There is just no way around this current fact: prices are too darn high. Period. No matter which way you turn or what you put on your plate, the cost this year far exceeds whatever you paid last year. And there’s no end in sight. For the first time in like forever, I don’t have enough in passive monthly income to pay my bills. I have to make a withdrawal out of savings in order to pay my basic bills (I can’t eliminate anything else). This super high inflation is nothing I prepared for. Granted yes, I prepared for the basic inflation rate of 2% to 3% but I am encountering prices as high as 50% from what I paid a few scant months ago.
I have always budgeted $25 a month on my E-Z Pass. That monthly figure has skyrocketed to $55 a month. Throw in the astronomical prices I have to pay in tolls and the monthly costs are downright criminal. I had to cough up $165 this last month in toll fees!
I have always budgeted $100 to $150 a month in gas. That budget line has stratosphered to over $600 a month (this last bill was $621.33). Granted we did a bit of vacation traveling this past month but it didn’t surpass what we did in the pre-pandemic days. How can people keep paying bills like this?


People (like me) can continue to pay bills like this by making a few adjustments and sacrifices to our monthly budget (and steer clear of our savings accounts). The Number One thing we must do is cut back on driving, living, enjoying and above all else, cut back on travel. To a retiree, whose main thing in retirement is usually travel, that’s a hard, bitter pill to swallow.
In addition to the higher gas and toll prices we have to pay, our winter booking raised their prices by 34%. As retirees on a fixed income, how are we supposed to come up with 34% more (in addition to the gas and toll price increases)? Our solution was to shorten our winter snowbirding. My solution was even better: start using my frequent flyer miles, get a free round trip ticket to Florida and stay with my sister for a month (already booked). I now lowered my snowbirding costs to zero. And I have enough frequent flyer miles to do it all over again next year. This will give DH and I time to think about how we plan on moving forward. But for now, we’re doing nothing (other than what I said). Prices are just too darn high.
Our second out-of-control inflationary spending is, of course, on food. If I can cut back on our monthly grocery shopping by 20% that would ease our monthly budget expenses comparatively. For this, we’re doing a Dave Ramsey experiment. I’m placing $400 cash in an envelope and that’s what we are going to spend per month on groceries. I’m hoping $100 a week will suffice. When the money is gone, we will have to make due with what we already have on hand. This is where my past stockpiling will come in handy. So far, we are off to a great start. We spent $92 this first week and I’ve become extremely creative with leftovers.
I had some leftover brown rice (still in the rice cooker), a few sausage links and a half baggie of canned peas. I sliced the sausages into bite sized pieces, sauteed them in a pan with a touch of vegetable oil, added in the cold rice, a bit of home made chicken broth and when all was warmed up, tossed in the peas. I was able to utilize all those leftovers and turn them in to a delicious risotto (once I topped the dish with grated Parmesean cheese).
I had two slightly brown bananas left over and turned them into two loaves of banana bread.
I had some asparagus spears and a half onion left over and turned them into a delicious frittata.
DH had a few strands of arugula and spinach and topped off his lunch sandwich with the supergreens.










Now that we will be home more, I’m hoping our tolls and EZ Pass will go back to ‘normal’. Whatever that will now be. As for driving, there are a lot of things going on closer to our home base. Staying home all the time is not going to be an option. Fall is the best time of the year up here in the valley. The leaves are just starting to turn color and nothing gives us more pleasure than taking a ride through the mountains and peeping at all those glorious autumn colors. There are Oktoberfests, hayrides, pumpkin patches and apple picking farms just waiting for us. Saying ‘no’ might not be an option.
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LOVE your 0 food waste! It is down right scary how much everything costs!
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Wendi, I know. I know. But we can’t let fear take over. We have to be creative and think of new solutions. I’m even surprising myself! Thanks for your comment.
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You are absolutely right! Paying off debt for sooo many years now, we have learned to live on very little. soooooooooooo can’t wait to be debt free!
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Hi Wendi. It’s tough living on very little while you pay down debt. Been there. Done that. But once it is over, the human body amazingly forgets the pain. Then it’s just happiness. And relief! Hang in there!
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Thank YOU!!!! I can’t wait!!!!
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PS Your talk about blueberry pancakes has me adding them to my cinnamon oatmeal pancakes for Sunday morning.
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The tolls are ridiculously high. They doubled since last year. New Jersey is out of control! We’re thinking of going south through PA now and avoiding NJ like the plague. Hubby likes fresh veggies every.single.day. He says he needs the supergreens for his continued good health. They’re expensive but so is getting sick. So, we have to food shop every few days for produce and fruit. Winter is upon us so my cooking will change. We save a lot of money when I start making soups and stews. I set up a weekly menu which we are now following and it has helped immensely. Like Friday is fish day. I buy the extra long fresh salmon from Aldi and cut it up into portion sizes and freeze it. That’s been working out AOK. Monday is Meatless Monday. Tuesday is Taco Tuesday……Sunday is pasta, Saturday is home-made pizza (no more buying expensive flatbreads) I like your idea with the turkeys. I’d have to clear out some large space in my kitchen freezer for those.
We get free delivery from CVS but only for our meds. Going food shopping is at times one of the only social networking I may do, so home delivery is out of the question.
I’ve re-worked our budget, lowered our monthly food bill and curtailed our RV vacation locations to more local sites. The Finger Lakes in NY are gorgeous and we stay at a NYS park at $24 a night! Maine is still good and so is Newport RI. The Outerbanks (my sister and friends booked again for next year) may not be doable. They raised their prices by 50% and then there are those tolls! Nope. Also, going to Florida RVing this year is out. I’m flying solo and spending a few weeks with my sister. That’s about it. I have to re-think the whole Florida thing. And next year I am going to re-think the whole RVing thing. If we go more local and seasonal I may not need such a big rig. We can go smaller and cheaper.
Life is full of constant changes.
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If you are shopping ShopRite a lot usually the first week of October starts the free Turkey for Thanksgiving accumulated $400 in receipts so one of yours Could be free. I have the same refrigerator as yours and I clear out some freezer stockpile, so I can get one and sometimes two 22-24 pound turkeys whole in there by buying the flatter frozen birds on the top rack. Then the frozen vegetables bags tucked around them. Other meats in the lower part below the shelf. Frozen soups and cut chives in the door in quart yogurt and ricotta containers. It’s amazing how much can fit in my one and only small freezer. Sincerely, Lara
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I doubt very highly we would ever spend $400 at Shop Rite just to get a free turkey. Bummer. I keep a lot of bread and frozen veggies in my kitchen freezer. It might be easier to make room there for an extra turkey. I didn’t think of yogurt or ricotta containers. Good one! I can fit lots of those in.
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Greens and herbs are the easiest indoor gardening and cold frames vegetables to grow all year. With Nick staying home and keeping the temperature constantly warm you could consider growing them yourself. Sincerely Lara
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