This morning I was paying bills, as I do every month when my Social Security deposit arrives in the bank. In the past few months several bills have gone up. Today I was surprised once again by an unexpected increase in my Natural Gas bill. I got an increase of $29.00. Add this to the $30.00 increase to my phone bill, the increase to my out-of-pocket cost for medication, you can see where this is going. The cost of living increase I received in January is wiped out and then some. I got to thinking about how I can reduce my grocery costs. Groceries are the only place I can lower spending since rent and utilities are non-negotiable. That in turn brought my thoughts to my parents and how they survived during the great depression of 1929. That brought me to another question, what is the difference between a depression and a recession? I asked Siri and this is what she told me:
So, in my opinion in my own personal experience, we are in a depression. When I have to make choices between buying food or paying bills, I think there's something rotten in this country. Set aside your politics for a minute and just answer this question, are you better off or worse off than you were two years ago? I know what my answer is. Where do I go from here, I've already cut out just about everything to save money. I don't go out to restaurants, or movies and I haven't had a hair cut in almost a year. I shop mostly at Aldi now for groceries and I never go shopping for anything new like clothes or household items. Maybe technically we aren't in a depression or recession yet, but I am certainly depressed about my quality of life. The Golden Years, that's a joke.
