Speaker 1: Welcome to How Do They Afford That? The podcast that
Speaker 1: peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson.
Speaker 1: I'm an author and the co host of the business
Speaker 1: news podcast Fear and Greed, And as always i am
Speaker 1: with Canna Campbell, financial planner and founder of Sugar Mummer TV,
Speaker 1: the financial literacy platform covering YouTube, podcast books, Instagram, threads,
Speaker 1: TikTok and more.
Speaker 2: Hello, Canna, Hello, how are you?
Speaker 1: I am battling against the cost of living?
Speaker 2: You know what, you and me both, yeah, and everyone else.
Speaker 1: It's a universal thing right now. It is the big
Speaker 1: challenge from interest rates to particularly filling up the car
Speaker 1: right now. It is tough. It is very, very tough.
Speaker 1: But that's all the complaining. We're going to do, no
Speaker 1: more complaining.
Speaker 2: We have solution based. We are the glass half full
Speaker 2: type of people.
Speaker 1: Well see you are glass half full, one class half
Speaker 1: MD and we kind of balance each other out. We
Speaker 1: meet in the middle. But we are actually today going
Speaker 1: to focus on what works. It is solution based. We
Speaker 1: are focusing on how to actually improve the situation, what
Speaker 1: moves the needle and what doesn't, And then we're going
Speaker 1: to bring it all home with kind of five ways,
Speaker 1: a list five ways to cut the cost of living.
Speaker 1: This is all about improving the situation, trying to reduce
Speaker 1: the pressure on the household budget. Let's get cracking. Do
Speaker 1: you think that people tend to focus on the wrong
Speaker 1: things when we're trying to cut costs? Because I was
Speaker 1: when I was, when I was sitting down to prep
Speaker 1: for this, I was like, Okay, is there a risk
Speaker 1: that you focus on these the big picture or the
Speaker 1: small go too small on the cost of living when
Speaker 1: really the savings are to be found elsewhere.
Speaker 2: Look, more often than not, the best and biggest savings
Speaker 2: are quite often just under our nose, in plain sight,
Speaker 2: and we think, you know, we assume, oh well, the groceries,
Speaker 2: the subscriptions, the insurances, we assume they're fixed and we
Speaker 2: can't do things about it, so we immediately glaze over
Speaker 2: them and then go to the next thing.
Speaker 1: The way you're talking sounds as though they are not fixed.
Speaker 2: Well, not necessarily, but when you have been taught how
Speaker 2: to review them properly and to ask the right questions,
Speaker 2: quite often there are some fantastic savings in doing this
Speaker 2: hard work. So I don't think that anyone is necessarily
Speaker 2: looking at the wrong things trying to find savings, but
Speaker 2: rather they haven't been shown where to look and how
Speaker 2: to look properly to find the savings.
Speaker 1: Are you saying that you will tell us the right place?
Speaker 2: Is I believe I will?
Speaker 1: Well? Otherwise, what are we doing here? Really? Do you think? Then?
Speaker 1: And I'm assuming we're going to get to this list
Speaker 1: because we love making a list, and we're going to
Speaker 1: do the five kind of ways to cut costs? But
Speaker 1: is it more effective to focus on those kind of
Speaker 1: those big things, those big fixed that appear fixed costs,
Speaker 1: things like your home loan and those than it is
Speaker 1: to just try and cut like those little bits out
Speaker 1: of your everyday spending, because.
Speaker 2: Little bits really do add up.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, all right, again an incorrect assumption, good start.
Speaker 2: So I'd be focusing first as a priority on my
Speaker 2: sort of hit list of if I was attacking my budget,
Speaker 2: which I do on a regular basis, by the way,
Speaker 2: but I'd be focusing on the biggest expenses first because
Speaker 2: if you can find even a small percentage of those
Speaker 2: big savings, that's going to have the biggest uplift in
Speaker 2: helping free up some cash in your budget, but I
Speaker 2: would still also be looking at the most frequent expenses
Speaker 2: as well. And I think this is where a lot
Speaker 2: of people do get into the trap of thinking, oh, well,
Speaker 2: I'll just cut out my takeaway coffee because it's easier
Speaker 2: to do. But we put off calling up our banks,
Speaker 2: calling up our mortgage broker, you know, speaking to our
Speaker 2: property manager, looking at our insurance policies and what the
Speaker 2: finer details, because sometimes that can seem overwhelming, too much
Speaker 2: hard work, and we don't even realize actually, we could
Speaker 2: probably save twenty percent on our insurance premiums by taking
Speaker 2: out things that we are paying for what we don't
Speaker 2: necessarily need any more.
