As gasoline prices spike due to the war in Iran, squeezing consumer budgets, Flossmoor resident Stephanie Luster is doing something she hasn’t done in years. The entrepreneur and mother of two is having to make time to really plan her grocery shopping.
“I’m getting the sales circulars that come in the mail or email, reviewing them and planning meals around that because something that used to cost $30 or $40, I’m now spending $50 to $60 for one meal for my family,” she shared. “I’m being more strategic with how much I cook so we have leftovers for multiple days.
“I’m not going to as many places and streamlining to avoid driving as much as I was before the increase in gas prices.”
Luster is among consumers across the country who’ve had to make changes to keep the unexpected higher prices from busting their budgets.
A consumer survey from Snipp, which helps retailers and brands run customer engagement programs, found that because of higher gas prices:
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- 66.4% changed overall grocery shopping spending habits.
- 31.1% report significant or extreme budget impact.
- 38.5% of respondents said they had postponed a major purchase because of higher prices.
- Among those postponing purchases, 44.4% delayed travel, 43.4% put off electronics purchases and 41.8% delayed buying appliances.
Nationally, the average price of unleaded regular gas is $4.123 a gallon, according to AAA’s website Monday. In the Chicago metropolitan area, it is $4.55, up from $3.77 a month ago and up from $3.53 a year earlier. The average price of premium is $5.65, up nearly 80 cents a gallon from a month ago and up $1.06 from a year earlier.
Meanwhile the average price of diesel, which fuels the semitrucks that transport food and other goods across the country, is $5.45, up $1.87 from a year earlier, also resulting in higher costs for consumers.
Higher gas prices helped push the U.S. inflation rate to 3.3% in March, which was the fastest annual pace in nearly two years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed Friday.
Prices tripled month over month to 0.9%, up from 0.3% in February.
“These prices are kicking my butt,” said Dalton Campbell, as he pumped gas last Thursday at the QT gas station in Calumet City.
The Lynwood resident says he works seven days a week, 12 hours a day as a DoorDash driver.
“I’m paying between $130 and $150 extra a week on gas,” said Campbell, whose wife is a nurse. The couple are parents of a teenager. “We’re cutting back on a lot of stuff,” to reduce expenses.
A few feet away, visiting nurse Marsha Green, who was in the area to visit a patient in Lansing, was putting gas in her vehicle and feeling the pain at the pump.
“I’ve been impacted terribly,” Green said. “I see patients in the community, and I get paid per visit.”
But she doesn’t get reimbursed for higher gas costs. She’s spending roughly $50 more a week on gas, she said. In response, she said she’s making sure she is more efficiently managing her patients and has increased the number of patients she visits to raise her income.
“I’m watching my driving time,” said Green. “I’m not going out as much.”
Lola Horton, who operates a home day care in Calumet City, said it’s costing more to take the children on field trips.
“My husband has an appliance repair business and has to drive to buildings,” she said as she pumped her gas. “He’s driving from Calumet City downtown, to the South Side, the West Side,” so his expenses are also up.
“I’m trying to budget. With groceries I’m trying to find what I can on sale, checking different stores and comparing prices.”
Shamar Wright who was seated in Horton’s car and isn’t working because she has a disability, said due to higher gas prices, “I only go where it’s absolutely necessary. As far as eating, I buy and eat whatever is on sale.” She said she no longer shops for the month because she can’t afford it. She shops once a week.
Homewood resident Corrine Wilkerson says it’s costing her more than $100 a week to fill up her SUV, which takes premium gas. Before the war, a fill-up cost about $80, she said. The higher gas prices come on top of other higher costs with which she’s dealing.
“My grocery bill is high, and that’s been higher for a minute now,” she said. “My water bill went up and so has my light bill.”
Wilkerson, who travels for business as owner and operator of MacTravel Services, a Homewood-based travel agency, said she is also paying more for airline tickets and rental cars.
In response to the higher costs, “I’m being more conscious about how I grocery shop and I’m prepping my meals more during the week as opposed to trying to eat out,” she said.
She’s also avoiding extra activities.
“I’m really not going out to too many places because when you go out you spend money,” she said.
But Wilkerson, the mother of three, said she isn’t changing her family vacation plans to travel out of the country this year because that’s been in the works for a while. But plans may change next year.
“Depending on what happens, we’ll still do something, but it may be local or within the states as opposed to us going overseas or to the Caribbean or something like that,” she said. “We’re definitely being intentional about where we are going and how much money we are going to spend.”
Luster said her family also didn’t alter their vacation plans for this year. They recently returned from a trip to Mexico during spring break. She said she planned that trip four months ago and it was already paid for.
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“But I’m thinking twice about next year,” she said.
That’s because the same vacation now is $3,000 to $4,000 more expensive, she said.
She’s been cutting back in other areas.
“I’m having to watch what I do leisure wise, as far as even going to the movies or taking the kids places,” she said. “It’s been more of looking for free events, low-cost events, like going to the movies when it’s less expensive during the day instead of in the evening.
“I’m doing more shopping at Costco than at local grocery stores, buying more in bulk because per unit costs are less expensive,” she said.
Besides the higher gas prices, Luster is dealing with a double whammy, as owner and operator of Essations Inc., a maker of hair care products with a manufacturing site in South Chicago Heights. She said her business was hurt by the Trump administration’s tariffs, which drove up costs before the war started, and she is now dealing with higher shipping costs, lengthy delays in getting some raw materials and the inability to get some raw materials at all due to the war.
Luster, who also is a beautician, said she has added on more clients to help boost income. She also canceled paying $250 once a month for a home cleaning service, which is now viewed as a luxury they can’t afford.
Francine Knowles at [email protected] is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.