Cost of living

The cost of living seems to be continually rising at a rate higher than many can manage. I had hopes that this government would bring things under control, but upon hearing that both car registration and fuel tax are set to rise, I now doubt this. Everything has gone up – my rates have risen by $500 a year, insurance by $360 a year, while electricity, food and internet costs have also risen. The only thing that hasn’t is our pension, which remains the same for another 12 months, I believe. But even worse, the full rates subsidy is not eligible to us anymore either as we are both now on full pensions, and only qualify for half of what we used to get.

I guess this is an age-old (as opposed to old age) argument, the pension never enough to cover costs, but really, it does seem that in the last year or two, costs have spiralled uncontrollably. And we don’t even have a mortgage. How on earth are families coping, those with heavy debts? I have written a blog about these concerns before.

I was sitting next to another pensioner at the writing group yesterday and somehow the conversation steered to costs briefly, with my friend saying that she budgeted before receiving the pension to make sure she could manage on it. I am not one to do budgets, I never have, apart from those submitted to the bank managers when we were younger and wanting money. The payment we get is a fixed amount, while the costs are variable. If we can’t make ends meet, then knowing this is not going to help our situation. Both Stephen and I are reasonably frugal, as are a lot of people of our generation. There are two ways to fix a dire financial situation and these are to earn more or spend less or both. When one is generally at the lesser end of spending, this is harder to do.

I could go out and start receiving clients again, probably for healings only, but I am choosing not to do this other than at markets, because I enjoy my free time and instead choose to put this into writing.

My website has rather a large annual fee and I know I could get one a lot cheaper, yet I am also choosing to retain this one as it is so easy to use. I have savings, I have stated this before, which at this stage, allow me not to stress over my finances. I guess, I could call myself one of the lucky ones, both with being mortgage free and having the small savings I do have. Also, it helps having a partner to halve the costs and to shoulder any worries.

But I really do feel for those out there who are facing financial hardship. At least I know from fortnight to fortnight, exactly how much money is coming my way.