What’s all this talk about inflation and what can you do about it?

Inflation is taking a toll on our household budget right now. Every time you step into that grocery store I’m sure you can feel it. Here’s what I’m doing to make sure I minimize the impact of inflation on my household budget:

Make a shopping list

I keep a list of all of the items I need to shop for on Alexa. It ensures that I minimize waste  and only buy the things that I need and nothing that I don’t.  I cannot begin to count the amount of food that goes bad in my house. Working to prevent waste is a great start.

Slow down on the takeout

The 2nd thing that I do is I cut back on eating out. I know 25 or 30 bucks of take-out seem like nothing but doing that 2 times a week for a month it adds up pretty quickly. So while I do enjoy my casual junk food I try to learn to make it at home now and maybe I eat out once a month or once a week from 2 times a week. You get the best of both worlds, you get to keep more money in your pocket and keep the extra calories at bay.

Shift your focus and mindset

If you look at the bigger picture, there’s not much you could do to minimize the impact of inflation. Instead of looking at it from a scarcity mindset try to look at it from an abundance and prosperity mindset. So for me, I try to create more income streams. Inflation lowers the value of money so the best way to fight it is to make more money. So whatever skill that you have that you could leverage could turn into a lot of income-producing opportunities for you if you put it to good use.

Here are some ideas to make more money right now.

Dump runs

If you own a pickup truck I would do dump runs for your neighbors routinely and you charge them a nominal fee to haul their trash away that couldn’t otherwise go into their weekly trash collection.

Create a course

If you are an educator I would put some courses online to target parents that homeschool their children.  I would offer consulting services on freelancing websites on how people can create curriculums.

Start investing

Anotherther thing you can do today is to start investing and then share your referral links to friends and family members so you could get more stocks turned into cash.

Sell everything 

I always say to myself and to my children, of course, don’t get attached to anything. If you’re no longer able to have something you had an abundance of just move on. Hold a garage sale or put your items up for sale on a free online marketplace. If you’re like me you’ve got a lot of valuables at your house just collecting dust. Old pieces of clothing,  not really old but unused or gently used pieces of clothing. Household furniture that you barely use. Kitchen appliances you never use, and that extra TV that nobody ever watches could turn into quick cash. 

There’s a lot really you could do to make more money right now, you just have to want to and be willing to work at it you know, everybody now has a side hustle and I think this is the best time for it because inflation is not something you can really fight at the individual level.

If you want to learn more about inflation, please read my article Inflation: How it Impacts The Overall Household Budget (houseandtech.com).