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inflation
FINANCIAL,  SOLUTIONS

Over 100 Tips on Successfully Navigating Inflation

November 3, 2026 / No Comments

Polls indicate that inflation and cost of living are at the top of Americans’ list of concerns. For statistics on cost-of-goods inflation, we look to the Chapwood Index (https://chapwoodindex.com), which monitors the quarterly price increase or decrease of the most popular 150 items that people use throughout their lifetime (such as tolls, cable TV, gasoline, laundry detergent, pet food, school supplies, toothpaste, mobile phone service, home repairs, light bulbs, fast food restaurants, Internet service, and taxes). The Chapwood Index reflects a more realistic inflation rate being seen across the U.S. as compared to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). (The Chapwood Index website describes the full approach.)

To put this in perspective, the cities listed below experienced some of the highest inflation rates on cost of goods from 2022 to 2025 (compounded). These are merely examples, of course; every city is seeing crazy inflation rates, and some products have more than doubled in price.

  • San Francisco: 75.51%
  • Boston: 69.64%
  • Chicago: 68.73%
  • New York: 67.51%
  • Miami: 66.51%
  • Seattle: 65.07%
  • Milwaukee: 63.54%

The aim of this report is to help people successfully take action to navigate rising expenses. The report offers tips and resources in the areas of Household Goods & Equipment; Food; Health; Services; Auto & Transportation; Tech Goods; and Money & Savings. The final section addresses historical lessons and what they can teach us.

Household Goods and Equipment

Tips

Use tool libraries: Looking for a specific tool but can’t afford to buy it, or it’s one you will likely only need once in a great while, and none of your neighbors happen to have it either? There are tool libraries set up in multiple states across the country (https://toollibraryalliance.org/map). They typically require a nominal annual membership fee, and you can check the tools out for free, much like a regular library.

Explore your local “library of things”: Many public libraries now lend far more than books: sewing machines, kitchen appliances, gardening tools, energy meters, telescopes, and more. Ask your local library.

Exchange with neighbors: Share and trade useful items with neighbors and consider implementing a form of community currency.

Buy multiple-use products: Purchase products that have multiple uses and save on having to buy a slew of other products. For example, you can’t go wrong with a case or two of Ball Jars because they have so many uses. They are durable, heat-resistant, freezer-resistant, airtight, and food-safe with a myriad of uses such as preserving jams, sauces, fruits, pickles, and for dry pantry storage of rice, pasta, beans, nuts, or spices. They are great for making overnight oats or fermenting, and are good containers for sourdough starters and for freezing liquids (allow at least one inch of headspace to avoid breakage). They also offer endless uses for household storage and décor, such as flower vases, herb planters, plant propagation, seed storage, mason jar lighting, soap dispensers, candle making, office supplies, craft room sorting, hardware storage, and bathroom storage. That’s a lot of bang for your buck! Other affordable items that have multiple uses are duct tape, vinegar, and baking soda.

Buy in bulk: Buy bulk toiletries and non-perishable items when they are on sale to save on time, gas, and money.

Swap books: If you are looking to purchase a book, https://paperbackswap.com is a great site. You pay media postal rates to ship out a book to someone who wants your book, and then you use those credits to get books shipped to you for free from other consumers. In other words, you can get books for free instead of buying them, only paying to send your books to others. The site lists over 656,000 books. Even though it’s called “paperback swap,” there are tons of hardcover books as well, including bestsellers that have just come off bookstore shelves, offered by people who have already read them and are ready to swap! If any of the books listed in this report pique your interest, be sure to check Paperbackswap before buying them elsewhere.

Explore the Freecycle Network: At this grassroots, completely free-to-use platform (https://freecycle.org), users post items they are giving away or request things they need. Everything shared must be legally free, with absolutely no buying, selling, or trading allowed.

Explore the Buy Nothing Project: This is a hyper-local, community-driven gift economy that operates primarily through the official Buy Nothing app (https://buynothingproject.org) and local Facebook Groups. Members share a variety of items and services with their immediate neighbors, building community ties without any money exchanging hands.

