TAMPA, Fla. — Inflation cooled considerably in November; despite this, people holiday shopping said prices have not fallen enough.
Peggy Rivera is Christmas shopping for her 17 grandchildren, and she is on a very strict budget. “It’s either gifts or a place to live,” Rivera said.
Like many families, she plans to spend less on gifts this year. “You can't get what you were getting every other year. This year you got to go low. You have to go less than you would have last year. It is hard, very hard,” said Rivera.
Families are making sacrifices when it comes to holiday spending due to inflation. Diane Harrell was finishing up her Christmas shopping on Tuesday.
“I noticed a lot of the sale things were what the original price was last year, but everything’s going up. Hopefully it will come back down soon,” Harrell said.
Inflation slowed sharply last month. Prices rose 7.1% annually in November, down from 7.7% in October, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index.
“Prices are higher on average, 6-8% than they were last year and everybody can feel that. But we do believe we’re on the other side of the bell curve and inflation is easing if you will,” said Kaleb McCarty with Truvestments.
Financial advisor Kaleb McCarty said many shoppers are relying heavily on credit cards. He says be smart about your spending as interests rates are cureently very high.
“If you end up using credit cards, try to use ones with cash-back features or rewards that are tied to that," said McCarty. "Try to pay the balance off as quick as you can so you’re not being charged 17,18,19% interests, because that can really eat a hole in your pocketbook as well,” he said.
