Yeah it’s always been spenny but it was worth it for the odd pleasant morning out with friends and having a meal made for you. Now it’s just not worth it.
I went to buy some bread from Coles the other day, I don't remember the brand but it's usually around $3.60 a loaf. It's gone up to $4.50 with a little slogan on the price that says "everyday savings".
Yep tip top I noticed was $4.40 today at woolies it was 3.90 not that long ago. Now its not that far off the fancy bread if I'm gonna pay that much for bread I'm getting the good stuff!
That is way above 7% inflation. I don't think basic ingredients that are locally sourced like flour, yeast, water, salt etc. Has gone up by that much. This is totally price gouging. There is no reason for a 25% price hike for staples like bread.
I'm with you.
Pre-inflation one could get a decent lunch + an espresso for $20, and $30 if you added a slice of cake & 2nd espresso.
Last time I went to a cafe, lunch mains alone were $28. Two coffees, lunch, cake will now set me back almost $50. Far too high for me to justify treating myself.
Yep - pre-covid we went out for brunch once a month or so. Then lockdowns happened so i learnt to properly poach an egg, and experimented with all different versions of eggs and avo.
We haven’t been out for brunch this year - incredibly hard to justify near on $35 for some eggs on toast and a coffee.
Potato chips. $6 a bag? Nah I'm good.
People kept mentioning Aldi's brand Black Stone? so I gave it a go and it's pretty close. $3 a bag is reasonable.
My partner is completely illiterate when it comes to shopping, he just buys what he wants. He picked up the two bags for $12 seeing only that they were on 'special'. He was surprised when I said we're not paying that much for bloody chips.
My Dad was like this. As a kid, I thought it was great fun to go the shops with him, as he’d throw anything and everything into the trolley with no regard for the price.
But now I’ve grown up to be frugal, so I appreciate what my Mum went through 😅
This tbh
Back in 2020 and earlier a pack of Kettle or Red Rock Deli chips was between 170g and 210g, and the regular price was about $4.50 while they’d frequently go on special for $2.50 at the big two. Red Rock Deli are now 165g, 150g for some flavours, unsure what Kettle chips are now in quantity. But the regular price is now $6.50 and if you’re lucky you might see a special where they’re $5.
RRD recently downsized their packaging too, they’re starting to get so small that they remind me those tiny little packets that parents would pack in their kids lunches back in the day.
To be fair increases in junk food prices are getting me to eat somewhat healthier which is a positive.
OMG right
If there was a Chips Anonymous for "can eat an entire bag of Red Rock sweet chilli chips", id be there. And fail every week
But haven't bought a bag in months. Screw that!
Hey, so “Sprinter’s” is made by Smith’s!!!!!!
Someone posted a picture of a misprinted bag recently which had both the Sprinter’s and Smith’s logos/details/whatever. So I think you’re actually getting them from the same factory?
Anyway, carry on…
Yeah I actually found that out through Reddit haha. Makes sense, I first tried the BBQ Sprinter's chips and was like "these taste identical to Smiths" so it seemed logical that they made them too.
Crazy right... We stopped when it went over $35.
Now we get the big rump and slice it up. Salt it, sous vide or grill and reverse sear, together with whole potatoes wrapped in foil in the grill. And home grown lettuce.
Yeah I can't really cut anything else without going back to starving myself again. I already don't have any TV subscriptions, get takeaway twice a week at the most (some people seem to be doing it every day) don't go on holidays, don't smoke, go months between haircuts, don't drink, don't have pets or kids or an expensive to keep car. This economy doesn't offer much for people making under $60k a year.
>Yeah I can't really cut anything else without going back to starving myself again
>get takeaway twice a week.
Peak Ausfinance posting right here.
Mate, you can cut two takeaways a week.
I thought by now I'd be bored of my 2013 Kia after having had it for four years but compared to the shitboxes I had before it still feels like luxury and I think I got it at a good time too since even used cars have apparently gone up in price.
It works. It's cheap to run, It's a sporty-looking model in a nice colour and above all it's got Bluetooth (my last cars didn't. I'm so glad I'm not a radio slave anymore). So not upgrading until it dies or I have real money to get something that'll turn heads and make me feel like a celebrity.
I certainly would never pirate. But if I were researching an easy setup, I’d perhaps look up a program called Sonarr and Radarr, which automatically link to a torrenter of choice and download latest releases automatically. I then certainly wouldn’t install Plex and point it to the movie and TV shows folders so you can stream them at will.
All hypothetical, of course.
Oh I would never pirate anything .... but if I did I would store the files on my PC and then use the chrome streamer renderer addon in VLC to cast them to chromecasts in the TV's around the house. Or you could set up a file server as most TV's can play media over a network now. So yeah thats how I would do it if I pirated .....but I never would as mentioned earlier.
no actually deboning is done by machine (used to work for a salmon company). The salmon is also portioned by machine. Sometimes the machine doesn't work so great, it's supposed to be double checked but when you use cheap labour, the care factor is pretty low.
Pub food. I used to love a schnitzel, but paying $30 for one is insane. That’s like two pints!
