APPLETON, Wis. (NBC 26) — As gas prices climb in Northeast Wisconsin, some are spending more money just to keep doing their jobs.
When the pandemic hit, Shaianne Huebner started delivering food for extra cash. But her take-home pay is declining.
"We have three little kids and childcare is expensive, so I just do it in my free time," she said. "Most of my money goes to gas I feel like. You don't really make a lot."
Before this year, the Appleton resident says she made around $22 an hour doing this. Lately, it's been a different story.
"With most of it just going to the gas tank, you only get like maybe 20 bucks at the end of the day for a few hours," Huebner said.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, the consumer price index — a key measure of inflation — rose almost eight percent from a year ago. Huebner says the gas pump is posing a threat to her profits.
"When it was affordable gas, I could fill my car up $20 and be good and fill it up maybe twice a week," she said. "But you gotta fill like $35 now."
AAA reports those prices are up nearly 24 percent in the last month while inflation sits at a 40-year high.
"A very hot report and this is the sixth consecutive one," OANDA Senior Market Analyst Ed Moya said. "Right now, there's concerns that it's only gonna get a lot worse given the situation in Ukraine."
Costs have kept Huebner delivering closer to home.
"Kids want stuff... can't get it for them," she said. "[We] had to cut a lot of our subscriptions only because you can't afford it with everything now."
As regular gas averages $3.99 a gallon in Outagamie County, Huebner is taking any gains she can get from her deliveries.
"Me and my husband joke around, we're gonna buy a horse I guess," she said. "Because at this rate, if gas keeps going up, it's like most of your living is just gonna go to fill up your gas tank and really not gonna have that much."
The Federal Reserve is expected to implement interest rate hikes to try to slow inflation as soon as next week.
