By any reasonable standard, Ann and I have plenty of money. But on close examination, our situation is much like that of people in far less prosperous circumstances, and the increase in cost of living has gotten our attention.
Ann is thinking of retiring soon, and Trump’s unpredictability and scary economic policies have led us to move much of our savings from the “safe” combination of 60% stocks and 40% bonds into fixed-rate instruments, the earnings from which are not immediately available.
We are neither deprived nor especially fearful, but when, for example, the brand of coffee we have enjoyed for years is now $22.00 a pound and the osteoporosis drug that Ann takes was $2000 for the whole of 2025, is now $4000 each month, these are cost of living increases that get our attention.
We used to buy groceries and other things without thinking much about their cost. Not anymore. Now we pay attention to prices and consider substitutions. Doing that has become a game, and we’re enjoying it.
It would not be anything like a game, if we were at the mercy of Congressional oversight of the Affordable Care Act. Our Medicare and Medigap premiums have gone up substantially this year, and we don’t like it, but we have not given a moment’s thought to doing without medical insurance. Nor would price shopping be much fun if we were among the 47.9 million Americans who are “food insecure” – people like those who line up on the sidewalk outside our church every Saturday and Monday for a pbj, a tuna sandwich, and a cup of soup. Last Saturday, the wind chill out there was -15.
Now that I can walk again (with the aid of a rollator), Ann and I fan out from our 91st Street apartment to four, sometimes five, different grocery stores, hoping always to find better prices than those at Whole Foods Market. Wouldn’t you agree that Jeff Bezos has enough money already?
I braved the crowds at Trader Joe’s a few days ago to check its price for coffee. An ounce of Trader Joe French Roast costs seventy cents; an ounce of the brand we’ve bought for years online costs $1.25. If Trader Joe’s tastes good – I think it will – we’ll switch to it. We brew twelve strong cups every morning, and every sip of Trader Joe will bear a thrillette of having beaten by a very small amount the increase in cost of living.
An aside here. It’s puzzling to me that many people regularly pay several dollars a cup at Starbucks and the coffee shops that are popping up on every block. Residents in my building sometimes order a cup or two delivered. And it seems that no young person would think of appearing on the street without a cup in hand. I wonder how that expense compares to daily use of weed or other drugs.
Ann goes to Westside Market near 110th for Beyond Meat and Earth Balance butter substitute, which are often sold out at other stores. We take turns going to Fairway at 74th and Broadway. That’s quite a hike, but (this thrift game may be out of control) it has a good price on family-size boxes of Cheerios.
We like bagels. They cost around $20 a dozen – more when bought one or two at a time. The ones Ann makes are their equal in quality, not difficult to produce, and cost but twenty cents each (not including her labor). It’s an easy choice.
We don’t eat meat at any price. So, we can’t complain about ithe ncrease in the price of bacon and sausage to have with breakfast eggs, which are approaching $1.00 each.
These considerations take me back to my childhood. Money was always short, but my mother dealt with that by being a “make do and mend” homemaker. I think it came to her naturally. That’s who she was. In what seemed to be an exception, she liked to say, “I’ll save money on everything but groceries.” But she did. We had navy beans once a week, and Sunday dinner was a sumptuous but relatively inexpensive chuck roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions.
In the past, Ann and I have enjoyed some free spending, even extravagance. The small adjustments in spending we are making these days come to me as an homage to my mother and an almost redemptive return to proper living.