I track my expenses pretty well using a spreadsheet. Since 2005 my expenses have increased at a Compound Annual Growth Rate = 2.88%

This is not a fixed basket of goods so maybe its not exactly the same thing as a price index. You could say that it takes into account any substitutions I have made to maintain a fairly consistent, if not identical, lifestyle since 2005. (For example, I only buy steak when its on sale, so it is probably not far from what the CPI is trying to capture with all the substitution ideas, hedonic adjustments, etc.) There have been no major changes like buying or selling a home, getting married or divorced, etc. My standard of living has been more or less constant.

Now if I look at CPI-U, in three years it went from 190.7 (Jan05) to 212.516 (Jan08) for a CAGR =3.68% so for me inflation appears to be overstated by 0.80%