Inflation is like a slow leak in your wallet. You do not feel it day to day, but one morning you look at your bills and think, “When did everything get so expensive?”

I want to walk you through five simple ways I would defend my own money from that slow leak. No fancy formulas. No trading screens. Just actions you and I can take with normal incomes and normal brains.

“Inflation is taxation without legislation.”
— Milton Friedman

Let me start with something most people never do: measuring their own personal inflation. Governments publish inflation numbers, but those numbers are based on an average person who does not really exist. You are not the average person.

If you spend a lot on rent, childcare and food, your “real” inflation might be higher than the headline number. If you have a fixed-rate mortgage and cook at home a lot, your inflation might be lower.

So I like to begin with a very basic spreadsheet. Nothing fancy. I list 20–30 things I pay for regularly:

Rent or mortgage.
Groceries.
Electricity, gas, internet.
Phone plan.
Transport.
Insurance.
Streaming subscriptions.
Coffee, eating out, small treats.

Then, once a month, I note what I paid last month and what I am paying this month or this year. Over time I get my own “personal inflation rate.”

Why does this matter so much? Because once you see, in black and white, that your food is up 12% and your rent is up 8%, you start to treat inflation as real, not as some number on TV. That awareness alone usually changes behavior. You begin to ask, “What can I do now so I am not squeezed later?”

With that in mind, let me walk you through five everyday strategies I would use to protect my buying power.

“What gets measured gets managed.”
— Peter Drucker

First, buying durable goods early before prices jump. I am not talking about panic buying or filling a garage with toilet paper. I am talking about planned, measured stockpiling of things that do not spoil and that you know you will use.

Think about items like laundry detergent, soap, toilet paper, trash bags, light bulbs, batteries, certain canned foods, dry pasta, your favorite coffee, pet food, printer ink.

If I see clear signs that prices are rising fast — maybe my usual store shrinks package sizes, or shipping delays keep being mentioned, or input costs like fuel are clearly going up — I ask myself a simple question:

“Will I absolutely use this item in the next 6–12 months?”

If the answer is yes, buying extra now is like buying future dollars at a discount. Every time you open a pack you bought at last year’s price, you earn a small “inflation profit.”

But I also have to protect myself from going overboard. So I give myself a rule:

If stockpiling creates waste, clutter, stress, or credit card debt, I am not hedging inflation; I am just moving the problem to another place.

So I:

Pay in cash or from current savings, not with high-interest credit.
Stick to items with long shelf lives and guaranteed use.
Set a simple limit, like “No more than three months of household supplies.”

Here is the less obvious benefit: this kind of planning makes your monthly budget more stable. You smooth out price spikes. You avoid last-minute, full-price shopping trips. You free mental space because you are not constantly surprised by higher prices on basics.

Now let me move to something more financial but still reachable: shifting some savings to inflation-protected bonds like Series I bonds and TIPS.

I want you to imagine two different savings accounts. One is normal: the bank pays you a fixed interest rate. If inflation runs higher than that rate, your “real” return is negative. You feel safe, but your money is slowly shrinking in terms of what it can buy.

The other is tied to inflation itself. When official prices go up, the value of your savings goes up too. That is the core idea behind government inflation-linked bonds.

Series I bonds are like savings bonds that adjust with inflation. TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) are bonds where the principal itself rises with inflation. Both are backed by the government, which makes them one of the simpler ways for regular people to connect their money to the price level.

I like to think of these instruments as “pressure equalizers.” Instead of fighting inflation with guesswork, you let your savings float with it. Are they perfect? No. They rely on official inflation measures, and there are limits, rules, and tax details to understand. But they do one critical thing: they help protect the real value of a chunk of your cash without forcing you into risky bets.

If you hold a lot of money in plain savings accounts “for safety,” you are paying an invisible fee to inflation every year. Moving at least part of that into inflation-protected bonds can reduce that leak.

Let me ask you: how much of your “safe” money is actually safe only in name, but not in buying power?

“The real worth of a man is measured by the objects he pursues.”
— Marcus Aurelius

Next, I want to talk about owning things that have pricing power. This is a fancy way of saying: can this business raise its prices without scaring away customers?

During inflation, not all companies suffer equally. Some are crushed because they cannot pass higher costs on to buyers. Others raise prices and keep selling almost as much, sometimes more.

