On leaving this hyper-discount store in Aubervilliers, Martine reads her receipt very carefully, her shopping bag full of groceries in her hand. “It’s cheaper compared to the others: Leclerc has really increased, Lidl has increased too!” she protests. “7 euros for six pieces of minced meat and when you come back the following week it’s 13 euros!” Retailing is over for her because of inflation: she now does most of her shopping in discount stores.
>>REPORT. “We’ll make do with what we have”: because of inflation, parents are reducing back-to-school expenses as much as possible
Manon, 16, adopts the same strategy: she lives alone with her mother and their purchasing power has deteriorated a lot in recent months. “We really don’t finish the months, whereas before we more or less got thereshe explains. Now we come here to Action, before we didn’t go there. For example, for cleaning products, we bought everything in the same store. It’s a very tight budget. We are stressed because we wonder how we are going to do at the end of the month. But afterwards, you get used to it, anyway, you have no choice.”
Get used to it, get organised, plan expenses: inflation reached 6.1% last month according to INSEE, and food prices have risen by almost 7%. But food is not the only item of expenditure to have increased, the price of clothing too. Manon does not hesitate to go to neighboring towns to dress at a lower cost.
Sabbarate hunts for bargains on the shelves: she is looking for supplies for her three children. “I looked everywhere, to see if there were reductions”, she says. This town hall employee receives the minimum wage. According to her, a salary increase would not help her. “If my salary increases, aid such as APL decreases and all prices have increased”she laments.
“Even if I earned a little more, it would still go in the rent, the bills. There is also the canteen, the leisure center.”
Sabbarate, motherat franceinfo
Faced with this record-breaking inflation, Sabbarate will limit the purchase of school supplies to the bare minimum, and prepares all its food itself to save as much as possible.