Get stuff for free: https://TrashNothing.com is a clean web and mobile alternative that pools data from TrashNothing’s local groups and old Freecycle networks into a single dashboard, making it easier to filter and browse free curb alerts nearby.

Explore the “free” listings at Craigslist and Nextdoor: Both popular neighborhood platforms have dedicated “Free” sections. On Craigslist (https://craigslist.org), look for the “Free” tab under the “For Sale” category. Nextdoor (https://nextdoor.com) offers a “Finds” feed where users list porch pickups and curb alerts.

Buy secondhand: Freegle (https://ilovefreegle.org) is a UK-focused platform operating similarly to Freecycle. Freegle helps users give away or find secondhand items locally to reduce waste and promote community sustainability.

Save at Habitat for Humanity ReStores: Shop for donated building materials, appliances, cabinets, flooring, lighting, and furniture, often at a fraction of the retail price (https://habitat.org/restores/). Proceeds fund local housing.

Browse estate sales and auctions: These can be an excellent source of well-made tools, cookware, and solid-wood furniture that often will outlast new, cheaper versions. Go on the last day, when prices are commonly cut by half.

Get creative with housing: Housing has become increasingly expensive. Pool money with family or friends and share a home, or build a home yourself.

Do a home energy audit: Many utilities offer free or low-cost home energy audits. Sealing drafts with weatherstripping and caulk, insulating the attic, and adding door sweeps are some of the cheapest ways to cut heating and cooling bills.

Use rainwater barrels: Set up a rainwater catchment barrel under a roof downspout and utilize the water for your garden and plants to save on paying for city water.

Repair before you replace: Repair Cafés (https://repaircare.us) are free, volunteer-run events where people gather to fix small appliances, lamps, clothing, bikes, and electronics. There are now more than 4,000 worldwide. iFixit (https://iFixit.com) has free step-by-step repair guides for thousands of devices and appliances.

Resources

Books

  • The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50 Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living Off the Land & Doing It Yourself by Carla Emery: A 900-plus-page reference on self-reliant living, from gardening and food preservation to keeping animals and home skills.
  • The Complete Visual Guide to Building a House, Seventh Edition by John Carroll and Chuck Lockhart
  • How to Build Your Own Tiny House by Roger Marshall (available at Lehmans.com)
  • Who Knew? 10,001 Household Solutions: Money-Saving Tips, DIY Cleaners, Kitchen Secrets, and Other Easy Answers to Everyday Problems by Bruce and Jeanne Lubin
  • Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things by Reader’s Digest Association
  • Vinegar: Over 400 Various, Versatile, and Very Good Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of by Vicki Lansky
  • Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of by Vicki Lansky
  • The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn: The classic compendium of frugal living, with hundreds of practical ideas for cutting household costs without sacrificing quality of life.
  • Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez: A time-tested program for measuring what things really cost you in “life energy” and aligning spending with what matters. The 2018 revised edition is current.

Online Resources

Food

It goes without saying that I advise buying local and supporting your farmers, homesteaders, and cottage businesses as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll save a bit of money, and other times this strategy might be pricier than a grocery store, but one thing is for certain—it will be healthier, which will save on future health bills, time, and energy.

Tips

Build your local food and goods community on Tekel: Ranchers, farmers, cottage businesses, and local goods and services that sustain people, can start easily building their networks to have resilient communities across the country. Tekel has a full marketplace for vendors allowing for pickup, delivery, and shipping. Vendors can also form guilds allowing their customers to shop 24/7 and go to one pickup location, for convenience. They are also launching events, cultivation tools, and farm real estate soon. Corey collaborated on Tekel and highly recommends people take advantage of it and start building and becoming more self-reliant. It’s free to members and vendors can get 4 months free with coupon code: BUYLOCAL

Keep an eye on sales promotions: Shop weekly ads for BOGO (“buy one, get one”) deals, digital coupons, and reward points (although they scrape your info). Stock up on BOGOs and discounted items with longer shelf lives or store in a backup freezer. The Coupon Mom (https://couponmom.com/stores-953) has a good site for aggregating information on various shops, as well as some good tips.

