Category: Cost of Living
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Home heating oil costs 39.1% more than it did a year ago
The bill for oil heat does not arrive in twelve manageable pieces. It arrives in a driveway, usually in late summer or early fall, when a truck pumps a few hundred gallons into a basement tank and leaves behind a single invoice. For the households that heat this way, that delivery is the largest fixed…
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Help with a high heating or cooling bill is available through federal LIHEAP
When an energy bill outruns the budget, a lot of households quietly go without, turning the heat down too far in winter or the air conditioning off in a heat wave. There is a federal program built for exactly that squeeze, and many of the people it could help have never heard of it. The…
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New tariffs could add hundreds of dollars to your next refrigerator or washer
If a major appliance in your home is on its last legs, the timing of the replacement may matter more than usual this year. Federal tariffs on steel and aluminum have been extended to cover major household appliances, and industry analysts expect that to push prices up. On a big-ticket item like a refrigerator or…
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A family of four can get up to $994 a month in food stamps this year
For a family stretching a grocery budget, it helps to know the ceiling on food assistance. This year, the most a family of four can receive in SNAP benefits, the program still widely called food stamps, is $994 a month in most of the country. That figure sets the top of the scale, and while…
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Car insurance now averages about $2,256 a year, and it keeps climbing
Car insurance has quietly become one of the fastest-rising fixed costs in the household budget, and 2026 offers little relief. The typical U.S. driver is on track to pay about $2,256 a year for auto coverage, and premiums are still climbing in most of the country. For a two-car household, that trend can add several…
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Gas prices should keep easing into 2027 as oil prices fall, the government says
Here is a rare piece of good news about a household bill: the government expects gas prices to keep drifting lower. In its latest monthly energy outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that gasoline will get cheaper this year and stay relatively low into 2027 as crude oil prices fall. For a fixed-income household…
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Grocery prices are up 2.7% over the past year, with fresh fruits and vegetables up about 5%
The weekly grocery run remains one of the clearest places households feel inflation, and the latest numbers show the squeeze has eased but not disappeared. Grocery prices are up 2.7% over the past year, with the produce aisle leading the way as fruits and vegetables climbed about 5%. There was some relief too, on meat,…
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Inflation ticked back up to 3.4% in July, and gas still costs nearly 25% more than a year ago
Prices crept higher again in July, and the pump is still where households feel the sting most. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 0.1% for the month, a return to rising prices after they slipped in June, and sat 3.4% above where they were a year ago. Gasoline actually fell over…
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Summer electric-bill help is still open in many states through the LIHEAP cooling program
Most people think of home energy assistance as a winter program, something to help with the heating bill when it gets cold. But the same federal program helps with summer cooling too, and in many states the door is still open. If a hot-weather electric bill is stretching your budget, there may be a one-time…
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Marketplace health premiums are more than doubling, about $1,000 a year more, as enhanced ACA tax credits lapse
If you buy your health insurance through the marketplace, brace yourself for a much bigger bill. The enhanced tax credits that quietly held down premiums for millions of people have expired, and the change is landing squarely on household budgets. On average, analysts estimate marketplace enrollees will pay roughly double what they did before, about…
