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Simple tips to help you handle rising prices.

The word of the day is inflation. As soon as I checked my Facebook feed, I saw inflation on the newsfeed. Also, a few friends shared images about what your dollar is worth compared to the price of goods.

The Wall Street Journal stated today that inflation is up 6.8% from a year ago. Inflation actually rose .8% from one month ago. The price of everything is literally going up.

This is higher than what the Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell and Federal Reserve expected. The Federal Reserve tries to keep inflation at 2% a year.

“Inflation is the decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time.”
- Investopedia

The Federal Reserve’s rate and the current inflation rate are higher than many expected.

There is very little you and I can do to escape inflation. You need to feed yourself, go from point A to B, and also have a roof over your head. Then if you have a family, that is more money you have to spend to provide for their needs.

You probably didn’t get taught how to prepare for this in school. Very few people did.

The education system is slow to change.

Kids today are still taught about Edgar Allen Poe, Geometry, and World History. I know because my son is currently in high school.

If you want to come out better in the upcoming months, you need to make some changes in your routine.

These are some basic tips that anyone can follow. The hard part is doing them.

No one likes change. Change is hard, and it’s not easy. You are used to your routine.

None of the information is from a financial planner, so talk to some qualified experts if required. Some lessons are from my grandmother, my life experiences, and countless failures I have made.

Five tips you should consider

Take out a loan on yourself

With loans at low rates, maybe taking a loan out can help you get by for a few months.

You can get a loan to pay off some debt. You can get a loan to pay off high-interest credit cards.

Make sure you shop around for the best deal. Rates vary from lender to lender.

Find a side hustle

If you work for someone, you probably aren’t getting a pay raise anytime soon. You might but for most people, no raises are planned.

Then your pay is set. You’ll receive the same pay last month as you will this month.

Your salary is set.

If your hours fluctuate, there is a chance your pay will change from month to month.

The best thing you can do is work a side hustle.

A side hustle can be selling items on eBay, writing a blog, starting a YouTube channel, and dozens of others.

Of course, none of this is instantaneous. You need to hustle to get these streams of income to start producing to put money in your pocket.

On the downside, you need to stop doing things that produce no money such as watching Netflix or surfing social media.

There are many things in life that seem productive but they’re not.

If an act doesn’t make you money, then you need to find something that does.

When driving, make the drive count

On average, the price of gas has gone up approximately $1 per gallon over the past year.

I try to combine trips with several things I need to do.

For instance, if I need to go to the post office, I won’t go unless there is something else I need to do on my drive. Most things can get dropped off at the post office anytime. There isn’t a rush to mail certain items.

So I try to combine these trips with other things that I need to do.

It could be when I go to the grocery store. The post office is along the way.

Think about how you can combine one trip with another one of your trips.

Making fewer trips can put a few more gallons of gas in your car.

Use coupons

When I was a kid, I used to go to the supermarket with my grandmom. I was probably around seven or eight.

We used to walk to the supermarket with the shopping cart since it was a few blocks away. Today, you rarely see these shopping carts in anyone’s home.

Each week, my grandmother used to cut out coupons from the weekly newspaper. This became the norm for her.

Somehow I picked up the same habit.

My kids' joke with me as I search through coupons from various restaurants for them to choose from. They don’t have to pick one of the coupons but that is usually where we’re going to get food from on that trip.

If you can save $5 or $6 with a coupon, that adds up over time.

Some store apps provide coupons and if you use a smartphone, that cuts down on searching for paper coupons.

Stop using banks. Instead, do this.

Today, banks pay barely anything in interest rate in your savings account.

The highest yielding savings account is Marcus by Goldman Sachs which pays less than 1% at 0.50% interest. Your bank most likely pays less than this.

To earn more on your money, sometimes you have to do things that most people aren’t doing.

Investing in a high-yield cryptocurrency is one of them.

This is not investing in a cryptocurrency but it is having cryptocurrencies you own to earn a high-yield rate from the exchange you are using.

This is similar to putting money in a bank except you are letting your cryptocurrency earn interest from a cryptocurrency exchange.

One exchange at the time of this writing, BlockFi, offers a yield of 8.6%.

BlockFi is just one of several exchanges that offers a high-yield rate for your cryptocurrencies.

Final Thoughts

Money is one thing that is becoming worth less and less as the years go by. Inflation is making the dollar less valuable as in the past.

The government does its best to provide a stimulus check from time to time. Overall, it is the decision that you make if you want to come out ahead.

Moving forward you may want to alter some of your routines to at least keep up with the rising costs.

1. Take a loan out on yourself.

2. This may mean picking up a side hustle.

3. It could mean driving to multiple places at once.

4. Shop with coupons.

5. Make your money go further by investing in a high-yield cryptocurrency account.

The hardest part will be making a change to your current routine.

Do you have any other tips or suggestions you can recommend?

This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any significant financial decisions.