food Price Report suggests that food prices will rise by another five to seven per cent in 2023 after increasing by more than 10 per cent in 2022. The increase would push the average yearly grocery bill for a family of four up to $16,288 (that’s $1,357 per month!). Meanwhile, in the United States, Americans saw the lowest annual average price of gas in 2020, when the average cost for a gallon of gas was $2.19. Fast-forward three years and gas is running an average of $3.45 so far in 2023.
My husband and I have certainly felt these rising costs in our home and we’ve had to make a few adjustments to our daily routines and in our budget (using YNAB, of course!).
We’re making more of an effort to plan our meals for the week. This is one chore that neither of us love doing. My husband would be happy eating the exact same thing week after week and I prefer a little more variety so the job of meal planning usually ends up with me (trust me, he does PLENTY of other jobs). I have a look at everything in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what’s there and then plan out the week’s meals using what we already have in the house as a start. I’m not a super creative cook that can put any random ingredients together but I am making an effort to reduce our food waste. This new habit has definitely helped with our grocery bill.
Oh and another tip? When I’m planning out the meals for the week and our grocery list, I will go around the kitchen checking on the status of some of our usual items (milk, fruit, snacks etc..) and then yelling at our Alexa (our friendly virtual assistant who lives in the kitchen) to put them on the grocery list. The kids also are trained to add things to the Alexa grocery list as they run out. This helps reduce extra trips to the store during the week and it makes the planning process on the weekend a little bit easier.
We changed the way we manage our gas budget. We are a stepfamily and for various reasons my husband and I have decided to each maintain our own personal bank accounts. We then put an agreed-to amount into a shared bank account each month that covers our household expenses and shared goals (including fun things - like saving up for new heat pumps as they near the end of their lives 😭). We each have our own personal YNAB budgets and a third, shared budget. We have two vehicles and up until a few months ago we were each paying for a vehicle (gas, maintenance, registration etc..) out of our own personal budgets. Recently, we decided to change things up and share the cost of both vehicles. This has meant that our family mobile, the trusty but more gas guzzling van, isn’t being driven as much. This has helped us save money on gas and reduce our overall carbon footprint. Double win!
We have been buying more food locally. We have started to buy more food from local farmers and small businesses. It seems that in our area (Nova Scotia, Canada), the prices of locally sourced meat and eggs haven't risen as much as those at the grocery store. By buying locally, we not only get to support local businesses but also enjoy fresher and more sustainably produced food.
I started a business as a money coach. Last year I decided to become a certified YNAB coach and started a business as a money coach. There are many different types of small businesses that people can start, from selling handmade crafts to providing tutoring services. By finding something that suits your skills and interests, you can earn some extra money to help offset the rising costs of everyday expenses.
Finally, we made some adjustments to our budget. We are You Need a Budget (YNAB) users and noticed that we were regularly over-spending in a few categories like groceries and gas. So we down and made some adjustments to our targets for those categories, essentially accepting that for these categories the target amounts had to increase to reflect rising costs. This meant that we had to make adjustments to a few other categories. By being flexible and proactive about our budget we were able to stay on track financially.
How have you and your family made adjustments to your budget or your lifestyle to adjust to inflation?
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