Shall we have a local Cost of Living moan?

[Dustyblue]

Having read some of the UK threads, I'm wondering how different it is or isn't here.

Our big increases are the usual I guess:

Food- I did a $200 Woollies shop yesterday, more a fill-the-pantry and freezer shop than fresh stuff. I unpacked it and thought "Is that it? That's all I have?"

Car Insurance- cost went up 20% and car was devalued by several thousand. Surely this will hit critical mass at some point and the insurance will be worth more than the car?

Council rates: Up 30%.

There's more.... what are yours?

We are really struggling to keep our spending under control. We have decided May is the month we stop spending more than we earn but already we are almost at zero funds :(
We do buy Woolworth gift cards via NRMA 3% discount so have enough for food but there are a few bills and bits and bobs which will be a struggle.

On dishwasher tablets- no dishwasher here which means I'm probably wasting water. But thinking about it, the qtrly water bills are about the only bill that's remained stable over time. They haven't gone up much at all in the past 2 years.

That and Vic Ambo M'Ship, one bill I never mind paying, that hasn't increased much either.

I'm saving for a deposit at the moment and living rent free so for me the interest rate is good because it helps my savings, but bad because I know that right now my mortgage affordability for my income has plummeted - so I have to spend longer saving before I can buy. Double edged sword.

I need to do some really frugal living for the next 12 months to maximise my savings to buy something before house prices start rocketing up again. That and/or start a side hustle.....

What's the deal with the NRMA gift cards? If that's because you have insurance with them!

The problem with not raising interest rates is house prices take off even more. House prices in Aus are 🤯

I was just thinking the other day after I spent $200 at Woollies, where's the rest of the bags??

Dh then had to go out the next day to buy some stuff I'd forgotten, another $40.

We're trying to buy a car. The cost of what is available is crazy. I know it's shit everywhere, but Australia has been overpriced for a loooong time, and now it's just plain bonkers.

It's NRMA roadside assist I think, that gives you discount gift cards.

If you have Woolies rewards they often give bonus points for purchasing gift cards so that's also worth looking at. Right now they have a bonus 1600 points which is around $7ish dollars in rewards I think? ($10 for every 2,000 points). Spend between $150-$199.99 on gift cards.

Thank you! I have roadside assist so will check it out.

Well I just learnt something. Will go off to Google Woolworths extra rewards!

Everything has gone up. Everything.

Coles and Woollies prices are obscene. It costs more for a few items from them than the bulk of my shop at Aldi. Fortunately I’m in a retirement village, so my main meals are catered and that’s included in the rent. Petrol prices have leapt again - two years ago $1.30 a litre, now $1.70 is a bargain. The worst regular costs for me are cat food and medication. Both my girls are on prescription food - Royal Canin Anallergenic was about $60 for 4kg four years ago. Now it’s over $100. I have to buy it in 8kg lots because that works out cheaper. The medication I have to buy is Cisapride, which is only available from compounding pharmacies. Best price I’ve been quoted is $90 for 100 pills, which would be fine if it was one a day, but it’s two a day. (The pharmacies near me quote $180 - bugger that!)

@Catsmere Royal Canin put their prices up last year by about 40%. One of our dogs is on the urinary s/o and at the vets it went up from $45 to $67!!

We shop around every time she needs a new bag and buy from various different online sites. We can usually get it for less than $55 a bag online.

We have insurance with NRMA so we can purchase via them shopping cards at a slight discount. When we first started the discount was 5% and we could buy wish cards so that covered petrol too. Now it's 3% and only particular stores.

We have the everyday extra from Woolies so once a month get 10% off.

Has anyone found a good savings account? Something above 4.6%. We don't have a lot in savings but would love to be able to get that little bit more interest.

All of the good savings accounts are linked with having everyday accounts requiring a certain amount of transactions.

My Bank SA gives me 4.5%. Not sure where you'd find over 4.6%.

I keep forgetting about gift cards. I'm pretty sure that is one of those "if you can afford to be in our club, your can save some money" things. So, we have access to them through health insurance, and things like that.

