Cost of living in New Zealand

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kingdragonfly

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#318162 22-Dec-2024 10:32

I'm looking at my general cost of living in New Zealand.

How is your cost of living in New Zealand? My pay has gone up 0%.

My property rates have gone up 9%.

My electricity costs have gone up on average 17%

Chart below show electricity amount by month and year

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#3323172 22-Dec-2024 11:42

It's expensive but I have what I need every day. My mental wellbeing is tenuous enough without focusing on the detail it would take to track expenses to this level. And what would I do with the insights? The energy to shop around for better service costs has its own cost too. If there's only a few points to be gained by moving around then it feels like the energy is better focused elsewhere, like making the most of what we have today and putting mental energy into the higher value and impact things that we can control. e.g. My wife and I both moved jobs recently and we're in a better situation because of it, but moving has it's own cost on wellbeing and productivity, as well as financial, so while we're better off overall, the day-to-day transition doesn't reflect the improvement yet. I'd rather focus on moving in the right direction long term than knowing the incremental overs and unders day-by-day. Particularly when I know I'm doing fine compared to the 160k+ kids who live in poverty in this country.

^This is just me, I understand everyone is different, and my mental triggers probably aren't the same as yours. It's a highly subjective topic so everyone will have a valid perspective in their own context.

alasta

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#3323174 22-Dec-2024 11:57

My energy expenses have gone up 38% in the last three years, although fortunately it's not too bad in dollar terms as I live alone in a small unit that is well insulated, and I don't spend a lot of time at home. It must be very difficult for larger households.

My biggest cost increase has been rates which have increased massively thanks to years of incompetent governance at the Wellington City Council. I'm also being hit with large increases in insurance, both directly and indirectly through increased body corporate fees.

Most of my other expenses have increased modestly, but still at a higher rate than my salary increases in the last few years. I think it would be fair to say that overall my standard of living has probably declined.

quickymart

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#3323177 22-Dec-2024 12:07

I'm finding it a bit stressful. My pay has gone up, yes, but the cost of living seems to be steadily creeping higher, at a level above it. This Christmas is probably going to be what I'm referring to as "the Credit Christmas". I'm hoping it's the last one, though.

tweake

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#3323183 22-Dec-2024 13:03

my cost of living has been creeping up. rates gone up a bit etc. power has gone up a bit because of them removing the low usage plans. but my usage is small so its not much in dollar terms. food is probably the biggest, but if your buying in small quantities you tend to pay a price for that anyway.

the biggest thing is housing. mortgage is long gone and that was 50% of my income. however now its catch up on maintenance.

also no increase in income in 10 years.

things are comfortable at the moment, but retirement might be a different ball game.

kingdragonfly

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#3323271 22-Dec-2024 15:26

gehenna: ... My mental wellbeing is tenuous enough without focusing on the detail it would take to track expenses to this level....

I just dumped my last year's bank statements into Excel, and classified the transactions, and summarized.

I was finished in about 5 hours. I only do it once every couple of years.

The most important insight was, how much do I spend in an average month after taxes, what is sucking up most of my money.

From that I learn if I lost my job, how long before I'm screwed, and most importantly should I get more training so I can earn more money, or should I change my lifestyle.

I feel less stress now, because I know yes I'm earning less every year because costs are creeping up, but I'm still OK.

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mudguard

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#3323273 22-Dec-2024 15:47

How do your costs compare with the kWh used each year? We have used the air con to cool more already this summer than last year.

Rikkitic

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#3323323 22-Dec-2024 16:44

The main place I have noticed it is cat food. That has easily tripled in price since things started exploding. Not only unit price but also hidden rises like weird package sizes. They all are doing it too. It has become nearly impossible to find 4 kg packages, which were fairly standard until the greedfest started. They used to cost around $16 for Whiskas. It is more than twice that now for 3 kg, which seems to be the new standard size and the cheap Countdown brand has completely disappeared. Manufacturers have also been playing cute with cheese, though that seems to be settling down somewhat again. With 700 gram packages or whatever they are now it is well worth using your phone to work out actual prices per kilo to get a standard comparison.

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kingdragonfly

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#3323325 22-Dec-2024 16:50

mudguard:
How do your costs compare with the kWh used each year? We have used the air con to cool more already this summer than last year.

Good question. I use two heat pumps almost constantly.

The graph pretty closely follows the outside temperature.

I know I'm still in the "low power usage" bracket by just a tiny bit.

I use a tankless gas water heater, which honestly I'd like to get rid of get a hot water peat pump. I get killed on the daily rate on gas.

I be downsizing when I retire. Otherwise I'd seriously consider getting solar panels. They'd pay for themselves in 7 years by my calculation.

