Life in 2019 | The price hike that was to change our lives

From an economic point of view, 2023 promises to be the first “normal” year – without confinement in particular – since 2019. Four years later, what is the new normal? Our journalists look at this question from different angles. This week: prices.

The prices that have risen almost everywhere over the past three years – and particularly on the shelves of grocery stores – have caused changes in some of our lifestyles.

“We are experiencing a loss of bearings. The previous budget no longer holds. We have to review our things, because the bank account is going down faster. Just the growing grocery store, with seven kids, that’s a hole in the budget. »

Dominique Bernèche is at the head of Les Belles Combines. The company that already helps families better plan their daily lives is about to launch Octave, an application that will remind us (and more!) that it’s time to go to the dentist, the hairdresser or to take out the compost. The idea: to simplify our complicated life, pressed by external stressors, including the budget.

Dominique is also a mother of seven children.

Inflation has created a very anxiety-provoking climate for everyone, she says. “A panic seized us. »

This made planning particularly risky. “Before, you made your budget and you knew roughly what normal inflation would be,” illustrates Dominique Bernèche.

Nearly three-quarters of consumers are still concerned about daily costs, according to Deloitte’s latest survey conducted in April 2023. This is a slight improvement – because this concern dominated 83% of Canadians in 2022, according to the same study.

Over the past two years, food prices have increased by 18% in Canada. A report released earlier this month by the Royal Bank indicated that, despite some stabilization in the price of the grocery basket, a return to pre-pandemic benchmarks should not be expected.

For part of the population, it was an opportunity to regain control of their finances. And sometimes his life.

So as the budget has to balance, at Dominique, it is the vehicles that have gone to the bottom of the list of priorities, for the moment. Living in the countryside also saves money. The family creates hobbies rather than paying for a panoply of courses and camps.

Reduce waste, at all costs

The app Too Good to Go was launched seven years ago in France. Seven years is not a long time in the life of a company, but huge if it includes three more or less intense pandemic years. Especially if its mandate is to fight against food waste.

A Léger survey conducted last year concluded that 7 out of 10 Quebecers (71%) wanted to change their eating habits because the price of food had increased, recalls Nicolas Dot, who heads the Canadian branch of Too Good to Go.

“Inflation has been a catalyst for acceleration in recent months, recent years,” admits Nicolas Dot.

Since 2021, the French group with the English name has been present in Canada. In Quebec, the application can be found in five markets: Montreal, Quebec, Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières since the beginning of June.

In concrete terms, this application allows the user to collect unsold food from a food store – greengrocers, bakeries, restaurants, etc. –, but it is the merchant who decides what he puts in the basket.

If, at the start, the clientele was mainly made up of young eco-citizens, with prices rising at the grocery store as elsewhere, the economic incentive took up a lot of space, specifies Nicolas Dot.

The clientele has grown. Students and young families remain the hard core. But more retirees have joined the ranks. And Mr. and Mrs. Everyone for whom the attraction of the economy weighed heavily in the balance. “We can see it,” says Nicolas Dot. Before it was more nested, but we feel that we pass on a mass audience. »

review his life

Despite all these upheavals in our lifestyles, the founder of Belles Combines doubts that awareness is widespread.

“I think it’s idealistic to believe it,” says Dominique Bernèche, who sometimes feels marginal in her life choices.

And that’s normal, she said. No one wants to slow down their pace of life. “We are working hard to improve our quality of life,” continues Dominique Bernèche. We expect each year to be able to live a little better. To improve our situation. »

This makes him fear that the debt ratio will continue to rise.

The latest report from Equifax confirms that it is on the rise: total consumer debt has increased by 4.9% in one year and in the first quarter of 2023, credit card balances have continued to increase.

In short