How Are YOU Successfully Beating Inflation?

[Undecided]

I'm having a bit of a personal mental crisis of "it's all fucked right now and I might as well spend a bit of coin before my cash is worth shit". So I've been eating out a lot more, spending on things I normally wouldn't (hello new rowing machine!), and just generally loosening the purse strings.

Buy stocks.
SP500 down 15% on top of two years of 10% inflation. That means it's down more like 30%. Stock market is on sale right now.

Except the peak was only 4 months ago and (official) inflation since then has been more like 3-4%, so more like a 20% real discount. S&P was eyewatering at 4.8k, and it's still very expensive at 4k. 3.5k is pricey, 3k is reasonable, 2.5k is cheap

Everything thing I see about inflation in the US shows higher numbers than the "3-4%" cited above. Perhaps I misunderstood you, but here's what statistics.com is reporting:

Monthly 12-month inflation rate in the United States from April 2021 to April 2022

table
column chart
Characteristic   Inflation rate
Apr '22   8.3%
Mar '22   8.5%
Feb '22   7.9%
Jan '22   7.5%
Dec '21   7%
Nov '21   6.8%
Oct '21   6.2%
Sep '21   5.4%
Aug '21   5.3%
Jul '21   5.4%
Jun '21   5.4%
May '21   5%
Apr '21   4.2%

This are annual inflation rates (comparisons to a year earlier), while vand is describing the effect of inflation vs. just four months earlier.

[Shane]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need. As others have pointed out, though, that may not count, as we've, pretty much, always done that. One thing we occasionally need is clothes. Thankfully, my wife and teenage daughter are totally on board with 'thrifting' as their preferred means of buying 'new' clothes. Almost all of the furniture in our house was purchased used, either from CL, FB Marketplace, or a local thrift shop.

Another thing that has helped to soften the effects of inflation for us is that we 'rebalanced' our investment portfolio in fall 2018, moving ~$200K (all capital gains we didn't have in 2016) from VTI into a 120 year old brick row house in a LCOL, walkable, small city, with a great train connection to Amtrak's NE Corridor, i.e., Philadelphia, D.C., NYC, & Boston. Our housing costs are unbelievably cheap at only $700/month, including all utilities and RE taxes. Gas prices were up a lot in our area this past winter. We just shut off the furnace. If they want to jack up the prices, we can just stop buying their product all together. Looking forward to, eventually, cutting ties with the gas company completely by installing an electric, ductless, mini-split system for both heating and cooling, switching to an electric hot water heater, and also getting an induction range to replace the gas one we have now. Fuck the gas company.

In December 2021, we sold our Subaru Outback to CarMax for almost what we paid for it brand new in 2019. Now, as everyone around us is bitching about the high cost of gasoline and diesel, we're little affected, as we can easily walk, ride our bikes, or take a train to get wherever we want to go.

As has been mentioned by others in this thread, since we already had been buying almost all of our food from small, local, neighborhood groceries and farmers markets, we haven't noticed as much change in prices as others have been reporting. The $5.99/dozen eggs we've always bought from a local farm family are still exactly the same price. No inflation.

Another thing DW and I did to help offset inflation was to buy $20K of I Bonds. We even helped our teenage daughter to use $2K of her savings to buy I Bonds, as well.

Another way we've been minimizing the effects of inflation is by consistently living considerably below our means. Last year, we spent 2.5% of our investments, mostly dividends and interest. If inflation and stock market declines cause us to spend more like 3% of our investments in 2022, I'm totally fine with that. It's not going to make a difference in our lives.

[skip207]

We have trimmed back our electric / gas usage by about 50%.  Its crazy how much you can save if you look hard at your usage.  A massive saving is our hot water only comes on once a day now.  Yeah its not scalding hot by 10PM but its still warm enough for a quick shower if you wanted.  Electricity we have turned off the hot tub and turned off the under floor heating.  Those 2 things reduced the usage by 50% on electricity.

Car wise we have only had one car for the last year.  I have reduced the trips I do in the car where possible and trying my best to keep a light right foot and lift and coast as much as I can.  Its saving me about 10-15L a week which adds up.

Food we are now shopping at the local discount supermarket.  The saving on certain goods is astronomical.  Coke Zero switched to own brand cola sugar free. Its a 4:1 price ratio!
Own brand bread, milk, meat etc.  We are seeing about 30% reduction in shopping costs over the main supermarket and thats about 2k a year!!

