Lifestyle

A Retiree Caring for Her 97-Year-Old Dad Stocked Up on Canned Vegetables on Sale. Then She Listed What Else Has Gone Up: “There Is No Mercy”

By Curtis Jones · November 1, 2026

Judy and her husband went to Walmart one night and came home with stacks of 12-can cases. The cut green beans and whole kernel corn were on sale, and she wanted enough on the shelf for winter.

“You have to get the cut green beans to get them for 50 cents,” she said in a video posted Oct. 22 on her YouTube channel, A Faithful and Simple and Retired Life With Judy (@AFaithfulandSimpleLife). French style and cream style didn’t count, she said, and peas and carrots were still 86 or 96 cents a can.

Judy, who gives only her first name, said she retired at 63 to help care for her father, who is 97. She lost the income from a part-time job, and her husband began drawing Social Security. She said she starts Medicare in December, and her husband starts in February.

She knows it looks like a lot. “That seems like an extreme, I know, but we’re not hoarding,” she said. Some will go into green bean casseroles at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and some into a dish for a church project feeding the homeless. “I didn’t spend very much at all,” she said of the trip. “I’m going to use every bit of it.”

She walks through the haul and her budget in her video on YouTube.

Then she turned to the bills. Her son’s rent for a one-bedroom apartment went up this year, she said, and a streaming subscription in his name that the family uses went up by $20 a month. “My trash bill went up from like 60 something to 90 something every 3 months,” she said. “Everything’s going up. There is no mercy.”

She said the yearly increase in benefits gets used up. “They give you a cost of living adjustment every year. But Medicare takes it,” she said. She plans to build a cash envelope budget around her husband’s Social Security, which is the larger of their two checks. Her own will shrink once her Part B premium and drug plan are taken out, she said, and she will also pay for a Medigap policy. “I’ve just got to be better, a wiser shopper than I have been this year,” she said.

Viewers chimed in. “Aldi has also put their cut green beans and whole kernel corn on 50 cents a can,” one wrote. “As someone on social security, it’s hard. So anything to save money I love to hear about,” wrote another.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports that grocery prices in September 2026 were 1.8% higher than a year earlier, while prices across the whole economy were up 3.7%. The Social Security Administration says benefits will rise 3.6% starting in January 2027. Medicare.gov lists the standard Part B premium for 2026 as $202.90 a month and says the amount can change each year.

What you can check or do. Your own numbers come first. SSA says most beneficiaries can see their COLA notice online in the Message Center of their my Social Security account starting in late November. For people on Medicare, SSA says the new 2027 benefit amount will be available in December through the mailed notice and the online Message Center.

Help with Medicare costs. SSA notes that Medicare Savings Programs may help people with limited income and resources pay Medicare premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. It says you can contact your state or local medical assistance, or Medicaid, office.

Recurring bills. Judy’s list is a reminder to compare bills that renew quietly, such as trash service and subscriptions, with last year’s.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Prices and benefit amounts vary by person and by place. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.