Beat inflation: The financial fire drill.

I figured the words “beat inflation” might get your attention. Let me say upfront, however, that inflation isn’t 100 percent beatable. No matter how self-sufficient we are, we still have to pay taxes and buy certain things (any food we can’t grow, sewing materials, shoes).

Even if we ride bikes instead of drive cars, we need replacement parts. If we do our own home improvements, we need to pay for materials somehow. And we can’t meet all our needs through rewards programs and Buy Nothing Facebook groups (although I’m having fun trying).

In the novel “The Godfather,” mobsters would hole up in anonymous apartments in times of gang strife. They called it “going to the mattresses.” Right now we’re in times of financial strife, and we should all think about going to the frugal mattresses: How to make the smartest, safest decisions to beat inflation?

Here’s how to start: by doing what I call the financial fire drill, a kind of extreme budget makeover. The idea isn’t that you won’t pay your bills, but rather that you’ll look for ways to cut the number and size of those bills.

The financial fire drill is pretty simple. You build a baseline budget, i.e., the absolute minimum you need to survive). That means basic shelter, utilities, medical care, food, clothing and debt service (installment loans, child support). The idea isn’t to starve in an unheated garret. It’s to figure out how little you could spend without jeopardizing health, safety and solvency.

Congratulations: Now you know where you could cut your budget!

You don’t necessarily have to implement all of the fire drill. You just have to know how to implement it.

The day you learn to use a fire extinguisher the right way should not be the day your workbench catches fire. It’s the same with the financial fire drill: If inflation keeps kicking your butt, or if you’re suddenly faced with a major new expense, you’ll have the blueprint for “finding” the money to keep going.

How does the FFD beat inflation?

Knowing how much you spend is essential. The whole point of a budget is to know where your money is going and to make each dollar work hard. Very hard.

Lately, though, our dollars simply aren’t going as far. If things get worse, we’re going to need to know where we can cut. Here are a few examples:

Stop those extra payments

Putting an extra $50 or $100 a month on a mortgage can greatly reduce the total amount you pay. (Even an extra $25 can make a difference.) If push comes to shove, however, temporarily halting those payments would be another $50 or $100 you’d have available for spending.

That’s spending as in “not using plastic,” incidentally – not as in, “Yay, I have more money to spend!” If inflation threatens to derail your monthly budget, using that extra $50 or $100 to help cover the cost of new shoes for your fast-growing teen makes more sense than sliding slowly into credit card debt (which comes with ruinously high interest rates).

Would it be better to have the extra payments against the mortgage? Well, sure. But it’s also great not to put $100 on a credit card with 19 percent interest. Murphy’s Law being what it is, “need new shoes” might be followed by “Fido swallowed a corncob” and “car is making a funny noise.”

Look at food differently

For example, you’d nix most (preferably all) meals out in favor of food cooked at home. But you’d also make sure those meals were nutritious and tasty as well as cheap, since living on ramen and oatmeal won’t do you much good.

Sites such as BudgetBytes.com and 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking are good places to start. Or just search for what you want, e.g., “easy recipes for leftover chicken” or “fast vegan dishes.” Best-case scenario: You find a few dishes everyone loves and start making them a few times a month, saving money right now instead of waiting for inflation to get worse.

Seek cheaper fun

Nights out, expensive hobbies and the kids’ extracurricular activities could be cut to a minimum, at least for a while. Replace some (or all) of them with cheaper/free alternatives: board game nights, potlucks, walks, geocaching, making music, learning a new skill or a new language (YouTube has loads of how-to videos).

My niece recently started volunteering for the “Ushering in the Arts” program, so she can experience plays and concerts for free. Maybe a local performing arts center, museum or nature reserve could use your help.

Or, yes, hit the screens. Download a free games app (not the kind you have to put money into in order to play). Stream free movies/TV or borrow a free audio book from your local library. With these, you might consider cutting cable (if you still have it) in favor of the free stuff and/or one or two basic streaming services.

