The inside of your purse contains more than chaos. It better — the contents represents a host of expenses. If you think you've been stretching to pay the bills, it is not your imagination.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics totes up the price of goods and services and calculates the monthly Consumer Price Index. Most are going up, although the pace of increases has slowed — at least for items that aren't food. The BLS has been criticized for understating inflation and what people really spend.

Food and energy account for about $1 of every $4 consumers spend — more if their paycheck is modest. Even the BLS says prices are outpacing typical wage gains for Americans.

All told, the CPI was 3.9 percent higher than in April 2007. Here's a peek at personal items, and their price changes from a year ago, pegged to Wednesday's CPI release.

• Related: Cost of groceries gnaws at budgets

Food: up 5% The expense that no one can escape — food prices have been soaring because of global demand and the shift of corn crops to fuel. Cereals up 8.9% Meats up 3.7% Dairy up 11.8%	Housing: up 3% Home prices down, rents up, heating and cooling more costly. Natural gas, electricity up 6.6% Rent up 3.6% Furnishings down 0.1%
Apparel: down 0.7% The good news that may be ending — products from labor whose wages are rising. Women and girls' clothes down 5.0% Infant and toddlers up 0.8%	Transportation: up 7.2% Fuel prices soar, but the vehicles get cheaper. Gasoline up 20.7% New cars down 1.3%
Education/communication: up 3.2% Send the kid to community college, and buy her two laptops. Tuition up 5.6% Books and supplies up 6.7% Computers down 13.2%	Medical care: up 4.3% If gas prices make you walk, maybe you will stay healthy. Professional services up 3.3% Hospital services up 7.7% Commodities up 3%
Recreation: up 1.2% The price of fun is holding steady as long as you don't go out to dinner. Video and audio up 0.3%	Other goods and services: up 3.5% Addiction costs money; lipstick, not so much. Tobacco and smoking up 5.2% Personal care products up 0.5%

— File photos