Over the past couple decades the cost of living has increased significantly, resulting in a challenging situation where a large number of individuals are struggling to make ends meet.
Inflation is a big reason for the increase in the cost of living. Inflation is where prices are increased, but the purchasing value of money decreases.
Hope Collins, former Dean of Students at Clover Hill High School, noted some changes in gasoline prices from when she was younger.
“When I first started driving, [gas] was a little over $1 and now we are looking at $3.50 a gallon,” Collins said.
This is a massive difference that makes driving more costly, and not everyone can afford to fill up gallons of gas for several dollars per gallon.
“I’m spending all this money putting gas in my car to get to work, and it is kind of disheartening,” she said.
In addition, fast food prices have also gone up; most fast food restaurants used to have a dollar menu. Therefore people have been going out to eat less and less.
“My husband and I have reduced our costs by not going out to dinner as much,” Collins said.
People used to be able to get food for cheaper and now it is more expensive. People are spending hundreds of dollars just to have the necessities.
“We also are buying things that are necessary, but not unnecessary items,” she said.
Michael McMullen, who is an Oceanography teacher at Clover Hill, also pointed out that getting a salary helps a bit, but the people who are getting paid based on the hours they work will definitely get hurt more by the changes in prices, especially in the area where prices are going up.
“It’s definitely going up because there is lots of new construction and stuff going on,” McMullen said.
As a result companies are probably riding prices up in order to be able to help pay to keep the construction going on and function as a business.
“They got to pump prices to help pay for all that new stuff they are building,” McMullen said.
With everything going up in price the necessities are harder to keep up with. Necessities that all people need include food and shelter, and not everybody can keep up with the costs of living.
