Buy Now!!

Just a quick heads up on things you should probably buy up now if you can because prices are going up:

• Food items made of sugar, wheat, corn, and soybeans. Articles here where experts are warning of rising food prices. San Francisco Chronicle states that "Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year," and go on to say that experts predict that is only the beginning.  Here's another article specifically about sugar prices.  Bloomberg quoted the Wall Street Journal back in October that General Mills, Kraft and others are raising their prices on cereals due to rising prices in grain; another article talked about corn as the "other gold" that was going up.
• Clothing.  Cleveland.com reports on higher cotton prices.  The article states, "The problem is a classic supply and demand imbalance, with the price of cotton rising almost 80 percent since July and prices expected to remain high. "World cotton production is unlikely to catch up with consumption for at least two years," Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst with the First Capital Group, said in an e-mail."  Another article in CNNMoney says "Attention T-shirt fans: Bag those deep discounts now because come January, stores could have you paying more for your favorite clothing."  They say that Cotton prices have nearly doubled this year, and have hit almost 15-year high.  This as a result of multiple factors in the Asian cotton producers sector that has resulted in a problem with global supply.

What do you do?  Buy up some food items in bulk now before the prices shoot up too high.  Store them in your cupboards so your grocery bill doesn't get out of hand later.  Focus on things like sugar So go buy up the t-shirts, jeans, socks, and underwear now.  It looks like we'll see those prices start to shoot up right after the first of the year.  If you have children, buy jeans and shirts in several sizes so you're good to go for the year.  Hit those after-Christmas sales hard and you'll be able to keep your budget in line even though these prices shoot up. Happy shopping! Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net