Lastly we are considering down sizing.  Not really sure on this just yet though.

THAT all said - our FIRE budget has INCREASED by about 20% in the last 12 months.  No change in spending but an increase in all costs.

Very frustrating when you are <6months to FIRE...

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I'm having a bit of a personal mental crisis of "it's all fucked right now and I might as well spend a bit of coin before my cash is worth shit". So I've been eating out a lot more, spending on things I normally wouldn't (hello new rowing machine!), and just generally loosening the purse strings.

Not that buying a new rowing machine per-se is beating inflation, but taking better care of your health is.  I've also been valuing car miles more highly and try to be more mindful about maintenance of belongings.

It's interesting to see how hard it can be for people to understand what 'beating inflation' actually means.  This article about Midland TX, the highest inflation in the US, helped me with perspective - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-11/where-is-inflation-highest-in-us-texas-city-hit-hard-by-price-hikes 

How long will high inflation persist?  No one really knows.  The twin engines of globalization and tech progress may have only temporarily stalled, but they could also have reached a point of diminishing returns.  So maybe inflation cools off a bit once China opens back up and supply chains loosen, but remains relatively high? 

[windytrail]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need. As others have pointed out, though, that may not count, as we've, pretty much, always done that. One thing we occasionally need is clothes. Thankfully, my wife and teenage daughter are totally on board with 'thrifting' as their preferred means of buying 'new' clothes. Almost all of the furniture in our house was purchased used, either from CL, FB Marketplace, or a local thrift shop.

Another thing that has helped to soften the effects of inflation for us is that we 'rebalanced' our investment portfolio in fall 2018, moving ~$200K (all capital gains we didn't have in 2016) from VTI into a 120 year old brick row house in a LCOL, walkable, small city, with a great train connection to Amtrak's NE Corridor, i.e., Philadelphia, D.C., NYC, & Boston. Our housing costs are unbelievably cheap at only $700/month, including all utilities and RE taxes. Gas prices were up a lot in our area this past winter. We just shut off the furnace. If they want to jack up the prices, we can just stop buying their product all together. Looking forward to, eventually, cutting ties with the gas company completely by installing an electric, ductless, mini-split system for both heating and cooling, switching to an electric hot water heater, and also getting an induction range to replace the gas one we have now. Fuck the gas company.

In December 2021, we sold our Subaru Outback to CarMax for almost what we paid for it brand new in 2019. Now, as everyone around us is bitching about the high cost of gasoline and diesel, we're little affected, as we can easily walk, ride our bikes, or take a train to get wherever we want to go.

As has been mentioned by others in this thread, since we already had been buying almost all of our food from small, local, neighborhood groceries and farmers markets, we haven't noticed as much change in prices as others have been reporting. The $5.99/dozen eggs we've always bought from a local farm family are still exactly the same price. No inflation.

Another thing DW and I did to help offset inflation was to buy $20K of I Bonds. We even helped our teenage daughter to use $2K of her savings to buy I Bonds, as well.

Another way we've been minimizing the effects of inflation is by consistently living considerably below our means. Last year, we spent 2.5% of our investments, mostly dividends and interest. If inflation and stock market declines cause us to spend more like 3% of our investments in 2022, I'm totally fine with that. It's not going to make a difference in our lives.

+1

Love this post! Designing your life around minimal consumption of fossil fuels and a preference for locally-based food products has worked fantastically in this environment.

We are not simply passive beings at the whims of the economy. Every day we make choices that impact our resilience in the face of adversity for better or worse.

[afox]

We have trimmed back our electric / gas usage by about 50%.  Its crazy how much you can save if you look hard at your usage.  A massive saving is our hot water only comes on once a day now.  Yeah its not scalding hot by 10PM but its still warm enough for a quick shower if you wanted.  Electricity we have turned off the hot tub and turned off the under floor heating.  Those 2 things reduced the usage by 50% on electricity.

Car wise we have only had one car for the last year.  I have reduced the trips I do in the car where possible and trying my best to keep a light right foot and lift and coast as much as I can.  Its saving me about 10-15L a week which adds up.

Food we are now shopping at the local discount supermarket.  The saving on certain goods is astronomical.  Coke Zero switched to own brand cola sugar free. Its a 4:1 price ratio!
Own brand bread, milk, meat etc.  We are seeing about 30% reduction in shopping costs over the main supermarket and thats about 2k a year!!

