What Is Inflation And How It Affects You?

Pinching Pennies

Have you been in the grocery store lately?

It’s hard to spend under 100 dollars in there!

The cost of all goods and services have seemed to increase in price.

Whether its gas, housing, and groceries, we are all feeling the sting.

We seem to all be trying to find a good deal while pinching pennies.

There are many contributing factors why all goods and services are more expensive.

But one of the reasons is inflation.

What is Inflation?

Inflation can simply be defined as the price increase of goods and services over time.

This means that the costs of goods and services have went up and we are able to buy less of them.

For instance, in 1993, you may have been able to have a good night out when watching a movie at a theatre with 20 dollars.

However, in 2024, you are likely paying well over 10 dollars alone to see a movie in a theatre, not factoring in the cost of soda and popcorn.

20 dollars for a tank of gas got you more mileage in 1984 as opposed to 2024.

Reasons For Inflation

There are many reasons why inflation happens.

Here are a few contributing factors:

• The cost it takes to make things (products) has risen.
• The cost of gasoline has increased significantly.
• The law of supply and demand. If lots of people want access to a limited product, that product’s price goes up.

I’m not a financial advisor or analyst, but from my research, these are some of the contributing factors.

How Does Inflation Affect You?

When I say, “How Does Inflation Affect You,” I mean me, too.

You and me….

Like working class folks.

While inflation affects wealthy, rich, and poor, the truth is that the wealthy have the assets to better handle inflation.

Here are some thoughts of how inflation affects the “common” person:

• Having less money in savings.
• Spending more for the same products/goods/services now than in the past.
• Spending more money, less money in savings, or less money to invest can affect mental health and decrease financial security.

How To Fight Inflation?

While inflation has been tough on most of us, all hope is NOT lost.

There are ways to fight inflation, even for the common, working-class citizen.

Here are a few ways to fight inflation:

• Setting up a budget.
• Bringing in more money from a second job, side hustle, or gig.
• Cutting down your costs as much as you can. (Instead of 4 streaming services, cut it down to 2..lol)
• Shop around to see if you can spend less for a good/service/product.
• Use cash back apps and websites to help you get a little bit of your money back from your expenses.

Conclusion

Remember that inflation is the gradual increase in costs of products/goods/services over a period of time.

Many things can contribute to inflation, like the cost to provide goods/services/products have increased.

You can curve inflation costs by setting up a budget to manage your money, by spending less, shopping around to get good deals, and cutting down on household expenses.

It is my hope that this article better helps you to understand inflation and how you can fight inflation.