How To Deal With Rising Costs
Whether it is grocery shopping, eating out, buying a car or finding a Halloween costume, one thing is certain – stuff costs more.
We have been really luck over the past 10+ years and we have not had to deal with the fact that our money can buy less today than what it did yesterday. Unfortunately, over the past 12 months inflation (how much a market basket of everyday stuff) has risen 5.4%. Yikes! If you have not gotten a raise of about that much you are not keeping up.
As we go into the unHoly Trinity of spendy holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving and religious holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah you can very easily blow your budget if you aren’t careful.
Here are some tips to help you out:
1. Take some time to reflect on which traditions are the most important to you. Is it the food, the stuff or the people? Make sure you focus your resources where you are going to get the most bang for your holiday buck.
2. DIY it. Instead of pricey costumes, make one. I was all of the following as a child: a bum, a mime, a cardboard box wrapped with white paper otherwise known as a die (dice?) My husband did something similar and was the tin man.
You can do the same for centerpieces (get stuff outside), gifts and food.
3. Budget. Start looking for deals early and when you are done – “ya done”!
4. Buy a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey – it’s cheaper. Or, if there will be no revolts, go with another meat that everyone else isn’t going to be buying. Supply and demand people.
5. Don’t be hero. If you are usually the one who does all the cooking, aka spends all the money make it pot luck. Tell people what to bring. Maybe just ask people to BYOB – booze is pricey!
6. Consider scaling it all down. Less is really more at the holiday. Relax, enjoy your friends and family – its better that way anyways.
Of course, if you are looking for that perfect thing for your friend or family member who has everything but is always broke, you can give the gift of financial coaching. 🙂
