Grocery shoppers managing higher prices

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In February, the Consumer Confidence Index in the United States fell by seven points. Plus, a CBS poll found that a large majority of Americans say their incomes aren’t keeping pace with inflation.

In this Your Money Matters we stop by Sunshine Foods in Sioux Falls to talk with shoppers about the sticker shock they’re experiencing.

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Groceries are something we all need to buy, but many people are feeling a pinch in their wallet when looking at prices.

“They’re up. They’re up,” O’Neil said. “And for somebody that doesn’t have that much money, it’s hard.”

“For awhile there it honestly felt like things were going down, my dollar was going a little further and then just like within the last month things spiked back up,” shopper Amanda Carlson said. “I mean, my goodness, talk about the price of eggs like I had six dollars for a dozen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”

The nationwide shortage of eggs due to the bird flu is ongoing, but customers say eggs aren’t the only things getting more expensive.

“Kind of everything — the meat, the legumes, the fruit. Everything,” shopper Carmen Ortiz said.

Inflation has many people changing their spending habits.

“I’m looking for more of the off-brand products that are a little bit cheaper than the name brand products because the name brand products seem to have gone up exponentially more than the valued items that are on the shelf,” shopper Gary Long said. “People call them generic, but I don’t, it’s still food.”

“I mean, definitely checking out the coupons more,” Carlson said. “Definitely weighing the cost on generic versus not or, you know, kind of pivoting and making certain meals different weeks when things are on sale.”

“Buying less and being less wasteful,” Ortiz said.

Doing what they can to save a few bucks here and there.

“You have to. It’s plain and simple as that,” O’Neil said.

A Money Study recently done by Wells Fargo found people are also delaying major life plans like traveling, buying a home or getting married. The study also found that there are certain pieces of financial advice that Americans are sick of hearing — like getting a side hustle.