Inflation Stifling You: Curbing Your Expectations Might Help

By Steven Kaszab
Guest Contributor

The recent news cycle has centered upon issues of inflation, the cost of living, transportation and housing costs. Are we living far beyond our financial capabilities? Are our expectations too demanding?

The true inflation levels are nearing 8.9-10 percent, something our governments tried to hide in an effort to bring our attention to levels they wish to achieve, nearing 2-3 percent.

Gas has reached levels never seen in our nation. Housing, both rental or owned, is out of reach for most citizens. Everything from the food we eat, to what clothes us, or entertains us, has risen drastically.

Our expectations have brought upon us, a feared financial apocalypse, and we need to revise our expectations and life styles, if we are to survive and possibly prosper.

Energy costs demand that we stop driving gas guzzlers, and move to smaller vehicles or, perhaps, even electric vehicles. Has the time that the average person can afford to drive a sports car, or large SUV, ended?

Can we move away from costly food items, towards local nourishing foods that are less costly. Should we, perhaps, substitute steak, lobster with poultry, shrimp and pork? Eating healthier while saving on costs, works for me. Purchase intelligently, communicating with the grocer what you want and what you’re willing to pay. They can be persuaded to compete more effectively.

Do you have a grandma, grandpa, who lived through the Great Depression? Now there is a source of inspiration and advice you can tap. Make things last longer, learn how to repair, reuse and recycle. As long as your car works, use it, and conserve gas by not wasting your fuel.

Housing has been a magnet, drawing many of our friends into costly mortgages and excessive debt. Perhaps it is time that we strive for less-costly options, like renting. In many large urban centers, you can find people who have been renting happily, for decades. The problem is finding rental units.

Is it not time for you to pressure public officials to move their revenue expectations from large housing units towards townhomes, well built apartment buildings and large building lofts. If you make it known that that is what is needed, some developer will build them.

And when you rent or buy such a unit, don’t play the blind bidding game, but strive to pay what the product is truly worth. Make the housing game yours, not the real estate agents’ and developers’.

Even our governments may need to review the public’s expectations, and bring their spending under control — an assessment of what is truly needed vs what the public would like to see.

The time of passive, immediate purchasing must end. Your expectations need to mature and evolve, just as you do, daily. It can be said that we have entered a period of recession, and, depending on what the World Economic Czars do about it, it can develop into a horrid situation for many of us. Think 2009, but worse, and perhaps lasting longer. Yeh, the horror, the horror.

Do you have a grandma, grandpa, who lived through the Great Depression? Now there is a source of inspiration and advice you can tap. Make things last longer, learn how to repair, reuse and recycle. As long as your car works, use it, and conserve gas by not wasting your fuel. Manage your time, expenses and expectations that would make your elders proud. Vacation locally, and don’t go to the airport to travel far away, it is a place of stagnation, stress and anger, especially Toronto International Airport.

“Well done, is better than well said. The more I expect, the more unhappy I am going to be,” Ben Franklin has been quoted as saying.

The stress you are all feeling, going to work for pay, while paying more to go there, and your payroll remains the same. This is a feeling that will be with you a long time, unfortunately. We are not going forward financially, but rather hopefully, remaining where we previously were, only to fall into debt and despair. Two feet forward, three feet back.

The only way you can change your predicament, is by changing your ways. Expect less, but expect better. Look for quality over quantity and revise your expectations.