Discussion of the Day
Has the cost of living effected you and your family?
Feb 17, 23
The cost of living has increased in so many ways: fuel, food, vacation service. Also in many other ways. It has infected my family. How had it effected yours?
Comments - Page 2
  • NO BUT WITH THE HIGH PRICES GOING UP DAILY, I AM HANGING IN THERE AND ONLY BUYING WHAT I NEED
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    • let's start with affected, not effected. unless you earn a lot more than you spend, you will be affected.
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      • No vacations and working long hours.
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        • The cost of living has challenged our family. We are eating less meat, cheaper meals. Reduced going out and travelling out of town, just can't afford it
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          • I shop between a few stores if I know the other is discounted.
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            • Buying less meat. No vacations.
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              • If anyone has ANY money left over after they have got the essentials on their grocery shop it's time to start putting aside extra food whether it's a packet of dried beans, oil or a bag of flour because the cost of grains, which help fill us up and make up a large amount of our diet, think bread for instance, will rise dramatically from mid year and will almost price most Australians, Americans etc out of being able to afford these staples. It's going to get MUCH worse and so laying aside extra and not buying unessential items is going to be vital. We all eat and many of us 3 or more times daily and try and imagine what the world would look like if a famine were to come. You can always just ignore this warning but there are people in Africa now experiencing famine and this time round they won't be the only ones! If you can grow food and have a garden then DO SO!. It's worth the effort and engage your children in this if you have them. Even if you just do garlic, onions, potatoes and squash/pumpkin these will provide essential nutrients and the potatoes are easy to grow and filling and can be cooked in a myriad of ways. Look into microgreens and buy LOTS of seeds. Good luck.
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                • The cost of living is making it almost impossible to keep up with bills. Buying less and trying to make it last more. Rent goes up and now I have to revamp everything again to make for that increase
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                  • I am doing more surveys, with lots of survey sites. Making approx an extra $100 month with them, so am managing ok, not going out unless I really have to. eating more fish than meat, buying hot roast chicken late in the day when the price has been reduced, if I am lucky. That lasts a few days.
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                    • Sounds interesting, perhaps you could the names of site’s
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                    • Helena HSusan KTC
                      The surveys depend on what country you are in. Most are Australian sites.
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                  • Sadly yes.
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                    • Yes it has i live on my own and this week my son bought my grocery list at Pak and Save. I purchased 4 tins dog food eggs bread an 1litre of milk it was $31.19. That is all i can afford this week
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                      • Most definitely. Everything is more expensive. The pension was already hard to manage on.
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                        • Yes I am a senior
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                          • Big time worry from day to da if you’ll have money to buy groceries or if you’ll have to go hungry. Even have money to fill up your tank with gas.
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                            • Of course
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                              • The sharp rise has affected our family, I've had a 2% pay rise but our grocery bill is probably about 30% higher (even with switching to cheaper generic brands etc), especially the price of Meat and Veg. But yet the kids still expect the same amount of well.....everything. We are okay but definitely struggling to get ahead.
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                                • View all 7 replies
                                • Daniel, please don't be offended by my comment but I believe that it is important for the children, if not babies and toddlers which I don't believe that yours are, are made aware of the difficulties and the rising costs of living because they, both the kids AND the high prices, are here to stay and will only get much worse. Make them write a list of what THEY want and then you or the other adult in the family if there is one, writes the grocery list for the entire family. Take the children with you to the Supermarket and tell them to put what they have on their list in their own trolley and when you get to the checkout, and use cash for this because it's a physical representation of the actual funds used to show how much is actually available, and as you go through with the family's groceries, while occasionally asking them "do you think we need this item" which can be milk, flour, pasta or apples etc they have a chance to respond after with yes or no. Only put the essential items through and leave anything like juice, biscuits etc and pay for the essential items. Then leave the checkout area and show your child the money that remains and ask them what do YOU think we should buy with what's left, and I'm hoping that they will have a greater understanding and appreciation for what is ACTUALLY spent on keeping them fed. Perhaps there IS a little money left for a treat from their trolley or maybe they would prefer the biscuits or fruit juice from your trolley instead, but kids MUST be made aware of what things COST because otherwise it's always going to cause tension and drama and that's just going to increase family division. But I would STRONGLY suggest that you get an extra grocery item such as pasta, flour, oil or dried beans every time you shop just to try to build up a small stockpile. I hope that this is helpful for you and although it's going to be a pain to do I also believe that it's the only way to ensure that your children don't keep pestering you for things which you, and many families like yours, can no longer afford. All the best to you and your family!