Do a little legwork regarding free TV options, such as Peacock and Crackle. If you’ve already got Amazon Prime, take a closer look at the free entertainment options it offers. (As an Amazon affiliate, I may receive a fee for items bought/memberships purchased through my link.)

Change the way you shop

Speaking of Amazon: You’ll need to take a hard look at spending. Do you regularly buy little treats for yourself and others? That’s a lovely thought. It’s also an expendable one. (Or perhaps that should be an “ex-spending” one.)

Examine your shopping patterns and see if they’re triggered by depression, fatigue or guilt. Get in the habit of leaving that whatever-it-is in your virtual cart and signing out, so you can sleep on the decision. The next day you might not even remember why you wanted to buy it.

If after 24 hours you still need/want the item, think about other possible ways to get your needs met without spending. Chief among them is joining one of those Buy Nothing Facebook groups; while not every group is great, sometimes it’s astounding what people are giving away.

Hunt for better deals

This is a great time to start looking for better insurance rates. You might be shocked to learn how much you could save by switching providers. Services such as The Zebra will do the work for you, so ask them to run the numbers. And if you change companies, ask an agent whether you should raise your deductible, or how much you’d save if you dropped collision coverage on your hoopty.

Ditto your cellular phone bill. Just because you started out with Big Phone Company a dozen years ago doesn’t mean you have to stay with them. You might save a bunch by changing to a company like Mint Mobile or Visible. Now’s the time to start comparing costs.

And on the topic of phones: If you regularly upgrade, ask yourself why.

Test-driving the FFD

Again, it’s a good idea to try out different aspects of the financial fire drill right now. Show of hands: How many of you learned how to change a tire before you needed to, vs. trying to figure it out in the rain, in the dark, with a dimming flashlight?

The same holds true with the FFD: Learn how the different parts fit together before you start trying to drive it around the block.

For example, you’d join a Buy Nothing Facebook group now, not later. Follow along for a while, to get an idea of what’s being offered; if possible, give away a few things you no longer want, to feel like a part of things. Best-case scenario: You clear some clutter and maybe, just maybe, find a way to get things you need without unlimbering your credit card.

As noted above, you’d look for simple (yet still tasty) ways to cook at home with a minimum of hassle. Aim for one or two nights to start, or try batch cooking for four hours on a Saturday; if everyone pitches in, there will be food in the fridge and freezer for the rest of the week. When you come home tired, there will always be something ready to eat.

And with the winter holidays standing tiptoe in the wings, now is a very good time to think about how you will celebrate. Suppose you normally buy new décor and a few Christmas ornaments every year. That doesn’t mean you have to do it this year. 

Or perhaps you host an enormous family dinner and bear much of the expense yourself; now, right now, is the time to get on the family chat: “Guys, food costs are way out of control, so I will provide turkey, gravy and stuffing but I need some help with side dishes and desserts. So who’s bringing what?”

Not always easy, but necessary

Is all this going to be hard? Maybe. Change can be hard – and sometimes, change can be necessary. And it’s necessary right now, if you want to beat inflation.

Sure, it seems unfair that you work hard yet your money buys less and less. But we can’t wish it all away. Until prices go back to something approaching normal (and I’m not holding my breath), we have to do what we can to beat inflation.

Wail and gnash your teeth and rend your garments all you want, but then start looking for the best ways to use available funds. Continuing to live the way you always have is financial suicide, because those bills will keep coming whether or not you can cover them.

Here’s the good news: Doing the FFD can actually be quite freeing. Having done one myself, I can tell you that when you learn you could get by on as little as $X a month feels great. And you can always add the fun stuff back in, as financial pressures ease.

That is, if you want to – because when that time comes, you may realize you’re doing just fine with less. I’m no minimalist, but let me say this: Having fewer needs means more room in your life as well as in your budget.

