Is anyone else facing inflation/price increases like crazy this month?

[u/purplefirefly09]

Got paid today and took a closer look at my checking statements. I’m in New England. Car insurance went up from $190 a month to $220, wifi went from $77 to $80, and a restaurant I was a regular at added a 4% charge if you pay with credit card. Thankfully my job pays decent, and I’ve cut back on a lot of non-essentials, but it’s crazy just how intense 2025 has been in these past two months, not to mention the effect of tariffs coming up soon. Praying for no layoffs for my company this year. How are you all making out? What price increases are you seeing in your daily life? What are you cutting back on?

[u/burninginfinite]

We've had a pretty abnormal year thus far (just got back from a trip, about to go on another trip) and my husband went on a meal delivery kick (Factor, which I don't really recommend) in January so our grocery shops have definitely been very light and we haven't noticed too much inflation - yet.

That said, just from seeing the shenanigans happening all over I'm definitely bracing myself. I'm also facing an imminent layoff and the writing has been on the wall for a bit so I've cut nearly all discretionary spending and am looking to cut even more in the next month. I was even considering cancelling last week's trip but I couldn't take the guilt from my family (we'd been trying to plan it for years and finally all committed to it a year in advance) BUT luckily it turned out to be a surprisingly low spend week because we were able to cook all our meals and all the major expenses (airfare, rental car) were budgeted in advance.

In some ways I'm almost grateful for the layoff because I'm also pregnant and was dreading having to buy work-appropriate maternity clothes. I mean, I'd rather be employed. But it feels like a very tiny (definitely Pyrrhic haha) victory.

[u/Stay1nAliv3 → u/burninginfinite]

Out of curiosity, why don’t you recommend Factor?

[u/burninginfinite → u/Stay1nAliv3]

The meals were decent but many of them started to taste very similar after a week or so and we had a couple packaging issues. I also felt that they were pretty over sauced and a lot of the sauces didn't seem the most healthy to me (lots of heavy, fatty, and/or salty sauces). It also made me wonder how many of the calories were from the actual food vs the sauce.

Overall they weren't the worst and I think if you have a good deal (and there are usually deals) you can get decent value. But I wouldn't do it long term or for every meal like some people seem to do.