So inflation started picking up in 2021 and was very high in 2022. So I went back to my Quicken to see how it affected my spending since I track every dollar spent.
Interesting that my spending in 2022 was less than 2021 ($141 less
). Amazingly I spent less in 2022 on groceries (25% drop), electricity, water, auto insurance, tv & internet, cell phones. Increases were seen in auto fuel, gas, property taxes, hazard insurance, restaurant meals. We even spent double in 2022 on traveling and installed a water heater.
I attribute those reductions in 2022 by just changing a few things. Much more grocery sales in 2022 than 2021 which allowed me to save considerably more by buying in bulk.
No major deferred maintenance other than the water heater so I'm sure that helped.
This is for me, DW and DD who spends summer away from college at home. We didn't feel deprived of anything in 2022.
So this is an example of where my personal inflation rate was basically unchanged in 2022 from 2021.
I'm tracking almost exactly the same spending in 2023 through the first half compared to 2022.
I'm planning on some major deferred home maintenance in 2023/2024 so I'm sure I'll be experiencing an increase in inflation when I start those projects. But since I have a huge increase in my income due to higher interest rates and my wife started collecting SS I don't see any issue handling the deferred maintenance. Actually because of the huge increase in fixed income I plan on spending way more on deferred maintenance without any reduction in my standard of living or net worth.
And I continue to find ways to reduce my expense costs.
Life is good