WEBVTT - Consumers Making Larger Changes as Inflation Persists

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, January. I'm Oscar Rame Mirrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Inflation remains at a forty year high, and many are

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<v Speaker 1>having to adjust their buying habits. More than just the

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<v Speaker 1>simple switching to generic brands at the grocery store, people

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<v Speaker 1>are scaling back on other life events and picking up

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<v Speaker 1>new skills to make do. You can't make cuts on

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<v Speaker 1>things like medication, so the savings need to come from

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<v Speaker 1>other areas. Veronica Dagger, personal finance reporter at the Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal, joins us for more. Thanks for joining us, Veronica,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for having me. Well, we've seen record high inflation

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<v Speaker 1>right now, and you know a lot of people are

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<v Speaker 1>having to adjust their buying habits. Obviously, some of the

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<v Speaker 1>big things you do right away, maybe don't buy some

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<v Speaker 1>of those common things you're always getting. Maybe indulgences you'll

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<v Speaker 1>you'll take away for a little bit, uh, simple changes

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<v Speaker 1>at the grocery store. You know, you'll buy cheaper brands

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<v Speaker 1>of things that you're used to buying. Probably, but the

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<v Speaker 1>inflation has tended to stick around a little bit longer

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<v Speaker 1>than usual. Wool, and that's not enough anymore. For a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people, they're having to get pretty creative on

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<v Speaker 1>how to save money. Some are picking up new skills

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<v Speaker 1>to supplement that, you know, start making up some some

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<v Speaker 1>treats for yourself throughout the weak things like that, so Veronica,

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<v Speaker 1>help us walk through what are people doing to counter

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<v Speaker 1>inflation right now? People are making some bigger decisions to

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<v Speaker 1>blunt the impact of these rising prices. So they're making

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<v Speaker 1>no small cuts, like you're talking about maybe buying a

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<v Speaker 1>cheaper option a generic at grocery store. All that is

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<v Speaker 1>going on, absolutely, But some people are making larger changes

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<v Speaker 1>like scaling back their wedding or learning a new skill

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<v Speaker 1>to save money. For example, I spoke to a guy

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<v Speaker 1>who recently bought his first house in Florida. He paid

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<v Speaker 1>a ton of money for it, even though it was

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<v Speaker 1>an old house, because you know, this housing market is

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<v Speaker 1>so hot, and he realized, you know what, we don't

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<v Speaker 1>have a ton of money left over. And even if

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to pay a contractor to do things do

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<v Speaker 1>repairs or redo my popcorn ceilings, the prices the contracts

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<v Speaker 1>are charging me for their labor and material loose days

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<v Speaker 1>because of some supply chain issues and the shortages and

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<v Speaker 1>the like is pretty astronomical. So what I need to

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<v Speaker 1>do is I need to upskill myself. I need to

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<v Speaker 1>learn skilled on places like YouTube or other online tutorials

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<v Speaker 1>and learn how to make repairs on my house myself.

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<v Speaker 1>And this guy was, you know, he had a learning curve,

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<v Speaker 1>but it actually ended up saving him something like three

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars. And I mean, you know, if you've got

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<v Speaker 1>popcorn ceiling, that's obviously got to go right away. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you're right, you know, he said, online tutorials and YouTube

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<v Speaker 1>have been a blessing. And obviously that's the way a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people operate right now. They'll go and kind

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<v Speaker 1>of get some of that guidance and then you just

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<v Speaker 1>jump in and you start making those changes. But definitely

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<v Speaker 1>a big saver right there when you can do some

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<v Speaker 1>of your own home improvements. You mentioned the wedding thing

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<v Speaker 1>that was an interesting one to this couple that was

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<v Speaker 1>getting married, was getting some quotes two years ago it

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<v Speaker 1>was gonna be twenty grand for a hotel that they

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to get married in. When they finally got up

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<v Speaker 1>to it and they were gonna check the prices again,

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<v Speaker 1>it jumped to fifty dollars. That's a big problem at

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<v Speaker 1>that point. It's staggering. I mean, that's like two weddings,

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<v Speaker 1>I would call it. I mean, it's just so much money.

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<v Speaker 1>And so this couple was smart with their money and

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<v Speaker 1>they said, you know, listen, it would be nice to

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<v Speaker 1>have this so called dream wedding, but not for more

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<v Speaker 1>than double the price that we initially budgeted for um.