Lastly we are considering down sizing.  Not really sure on this just yet though.

THAT all said - our FIRE budget has INCREASED by about 20% in the last 12 months.  No change in spending but an increase in all costs.

Very frustrating when you are <6months to FIRE...

All great but why wouldn't/didn't  you take all of those money saving measures regardless of inflation and retire earlier?

[afox]

As has been mentioned by others in this thread, since we already had been buying almost all of our food from small, local, neighborhood groceries and farmers markets, we haven't noticed as much change in prices as others have been reporting. The $5.99/dozen eggs we've always bought from a local farm family are still exactly the same price. No inflation.

Whats likely happening is that there was a very healthy profit margin built into those $6 dozen eggs all along so its easier for the producer/retailer to just take a little less profit and keep the price the same for the consumer than it would be on the $2 per dozen caged bird eggs where the margins were very thin to begin with. Every producer of eggs has seen their costs increase (employees, feed, real estate, equipment, transportation, etc).

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

[Psychstache]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need.

Ah, the old SNL Parnell system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN_5M44

[Telecaster]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

That's really not the correct way to look at it because you are mixing up investments and expenses.    The mortgage payment and housing costs in general is an expense.   Rising expenses is the definition of inflation, right?  You are correct in a sense that Person A is getting the most benefit from inflation, but that is only because Person A has the highest expenses. 

Stocks and bonds are investments.  And you can include your primary residence as an investment too, if you like.  But which basket to put your eggs is just a question of which type of investment will do better over the life of the mortgage. 

[afox]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need.

Ah, the old SNL Parnell system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN_5M44

Funny but with little real world basis. Most people spending money they dont have arent dumb like the people in the skit, they are poor. The thing people buy that they cant afford most frequently is healthcare.

[nereo]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need.

Ah, the old SNL Parnell system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN_5M44

Funny but with little real world basis. Most people spending money they dont have arent dumb like the people in the skit, they are poor. The thing people buy that they cant afford most frequently is healthcare.

Source?

[afox]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need.

Ah, the old SNL Parnell system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN_5M44

Funny but with little real world basis. Most people spending money they dont have arent dumb like the people in the skit, they are poor. The thing people buy that they cant afford most frequently is healthcare.

Source?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/upshot/medical-debt-americans-medicaid.html

I know the bankruptcy thing is disputed but whatever medical is a leading cause of debt/bankruptcy/spending more than you have in the U.S.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

That's really not the correct way to look at it because you are mixing up investments and expenses.    The mortgage payment and housing costs in general is an expense.   Rising expenses is the definition of inflation, right?  You are correct in a sense that Person A is getting the most benefit from inflation, but that is only because Person A has the highest expenses. 

Stocks and bonds are investments.  And you can include your primary residence as an investment too, if you like.  But which basket to put your eggs is just a question of which type of investment will do better over the life of the mortgage.

I just thought it was surprising that so many Mustachians were claiming to be beating inflation.  If you have little debt, a reasonable home, and a lot of stock and bond investments, then you've probably lost ground to inflation this year...  Those consumer suckas with little savings, working for the rest of their lives, and upgrading their homes and leasing cars aren't looking quite so clownish so far this year...  They did pretty well in the 80's also, with the only catch being having to work until inflation cools off...

[evme]

I wouldn't say that I'm beating inflation, but I've done some things over the last few years that have helped minimize it's impact on my household. I have solar panels on my residence and drive an electric car, so gas and energy price increases haven't affected me so far.

[jim555]

A bit of good news, Lidl $1.99lb. chicken breasts are back, was double.  Peas dropped, went from $1.00, to $1.15, to $1.49 now back to $1.00.  Eggs are still missing.

[windytrail]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

That's really not the correct way to look at it because you are mixing up investments and expenses.    The mortgage payment and housing costs in general is an expense.   Rising expenses is the definition of inflation, right?  You are correct in a sense that Person A is getting the most benefit from inflation, but that is only because Person A has the highest expenses. 

Stocks and bonds are investments.  And you can include your primary residence as an investment too, if you like.  But which basket to put your eggs is just a question of which type of investment will do better over the life of the mortgage.

I just thought it was surprising that so many Mustachians were claiming to be beating inflation.  If you have little debt, a reasonable home, and a lot of stock and bond investments, then you've probably lost ground to inflation this year...  Those consumer suckas with little savings, working for the rest of their lives, and upgrading their homes and leasing cars aren't looking quite so clownish so far this year...  They did pretty well in the 80's also, with the only catch being having to work until inflation cools off...