Speaker 1: But to be fair, cutting out the daily coffee is
Speaker 1: a lot less confrontational.
Speaker 2: That's the problem. This is where we need to really
Speaker 2: step up, be accountable, okay, And at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, do we want to save money or not?
Speaker 2: And perhaps you can find big enough savings by doing
Speaker 2: that hard, deep financial work within your budget so that
Speaker 2: you don't necessarily have to completely give up that takeaway
Speaker 2: coffee that perhaps brings you so much joy and actually
Speaker 2: makes this world a lot more livable and enjoyable as
Speaker 2: it is obviously an incredibly tough economic condition that we're
Speaker 2: living in and navigating right now.
Speaker 1: It is tough, really tough right now. Is there though,
Speaker 1: a risk of kind of like burning out right if
Speaker 1: you're trying to cut too much too quickly. Are you
Speaker 1: just going to get completely jack of it and just
Speaker 1: go no, I can't do this.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, And this is where people really start to
Speaker 2: fall off the track and sometimes even rebel and undo
Speaker 2: all their hard work by self distracting. It's got to
Speaker 2: be sustainable. So whatever you are trimming, you know, you've
Speaker 2: got to think can I actually get through this long term?
Speaker 2: And I think when it comes to budgeting, it's really
Speaker 2: about thinking coming from a mindset of it being intentional
Speaker 2: rather than restrictive. However, I'm also someone who's a big
Speaker 2: believer in mini challenges like bursts and spurts, where you go,
Speaker 2: all right, I'm going to tighten the belt for two
Speaker 2: weeks for fun, if you're up for a bit of
Speaker 2: a challenge, and see what can come from that. So
Speaker 2: if you want to do short, sharp bursts, of course,
Speaker 2: but the big picture needs to be sustainable and you
Speaker 2: need to be building a system behind the way that
Speaker 2: you're spending money and managing your cash flow and your budget.
Speaker 2: That actually supports you, not exhausts you.
Speaker 1: Oh I like that supports, not exhausts. It seems like
Speaker 1: a good time to get into our list, because there
Speaker 1: is nothing more supportive than a good list.
Speaker 2: Right well, I'm hoping what we share will help people
Speaker 2: have a bit of a financial reset and help people,
Speaker 2: you know, I guess, feel a bit safer with where
Speaker 2: their money is going and know that there is an
Speaker 2: ability to at some stage, you know, stay on track
Speaker 2: to the best of their ability.
Speaker 1: So we're going to together a list of five ways
Speaker 1: to cut the cost of living. When I decide how
Speaker 1: many numbers, how many things we're going to do on
Speaker 1: all this, I do it basically to taunt you, because
Speaker 1: I know you have a bit of a thing with numbers,
Speaker 1: and you like it to be a particular way.
Speaker 2: It's not a particular way. I like it to be
Speaker 2: a particular number.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and five would not be very satisfactory to you,
Speaker 1: would it.
Speaker 2: I am feeling a little bit fragile and imbalanced right now.
Speaker 2: You like your it's not an even number thing, it's ten.
Speaker 2: I just like the number ten.
Speaker 1: Well, this is half. It's halfway there.
Speaker 2: It's just that I'm mentally coaching myself.
Speaker 1: Just make them all doubly good, and that way they
Speaker 1: will pretty much kind of equate to ten.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm just going to focus on the richness that
Speaker 2: comes from these five and the doubling the value then
Speaker 2: then makes it technically ten.
Speaker 1: Oh, this is so satisfying. This sounds like such a
Speaker 1: victory for me. Okay, number one on the list of
Speaker 1: ways to cut the cost of living take it away
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 2: Obviously the housing, so whether you are renting or whether
Speaker 2: you have a mortgage, So this is obviously the biggest expense,
Speaker 2: according to the ABS, for most Australians right now. So
Speaker 2: if you have a mortgage, you've got to get on
Speaker 2: the phone and speak to your bank and ask them
Speaker 2: if you can if you can get a better deal.
Speaker 2: Otherwise you're going to look at walking. If you don't
Speaker 2: want to make that phone call, speak to a mortgage
Speaker 2: broker and if you're finding that money is particularly tight.