Take advantage of discounts: Grocery stores generally roll out big discounts on an item every six to twelve weeks, so if there is a particular item you buy often, stock up on it when the discount hits. Sunday through Wednesday typically sees the most overlap for active discounts, while Wednesday and Thursday can bring slashed prices on meats and deli and bakery items.

Monitor pricing: Pay attention to the per ounce or per pound prices on shelf items, not the total price. Tags and sale stickers are often deceptive.

Share meals and food prep: Potlucks, soup clubs, meal preparation splits, and alternating meals with neighbors are great ways to share food and expenses, and they add a nice variety while building community. One strategy is to form a group with four friends, coworkers, or neighbors; each week, each person cooks an affordable bulk meal (for example, a huge pot of chili, a large lasagna, or chicken and rice) and portions it into four containers. You then swap containers, and each person gets four meals for the week. That’s a huge savings, not to mention a time-saver!

Swap crops: If you are growing your own tomatoes, peppers, carrots, berries, or other fruits and vegetables, and you have nearby neighbors who are also growing food or perhaps have eggs, consider starting a regular swap with them. If you have a really active neighborhood of crop growers, implement a group swap.

Regrow: Don’t toss out the best part of the vegetable—regrow them! Place root ends of green onions, romaine lettuce, or celery in a small bowl of water on your windowsill to regrow them instead of buying more.

Salvage food waste: The Too Good To Go app (https://toogoodtogo.com/en-us) works with grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations to save on food waste. It posts updates in your area daily that show a huge slashed price on a bag of food items, or meals, snacks, and beverages that you can reserve and pick up at the end of the day.

Explore community fridges: Free food fridges are popping up around the globe. These are typically freestanding and unlocked community fridges placed at specific neighborhood locations. People take what they need and leave what they no longer need. Freedge is a common sharing mechanism in the U.S. (https://freedge.org/locations/), but there are all sorts of food hubs worldwide providing free food.

Plant potatoes: Buy a handful of potatoes from your local farmer, slice them up with each piece containing the “eye” (little dimples where sprouts form), and plant them in your yard. One single slice will yield five to ten potatoes.

Make use of scraps and bones: Save your vegetable scraps and chicken bones instead of pitching them in the garbage, and make a delicious homemade broth. Also save the rubbery end of your Parmesan cheese rind, toss it in the freezer, and drop it in a pot of vegetable soup, stew, or marinara sauce for extra yummy flavor.

Salvage citrus: If lemons, limes, or oranges are beginning to soften, slice them and freeze them flat to use as ice cubes in drinks.

Avoid the big chains: Shopping for rice, lentils, onions, and fresh herbs is often much cheaper at a local Hispanic, Asian, or Middle Eastern grocery store than at the big chains.

Get better prices on baked goods: If you must shop the bakery aisle, do it just before closing when pricing gets slashed.

Ask for a rain check: If a non-perishable staple hits a big sale, and the hoarders strip the shelves bare, grab a rain check from the service desk so that you can get it for the sale price when it’s back in stock.

Pay attention at the register: Never take your eyes off the screen at the cash register because grocery stores are known for charging more than the price indicated on the shelf. Double-check your receipt as well.

Buy meat in bulk directly from a rancher: Splitting a quarter or half of a grass-fed cow or a whole pastured hog with friends can lower the per-pound price well below grocery store prices for comparable quality. A chest freezer pays for itself quickly. https://Eatwild.com lists farms by state. Corey uses Shopping Club Freedom for prime and choice beef, which is delivered to her door.

Join a CSA (community-supported agriculture): In the CSA model, you pay a farm up front for a weekly share of its harvest. Ask about “working shares,” where you volunteer a few hours in exchange for a discount. https://LocalHarvest.org lists CSAs, farms, and farmers markets by zip code.

Learn to preserve: Canning, dehydrating, fermenting, and freezing let you buy in season, when prices are lowest, and eat from your pantry year-round. For safety, use tested recipes from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (https://nchfp.uga.edu).

Grow your own herbs: Fresh herbs are among the most expensive items per ounce in the grocery store and among the easiest to grow on a windowsill or patio.

Plan meals around sales and your pantry, not the other way around: Rotate stock (“first in, first out”), so that you use older items in your pantry first. Food waste is one of the biggest hidden household costs.