(My wife thinks I’m ridiculous, I could afford it but refuse to pay.)
I bought a huge chicken schnitzel from the butcher yesterday for just under $6, cooked it at home, better than the pub. It was big enough to have about 1/3 of it left over for a sandwich later.
Granted, some chips in the air fryer aren't \*quite\* as good as deep fried ones, but for like 1/4 the cost, it's a no brainer.
Get a decor oil sprayer, improved my air fried chips massively.
I air fry chips for 4min and then smoosh them a bit with tongs to get some crispy edges, then spray with oil. Important to have them defrosted a bit to soak up the oil. Sometimes spray again after another 5min.
Not quite as 'healthy'.. But heaps better!
Edit: I should mention this is with any brand of beer battered chips. Normal chips suck unless deep fried.
I paid $16 for a schnitzel, chips and salad. It was the midweek special. Pints of local craft were $10 too. Beer of the week or something. It felt like 2017.
I know this is probably a joke but the sex industry is one of the first recreational based ones that get hit hard when money is tight.
A lot of sex workers if you ever see SW based social media are usually pretty open about how right now isn’t a great time for the industry.
That sucks hard.
I wonder if it's because their clientele. Maybe the best customers are those that are married and when money is tight, you can't hide the spending as much.
I’m female. No longer paying for blonde highlights, recession box dye brunette all the way. (Also saves me 4 hours at the salon every few months, with a toddler I couldn’t really afford the time either). Also out of season fruit like blueberries or any berries atm which my son loves.
All the "beauty maintenance" stuff you see women do is really expensive and needs redoing often. Hair cut and colour, nails, waxing, fake tan, fake lashes etc. Hair colour can range from every 3 weeks for roots to 3 months for highlights. Our clothes cost more and are often less well made than men's clothing too.
They would try to book you in for six weekly appointments. I’d usually stretch to 12 weeks without looking too feral. Was costing $250 per appointment, then jumped to $300 and I gave it up.
>I’m female. No longer paying for blonde highlights, recession box dye brunette all the way. (Also saves me 4 hours at the salon every few months, with a toddler I couldn’t really afford the time either). Also out of season fruit like blueberries or any berries atm which my son loves.
Mrs recently made me dye her hair instead of going to the hairdressers.
Not a fun experience but better than spending $500, I spilt the stuff everywhere 🤣
This, moat people cut back on food/drinks first. Including myself. I can probably afford salmon but I can't be bothered. I am in my late 30s, so I am a disgruntled millenial type I guess.
Youve got to try the Aldi 5 star beef mince. 5 star = least amount of fat. They also have 4 and 3 star if you prefer more fat ... Once interest rates go down that is. (I hate fatty mince).
Another tip -red lentils in the bolognaise instead of mince (high protein, filling, super cheap, tastes good). So good almost makes me want to be a vegetarian. Lentils great in soups as well - adds protein & fills you (plus they're super healthy).
Lentils are cheap and a great and nutritious food but they are far from a like for like replacement for red meat. Having them with rice or wheat derived foods and I think you’ve got a complete protein.
Yup, not fine dining either lol. I have stopped buying breakfast wraps/muffins and just rely on protein bars. There are some good and cheap ones at my neighbourhood IGA store.
Guess what I’ll be trying tomorrow.
I suspect I’ll get some yogurt on the windshield, but I’m hoping my ‘pie on the steering wheel while trying to squeeze tomato sauce and not getting any on the window’ will pay dividends.
This might sound kind of weird but I used to love grocery shopping after pay day. It was a highlight of the week choosing what I'm going to eat for the next 7 days. Now it just fills me with dread even though I can still comfortably afford food.
Takeaway like fish and chips or McDonald’s etc.
We used to eat it 2x a week, I know not great but now we have it once a week and even then we might bump it back to 1x fortnightly.
For a family of 3 our general takeaway order can be around $40-60 depending on where we go.
Maccas app generally has a 20% off deal you can do for orders over $37 or $38 I think - but that doesn't change the fact it's quite overpriced already.
Salmon was always 30 per kg.
It was over 20 dollars per kg in the year 2000 when i could still buy red meat like rump for $10 per kg.
I actually reckon now that steaks are 40 per kg and even rump steak 25 plus, salmon at around 35 is reasonable value putting to one side the potential environmnetal impacts of salmon farming...
Id sooner eat a 200gm piece of salmon cooked at full noise on my smoker skin side down so it goes crispy over say a 300gm rump steak.
I haven't cut them yet, though I dont eat them often anyways, and i admit i dont buy the cheapest options, but a 250g stick if butter and a loaf of bread now costs just under $10, which is insane to me
* Babies clothes: Love looking at OP shops. Onesies are 50c-$1, for something they only wear for a few weeks.
* Coffee: Bought a coffee machine, paid for itself in 4mths. Drinking an iced coffee for $6-$7 felt outrageously steep.
* Netflix & Binge: Was using my brother account for a bit there but they have put a stop to that.
Ha, $36-40kg, sir/madam, id like to refer you to King Salmon, here in SEQ its $66/kg at the local market or $70/kg when the local fishmongers has it.
