With many of us struggling to keep up with the all-time high living costs, there are a few ways in which you can help yourself to keep a little pressure off. With blackouts looming in the near future and the price of everyday items going up so steep, there are a few ways to cut back and start saving now.
Blackouts
To stop the public from copping huge energy spikes, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) capped the cost of megawatts per hour (MW/h) at $300. The wholesale price of electricity is currently sitting at over $700 MW/h. To put this in perspective, the regular wholesale price for electricity is between $50 and $100MW/h. The extreme rise in prices is causing producers to pull out of the energy market leaving no emergency backup supply and so inevitably leading to blackouts across the country.
Cutting down
88% of consumers have already cut down on many household purchases such as restaurants/takeaways, meat, homewares/electronics, clothing, and even petrol. The reduction in spending averages out to around a third in each category. We can expect these percentages to rise over the next year with people doing all they can to survive financially.
Limit subscription services
Do you really need to be subscribed to Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ as well as that useless subscription sample box by which you only use one service out of each month? Probably not. On average Australians spend $60 a month just on subscription services, on top of an already existing $50 tv box subscription. You could easily save by cutting down your tv subscription channels or video streaming platforms.
Use fuel price apps/sites
As we all know fuel prices are extreme and they are not going down anytime soon. This is why using fuel price sites/apps to find the cheapest fuel is crucial to saving some cash. Travelling that extra few kilometres to get the best price will add up in overall savings.
Up your pre-game
A standard pint of beer will cost you around $10 at the pub, however, instead, you could buy a 6-pack of craft beer from the bottle shop for around $20. Buying multi-packs from your local bottle-o and having a night in will work out much cheaper as you don’t need to pay for a taxi in/out or the retail price of alcohol.
Park ‘n’ Ride
Yes, driving to the city is convenient, but it comes with an annoying day rate of $15, city traffic, and the cost of fuel. Instead, why not park at Bonython Park and catch the free tram into the city centre? Or you could park at the Adelaide entertainment centre for a flat day rate of $5 and catch the same free tram. Park and ride options are great for those long shopping days as you only have to carry your shopping on a tram for 10 minutes and you are back to your car. If you feel like you can leave the car at home and then catch public transport for a couple of dollars yields even more savings.
Plan your meals
Planning your meals is one of the most time and money-saving things you can do on a weekly basis. No more staring into the multitude of ingredients in the fridge for hours trying to come up with a meal. Using the same foods for multiple meals throughout the week can be really helpful. For example, if you buy a large pack of mince and make spag bol, then all you have to do is add some kidney beans and spice to make chilli. To take it a step further, you could use any leftover chilli to make loaded nachos. This method is very versatile and will help a lot when planning what to cook for the week and reap the savings on your weekly food bill.
What to expect for the future
Unfortunately, the foreseeable future doesn’t seem much brighter. The government’s decision to increase the minimum wage by 5.2% was a necessary decision to help bridge the gap. However, struggling will receive no additional funding to help with this $40 per employee per week increase and so, many will be forced to cut back on staff or, more concerningly, close down for good. The best thing to do now is to start cutting back and making financial sacrifices so that in the long term you can save more and be ready for the upcoming price hikes.