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<v Speaker 1>And so they got a little creative and they said,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we're still going to have the wedding, but

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<v Speaker 1>we have this vacation rental in Sedona that is letting

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<v Speaker 1>us have a small wedding at that venue, at that home,

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<v Speaker 1>and we're going to be able to do our entire

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<v Speaker 1>event for fifteen thousand dollars. And so they're not going

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<v Speaker 1>to fork out that fifty four thousand dollars because they

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<v Speaker 1>just don't see it at this time if something that's

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<v Speaker 1>worth it, you know. And the guy spoke to me said,

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<v Speaker 1>two is this year of catch up weddings. And so

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<v Speaker 1>everywhere you go, like a lot of the venues are booked,

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<v Speaker 1>and if they aren't booked, you're gonna have to pay

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<v Speaker 1>top dollar. And some people just don't want to have

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<v Speaker 1>anything to do with that. You know, these are some

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<v Speaker 1>of the bigger decisions that people are trying to make.

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<v Speaker 1>Obviously that they can change things that they have control over,

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<v Speaker 1>but there's a lot of stuff that we're seeing being

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<v Speaker 1>affected by inflation. Prices going up for things that you

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<v Speaker 1>can't really substitute, medications, different things like that. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>for a lot of people, you know, you have to

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<v Speaker 1>make the cuts everywhere else because those prices are going

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<v Speaker 1>up and you still need that, that's right, Yeah, something

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<v Speaker 1>like your medication. You're you're pretty married to that. This

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<v Speaker 1>isn't on medication, but some people are really married to

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<v Speaker 1>their tobacco habit, and so they're gonna pay whatever they're

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<v Speaker 1>going to be charging for that in certain people's cases.

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<v Speaker 1>And also things like gas prices. I mean, look, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're commuting to work each day, Um, some people are

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<v Speaker 1>still doing that and or need to use the car

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<v Speaker 1>a lot, you're going to be using up a ton

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<v Speaker 1>of gas potentially, And so some people are thinking through

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<v Speaker 1>their travel decisions a little bit more carefully. One woman

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<v Speaker 1>I spoke to is batching her errands so she'll only

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<v Speaker 1>instead of doing multiple trips multiple errands, she will do

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<v Speaker 1>everything in one shot. That way she's saving sometimes making

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<v Speaker 1>multiple runs with her car. She'll also just drive less

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<v Speaker 1>in general, she'll double book family doctor's appointments. All of

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<v Speaker 1>these things are making her think twice about how often

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<v Speaker 1>she gets in the car because she's dealing with rising

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<v Speaker 1>prices in other areas of her life. We're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>the big changes that people are having to make in

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<v Speaker 1>response to what's going on with inflation. One of the

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<v Speaker 1>people that you spoke to, and this is a big

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<v Speaker 1>change both in price and lifestyle. So this was a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty cool one that I thought. You spoke to a

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<v Speaker 1>guy who had a big soda habit. He was deciding

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<v Speaker 1>he's wasting a lot of money on that. He's he

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<v Speaker 1>said that he thinks he spends about seven dollars a

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<v Speaker 1>year on soft drinks and bottled iced ta. So what

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<v Speaker 1>he did was, I'm gonna start making my own iced tea.

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<v Speaker 1>I think he started losing some weight, you know, saving

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<v Speaker 1>a ton of money in response to all this, but

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<v Speaker 1>bettering his lifestyle too. That that was a pretty cool one.

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<v Speaker 1>That was a cool one. Thank you. Yeah, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>he like he said he lost a lot of weight,

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<v Speaker 1>he's saving money. He's actually just didn't make it into

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<v Speaker 1>the story that he's actually taking that differential between the

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<v Speaker 1>seven dollars he used to spend in the thirty five dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>He thinks he's going to spend this year on things

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<v Speaker 1>like making correct of un sweet and nice tea. He's

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<v Speaker 1>going to take that money and put it in the

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<v Speaker 1>stock market. So he's going to invest that money. I

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<v Speaker 1>thought that was really interesting, you know. And in general,

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<v Speaker 1>he's losing weight, he's feeling less anxious, I guess because

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<v Speaker 1>the less sugar. He's just feeling good about himself. So

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<v Speaker 1>this is a habit that he started that has had

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<v Speaker 1>all these other positive to it that he didn't anticipate

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<v Speaker 1>going out there initially. Well, I mean, like I said,

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<v Speaker 1>these are just the changes that people are making. I

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<v Speaker 1>know everybody's case is different, and and it is a

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<v Speaker 1>problem the longer that inflation continues to affect us. But uh,

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<v Speaker 1>this is how a lot of people are starting to

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<v Speaker 1>make those cuts. Veronica Dagger, personal finance reporter at the

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Journal, Thank you very much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar Ramirez, and this has

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<v Speaker 1>been reopening America. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,

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<v Speaker 1>you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every mondy through Friday, so follow us on iHeart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you get your podcast