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How I Spend Smarter: Grocery Edition · She's On The Money

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: She's on the money.
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  Speaker 2: She's on the money. My name is Natasha Bamblett. I'm
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country. Hello,
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  Speaker 2: beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that
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  Speaker 2: we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
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  Speaker 2: and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
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  Speaker 2: podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
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  Speaker 2: knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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  Speaker 1: that discusses All of the issues concerning your wealth goals
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  Speaker 1: so you can feel more in control of your financial future.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what feels completely out of control lately,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Bex Syed?
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  Speaker 3: What is it?
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  Speaker 1: The price of eggs. No, you aren't imagining things. The
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  Speaker 1: cost of everyday essentials like milk and bread and even
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  Speaker 1: Tim Tams seem to be rising at a fever pitch.
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  Speaker 1: So what's behind it all and how might we shop
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  Speaker 1: a little bit smarter to avoid feeling personally victimized by
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  Speaker 1: the cost of our weekly shop? I am Victoria Devine
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  Speaker 1: and joining me today is none other than Miss Bec Syed. Hi.
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  Speaker 1: I would say you are one of the craftiest grocery shoppers.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: And I've tried to pull some tips and tricks that
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  Speaker 1: maybe even you haven't thought of.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my God, that'd be gorgeous. Thank you because I'm
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  Speaker 3: running out of ideas here.
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  Speaker 1: But it doesn't involve, I'm really sorry, putting mushrooms through
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  Speaker 1: as brown onions.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, that's okay.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Which for those of you playing along, Bec tried to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: suggest as a broke tip once and we were like,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that's actually illegal.
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  Speaker 3: That's illegal.
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  Speaker 1: That's illegal and we definitely don't do that. And, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: if we see other people doing that in the supermarket,
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  Speaker 1: we didn't see that, did we, Bec?
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  Speaker 3: We didn't see it.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 3: No, absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: No, I'm actually blind. That's so crazy. If someone was like,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: did you see that? I'd be like, no. No. No,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that's crazy. I'd sign an affidavit that I didn't see that.
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  Speaker 3: So I would sooner gaslight a police officer.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, what do you reckon? Have the hens
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: finally unionized or is there more to it, Bec?
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Well, would I be right in saying that it probably
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: has something to do with inflation or is it just
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: late stage capitalism?
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  Speaker 1: You know what? Why not both? Why not both? I
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  Speaker 1: think it's a little column A, a little of column B, Bec. See,
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  Speaker 1: there are actually a few things going on here and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that we kind of help
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  Speaker 1: set the scene for our community so that They not
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: only understand how to save more at the checkout, important,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: but why the prices are the way they are. Because
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I think we're all, I don't know, COVID happened. And
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I keep saying stuff like this, but COVID happened and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: we flowed through that and we weren't comfortable.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But we could see the light at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel.
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  Speaker 3: Totally.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: And we're like, this won't be forever. Like we will
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: get through this and everything will go back to normal. And-
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I don't feel that everything's ever gone back to normal.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: And now I think we're all getting a little bit
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: pessimistic and saying it's never going to go back to normal.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: And at what point do we agree that that's the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: case and we kind of try to... to live with
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: this new normal instead of wishfully being optimistic that things
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: are going to change.
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  Speaker 3: True. Because that will also, I mean, either way, it's
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: going to cause some like disenchantment, but there's just like
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  Speaker 3: an anger when you go shopping. It's like, I feel helpless.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Like I don't, how, why is this allowed to happen?
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  Speaker 1: And you deserve better than that. And I think I'm
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: an inherently optimistic and positive person. Like give me a
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  Speaker 1: negative situation and I will turn it into a positive.
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  Speaker 1: Like I try very hard to do that because I
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  Speaker 1: think that not, it's not my family, but growing up,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: there were a lot of people that were like quite
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: negative and down. And I realized how much that would
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  Speaker 1: impact my own mental health. And so I started to
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  Speaker 1: try and be a little bit more positive. And now
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  Speaker 1: I just gaslight myself quite consistently into being more positive.
