Everyting Di Goh Up- 3 ways to combat rising prices and survive inflation

You go to the grocery store, just to realize that you can't even buy half the things you could have bought just a few months ago with your salary. Is the shop keeping trying to thief you of your hard earned cash?

What can you do about it?

See, when I was 23 years old, a maruchan ramen cost $.50. Today, seven years later, it costs $1.00.

It's the ugly monster called inflation.

What is inflation?

(Dah weh dat?)

Inflation is the gradual increase in prices of goods and services over time. This increase in prices, means that you can buy less and less things with the same amount of money, something termed, the decrease in purchasing power.

Like the examples above, we can see how you could buy less and less bread, and ramen with $1.00.

How is it different now?

(Weh different dis time?)

The differences with these two examples, is that we can see how purchasing power decreased by 50% over the course of two generations, as opposed to 7 years in our generation. It’s quite scary to think about. Yet, if we continue on this path, we may soon find ourselves unable to afford the basic necessities.

What is the cause of it?

(Dah Weh cause it?)

During the covid lockdown, most of the world economies were at a standstill. We were locked in our houses, couldn’t go to school, work, or engage in social activities. We weren’t working, so companies weren’t producing, having to lay off many people.

People weren’t traveling, so businesses had to close down. Yet, we still needed food and money to pay for rent and many other things.

This happened everywhere, but in the US, the government created lots of new money. Money that the people hadn’t worked or produced anything for, and gave it to help support their lives.

The opposite of what we experienced in Belize. We got salary cuts instead of stimulus checks.

With nothing being produced to back up the money being printed in the US, it meant that there was the same amount of goods or services being sold, yet there was a lot more money to buy these goods. (Having 3 cars for sale, with $15,000 in the economy to buy them, vs. having 3 cars for sale with $30,000 in the economy to buy them)- You can see how it happens.

This is when the basic economic principle of demand and supply kicked in and started hiking up those prices.

More demand and money to buy and without an increase in supply means prices go up.

Inflation travels

(E gaan pan wah trip around di world)

We would start feeling it soon. According to the numbers from the statistical institute of Belize, our merchandise imports increased to 2.1 billion dollars during 2021, while exports were around 4.5 million.

This meant that we needed more money to buy more and more things.

With the increase in prices experienced due to more USD in the economy, we started to notice the prices increasing.

Then, Russia attacked Ukraine and the world economies experienced an even greater shock from the crippling oil prices. You know how the story goes.

It all sounds like doom and gloom, yet, it’s a reality that we all need to live in and survive. How do we make it out with our heads above the water? What are some things that we can do to improve our situation and ensure that we don’t end up in debt at the end of this?

Three things to do to offset inflation

Plant! Plant! Plant!

Belize is a country that is still blessed with land. Our population is small, allowing us to have yards and big pieces of land without the need to be living on top of each other.

In countries such as Taiwan, we can see people growing vegetables on their balconies, and in their homes, hoping to have access to more organically produced and cheaper food.

In Belize, we should take advantage of the space we have, and plant food items such as coco, tomatoes, carrots, okra and sweet potatoes.

These vegetables are easier to manage, and don’t require much time and effort in cultivating. We should plant more fruit trees in our yards, and sell or trade our excess with our neighbors. They are great nutritional sources, and can help to reduce your grocery bill by a significant amount.

Sell Service Online

Many of us are good at something. We have skill sets that we have developed at our jobs or by the hobbies we have. We may not understand the desire other people have to learn these skills, or the fact that they may be willing to pay to get someone to take the burden off their hands.

This is why we should take a careful look at the things we are good at, then decide which of these would be a great idea to sell to others.

Are you good at interacting with people on social media? Become a social media page manager, helping businesses to get their names out there. Sell your service online.

Are you good at planting and gardening? Sell the service to people who may want to start a garden in their yards, but don’t know how to get started.

Are you good at writing? Write for businesses, edit documents for university students, or create blogs that teach people about something and get them engaged. Sell your writing skills.

Think about a service that you can sell on a freelance basis, and start getting your name out there.

Infact, Giggedbz is a great place for you to start doing this. It’s a great way for you to get your name out there for free. You can learn more about doing this by visiting our BECOME A GIGGER page, then contacting us to get your invitation to join.

The reason we started this business is because we have seen how the same business module has helped people all over the world develop an extra stream of income by selling their services online.

We want more Belizeans to take advantage of this. We want you to put yourself out there, and share your knowledge. Better yet, we want you to make money from the skills that you have.

People will pay if you are good at what you do. You just need to make it available for them to buy your services.

Understand your spending

This is the final option, it is not about getting more. Instead, it’s focusing on where you are spending your money.

Sit down and try identifying areas where you can cut down, then be disciplined enough to do it.

We sometimes get all caught up in the ‘appearing well’ off game of life, that we risk our financial, mental and emotional health, spending money on things that we don’t need.

So, take a step back, evaluate and change it.

The challenge

Your challenge consists of three things this week.

1. Find a way to plant or start growing your own food.
2. Then, think about a service you, or someone in your household can sell, and get it listed on www.gigged.bz.
3. Finally, take a step back and evaluate your spending.

If you need more help with budgeting, check out thisBLOG POST from a few weeks ago which includes a free budget template that you can download and use to get you started.

Now share this post with others, so that they can better understand what is going on with these increase in prices, and ponder on some of the strategies they can use to survive and maybe even thrive during these times.