How the cost of living crisis has affected us and our money
A few weekends ago, my husband and I sat across from each other at a café, sharing conversation while enjoying our weekly brunch. The one thing that was different? We’d spent half our usual amount by buying cabinet food instead of ordering from the menu. Instead of waiting 15 minutes and paying $50 for two dishes, we got our food in 5 minutes and paid $25.
Since we’ve started doing this, one of the best things (apart from saving money) is: we are just as happy, and don’t feel like we’re giving anything up!
We realised that our weekly brunch ritual wasn’t about the food. With both of us working full-time and caring for a baby, our weeks are full of meetings & phone calls, daycare pick-ups & drop-offs, cooking, cleaning, chores, and other commitments. Brunch is something that helps us to be present and savour each other’s company - a way of investing in our marriage. Now, we have a way to do it more affordably.
This week, we cut out another expense, after realising it was costing us $350 per year, compared to $200 for similar services... Any guesses?
If you guessed Netflix, you’re right!
We shared our Netflix with a friend, who in turn shared their Disney+ with us. With our monthly subscription, one that paid for an extra member, it cost us $28.98 monthly or $347.76 yearly, compared to NEON’s $199.99 and Disney’s $189.99.
What do we use for entertainment now? We have NEON - which is paid up for the year, as it costs less annually - and contribute to our friend’s Disney+. This week, we’ve been loving TVNZ+ - a streaming platform that has a lot of TV shows & movies in common with Netflix, but for free!
My friend, a senior government adviser from Wellington, says:
‘I cancelled Netflix a year ago. Last week I saw a show that caught my attention, so I signed up, then cancelled immediately so I only signed up for a month. I’ve wasted so much money having Netflix and not using it! I don’t miss it at all - I watch DVDs, use TVNZ, YouTube (sometimes with one-off movie purchases, still cheaper), or play games instead.’
For recreation, we discovered a love for hiking during Covid and continue to spend our time discovering new places and enjoying beautiful scenery. We use our local council website to choose a new hike or nature walk every weekend, and love bringing our baby to enjoy the fresh air, boardwalks, lush forests and stunning mountains our country has to offer! (Mercer Bay in Piha and Hooker Valley in Aoraki are my favourites.)
We have also:
Earned supermarket gift cards from participating in clinical studies
Reduced our insurance premiums - we were lucky to have both started receiving free life insurance through our work, so adjusted our paid life insurance sum assured accordingly
Borrowed books from the library - both popular new fiction books and board books for our baby
Before having a baby, I increased my income by having several income streams: my full-time job, freelance photography, an Etsy store for my candles, market research & clinical studies, and part-time jobs in hospo & retail.
Now I realise that having time, flexibility, and spontaneity is a huge privilege: at this stage, it would be very difficult for me to say yes to a last-minute request to photograph a birthday party, or - if I had a part-time job - to count on the fact that I will have had a good sleep or that my baby will be healthy (thanks to pesky daycare bugs!). That’s why our focus, for now, is reducing expenses. I hope this has given you some inspiration if you’re also looking for ways to cut down on your expenses!
Sophia