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  Speaker 1: It's crazy the more your external speak over time becomes
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  Speaker 1: your internal monologue. Like a lot of people are probably thinking, Victoria,
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  Speaker 1: you're insane. But like your mindset can really help. but
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: even my mindset is a little bit waney at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a little bit frustrated. I just, I hate what
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  Speaker 1: this feels like knowing that my community are going through
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  Speaker 1: this and it's not, oh, you know, a monthly bill.
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  Speaker 1: It's every damn week. And if you're like me, it's
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: every couple of days going to the supermarket because you
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  Speaker 1: can't get your stuff together to do a big weekly shop.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: And like, I'm so bad at meal prepping. Like all
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  Speaker 1: of this feels out of reach.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, completely agree. It's just, it's, it's a lot. And it's,
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  Speaker 3: Almost like how do we, the light at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the tunnel that we saw was actually an illusion.
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  Speaker 1: It was an oasis.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: But let's go back to like why the prices are
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the way that they are. So firstly, we're going to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: go back in time and compare just how much the
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  Speaker 1: prices of essential items have actually risen over the last
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: 10 years and how things like wages and inflation and
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: CPI come into play, which I'll explain a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about later on. Then we're going to cover some,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, fun factors.
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  Speaker 3: Cool.
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  Speaker 1: Like labor costs and logistics and supply chain disruptors.
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  Speaker 3: That sounds fun.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly where you thought I was going to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: go before bringing you some smarter spending habits to reel
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: those receipts right in. But first, Bec, guess what? We're
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: taking a quick break.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, let's go.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, my friends. And while it might look like
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: we're just sitting here in 2026, it's actually 2016.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I'm taking you back a decade to show you exactly
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: how much things used to cost. She's on the money
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: was only a thought in my head in 2016. We
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: didn't exist yet, but you best believe, even then I
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  Speaker 1: thought the prices were expensive, but I'm about to get
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: a rude shock. So, Bec, imagine you've just met your
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: first iPhone without a headphone jack. Oh, true. Remember when
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: that happened?
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: That was, no, that was unacceptable. The 31st Olympic Games
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: have just opened in Rio.
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  Speaker 3: Lovely.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. And people are leaving their homes in droves to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: catch Pokemon on their phone for the very first time.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my God, I remember that was so much fun.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I just, I look back at that and I go,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: what an epic way to data mine.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, true.
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  Speaker 1: They were getting so much information from that.
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  Speaker 3: That's so funny. I never thought of it. I genuinely
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: was just like, take whatever you want. I just want
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  Speaker 3: to find these Pokemon. Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: And you've got to catch them all, right?
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: You've got to.
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  Speaker 1: Can you guess what the median annual wage was in
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  Speaker 1: 2016 here in Australia?
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  Speaker 3: And remind me, median is.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Like is the average or median is? It's different. It's different.
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  Speaker 1: Let me give you an example. An average wage would
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  Speaker 1: be the amount that all of us earn. Yep. Added
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  Speaker 1: up and then divided by the number of people that
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  Speaker 1: are involved. So it just like spreads all of the
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  Speaker 1: money across the board evenly.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: So an average number from my perspective and in general
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to data isn't always reflective of what
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  Speaker 1: every single Australian or like, you know, your average Joe
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  Speaker 1: Blow actually is earning because even a few really wealthy
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  Speaker 1: people or like Gina Reinhart, billionaires, will skew the results
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  Speaker 1: and make us look much wealthier than we actually are.
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  Speaker 1: So if you were taking, you know, a whole heap
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: of people who are on Centrelink and then a whole
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  Speaker 1: heap of average Australians and then a few billionaires and
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  Speaker 1: spread the billionaires' dollars across all of us.
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  Speaker 3: True.
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  Speaker 1: Sorry, that's not fair. From my perspective, that is not
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  Speaker 1: a really good look at what the average community member
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  Speaker 1: or the average Australian actually earns.
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  Speaker 3: True.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, some people might resonate with that and say, well,
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  Speaker 1: I earn the average. I don't know what the problem is.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, well, the data isn't as accurate as it
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: could be. Whereas median, which is something I prefer to
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  Speaker 1: rely on when I talk about statistics and wages and income.
