Add Gasoline — I live in Nebraska which is 500 miles across. Rises in Gasoline hits us hard. Not to mention farmers.
Roll that gasoline cost into any item trucked into the cities, too.
And Energy? I got a new furnace/AC last year to reduce energy costs (I’m retired on fixed income) but my level payment plan went up a lot.
Are you not noticing the inflation in your budget? those examples were for simplicity sake.
I’ve seen food and gas go up by a decent amount. Electricity is up around 4% here. Housing drop, clothing drop, electronics drop, computers drop. Pretty much everything else has been flat for me. My overall cost of living is probably around 2% more than last year. Meanwhile average median wage increase in my area is up around 3.5-4%.