Speaker 2: A great thing about a mortgage broker is they can
Speaker 2: look at your loan term. Now, this is not something
Speaker 2: I would ever recommend unless you're in a serious situation,
Speaker 2: but perhaps you know you're ten years left on your
Speaker 2: home loan, but money is extremely tight right now and
Speaker 2: you're worried that you're going to default. This is the
Speaker 2: phone call to make to say, look, can I potentially
Speaker 2: look at changing the loan term? Not something I want
Speaker 2: to recommend, and I'm not formally recommending it, but these
Speaker 2: options worth considering that can actually help you stay on
Speaker 2: track still keep the roof over your head. And you
Speaker 2: know that's basically restructuring the loan and of course trying
Speaker 2: to get a better rate. And if you don't ask,
Speaker 2: you don't get because we all know that. You know,
Speaker 2: loyalty tax is expensive.
Speaker 1: And I've made that call to the bank to ask
Speaker 1: for a better home line and it was so much
Speaker 1: easier than I thought it was going to be because
Speaker 1: of the thing is they deal with these calls every
Speaker 1: single day. And the thing you need to remember is
Speaker 1: that you're not asking for the money out of the
Speaker 1: person's pocket who's answering the phone. They are representing a
Speaker 1: big corporation and they are trained in this process and
Speaker 1: it is just based on the numbers. They will look
Speaker 1: at it. They will look at how long you've been
Speaker 1: a customer with the bank. They'll look at kind of
Speaker 1: your repayment history and how much equity you have in
Speaker 1: your in your home. It just pays to ask, and
Speaker 1: the worst that they can say is no. And sure
Speaker 1: you feel a little bit sheepish afterwards, but you might
Speaker 1: also be way better off.
Speaker 2: But also you actually then can feel good about yourself
Speaker 2: that you've made that call and you had to go. Yep,
Speaker 2: you haven't left that stone unturned. And you are my
Speaker 2: exact You are the evidence in front of me about
Speaker 2: people not looking at the most obvious ones in front
Speaker 2: of you. You know you put it off for so long,
Speaker 2: because I know you put it off for so long.
Speaker 2: I hounded you for so long with it making that years.
Speaker 1: Yes, that I might be overdue to make that call again, Well.
Speaker 2: Every eighteen months is what my mortgage broker recommends.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm I'm at close to it.
Speaker 2: Make that phone call. Won't hurt past it?
Speaker 1: Oh God, I'm sorry. I've done you have you have,
Speaker 1: but I just sometimes accidentally disregard your advice.
Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about renting. I was going
Speaker 2: to ask you because this is important. Not everyone has
Speaker 2: a mortgage, and there are people who are renting but
Speaker 2: also rent investing as well. So, you know, I think
Speaker 2: speaking to your property manager and looking at your living
Speaker 2: situation and you know, perhaps it's time to look at
Speaker 2: perhaps a different area. Maybe it is time to look
Speaker 2: at moving, or maybe you can speak to the property
Speaker 2: manager or perhaps some people in situations where they're not
Speaker 2: dealing with the property manager, they're dealing with an owner directly,
Speaker 2: and they can speak to them about the loan term.
Speaker 2: What are there some things they can potentially do to
Speaker 2: the house to add value of the apartment, to add
Speaker 2: value that's going to help, or perhaps extend the lease
Speaker 2: so they've got a longer lease in place to help
Speaker 2: protect them. So having those conversations or perhaps you know,
Speaker 2: if you can't, maybe look at moving. You know, you
Speaker 2: look at walk what can we do with this space?
Speaker 2: Can we look at renting out the car spot, Can
Speaker 2: we look out if you have a spare bedroom, can
Speaker 2: you potentially look at that, or you know, can you
Speaker 2: move into a friend's house on the weekends and look
Speaker 2: at Airbnb if your property manager and the owner actually
Speaker 2: allows that. And I've shared this before. I did this
Speaker 2: with Tom when we were first got together. You know,
Speaker 2: we would take turns in renting our places out on
Speaker 2: Airbnb and it helped hugely, so you know there are
Speaker 2: options worth exploring.
Speaker 1: I find that really interesting the idea of a value
Speaker 1: exchange there as well, that if you talk directly to
Speaker 1: your landlord or to the property manager and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I have these skills, I have the ability to do
Speaker 1: some maintenance, to repair some things. Is there an agreement
Speaker 1: that we can come to that might actually make it
Speaker 1: a little bit more affordable to live right now?
