Inflation is the worst. Prices are WAY up for the small stuff like food and even the big stuff like housing.
Although complaining about inflation may give us some momentary satisfaction, it doesn’t help long term. Instead, we need to fight inflation.
If you’re wondering how to fight inflation at home, here are 3 big ideas to consider. All of these might not work for you, but a few of them might! So pick what you like and leave the rest.
Save on Insurance
There are many ways to save when it comes to insurance. The only issue is that it takes a bit of work to make it happen. Take it from me, the effort you put in can literally save you thousands of dollars per year. So, it’s a great way to fight inflation.
Bundle Homeowners and Auto Insurance
One of the simplest ways to fight inflation at home is to bundle your homeowners and auto insurance together. According to Experian, the average consumer saves 16.1% on their premiums when bundling homeowners insurance and auto insurance.
Based on the average annual premiums for homeowners and auto insurance, this could be upwards of $1,000 of savings per year.
Outside of the financial savings, it could save you time and effort as well because you’re only paying one insurance provider for two policies.
Shop the Competition
Getting insurance can be a pain and the insurance companies know this. That’s why they can get away with steadily raising your premiums over time. When you look back a year or two later, the price is a lot higher, but we can feel too lazy to switch.
If inflation is crushing you right now, it’s time to put in the extra effort and switch insurance providers!
Every couple of years, our family switches back and forth between the major insurance providers for homeowners and auto insurance. We’re with Geico for a while, then we’re with Progressive. And then when State Farm wants to give us a good deal, we switch to them.
I haven’t found their service to be drastically different. They are all pretty good when we need them (which isn’t very often).
Each time we do this, we save about $1,000!
Increase Your Deductibles
If you have a healthy emergency fund and have enough money to cover a higher insurance deductible, consider increasing your deductible.
By increasing your deductible for your homeowners, auto and even health insurance, you are taking on more risk and in exchange, the insurance provider lowers your premiums.
According to Forbes, drivers who increase their deductibles can save between 7% to 28% a year on average. Depending on where your deductible is now, this could mean save you anywhere from $100 – $500 per year.
Save on Food
Inflation has not been kind to food prices! Some companies have taken advantage of this inflationary environment as well and their profits are soaring.
When prices rise, we need to be more competitive with where we shop and how we consume our food.
Shop at Lower Cost Grocery Stores
While buying high-priced designer food brands might feel healthier, there are ways to keep your quality food intake high while keeping your grocery bill low.
Instead of high-priced grocery stores like Whole Foods try out lower-priced grocery stores like Aldi. You may not be able to get all of your grocery store needs from Aldi, but you can save thousands of dollars per year by getting your essentials there.
I know this from experience because switching to Aldi (instead of Kroger) for our essentials over the past few years has saved our family over $10,000. Seriously, I’m a nerd and I calculated it.
We still hit up Costco, Target, and Kroger for some specialty items that we need from time to time, but the bulk of our essential food items come from Aldi.
Related Content: How We Decreased Our Spending by $20,000 (And Increased Our Fun by $10,000)
Meal Prep
Taking a specific day to prepare your meals for the week can not only save you money, but it can help you eat healthier too.
Our family usually does this on Sunday so we’ve got dinner planned out for the entire week.
This does require more upfront planning, but it saves you from creating new meals each night or (let’s be honest) just ordering in food and spending way more than you wanted.
Make Eating Out of the House Special
I love eating out! There’s something about getting food made for you and not having to clean up afterward that is just so incredible.
But if we do this daily, it doesn’t feel as special. And as inflation continues to beat up our budgets, eating at restaurants or getting food delivery is becoming more and more difficult to afford.
Instead of saying “don’t eat out EVER!”, just try to limit it to special occasions.
At our house, we make our Friday family night the night we don’t make any food. We order pizza or go out to eat as a family. And since we limit it to one or two nights per week, we enjoy it THAT much more. It becomes special again!
Save on Recurring Subscriptions and Services
As technology has expanded so much lately, the convenience that comes with it has been incredible. That convenience comes with a cost though.
As we’re looking for ways to fight inflation at home, it’s time to turn our attention to services, subscriptions and memberships.
Not Using It, Eliminate It
A quick and easy way to punch inflation in the face is to stop paying for things you’re not using. When was the last time you used Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, your gym membership, Spotify, online magazine, newspapers, those online meal kit things … or 1,000 other subscriptions or memberships?
If you aren’t using it, stop paying for it.
If you like it, you use it, and want to keep it … then keep it!
Save on the Cell Phone Bill
I was a Verizon subscriber for over 20 years! Last year, I switched from Verizon to Tello and have never looked back.
The service is similar, but the price has been cut nearly in half.
My wife saw the savings and how the service was similar and she switched too.
You don’t need to get Tello like our family did but look at other lower-cost players out there. Right now, there is a shift in the cell phone market that reminds me of when people use to pay for AOL. Email was free through services like Hotmail and Gmail, but people were still paying for AOL long after email was free!
That’s what high-priced cell phone service feels like right now. They are holding onto legacy cell phone users who are willing to pay over a hundred dollars per month even though they can get something similar for $25 per month.
Related Content: Tello Review: Why We Ditched Verizon for Tello
Bundle Entertainment Services
There’s also something happening with our in-home entertainment. Cable is becoming more and more useless and expensive with the rise of services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, etc. Entertainment is cheaper and easier.
But now there are so many options, it’s like cable TV all over again! So some of these companies are partnering up for bundling deals. Disney Plus has a bundle deal with Hulu and ESPN. HBO is bundling with Amazon Prime.
Ask yourself if you really need cable first and foremost. Can your favorite shows be watched with an HD antenna for free?
And second, ask yourself if you can start to bundle some of these other entertainment platforms so you can save a bit of money.
Final Thoughts on How to Fight Inflation at Home
By setting aside some time to save on insurance premiums, food costs and recurring bills, you can give yourself thousands of dollars back in your budget. This will free up more money to plan for emergencies, invest for your future and have more fun.
Inflation is truly just like a fight. If we’re getting punched in the face, we need to fight back. And we can fight back by protecting our money, consciously spending according to our values and putting our money to use in a way that will help us live the lives we want.
Let’s not let inflation win this fight. It’s time to fight back!
What do you think about these ideas on how to fight inflation at home? What would you add to the list?
Please let us know in the comments below.