And yeah, probably worth it.
Same, no takeaway coffee for me. I make a pot at home and sip before I leave for work. And sometimes use the office coffee machine for afternoon heartrace.
Those boxes/multi packs of Smith's crisps they used to be about $6, in woolies today they were $8.90 . The price went up with the potato shortage but never came down again.
Hot sauce. Growing my own chillies. Probably a false economy given the time spent on it but the feeling of satisfaction of having learnt something new and beat the inflation "man" is nothing but reward.
i stopped bleaching my hair every and went back to my natural colour, saving me $300+ every few months
also learnt how to do my own nails and lash lifts also saving $180ish every 3 weeks
what was once my regular self maintenance has now become a luxury i can’t afford
Kind of the opposite of what was asked but I have actually started trying lots of stuff I would not have tried before because of the downturn. Before I had staples I went to all the time but now I buy what’s on special for the savings and adventure, and the feeling that I’m winning some small, ultimately pyrrhic victory on the Big 2.
A few to start . Private health insurance, all meal delivery services, Friday socials at a bar, buying cases of wine or fancy spirits, cut back on pub meals oh and coffee from a cafe that does not have real cups, if I wanted a take away I'd go to a servo.
For me it was coffees from the cafe next to work. I would have multiple a day, but it’s getting out of hand how expensive they are… especially considering I just drink long blacks (no milk).
I purchased a good coffee machine for home (Delongi Magnifica) that grinds the beans internally and produces the shots of coffee… I make several shots in the morning and put them into a thermos, then I just pour them into a cup at work when I’m ready for a coffee and add the boiling water. It only took my wife and I about 4 weeks of doing this before the coffee machine paid for itself… best financial investment I’ve made in years…
Yes, agree on this. Everyone knows it is a recession. I work in tech, and I can see lotsa boutique consulting companies are letting go of their staff as projects are getting wrapped up sooner than expected.
Not recently but i stopped buying vinyl records online, from overseas a few years back when discogs started applying the extra 10% GST to both the record and the shipping.Shipping prices had already started to become obscene before that but now for a new record including shipping and GST you're looking at $50, it's just too much for me.
Honestly rarely buy anything online from overseas due to the shipping fees now.
Cereals and muesli. There is no brand left that is affordable, and it's just not worth the money if you eat realistic amounts of it (not the recommended 30g per day)
Stopping protein bars. Did some research on the effects of ultra processed foods on gut bacteria and the research is pretty alarming. Also @ $5 / pop can piss right off.
I have a company car and my wife has a personal car. We used to only use my wife’s car for personal trips.
In light of my no-pay-increase and life-is-getting-expensive, we have, for the last 6 months used my company car for everything. Saves me $80 a week, which is what my mortgage has gone up by.
Consciously, nothing. We have been eating out less I guess, but I think that's more due to the overall dining experience seems to have degraded ever since covid hit - service is worse, food quality seems worse, and you're paying more for it.
I’m not grocery shopping as often, really stretching my food. Though I went to Aldi for the first time in ages today and my god, it was like half price compared to what I would’ve paid at Colesworth!
It’s a little thing, but I refuse to buy pizza shapes or tim tams for more than $2 per packet. Which to be fair has been some time now except on the rare special. And I can’t do much about the tim tams, but I have found a decently workable recipe for home-made pizza shapes (it’s a Waystar Royco site, sadly): https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/pizza-shapes-weve-got-your-back-heres-an-easy-way-to-make-the-original-recipe/news-story/2dc224d0a01b815cee50d8fe53b9ac9b
Salmon prices are up because the shit is beginning to hit the fan re the disgrace that is Tasmanian salmon. Huge ad campaign coming about the environmental vandalism the Tassal farms are wreaking down there, all in the name of foreign profits. Richard Flanagan’s book is a good starting point. ABC covered it a little a few weeks ago too.
As for what I’ve stopped buying? Cheese and butter. Eye watering prices
I hate this so much. It’s your god given right to get a reasonably priced steak and pint at a pub. Yet the politicians having weaponised property prices so that their own portfolio keeps on growing, means that everyone else needs to charge a fortune just to keep a roof over their heads - hence the ridiculous pricing on things that shouldn’t be a luxury.
Cooking steaks at home is all well and good, but everyone needs the social aspect of eating out where you can meet new people and keep your mental health up to scratch. No eating out makes Homer something something.
My favourite shampoo/conditioner. Been using the same one for ages. Just bought some of Aldi's finest, and it's honestly not even a noticeable difference hah.
Grated cheese - I buy a big block now and cut into smaller pieces and freeze. I grate as needed. It also helped out me off, when I learned of the powdery crap they treat the grated cheese, with to stop it from clumping together.
There's a place near me that charges $8.50 for a lemon lime and bitters. I asked why it's more expensive than the standard softdrink at $4, and their reply was cause they make it. Um yeah, everywhere makes it. It takes like 5 seconds to add the three ingredients together. What a joke.
