Even a family with ties to one of America’s biggest tech companies says it can no longer make the numbers work.Â
Faced with rising costs for groceries, gas, insurance and housing, a Seattle-area family is selling its home and downsizing as inflation continues to strain household budgets.
“The last year has definitely been an absolute tightening up of what were spending on,” Liesl Gatcheco told The Seattle Times in an article by business reporter Jessica Fu published Tuesday.
“Its very stressful,” Gatcheco said. “I feel like Ive been living emotionally in survival mode.”
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Fu wrote that inflation in the Seattle area “remained high” in June and continued to outpace the rest of the country. Consumer prices in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue region rose 4.5% over the past year, down from 4.9% in April but still higher than the U.S. inflation rate of 3.5%.
Gatcheco is a self-employed esthetician, whose income “has gone down as fewer clients make bookings,” according to The Seattle Times.
Her husband works at Microsoft.
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“That used to mean stability and even upward mobility,” Fu wrote. “Now, hes constantly worried about layoffs. Just last week, the company cut 4,800 workers in its Xbox division and sales teams; in 2025, it laid off 15,000 employees. This year, the tech giant also offered voluntary buyouts to 7% U.S.-based employees.”
Gatcheco said, “Working in tech used to be a sure thing, and its absolutely not anymore.”
Gatcheco and her husband, who have twins, said they are selling their home in Crown Hill, a neighborhood in the city of Seattle, where her sister also lives with them in their downstairs unit, to downsize and “take control.”
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Dusty Wilson, a math teacher at Highline College in Des Moines, about 20 minutes from Seattle, said he and his wife, Charlene, drive less and use light rail because gas has gotten so expensive.
“We were always just drivers, and then gas hit $6 a gallon,” Wilson said.
Fu also reported that costs of food at restaurants have risen 6.2% over the year ending in June.
“Expenses that used to be ordinary, like takeout and dining out, have started to feel more like indulgences, even for people who never anticipated having to scale back,” Fu wrote.
Veronica Brown, 36, who <a href="https:/
