Call Your Sister
Call Your Sister is a podcast for related and unrelated sisters or CYS everywhere co-hosted by Alexandra Hodge and Astrid Ferguson. Every week, Alex and Astrid call each other to discuss the complexities of motherhood, sisterhood, identity struggles, dating as a single mother, sex and much more. We’re real Latinx sisters who are fiercely opinionated, and not afraid to realtalk each other about everything from (men)strual cycles and body shaming to the Platanos versus Yuccas debates and current identity life drama. We highlight women who are both trying to keep it together and got it all figured out. We also care deeply about the lived experiences of BIPOC and Lantinx women who are just trying to get through the week. We’re here for every facet of women’s humanity because we are a community, a nation of CYS everywhere.
Call Your Sister
The Cost of Living Crisis
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*“By the time you pay for groceries, that’s your whole work week of pay gone.”*
We are NOT imagining it. We are NOT bad at budgeting. This episode covers this week’s headlines AND the real financial pressure on women; housing, groceries, childcare, and how we’re actually coping.
THIS WEEK’S NEWS (discussed in episode)
- **Inflation** hit 3.8% in April — highest since 2023 — driven by the Iran war *(BLS, May 12, 2026)*
- **US–Iran War** — Operation Epic Fury launched Feb. 28. Ceasefire “on life support” as of today. Trump heading to Beijing to pressure China to broker a deal.
- **Voting Rights Act** — Supreme Court gutted Section 2 in a 6-3 ruling on April 29. States can now redraw maps to dilute Black and brown voting power. *(Callais v. Louisiana)*
- **Abortion pill** — SCOTUS temporarily extended mifepristone access while legal challenge continues.
KEY STATS
- Groceries up **30%** since 2020 | Rent up **29%** since 2020
- Daycare up **39%** since 2019 | Gas up **28%** in the last year
- **7 in 10** Americans say raising a child is unaffordable
- Women act as **“shock absorbers”** — eating less, doing more so families survive *(UN Women, 2024)*
RESOURCES
💰 **Save money:** Ibotta · Rakuten · Fetch Rewards · Flipp
🏠 **Housing help:** HUD.gov · 211.org
👶 **Childcare/special needs:** ChildCareAware.org · ARCHrespite.org · FamilyVoices.org
🍎 **Food:** FeedingAmerica.org · SNAP (fns.usda.gov)
📈 **Finance:** NFCC.org · ConsumerFinance.gov
SOURCES
1. CBS News — Affordability Crisis (2025) · cbsnews.com
1. CNBC — Cost of Living Climbing (Dec. 2025) · cnbc.com
1. Bloomberg — Cost of Living (Feb. 2026) · bloomberg.com
1. Urban Institute — Affordability Tracker (2026) · urban.org
1. UN Women — Gender & Cost-of-Living Crisis (2024) · data.unwomen.org
1. The Century Foundation — Affordability Survey (Feb. 2026) · tcf.org
1. NPR — April CPI Report (May 12, 2026) · npr.org
1. Campaign Legal Center — VRA Ruling (April 2026) · campaignlegal.org
1. NBC News — Abortion Pill SCOTUS (May 2026) · nbcnews.com
📱 DM me your coping strategies — I want to feature YOU in a future episode!
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*Call Your Sister Podcast — every Wednesday*
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