How are you dealing with inflation?

[gimmethesimplelife]

What are your ways to deal with inflation/price hikes? I understand that my ways are not for everybody, but what are your ways?

I'll start.

A. Living an auto free life

B. All clothes until further notice (other than socks and underwear) coming from the Nogales AZ Goodwill where clothes are sold by weight and unbelievable deals can be found. An example - a men's lightly worn Wilson's leather jacket for $3!!!

C. Using smartphone apps to take pics of all our receipts for points toward gift cards which can be used for Christmas.

D. Using my employee discount for food and growing some of my own food in the backyard. This year there's been a bumper crop of Armenian Cucumber and in another month there will be a bumper crop of navel oranges and figs.

E. Stocking up in Mexico on prescription meds.

What are some of your workarounds to inflation? Rob

[bae]

Not buying stuff I don’t need.

[Yppej]

Eating free snacks at work.

I try to hypermile but I'm not consistent.

Doing the best job I can supporting our sales staff so we meet our monthly goal and get a free breakfast.

Refusing to buy overpriced items. If it's 10 or 15% more fine but I will not pay double, the exception being gas.

Continuing to stay local for recreation. More hiking and other free activities, though avoiding mask requirements also plays a role as well as inflation. I am not going to museums, for instance.

My new hobby, fighting my city's mask mandate, is low cost.

[iris lilies]

I’m dealing with it by not paying attention to it.

[Tradd]

I’m dealing with it by not paying attention to it.

Yep, me too!’

[Rogar]

I've not changed anything spending wise, but I've been looking at TIPS as an investment.

[dado potato]

I've not changed anything spending wise, but I've been looking at TIPS as an investment.

For several years I have been purchasing my limit of Treasury I Savings Bonds. I intend to go on buying the limit each January, as long as I can. TIPs can and do sometimes decline in price. (I think a short duration TIPs fund, such as VTIPX, may be a sensible alternative to a short term CD) I Bonds increase in value every month according to changes in the CPI, the variable rate of interest being updated by the Treasury every 6 months.

A credible source of information and analysis on inflation-protected Treasury securities is David Enna http://tipswatch.com

[Rogar]

For several years I have been purchasing my limit of Treasury I Savings Bonds. I intend to go on buying the limit each January, as long as I can. TIPs can and do sometimes decline in price. (I think a short duration TIPs fund, such as VTIPX, may be a sensible alternative to a short term CD) I Bonds increase in value every month according to changes in the CPI, the variable rate of interest being updated by the Treasury every 6 months.

A credible source of information and analysis on inflation-protected Treasury securities is David Enna http://tipswatch.com

Thanks for the additional information. I haven't kept up with ibond purchases for some time, but have a handful back when the purchase limit was higher and the fixed rate was actually a positive number. I've never regretted having them. Ibonds are slightly complicated and if a person needs to invest larger amounts, the annual purchase limits are slightly low, which may be reasons why they are not more popular. I've not given up on TIPS having their place too, and appreciate the link and VTIPX suggestion.

[bae]

A. Living an auto free life

I will say that the used Fiat 500e electric vehicle I purchased right before the pandemic has cut my transportation costs, and bother, hugely. I basically haven't bought gasoline for nearly 2 years, unless I am doing something out-of-routine. I drive the remaining gasoline vehicles now-and-then to keep them happy, and this electric vehicle requires near-zero service and attention, which is a huge time/bother-saver.

I jumped at the opportunity earlier this year to resell a 4 year old used sports car back to the dealer for basically what I bought it for, perhaps even realizing a small profit once the warranty and service contracts were refunded. I'm looking at reselling two other vehicles too, as dealers continue to offer more than is reasonable for them.

[ToomuchStuff]

Not buying stuff I don’t need.

This, mostly. Then like anything else, you have to judge what is your time worth.

I jumped at the opportunity earlier this year to resell a 4 year old used sports car back to the dealer for basically what I bought it for, perhaps even realizing a small profit once the warranty and service contracts were refunded. I'm looking at reselling two other vehicles too, as dealers continue to offer more than is reasonable for them.

Was this the little red one you posted a picture of some time back? (don't remember what it was)

Now, on the flip side, has this inflation helped anyone?
I found out today, me, quite potentially. Rundown house in my old neighborhood (one street over) was bought for $11K, they put 20k in and it sold last week for $110K. It is the same layout as most of the houses in that area, compared to the last one I know that sold. With this market, I could potentially end up in my current location for less then 50K, on a quite a bit more expensive house, then my old one.

I am wondering how much the old Frank James in laws house, will go for up the street.