Take advantage of near-date discounts: The Flashfood app (https://flashfood.com) sells discounted near-date produce boxes, meat, and dairy at partner grocers, including Kroger, Meijer, Giant Eagle, and Tops in the U.S., and Loblaws stores in Canada.

Form a buying club: Split bulk orders of grains, beans, oils, and flours with neighbors through Azure Standard drop points (https://azurestandard.com) or a local food co-op to get wholesale pricing.

Resources

Books

  • The Super Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook by Sarah Walker Caron: Features 100 budget-friendly whole-food recipes to cap the shopping list and save on money and time.
  • Taste of Home Ultimate 5 Ingredient Cookbook by Taste of Home: A massive compendium that features over 500 home-style comfort food recipes and a 30-day meal planner to save at the grocery store.
  • Cook Once, Eat All Week by Cassy Joy Garcia, NC: Provides 26 weeks of affordable, gluten-free meal prep tips to preserve your time.
  • Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine (eds.): The standard reference for beginners and experienced preservers, with 400 tested recipes for canning, pickling, freezing, and dehydrating.
  • All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew: Grow more food in less space with less work, water, and money. Ideal for small yards, raised beds, and beginners.
  • Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, PhD: The Weston A. Price Foundation’s cookbook of traditional, nutrient-dense foods, including bone broths and fermented vegetables, many of which use inexpensive ingredients and scraps.
  • Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown: A cookbook written for people eating on about $4 a day. The PDF is free when you sign up for her newsletter (leannebrown.substack.com).

Online Resources

  • Tekel: 24/7 community hub and farmers market to build resilient communities across the country.
    https://app.tekel.market/l/buylocal
  • Rogue Food Conference: The Rogue Food Conferences, held twice a year in various states, are a great place to network, meet fellow farmers and consumers, and learn from one another.
    https://roguefoodconference.com/
  • Weston A. Price Foundation: The foundation is another great source for healthy food and buying local. It hosts an annual Wise Traditions conference with countless exhibitors. It, too, is a great place to network and find good food solutions and, surely, some tips on savings.
    https://westonaprice.org/
  • Azure Standard: This grocery-delivery service markets the products of thousands of farmers and local businesses by providing a one-stop shop for people who have trouble finding organic, naturally produced foods locally. Azure delivers to drop points around most of the country and ships everywhere in the U.S. They have also implemented a drop-to-home program that is growing fast, so check your area. When shopping online, it gives you the ability to price things out and find the best products and deals.
    https://azurestandard.com/
  • LocalHarvest: This site allows you to find farms, CSAs, and farmers markets near you.
    https://localharvest.org
  • Eatwild: Eatwild offers a directory of grass-fed and pasture-raised farms by state.
    https://eatwild.com
  • National Center for Home Food Preservation: This center based at the University of Georgia provides information about tested, safe preserving methods.
    https://nchfp.uga.edu
  • Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund: This organization protects farmers and consumers who buy direct.
    https://farmtoconsumer.org

Health

Tips

Negotiate prices: If you do not have health insurance and are paying out of pocket, always negotiate prices. GoodRx and other free prescription discount cards can save a lot on prescriptions.

Investigate first-appointment discounts: Before going to a specialist doctor or dentist for the first time, always seek out their websites and listings; they often will have big discounts on first appointments (for example, cheap x-rays or a free consult).

Learn how to care for yourself at home: Home health practices can be beneficial and certainly are more affordable. This includes modalities such as homeopathy, essential oils, tai chi, qigong, meditation, yoga, energy and sound healing, sungazing, and grounding.

Consider telehealth: https://SesameCare.com is a very affordable telehealth service with an annual membership and same-day appointments with a doctor of your choice. It’s very convenient for refilling prescriptions or getting immediate assistance, while saving time, gas, and money.

Get affordable massage and acupuncture: Seek out students at local schools finishing their clinical hours, who typically offer deeply discounted treatments. (The same goes for hairdresser appointments.)

Lower gym expenses: If you are seeking a gym membership, be sure to shop ones that offer a free unlimited guest benefit so you can share in the membership expense with a friend or family member. Also seek out local community centers offering a gym on a sliding scale. Of course, working out in nature is always best—and free.

