Calling in experts to tackle cost of living

Inflation is running at a 30-year high and wage growth is going nowhere. Compounding these problems are rising energy costs, fuel prices remaining stubbornly expensive, and official interest rates sitting at an 11-year peak.

These pressures are generating genuine community frustration; those with busy working lives feel the treadmill of living costs has been turned up to another speed, while those on fixed incomes feel like the treadmill is dragging them backwards.

Corporates are feeling it, too. A pre-budget economic survey of 161 Australian businesses by international consultants KPMG found around half the firms it spoke to said their margins were being squeezed because of a reduced ability to pass increasing costs through to customers.

Where finding and retaining workers was a primary concern for businesses a year ago, that issue has been surpassed in 2023 by the rising costs of doing business.

Some companies are finding it difficult to pass on those costs in full for fear of losing clients, or putting further stress on another company which may be already in trouble.

The four most at-risk business sectors, according to credit risk managers Illion, were consistently shown to be construction, transport, retail services, and food services.

No surprises there: the big rigs of Scotts Refrigerated Transport, which delivered for all the big supermarket chains, are parked up and 1500 people now out of work. And when PBS Building closed the gates to sites in NSW, Queensland and the ACT last month, more than 170 businesses were owed money.

The coming federal budget in May is unlikely to provide any relief because of very risk of further feeding inflation.

Families are under the pump with a recent Foodbank Hunger Report finding over 2 million households in Australia had experienced severe food insecurity in the last 12 months.

A recent supermarket survey by Australian Community Media found that even the most basic food items such as washed potatoes had risen 87.5 per cent since 2018. Toothpaste had gone up 60 per cent, a box of cereal by 58.5 per cent, and every child's favourite, tomato sauce, by 35 per cent,

Non-discretionary spending - essential food items, rent/mortgage payments, energy and work-related travel costs - are taking an ever-increasing chunk out of the weekly wage package.

Practical solutions are sorely required.

ACM has sought advice from the country's top budgeting experts and in the next days ahead, these will be presented as money-saving solutions which can make a difference to the family budget almost immediately.

A close track of expenditure was seen by our experts as the key place to start, as this financial discipline identifies the easy "gets".

And phone apps are your best friend, according to one of our experts, who uses the weekly specials posted online via the Aldi, Woolworths and Coles apps.

One expert said that she visits all three of the big supermarket chains and always chooses a Wednesday, which is commonly when all the specials and half-price deals land.

She also takes the "cook-once, eat-twice" approach to feeding the family: find those meals the family really enjoys, target-shop those ingredients with the special deals apps, then freeze the extra portions for another night's meal.

There's a lot more to know, too, and our series is here to help. Keep reading - and saving.

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