Their inflation is an average.
Yours isn't.
The official number measures an average basket, and since 1983 it has left out the cost of borrowing. Put in what you actually spend in a typical month, last year and this year, including every payment on every loan and card. You'll get your own inflation rate.
| Monthly spending | Last year | This year |
|---|---|---|
| Total per month | $0 | $0 |
Latest official figure, filled in automatically from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can change it.
The rows marked COST OF MONEY are payments on borrowed money. The official index has counted none of that since 1983.
What to do with this number: the first thing to attack is usually the biggest bar marked as cost of money, because interest is the one cost of living you can stop paying. That's the Interest Kill List.
A simple tool, honestly labeled: it compares your own spending month to month, so a new car or a new baby will show up as "inflation" even though it's really a change in how you live. Use typical months, and compare like with like where you can. Education, not financial advice.
Interest Kill List: the order to pay off what you owe, and the raise you give yourself when it's gone.