As the last poster who quoted you already mentioned, you are confounding expenses and investments. The present value of our stocks and bonds means nothing to those of us who are not retiring for another 10+ years. Inflation tracks consumer spending, not investments. If your personal expenses are up less than the average rate of inflation then you are beating inflation. At least that's how I intended the concept to be defined at the start of this thread, notwithstanding all the semantic discussion.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

That's really not the correct way to look at it because you are mixing up investments and expenses.    The mortgage payment and housing costs in general is an expense.   Rising expenses is the definition of inflation, right?  You are correct in a sense that Person A is getting the most benefit from inflation, but that is only because Person A has the highest expenses. 

Stocks and bonds are investments.  And you can include your primary residence as an investment too, if you like.  But which basket to put your eggs is just a question of which type of investment will do better over the life of the mortgage.

I just thought it was surprising that so many Mustachians were claiming to be beating inflation.  If you have little debt, a reasonable home, and a lot of stock and bond investments, then you've probably lost ground to inflation this year...  Those consumer suckas with little savings, working for the rest of their lives, and upgrading their homes and leasing cars aren't looking quite so clownish so far this year...  They did pretty well in the 80's also, with the only catch being having to work until inflation cools off...

As the last poster who quoted you already mentioned, you are confounding expenses and investments. The present value of our stocks and bonds means nothing to those of us who are not retiring for another 10+ years. Inflation tracks consumer spending, not investments. If your personal expenses are up less than the average rate of inflation then you are beating inflation. At least that's how I intended the concept to be defined at the start of this thread, notwithstanding all the semantic discussion.

It is just a semantic discussion.  What matters to me is how I have done this year overall.  Inflation has been high, investment returns have been poor, so overall I have lost net worth and not retained my purchasing power.  My home has been the one bright spot, increasing significantly in value, but not enough for me to claim that I am successfully beating inflation.  I cancelled a vacation this summer because airfare and car rental costs were significantly higher than when I booked the hotel, so I also cancelled the hotel - so I guess you'd call that 'beating inflation'?

[afox]

I also wonder if folks that have low interest rate mortgages are all 'beating inflation'.  Let's take Person A who is early in their career, put all of their money in to a 20% downpayment, and has a low interest rate - yes, their 'portfolio' of a large home + low fixed rate mortgage has done well against inflation this year.  They are paying back their loan with increasingly less valuable dollars that they continue to earn and have a low fixed rate on an asset that is going up in line with inflation.  And there is reason to believe that this will continue for a nice long while.

Person B, on the other hand, also put 20% down on a more reasonable home, but took their extra cash and bought VTSAX (stocks) and VBTLX (bonds), which are now down roughly 15% and 10% respectively.  They would have done better not investing and staying in cash (0% return), although that have lost buying power to inflation.  They would have done better to do the un-Mustachian thing of buying as much house as their cash would have allowed, since that asset has performed best in their portfolio and a large fixed rate loan is getting cheaper in future dollar terms...

I believe that there are Person A's and person B's in this thread that both think they are equally beating inflation, whereas only person A is and Person B might not be...

This all depends on real estate continuing to match inflation, future stock and bond market returns, as well as how high and how long inflation go on for, but it's something else to think about.

That's really not the correct way to look at it because you are mixing up investments and expenses.    The mortgage payment and housing costs in general is an expense.   Rising expenses is the definition of inflation, right?  You are correct in a sense that Person A is getting the most benefit from inflation, but that is only because Person A has the highest expenses. 

Stocks and bonds are investments.  And you can include your primary residence as an investment too, if you like.  But which basket to put your eggs is just a question of which type of investment will do better over the life of the mortgage.

I just thought it was surprising that so many Mustachians were claiming to be beating inflation.  If you have little debt, a reasonable home, and a lot of stock and bond investments, then you've probably lost ground to inflation this year...  Those consumer suckas with little savings, working for the rest of their lives, and upgrading their homes and leasing cars aren't looking quite so clownish so far this year...  They did pretty well in the 80's also, with the only catch being having to work until inflation cools off...

As the last poster who quoted you already mentioned, you are confounding expenses and investments. The present value of our stocks and bonds means nothing to those of us who are not retiring for another 10+ years. Inflation tracks consumer spending, not investments. If your personal expenses are up less than the average rate of inflation then you are beating inflation. At least that's how I intended the concept to be defined at the start of this thread, notwithstanding all the semantic discussion.