Speaker 2: You would be surprised how often I have had conversations
Speaker 2: with people who have done that. You know, you know
Speaker 2: someone is particularly good at handyman skills. They've fixed up things,
Speaker 2: or they've paid for the apartment to be painted, not
Speaker 2: at the owner's expense, or that you know, I've got
Speaker 2: a situation where you're not looking at extending at least,
Speaker 2: but they'll agree to stay in it for a longer
Speaker 2: period of time and I'm not going to make any
Speaker 2: changes whatsoever, and may even have you to look at
Speaker 2: a lower rand to make sure that they can stay
Speaker 2: longer and take care of the place. And you know,
Speaker 2: owners of properties, no, it's incredibly expensive to lose a tenant,
Speaker 2: even you know it's going to be time in between
Speaker 2: you've got to pay a property manager or leasing fee
Speaker 2: all over again. Get it photographed, get it, you know, repainted, recarpeted, potentially,
Speaker 2: it is a huge headache. Keeping people in your investment
Speaker 2: property is something that you want to do, and you
Speaker 2: can use that information to your advantage to try and
Speaker 2: negotiate some form of savings to help you keep your
Speaker 2: head above water.
Speaker 1: All right, so number one is housing. Let's jump straight
Speaker 1: onto number two.
Speaker 2: Food. Okay, okay, So keeping food more financially friendly is actually,
Speaker 2: I think a lot easier than we think. And the
Speaker 2: amount of people that tell me, oh, I can't keep
Speaker 2: our grocery bills under control, and I start exploring and
Speaker 2: go all right, what are we doing here? What are
Speaker 2: you doing? Tak me through how you go to the shops.
Speaker 2: Turning up to the supermarket with no list whatsoever. That
Speaker 2: is a you know, one way ticket to spend and
Speaker 2: waste a whole pile of money, you know, checking what
Speaker 2: you've already got in your freezer, your fridge and your pantry,
Speaker 2: doing meal planning, which you and I both know is
Speaker 2: really important, you know, buying in bulk obviously, keeping in
Speaker 2: mind with you at the storage for those particular things.
Speaker 2: Even this morning, actually, we were running low on cleaning
Speaker 2: products and I was on Amazon and I noticed one
Speaker 2: of the cleaning products we used. I could buy seven
Speaker 2: bottles of it for twenty dollars, and that normally cost
Speaker 2: me about five dollars a bottle from my normal supermarket.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it. So, you know, buying in Bolk
Speaker 2: can often be a great opportunity. Or if you don't
Speaker 2: want to necessarily buy that many, speak to your friends,
Speaker 2: speak to your neighbors, perhaps they need those items too,
Speaker 2: and you can start your own sort of mini cop
Speaker 2: if you like. You know, and keeping meals simple, and
Speaker 2: this is something we've really been doing in our family,
Speaker 2: you know, like I've got three kids, can sometimes be
Speaker 2: very fussy. They like one meal one night and they
Speaker 2: don't like it the next, but just keeping it very simple,
Speaker 2: not expensive gourmet ingredients anymore, just and there's some really
Speaker 2: great cookbooks out there, and there are so many accounts online,
Speaker 2: particularly TikTok, which my son uses all the time, where
Speaker 2: you can find some really budget friendly meals and inspiration
Speaker 2: that are actually not bland but really quite delicious and
Speaker 2: of course healthy.
Speaker 1: The one that we talk about a bit is for ingredients. Yes,
Speaker 1: the series of recipe books which is based on just
Speaker 1: four ingredients and you can add things to them from there,
Speaker 1: but four ingredients is all you need then to get
Speaker 1: the basic meal together. And it's just a great shortcut
Speaker 1: for when you're shopping. And we love to We do
Speaker 1: all of our groceries online because one of the things
Speaker 1: is if you're shopping on coals or woolies or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, you're doing it on the app or doing
Speaker 1: it on the website. You are not cruising around the supermarket,
Speaker 1: and you are not just being tempted by all of
Speaker 1: the sales, all of the special and kids aren't putting
Speaker 1: extra things in and just asking for more. You can
Speaker 1: just get what you need and you can see the
Speaker 1: tally of That's.
