TEMPLE, Texas — America is now two years into abnormally high inflation!
Last year it was at 8 and a quarter percent. It was still at 3.76 percent last month, which means you're paying 12 percent more for goods and services than you were 2 years ago, and that has us all tightening our belts and making changes to our budgets.
But some things like food and medications, you just can't go without, and if you thought that 12 percent inflation was bad, according to CNBC, the average American faces spending 71 percent more on groceries than they did last year.
That really hits your budget, as Financial Planner Rolandus Johnson told 6 News on this edition of Money Talks.
"If you look at over the last year, year and a half and coming up on two years, this is a historic inflation amount," said Johnson. "I mean $200 of groceries last year versus $200 of groceries this year, that's a huge huge difference right?"
So we must find ways to save. For those of you with kids, hand-me-downs, second-hand stores or discount shops like Ross or Marshalls might just be the answer!
"If you can find a sale, I know a lot of times with children's clothes, children are always growing, so these are the times to be looking for sales coming up for Christmas and different things like that to kind of help ease the budget," Johnson said. "We are in some really strange times as far as inflation goes and the cost of things, and the incredible cost of goods nowadays!"
At the grocery store, people are looking for coupons, looking for deals in bulk or buying generic all to help alleviate the burden.
"Kids are very smart, so they get it," said Johnson. "They see a box that you usually get, and my kids' thing is ‘Special K,’ so they see a box that you are usually getting and then all of a sudden a new box comes in and they are like 'whoo-whoo what is that?' It's kind of not necessarily difficult, but you've got to have that conversation of 'Well this is something new that we are trying' or something along those lines, but definitely finding and saving those bucks, that's going to play huge!"
And for you seniors, many of your medication costs take up so much of your monthly budget. Johnson says you've got to shop for that deal and save wherever you can.
"Good RX or go to some of the websites of the pharmaceuticals, they have up to 60 or 70 percent savings on some of their medications," said Johnson. "So that's one of those things. Talk to your doctor and they may even recommend some programs for you to save some dollars on your medications, but I would definitely go to Dood RX. It's one of the most common ones out there and I definitely recommend saving money on the medications."
The cost of money borrowing has also gone way up. A 30-year mortgage is approaching 8% and your credit card bills have gone way up, so try and pay those off and avoid paying any interest if you can!
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