My Local Spending

Much has been said about the difference between core inflation and inflation, but if my own spending habits over the course of the past two and a half months is indication, "core" inflation doesn't mean much to most of us. As one can see in the following charts, groceries (Kroger) and gas (Golden Pantry) represent most of the local spending I do from month to month (that is, what I buy locally rather than sending a check in to some distant office).

March

April

May

But what I was mostly intrigued about with regard to my personal spending was, if one were to make a map, based on these spending amounts, what the largest businesses would be versus the smallest. In other words, determining major landmarks of the town by my spending, what would they be and how large would they be? I was thinking, Flicker, a bar I frequent, would be fairly large. But in fact, despite the amount of time I spend there, the amount of dollar spending I actually do there is relatively small. Compare that to, say, Kroger, where I might spend one hour every two weeks and the amount of money I spend there. (The actual relative size of Kroger to Flicker on the map might be close to right.) Or even more so, check out Golden Pantry, a gas station. That place is tiny, but according to what I spend, it would be in relative size comparable to Kroger. Match this to how much time I spend there, which is maybe fifteen minutes a month, and one sees that these folks are really making money from their patrons (save that, the profit margin on gas is extremely low, as compared to alcohol).



The map, however, only includes the first twenty days of May. Last night, I splurged and bought a few clothing items I needed to replace and a cheap digital camera (since my old camera was kaput). If I added those in, J. C. Penney's and Wal-Mart would shoot to a higher end of spending this month and fit prominently on the map. However, in terms of repeat purchases and visits, as the charts above show, these two would likely only show up every few months. Flicker, Kroger, Golden Pantry, and the U.S. Post Office at least have consistency going for them, even if the first and last here have a relatively small portion of the dollar amount each month.