How can an individual fight the inflation?

Over the years, the prices of goods and commodities, services, transportation, have been increasing steadily. The COVID-19 pandemic adds to the suffering of the country (Philippines) as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine.

These cannot be stopped by an ordinary individual like me or you. And despite having valuable resources available in our country, if these have not been managed well by the leaders we elect, we are doomed to suffer even more. We can only hope that there are immediate, long-term solutions we can look forward to. (Not only domestic exchange)

But at this time, watching the interview of Sandro Marcos regarding the price hikes and peso -dollar ratio, we are told to just sit back and hold tight while we wait for the action of our administration.

But we all know, people like us who is not born rich cannot wait for this action. Every day we struggle and we always want to look for things that will lessen our sufferings. As a Filipino myself, born poor, I can feel the big impact of the inflation and the economic crisis.

Despite having no changes in the basic necessities of goods I buy monthly, I can really feel the big gap between now and then. My 1000 peso bill nowadays can only buy a few things that I need daily. Unlike in recent years, where I could buy almost everything I needed for a whole month and there was still extra chocolate in my bag.

And that my friend cannot be seen by people who was born from a wealthy family.

With the current situation we are facing, how can we at least reduce our spending? What are the things we can do to combat inflation?

This reminds me of how we survived during the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Era, when all the prices of goods drastically increased and my father and mother only earned a bit of money daily. Both of them only earned 500 pesos combined in a day since the daily salary back in our province is only 250 per person per day.

I remember how I struggled to get in line to buy NFA rice because that was the only thing we could afford. NFA rice back then only cost 25 pesos per kilo, while normal rice already cost 40-46 pesos. I can remember how I easily get hungry with NFA rice because it tastes bad and watery in the mouth. And how it weighs a little less than the normal one. But we managed to survive.

Thus, the thing I learned from this, which I can also recommend in order to jive with the inflation and economic crisis, is to look for alternative products with a lower cost. Not necessarily NFA rice, but rather, most of the things that can be traded to make it cheaper. It could be that instead of buying coffee at Starbucks, you buy a coffee grinder and make your own coffee at home. Instead of dining out, start learning to cook. It's cheaper this way. Instead of going through the laundry shop, learn to wash your own laundry and the like.

Also, since I lived in a bigger yard before, my mother always teaches us to plant fruits and vegetables, this have help reduced our expenses. And sometimes, we sell our own vegetable and earn. So I can also recommend that instead of buying vegetables on the market, you grow your own. Grow your own garlic, peppermint, spices, pechay, sitaw, ampalaya and more. It will help lower your expenses.

If also possible to save up or if you have money stuck without return, I encouraged you to invest with caution some of your money to banks with higher interest rate. Government or pag-ibig MP2 for example has a yearly interest playing around 5.5 to 7%. Paymaya also offers 6% yearly interest.

Investing in a bank with a higher interest rate, would make your money grow, and if the interest rate is more than the inflation rate, your buying power would still equate to or cost more than the day you invested it.

Final Say

How can an individual fight price hikes?

1. Spend less by looking for cheaper product but with quality.

2. Grow your own vegetables. You can also earn by selling the excess.

3. Save and invest with high interest rates banks.

How about you? How do you manage everything with the current inflation?