This story in Time magazine notes that inflation is actually much higher than the official CPI measures indicate. People living in Main Street have felt the effect of inflation for the last few years in increasing home and auto insurance, higher property taxes, higher home heating bills and lately, a small fortune to tank up the family car.
Please take my numbers with a grain of salt because they may not be an apples-to-apples comparison. For instance, I recall that the winter of '04 was much colder than usual whereas the previous one was quite normal. Also, I've been driving a lot more this year, which might partly explain the high gas expenses.
I keep thinking this is how the last BIG inflation started, with Gas price increases which caused an EXPLOSION in prices. Makes me worry.