Speaker 2: My big thing. Yeah, I love the tally because I
Speaker 2: can we have a set budget each week for groceries,
Speaker 2: and I can see if we're approaching it and we've
Speaker 2: gone over, I can quickly review it and take things
Speaker 2: out and there's none of that embarrassment at the end
Speaker 2: of the you know, the checkout to cue of people
Speaker 2: behind and you're like, oh my goodness, I've spent way
Speaker 2: too much. It is easy, especially with clicking collect. You
Speaker 2: don't even need to pay for groceries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, indeed, so pay You do need to.
Speaker 2: Pay for groceries. You don't need to pay for delivery.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, not paying for it's that's that.
Speaker 2: Would be a one way ticket to go to jail.
Speaker 1: Indeed, theft. Okay, that is number two. Food. We're going
Speaker 1: to take a very quick break and come back and
Speaker 1: get three, four, and five, and we are running shorter time,
Speaker 1: so you are going to have to probably speed through
Speaker 1: hammer through these tips back in a moment, Cana. We
Speaker 1: are talking today about five ways to cut the cost
Speaker 1: of living. So far, we've had number one, which is housing.
Speaker 1: Whether you are you have a mortgage or whether you
Speaker 1: are renting, there are ways to save on both of those.
Speaker 1: Number two is food, trying to cut the grocery bill.
Speaker 1: What's number three utilities?
Speaker 2: So most people don't realize loyalty is really rewarded, particularly
Speaker 2: with banks and utility providers. So calling them up say
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of leaving the shop online. You can use
Speaker 2: all the comparison websites as a bit of ammunition up
Speaker 2: your sleeve. I do this every year for financial I
Speaker 2: do this every year for frugal February. And I think
Speaker 2: last this year I saved was it ninety dollars on
Speaker 2: my energy bill and maybe thirty dollars per month on
Speaker 2: my gas bill. Like that's a huge savings to bank.
Speaker 2: So make those calls, and that I've shared before as
Speaker 2: a quick hack, have the number saved in your phone,
Speaker 2: have against the number your account number, so it's quickly
Speaker 2: and easily referenced. You can do it sitting on the
Speaker 2: bus on the way to work. You could do it,
Speaker 2: you know, while you're maybe folding laundry on speakerphone. You know,
Speaker 2: just get make those phone calls and ask and use
Speaker 2: those comparison websites. And there's some great government websites as
Speaker 2: well to help you compare different plans and what's right
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 1: It's another one of those that it's just it pays
Speaker 1: to make the call.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
Speaker 1: But I don't know about you, but I find electricity
Speaker 1: quite dense. I understand. So when say with your mortgage,
Speaker 1: your home loan, it's quite straightforward to say, okay, this
Speaker 1: bank is offering this interest rate and it is for
Speaker 1: a thirty year loan. All right, I understand that. But
Speaker 1: all of a sudden when you are comparing electricity plans,
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like you are comparing apples with apples.
Speaker 1: You are suddenly comparing different on peak and off peak
Speaker 1: rates and kind of there's the shoulder periods and all
Speaker 1: these other little incentives and things that are in there.
Speaker 1: I find that quite challenging.
Speaker 2: You need to understand, you need to have a copy
Speaker 2: of your most recent bill so you can look at
Speaker 2: your usage and also consider see what time of the
Speaker 2: year we're in, you know, is it have we just
Speaker 2: come out of a really hot summer where you're located
Speaker 2: and you've been cranking up their conditioning, or you know,
Speaker 2: perhaps you've been away and you know your usage is
Speaker 2: misleadingly low. Perhaps, So that's really important and like getting
Speaker 2: someone to compare your usage.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but the key is have your bill there,
Speaker 1: because that boils information. Yeah, okay, that's number three power
Speaker 1: bills and gas so utilities, number four.
Speaker 2: Transport obviously in particular, you know, trending topic fuel prices,
Speaker 2: you know, so you know, looking at you know, when
Speaker 2: this is actually kind of ironic. Literally on the weekend,
Speaker 2: someone had a conversation with me about buying a new
Speaker 2: car when they should buy a new car, I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: hold on to that car. You know. It is like
Speaker 2: avoid these larger expenses as much as you can until
Speaker 2: the dust cells. You've got greater sort of financial clarity,
Speaker 2: you know, particularly when you're if you're this person was
Speaker 2: complaining about how expensive everything is right now, how tight
Speaker 2: things are, you know, being really strategic with your fuel usage.
