As a prepper and someone who believes in my country, my first instinct is to rail against the disastrous decisions that have caused this crisis, but as a realist, I know this is not something that all the flaming commentary in the world can change. There are things that are out of our personal control, and governmental policy is one of them. If we can't change it, we have to learn to live with it and thrive despite it, so this article is about living with inflation.

While official sources say that the real numbers are lower than is being reported, you need only to revisit your price book or an old shopping receipt to see the change in the prices of the things you usually buy. This is a prime example of believing what you see, not just believing what you're told.

Over the past years, I've watched a product that I used to buy for 2.99 go up to 3.99, and then 4.99. I know many of you are having the same experience. If everything in your shopping cart is going up to the same degree, your weekly trip to the store is most certainly hitting your wallet much harder.

Most of us don't have the money for double grocery bills or other increased expenses. It's time to pull out every tool in your arsenal to make it through this financial crisis.

First things first: this is not the end of the world.
I know how it feels when money is tight and the cause is outside your control. I know what it feels like when it seems like there's an ever-tightening noose around your money, choking out its ability to sustain you. It's stressful. It's scary. It makes you feel powerless.

So the very first thing you have to do is take back your own power.

First of all, remember that our country has been through an economic depression before. Sure, things were different then, but the patterns are the same. People felt much the same way then as they do now – at times the situation felt insurmountable. But by and large, most folks got through it, and that difficult time imprinted habits upon them that lasted their entire lives. Every loved one I have who lived through that time spent the rest of their life being practical, self-reliant, and frugal.