'It's rough out here': Americans struggle with rising inflation

Kathryn Vaughn returned to work at a rural West Tennessee elementary school this autumn with a lot more stress on her plate than in previous years.

The 46-year-old, like many Americans, is juggling how to provide for her family with rising costs of, as she described it, "everything".

She spends her days working three different jobs to support her family of four, including as a primary school art teacher, as US inflation continues to rise.

Inflation in September was above forecasts.

Over the past 12 months, prices rose by 3.7% - up from 3.4% in the 12 months to August, according to officials numbers released on Wednesday.

High energy prices have driven up the cost of living in America as diesel prices have hit record highs and the price of gasoline has risen too, and all of this has landed on the shoulders of everyday Americans.

Once school finishes, Vaughn heads to her second job as a facilitator at an after-school programme for at-risk youth. Her five-year-old son can join too, reducing the need and cost of after-school care for Vaughn's family.

"I have done some incredibly unhinged things to survive," she said. "I hand-modeled for a local jewelry store, I sell everything that sits longer than ten minutes at my house on Facebook swap sites, I resell clothes on ThredUp and Poshmark."

Vaughn even writes obituaries for people who have died to make extra money.

And it is still not enough to support her family.

Punal Bhavsar thought 2026 was going to be the year he saved enough money to purchase a home.

"I was thinking the interest rates would decrease and then I'd be able to purchase a house, but I don't think that's likely now," he said.

The 39-year-old said the rise in the cost of goods has made saving money difficult.

And the biggest burden for Bhavsar has become the price of gasoline.

"I drive a car that takes premium gas, and unfortunately, in California and the area that I live in, it's almost $6 (£4.5)," he said.

Come November, when midterm elections happen and the economic tumult is bound to be on voters' minds, Bhavsar said he may become a single-issue voter: "For me, it's just like gas prices have got to be under control."

He described the current economic outlook as bleak, and the numbers back him up.

The Gallup Economic Confidence Index summarizes Americans' assessments of current economic conditions and economic outlook and puts them on a scale of -100 to +100. In September, Americans put that number at -40.

A summer survey from the Guardian showed a staggering 95% of respondents think the US is in an affordability crisis.

This fall, across the US, people are finding ways to cope with that.

When Caitlin Green first moved to Utah seven years ago, her mom moved her into her new home and left her with some wisdom: "If you ever need a cheap, easy meal, always get ground beef."

As prices have increased, Green has struggled to follow that guidance. She remembers paying $2 a pound for ground beef; now she is paying $8, she said.

Instead, Green and her husband sometimes choose alternatives, opting for ground turkey or ground chicken.

"[Ground beef] is almost ...not a luxury like steak... but it's just to the point where it's become a luxury; we have to think about it if we're going to purchase it," she said.

Green and her husband have gone from spending some $200 a month on groceries to $400 a month.

"I understand inflation is a thing, but I just feel like in my lifetime, I've never seen inflation hit so quickly and so drastically."

For Vaughn, the Tennessee school teacher, the difficult choices keep coming.

She was gobsmacked as her children returned to school, at the $130 bill she faced for her five-year-old son's school supplies.

Vaughn made the call to have her son purchase lunch at school each day, rather than take homemade lunches, as the cost of groceries continues to rise and she calculated it would be a cheaper choice.

The family has even made the call to forgo a trip to Florida this autumn to see Vaughn's parents because the price of gasoline is too much.

"It's rough out here," she says. "The cost of everything is insane. Gas to get to work, my insurance costs have gone up, feeding two children and a husband. It's a lot."