Survival of the...fitest...?

How are we all going to make it through what's going on in our economy?

As I am sure you have noticed the price of everything has gone up. The same grocery items that used to total $70 are now well over a hundred and thats with me buying Generic brands. It's getting scary.

So what prompted this rant besides my rising grocery bill? Well lets just say I got a double whammy today. We found out this morning that our Health Insurance was going up. Oh yay again. Well we were told it is going up $30 per pay check bringing our employee portion to $100 per pay check...$200 per month...OUCH! It was presented really crappy to us also so everyone was pretty miffed. Well we gripped about it but no one really seemed to care except our VP. She went in there and tore them a new one. She made sure they understood why everyone was so ticked off. $30 per paycheck seems like small potatoes but when you haven't gotten a cost of living raise in 3 years that hurts like a MF.

They said they are going to have another meeting and explain it better, which is fine BUT that still doesn't help us any. I know we are a small company but holy crap I was struggling to make ends meet before, this DOES NOT help. My VP pulled me aside to talk and asked me what she could do to help me (I was borderline anxiety attack). All I could tell her was money. There is nothing else she can do for me except get me a raise. The cost of everything has gone up gas, food, insurance, clothes, etc etc etc. She said she knows and if she could she would get me a huge raise but the company is feeling it also. I told her I know. I know that if I am feeling this pain the company is feeling it in some way also, I am not dumb, I know businesses are not immune from this insanity but if I cannot afford to eat or buy food what good am I to the company.

Well after we finished talking I went back to my desk and got an email with my electric bill in it. I almost screamed!!! My bill was over $200. My bill has NEVER been over $100 and that was running the AC all day during the summer when my mom lived with me. I was flipping out. I thought surely that is wrong, they must have miss read the meter (which has happened before). As I scanned the bill I realized it was not. My Energy charges for the month were $87 (normal summer bill), but there was this other charge...a FUEL SURCHARGE. Okay I am not dumb I know its been there but it has always been minimal. It was $124!!!!!!!!! That is 1.5 times as much as my actual Energy usage. Are you freaking kidding me??? That is not fair! It is a flat rate charged to everyone. Personally I think it should be based on a percentage of your Energy usage so that those that are NOT mindful of wasting electricity get more of a charge and people like me don't get slammed!

So I turned about 50 shades of red before I got up to walk it off. One of my co-workers thought I was about to lose it, which she was right, that was the freakin' cherry on top of my crappy day. But somehow I managed to contain it until quitting time. But when I got in my car to start driving home, I let it all out. It wasn't a full on anxiety attack but had I not let out that pent up frustration it would have been worse the next day or in a few days when something small might trigger it off.

I just don't know where to cut corners. I live on a budget. I only buy basic food products, I don't party it up every single weekend, I don't speed and I take care of my car to get good gas mileage and I have a part time job to help make up the difference. Please tell me what else I can do, well besides moving back in with mom and dad or getting a Suga Daddy. *sigh*