Shadow Puppet Storyteller

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Q: What increased cost is taking the biggest bite out of your budget these days?
A: Housing

Q: Please explain.
A: I am in a fortunate situation, living in a relative's home. I pay rent and have voluntarily increased the amount every 6mos to "face reality." I know what I pay is still hundreds below what others pay. Yet, the monthly amount I'm paying is nearly 60% of the famuly's (my one-income) net monthly income. If housing prices hadn't gotten so ridiculously inflated by "investor's flipping market" and the credit business in the past 4 years, I think rents would be manageable still. And rents like this coupled with utilities -- it's a tipping point.

Q: In what other areas are you feeling the pinch -- especially areas that aren't being discussed in the media?
A: School lunch programs. My high-school aged child received it free last year, but my elementary school aged child only at "reduced." It wasn't an expense I expected. And I think the cost of food to the school districts will require that many more families this year are not going to always qualify.

Q: Have you lived through a period of rising inflation before? If so, when... and how did you cope with it?
A: Early Nineties and the Late Seventies, sure. I remember a hit to my income after the Northridge earthquake; lost my job. But that was probably more dramatic than the actual impact, or my memory of any inflationary impact from the 90's. I remember more as a kid in the Seventies with gas lines and my parents' frugal spending.

Q: What else should we know about the effects of inflation?
A: Much can be said for supporting Goodwill and other thrift stores during this time -- no sales tax on purchases, for one. And such non-profit agencies that receive support from those sales are helping to cover when people feel unable to give outright. I've grown up on second-hand, and so are my children.