Supermarket Shopping, Recession-style

Inflation on a pair of kitten heels or yet another black jacket is annoying, yes. But I find inflation at the supermarket particularly galling. We all need food. And if it’s getting harder to afford eating out, it certainly doesn’t help that it’s getting more expensive to eat at home: The consumer price index for all food in January 2009 was up 5.3% from January 2008.

Still, buying and preparing your own food is the smarter choice. And it may be getting better: Food, like all consumer retail items, is subject to increasing price-cutting competition and the “everyone’s a discounter” trend.

Unemployed People CAN Get a Break

Today Citigroup said it would give mortgage relief to people who lose their jobs, temporarily reducing payments for qualified borrowers to $500 a month for three months.

It always struck us as somewhat unjust that businesses offered the best deals to the people who least needed them—free designer clothing to celebrities, lavish dinners for high-profile editors, discounts to wealthy patrons. Often, the more money you make, the more perks you get. (Not that we have ever willingly declined said perks…)

Citi’s new policy isn’t exactly a reversal of that trend. But it is another example of companies extending a hand to people who have are finding themselves in, um, “changed circumstances.” While it doesn’t get the people with money to spend more, maybe it will get the broke to cut back less.

There are many smaller examples around the country, from practical to just plain pointless:

Rice to Riches – The Feed Yourself Challenge

Maybe this has been said before: “Cheapness is the mother of invention.”

It’s been years since my five-dollar budget. I like lingering over a long meal with friends. Sometimes, I get super lazy and pick up something prepared and eat it out of the plastic compartment. And even as finances have grown tight, I’ve been more likely to treat myself to evenings out to lift my low spirits and pick up cheap indulgences as if stuffing myself with a rich dinner would magically fill my bank account.

Recession Concessions: Dog Food v. Daycare

Ditching: Daycare

Keeping: Gourmet dog food

Few are immune to the necessary cutbacks that come with shrinking assets. Even dogs.

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