Concerns about the economy have caused consumer confidence to drop, leading some local families to tighten their belts just to get by, write Rachel Louise Ensign, Natasha Khan, and Ruth Simon for The Wall Street Journal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ellen and Craig Miller, who live in Quakertown, have dialed back hosting friends at home and started smoking and freezing meat themselves. Last year, they decided not to send out Christmas cards due to the rising prices of stamps.
Ellen Miller, who sells Native American prints and cards on Etsy, has noticed a sharp decline in recent months. Meanwhile, everyday items that she buys keep rising in price. Just in February, consumer prices were up 2.8 percent from a year earlier.
The Millers celebrated their 34th anniversary last weekend. They decided to skip their usual tradition of going out, opting for a steak meal at home.
However, even at the more cost-friendly supermarket in the area, a Giant Food supermarket, the rib-eye was close to $30 a pound. Instead, Ellen Miller bought a whole chicken and made enchiladas.
“It feels like another level of pressure has come,” she said. “Now, it’s even too expensive to have steak at home.”
Read more about the economic fears families are facing and how one Quakertown family is coping in The Wall Street Journal.
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