If one looks at real prices for items--2000 vs. 2024, we would find that the real inflation rate for those 24 years is 146%. Now what about the COLAs for that time period. Well, for the same 24 year period, Social Security recipients have received COLAs amounting to 81%. Therefore, over the 24 years from 2000 to 2024, we've lost 64.8%. Ask pretty much any Social Security recipient and they will tell you that things just get worse and worse. Maybe those folks didn't have the % figured to the tenth of a percent, but they do have personal recollections of what they were paying for a loaf of bread, a gallon of gas or heating fuel, or a month's rent. They would all tell you that there is no more fat to cut from their budgets.
I personally would be so grateful if I could get back to a "zero based budget". In reality I am in a negative position every stinking month. If it were not for God's promises of provision, my mental and emotional state would be absolutely awful All those expenses that I pay for every month are coming out of a small and ever dwindling savings account...........
What is a "zero based budget"? It is a system in which one looks at all the expenses one is likely to encounter over the period and either pays them or saves for them. For example, one pays the electric bill. But, I own a vehicle. I have 2 newish tires and 2 that are very old. The probability that I will need to replace a tire in 2025 is very high. As best I can tell, I could expect to spend around $180 on a tire. Therefore, I "should" be saving monthly about $15 so that when that tire dies, I can buy a new tire without panic. In essence I should be saving for every potential expense I could encounter. My previous HVAC system lasted 23 years. In a perfect world, I would be saving, monthly, enough to replace the "new" system in about 5 years. I desperately need a haircut, but if I just go out and get one, even the cheapest will have to come out of the money I have left in my tiny stash of cash to spend on groceries a few years from now because I am currently unable to fund that out of savings, even though I've known for some time that I will eventually HAVE to breakdown and get a haircut.
I don't know if all that makes sense. I just know that I've done everything I know to do to slow the outflow of money. Dave Ramsey would say if you can't afford your mortgage payment, move. I've looked at that. I have a basic disagreement with the concept of rent. But, I've looked online. I've been in my house a long time so compared to the cost to rent an apartment these days, my mortgage payment is cheaper. Dave's answer to that would be "move to a cheaper area of the country". Well, I could move to some small town in Arkansas or Alabama, but I am concerned that the touch of arthritis that flares up from time to time would be much worse in those humid climates..........