Explore health resources from a 2023 Solution Series episode: Jennifer Walters, BSN-RN, PHN, MFA, host of Solari’s Health Series (https://solari.com/health-series/), provided a wealth of information and resources in a 2023 Solution Series episode that I hosted titled “Navigating a Failed Health Care System”. Listed below are a few of the resources Jennifer spoke about regarding alternative health plans that are much more affordable (but be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page of that episode to grab all of the resources).

Order bloodwork yourself: https://MyMedLab.com or https://WalkInLab.com are good resources for ordering your own bloodwork without the need to book and pay for a doctor’s visit. Simply print out the order and walk in to a Quest or other lab center; they send the results directly to your account.

Consider the direct primary care (DPC) model: For a flat monthly membership (often less than a cell phone bill), you get unlimited visits with your own doctor, and many practices pass along wholesale prices on labs and generic medications. DPC pairs well with a health-share plan for larger events. The DPC Frontier map (https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com) lists more than 3,000 practices in all 50 states.

Shop cash-price surgery centers: Some surgery centers post all-inclusive cash prices online (the Surgery Center of Oklahoma has done so since 2009), which are often a fraction of what hospitals bill. The Free Market Medical Association (https://fmma.org) keeps a directory of providers with transparent pricing.

Check medical bills: Always request an itemized bill and check it line by line for duplicate charges and errors. Nonprofit hospitals are required by federal law to have financial-assistance (charity care) policies, so ask about them before paying a large bill.

Resources

Books

  • The Forgotten Home Apothecary by Nicole Apelian, PhD: A home apothecary book (available at nicoleapelian.com/books/).
  • Teach Me Health & Homeopathy by Paola Brown: Homeopathy curricula, Grades 1-12 or PreK & Kindergarten Primer (available at paolabrown.com/curriculum-grades/).
  • SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea by John Wiseman
  • Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook by David Werner and Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson: These plain-language health care guides have been used worldwide for decades. Both are free to download from Hesperian (languages.hesperian.org/pages/en/index.html).
  • The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help Is Not on the Way by Joseph Alton, MD and Amy Alton, ARNP: A thorough guide to handling medical issues yourself when professional help is unavailable or unaffordable.

Online Resources

Services

Tips

Bundle jobs: If you need roof work, fencing installed, decking, lawn mowing, gutters cleaned, power washing, or trees cut, walk the neighborhood and check to see if any of your other neighbors need these services as well; you can bundle your jobs to negotiate a discount with a service provider.

Time your services: If you need tree removal, schedule it in the winter when crews are looking for work and the price won’t be as steep. If you have seasonal services for HVAC technicians to perform maintenance, have them do it during the slower months in early spring or autumn for off-peak rates.

Use cash: Whenever working with service providers, negotiate a cash discount and pay in cash.

Get estimates: When looking for a service provider, always get three estimates. Always ask for an itemized estimate instead of a flat rate; you can save money on prep work if you do it yourself.

Get affordable vet care: https://Dutch.com charges $99 per year for unlimited video vet appointments.

Join or start a timebank: In a timebank, members trade services by the hour, no matter the skill: an hour of tutoring earns an hour of plumbing help. It keeps money in the community and builds relationships.

Learn the basics yourself: Many common repairs, such as a running toilet, a leaky faucet cartridge, a clogged drain, or a broken appliance part, cost only a few dollars in parts with a good video or iFixit guide.

Protect yourself when hiring: Check the contractor’s license with your state licensing board, ask for proof of insurance, get the quote in writing, and pay in stages as work is completed, rather than paying a large deposit up front.

Offer scheduling flexibility: Tell service providers you can be a “fill-in” job whenever they have a gap; many will give a lower rate for that.

Resources

Books

  • Black & Decker: The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair, 4th Edition by Black & Decker: Step-by-step photos for hundreds of common repairs, from plumbing and wiring to drywall and doors.
  • Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual by Family Handyman Magazine: A long-trusted all-in-one home repair reference; older editions are widely available used for a few dollars.
  • Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz: A former FBI hostage negotiator’s techniques, useful for negotiating with contractors, landlords, dealers, and medical billing offices.