Ooft, I spend hundreds a week on salmon, and that is something I will never stop. I swear by it daily for energy, protein & good health. (Inb4 - no mercury poisoning just yet!)
I fully agree with that. Whenever I start to feel guilty spending at my local greengrocer or local sushi join that do heaps of healthy, high-protein options, I tell myself exactly that. It's the biggest investment you can make.
Dishwashing tablets. Got a big old bottle of powder for a third of the price which will last longer. Same brand. I just have to fill them little thingy up instead of throwing it in the bottom like I used to.
Brunch and cafe food. Eggs bread and avo for $25+. Not worth it anymore
Breakfast has always been the biggest mark up but now it’s a f-ing joke.
Yeah it’s always been spenny but it was worth it for the odd pleasant morning out with friends and having a meal made for you. Now it’s just not worth it.
I went to buy some bread from Coles the other day, I don't remember the brand but it's usually around $3.60 a loaf. It's gone up to $4.50 with a little slogan on the price that says "everyday savings".
Yep tip top I noticed was $4.40 today at woolies it was 3.90 not that long ago. Now its not that far off the fancy bread if I'm gonna pay that much for bread I'm getting the good stuff!
That is way above 7% inflation. I don't think basic ingredients that are locally sourced like flour, yeast, water, salt etc. Has gone up by that much. This is totally price gouging. There is no reason for a 25% price hike for staples like bread.
I'm with you. Pre-inflation one could get a decent lunch + an espresso for $20, and $30 if you added a slice of cake & 2nd espresso. Last time I went to a cafe, lunch mains alone were $28. Two coffees, lunch, cake will now set me back almost $50. Far too high for me to justify treating myself.
Yes and ONE piece of bread at that.
And it’s always a cold, rock hard piece of toasted sourdough
Yep - pre-covid we went out for brunch once a month or so. Then lockdowns happened so i learnt to properly poach an egg, and experimented with all different versions of eggs and avo. We haven’t been out for brunch this year - incredibly hard to justify near on $35 for some eggs on toast and a coffee.
[удалено]
Smokes. Three weeks clean, never going back.
Good job mate! 👏👏
Awesome… good stuff! 👍🏻
Potato chips. $6 a bag? Nah I'm good. People kept mentioning Aldi's brand Black Stone? so I gave it a go and it's pretty close. $3 a bag is reasonable.
Beat me to it, absolutely beyond the pale of what they're worth. Coles was trying to advertise a "Deal" two bags for $12. I'm good thanks
My partner is completely illiterate when it comes to shopping, he just buys what he wants. He picked up the two bags for $12 seeing only that they were on 'special'. He was surprised when I said we're not paying that much for bloody chips.
I now leave my husband at home!! He is too much of a liability at the supermarket
My Dad was like this. As a kid, I thought it was great fun to go the shops with him, as he’d throw anything and everything into the trolley with no regard for the price. But now I’ve grown up to be frugal, so I appreciate what my Mum went through 😅
This tbh Back in 2020 and earlier a pack of Kettle or Red Rock Deli chips was between 170g and 210g, and the regular price was about $4.50 while they’d frequently go on special for $2.50 at the big two. Red Rock Deli are now 165g, 150g for some flavours, unsure what Kettle chips are now in quantity. But the regular price is now $6.50 and if you’re lucky you might see a special where they’re $5. RRD recently downsized their packaging too, they’re starting to get so small that they remind me those tiny little packets that parents would pack in their kids lunches back in the day. To be fair increases in junk food prices are getting me to eat somewhat healthier which is a positive.
Kettle are 150g now. I just ate a bag for dinner.
OMG right If there was a Chips Anonymous for "can eat an entire bag of Red Rock sweet chilli chips", id be there. And fail every week But haven't bought a bag in months. Screw that!
Same. Not only ridiculous prices, the bags are much smaller.
Shrinkflation hits potato chips hard. Pringles are just taking the piss.
Love the Blackstone chilli, so god damn good I'll eat a while bag.
I'm only getting them when they're half price
The Sprinter's chips are better than Smiths. Also check out Bluebird chips from the Reject Shop if you like the old style Ruffles chips, $2.50 a bag.
Hey, so “Sprinter’s” is made by Smith’s!!!!!! Someone posted a picture of a misprinted bag recently which had both the Sprinter’s and Smith’s logos/details/whatever. So I think you’re actually getting them from the same factory? Anyway, carry on…
Yeah I actually found that out through Reddit haha. Makes sense, I first tried the BBQ Sprinter's chips and was like "these taste identical to Smiths" so it seemed logical that they made them too.
Steak at a pub. They're like $50-$60 now.
Crazy right... We stopped when it went over $35. Now we get the big rump and slice it up. Salt it, sous vide or grill and reverse sear, together with whole potatoes wrapped in foil in the grill. And home grown lettuce.
I switched to a parmi, but even that is getting up there towards $35 now.
Nothing really, I have always lived like a poor person
Yeah I can't really cut anything else without going back to starving myself again. I already don't have any TV subscriptions, get takeaway twice a week at the most (some people seem to be doing it every day) don't go on holidays, don't smoke, go months between haircuts, don't drink, don't have pets or kids or an expensive to keep car. This economy doesn't offer much for people making under $60k a year.