It is just a semantic discussion.  What matters to me is how I have done this year overall.  Inflation has been high, investment returns have been poor, so overall I have lost net worth and not retained my purchasing power.  My home has been the one bright spot, increasing significantly in value, but not enough for me to claim that I am successfully beating inflation.  I cancelled a vacation this summer because airfare and car rental costs were significantly higher than when I booked the hotel, so I also cancelled the hotel - so I guess you'd call that 'beating inflation'?

I certainly would not call cancelling your vacation due to inflation beating inflation!!!

One major problem with this level of inflation is for financial planning. If I have to have a significant buffer for expenses in my financial plan to pay for my expenses in perpetuity due to inflation I have to save significantly more thereby delaying retirement/FI. If I could count on inflation being within say 3% planning would be much easier and saving would be much more efficient (I wouldnt have to save what is probably too much).

[nereo]

My financial planning has always considered the impacts of inflation, and our retirement strategy certainly does.

Perhaps too many people have lived in a world of negligible inflation for so long they’ve been caught with their pants down. And too many people seem willing to just throw their hands up and say “gee, nothing I could (or could have) done, shucks”.

[LongtimeLurker]

Our grocery bill has gone up probably 25% since the last time I tracked it and budgeted(maybe a couple of years). On the other hand, my salary has gone up over 100% in the same time span. THAT is beating inflation. Or taking advantage of it, at least.

[Just Joe]

Replaced ailing air conditioner/electric heat system with heat pump today. Made changes to ductwork to aid air turnover in the basement that should (maybe) reduce the amount of time that the dehumidifier runs during the parts of the year when the heat or air conditioner is running.

Want to have the ductwork checked for leaks and add more insulation soon.

Completed some vehicle repairs that delay having to replace our aging cars. One repair cost $7 - worn-out vacuum hose.

Not sure that this is strictly beating inflation but it is working a little harder to save money by DIY-ing some things, and doing the extra homework to pick a good service company (maximize my spending value) for other things I can't do myself.

[afox]

My financial planning has always considered the impacts of inflation, and our retirement strategy certainly does.

Perhaps too many people have lived in a world of negligible inflation for so long they’ve been caught with their pants down. And too many people seem willing to just throw their hands up and say “gee, nothing I could (or could have) done, shucks”.

So what inflation rate do you use for your financial planning to estimate future expenses?

[MMMarbleheader]

I have noticed that store brands of food have not been hit as hard by inflation which helps because we buy store brand at most stores. What sucks is some of them have disappeared, forcing us to get the name brand so I guess hat is a product of
Supply chain issues

[ixtap]

I have noticed that store brands of food have not been hit as hard by inflation which helps because we buy store brand at most stores. What sucks is some of them have disappeared, forcing us to get the name brand so I guess hat is a product of
Supply chain issues

This is most pronounced with tofu. The big brand used to be about 10 cents cheaper than the store brand; now national has doubled and store brand is still the same!!

[ChickenStash]

Food prices are what I'm noticing the most. I'm doing more meal planning around the weekly sales flyers than before to try keeping costs down, but the average weekly bill is up noticeably. I have an eating out problem that I've been trying to deal with so this bump in restaurant costs has actually helped me mentally break out of that cycle a bit. Switching away from eating out has improved lots of things, overall.

Gas prices are up a lot but since going full time WFH I don't drive enough for it to matter much. Electricity and natural gas have gone up but I already have some insulating and air sealing on the to-do list so that should help plus I'm just one person in a modest house. I haven't see a rise in insurances, yet, so that will be one to watch. Water/sewer are up 2-3x but that's mostly due to some public works improvements that were scheduled a few years ago - bad timing, though.

[bryan995]

Our grocery bill has gone up probably 25% since the last time I tracked it and budgeted(maybe a couple of years). On the other hand, my salary has gone up over 100% in the same time span. THAT is beating inflation. Or taking advantage of it, at least.

Unless your salary has only increased because you are now a 2x better employee :)
Hard to separate out performance increases from inflation increases!

[Zikoris]

Our grocery bill has gone up probably 25% since the last time I tracked it and budgeted(maybe a couple of years). On the other hand, my salary has gone up over 100% in the same time span. THAT is beating inflation. Or taking advantage of it, at least.