If I want my investments to keep up with rising prices, I prefer owning a piece of businesses in the second group. Think of:

Companies selling essentials like food, basic healthcare, affordable household goods.
Firms with strong brands that people are loyal to.
Businesses with limited competition or high switching costs (it is a pain to change providers).

When inflation rises, these businesses can often say, “Our own costs went up, so we are raising prices,” and customers accept it because they still need the product or service. Their revenues grow in nominal terms, and often their profits can keep up or even expand.

Now, I do not need to become a stock-picking genius. One way is to use broad, low-cost funds that tilt toward sectors with more pricing power, like consumer staples, energy, or certain healthcare and infrastructure companies. Another way is simply to be aware: if all my investments are in long-term fixed-income products, I am likely too exposed to inflation risk.

Here is a simple test I like:

If inflation stayed at 5–7% per year for the next five years, which of my investments would be able to raise prices and stay healthy, and which would be stuck earning the same amount?

If I cannot answer that, I am not really managing inflation risk. I am just hoping.

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.”
— Benjamin Graham

This brings me to the fourth strategy: reducing exposure to long-term fixed-rate instruments that pay very low interest.

Imagine lending your friend $10,000 for 10 years at a fixed 2% interest rate while prices are rising 6% per year. Every year, you get your 2%, but the world around you gets 6% more expensive. By the end, you get your money back in nominal terms, but in real terms, you get paid back in “shrunk” dollars.

That is essentially what happens with long-term bonds and low-interest savings accounts when inflation is higher than the rate you earn.

I still need some cash for emergencies — that is non-negotiable. I want that money safe and quickly accessible. But I do not want that emergency fund sitting in a place where it melts faster than necessary.

So I focus on:

Keeping emergency money in high-yield savings or money market accounts where the rate tends to adjust upward faster than in regular accounts.
Using shorter-term instruments (like short-term CDs or Treasury bills) so I can reinvest at new rates more often if inflation and interest rates rise.

The goal is simple: I cannot stop inflation, but I can stop volunteering for the worst possible deal.

Let me ask you directly: if you compared the interest rate on your biggest savings pile to current inflation, would you be happy with the gap?

“Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”
— Warren Buffett

Finally, the most powerful inflation hedge almost no one thinks about first: your own skills and earning power.

Every asset we have talked about so far is external: bonds, stocks, goods, accounts. But there is one asset that can adjust to inflation better than almost anything else: the ability to increase your income.

When inflation is high, wages often rise in certain fields. Not evenly, not instantly, and not for everyone — but the people who have skills in demand, who can move jobs, negotiate, or freelance, often manage to outrun rising prices.

If you and I think in these terms, the question changes from “Where do I park my money?” to “How do I make my future self more valuable?”

That can mean learning a technical skill, gaining a certification, becoming great at data analysis, improving communication, or simply becoming the best at solving some boring but important problem inside your company.

The less obvious angle: developing skills that let you adjust your working life. For example:

Remote work skills can let you take jobs in higher-wage regions while living in a cheaper area.
Freelance or consulting skills can let you take on extra projects when you need more cash.
Entrepreneurial skills can let you start small side projects that you can grow if inflation eats into your base salary.

I like to phrase it this way:

If my prices (my wage) are frozen, but the prices I pay are not, I am in trouble. My job is to make my own “price” flexible and upward moving.

Can you think of one skill that, if you improved it over the next year, would make it easier to ask for a raise, change jobs, or start a side income? That skill is not just an education item; it is an inflation hedge.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
— Jim Rohn

Let me pull this together into something you can act on without feeling overwhelmed.

First, I would spend one quiet hour building my personal inflation spreadsheet. Once you see your own number, you will probably know which of the five levers matters most for you.

Second, I would choose just two of these strategies to start with, not all five:

Maybe you decide:
“I will move part of my savings into inflation-linked bonds and build a three-month supply of key non-perishables.”

Or:
“I will shift some money from long-term fixed deposits to short-term higher-yield accounts, and I will commit to finishing one skill course that improves my earning power.”

You do not need to become a professional investor. You just need to stop being an easy target.

Inflation is not a monster that jumps out at night. It is more like rust. It works slowly, quietly, and constantly. But rust only wins when metal is left unprotected and ignored.

By making your spending visible, stocking smart, using inflation-linked savings tools, favoring assets with pricing power, avoiding long-term low-rate traps, and steadily raising your own earning capacity, you put a protective layer over your financial life.

So ask yourself one last question:
What is the smallest, simplest step you can take this week that your future self will thank you for when prices are higher and you still feel in control?