Fewer hot showers, less meat: How retirees on fixed incomes are dealing with inflation

Leslie Morgan is doing everything she can to save money: She quit smoking, cut back on groceries, and is rationing hot showers so she can keep her water heater off for days at a time.

But she says, it hasn't been enough. Rent, food and utilities are all becoming more expensive, making it tough for the retired teacher to make ends meet on roughly $3,000 a month in pension and Social Security payments.

“Just surviving day-to-day has become a big concern of mine — because, how in the world?” said Morgan, 65, who lives in Asheville, N.C. “Yes, I can afford what I’m doing right now, but I’m starting to panic. I’m starting to think, ‘How am I going to keep paying for everything?’ "

Rising prices are squeezing household budgets around the country and putting additional strain on its 56 million older residents ages 65 and up, many of whom rely on fixed incomes and limited savings to cover monthly costs for prolonged and unpredictable periods of time. Americans in that age range are more likely to live in poverty than younger adults are, Census Bureau data show, with wide disparities by age, race and circumstance, including whether they rely solely on Social Security or have other sources of income.

The burden on older Americans is the latest example of how inflation — at 40-year highs — is exacerbating inequalities across the economy. Higher prices on food, gas and housing are weighing heavily on those who can least afford it and creating new challenges for a population that is also most vulnerable to COVID. Adding to the strain, millions of older Americans have given up regular incomes to retire during the coronavirus pandemic.

Half of older people who live alone are struggling to get by on less than $27,000 a year — or the bare minimum for a single renter in good health to cover expenses, according to the Elder Index, a cost-of-living measure created by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The steady climb of inflation during the pandemic has put further stress on retirees.

“Any small change in circumstance — rising prices, a medical emergency — can throw an older person’s budget completely out of whack,” said Jan Mutchler, the institute’s director.

Lewis Faught was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer early in the pandemic, forcing him into early retirement from his job as a bowling alley supervisor in California. He used his stimulus money to prepay for his funeral and now lives on $1,205 a month in Social Security.

"I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel," said Faught, 59, who recently moved in with friends to save money, as prices for everything went up. "I do most of my food shopping in markdown bins and don't buy much else."

About 12% of older adults live solely on Social Security, which pays an average $1,658 per month, a $93 increase from last year, according to the Social Security Administration.

And although Social Security payments have built in cost-of-living adjustments, economists say there tends to be a three to 12 month lag between inflation and higher payments. This year, for example, Social Security recipients received a 5.9% bump in their monthly checks — based on annual inflation calculations from July to September 2021 — even though overall prices have grown 7.9% in the past year, according the Labor Department’s latest reading.

So while cost-of-living increases protect older Americans against medium- and long-term effects of inflation, they do little to shield them from shorter term price hikes, said Gary Engelhardt, an economics professor at Syracuse University whose work focuses on Social Security, pensions, and aging.

"The sting of rising prices for older Americans is real," he said. "Sudden increases in prices, like the ones we've experienced with gas, food and housing, will erode the purchasing power of those on fixed incomes until those benefits get adjusted."

In interviews with more than a dozen retirees between the ages of 58 and 85, almost all said higher prices were forcing them to skimp on basics. They reported cutting back on meat and vegetables, driving less and trading in gym memberships for Jane Fonda workout videos. Many said they were buying cheaper, shelf-stable items like pasta and canned beans at dollar stores, and relying on chest freezers and food sealers to store away extras. All said they were living on significantly less money than when they were working, leaving them with a smaller cushion to guard against cost increases and unexpected medical emergencies.

Only one, a former loan officer who receives Social Security and a portion of her ex-husband’s state retirement payments, said she was not struggling financially or panicking about the future.

“In spite of the fact that things have gone up in price, I’m doing just fine,” said Arlene Thomas, 72, who lives in Elon, N.C., where she recently bought a new townhouse. “I do not dine out or travel, period, under COVID, so I’m actually saving more.”

Back in Asheville, Morgan said she thought she'd planned well for retirement. She'd paid off her 2013 Chevrolet Sonic and gotten rid of her credit cards before leaving a 23-year career as a fifth-grade teacher in 2018. But rising prices and continued economic uncertainty have chipped away at any financial security she thought she'd had.

In a recent moment of desperation, after her monthly electricity bill jumped 20%, she got rid of her front-loading dryer and replaced it with two wooden drying racks. She also started turning off the water heater after her morning shower.

“I feel like I’m going backward in time just to save $20 or $30 on my electric bill,” she said. “I take a very hot shower, but everything else — washing dishes, brushing my teeth — I do with cold water. And this time of year, it’s very cold.”

Morgan lives on a fixed income of about $35,000 a year, before taxes, roughly half of what she made when she was working. Her payments have been adjusted for inflation, she said, though the gains haven't been enough to make up for actual costs, such as a 15% jump in monthly Medicare premiums that prompted her to opt out of the benefit altogether. She rarely buys meat anymore, and when she does, it's canned chicken or a marked-down package of shrimp that she stretches into a week's worth of stir-fry meals. Otherwise her meals are predictable: Oatmeal, eggs, pasta salad, toasted cheese sandwiches.

"I've become a very boring person," she said. "Seriously, I have done everything imaginable to try to cut down every penny I can."