Unless your salary has only increased because you are now a 2x better employee :)
Hard to separate our performance increases from inflation increases!

My last raise was 11% last fall, and I 100% guarantee I am not even slightly a better employee, lol.

[bryan995]

Our grocery bill has gone up probably 25% since the last time I tracked it and budgeted(maybe a couple of years). On the other hand, my salary has gone up over 100% in the same time span. THAT is beating inflation. Or taking advantage of it, at least.

Unless your salary has only increased because you are now a 2x better employee :)
Hard to separate our performance increases from inflation increases!

My last raise was 11% last fall, and I 100% guarantee I am not even slightly a better employee, lol.

haha - well then you are 100% beating inflation!  And if your performance has dropped at all, then the numbers are even more in your favor!

[freeazabird]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need. As others have pointed out, though, that may not count, as we've, pretty much, always done that. One thing we occasionally need is clothes. Thankfully, my wife and teenage daughter are totally on board with 'thrifting' as their preferred means of buying 'new' clothes. Almost all of the furniture in our house was purchased used, either from CL, FB Marketplace, or a local thrift shop.

Another thing that has helped to soften the effects of inflation for us is that we 'rebalanced' our investment portfolio in fall 2018, moving ~$200K (all capital gains we didn't have in 2016) from VTI into a 120 year old brick row house in a LCOL, walkable, small city, with a great train connection to Amtrak's NE Corridor, i.e., Philadelphia, D.C., NYC, & Boston. Our housing costs are unbelievably cheap at only $700/month, including all utilities and RE taxes. Gas prices were up a lot in our area this past winter. We just shut off the furnace. If they want to jack up the prices, we can just stop buying their product all together. Looking forward to, eventually, cutting ties with the gas company completely by installing an electric, ductless, mini-split system for both heating and cooling, switching to an electric hot water heater, and also getting an induction range to replace the gas one we have now. Fuck the gas company.

In December 2021, we sold our Subaru Outback to CarMax for almost what we paid for it brand new in 2019. Now, as everyone around us is bitching about the high cost of gasoline and diesel, we're little affected, as we can easily walk, ride our bikes, or take a train to get wherever we want to go.

As has been mentioned by others in this thread, since we already had been buying almost all of our food from small, local, neighborhood groceries and farmers markets, we haven't noticed as much change in prices as others have been reporting. The $5.99/dozen eggs we've always bought from a local farm family are still exactly the same price. No inflation.

Another thing DW and I did to help offset inflation was to buy $20K of I Bonds. We even helped our teenage daughter to use $2K of her savings to buy I Bonds, as well.

Another way we've been minimizing the effects of inflation is by consistently living considerably below our means. Last year, we spent 2.5% of our investments, mostly dividends and interest. If inflation and stock market declines cause us to spend more like 3% of our investments in 2022, I'm totally fine with that. It's not going to make a difference in our lives.

How did you make sure your pipes didn’t freeze with the furnace off?

[G-String]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2. 

[jim555]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

[GuitarStv]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

[Adventine]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

[NorthernIkigai]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

[Adventine]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

[GuitarStv]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

I skootch my but across the bathroom mats myself.  Little trick I picked up from a puppy we had once . . .

[Shane]

My family's been 'beating' inflation mostly by not buying a bunch of useless crap we don't really need. As others have pointed out, though, that may not count, as we've, pretty much, always done that. One thing we occasionally need is clothes. Thankfully, my wife and teenage daughter are totally on board with 'thrifting' as their preferred means of buying 'new' clothes. Almost all of the furniture in our house was purchased used, either from CL, FB Marketplace, or a local thrift shop.

Another thing that has helped to soften the effects of inflation for us is that we 'rebalanced' our investment portfolio in fall 2018, moving ~$200K (all capital gains we didn't have in 2016) from VTI into a 120 year old brick row house in a LCOL, walkable, small city, with a great train connection to Amtrak's NE Corridor, i.e., Philadelphia, D.C., NYC, & Boston. Our housing costs are unbelievably cheap at only $700/month, including all utilities and RE taxes. Gas prices were up a lot in our area this past winter. We just shut off the furnace. If they want to jack up the prices, we can just stop buying their product all together. Looking forward to, eventually, cutting ties with the gas company completely by installing an electric, ductless, mini-split system for both heating and cooling, switching to an electric hot water heater, and also getting an induction range to replace the gas one we have now. Fuck the gas company.