Online Resources

  • Timebanks (find or start a timebank)
    https://timebanks.org
  • iFixit repair guides
    https://ifixit.com
  • Look up your state’s contractor license
    To reach the official board, search “[your state] contractor license lookup”

Auto & Transportation

Tips

Consider alternatives to solo driving: Car shares and bikes can save on fuel expenses.

Save on auto repairs: Purchase parts yourself and pay an independent mechanic strictly for labor.

Save on gas: According to annual data from the fuel-tracking platform https://GasBuddy.com, Sunday is the lowest-priced day in 40 states. Prices usually ease over the weekend because wholesale energy markets are closed, giving station owners predictability and causing them to drop prices to stay competitive.

Strategize and stand your ground when buying a vehicle: When buying a vehicle (best for long-term savings), your goal is to minimize depreciation and financing costs. If you want to beat dealerships at their own game, your best bet is to look for a reliable three-to-five-year-old used vehicle. This lets the original owner absorb the massive 20% to 60% hit that happens during a new car’s steepest depreciation years. Before you even set foot on the lot, secure a pre-approved auto loan from a local credit union. Dealerships routinely inflate interest rates to pocket the difference, so walking in with outside financing forces them to actually compete for your business. Once you start talking numbers, completely ignore any pitches about monthly payments—which salespeople use to mask an overpriced vehicle by stretching out the loan—and focus entirely on the final “out-the-door” price. Finally, stand your ground when you get sent to the finance office. They will try to lock you into high-margin add-ons like extended warranties and paint protection, but you can almost always find the exact same coverage from third-party providers for a fraction of the cost.

Exercise vigilance when renting a vehicle: For short-term travel, renting a car can be the best option. However, if you need your own wheels, skip the airport terminal counters. They are heavily taxed by local municipalities, which inflates your baseline bill. Instead, look at neighborhood rental branches a few miles away—even with an Uber or Lyft ride factored in, skipping the airport loop can easily slash 20% off your total layout. You can also bypass corporate agencies entirely by using peer-to-peer apps like Turo.com to book directly from locals. When you get to the checkout page, remember to decline the expensive daily insurance waivers if your personal auto policy or credit card already provides primary or secondary collision coverage. Finally, since most direct bookings require zero deposit, lock in a rate early and use a tracking tool like AutoSlash to alert you if prices drop so you can cancel and rebook.

Save on air travel: If you want to save serious cash on your next trip, stop stressing over which day of the week you press the “buy” button. While Expedia’s latest travel trends prove that booking on a Friday offers a tiny 3% discount over Sunday, your actual departure date is what really moves the needle. You will pocket the biggest savings by choosing to fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday when airports are empty and completely avoiding expensive Sunday rushes. Just make sure you lock in your tickets during the “Goldilocks” window of 30 to 90 days before you leave. Do not wait until the final three weeks, or airlines will hit you with a massive last-minute price hike. The only time a booking day truly matters is Travel Deal Tuesday, the massive post-Thanksgiving shopping event where global airlines launch legitimate flash sales to fill up seats for the upcoming season.

Check for free recall repairs: Enter your vehicle identification number (VIN) on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall site (https://nhtsa.gov/recalls); recall repairs are done free at dealerships.

Follow your owner’s manual, not the shop’s schedule: Many modern cars call for oil changes every 7,500 to 10,000 miles, not every 3,000 miles. Shops often upsell flushes and services the manufacturer doesn’t require.

Keep tires properly inflated: It improves gas mileage and extends tire life. Check monthly with an inexpensive gauge.

Re-shop your car insurance every year: Rates vary widely between insurers for the same coverage, and raising your deductible can lower premiums significantly.

Inspect before buying: If you are buying from a private seller, pay an independent mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection before you buy. It typically costs a small fraction of what a hidden problem would.

Resources

Books

  • Auto Repair for Dummies by Deanna Sclar: A plain-English introduction to how your car works and the maintenance you can do yourself.
  • Haynes or Chilton repair manuals for your specific make and model: Many public libraries give free online access to ChiltonLibrary with your library card.

