We have, but not specifically because of the cost of living. More that we had an expensive holiday, and now need to focus on savings again. So I’ve been pretty insistent that we cut the thoughtless spending and the treats, at least for the rest of the year and then can re-assess.

Most of this has manifested in food budget. I’ve limited us to $15 a day each max on food spending, and that includes going out for dinner or work drinks. So if I’m going to get a few wines on friday night that’s a couple of days of making sure lunch comes from the grocery budget. So on that front I’m cooking up a weeks worth of curry or rice and beans or doing a roast if it’s on special.

I grow spinach/broc in winter and tomato/kale in summer which takes the edge off veggie shopping prices.

My nearest Pizza Hut has always been one of the good ones, so their $5.50 ham and cheese pizza is excellent value. If I wannt pig out I’ll grab one of those and put Baby Ray’s or hot sauce on it.

Petrol is a non-issue for us as we both live in our CBD close to our offices and drive a hybrid anyway. We spend like, 20 bucks a month on gas.

Here are mine:

• I don’t buy fresh greens anymore, only frozen

• almost no meat

• food shopping more at Reduced To Clear

• no visiting the op shop or Kmart

• trying to always use my energy to mix a drink of oral rehydration salts or salt instead of sometimes grabbing a juice box

• no occasional sushi

• try to keep coffee to just one instant decaf coffee a day

• cut dental hygienist visits down to 1 in the past 2 years (this one’s actually bad, I’m hoping to reverse it)

• not visit family as often (this one’s bad too)

• get people to buy me moisturiser from the supermarket for birthday and christmas

I know unless something radically changes things are going to get worse so my future ideas are:

• maybe cut out the instant decaf altogether? (This one feels hard for some reason, but that stuff is so expensive)

• plain oats instead of oats and pumpkin+sunflower seeds for breakfast

• halve my vitamin supplement again

• get the energy to gather receipts so I can try to update my disability allowance to today’s prices

I don’t know what else. Getting a bit scared tbh.

We don’t buy things when we feel that the price has crossed the reasonable threshold. This means we rarely eat out anymore, I’ve stopped buying several food items that I enjoy at the grocery store, and we’ve cancelled all of our streaming services since they’re so fragmented and expensive now. We usually spend a lot on entertainment, but companies have become so greedy that we don’t spend anything with them now. Like Netflix when they decided that they won’t let families share accounts anymore. I’ve had a Netflix subscription for over a decade. The only reason we were keeping it is because my mom and my son use it. Neither of them would subscribe on their own. But since we can’t share with them we cancelled. Great plan, Netflix!

Wife and I changed our mind about having kids.

Learn to fix things. Basic sewing, basic car maintenance, basic home maintenance. I’ve learned a lot over the years just trying to fix things myself. There’s a wealth of information on almost anything on the internet. Yes there will be a small upfront cost if you need to buy tools or supplies, but the ability to extend the life of things is worthwhile. E.g. I’ve managed to get a few more months or years from being able to fix my kids clothes or school shoes.

For me, don’t go to sites like cheapies too often. Too easy to get sucked into buying a deal of something you don’t need or had any intention of ever getting.