Joe-

No venting on inflation tolerated here any longer.

We have learned that you buy stock in metals companies!!! This would be in your specific case, at least. For additional Christmas money, at the same time buy stock in scrap metal companies selling to China!

Make sure you buy the same amount of stock so it will produce profit at the same rate of your inflationary expenditure. Now, that may be a trick, but I believe others have covered it easily.

Say, where does one get all the $$ to buy the stocks & continue whatever they're doing at the same time? Well, I don't know, but just buy them.