The Most Highly Inflated Things You’re Wasting Your Money On Right Now

While it may seem the COVID days are far behind us, the reality is – that’s not the case. Yet. A lot of major countries continue to suffer the wrath of COVID, and even the ones that have recovered are facing another major problem – rising inflation. The US, for instance, is one such country.

In the pre-pandemic world, retailers were often forced into absorbing the rise in costs to beat the competition and keep their sales going. Pandemic changed that. The global supply chain is heavily destabilized and shortages in almost every product category mean that inflation is rising at a steady rate. However, not everything is seeing the same level of inflation – some are more likely to hurt your pockets than others. We’ve compiled a list of such things that are reeling under the economic impact of COVID that you should avoid spending on in the near future.

Without further ado, let’s check the list out.

Furniture

The concept of work from home grew immensely during the lockdown. With more and more people turning the unoccupied parts of their homes into home offices, furniture has become in great demand. It is also in high demand thanks to the fact that since people were spending more time at home, comfort and functionality have become the topmost priority for many. All this led to a strong 4% increase in the sales of furniture in the year 2021.

Kimberly Palmer, who is a personal finance expert, points out that there is still a strong demand for home furniture and the prices will keep growing in the near future, especially for things that are not so easily accessible.

Irv Blumkin, who is the Chairman of Nebraska Furniture Mart shared similar sentiments. He says that the price of a shipping container that used to hover around $3000 is now close to $10,000.

The global supply chain is hit and without a robust shipping system in place, international supplies are drying up, leading to an increase in price.

Cars

The automobile industry took a decent hit when the COVID shocked the world. However, with the lockdown easing up across most parts of the globe, people are buying cars as a safer mode of transportation. This rise in demand along with the shortage of important car components has led to a rise in car prices over the last few months.

Jessica Caldwell, who works for Edmunds as an executive director, points out that all the new vehicles – especially the trucks and the SUVs – are the 2021’s hand sanitizer and toilet paper of last year! People are just buying anything they can afford and that has shot up the prices. While that is a good thing for the automakers and car dealers, the consumers are having to pay more for the same vehicle that was a lot cheaper last year.