Speaker 2: I'm curious to know have you changed the way that
Speaker 2: you use your family car since fuel prices have skyrocketed.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we are trying to use it a lot less.
Speaker 2: I'm being so much more strategic where you know, if
Speaker 2: I have to pick a child up, I would normally
Speaker 2: just go pick a child up and then maybe delay
Speaker 2: picking another one or go to the supermarket later on
Speaker 2: that day. It is now one very efficient, sometimes very
Speaker 2: stressful with three kids a trip where I try and
Speaker 2: just do it all in one swoop, because I mean
Speaker 2: it is just painful filling up petrol now and just
Speaker 2: seeing the impact on you know, your budget and where
Speaker 2: that money has to come from, where you've got to
Speaker 2: find it to help keep petrol in the car. Obviously,
Speaker 2: then there's the obvious ones like public transport, you know,
Speaker 2: avoiding obviously you know, long trips if you can. Car
Speaker 2: pulling is another big one that I've been doing a
Speaker 2: lot with my friends, you know, avoiding, you know, if
Speaker 2: we're meeting up somewhere, we all go in a separate car,
Speaker 2: you know, like we previously did, or each got our
Speaker 2: own uber if we were you know, drinking alcohol. Perhaps
Speaker 2: now it's like, no, I'm going to swing by and
Speaker 2: pick you up and we'll all go together. And then
Speaker 2: the other person obviously shouts the uber home and you know,
Speaker 2: public transport, like it's just fantastic if you are in
Speaker 2: a position where you can access public transport of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, number five, what have you got for us?
Speaker 1: Because it feels like you've actually covered all of the
Speaker 1: big areas that I could think of. This is a
Speaker 1: real mystery.
Speaker 2: So it's actually medical. But I also want to be
Speaker 2: very careful here because obviously access and options aren't always
Speaker 2: of you know, equal value opportunity. But not everyone necessarily
Speaker 2: has this like the luxury of a medical center around
Speaker 2: the corner or a doctor that they can in their
Speaker 2: local town. But you know, looking at certain situations perhaps
Speaker 2: where you can maybe access telehealth or a bulk billing service,
Speaker 2: you know, when you go to the chemist and you're
Speaker 2: filling scripts because I know a lot of people she's
Speaker 2: skipping filling their scripts from the recent studies that have
Speaker 2: been released, which is really frightening and really concerning, is
Speaker 2: you know, is there a generic medication that they can
Speaker 2: switch to without compromising on the quality. And also taking
Speaker 2: a proactive approach in managing your health and wellbeing so
Speaker 2: that you avoid having to go to the doctors in
Speaker 2: the first place. And by no means what I ever say,
Speaker 2: don't go to save money, That's far from it, but
Speaker 2: you know, just taking I guess a more mindful, intentional,
Speaker 2: holistic approach with managing your health, staying fit, getting outside,
Speaker 2: having the power of connection with your community, you know,
Speaker 2: understanding when you do need to go to a doctor
Speaker 2: or when it's such too much more serious you need to
Speaker 2: go and see a specialist. And even saying to your doctor,
Speaker 2: I'm on a really tight budget. Is there any chance
Speaker 2: you can actually tick a box sort of on a
Speaker 2: scan or can you ask the doctor if they do
Speaker 2: in thing bulk billing, because they're conversations I've definitely had
Speaker 2: and it has saved me money.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is if you do have health
Speaker 1: private health insurance is to have a really good look
Speaker 1: at what is on offer through your fund and there
Speaker 1: there are often benefits there that you may not have
Speaker 1: actually used, and you may not be aware that you
Speaker 1: might be able to get, say a portion of your
Speaker 1: gym back, for instance. Or the one that I love
Speaker 1: is that if you're in a capital city, a lot
Speaker 1: of the big private health insurers now have clinics that
Speaker 1: are based on eye care, dent and care where you
Speaker 1: can take the whole family in get a check up,
Speaker 1: get an eye test, get.
Speaker 2: It clean, fluoride, and they'll often be no fee, no fee,
Speaker 2: or it's a fraction of what you'd pay. And I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm very open when we are with HCF and I
Speaker 2: use the dental clinic for all of us. And you know,
Speaker 2: there was a bit of a communication breakdown Thomas spending
Speaker 2: a fortunate the dentist and it wasn't til I cottoned
Speaker 2: on and saw the bit invoices that I was like, no,
Speaker 2: you get it for free. And he's been doing it
Speaker 2: ever since. He's like, this is brilliant, this is great.
