U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%
Great.  All I know is I&#x27;m trading a lot more time for money this year.  Way less takeout, avoiding toll roads unless it saves at least 30 minutes, fewer streaming services (will renew on a show-by-show basis), and food is getting so crazy I might start going to multiple stores to try and save money instead of my one consolidated trip to Wegmans.<p>I&#x27;m also stuffing my freezer with meat and have a year&#x27;s supply of non-perishables, not because I&#x27;m a prepper but because I know it&#x27;ll be so much more expensive next year as to be worth it.<p>Also my rent is up 6.9%, but that&#x27;s because I locked it in for two years.  Would have been 10.5% for a one-year lease, and that&#x27;s on top of last year&#x27;s comparatively conservative 4.5% increase.<p>And my salary is up a mere 4.5%, and that only because I took on stretch assignments at work.