'It's rough out here': Americans struggle with rising inflation
US inflation continues to rise, and this month the jump was above forecasts. Here's how some are surviving.
“It's rough out here”: Americans struggle with rising inflation
Kathryn Vaughn takes on several odd jobs to help make up for her teacher’s pay
Kathryn Vaughn returned this autumn to a rural elementary school in West Tennessee with far more stress than she had carried in earlier years.
The 46-year-old, like many Americans, is trying to figure out how to support her family as the cost of, in her words, “everything” keeps climbing.
She now spends her days working three separate jobs to help provide for her family of four, including her role as a primary school art teacher, while US inflation keeps rising.
Inflation in September came in above expectations.
According to official figures released on Wednesday, prices over the past 12 months increased by 3.7%, up from 3.4% in the 12 months through August.
High energy prices have pushed up the cost of living in America, with diesel prices reaching record highs and gasoline prices also rising, leaving everyday Americans to bear the burden.
After school ends, Vaughn goes to her second job as a facilitator at an after-school programme for at-risk youth. Her five-year-old son is able to come along too, which cuts down on the need and expense of after-school care for Vaughn’s family.
“I have done some incredibly unhinged things to survive,” she said. “I hand-modeled for a local jewelry store, I sell everything that sits longer than ten minutes at my house on Facebook swap sites, I resell clothes on ThredUp and Poshmark.”
Vaughn even writes obituaries for people who have died to earn extra money.
Even so, it still is not enough to support her family.
Vaughn said she had to cancel a trip to see her parents because she could not afford gas.
Punal Bhavsar thought 2026 would be the year he had saved enough to buy a home.
“I was thinking the interest rates would decrease and then I’d be able to purchase a house, but I don’t think that’s likely now,” he said.
The 39-year-old said rising prices for goods have made it hard to save money.
For Bhavsar, the biggest strain has been the price of gasoline.
“I drive a car that takes premium gas, and unfortunately, in California and the area that I live in, it’s almost $6 (£4.5),” he said.
When November arrives and the midterm elections take place, with economic turmoil sure to be on voters’ minds, Bhavsar said he may become a single-issue voter: “For me, it’s just like gas prices have got to be under control.”
He called the current economic outlook bleak, and the figures support that view.
The Gallup Economic Confidence Index, which measures Americans’ views of current economic conditions and the economic outlook on a scale from -100 to +100, stood at -40 in September.
A summer survey by the Guardian found that a staggering 95% of respondents believe the US is in an affordability crisis.
This fall, people across the US are finding ways to cope.
When Caitlin Green first moved to Utah seven years ago, her mother helped her settle into her new home and left her with some advice: “If you ever need a cheap, easy meal, always get ground beef.”
As prices have risen, Green has found it harder to follow that advice. She said she remembers paying $2 a pound for ground beef; now she pays $8.
Instead, Green and her husband sometimes turn to other options, choosing ground turkey or ground chicken.
“[Ground beef] is almost ...not a luxury like steak... but it's just to the point where it's become a luxury; we have to think about it if we're going to purchase it,” she said.
Green and her husband have increased their grocery spending from about $200 a month to $400 a month.
“I understand inflation is a thing, but I just feel like in my lifetime, I've never seen inflation hit so quickly and so drastically.”
For Vaughn, the Tennessee schoolteacher, the hard choices keep piling up.
She was stunned when her children went back to school and she faced a $130 bill for her five-year-old son’s school supplies.
Vaughn decided to have her son buy lunch at school every day instead of bringing homemade lunches, because grocery costs keep rising and she figured it would be the cheaper option.
The family has also decided to skip a trip to Florida this autumn to visit Vaughn’s parents because gasoline is too expensive.
“It’s rough out here,” she says. “The cost of everything is insane. Gas to get to work, my insurance costs have gone up, feeding two children and a husband. It's a lot.”