Prices are Finally Dropping!
Today is the second time over the past week where I’ve witnessed prices dropping. The first time, I went out for grocery shopping and was surprised by the drop in prices of major goods, such as eggs and milk. Today, I stopped by at a local drug store to pick up a few girly products and couldn’t believe I left the place having spent only thirty-five dollars on a number of items.
If you think that sounds good – I stopped at one food vendor and this time they didn’t ask me for a tip to bag my purchase. I thought to myself as I left the store, shopping costs may be going back to some normal much sooner than later.
Which had me excited, since spring is around the corner and of course vacation planning is on my mind lately. I’ve decided to settle for a road trip right now – at least in the near future – because it sounds appealing. I mean, who wants to deal with the airlines and their long lines, increasing ticket prices, and cancellations?
Which then triggered another idea in my ever-thinking head: how to save for my new trip. It sure will be much easier now that prices are coming down. It’s far better to plan ahead and stick to a budget than to wait until the trip is here and struggle to decide how much I should spend on what and why.
Of course, there’s other things to consider, such as will prices will come down further, and whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again, and whether the economy will continue to improve and of course, where gas prices would head by the time my trip comes around. The short answer is there are too many predictions swirling around out there to make an intelligent decision, so I can only go by what I observe in my daily experiences. Right now, it’s looking pretty good and fingers crossed it continues along that line. Unless the U.S. and China end up at war over surveillance balloons, or we’re dragged into the Ukraine/Russia war. But that’s a real long shot considering that we’re still reeling from the Afghanistan withdrawal and the side effects of the US military presence there. The war in Iraq isn’t too far from memory either.
At this rate, I believe war is out of the question, as the US continues to choose diplomacy over chest-banging threats. As we all know and have witnessed, no one wins in a war and right now is not the time for one, not when the nation is still recovering.
So, count me among the optimists. I believe the economy will continue to thrive, prices will eventually drop further, and things are going to be okay for sometime. Because it’s about time.
