Inflation Survival Guide – 4 Things You Need to Know to Ride Out Rising Prices

What can I do to survive inflation and rising prices?

Rising prices don’t seem to be on our minds when caffeine is involved!

That occurred to me while waiting for my coffee earlier this week. The most convenient Starbucks to almost everything in Santa Fe is a drive-thru. And by the looks of things, most Santa Feans agree—the line of cars is usually long and the baristas, well, you know…

Late this past Wednesday morning, the cars in line wrapped around the corner and into the street. I’m guessing there were at least fifteen or so cars waiting for their java fixes.

I get it—it’s convenient.

And hey, we were in line, too!

So, the first thing we need to come to terms with is convenience adds a lot to prices.

And as much as we whine about what goods and services are costing us these days, many of us are still okay paying the convenience factor.

What convenience factor? The convenience factor of idling away two or three bucks of gas for a five-dollar latte. That one.

And since it felt pretty good throwing Starbucks under the bus…

Now it’s now Amazon’s turn.

Do you remember when they started? Their value proposition was “get any book you want fast and for less.”Suddenly America was reading again. And that felt like a good thing.

Although, I believe we missed the sleight of hand when they added literally every other product made on the planet to their offering. Our brains were so impressed by the convenience that we didn’t even notice that the value prop no longer guaranteed the good deal part.

In case you were wondering, that’s why their current ad campaign is all about the so-called, good deals on page one of a gazillion on Amazon dot com. Evidently, they need to point it out because people have started to notice that just being on Amazon doesn’t mean the price is great.

Okay Jeff, big companies are jerks, what are you saying?

Well, it’s this. 

We’re addicted to this “I want it now” mindset. 

It’s our behavior that’s driving up prices as much as anything.

Don’t miss that last line.

Here it is again.

Our behavior is driving up prices as much as anything.

Warren Buffet is quoted as much or more that anyone else in the financial world. We love him because he’s so relatable, kind of like your favorite uncle. His business partner, Charlie Munger, is pretty savvy too. 

This one might sting a bit so take a deep breath or two before you read on. I’m pretty sure most of us need to hear this, especially in challenging times like these. This is how Charlie suggests coping with periods of high inflation…

One of the great defenses to being worried about inflation is not having a lot of silly needs in your life. In other words, if you haven’t created a lot of artificial demand to drown in consumer goods, why, you have a considerable defense against the vicissitudes of life.”

—Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway

Hmmm, One of the best defenses against inflation is not having a lot of silly needs.

As a recovering super-consumer, I can definitely relate. Can you?

I finally came to terms with my silly needs as we purged through twenty-two years of household accumulation of stuff. Through that downsizing exercise, I also realized my status as our sole household power consumer.

Maybe it’s a lucky break there was only one of us?

How I wished I could have do-overs on my buying decisions.

I’m guessing you have a few you’d like to have back as well?

It’s sort of like voting with your spending choices. So, park the car and go inside… if you’re like me the exercise might help, too.

Be untucked.

p.s. I don’t usually talk about money here on LifeUntucked^®, but this inflation thing has a lot of us on edge. We can see it’s real at the gas pump, in grocery stores, at restaurants, on used car lots, in building supply stores, and more. Where does it freakin’ end? Who knows? I’ll follow up next week with some practical tips you can use to fight back against rising prices.

p.p.s. Thanks for dropping by LifeUntucked^®. If you found this post helpful be sure to share it with a friend. Just use those nifty social media sharing buttons at the top and bottom of the post.

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