The best way on how to combat inflation is to get a roommate. It’s not about saving the $5/day coffees that make the difference in fighting inflation. It’s the saving money on big expenses that matter the most in saving as much money as we possibly can.
I know how it feels to have your budget stretched thin. The high inflation era of 2022 was the first of its kind that I ever experienced. It opened my eyes to what could actually happen in real time to my budget through the actions of the Federal Reserve.
The great part is that we don’t have to be sitting ducks. We can take charge and ownership of our actions to save money and know how to combat inflation. I personally took on a roommate and cut my housing costs by 30% to only $800/month.
I also personally stopped eating out, refined my budget, and increased my savings rate to the max. That’s how I got to a $500k net worth at just 28 years old. Then I didn’t stop. I looked for ways on increasing my income so that I could come out better from the high inflationary times.
Inflation is a very serious threat to democracies across the world. Revolutions happened because of high inflations inflicting psychological and financial damage to a country’s citizens. Therefore, it’s more important than ever before to know on how to combat inflation.
Our family’s financial future completely depends on it.
How to Combat Inflation: 9 Ways to Save Money
Below are 9 ways on how to combat inflation and save money so that we come out ahead in the future. It’s important to save money during the good times but it’s even especially more important to save money during the bad times.
The ones who sail through the bad times well are the ones who actually come out ahead at the end.
1) Get a Roommate
Roommates aren’t just for when we were college students. They are for all across our lifetimes. I personally got a roommate and slashed my rent costs from $1,125/month, all-in, to $800/month, all-in. And I moved to an even higher cost of living city!
It’s amazing how much more we can do when we have an additional $325/month coming into our budget at the end of every month. While it doesn’t sound like a lot of money, $325/month is actually a significant amount of money.
Knowing how to combat inflation isn’t about saving the extra $10/month to get us to success. It’s about saving money on the big expenses that have the highest impact to our finances and net worth. Housing is one of the biggest expenses in our budget.
Minimizing housing expenses is one of the best value adding moves we can ever possibly do.
2) How to Combat Inflation: Look for Coupons
Millionaires are more likely to use coupons than non-millionaires when purchasing goods and services. There’s a lesson there. Millionaires do not care how they look when using coupons. All they care about is that they saved money. That’s what’s the most important.
I personally use coupons myself when purchasing goods and services. There’s a haircut coupon that I use that allows me to get an $8 haircut at GreatClips. Much better than the $21 they charge regular clients. I use the coupon to get my haircuts once a quarter.
Which is great! They do a great job at giving haircuts, even if I use a coupon.
Buying a quality service or product but just at a cheaper price is always a winning move. Companies love sales and move inventory so they can make room for more inventory for more sales down the road. Sometimes, it’s amazing what the companies will offer for sale through coupons.
That’s when savvy consumers take advantage. Coupons are a great way on how to combat inflation.
3) Costco Membership
Costco is an underrated wealth hack that many don’t talk about. I personally got a Costco membership and it is well worth the $60/year cost. The amount of products that I buy from the company more than makes up for the membership cost in savings.
It’s products that I was going to buy anyway! And I get to spend less money on products that I was going to buy anyway? That is a win-win deal that I can’t refuse or pass up on. Although the savings aren’t substantial, if I’m going to spend the money anyway, might as well spend less.
How to combat inflation means looking for wholesale clubs that sell great products for reasonable prices so that we save money. We work hard for our money, we should spend as little as possible to make other corporations richer than they already are.
There’s a reason why customers love Costco. They are delighted by the value they offer.
4) Avoid Overeating
We overeat more than we know. I personally figured out that I was overeating because I had a hard time sleeping at night. Once I restricted the calories and watched what I ate, I slept much better and my health improved. Not only that, my savings increased because I didn’t spend as much money on food.
How to combat inflation means avoiding overeating. Not only does it help our health, it saves us money, which is a premium when inflation is so high. We overeat more than we know. The FDA says that we should eat 2,000 calories a day, on average.
However, that’s not right. The ones who work a desk job need much less calories a day to sustain their life. Most of us do not work in a high intensity workplace that requires a lot of physical activity. I personally get by just fine on a 1,200 calorie a day diet.
Overeating is one of the leading health problems in America. Not only does it hurt our health, it affects our finances as well.
5) Delay Major Purchases
We don’t need to make as many major purchases as we think. There’s no need to buy the latest car new because it’s just a shiny new object to consume and enjoy. We just need a cheap and reliable car that gets us from Point A to Point B.
How to combat inflation means using our delayed gratification skills to the maximum and wanting to buy less goods and services. We throw away a lot of products by the end of the year, anyway. The only time that I bought a car was when my old car got in a car accident.
During high inflationary times, major purchases go up in price more than any other good. Houses, cars, furniture, and the like get expensive at a faster rate than any other goods and services. It’s best to avoid the products that went up in price the most for the time being.
The products will always exist years down the road but our money may not.
6) Say No More Often
We don’t need to go to every event we’ve been invited to. It’s not rude to turn down dinner requests time to time. I personally turned down all invitations and requests for my time in 2023. It’s done wonders for my wallet and health because it’s difficult for me to travel long distance to another city.
I even turned down a Bachelors party request to Vegas, even though it’s my favorite city to visit in the entire world. There’s nothing wrong with saying no more often because we can’t commit our entire life and time to events that don’t provide us with the value we need.
How to combat inflation means saying no more often to events that don’t excite you. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business. If the friendship can’t withstand a couple of no’s, then the friendship wasn’t worth having in the first place.
There are more ways to strengthen relationships than just through face to face meetings. There’s more technology available at our fingertips than that.