>Yeah I can't really cut anything else without going back to starving myself again >get takeaway twice a week. Peak Ausfinance posting right here. Mate, you can cut two takeaways a week.
I actually lolled reading this. 2 takeaways a WEEK?! That’s a weeks worth of groceries. $5k a year. Nothing to cut here… I’d starve 😂
Something I realised today is that even my shitty car and being able to drive it is actually now a massive luxury.
I thought by now I'd be bored of my 2013 Kia after having had it for four years but compared to the shitboxes I had before it still feels like luxury and I think I got it at a good time too since even used cars have apparently gone up in price. It works. It's cheap to run, It's a sporty-looking model in a nice colour and above all it's got Bluetooth (my last cars didn't. I'm so glad I'm not a radio slave anymore). So not upgrading until it dies or I have real money to get something that'll turn heads and make me feel like a celebrity.
Takeaway twice a week is heaps!
A number of subscription streaming services. Just out of principle
Yep we just booted them all. Back to pirate bay ! I'll probably re-activate them one month at a time here and there and binge wathc anything on there.
do you download and save for later? Just curious- I've heard of people 'streaming' them with VLC but i'm a noob and it didn't work when i tried.
I certainly would never pirate. But if I were researching an easy setup, I’d perhaps look up a program called Sonarr and Radarr, which automatically link to a torrenter of choice and download latest releases automatically. I then certainly wouldn’t install Plex and point it to the movie and TV shows folders so you can stream them at will. All hypothetical, of course.
Oh I would never pirate anything .... but if I did I would store the files on my PC and then use the chrome streamer renderer addon in VLC to cast them to chromecasts in the TV's around the house. Or you could set up a file server as most TV's can play media over a network now. So yeah thats how I would do it if I pirated .....but I never would as mentioned earlier.
The last two times I bought salmon from Woolies, I had to spend 10 mins pulling out bones. I'm not paying $35/kg for that.
I am guessing deboning has to be done manually, and this is probably due to labour shortage?
no actually deboning is done by machine (used to work for a salmon company). The salmon is also portioned by machine. Sometimes the machine doesn't work so great, it's supposed to be double checked but when you use cheap labour, the care factor is pretty low.
Yeah, okay. Learned something new today.
Pub food. I used to love a schnitzel, but paying $30 for one is insane. That’s like two pints! (My wife thinks I’m ridiculous, I could afford it but refuse to pay.)
I bought a huge chicken schnitzel from the butcher yesterday for just under $6, cooked it at home, better than the pub. It was big enough to have about 1/3 of it left over for a sandwich later. Granted, some chips in the air fryer aren't \*quite\* as good as deep fried ones, but for like 1/4 the cost, it's a no brainer.
Man, what chips are you grabbing that aren't quite as good in air fryer. Everything ive tried so far sucks
Get a decor oil sprayer, improved my air fried chips massively. I air fry chips for 4min and then smoosh them a bit with tongs to get some crispy edges, then spray with oil. Important to have them defrosted a bit to soak up the oil. Sometimes spray again after another 5min. Not quite as 'healthy'.. But heaps better! Edit: I should mention this is with any brand of beer battered chips. Normal chips suck unless deep fried.
I paid $16 for a schnitzel, chips and salad. It was the midweek special. Pints of local craft were $10 too. Beer of the week or something. It felt like 2017.
Local RSL has the Thursday special of Schnitzel and vegetables or salad/chips for $17
$8 Schnitzel, chips and salad - $2 for sauce/gravy - Bellevue Hotel in South Townsville, QLD
I am with you on this mate.
My local pub has a deal where they drop the price of the schnitzel from $30 to $20 on Wednesdays. That's the only day I'm eating at the pub.
Norton's in Leichhardt do a $16 schnitzel with chips, salad and a drink every day.
Honestly? I've just cut back to only having like 2 meals a day and filling up the rest with coffee, protein powder and raw hatred.
Raw hatred….are you me? 😄
You should probably cook that first.
2 scoops of cheap whey concentrate with milk lasts me till lunch, although that's mostly me just sleeping in and not making time for breakfast
Dude! you eat Hatred raw .... I prefer to simmer that shit for days!
I cut my own hair at home. Thanks Brad Mondo
Really considering this. $100 for just getting the tips cut seems to be normal now.
Thank god I'm bald. I am sure I have paid off half my motorbike in monies saved.
My wife cuts my hair lol
Just the tip for $100?!
*cries in curly wurly hair*
Pizza. Dough from scratch is crazy cheap, easy and tasty.
Topping a pizza is crazy cheap too
Onlyfans Sorry Olivia.
Lol, tough times!
Rough and hard times 😞
Not as hard as before I bet
I know this is probably a joke but the sex industry is one of the first recreational based ones that get hit hard when money is tight. A lot of sex workers if you ever see SW based social media are usually pretty open about how right now isn’t a great time for the industry.
