Most people probably don't look into their bank statements or transaction history to survey where the money is going. We may do some of it for tax reasons. I know very few who keep tabs on where they are spending money.
I used to keep a more detailed record of my spending than my bank. It helped to establish a baseline for me to do napkin maths around a monthly budget. Over time, I end up only using the transaction history provided by my bank to guesstimate how much money I'm spending.
Recently, I decided to utilize some of the tools to break down my spending. I felt this was important given the inflation we've had in the past few years. I needed a new baseline for new estimates.
In the past 90 days, I've spent almost $1000 on groceries. I will point out that I have not changed the items I purchase much over the years. Several years ago, my grocery bills would be around $600-700 per quarter. Despite what the CPI data would tell you, the things that matter have increased in price by a wide margin.
Of course, there are caveats to that estimate. The transactions do not include non-food items bought at the supermarket. In other words, if I picked up cleaning supplies, they would go under groceries unless I have the receipts to make the distinction. However, I doubt I bought more cleaning supplies for fun.
Compared to, say, three years ago, I drive less now. Unfortunately, the high gas prices ate away the conservation efforts. The low-end gas in Utah is still about $3.80 a gallon. If your car requires a slightly higher grade, it costs $4.00+ a gallon. Many points out how "the prices have come down" but forget that we were paying for about half the price years prior.
When it comes to fast food, it is an area I need to work on or cut off altogether. Like many other consumables, their prices have gone up as well. A single meal from these joints easily costs $10+. If I can manage to negate the $200-ish spent on junk each month, I could save a few hundred dollars per quarter with some increase to the grocery cost.
The logistics of that endeavor are another story. I will draft a plan soon. It's a lot harder than it seems because a change in one place does affect the cost in another.
Inflation is sticky. It's not disappearing any time soon (or ever). I can come up with ways to rebalance the budget or cut costs. At the same time, my taxes have increased. In the end, all I'm doing is probably maintaining my relative purchasing power from years before with little to no improvement.
My only consolation is that I'm not wiped out yet compared to the less fortunate Americans. I don't have the need for a second job position at this time. I should count myself lucky, but the country is not heading in the right direction. Time will tell how things play out.
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