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  Speaker 1: A medium wage looks at all of the wages in Australia,
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  Speaker 1: and it places them on a continuous line. So it
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  Speaker 1: goes from littlest to biggest, and then it picks out
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  Speaker 1: the number sitting slap bang in the middle, which is
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  Speaker 1: not only more representative of what most people would earn,
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  Speaker 1: it's reflective of the volume of people who earn more
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  Speaker 1: or less on either side. So when we say median,
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  Speaker 1: and we will get to a number, but when we
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  Speaker 1: say the medium wage is X, You can guarantee that
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  Speaker 1: half of Australia sits below and half of Australia sits above.
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  Speaker 3: I see.
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  Speaker 1: Does that make a little bit more sense?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely. I like that one.
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  Speaker 1: And why I wouldn't want to rely on the average.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Because like the average, if we put that on the
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  Speaker 1: continuous line, would sit much further towards the top. And
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: then we're missing out on a really big amount of
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  Speaker 1: people who are earning less than that.
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  Speaker 3: For sure. Okay. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: And I also think it's a bit disenchanting.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my God, totally.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Because if I say, oh, the average Australian earns a
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: hundred grand, you go, wait, what? That's not me.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And most people are going to say that because most
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: people are going to sit below the average because of
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  Speaker 1: the outliers at the top.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And that's not fair. Exactly.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: No. Okay. That makes sense. So that does seem more
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: fair or at least like more accurate than an average
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: in this case. So what were we earning back then? Okay.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: So in 2016, the median annual wage in Australia was $ 48, 360.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So Australians were taking home $ 760 a week based on
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: income tax rates at that time.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: That's all you need?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: That's all right. The annual inflation rate- so sorry, was
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: 1.3 to 1.5%, which meant, and that's very low Bec,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: which meant that the cost of everyday things like milk
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and bread and eggs would only be 1.5% more expensive
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: than the year before, or that your money was losing
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: its buying power by 1.5% each year. So if we
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: had a basket of goods, you could buy 1.5% less
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the year after that existed because of inflation.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Got you.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: The average cost, please don't hate me, of your weekly shower.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: in 2016 was $ 69.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: 12.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my God. So you're spending roughly 9% of what
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: you earn on your groceries.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: That is like $ 69 right now could get you one
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: piece of salmon and And some bits and pieces, if
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: you're lucky.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: You might get a kick in the pants.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God. That is insane. Right.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: A dozen eggs, 10 years ago, $ 4.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: 04.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Wow. Two litres of milk, $ 2.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: 88.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Okay. A loaf of bread, $ 2. 60.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: That's okay. That doesn't seem too bad. And how do
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: they figure this out? Okay.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So, basically, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or the ABS,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: considers essential household items like milk and bread and coffee,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: thank God, and toilet paper into its calculations to reflect
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: what someone might purchase week to week, right? It just goes,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: what is the average job we're buying? And we're all buying,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you know, without our allergies, milk and bread and eggs, right? So,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that's what it takes into consideration.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I see. Okay. That makes sense. So now I have
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: a feeling things like inflation and the average cost of
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: the weekly shop is going to be more significant in
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: a few minutes, but can you tell me where we're
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: at now?