Online Resources

Tech Goods

Tips

Use or switch to open source software: Microsoft and other software products have nearly all gone to a subscription-based model, charging steep fees. However, there a lot of really good free, open-source software programs. LibreOffice is a bundle very similar to Microsoft, and you can download it for free (https://libreoffice.org). It’s very easy to transition over to LibreOffice, and it will save you money, won’t collect your data, and will give you the peace of mind of no longer funding the beast.

Here are some other free, open-source software programs that come highly recommended:

Loosen technology’s grip: For other helpful technology-related tips and savings, see my article, “Loosen Technology’s Grip on Your Mind” at Corey’s Digs (https://coreysdigs.com/technology/loosen-technologys-grip-on-your-mind/).

Keep tabs on all subscriptions: Subscriptions can add up quickly. Keep a log of them and check in quarterly to try to remove the ones not being used. Whether it costs $3, $10, or $20 a month—it adds up.

Use your library card for free entertainment: Services like Libby (eBooks and audiobooks), Hoopla (eBooks, music, movies), and Kanopy (films and documentaries) are free with a card from participating libraries.

Cut the cable: An indoor or rooftop antenna brings in free over-the-air broadcast channels. https://AntennaWeb.org shows which stations you can receive at your address.

Give old computers a new life: Installing Linux Mint, a free operating system, can make an aging computer usable again instead of having to replace it. Buy refurbished when you do need new equipment.

Recheck your phone plan: Smaller carriers that run on the major networks often cost a fraction of the big carriers’ plans for the same coverage.

Find free alternatives: You can find free alternatives to paid software on https://AlternativeTo.net, which lists free and open-source options for nearly every program.

Resources

Books

  • Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport: A practical approach to cutting back the apps, subscriptions, and screen time that drain both money and attention.

Online Resources

Money & Savings

Tips

Note: This section provides general information, not financial advice.

Know your personal inflation rate: Compare what you spent on the same items this year versus last year. Your own rate may be very different from the official CPI, which is why the Chapwood Index is useful.

Bank locally: Move savings and everyday banking to a local credit union or community bank, which keeps money working in your own community. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) locator (https://mapping.ncua.gov) finds credit unions near you.

Pay down variable-rate and credit card debt first: Inflation erodes fixed-rate debt, but variable rates rise with it, and credit card rates compound quickly.

Hold some tangible assets: As the Historical Lessons section (below) shows, land, productive businesses, and physical precious metals have historically held value when currencies did not. With metals, compare the premium over spot price between reputable dealers and plan for secure storage.

Invest in your skills and local relationships: Your ability to produce, repair, grow, and trade is an asset that inflation cannot erode.

Keep an emergency fund and some cash at home: You will be glad you did when there are disruptions to banking or payment systems.

Resources

Solari Report Resources

Other Online Resources

Historical Lessons

Post-WWI UK and France (1918–1925)

Both countries faced significant inflation after WWI from war debt monetization. France, in particular, saw the franc lose approximately 80% of its prewar value.

The Lessons: France eventually stabilized by effectively defaulting on part of its debt through devaluation rather than imposing brutal deflation (the path the UK chose, returning to gold at the old parity in 1925). The UK’s deflationary path caused a decade of unemployment. France’s inflationary path was painful but faster. A lesson in choosing your pain—deflation vs. inflation have different distributional consequences.

The Weimar Republic, Germany (1921–1923)

The most extreme case of hyperinflation in a modern industrial economy. A loaf of bread cost about 200 billion marks by late 1923. Caused by war reparations and the government printing money to pay them.

The lessons: Hard assets—land, gold, foreign currency, productive businesses—held value. People with debt in marks saw it wiped out (debtors won, creditors lost). Those on fixed wages or with savings in marks were devastated. The episode ended abruptly with currency reform (the Rentenmark, backed by land). Speed matters—those who moved assets early survived; those who waited were ruined.

Post-WWII United States (1946–1948)

In the transition from war production to peacetime, inflation hit (~20%) with the lifting of wartime price controls and pent-up consumer demand meeting supply shortages.

