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inflation

Middle class people reveal what's left after paying bills

The economy is a bit of a struggle for just about everyone lately. Everything seems to be more expensive, from everyday essentials to the cost of housing. It seems there's nothing that inflation hasn't touched and the issue appears to be financially crushing the middle class. Throughout this increase in cost of living some families may be feeling alone in their burden of trying to make ends meet when on paper many are earning more than they ever have.

But as people become more comfortable with sharing salaries and financial status, it's becoming obvious that it's not just a handful of families who are struggling. Recently a social media page called Mid-Continent Funding shared a video of a woman sitting at a computer with text overlay that reads, "just curious how much money everyone had left over each month after paying for all their bills, mortgage and necessities. I've got about $72 and I'm debating on if it should go to retirement, savings or food."

The woman in the video appears to be a mortgage broker bravely sharing that she is also struggling with making ends meet. This theme is something that has become a normal struggle for middle class families. According to a 2024 Bank of America survey nearly 50% of adults report living paycheck to paycheck while 2024 Bankrate surveys report that only 27% of adults say they have an emergency fund.

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"Roughly one in four Americans with credit card debt (24 percent) feel less confident in their ability to get out of credit card debt now than they did at the beginning of 2022. Furthermore, about one in six (17 percent) worry they might not be able to make their minimum credit card payment at some point in the next six months," according to another Bankrate survey completed in 2024.

There's also another factor to consider when looking at the squeeze middle class Americans are feeling, the income of middle class families hasn't risen at the same rates as upper income families according to Pew Research. So while people are earning more than they have previously, their earnings are not increasing as quickly as those in the tax brackets above them. This means post covid inflation is absorbing any extra income they may be bringing home and people are feeling it.

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Viewers of the video asking how much money people have left after paying their bills responded with eye opening results that give a glimpse into how folks are fairing. The revelations also serve as a reminder that people are not alone in their financial struggles.

One person writes, "Left over? We're supposed to have that??"

Another says, "you have left over money? after bills I don't even have enough to cover meds and groceries."

A different person says they only have $11 left to last until the next paycheck while another commenter admits to overdrawing her account every month.


Someone chimes in, "It used to be thousands now I’m always waiting for our paychecks to hit our account," with another person replying to their comment offering solidarity, saying "legit same here. nothing has changed, actually make more than we used to, yet scraping for pennies every check nowadays. idk how people do it."

Saving money for an emergency fund or freeing up money so you'e not living paycheck to paycheck may seem impossible but credit counselor and head of community at Self Financial, Inc. Monique White shares a few tips with NPR that people may find useful. One of the first tips she shares is to contact your creditors to see if they can lower your monthly payments or lower your interest rates to help free up monthly cash.

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First Financial Bank advises people struggling with finances to participate in weekly money saving challenges, use money saving apps, make grocery lists, utilize rebates and shop in bulk. The prospect of looking at your personal finances just may make some people queasy but hopefully a few of these tips can be beneficial to someone's financial situation.

A Big Mac value meal with a fudge sundae.

For nearly 70 years, McDonald’s has been the place for an affordable, quick, and predictable meal. However, since 2019, McDonald’s prices have risen drastically, and in many places, it now charges fast-casual prices for fast food, even though the quality is the same. What gives?

Over the past five years, the prices of McDonald’s most popular items have risen an average of 141%.

The Food Theorists, a YouTube page with over 5.4 million subscribers that debunks fast food myths and tells the stories behind your favorite food brands and mascots, explains the hefty price hikes in a 9-minute video.


The primary takeaway is that McDonald’s locations are all franchises, so the individual owners have the right to charge what they wish for a product. That’s why a McDonald’s in Darien, Connecticut, charged $17.59 for a Big Mac value meal. There was no nearby competition and consumers driving by on the interstate had fewer food options.

Food Theory: Why Did McDonald's Get SO Expensive?youtu.be

Conversely, in San Jose, California, one of the most expensive places to live and do business, a Big Mac is still relatively affordable ($5.79) because competition in the area keeps prices down.

Therefore, in an inflationary environment where prices are going up on everything, McDonald’s franchises can raise their prices to whatever consumers bear without facing any business consequences.

“If owners see one place is still thriving with higher prices, they'll increase theirs to get more money, especially when there's a need for what they're selling,” Food Theorists say in the video. “Basically, they can drive up prices to match competition because customers won't stop wanting McDonald's.”

The question is, when does the cycle stop? If businesses continue to one-up each other by raising prices with little consequences, at what point does all fast food become super expensive? When companies with lower prices begin to thrive, the expensive businesses, like McDonald's, are forced to return to Earth.

