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I get it. I know the price of gasoline. I reached for a pot roast at the store only to put it back when I saw the price was over $25. Cheaper cuts of pork would do. We all are dealing with higher prices on many things.
But in all the five decades of my married life, my spouse and I have learned to pivot when it comes to making ends meet. We learned early on how to stretch a dollar and above everything, live within our means.
Neither of our careers of choice put us in the upper tax bracket, yet we pay our share of state and federal taxes. We also support our fire departments, paying the fire service fee each year.
I diligently cut coupons out of the newspaper inserts and magazines. I also look at the online coupons that make sense to the smart shopper.
When we bought our first home, a modest, one-story, two-bedroom, one-bath house, the interest rate on mortgage loans was at 12.95 percent. You read that right. Today, the national mortgage rates are between 7.23 to 7.47 percent on 30-year fixed loans.
Even at our higher rate, we did our best to pay a few more dollars each month toward our home loan, enabling us to pay it off a little early. This helped save on the amount of interest we paid in the end.
Now you can reason that the high cost of homes these days pretty much offsets the lower interest rates. It's much like the increase expected for next year's Social Security recipients. While a modest increase is planned, the cost of Medicare payments also will rise.
But back to the price of gasoline. Don't even get me started about price gouging. The state of Ohio dropped its sales tax on gasoline, yet the last time I checked, gas was higher than ever there. In West Virginia, gas prices seem to fluctuate with the wind. For some reason, gas prices in Moundsville have remained up to 30 cents lower per gallon than in Wheeling.
While we complain at the pump, it boggles my mind that there is a line at numerous local coffee shops where a cup of the morning brew can cost anywhere from $4.25 to upwards to nearly $8 for specialty drinks.
Every weekend, our sports facilities are filled with patrons not blinking an eye at the cost of their seats. Not to mention, the price of a beer or hot dog. Yes we are free to spend as we please in this country, but we don't hesitate to scream about what we are spending. Something just doesn't add up.
I am hopeful, however, because what goes up, must come down. So until then, we will continue to make our coffee at home.
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.