The lessons: Commodities, farmland, and housing surged. The economy absorbed it relatively quickly because underlying productivity was strong. Wage earners lost ground temporarily but recovered as supply caught up. A reminder that supply-side recovery is the real cure, not just monetary tightening.

Brazil’s Chronic Inflation (1964–1994)

Brazil experienced decades of inflation averaging hundreds of percent annually, peaking near 2,500% in 1993.

The lessons: Brazilians developed remarkable coping strategies—including indexation (contracts automatically adjusted for inflation), holding dollars, converting cash to goods immediately after payday, and investing in real assets. The Plano Real succeeded by creating a new currency unit (the URV) that ran alongside the cruzeiro as a stable unit of account before replacing it—a brilliant psychological and technical fix. Expectations management is as important as monetary policy.

U.S. Stagflation (The 1970s)

Inflation ran 7% to 14%, caused by Nixon closing the gold window (1971), oil shocks (OPEC in 1973 and 1979), and expansionary fiscal policy. The unusual element was stagflation—high inflation and high unemployment simultaneously, which conventional Keynesian theory said couldn’t happen.

The lessons: Gold (legalized for Americans to own in 1974) went from $35 to $850/oz by 1980. Real estate held well. Equities in nominal terms were flat but lost ground to inflation. The cure—Volcker’s brutal 20% interest rates in 1979–1982—caused a deep recession but broke inflation expectations. Credibility of the central bank is everything. Once lost, the medicine is very painful to administer.

Argentina (recurring, most recently 2018–present)

Argentina has defaulted on its debt nine times and experienced repeated bouts of severe inflation. INDEC’s August 2026 reading was 33.5% year over year, after peaking near 290% in 2024. Argentina is a case study in what happens when fiscal discipline is never restored.

The lessons: Argentines are experts at survival—dollarization of savings is universal, real estate transactions happen in cash dollars, and people hold hard assets reflexively. The lesson for outsiders: currency risk is existential. When a government cannot control spending, the currency absorbs the cost.

Common Threads Across All Historical Episodes

  • Hard assets (land, gold, commodities, productive businesses) consistently outperform cash and bonds during inflation.
  • Fixed-income savers lose.
  • Speed and early action consistently separate those who preserve wealth from those who don’t.
  • Credibility and expectations matter as much as the actual money supply—once inflation becomes embedded in psychology, it’s very hard to break.
  • Supply-side capacity is the ultimate cure; monetary tightening treats the symptom but doesn’t build the productive capacity that ends inflation sustainably.

Resources

Books

  • When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyper-Inflationby Adam Fergusson: A masterpiece detailing the Weimar hyperinflation crisis of 1923. It heavily emphasizes the psychological toll on ordinary citizens as they watched their life savings become completely worthless.
  • The Downfall of Money: Germany’s Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class by Frederick Taylor: A vivid social history of Germany’s hyperinflation and the destruction of its middle class. A good companion to When Money Dies.
  • Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German and American Inflations by Jens O. Parsson: Written in 1973, compares the Weimar inflation with the U.S. inflation of the 1960s and 1970s and traces how each unfolded in stages.
  • The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence by Robert J. Samuelson: How the U.S. inflation of the 1960s and 1970s happened, how it was broken, and its lasting effects.
  • Fiat Money Inflation in France by Andrew Dickson White: A short classic on the French Revolution’s paper-money (assignat) inflation. Available as a free PDF from the Mises Institute (mises.org/library/book/fiat-money-inflation-france).
  • Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus: The real, unedited diaries of a single mother and waste-picker living in a São Paulo favela. It is an essential, raw look at poverty, survival, and institutional neglect during a time of massive national economic shifts. De Jesus records how neighbors lent each other water, shared scrap food, and looked after one another’s children to ensure their community’s collective survival.
  • The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse by Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre: A first-hand account of how ordinary Argentines coped with the 2001 collapse, with practical lessons on security, savings, barter, and supplies.

Sponsored by The Solari Report.

Corey Lynn is an investigative journalist, co-host of the weekly Dig It! podcast, and co-host of The Solution Series. Follow her at coreysdigs.com, on Twitter, Gab, Truth, Rumble, and Telegram. Support her work by becoming a Patron, making a donation or buying a Book.

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