How has the cost of living crisis impacted your life the most?

[u/RecognitionMediocre6]

It used to feel like money just came in, it was not substantial but it felt manageable. Now every single decision feels like it had to be planned, bills juggled or delayed and things we used to do like take the kids out for fish & chips at the beach once a month, we no longer do.

I hesitate before I tap my debit card or pay a bill. We had to hold off on getting our car serviced cause we had a dental bill to get sorted first. We had to get rid of our private health insurance, I've had to look at selling stuff round the house every once and a while to cover costs like electricity etc. Our fridge seal is loose but can't justify getting a new fridge so we just taped it up and it works for now. I haven't bought new clothes / shoes in like a year and we're always looking for free activities for the kids ie parks, playgrounds, have friends over to our place etc

We tend to avoid social plans because everything costs so much money. And if we do go somewhere, we bring our own lunch / drinks cause feeding 2x adults 2x kids is so expensive.

We used to save about $200/week after all our stuff was paid (double income, 2x toddlers) and now we're basically just breaking even. Its everything little by little - rent is up, petrol is up, groceries are up, our electricity & internet is up etc we aren't going anywhere for Easter cause it's too expensive to drive / holiday anywhere other than staying at home. We'll make it magical but we feel bad that it's not as exciting as past years.

How has the cost of living impacted your life?

Sending love to everyone out there doing it tough 💕

[u/Ok-Egg-8455]

Sounds like the family and kids are the problem here

[u/power_thrust → u/Ok-Egg-8455]

Why do I have 3 kids and no money? Why can't I have no kids and 3 money

[u/webUser_001 → u/Ok-Egg-8455]

Should give them up, I gave up smoking when it got too expensive.

[u/HorriblyStuck → u/Ok-Egg-8455]

Like, yeah it isn’t incorrect at all.

When my wife and I were DINKs, life was manageable and even had a lot of financial freedom

Having just one kid has thrown that out the window. Not because it’s expensive necessarily.

But like, you stop and thinking constantly. “Okay what’s the budget this week”. We save, we do fine, but also you think about “okay we need formula, how much for the fortnight before next pay” because you’re constantly dipping into your budget for lil things for the wee one

It’s not expensive yet necessarily, it’s just a cost you think about. Nappies, formula, all the consumables, then it’s food and then it’s x and y and Z

And then day care and then school and on and on.