Like all fire drills, this is an “in case of emergency” safety move. Relatively few schools (or homes) catch on fire each year, but knowing what to do if that happens is still a good idea.

Readers: Have you been running the budget numbers? Got any tips to share?

 

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17 thoughts on “Beat inflation: The financial fire drill.”

  1. I have a bare bones budget created last year but I need to update it. With home insurance almost doubling, my mortgage monthly amount is changing as well as food and things. I definitely have things I’ve added that I could back out again to give more room if I needed to. Also, I’m looking at bumping up my emergency fund again as a just in case. It’s a little lower than I’d like.

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  2. Am already working on mine as my condo fees are going up 23% next year!!
    I noted when meal prepping this week – was making chili, and only had a small amount of ground meat (from my freezer, leftover from a previous taco night!) to add, so supplemented with more beans — there will be a lot more of that going on!!

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    • DF is planning a pot of chili right now. It started with us placing some beef bones (former ribeye steaks bought at deep discount) into the slow cooker overnight with some black bean broth from the freezer and a little splash of yogurt whey to make sure the bones were covered. They simmered slowly overnight and the broth is cooling.

      The fat that gathers at the top will be used to saute vegetables. In fact, some will be used to caramelize chopped peppers from the freezer (bought from the “ugly but still good” shelf) and onions, at which point he’ll add the cut-up leftover steak from last night to frizzle it up a bit. Then he’ll pour in a can of tomatoes from the manager’s special bin (39 cents), that beef broth, some spices, and either some pinto beans that I’ll cook later or a bag of seasoned black beans from the freezer (or maybe some of each).

      The steak was a pure indulgence. But it lives on as chili, with lots of beans.

      Reply
  3. This sounds silly but we eat a lot of soup. The first night we eat it and then I add a few more cups of stock to the leftover soup–it is thinner but still tasty and nourishing so we get another night of food for almost nothing.

    We both love milk and buy full fat. We drink it on ice cubes so by the time they melt it is lower fat and we have used less milk than we would have if we poured it into enpty glasses. Sometimes I have been known to buy a gallon and top it off with water after the first round of drinks taken from the container.

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  4. When I grocery shop, I put my savings (store rewards and coupons) in my emergency fund; $8 -$20 per month adds up. Last year totaled $241. I also put my most of my purchases on my discover card. (Never spend more than what I would have if I’d written a check. The monthly rewards go to the bill, then I pay the balance. I just scored a major deal last month at Kohls. I had $10 in Kohls cash and a $5 birthday coupon. I found a pair of boots normally $80 marked down to $31.99 on the clearance rack. With a 30% off coupon and the kohls cash, I paid $8.48.

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  5. Cooking at home is absolutely one of the best ways to save money. I’m thankful I like to cook. Watching for sales on frequently used items pays off and if there’s a coupon or rewards member extra discount on the item that’s a homerun and makes my day. I’m thankful to work from home now for about 6 years, but when I worked in an office, I packed a lunch and brought my thermos of tea. Nothing against restaurants or fast food, but I was there to earn money not to spend it and was always happy with my own food anyway. Looks like many of us are all in on soup and chili, this makes me smile knowing I have kindred spirits out there using up what they got on hand. All the best to everyone and especially for Donna for the wonderful writing!

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  6. Various things I do, in no particular order:

    Rocking the Reduced for Quick Sale groceries to the max (following in Donna’s footsteps!).

    Having no TV, no cable, and no streaming except Amazon Prime (which I get anyway through our AP membership).

    Running all DH’s nursing home bills through our Amazon Prime Visa card, for mucho points. (And readers of my “Meet a Reader” at The Frugal Girl will recall that I eventually get reimbursed for most of the nursing home expenses through our Genworth long-term care insurance–easily the smartest money move we ever made, in hindsight.)

    Never using makeup or hair coloring. An occasional spritz of facial moisturizer is as girly as I get.

