During the last few decades, inflation has had a very clear image. It was the bottle of oil, the loaf of bread, or the shopping basket. Families would go to the supermarket and check that, with the same money, they filled the cart less. This feeling marked the economic debate for a long time.Today inflation continues to be present, but it has changed its nature.The latest CPI data show that food no longer leads price increases as it did during the inflationary crisis. Instead, services and some unavoidable expenses are gaining weight: insurance, repairs, education, hospitality, telephony, or certain supplies are registering increases higher than those of many consumer goods. General inflation remains around 3%, but its composition is no longer the same.It may seem like a statistical nuance. In reality, it changes how families perceive the loss of purchasing power. Let me explain: when the price of an appliance goes up, many people can postpone the purchase for a few months or wait for a sale. On the other hand, with many services, there is no room to postpone it. Car insurance is due when it's due. Dental check-ups hardly allow for postponements. The bill for certain utilities or the price of many daily activities are part of households' monthly budget.That is why this new inflation is less visible, but more persistent and more difficult to manage in family budgets. It is no longer concentrated on a specific product that grabs headlines. It is spread across numerous expenses that, one by one, seem manageable. Added together, they end up affecting the consumption capacity of many families.This change also has consequences for businesses. During the energy crisis, it was enough to explain that the cost of raw materials or transport had increased. Today, a growing part of the pressure comes from overhead expenses. These are increases that are more difficult to absorb and also more difficult to reverse.My recommendation for personal finance is not to stop tracking how much it costs to fill the shopping cart, but to pay more attention to the set of small payments we make throughout the month. Often it is here where the real wear and tear on the family budget occurs.Inflation is like that. It changes form, sectors, protagonists. It also changes how it affects the domestic economy. Understanding this shift is almost as important as controlling supermarket prices. It's true that with the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, we've experienced it with electricity and fuels, but now it's much harder to combat. It's the other inflation.
