How do you guys cope up with inflation?

I bought cheaper things.

I don't eat out often. Once, sometimes twice a month. I make all my food. Even food is expensive.

I’ve been really on top of all the money making sites, and I have been fortunate to pick up some product tests than unexpectedly paid well. In addition, if a store brand is anywhere close to as good as my first choice, I’m buying the cheaper store brand. I don’t need to be picky just because one thing smells slightly better than the other. I gave up soda too, which has saved me a shocking amount of money. I was addicted to the stuff.

You certainly have to be far more conscious of prices and what you buy and what you do with it. A little creativity goes a long way. More important than that, for me, is to always have a way to offset higher costs, and I do that through investing, which makes every saved dollar more valuable.

When I started working, inflation was at 18% and interest rates well over 20%. For some reason the accepted wisdom at that time was to borrow more. We got ourselves into that trap and it took us many years and a lot of pain to get out of it. Right now my wisdom is pay debts asap, limit all expenses and generally live frugally. We used to check specials all the time and there was no hesitation to go to the cheapest store, even if it meant visiting a few stores to buy groceries for a few days. Luckily we did not have to drive to stores, at the time malls were not so prevalent, so all stores were in walking distance. When we were in Zimbabwe a few months ago, the inflation there was around 30%, and it was really terrible. At that rate even cooking your own food becomes a major headache. Actually we were in a store there once and the prices were literally going up as we were shopping. It is an experience I would hope to avoid in future. The hilarious thing though was that raw eggs were about US$9.36 a dozen, while boiled eggs were US$2.52 a dozen. There was the same ridiculous thing with flour - bread was cheaper than the flour to make it. Life stays weird! Normally high inflation is temporary, so hope you guys can get through this time