While Tobie and I aren't exactly penny-pinching, we've certainly been feeling the slow squeeze of the rise in consumer goods. Our weekly grocery runs result in disappointment after disappointment as things either go missing or get more expensive. I've started to make substitutions here and there as I can't bring myself to spend so much on things at their higher price levels. Thus no more broccoli and regular cabbage while I try to make do with sayote and pechay baguio instead. Before I'd have no issues stocking up on stuff but now I keep weighing if we need something urgently or if it can wait for the next grocery run - just to be more "optimal" or "efficient" in managing our supplies at home. The only exception is when I see items with a longer shelf life on sale - those we can stock up a bit since it'll mean moderate savings.
Gas prices are equally bonkers and it's a good thing we don't drive around as much. The best thing we can do apart from consistently using whichever rewards card earns points from our refueling efforts is trying to stock up when Tobie visits his mom since gas prices are a little cheaper in their area versus here in BGC. It's not much, but every bit counts.
I suspect that things will continue to get worse before they get significantly better - and I'm not sure if that'll happen within this administration's term. The government's current approach to these matters feels..."soft", to say the least. If anything, the bad stuff just continues to happen on its own with no immediate end in sight. It's death by a thousand cuts - and the people who end up feeling the most hurt are those at the bottom of the food chain, as it were. We're just feeling a bit of the pinch. For others, things are certainly far more dire.
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