INFLATION

Here and presumably worldwide there's been plenty in the media 
about inflation. It's easy to see changes to what one pays for fuel 
and electricity, but food and household consumables take a little 
more work to view overall.

Feeling appathetic in general this Saturday, I settled on the 
simple, boring, task of verifying that EFTPOS transactions from my 
bank card on my latest six-month statement (which I still only 
access in dead-tree format due to distrust of online banking) match 
my recipts. Lately I've started adding up my weekly shopping totals 
to see my average spend as well. June to December 2021 averaged 
$30.83AUD per week over 25 weeks, December 2021 to June 2022 
averaged $31.80AUD per week over 25 weeks. That's a $0.97 per week 
increase over the six months to June this year, or 3.15%.

Of course I might just be eating more, but I do know that I'm still 
buying all the same brands, or cheapest alternatives where they're 
no longer available. Except that I did buy a bulk quantity of tooth 
paste so I'm no longer getting that regularly. Its cost isn't 
included because I don't know how much toothpaste I use per week 
and I expect I've bought enough to last years. Actually I just 
checked and that was on the 20th of May, and I think I still had a 
fair bit left so I probably wouldn't have bought any more normally 
anyway.

Well meaningful or not, those are my numbers. That extra $0.97/week 
hasn't exactly threatened to send me broke at least.

 - The Free Thinker.