5 Changes To Make this Year Due to Inflation

It's no secret that inflation can significantly impact our lives and our finances. Unfortunately, everyone is being affected, including my family. But as a frugal family, we will share five changes we are making this year due to inflation to motivate you with your financial changes.

It is essential to be aware of changes that we can make to keep our finances healthy and growing. This year, we see record-breaking inflation that we never expected or experienced before.

I will share that depriving ourselves is not part of our frugal journey. Instead, we are simply making changes and adjustments to ensure our money keeps up with the rising living costs.

What is the definition of deprived?

The definition of the word deprived is to take away (something that someone needs or wants): to cause someone to lose (something).

I mention the word deprived because I want to assure you that my family is not going without. We are not losing anything but choosing to spend or be creative in other ways to save our money.

We are making changes and adjustments, but we still live a good life. So, let's get into the changes we are making this year due to inflation.

Be Creative With Your Meals

One way we are saving money is by being creative with our meals. We are not eating out as much and choosing to cook more meals at home. When we do eat out, we choose restaurants that have affordable specials.

We are also making changes to the types of foods we are buying. For example, we buy more frozen vegetables and fruit instead of fresh ones.

And we are challenging ourselves to try new recipes that are less expensive but still nutritious and delicious.

We are also batch cooking meals, so we have leftovers for lunch or dinner another day. This saves us both money and time.

Another thing that we are focusing on too is creating meals from scratch or ingredients. An example will be making your cream of mushroom instead of buying it.

Buying rotisserie chicken and making bone broth from the bones is another excellent way to save money and get more use from the ingredients.

Learn to Make Something or Substitute

Now more than ever, it is time to learn new things or substitute to help you with inflation.

Can you learn to sew? Can you make your cleaning supplies? How about laundry detergent?

All of these things will save you a lot of money over time. But, if you don't have time to make them, can you find a cheaper alternative?

Can we substitute or create it if you don't have an ingredient for tonight's dinner? Do you need the name brand?

Learn to garden so that you can grow your food because it will help with the rising cost of groceries.

I understand that not everyone has a green thumb or space, but we can all learn to do something to save money.

Buy on Sale

Get used to checking out weekly sales flying, and you can use apps such as Flipp to help. Take advantage of stocking up when items you and your family enjoy are on sale.

Designate a set amount of your grocery budget to sales items you want to stock up on. This will help you save money and not worry as much when things go up in price.

Stick to the Budget

It is essential that we make this change this year due to inflation, and that is to stick to our budget.

We have to be mindful of what we are spending and where we are spending it. No more spontaneous purchases that can lead us to overspend.

One way to do this is by using cash only for a set period to get an idea of what you are truly spending.

Another way is to keep track of your expenses for a month to see exactly where your money is going.

You might be surprised to see that you are spending a lot of money in one area and not another.

This will help you change your budget and find ways to save money.

Enjoy and Appreciate

Are we enjoying and appreciating what we have? I think this is a great question to ask ourselves.

When we have more, we tend to spend more and not appreciate what we have.

This year, let's focus on enjoying and appreciating our things. This will help us save money and not feel the need to buy something that we don't need.

That creative meal we made, the new thing we learned, those items we purchased on sale because we were able to stick to a budget we enjoy and appreciate living a frugal life.

We enjoy it and appreciate what we have and where we have come from. So I suggest that now, even with everything going on in the world, please take the time to enjoy and appreciate your life.

Final Thoughts

Here are the five changes to make this year due to inflation, and there might be more to come. Remember to stick to your budget, be creative, buy on sale, learn something new, and enjoy and appreciate what you have.

What changes are you making this year to help with inflation? Please share in the comments below.