Guy's "buy again" option for Walmart exposes high inflation prices

People have been complaining about the increase in basic necessities for a while now. It seems that things are simply costing astronomically more now than they were jus a few short years ago Some people have been wondering if they're nostalgically imagining things costing less or if there was a time where you didn't need to take out a personal loan to buy groceries.

One TikTok creator that goes by the name Sewerlidd found himself in need of more groceries so he opened up his Walmart account to order some food. While in the account he saw the "reorder all" option (which is handy in a pinch) and decided to check out how much his groceries were a couple of years ago. Turns out, his groceries were a pretty reasonable price for 45 items.

It was when he clicked the "reorder all" button that the price of those exact same items seems to have sent him into a cold sweat.


"I feel like I'm going to be sick. I just looked through my Walmart history and I found my order from two years ago for the whole month worth of groceries. 45 items costs $126," the man says before revealing the price jump. "Now, this order of 45 items for one month would've cost $414. That is four times more."

The price difference is outrageous and commenters agree with the man, including a few of the sentence enhancers he uses to express his frustration.

@sewerlidd

#greenscreen #groceries #economy #inflation


"And this is why I went from buying healthy food back to only buying sandwich materials," someone writes.

"I used to spend $180 for 2 weeks for my family of four and the dog. I am now spending upwards of $430 and trying to figure out what else I can cut. sorry kids you don't get barbecue sauce," a mom shares.

"I knew it was going to be bad. I didn’t know it was gonna be this bad," another says.

"Yep. Have had to adjust what I wanted to buy at the grocery store based on how expensive everything is. Definitely stretching meals with rice and beans already," someone else writes.

Other commenters don't believe that his groceries increased that much, believing he's exaggerating for shock value. Pricing does vary depending on what state you live in and what items you order, so it may be difficult to recreate the same exact situation. Companies like Walmart have also recently lowered the prices of several items which may be causing the discrepancy for others as well. Either way, people are feeling the effects of inflation while grocery shopping so here's to hoping the price cuts stick.

Paper bags with groceries including fruits and vegetables and bread

apples and bananas in brown cardboard boxPhoto by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash

The Good Humor ice cream man.

A viral video from England has struck a chord with viewers worldwide. It’s proof that even children are not immune to the pain of inflation and price gouging. In the video, which has over 19 million views, 8-year-old Marnie passionately expresses her discontent with an ice cream man's prices while her twin sister, Myrah, stands by in full support.

The video is going viral because of the girls’ honest frustration and Marnie’s adorable northern accent. The girls are from Burnley, a small city outside of Manchester.

“Girls, what’s just happened,” their aunt Karis Lambert asks innocently at the beginning of the TikTok video. “So, there’s an ice cream van there, selling just two ice creams with two chewing gums in it for bloody nine pounds ($11.50) for two of them!" Marnie says incredulously.


The girls wanted to buy 2 Screwballs, a classic English slushy with a gumball at the bottom. “Nine quid — he’s going to get nowhere with that, no he ain't, he should know,” Marnie continued.

Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣 

@karislambert

Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣 #foryou #fyp

Marnie had 10 pounds in her pocket and was almost about to overspend on two Screwballs when the ice cream man added that he doesn’t accept cash, only cards. At that point, Marine and Myrah were done. “And he only does bloody cards—[I’m] stood there with my cash, bloody hell,” she said.

“Bloody well, bad,” she exclaimed.

Millions of people have watched Marine’s rant, and at the time, and she had no problem if the ice cream man heard her, too. “Bet he can hear me!” she said, rolling her eyes toward the van. She later admitted that she hadn't expressed her displeasure to the ice cream man directly.

"Even the kids are affected by this cost of living," @bby wrote in the comments on TikTok. "I’m with her on this I wouldn’t stand for £9 either," Lily added. "Does she offer services by the hour? I've got a water bill I don't agree with and I think she could handle the situation better than me," Josh joked.

"Where do we acquire spicy British kids to adopt?" itllBuff wrote.

@jeremyvineon5

Meet the twins going viral for their ice cream protest #icecream #9quid #twins

Marine’s rage even caught Stephen Colbert’s attention. “I have never been so intimidated by a little girl," he joked after playing the video on his show.

In an interview posted by Jeremy Vine and Storm on Channel 5’s TikTok account, the girls’ aunt admitted that she was happy the video went viral so other people could enjoy their fantastic sense of humor. "They're so funny. I was so glad everyone saw that video because they're both hilarious, and I'm just glad everyone else seems to say it,” she said. “They got so many comments on that video and everyone just thinks that they're brilliant."

On an appearance on ITV Live, Lambert admitted that the video had probably put the ice cream out of business and the girls said they were “proud” of how it had taken off.

After the video went viral, people began saying that their girls should go into politics, to which they gave a resounding yes. Their first job after becoming co-Prime Ministers? “Change the prices” on ice cream, Marnie exclaimed.