I almost told my job that I simply couldn't do it because of housing and suspect we are leading into catastrophic employment shortage. Similar to how the climate is cooled temporarily by short-term weather patterns, I think our society will be temporarily "saved" by the recession, but when the economy starts running back at full there will be regions where you simply can't hire people to do certain jobs and any executives who cut jobs now will actually bankrupt their entire business a few years from now. I resent the situation I'm in every single day and do not feel like the extra work and responsibility is worth the compensation. I dream every day of being laid-off and will gladly walk away from the whole thing once my contract is up. There needs to be incentive to continue and I just don't really see that any longer.
I’ve received a couple of job offers in San Jose for positions that require a significant education and skill but won’t even cover a mortgage once everything is taken into account. I really think they will either be forced to raise their offers or hire a dwindling pool of already established locals.
Where were you paying $500 for rent?
One year of +8% (on average) after decades of virtually no inflation seems like a non-event at least so far. I would say for stuff we spend money on it's probably been a fair bit less than 8%.
I wanted to go somewhere on vacation, prices were higher than I expected, so I went somewhere cheaper.
I drive a 22-year-old car that gets 37 MPG. I ride my bicycle whenever I can. My home is 1100 sqft on a 5000-ft lot.
I can see prices that have gone up, but that hasn't impacted my buying habits. (One exception is international air travel... Scott's Cheap Flights helps there if you're flexible, but prices to where we want to go are still up 200%.)
-Our mortgage payment hasn’t changed, so 0% inflation rate. That’s a big one.
-Both of us already worked at home, so we don’t drive a lot. One car a gas guzzler that takes premium, the other EV. We also did not buy cars in 2020-2022, a huge source of inflation.
-We did a bunch of nest feathering in 2019, so no household durables, which was a big source of inflation 2020-2021.
- We get our food at Costco and farmers market, and don’t eat out much. Costco really worked hard on food inflation. Prices at the farmers market are through the roof.
- I flew on 1 round trip since airfares and hotels skyrocketed, and we took a 2-day trip to Santa Barbara for my wife’s birthday, which was 48 hours straight of sticker shock.
This is the ultimate YMMV
Inflation is wiping out my savings. I didn’t have much disposable income left after basic expenses, which was okay considering I’m in a EU country. But gas first doubled, and now tripled from the already high price. Electricity went up a bit. Food got a bit more expensive, but I mostly buy grains, fruit, and veg so I’ll live.
I’ve no major expenses left to cut after switching providers where I could and lowering the boiler. It’s not that bad though, it’s still a perfectly good middle class life, with enough comfort. Doctor visits are still 4€, the apartment is cozy, and everything will be okay; but I don’t know how the lesser privileged are going to handle winter.
Of course then you look at our nuclear neighbor and it’s hard to forgive the rhetoric that made us energy dependent in the first place.
Anything that makes me drink less of them is better shrug.
Inflation is 16% here and of course it's affecting me - I have quite a lot savings, so I can take a longer break because I'm having burnout issues for few years now and now my savings are worth 16% less. It's like I throw away two months of my yearly earnings.
It’s meant we’ve diverted funds from wants to needs to continue hitting our budget targets, so we are fine so far but it’s noticeable.
This is in a HCOL area, low six figures, single income.
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Now we eat out 0 times per month. Kids are limited to 1 recurring activity at a time. Our discretionary budget is basically $0.
My energy bill, however, is predicted to jump from £150/month to £1500/month in February (my fixed rate ends 31st Jan).
All in all my disposable income has decreased by ~20% (before energy increases)
My grocery bill is like a Costco bill.
My Costco bill is like a rent payment.
My rent payment is like a down payment.
One of us ordered steak and what surprised me most was that his plate came completely bare with just a lob of steak on it. Not even a tiny bit of garnish to decorate the plate with. I tried a bit of the steak and it was delicious, so maybe they just expected it to speak for itself, or was that a result of inflation? You tell me.
How is this even possible. My expenses vary between $500-700/month, I don't pay rent, but rent is for sure not 90% of your salary.
Ill health - yourself or someone dependent on you- might be the reason, or extremely bad luck, not-so-smart decisions, living and working in a VHCOL area, or ...
Something other than inflation might be the reason you are struggling financially.
And the middle class just gets beat over the brow with it. The highest taxes paid relative to income while not making enough to withstand inflation and rising taxes easily. And the lower class just gets slaughtered by these things. Meanwhile, the ultra rich literally just get richer.
I’m not struggling but I feel it on six figures with a family of four in a HCOL area with a special needs child and one income.