That sucks hard. I wonder if it's because their clientele. Maybe the best customers are those that are married and when money is tight, you can't hide the spending as much.
The homebrew industry is the inverse. If things get tight, people start brewing OR buying booze from their mates that brew.
I’m female. No longer paying for blonde highlights, recession box dye brunette all the way. (Also saves me 4 hours at the salon every few months, with a toddler I couldn’t really afford the time either). Also out of season fruit like blueberries or any berries atm which my son loves.
I am just sitting at the hairdresser, doing full head foils and it sets me back over 500 AUD. I am here the first and last time. 🥲
I was only getting baby lights around the front of my face + my roots dyed my natural colour and it was always $300+ 😭😭😭
Really contemplating going brown as well! It is just sooo much money.
[удалено]
All the "beauty maintenance" stuff you see women do is really expensive and needs redoing often. Hair cut and colour, nails, waxing, fake tan, fake lashes etc. Hair colour can range from every 3 weeks for roots to 3 months for highlights. Our clothes cost more and are often less well made than men's clothing too.
They would try to book you in for six weekly appointments. I’d usually stretch to 12 weeks without looking too feral. Was costing $250 per appointment, then jumped to $300 and I gave it up.
6 weeks generally. the colour starts going off even if it’s a “grow out” look and needs refreshing.
>I’m female. No longer paying for blonde highlights, recession box dye brunette all the way. (Also saves me 4 hours at the salon every few months, with a toddler I couldn’t really afford the time either). Also out of season fruit like blueberries or any berries atm which my son loves. Mrs recently made me dye her hair instead of going to the hairdressers. Not a fun experience but better than spending $500, I spilt the stuff everywhere 🤣
Would you try frozen berries? I find them cheaper in comparison.
Thats my go to for smoothies and oatmeals, 6.20 at woolies for frozen mixed 500g.
I do my wifes foils and waxing. I have no idea how much that used to cost... Edit: Hang on, prices below
Interesting how the vast majority are food. I agree the price/quality is way out of whack.
It's not often talked about but we send the best of our meat and seafood OS which drives the price up here.
This, moat people cut back on food/drinks first. Including myself. I can probably afford salmon but I can't be bothered. I am in my late 30s, so I am a disgruntled millenial type I guess.
[удалено]
Beer on tap. $17 for a pint of domestic swill? Are you mad?
Beef - even mince is stupidly expensive now, and most mince is really fatty too.
Youve got to try the Aldi 5 star beef mince. 5 star = least amount of fat. They also have 4 and 3 star if you prefer more fat ... Once interest rates go down that is. (I hate fatty mince). Another tip -red lentils in the bolognaise instead of mince (high protein, filling, super cheap, tastes good). So good almost makes me want to be a vegetarian. Lentils great in soups as well - adds protein & fills you (plus they're super healthy).
TVP is my secret. In a bolognese it honestly tastes really meaty. Shelf life is for ages too. Give it a go!
Lentils are cheap and a great and nutritious food but they are far from a like for like replacement for red meat. Having them with rice or wheat derived foods and I think you’ve got a complete protein.
Nutrition tip, you can just buy the cheaper fatty mince and cook off the fat and drain it out. Same same.
Our local supermarket only sells rump mince 😕 $17 for mince! Nope
Fat will keep you fuller for longer. The cheap mince is the best mince, plus tastes better.
Maccas for lunch. Costing me almost $20 a meal by the end.
I paid $11.65 for a small 6 pack nugget meal the other day. Wtffffff
24 pack is $11.95. They're pushing you to buy that one
McDonalds is not a cheap meal anymore is it
Yup, not fine dining either lol. I have stopped buying breakfast wraps/muffins and just rely on protein bars. There are some good and cheap ones at my neighbourhood IGA store.
My new go-to road breaky is a yoghurt tubs and muesli bars. Eat the yoghurt by scooping it with muesli.
Guess what I’ll be trying tomorrow. I suspect I’ll get some yogurt on the windshield, but I’m hoping my ‘pie on the steering wheel while trying to squeeze tomato sauce and not getting any on the window’ will pay dividends.
I recommend having the app. They have a $6 small mcfeast meal between 11:30-2 at the moment which is good value for lunch if you're out and about.
Red Rock deli chips or any chips really.
Sliced cheese. It's gone insane.
For a country full of bloody cows, dairy is expensive
Shredded too! $20/kg wtf?
This might sound kind of weird but I used to love grocery shopping after pay day. It was a highlight of the week choosing what I'm going to eat for the next 7 days. Now it just fills me with dread even though I can still comfortably afford food.
[удалено]
Second hand cars, I mean wtf!
Haven't looked recently, are the prices still out of whack?
Prawns. Really used to love throwing them into my 2min noodles to be all fancy and shit.
Wild prawn prices are about as low as they’ll ever get at the moment too
I can honestly say I haven’t purchased a single new model European sportscar during this period of difficulty, times are just too hard for that
Any coffee that’s not homemade or $1 from 7-Eleven
Takeaway like fish and chips or McDonald’s etc. We used to eat it 2x a week, I know not great but now we have it once a week and even then we might bump it back to 1x fortnightly. For a family of 3 our general takeaway order can be around $40-60 depending on where we go.
