FIGHTING INFLATION 101

If you’ve read my previous posts, you know that saving money is always a goal. Much more than a hobby, it’s a part of life. If it were an Olympic sport, I’d be aiming for a gold medal. But in these inflationary times, it’s harder and harder to hit that high note. Yet there are still ways to put a dent in inflationary prices. 

My parents were role models for saving money. They lived through the Great Depression and World War II. I never really understood how the Depression affected my parents on a day to day basis. I only know that spending prudently was a given. My mother grew up with six siblings; my father grew up with four. My grandfather, my mother’s father, was a night watchman for the railroad. He had been a carpenter, but lost four fingers in a work accident. So how much money could he have made to feed his large family? But I never heard my mother talk of deprivation. My father’s mother was widowed at a youngish age Somehow, she became the owner of a candy store. I don’t know how that happened, since my grandfather had been a tailor. How much could he have made? (It would have been Tracy’s dream to have a grandmother who owned a candy store. But alas, it was before her time.) Somehow, my grandmother morphed the candy store into a grocery store.

In the early days of World War II, my grandmother contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium for a cure. My father was in Osteopathy school, but he took on the job of running the grocery store while he studied. If he had to leave, there was always a trusted customer to watch the store and to hand it off to the next trusted customer until my father returned.  My father even developed a recipe for pasta sauce which he sold to the ladies in South Philadelphia. Even the Italian ladies bought it. I know that it was good because he made that sauce often when I was growing up. But I still don’t know how it came out so well. He would start it in the morning and let it simmer slowly. Then he’d go through the garage to his office to see patients. My mother would come into the kitchen, taste it and adjust the seasoning. My father would come into the house between patients and do the same. And so it went for the rest of the day. Somehow, we’d always have delicious pasta sauce by dinner time. 

But, I digress. Back to running the store during the war. Apparently rice was a somewhat scarce commodity. I looked it up and found that rice was rationed in the US during the war. But somehow my father found a source—one that had significant rice inventory that they were willing to sell at a low price. My father said that he bought so much that it filled up most of an upstairs room in the family house above the grocery store. He did teach me about being resourceful and saving money with that story. To this day, if I find items that won’t go bad and the price is good, I stock up. We must have about 80 rolls of toilet paper, 10 boxes of Kleenex, bottle after bottle of soap. I’ve passed the word down, and family tradition continues. At least for toilet paper. Tracy is the queen of Amazon, and she orders so much toilet paper that Jonah laughs whenever the subject of hoarding comes up—which it does if we’re talking toilet paper.

I don’t recall hearing much from my mother about her childhood. But there must have been some financial impact, because when I was growing up, coupons and sales were sacrosanct. For some years in Philadelphia, there was a shoemaking industry. My mother had a friend who knew someone who could get them into the factories. The choices were great and so were the prices. There were days when I would come home from school and find several pairs of new shoes. Somehow, they always fit. And my mother was also queen of the department store sale. She had made friends with so many salespeople in department stores who would give her a “heads up” when the sales were coming. I don’t think that she ever paid full price for anything. And grocery store coupons—she probably paid as much in coupons as in cash. I recall that there was a promotion at one of the grocery stores where there was a limit on the number of certain items per purchase. So she brought me along so that I could be a second shopper and walk out with a second limit. I was 15, which was the eligible age to participate. I really didn’t want to be there, so sulkily cooperated. I remember one time when I got to the cashier, she looked at me and said “You don’t look 15.” Instantly and crankily, I responded “Neither do you.” My mother wasn’t pleased. 

So, I come by my money saving skills naturally. But these days, it’s more and more difficult with prices so high. I’m not an expert in Economics. However, I feel that while some of the higher prices may have some justification, I’m also suspicious and am convinced that price gouging is rampant. Yesterday, I went to the shoe repair shop and bought a pair of shoe inserts. They were $7. The last time I bought them, about 6 weeks ago, they were $6. Despite the fact that it was just a dollar, it was a large increase relative to the price. I pointed out that on my last recent visit they were $6. The not- so-nice lady at the cash register responded: “Prices go up.” I didn’t say what I was thinking. Why would the price go up now? They weren’t made of eggs (bird flu reference), gas hadn’t gone up. Was she being arbitrary and gouging? I didn’t bother to talk to the owner. Though I did walk out pissed. You have to pick your battles. On this one, I like the owner, it’s a small and high quality business, and I didn’t want to sound nuts or risk a relationship over that single dollar. But in so many other instances, I do speak up and save.

Grocery stores—that one is killing everyone. And it makes me nauseous to think that some people actually have to pass on some items. But I have a little strategy that helps a bit. If there’s something that’s not perfect, I take it back. For example, we had bought oatmeal. It was Quaker, but it came out mushy. I took it back—$4.99. A bag of clementines—about 5 were too soft. Back they went. And half and half. I had bought a carton with a date 3 weeks away. After a week, it smelled a little off. Trader Joe’s took it right back. Same at Giant with Tate’s soft cookies. Howard and I have liked their regular chocolate chip cookies, so took a chance on the soft ones. They were awful. I returned the remainder—no questions asked. On one trip, I ended up with a credit of $13.39. I’m not arbitrary—the items that I return are legitimately ones that are problematic—defective, poor taste, etc. I don’t make a special trip—I wait until I’m going to the store for other shopping. The only time I had a pushback was with turkey pastrami. Emilia was staying with us, she likes it, so we bought it (yuch). When Howard opened the new package, it smelled awful—not rotten, just an awful smelling product. Surprisingly, Emilia wanted a taste. One taste was as much as she could handle. I was going to freeze it until I could take it back. After all, it was over $8. But the smell was so pungent that I couldn’t keep it in the house. I went back to Giant with the receipt, having thrown out the meat. The clerk said that I needed the product in order to receive a refund. I again explained the odor issue and that I wasn’t willing to have everything in the freezer pick up the smell. Grudgingly, she refunded my money. Most of the time, staff are understanding and gracious. I guess that they understand that subpar isn’t acceptable, especially in these highly inflationary times. Actually, subpar is never acceptable. And while I won’t live or die on the refunds, they do add up to something substantial, and it makes me feel a little (just a little) better when I’m feeling ripped off all of the time.

And last, coupons. Since the pandemic, old fashioned coupons are scarce. Once in a while they come in a mailer, but most coupons are online and you have to clip them in an app. CVS is notorious for exceptionally high prices. But with the coupons in the app, especially when combined, they can result in savings. (Example: $5 off of toothpaste, a percentage off of full priced items, etc.) I wouldn’t shop there without the coupons, and sometimes, if I don’t have an immediate need, I’ll wait until the right coupon comes along— it always does. During one purchase, the cashier told me that I had saved more than any other customer that day. Look at a recent purchase—we bought 2 bags of Dunkin coffee. Full price was $13.99. They were on sale @ $6.99. We had $5.33 in dollars off coupons, which is spread across the total purchase. So the coffee came down to $4.83. Hand cream was $11.29 each. We bought the store brand. For store brand we get 20% off of regular price because we pay $5 monthly, which gets us a $10 monthly coupon and 20% off of most CVS brand products. So the $11.29, with the 20% and the dollars off came to $6.23 each. What started out with what should have been a $50.56 purchase came down to $22.11, a savings of $28.45—more than 50%.

I’m generally a good shopper and a good saver. Am I still pissed off—you bet I am!

IT MAY TAKE SOME THOUGHT AND EFFORT, BUT IT’S STILL POSSIBLE TO SAVE MONEY, EVEN IN THESE HYPERINFLATIONARY TIMES