    Almost never eating out. Big splurge last weekend was when I treated myself to a BOGO deal on hot dogs at our locally famous hot dog stand.

    Almost never buying clothing at retail. I’m a black-belt thrift shopper. I do buy some shoes on Amazon, but only in brands/styles where I know my size.

    All that said, I could usefully do an FFD as Donna recommends. Times are hard and getting harder, and this sounds like a useful exercise for knowing exactly where we stand.

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    • Every few years I watch for a sale on the Rockport shoes I prefer. When I find not just a good deal but also free shipping (a relative rarity for Alaskans), I buy five or six pairs. Then I’m set for a while; currently on pair three of the five that I bought who knows when.

      “Reduced for quick sale” is something of a religion with me and DF.

      Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.

      Reply
  7. This isn’t quite related to this post but I wanted to tell you I made your DF’s rustic bread and OMG is it fabulous! I’ve made it three times now and we love it. And I feel like that woman from the Carvana ad: I was so easy! lol So thank you for sharing this recipe. This bread is currently $5-$6 dollars here per loaf so a huge savings.
    And thank you for this site. Started reading your posts when you were on MSN money and you opened my eyes to frugality!

    Reply
    • Awww, thanks for being a long-term reader. And yes, that bread is delectable. Not his recipe per se, but we’ve added touches of our own:

      Using whey drained from my homemade yogurt for half the water
      Using the water we used to cook potatoes
      Adding flaxseed or ground flaxseed

      No matter how you slice it (heh heh), this bread is fabulous.

      For those who haven’t seen the post to which Cheryl refers, here you go:

      https://donnafreedman.com/our-daily-bread/

      Reply
  8. I cut myself down to 2 meals a day. I eat around 10 and again at 4. Helps the waistline.
    I keep the thermostat at 65 in the winter. It does not hurt me to put on extra socks and sweatshirts. I use afghans for TV watching. No cable nor streaming services. I have a Vizio and I get so much free watching! Tubi has good movies and is free.

    Related to home cooking, I used to drop by the local fast food eateries and pick up supper. Yuck for nutrition, huh. I started to cook one afternoon a week, freeze the food in portions, and when I feel like not cooking, all I do is thaw, throw in some fresh fruit or veggies, and enjoy. I also love popcorn for one of my meals occasionally. Confession: once a week I will stop and get chocolate chip cookies at a fast food place because I cannot make a whole batch without eating them all in one sitting.

    I’m preaching to the choir, but do not spend money just because an item is on sale or in a thrift store. I had an Amazon account from which I ordered when I felt I needed something. I nearly fainted when I received a $900 credit card bill. I immediately cancelled, and if I cannot find something I need locally, I figure out a way to do without. Ask around. You may find someone has what you need. I had my garden plowed up for the cost of a home made pie (lemon from scratch).

    I do pay a young man to mow my yard, and he is willing to do other chores for me such as washing windows ( I cannot climb ladders). Young people need money also.

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  9. Thanks for the nudge! I need to update my budget again as a few things have changed, not to mention the price of gas and groceries have skyrocketed here like everywhere else. I feel for those whose insurance has doubled or gone up substantially. Our homeowner’s insurance went up by about 15% but I figured it was because we filed a claim (for the first time in 20 years, I might add). The thing that is getting to me most right now is we were notified electric bills in our area will be going up by 64%. I guess I should look on the bright side and be grateful I don’t heat my home with electricity. Your FFD came at a most appropriate time. Thanks for all the tips Donna, from you and the others who post here. Keep them coming please.

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  10. My budget success the last few months is using the AC much less while driving. I live in Florida so serious summer temps and humidity. But AC really eats gas. I tried rolling down the windows and running the car fan instead. To my surprise, that was fine almost all the time! If I felt miserable, I ran the AC just long enough to not. My mileage is better by 15-20%. Now I’m looking for other little experiments to see what else isn’t as critical as I had thought.

    Reply

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