In December 2021, we sold our Subaru Outback to CarMax for almost what we paid for it brand new in 2019. Now, as everyone around us is bitching about the high cost of gasoline and diesel, we're little affected, as we can easily walk, ride our bikes, or take a train to get wherever we want to go.

As has been mentioned by others in this thread, since we already had been buying almost all of our food from small, local, neighborhood groceries and farmers markets, we haven't noticed as much change in prices as others have been reporting. The $5.99/dozen eggs we've always bought from a local farm family are still exactly the same price. No inflation.

Another thing DW and I did to help offset inflation was to buy $20K of I Bonds. We even helped our teenage daughter to use $2K of her savings to buy I Bonds, as well.

Another way we've been minimizing the effects of inflation is by consistently living considerably below our means. Last year, we spent 2.5% of our investments, mostly dividends and interest. If inflation and stock market declines cause us to spend more like 3% of our investments in 2022, I'm totally fine with that. It's not going to make a difference in our lives.

How did you make sure your pipes didn’t freeze with the furnace off?

Weather's pretty mild here. It doesn't usually get cold enough, for long enough, for indoor pipes to freeze. I guess if we left the furnace off all winter long, pipes could freeze on some really cold nights, but I didn't actually shut off the furnace, this year, until after we got the February bill, which was the highest ever. There were some pretty cold nights in March, and we actually did break down and turn the furnace back on, one time, but just for a night. Then we shut it off again, as soon as it warmed back up the following afternoon.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

I skootch my but across the bathroom mats myself.  Little trick I picked up from a puppy we had once . . .

[NorthernIkigai]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

[Villanelle]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack. 

[GuitarStv]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack.

Puts a different twist on the old 'blowing smoke up my ass' phrase.

[Tigerpine]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack.

Puts a different twist on the old 'blowing smoke up my ass' phrase.

And for the history lesson no one asked for, 'blowing smoke up my ass' was actually once a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoke_enema

[GuitarStv]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack.

Puts a different twist on the old 'blowing smoke up my ass' phrase.

And for the history lesson no one asked for, 'blowing smoke up my ass' was actually once a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoke_enema

[NorthernIkigai]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack.

I’ve only seen (and felt) that with those fancy Japanese toilets that also play sound effects, and it didn’t make me think of skipping the wiping. Now, what’s the warranty period of a toilet like that, versus the price of an equivalent supply of TP…? Mustachians gotta optimize…

[Adventine]

I don't use soap or shampoo in the shower (sorry, TMI) :-)

I don't use toilet paper anymore when I use the toilet for a number 2.

What is your solution for the problem?

When there's a shower head in the bathroom TP is entirely unnecessary.

It's called a bidet!

To be technical, that’s a bidet shower (the little shower head next to the toilet). A bidet is a whole separate porcelain thingee in the bathroom, as seen in many Southern European countries.

I still haven’t figured out how people dry their clean but dripping wet butt after using one, if not with paper or a cloth of some sort.

Jiggle butt well, then use toilet paper. TP usage will be much lower.


OR


Hop directly in shower.

Ah, OK, thanks! With all the “I don’t use TP anymore since I got one of those” I’ve seen around here, I thought there might be some secret but really obviously trick I’m missing. That first option is not quite “no TP” and I don’t poop on a schedule and in locations that would always allow for a shower.

With rising prices for hot water in some countries, I’m reading about people not affording to shower as often as they used to — I guess a bit of TP is cheaper in those cases.

Some really fancy bidet toilet seats have an air dry feature, which is essentially a blow dryer for your butt crack.

I’ve only seen (and felt) that with those fancy Japanese toilets that also play sound effects, and it didn’t make me think of skipping the wiping. Now, what’s the warranty period of a toilet like that, versus the price of an equivalent supply of TP…? Mustachians gotta optimize…

You can't put a price on ~*squeaky squeaky clean*~

[nereo]

Well this thread took an unexpected turn…

[GuitarStv]

I wasn't expecting an MMM thread about inflation to make me tobacco enema curious . . . but such is the wonder of the internet.

[Just Joe]

You can't put a price on ~*squeaky squeaky clean*~

I use WD-40 to manage the squeaks caused by the bidet cleaning. Wonder if turpentine is cheaper... ;) 

[MustachioedPistachio]

When I quickly finish an iced water or diet soda, I put the cup in the freezer to keep the remaining ice cubes for the next inflation-quenching libation.