How Are Y'all Doing It?
This week millions of students across this country will return to school. Be it Kindergarten or senior year of college, these students and their parents have been preparing for back to school for weeks and incurring all of those costs. This includes registration costs, back to school supplies, and just general living expenses to name a few and they can really add up. In fact, according to CBS News, the average cost of back to school is predicted to be $890 per household this year. An amount that would’ve been unthinkable a few years ago. Like that’s somebodies rent (in a college apartment though). Honestly, it’s not surprising that so many people my age are opting out of children when we can barely afford to house ourselves and with loan repayment hanging over our heads like an anvil. So to any parent reading this I have to ask: How are y’all doing it?
When I think of raising a child in America, my mind immediately goes to food. Children eat a lot. Even at my gargantuan age, I remember needing to eat at least 4 times a day plus a snack, especially when I did track in high school. I’m sure the cost to feed three children was a massive expense for my parents and I commend them for that sacrifice. But, it isn’t lost on me that this was a time (when we were younger) before the financial crash of 2008, back when the money you earned could actually sustain a family. Now, millennial parents of young children are facing stagnating wages and the monster of ‘Shrinkflation’ the likes of which we’ve scarcely seen before.
The phenomenon of ‘Shrinkflation’ is when the cost of individual food products goes up, but the amount of food you get for that inflated cost is small. This could be anything from a soda that costs a certain price at 16 oz., now costing that same price but for 14.5 oz. I’ve seen examples of this in my everyday life as well. For example, during the peak of the pandemic I was eating yogurt constantly. I don’t know what came over me, but I desperately needed probiotics to get me through and it quickly turned into a habit (I was eating like 15 oz. of yogurt a day don’t judge me). However, from 2020 until I stopped over-consuming yogurt a year ago, a 5.3 oz. cup of Greek Yogurt with strawberry on the bottom ran me about $1.79 each. Just this week, I went to the grocery store and decided to get yogurt after laying off it for a while. I was shocked to find that the same exact cup, was now $2.49. That is a 39% increase in about a year and even worse, when you open up the cup, there’s visibly less yogurt. Now I don’t know about you, but my wages haven’t risen 39% to keep up with the cost of my yogurt. According to the USDA, food prices are predicted to increase 5.9% this year. This is for ALL food by the way including produce, meat, and baby food. How are you supposed to start or maintain a family or even yourself when food outpaces your paycheck.
This is a part of a much bigger issue. Before, corporate greed seemed like a far off thing you’d read about in the occasional article here and there. Maybe every now and then you’d see a CEO testify before congress because they were caught scamming customers or running a ponzi scheme. Then you’d turn off the TV and go about your business. Now, it feels like disaster has finally arrived and it wreaking havoc on our everyday lives. So many people I know joke about never having kids and being the cool auntie, not because we have children but because we can’t imagine a feasible way to afford them. But if everyone is the cool auntie and no one’s the cool mom, who are we gonna be auntie for? Plus I have to ask, do so many of really not want children or have we all just been priced out? Especially when you go to the grocery store and can only afford half of your food overnight. You get gas for a quick road trip but $10 only fills your tank up a quarter. I can’t imagine having to raise a family like this and I’m wishing for the best for every parent who is and I’m sorry you have to.