I cannot let a deal go to waste if it's something I am using daily
Across American kitchens and grocery aisles, a quiet arithmetic of loss is playing out — the same cart, the same family, a higher number at the register. Inflation has climbed back to levels unseen since 2023, pressing hardest on the staples that anchor household life: tomatoes, ground beef, fish. For families like Kiana Powell's in Florida, the response is not despair but adaptation — a daily discipline of digital coupons, multi-store strategy, and constant vigilance that speaks to both human resilience and the weight of a system falling out of balance.
- Grocery prices are surging at their fastest pace in years — tomatoes up 40%, ground beef up 14% — turning routine shopping trips into financial stress tests.
- A Florida mother of five watched her monthly grocery bill jump fifty dollars in a single month, with summer's full-time childcare costs still on the horizon.
- The Sunday coupon circular is gone — families are now navigating networks of social media deal groups, store loyalty apps, and split-store shopping runs just to stay even.
- Three in four Americans say their wages are not keeping up with rising prices, and the word most reach for to describe the economy is simply: uncertain.
- The burden of adaptation falls unevenly — the time, energy, and digital literacy required to hunt deals are resources not every household can spare.
Kiana Powell stands in a Florida produce aisle, phone in hand, scrolling for savings. She has five people to feed and a budget that keeps losing ground — last month's bill ran fifty dollars higher than the month before, for the exact same items. With summer approaching and her kids home full-time, she knows the number will climb again.
Inflation has returned to levels not seen since 2023. Tomatoes are up nearly 40 percent from a year ago. Ground beef costs 14 percent more. Fish and seafood have risen around 6 percent. These are not indulgences — they are the weekly foundations of a household, and their rising cost is reshaping how families plan, shop, and eat.
Powell has adapted. She no longer clips from the Sunday paper. Instead, she belongs to multiple social media groups dedicated to finding deals, holds rewards cards at several stores, and routes her shopping week by week around wherever each item happens to be discounted. It has become, in her own telling, a daily job. "I cannot let a deal go to waste if it's something that I am using daily," she told CBS News.
Her experience mirrors a national mood. A recent survey found roughly 75 percent of Americans believe their wages are not keeping pace with inflation. The word people reach for most often to describe the economy is "uncertain" — the feeling of a paycheck that looks solid on paper but quietly loses ground against the world around it.
The strategies Powell has built work, to a point. But they demand time, energy, and know-how that not every family possesses equally. As summer tightens the budget further, she and millions like her will keep watching the numbers, hunting the next deal, trying to hold the line.
Kiana Powell stands in the produce section of a Florida grocery store, phone in hand, scrolling through digital coupons. She has five people to feed on a budget that keeps shrinking. Last month, her bill climbed fifty dollars higher than the month before—the same items, the same family, just more expensive. By June, when school ends and her kids are home all day, she knows the number will climb again.
Inflation has returned to levels not seen since 2023, and Powell is far from alone in feeling the squeeze. Across the country, the price of tomatoes has jumped nearly 40 percent from a year ago. Ground beef costs 14 percent more. Fish and seafood have risen about 6 percent. These aren't luxury items. These are the things families buy week after week, the foundation of a household budget.
Powell's strategy has evolved. She no longer clips coupons from the Sunday paper. Instead, she's joined multiple social media groups dedicated to finding deals, signed up for rewards programs at different stores, and learned to shop strategically—buying certain items at one location because that's where they're on sale that week, then moving to another store for the next category. It's become a daily task, something that requires constant attention and planning. "I cannot let a deal go to waste if it's something that I am using daily," she explained to CBS News. The digital coupon world has largely replaced the old paper system, and Powell has adapted because she has to.
The pressure extends beyond groceries. Gas prices, household supplies, the small necessities that add up—all of it costs more now. When asked to sum up the current economic moment in a single word, Powell didn't hesitate: "Unfortunate."
She's speaking for a much larger group. A recent survey found that roughly 75 percent of Americans believe their wages are not keeping pace with inflation. The word people use most often to describe the economy is "uncertain." It's the feeling of watching your paycheck stay the same while the world around you gets more expensive, of having what looks like a solid salary on paper but discovering, when you actually break down the numbers, that you're falling behind.
For families like Powell's, the math is unforgiving. A fifty-dollar monthly increase might not sound catastrophic until you realize it compounds. It means fewer choices at the store. It means planning meals around what's discounted rather than what your family prefers. It means turning grocery shopping into a part-time job, hunting for deals to maintain the same standard of living you had a year ago.
Powell's adaptation—the digital couponing, the multi-store shopping, the constant vigilance—is a rational response to an irrational situation. It's also a sign of how deeply inflation has penetrated American household life. The strategies work, to a point. But they require time, energy, and knowledge that not every family has in equal measure. As summer approaches and school budgets give way to full-time childcare costs, Powell and millions like her will be watching their bank accounts even more closely, looking for the next deal that might help them hold the line.
Citações Notáveis
We probably went over about $150, to $200 in a month with the same items. So imagine now what my bill is going to look like starting in June when school is out.— Kiana Powell, Florida mother of five
Social media has been a great thing. That digital couponing world has really taken over the paper couponing. We all want to save money.— Kiana Powell
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
When you say she's joined "several social media groups," what does that actually look like? What are people sharing in these spaces?
It's a network of deal-hunters. Someone posts that tomatoes are on sale at a particular store, or that a certain brand of ground beef is discounted this week. People share screenshots of digital coupons, tag each other when they spot something worth buying. It's crowdsourced intelligence about where to stretch a dollar.
Does it feel like a community, or more like a survival mechanism?
Both, probably. There's solidarity in it—everyone's doing the same thing, everyone's struggling with the same problem. But underneath that is the reality that you have to do this work just to keep your grocery bill from spiraling completely out of control.
She mentioned her bill went from $150 to $200 a month on the same items. That's a 33 percent increase. How does a family absorb that?
They don't, really. They absorb it by cutting somewhere else, or by changing what they buy. Maybe fewer fresh vegetables, more shelf-stable items. Maybe less meat. The math forces choices that weren't necessary before.
The survey says 75 percent of Americans think wages aren't keeping up. Does Powell feel that gap personally?
Absolutely. She has a job, a salary that probably looked reasonable when she took it. But when she sits down and actually calculates what her money buys now versus a year ago, the gap is obvious. Her paycheck hasn't moved. Everything else has.
What happens in June when school ends?
That's the real test. Childcare costs, more food consumption at home, no school lunches to offset the grocery bill. She's already bracing for it. The strategies that work now might not be enough then.