I budget on a line item basis. Here's how I'll handle it in my budget:
-I'll probably budget an increase in food costs of 10% for 2022. It's a complete SWAG, but seems reasonable based on what I've seen at the grocery store.
-I'll budget an increase in gas prices, but we don't drive a whole lot, so it probably won't be material.
-I'm assuming my car maintenance will be 20-30% higher, but this is mostly because the cars are getting older and giving us some surprises.
-I'll probably add an allowance for a more expensive vacation this summer. We had planned to go on a very rare (for us) international trip for our 10th anniversary, but pandemic happened.
On the positive side:
-Our health insurance is actually slightly cheaper next year. I'm not sure how this happened, but this will keep our overall inflation down since it's such a big part of the budget.
-Our youngest goes changes from "paid" pre-K to free Kindergarten in the fall. That's a ~$900/mo savings.
-I've made some energy-efficiency improvements to the house this year, which pulled some one-time items into 2021, and will save us ~$400 in energy costs next year.
I haven't added it all up yet, but I think our "household" inflation/spend will be pretty negligible. I guess the international trip could push the total up some, but I'm okay with that one.