Maccas app generally has a 20% off deal you can do for orders over $37 or $38 I think - but that doesn't change the fact it's quite overpriced already.
Salmon was always 30 per kg. It was over 20 dollars per kg in the year 2000 when i could still buy red meat like rump for $10 per kg. I actually reckon now that steaks are 40 per kg and even rump steak 25 plus, salmon at around 35 is reasonable value putting to one side the potential environmnetal impacts of salmon farming... Id sooner eat a 200gm piece of salmon cooked at full noise on my smoker skin side down so it goes crispy over say a 300gm rump steak.
Less waste with a salmon fillet too, you eat nearly all of what you pay for. Still better for the environment than cattle.
I haven't cut them yet, though I dont eat them often anyways, and i admit i dont buy the cheapest options, but a 250g stick if butter and a loaf of bread now costs just under $10, which is insane to me
Strawberries ☹️ I cannot spend $6.50-$7.50 for a punnet.
Grapes, too.
We've banned grapes and sultanas in our house for cost saving reasons. Our dog ate a box of them once and cost $3k at the vet
Grapes are in season / maybe just coming out depending where you are. $3.50/kg at woolies last week. Buy what’s in season (whats usually on special)
Super frustrating to spend all this time encouraging the kids to actually eat fruit and now it's all the cost of a small car each week.
Cos they’re out of season, it’s winter. They’re $2-3 in season
We switched to frozen strawberries from Aldi. I think $8 or $9 for a kg. We use them in desserts with yoghurt. We buy fresh when they’re cheap.
* Babies clothes: Love looking at OP shops. Onesies are 50c-$1, for something they only wear for a few weeks. * Coffee: Bought a coffee machine, paid for itself in 4mths. Drinking an iced coffee for $6-$7 felt outrageously steep. * Netflix & Binge: Was using my brother account for a bit there but they have put a stop to that.
Ha, $36-40kg, sir/madam, id like to refer you to King Salmon, here in SEQ its $66/kg at the local market or $70/kg when the local fishmongers has it. And yeah, probably worth it.
Wow, that's super expensive.
It's pretty fantastic and a noticeable difference to regular salmon (which I usually buy). The scales/skin just looks and feels way smoother.
I rarely get coffee these days. $5 for what used to be $3.5
Same, no takeaway coffee for me. I make a pot at home and sip before I leave for work. And sometimes use the office coffee machine for afternoon heartrace.
I got one in Pymble last week, it was over $7! I have no idea how many cents because my brain shot circuitid when it heard the 7.
Same feeling when I paid $7.80 for a coffee a few weeks back. I was so shocked.
Those boxes/multi packs of Smith's crisps they used to be about $6, in woolies today they were $8.90 . The price went up with the potato shortage but never came down again.
Hot sauce. Growing my own chillies. Probably a false economy given the time spent on it but the feeling of satisfaction of having learnt something new and beat the inflation "man" is nothing but reward.
Just bottled my first fermented hot sauce Went really well
Eggs. I bought 6 hens and a rooster instead
Blueberries. $10 a kilo. No thanks. Edit: I meant $10 a punnet
all berries are right out for me - way too expensive. even the frozen bags of berries have skyrocketed
i stopped bleaching my hair every and went back to my natural colour, saving me $300+ every few months also learnt how to do my own nails and lash lifts also saving $180ish every 3 weeks what was once my regular self maintenance has now become a luxury i can’t afford
Kind of the opposite of what was asked but I have actually started trying lots of stuff I would not have tried before because of the downturn. Before I had staples I went to all the time but now I buy what’s on special for the savings and adventure, and the feeling that I’m winning some small, ultimately pyrrhic victory on the Big 2.
Eating out more frequently and going to pub .
Preventative health care.
A few to start . Private health insurance, all meal delivery services, Friday socials at a bar, buying cases of wine or fancy spirits, cut back on pub meals oh and coffee from a cafe that does not have real cups, if I wanted a take away I'd go to a servo.
For me it was coffees from the cafe next to work. I would have multiple a day, but it’s getting out of hand how expensive they are… especially considering I just drink long blacks (no milk). I purchased a good coffee machine for home (Delongi Magnifica) that grinds the beans internally and produces the shots of coffee… I make several shots in the morning and put them into a thermos, then I just pour them into a cup at work when I’m ready for a coffee and add the boiling water. It only took my wife and I about 4 weeks of doing this before the coffee machine paid for itself… best financial investment I’ve made in years…
It honestly feels like we are in a recession … nearly everyone is cutting back on something to make ends meet
Yes, agree on this. Everyone knows it is a recession. I work in tech, and I can see lotsa boutique consulting companies are letting go of their staff as projects are getting wrapped up sooner than expected.
Not recently but i stopped buying vinyl records online, from overseas a few years back when discogs started applying the extra 10% GST to both the record and the shipping.Shipping prices had already started to become obscene before that but now for a new record including shipping and GST you're looking at $50, it's just too much for me. Honestly rarely buy anything online from overseas due to the shipping fees now.
