You’re Cutting Back but Prices Keep Going Up!

Isn’t this annoying? It seems we keep trying to reduce costs here and there, give this up, cut back on this and the overall budget should be looking better then, right? Wrong. Now I see these things that weren’t there before: pay a few bucks to get into parks (when it was free before), pay a few bucks to park at the bike trail (it was free before), notice from employer warning that health care expenses are up and our employee contributions will be going up soon (great, maybe what I just cut back on or eliminated may cover the increase in this one, or maybe not, let’s just see how big the hit will be…). Anyway, things like these are getting me upset. How can we get any traction going on reducing our expenses, paying down our debt, and improving our life’s financial status, if everything we cut back on or reduce gets offset by increases in lots of other ways and in other areas?

I don’t have the answers but it seems we all better start looking beyond our own individual temporary situations and start becoming better informed and more proactive with regards to the bigger economic picture domestically. The main way we can do that is by getting more involved in community action and decisions as well as national issues and decisions that ultimately affect our own individual situations. That will involve getting to know your local and national issues, representatives and candidates, and voting and community involvement to ensure your voice is also heard.