I'm freaked out because our mortgage has gone up a ton, just as dh has had to change jobs and bringing home 30% less.

In theory it's still doable, but it's very difficult timing.

I was going to start a "bargains I've spotted" thread for Oz corner. But maybe they'll just be in here?

I used to buy lots of one thing when it was very discounted, but those are rare now. Am considering closing down our big freezer, and selling it..

In our area, bulk billing is a thing of the past, and, despite feeling that we've been in far better shape so far this year, I've already got the Safety Net alert from Medicare.

We have multiple medical issues in our house, and we're very lucky that ds is in a trial, otherwise his drug would cost $25k. Our normal medicine/ medical items bill is $10k a year.

It now costs over $300 ($335 very often!) every time I do a proper aldi shop. It's not that long since it was $245.

Used to cost up to $75 to fill my car (5 years ago I guess?), now between $115 - $135, depending on the price that day.

I did all the sums before dh changed job, and it would be much cheaper to run a new electric car, than an old petrol (well, 8 years old, not really old at all!), but can't afford the outlay.

It really is true that the more money you have, the more you can save.

Does everyone use the 7/11 fuel app? We have been saving around 35-40c per litre on the app. Only works for those near 7/11 petrol stations but it’s worth downloading.

Does anyone shop at Costco? We’ve got one locally but not sure if it’s worth the membership fee for what we’d buy there.

I don’t use an app, just look on Petrol Spy for what’s cheapest in my area (usually Apco). I top up when I’ve used a quarter tank - less painful that way. It’s a 2004 Corolla, decent fuel economy iirc.

@MaitlandGirl - I don't have that, so do they give you an extra discount for using the app? I have a general site that shows you the prices locally..

@OctopusComplex with the app it searches the local 7/11s in the area and you lock in the cheapest price for your chosen type of fuel. The price lock is valid for 7 days at any 7/11 store. You either pay the fuel lock price or the price on the pump, whichever is cheaper.

My current fuel lock is 183.9 and the nearest pump price is 203.9 (premium 95 fuel).

I use the NSW Fuel check app. You select which fuel you buy, and which brand of servos you prefer, then it tells you the cheapest in the area or on your route, and trends for what day is the cheapest. I save about 30c/L just by checking the app and taking the opportunity to buy petrol when I'm out of my stupidly expensive area.

I use petrol spy and the cheapest in the area is usually a Metro Petroleum. However… Metro Petroleum (at least the one in my area) also has a ‘happy hour’ from 7pm til 5am and they knock if a further 5c a liter.

I’d been going there for some time before I noticed the (very small) sign advertising that. Now I know about it, it has been worthwhile going after 7pm to fill up.

Ooh, I use metro, will look for the happy hour..

That 7/11 app also sounds amazing!

On the back of this thread I went to aldi, but without my son.. more than $60 cheaper, so I suspect he's part of the problem 🤨

What did everyone think of last nights budget?

Personally I’d have liked more wider spread cost of living assistance but I totally understand the economics behind not splashing the cash.

We’ll benefit from the energy relief plan and the extra rent assistance but that’s it. I’m fully expecting the landlord to increase our rent when we sign a new lease so we won’t see any positive gain from the extra rent assistance, it just won’t be as much of a financial shock as it could have been.

I didn't watch, and haven't caught the news yet.
All I know is aged care RN's should get a 15% pay rise, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be conveniently classed as admin, even though I do clinical assessments and need to renew my registration every year. So I'll probably miss out 😥

Didn’t watch it (never watched a Budget in my life). My rent went up this month, it goes up annually. I just hope my damn pension goes up as well!

I know someone whose landlord is trying put up the rent by 48%! That is not a typo!

He is taking them to VCAT and trying to negotiate with the agent at the same time. He seems to know what he is doing. The CPI figure show that rents in his area only went up by 3.2% or something like that.

I do think renting rules should be federal rather than state based. In ACT, rent can only go up by inflation plus a little bit more.