The problem is a fire place chimney would cast a shadow across it. I understand many solar panels really hate shadows, because it leaves them unbalanced.

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Handsomedan

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#3323519 23-Dec-2024 09:48

Everything costs more, of that there's no doubt.

It's how much more that I have never looked at.

I know I earn OK money, but that money used to go a lot further.

My wife and I were talking about it the other day - we wouldn't have batted an eyelid at a $500 unexpected bill a few short years ago - now it ends up coming out of the savings or reduces our ability to do something "fun" that fortnight/month, depending on the expense or the $ amount involved.
We are having a far leaner Christmas this year, but we're in the fortunate position of owning our own home with enough equity that if we were forced to sell, we'd walk away with plenty in the bank to have a comfortable life while renting.

I'm thankful of having a company car that I have largely unlimited personal use of. With it being electric, I'll charge at home while on annual leave and try to manage my roadtrips so I don't have to personally pay for any refuelling.

Things like electricity, rates, water rates etc always go up, but what's really killing us is the amount we have spent at Supermarkets this year!

We have a family of 4 adults - the kids are both Uni students, so don't pay board. They earn next to nothing in their part-time jobs as it is.
Average trip to the supermarket is $100-150. We do that many more times than we used to, as we are doing smaller shops, rather than stocking up with really big shops.

We mix our shopping up between the supermarket chains depending on how we are feeling.

In December at Woolworths alone: $883.62
In November: $971.05

Factor in the fairly frequent trips to Pak n Save and the odd trip to New World and we'd be spending probably close to $1300 a month at supermarkets alone.
Then we have every other expense like insurances, mobile phones and internet, pet care, fuel for the personally owned car (and servicing and repairs on top of that).

House maintenance is also getting more expensive as the house ages.

It's no wonder we are often stretched, which wasn't an issue for us a few years ago.

EDIT:
Just realised that this was only data from my WW Rewards card. My wife also has one and would spend about half again what I do, as fill-in shops or if she's at the till, rather than me.
So it's worse than we thought!
She works part-time and we have just realised that her entire post-tax earnings are taken up in supermarket shops, leaving my salary to cover every other conceivable cost.
It's no wonder we struggle some months!

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cruxis

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#3323675 23-Dec-2024 14:29

I wonder if there has been increase in dishonesty as the cost of living increases, and a growing of the hidden economy.

tweake

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#3323677 23-Dec-2024 14:40

cruxis:

I wonder if there has been increase in dishonesty as the cost of living increases, and a growing of the hidden economy.

well doh, its been splashed out on every news outlet for years if not decade. theres a massive increase in dishonesty. its been a gold mine for gang recruitment.

you push people out of housing, they can't afford food, and then wonder why they ram raid your shop.

Wombat1

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#3323695 23-Dec-2024 15:18

tweake:

you push people out of housing, they can't afford food, and then wonder why they ram raid your shop.

I have never heard of a ram raid where somebody has gone after food

tweake

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#3323700 23-Dec-2024 15:41

Wombat1:

I have never heard of a ram raid where somebody has gone after food

there has been charities who had their freezers raided. but i do understand your point that most ram raids target items to be sold. but really it all comes down to people being pushed down and end up in a life of crime.

Wombat1

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#3323714 23-Dec-2024 16:24

tweake:

Wombat1:

I have never heard of a ram raid where somebody has gone after food

there has been charities who had their freezers raided. but i do understand your point that most ram raids target items to be sold. but really it all comes down to people being pushed down and end up in a life of crime.

Provisional police data from April 2017 to April 2024 shows a downwards trend since the peak in August 2022, when there were 86.

There were a total of 433 ram raids in 2022, 288 in 2023, and 67 in the first four months of this year.

Around 70 percent of identified ram raiders were aged between 14 and 17, and a further 12 percent were aged between 10 and 13.

Ram raids down 80 percent compared with same time last year | RNZ News

More of an act of entitlement if you ask me.

tweake

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#3323718 23-Dec-2024 16:35

Wombat1:

Provisional police data from April 2017 to April 2024 shows a downwards trend since the peak in August 2022, when there were 86.

There were a total of 433 ram raids in 2022, 288 in 2023, and 67 in the first four months of this year.

Around 70 percent of identified ram raiders were aged between 14 and 17, and a further 12 percent were aged between 10 and 13.

Ram raids down 80 percent compared with same time last year | RNZ News

More of an act of entitlement if you ask me.

meh splitting hairs.

ram raids, robberies, whatever. its all gotten worse as housing got worse and as cost of living got worse.

official figures you need to take with a grain of salt. they count what they see and only see what they want to see. nothing new there.

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