You are not imagining it. Prices have genuinely risen faster than wages. Here's how to see exactly what's happening in your specific financial life.
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You are not bad at math. You are not spending on things you shouldn't. Prices have genuinely risen faster than wages for several consecutive years, and the feeling that something is wrong is correct.
Between 2020 and 2024, cumulative US inflation was approximately 20% as measured by the CPI. For specific categories — groceries, rent, insurance, childcare — the increases were significantly higher. Wages, for most workers, did not keep pace. The result is that a household earning the same real income as five years ago has meaningfully less purchasing power. This is not a perception problem. It is a mathematics problem.
Start writing down what you spend, immediately after you spend it, in plain language. Not in a spreadsheet. In a text field, in 30 seconds, in your own words. "Groceries $127 — that felt like a lot." "Gas $68 — same station, up from maybe $50 this time last year." "Streaming subscriptions $47/month total — have three of them, use one regularly."
These entries don't solve the problem. They make the problem visible in a way that actually allows you to address it — specifically, personally, with real information rather than general anxiety about prices you can't quite account for. One month of honest daily entries will tell you more about where your money is going than years of checking your bank balance.
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