MEMPHIS, Tenn. — President Biden addressed the nation earlier this week and he said there's been progress in bringing down inflation such as lower gas and food prices. But how thin is your wallet these days when you do your grocery shopping?
"Food inflation is coming down, not fast enough but coming down," President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union Speech Tuesday. "Inflation has fallen every month for the last six months."
The financial pain of inflation continues both nationwide and locally.
New data shows year-to-year price increases growing at 8.6% — the fastest rate increase since 1981, and though overall prices have slowly decreased in the U.S. within the last six months, some are still feeling the effects of surging costs.
"Inflation has impacted our lives tremendously," Frayser mom Jasper Knacoll said. "It has made some adjustments but not everywhere."
Jasper said groceries for her home during a two-week span used to cost about $150 dollars. Now, it’s almost double that amount.
"I mean a half of carton of milk now is what a full gallon of milk would cost before," Knacoll said. "Something just as simple as milk; eggs, bread."
As year-to-year prices remain elevated, Jasper has turned to other mothers in Frayser.
"What does help me though is having a village and having a support system," she said.
That support system shares sales and clips coupons.
"It’s simple as clicking [showing phone] clip, and then clip, and then it’s in there" Knacholl said. "Then, you just go back ... Scroll through some more things — things that you might need.”
It’s a strategy University of Memphis economics professor David Kemme said is forcing shoppers like Jasper to change their habits.
Consumers like Jasper “shop very carefully and spend more time looking for sales ... taking advantage of things where prices have fallen," Kemme said.
"Find those little things that’s on sale and make them stretch," Knacoll said.
Economists say prices will continue to decrease but slowly with prices going down at a noticeable level in the next couple of years.