South African consumers are being impacted by the rising costs of the “Big Four”, commonly known to consumers as fuel and transport, electricity, food, and interest rates.
Household budgets are feeling the pain as these costs bite into the income of people across the country.
Consumer inflation is also sitting at its highest point in five years (6.5%) and it seems that further interest rate increases are on the cards over the next few months.
John Manyike, head of financial education at Old Mutual said, “There is no doubt that most of us have financial nightmares as we see the prices of things going up, and our spending budget getting smaller. The recent announcement that bread, maize meal, and baking flour could increase by up to 20% by year-end just adds more stress.”
However, Old Mutual research has shown that South Africans have developed some resilience and learnt some hard financial lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, including managing money and budgeting.
Here is how people can manage their money:
- Due to the high fuel costs people need to reduce their car use. To do this you can plan trips better, avoid many unnecessary trips, and taking it easy on the accelerator.
- Speak to your car insurance provider to reduce your insurance premiums, because your car spends more time at home and less on the road.
- You can cut down on transport costs by speaking to your boss about working from home on certain days.
- Leaving home early to beat the traffic or negotiating an early knock-off time to avoid traffic congestion.
- Checking what food items are on promotion and stocking up with these items.
- Use rewards and loyalty cards offered by retailers to reduce costs.
IOL Business