Speaker 1: Hopecially for kids. How much trouble did you get in well?
Speaker 2: And you know what I am to blame because it
Speaker 2: was a communication breakdown, so a lot. Yes, I could
Speaker 2: both from travel.
Speaker 1: All right, okay, all right, that's a good list. That
Speaker 1: is five good things. The other thing when I was well,
Speaker 1: let me recap the list. First number one was of
Speaker 1: course housing. Number two is food. Number three utilities so
Speaker 1: your power bill and your gas bill. Number four is
Speaker 1: transport and on that. I had to get the car
Speaker 1: service recently, worst possible time because it's just transport costs
Speaker 1: are going through the roof. And again it was just
Speaker 1: being really upfront with the mechanic at the outset. Basically,
Speaker 1: I said, I just need this to pass red Jo,
Speaker 1: I just just do what is needed for that. And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it went from us. It went
Speaker 1: from a major logbook service down to just a small
Speaker 1: service enough to kind of pass. From four new tires,
Speaker 1: it went to two tires and things like that, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, still ridiculously expensive, right, but it
Speaker 1: was also just a little bit of being upfront right
Speaker 1: from the outset can actually save you a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And maybe when things ease, when the pressure isn't on
Speaker 1: the household budget so much, I can go back and
Speaker 1: kind of do the rest of those things later. But
Speaker 1: rather than having to find the money now for all
Speaker 1: of those things, just being honest from the.
Speaker 2: Outset, you start to come from place, you start opening
Speaker 2: up the conversation around solutions. Examples of getting new ties.
Speaker 2: Perhaps they go okay, well in that case, knowing that
Speaker 2: about you, why don't we just brutate the tires and
Speaker 2: put the back ones on the front, and then you
Speaker 2: can get another x amount kilometers. So just you are
Speaker 2: kicking the can down the road a little bit, but
Speaker 2: it just helps you get through the next couple of months,
Speaker 2: which was what we're all needing right now. It's short
Speaker 2: term solution indeed.
Speaker 1: Indeed, and the last one, of course was medical and
Speaker 1: that completes our list. We are over time, but in
Speaker 1: thirty seconds or less. If someone is feeling completely overwhelmed
Speaker 1: right by rising costs, they're just coppying it from every side.
Speaker 1: What is the first practical step that they can do
Speaker 1: right now to regain control.
Speaker 2: With awareness, Stop buring your head in the sand and
Speaker 2: ignoring this. It is everybody needs to be looking at
Speaker 2: where their money goes, their budgets and their financial goals,
Speaker 2: and quit the judgment. We're all in this together. You
Speaker 2: know it's really hard. I mean, the abs have come
Speaker 2: out and said, you know, the biggest drivers of inflation
Speaker 2: right now are housing, food, energy, So everybody is under
Speaker 2: huge amounts of pressure and stretched. You know you are
Speaker 2: not alone, but we also need to be kind to ourselves,
Speaker 2: like drop the judgment. And when you get some clarity
Speaker 2: as to where your money is going, it gives you
Speaker 2: back a sense of control. And the smallest tiniest changes
Speaker 2: in your budget, particularly when you can implement them on
Speaker 2: a consistent basis, can definitely transform your financial position over time.
Speaker 2: So please don't ever turn your nose up. But oh well,
Speaker 2: why would I bother for ten dollars a week saving
Speaker 2: you know what? Ten dollars a week is over five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars a year. That money I'd rather be in
Speaker 2: your pocket making you feel better?
Speaker 1: Well said? All right? If people want more information from you,
Speaker 1: where do they find you?
Speaker 2: The best place to get ahold of me is always
Speaker 2: on Instagram at Sugar Mama TV, and you.
Speaker 1: Can hear me every day with Sean Aylmer on Fear
Speaker 1: and Greed business news. You can use thank you for
Speaker 1: listening to how do they afford that? Remember to hit
Speaker 1: follow on the podcast, and the very best thing that
Speaker 1: you can do is tell somebody else. And if you
Speaker 1: know someone who might be struggling with the cost of living,
Speaker 1: then send them a link to this episode and they
Speaker 1: can hear some of these little pearls of wisdom for themselves.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your company. Join us again
Speaker 1: next week.