7) Move Money to a High Yield Savings Account
It’s obvious to move money to banks that offer the highest interest rate, but people just don’t do it. JP Morgan and Wells Fargo reported record profits in 2Q’23. Because they had a record inflow of deposits, even when their deposits offer the lowest interest rate to savers.
It’s mind boggling. It’s one thing to value the big banks because it is safe to put the money into the banks. However, it’s another to actually pay the big banks because it is safe to deposit the money into the banks. In high inflationary times, the interest rate we earn on our money should be high.
How to combat inflation means demanding from the banks what they demanded from their customers all this time. Which is to get paid for the value that we provide the company. In 2023, if the banks were not paying at least 3.5% on their savings accounts, it shouldn’t have been worth it to the customers.
Surprisingly, only a minority amount of people understood this concept. It’s time to be smarter about our savings and look for higher yields.
8) How to Combat Inflation: Change Jobs if Necessary
Companies don’t adjust salaries for inflation if you stay loyal to the company. Although companies love to enjoy the benefits of inflation by charging customers high prices, they refuse to suffer the consequences of inflation by increasing salaries.
One companyI know of actually downright did not increase salaries for their employees. And that was when we had 9% inflation! I was absolutely shocked that happened. A 0% raise for their employees while they enjoyed record profits.
How to combat inflation requires a job change if the company just doesn’t take care of their employees. Companies treat their employees like enemies and it’s high time employees fight back. There’s a reason UAW is fighting back against their employers.
We have to navigate through the complex world of the corporate world. We even have to change jobs if necessary. Companies will take advantage of us if we let them.
9) Have 0 Debt
I understand the argument for debt. “As long as the revenues cover the debt payments, it’s considered good debt”. However, the feeling of not having any debt just can’t be beat. Debt is one of the worst things we can have, and especially during high inflation.
When the Federal Reserve raises rates, the interest rates we pay on our debt increases as well. Debt is one of the worst things we can have on our balance sheet. How to combat inflation means lowering expenses that doesn’t add any value to our life anyway.
The interest payments we make on our debt doesn’t provide us with additional value as compared to purchasing goods and services. It’s just money we pay in exchange for having money. That’s not a value add to our lives.
It’s time to take charge of our financial future and not enrich the banks on our behalf. The debt free life just feels amazing.
Know How to Combat Inflation Better Than Others
Even though it is difficult fo fight inflation, especially high inflation, it is an opportunity that we can take advantage of for our life. When we know how to combat inflation better than others, our lives can only improve. Finances and money is not about how we do on an absolute basis.
It’s about how we do on a relative basis. When we know how to combat inflation better than others, then we come out on top better than ever before. It is tough to pay the high prices during high inflationary times. However, we have to remain patient and always hunt for deals.
Patience is what gets us to the top 1%. Not any other personal characteristic. It’s tough to avoid going out to eat so often. It’s tough to say no to social events that you want to attend just because of money. However, it’s a necessary evil that gets us to the next level if done the right way.
There are always smart consumers who know how to take advantage of an out of the norm event. While others pay the high prices, we pay the lower prices and get richer. Even if inflation is high, there’s never a shortage of deals consumers can take advantage of.
Companies are desperate for sales and companies will blink first instead of consumers. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the smart ones are always prepared to adapt to the environment at hand, no matter the situation. Inflation is no exception.
When we know how to combat inflation better than others is when the real opportunity happens.
How to Combat Inflation: My Story
In the high recessionary time of 2022, I had to figure out how to combat inflation and I had to figure it out quickly. I did everything that I could to save on my expenses and increase my salary. Housing costs was one of my biggest expenses and I cut that from $1,125/month to $800/month.
Then I went a step even further and cut out eating out, socializing with friends, and everything else in between. I cut my spending from $25k/year to $15k/year. Which is a very low amount, considering that I live in one of the HCOL cities in America.
During the weekends, I made more money through my side hustles and always thought how to make even more money. I never slowed down on trying to make more money because money is a game that I love to play.
There are more ideas in the works that I am implementing so that I earn more money than I’m currently earning. This high inflationary times is one of the scariest things I ever experienced. I never thought that I would lose control of my money this quickly.
However, tough times never last but tough people always do. There’s always a way out to move forward and onwards in life. We will never be just sitting ducks waiting until the next bad thing happens to us. There’s always a way to come out ahead with a victory.
Although I might fail, I will never stop learning how to combat inflation.
Knowing How to Combat Inflation is More Relevant Today
There’s never been a better time to know how to combat inflation than today. What’s scary is that it happened so suddenly. No one thought that it would come this quickly. All of our governmental officials thought that “inflation would be transitory”. Which is famous last words.
It’s more important than ever to figure out how to combat inflation because our families’ lives depend on it. Inflation hurts the bottom 99% more than anyone else in the income scale. I know because I felt the effects of inflation firsthand and know how hard it is to our budgets.
Too many live their lives without a plan, which is a dangerous way to live life. There’s always changing economic landscapes that affect our money and finances negatively. The only constant is change and whether we like it or not, we have to adapt.
So many families are struggling to make ends meet. The credit card balances reached record highs of $1T in 2023 with no end in sight. Even as families earned more money than they ever earned, they had to rely on debt to make their payments. That’s not right.
Credit card delinquencies even went higher in 2023 even as American families earned more money than they ever did. It’s more important than ever before to learn how to combat inflation because that’s the harsh reality we face today.
Governments are very good at making Americans face hardships and unfortunately, we have to adapt accordingly.
How to Combat Inflation: 9 Ways to Save Money Shortlist
- Get a roommate
- How to combat inflation: look for coupons
- Costco membership
- Avoid overeating
- Delay major purchases
- Say no more often
- Move money to a high yield savings account
- How to combat inflation: change jobs if necessary
- Have 0 debt