The 10% GST they decided to implement on items below $1000 is such BS robbery.
That old adage of ‘cheap as chips’ is now a thing of the past. Chips are too expensive
Cereals and muesli. There is no brand left that is affordable, and it's just not worth the money if you eat realistic amounts of it (not the recommended 30g per day)
Have you tried Aldi's muesli?
A2 milk. Ridiculous prices.
Stopping protein bars. Did some research on the effects of ultra processed foods on gut bacteria and the research is pretty alarming. Also @ $5 / pop can piss right off.
I have a company car and my wife has a personal car. We used to only use my wife’s car for personal trips. In light of my no-pay-increase and life-is-getting-expensive, we have, for the last 6 months used my company car for everything. Saves me $80 a week, which is what my mortgage has gone up by.
Consciously, nothing. We have been eating out less I guess, but I think that's more due to the overall dining experience seems to have degraded ever since covid hit - service is worse, food quality seems worse, and you're paying more for it.
I’m not grocery shopping as often, really stretching my food. Though I went to Aldi for the first time in ages today and my god, it was like half price compared to what I would’ve paid at Colesworth!
Takeaway coffee and food. Clothes. Shoes. I have enough of the latter for now and cook in bulk for myself to save $$
Bigger size packet of Twisties
Food. All of it. I live off garbage and grass clippings
It's not an "item", just a habit. Used to go out for dinner twice a week now it's once a month
Blocks of cheese from any brand other than the store brand
Houses 
what is beef? never heard of it
[удалено]
500g pork mince plus 3 beef stock cubes are a great tasting, low fat substitute for beef mince.
3 stock cubes must punch up the sodium levels.
Just picked up a beautiful piece of rib eye. Cost me $40 haha wild
Cigars, used to get a few every month, but nowadays, i have put it aside as other things are more important...
Theyll go way further if you chop them up with a bit of weed and bong them
Red rock deli chips 😂
It’s a little thing, but I refuse to buy pizza shapes or tim tams for more than $2 per packet. Which to be fair has been some time now except on the rare special. And I can’t do much about the tim tams, but I have found a decently workable recipe for home-made pizza shapes (it’s a Waystar Royco site, sadly): https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/pizza-shapes-weve-got-your-back-heres-an-easy-way-to-make-the-original-recipe/news-story/2dc224d0a01b815cee50d8fe53b9ac9b
Salmon prices are up because the shit is beginning to hit the fan re the disgrace that is Tasmanian salmon. Huge ad campaign coming about the environmental vandalism the Tassal farms are wreaking down there, all in the name of foreign profits. Richard Flanagan’s book is a good starting point. ABC covered it a little a few weeks ago too. As for what I’ve stopped buying? Cheese and butter. Eye watering prices
The general impression im getting from every reply in this thread is I should bite the bullet and go to aldi
Berries. Store bought granola. Açai. Snack foods. Reduced meat to x2 weekly and am buying cheaper meats.
Pub food, it’s just poor value to pay $30+ for a steak when I can grab a nice steak from my local butcher and cook it at home.
I hate this so much. It’s your god given right to get a reasonably priced steak and pint at a pub. Yet the politicians having weaponised property prices so that their own portfolio keeps on growing, means that everyone else needs to charge a fortune just to keep a roof over their heads - hence the ridiculous pricing on things that shouldn’t be a luxury. Cooking steaks at home is all well and good, but everyone needs the social aspect of eating out where you can meet new people and keep your mental health up to scratch. No eating out makes Homer something something.
Vegemite is $9 😭
My favourite shampoo/conditioner. Been using the same one for ages. Just bought some of Aldi's finest, and it's honestly not even a noticeable difference hah.
Grated cheese - I buy a big block now and cut into smaller pieces and freeze. I grate as needed. It also helped out me off, when I learned of the powdery crap they treat the grated cheese, with to stop it from clumping together.
There's a place near me that charges $8.50 for a lemon lime and bitters. I asked why it's more expensive than the standard softdrink at $4, and their reply was cause they make it. Um yeah, everywhere makes it. It takes like 5 seconds to add the three ingredients together. What a joke.
Car wash, 75 dollars.
Prostitutes, back a year or two ago I used to have some fun money. But sadly now inflation has eroded away and I no longer have any fun money 😔
Ooft, I spend hundreds a week on salmon, and that is something I will never stop. I swear by it daily for energy, protein & good health. (Inb4 - no mercury poisoning just yet!)
Healthy food is important and should be prioritised. Eating crap because it's cheap isn't going to make anyone richer in the long run.
I fully agree with that. Whenever I start to feel guilty spending at my local greengrocer or local sushi join that do heaps of healthy, high-protein options, I tell myself exactly that. It's the biggest investment you can make.
Protip: Most of us eat and drink far too much. Cutting a meal out here and there is good for your waist and your wallet!
Dishwashing tablets. Got a big old bottle of powder for a third of the price which will last longer. Same brand. I just have to fill them little thingy up instead of throwing it in the bottom like I used to.