Here’s a list of things I did or am doing to fight inflation
Investing in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS)
Locked in lower cost for summer travel by paying early in this year
Lower grocery bill by using up leftover food. For example, yesterday I had leftover hamburger patties and mushrooms in the fridge. So decided to make Beef Stroganoff for dinner–and it came out delish.
The most impactful:
Insuring that most household spending is either inflation proof or covered by income with cost of living adjustments (such as Social Security).
Any Inflation fighting techniques that you can share?
Reduce cooling and heating. I’ve gotten our electric bill down to what it was 15 years ago despite a higher rate. Although I’m using less water, the water & sewer bill is still much higher–those rates have truly skyrocketed.
Eat less expensive items–and eat less.
Eat your leftovers! Even small amounts of dinner leftovers chopped up make good omelet, fried rice, ramen, or pasta additions.
Cook anything about to go bad. Then eat or freeze it. Overripe fruit can be cooked into a sauce to put on ice cream, cereal, pancakes, French toast. mmm…pancakes w/blueberry sauce, strawberry shortcake…
Save on irrigation–landscape with plants adapted to your precipitation level.
Grow your own herbs and maybe more (cherry tomatoes and mesclun leaves are easy).
Reduce cleaning help (if once a week, switch to every other week or once a month).
Drive less…in addition to using less gas, you’ll need less frequent oil changes and other car services–and your car will last longer. Try to avoid buying a car till prices settle down. One of my caregivers bought a 3-yr-old Suburu Outback for $32k =8-0
Cut your own/spouse’s/friend’s hair, do your own/spouse’s/friend’s nails. I cut my own hair and do my own nails, and one of my husband’s caregivers does his. (uh…the expense of the hubster’s caregivers dwarfs any savings on this or any other list, and even 50% inflation =8-0
Invest in dividend growing stocks. The best of this lot are those who can pass along their increased cost of doing business to their customers. Energy, utilities, staples, most REITs.
The opposite, investing in high yield fixed dividend, such as preferred stock, is tempting but the risk here is inflation and perpetuity. Worst case I can find is the 3.9% yield PSA-O that was issued at $25 Nov 2020. July 2021 the price of this preferred actually reached $26.60, providing the buyer at that time a current yield of $.975/26.60 = 3.67%. Today the price is $17.48 with a current yield of 5.58%. First possible redemption date is Nov 2025…but I doubt this preferred will redeem in our lifetime. But definitely good for PSA.
That’s a key. I was thinking about using part of my 401k after I retire to pay down my mortgage. A financial consultant showed me the math so I could seen how large that mistake would be.