We are currently seeing record high prices for many basic consumer goods, and these high prices may stay high until the demand for them drops a little and supply chains are fixed. Here are a few things you can do to help keep your finances in good shape during this time.
- Create a budget and stick to it. To stay within a budget, you may need to cut down on unnecessary things to ensure you can still pay all of the bills. Consider buying more generic brand items at the grocery store, using an app such as gasbuddy to find the cheapest gas, and cutting out streaming services you don’t use. Here’s a link to a helpful budget calculator online: https://www.quicken.com/resources/calculators/budget-calculator
- Consider getting another job or working more each week. Jobs are plentiful right now and wages are going up. Websites such as flexjobs.com and taskrabbit.com are great for perusing for side gigs or finding work-from-home jobs.
- Compare prices before you buy and use coupons where possible. Websites such as groupon.com, freeshipping.org, and retailmenot.com provide easy search options to check for coupons from different retailers. If a website has a coupon code field, there may be a coupon out there you can use to save money.
- Postpone vacations and/or take them during an off-time. It may be that prices will start falling in another 6 to 12 months and you could save quite a bit of money by going a little later.
Sage Personal Finance 