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                                • Daniel T 626103Michelle S 553303
                                  Hello Michelle, thank you for your input, we are pretty good with our money and quite resourceful. Our kids are well aware of our situation but are at quite a selfish age and stage (4-12 LOL).
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                                • Michelle S 553303Daniel T 626103
                                  That's good then. I had 5 of my own, all grown now, but I long remember the pleading of "can we have this" and I would always try NOT to take my kids grocery shopping for that reason. I know that it's hard on kids and especially if they have foolish parents! I wish you and your family all the best. I'm in country, NSW, Australia FYI.
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                                • Daniel T 626103Michelle S 553303
                                  I'm based in Invercargill, New Zealand
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                                • Michelle S 553303Daniel T 626103
                                  Oh, I've always wanted to visit NZ but never did. You live in a beautiful country. I hope that you weren't impacted by the recent weather and earthquake tragedies!
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                                • Daniel T 626103Michelle S 553303
                                  Fortunately, I live at the Bottom of the South Island, and haven't been affected by the earthquake and extreme weather.
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                                • Michelle S 553303Daniel T 626103
                                  That's actually the place I'd like to have visited the most!
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                              • Yep looking for specials driving less, looking through flyers, even started a Facebook page called A Way Beyond Frugal so every money saving idea going, can be shared with others , every penny counts these days or should I say nickel as Canada no longer has pennies.https://www.facebook.com/groups/296040945872900/ Here is the link for my page if anyone cares to check it out...Our group is small but effective as our members are willing to share.
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                                • That's a wonderful idea Beverly. I probably won't visit your link myself as I'm pretty good at the whole shopping frugal and baking from scratch thing, having had MORE than enough experience over many years in doing this, but I know that there will be people here for whom the website would be a blessing! Kudos to you for putting it together. All the best.
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                                • Beverly S 998439Michelle S 553303
                                  It also consists of other ways to save money such as calling your phone or cable company and asking for a discount , they all have a customer loyalty department.
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                              • Absolutely - not longer vacationing / spending less on our going gifts / shopping for groceries has also changed - we are enlarging our vegetable garden this spring to cut down on rising food costs (raw F & V’s) / repairing more things as opposed to buying replacements
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                                • View all 3 replies
                                • Are you being facetious?
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                                • Corine MMichelle S 553303
                                  No excuse the typos - autocorrect is killing me.
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                                • Oh I hate autocorrect myself!
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                              • Has affected how we shop and what makes up our household.
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                                • Constantly looking for specials and buying more supermarket brand products.
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                                • Everyone is for sure affected but some more than others. The low income or those with more than one or two children and my group retired and on a fixed income.
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                                  • I feel the need to work part time to supplement my retirement. Also, I am cutting expenses any way I can,
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                                    • Delayed my retirement plans. Guess I should know to factor long periods of negative savings into my long term budgets. Always happens when the "moral majority" start electing leaders based on their vision of a perfect world,not on their financial, economic, business or budget skills.
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                                      • Watching every dollar.
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                                        • It has just begun to affect me. I used to have money left over every month. Now I have to watch everything dollar that I spend. I can't understand what has happened. I spent money for Christmas, but since then, I have no money for fun things for extras!
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                                          • Some items go up in price in Jan. every year
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                                          • It's called inflation and it WILL get worse through the year. Start putting aside an extra bag of flour, rice, cereal etc because the prices of grains are going to go through the roof by around mid year. I could spend 10 minutes explaining why but just trust me on this! All the best.
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