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you do know me too well. So we're going
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: to flash forward to today and the median gross annual
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: income in Australia is sitting around $ 78, 000.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: We're earning more, which is very nice.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, that's good.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: But remember, this is the median, not the average, and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: that we are still waiting on a few tax returns, Bec.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So that's okay. So you'll have to take this figure
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: as somewhat of a placeholder. We also have the census
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: that has just happened. So we're waiting for the data
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: of that to come back. And this works out to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: be $ 1, 197 take-home pay per week into your back pocket,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: which is nice, I guess. But currently, and we said
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: before that inflation 10 years ago was between 1.2 and 1.5%,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: inflation is now 4%. And according to Finder, Australians are
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: spending on average $ 204 per week on groceries and.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: That's insane.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Which is 17% of our weekly earnings.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: That's insane.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: So it's gone from 9% to 17%. And so I've
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: put in these percentages because I think it helps to,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: in my head, illustrate what that difference actually looks like.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Because you would go, oh, well, I don't really know
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the difference between that $ 48, 000 income and $ 78, 000. If things
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: are more expensive, surely that works out. So I feel
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: like percentages... help drive home that of all the money
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: that you're taking home back, you used to have to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: spend 9% of that bucket on your groceries. Now you're
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: needing to find 17% of that bucket.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: That's almost a quarter.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: That's crazy, right? That is crazy. A dozen eggs these days,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: about $ 7.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: 20.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Bet you the Prime Minister wouldn't know how to answer
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: that one.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: No, totally.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Two litres of milk is $ 3. 80 and a loaf of
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: bread now costs $ 3. 80 on average.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Yep. Okay. So it's not like the supermarket chain's kind
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: of gone wild.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: No, they haven't gone crazy.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: No. It's like things are more expensive and our money
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: is losing its value faster than it was before. Absolutely.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: And I mean, there's a whole other conversation, I think, Bec,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: about the way that supermarkets are at the moment. In
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: my humble opinion, which is not that humble, they're taking
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the mickey. I think that there's a lot that they
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: can be held accountable for, but unfortunately- wages and growth
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and inflation. That's not them. They didn't do this to us.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: This is just our economy. And essentially, wages are not
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: growing as quickly as inflation. Because in a perfect world, yes,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I would have said oh, we're earning 78,000 as a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: median now, Bec. And you would have said, oh, great.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: And we're still spending 9% of our income on groceries.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: That's what we want to see.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Like we want to see the same percentage of our
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: income being allocated, even though it's more expensive. Like it
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: just means that the cost of living hasn't changed and
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: lifestyle creep can be accounted for. Does that make sense?
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Like you've still got the same amount of cashola to
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: spend on your luxuries. But our annual wage growth for
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the 2025-2026 years, it's at around 3.3%. So our money
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: is worth less and less every year because inflation is
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: higher than 3.3% and we are earning slightly less every
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: single year. And other things like housing and bills and petrol,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: they're also eating up more of our weekly budget. So
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: it makes sense that we are feeling like everything is
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: fruitless and we can save less even though we're earning more,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: you are not wrong. That is absolutely what is happening here.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: And if you think about the impact of rising energy
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: costs alone over the last few years you can understand
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: why it costs more to make the things that we
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: need right because making equals energy so for example let's
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: talk about eggs again if uh egg farmers bills so
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: his power bills and his petrol and his like animal
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: feed those costs are increasing then they've got to recover
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: those costs somewhere right otherwise he's like paying you to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: take his eggs. And that's not what's going to go on.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And naturally, a lot of those costs are then passed
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: on to us, the consumer, because he does his maths
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and he's probably got a really good spreadsheet and he's
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: put all of, you know, it costs me X, Y,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Z to produce an egg. He puts all those costs in.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Then he says, well, to put food on my table,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I have to sell an egg for X instead of Y.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Like I can no longer charge four bucks a carton.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: It's going to have to go up to close to seven. Like,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: because otherwise my business is going to go under. Like
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to have the ability to put food
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: on my table at all. So it's not people taking
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the mickey. It's that being in business is more expensive
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and things like the global pandemic or fuel pressures or
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: bird flu disrupt your supply chain and your logistics, it
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: adds even more pressure to keep delivering their goods for
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the same price every single year. So I guess my
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: point here is that you are not alone if everything
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: feels more expensive because it actually is more expensive and
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: we have less disposable income than we did in 2016. Yeah. Yeah.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Okay. God, it's so scary.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: So what are we going to do about it? Between
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: ourselves and the community, surely we can find smarter ways
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: to spend on things we need. Absolutely.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And our community are geniuses. Like if we put all
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of our brains together, we can change the world.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: God, yeah, I reckon.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And I think we are, slowly, slowly. But let's just
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: say we've been paying really close attention. That's me, snooping.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Like it's saying, oh, I'm paying really close attention to you,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: borderline stalker vibes, but I'm checking out everything that's happening
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: in our Facebook group, in our DMs. Like I'm watching
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you in a good way. You're lucky it's me, though,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: because like other people with the same powers might not
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: use them for good. But we've gathered some of our
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: most practical tips for saving at the checkout. And I'm
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: not just talking about, I guess, the hypotheticals, because that
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't help anybody. I mean, things that members of our
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: own She's On The Money community are actively doing to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: curb the cost of their grocery run. Now, I'm excited
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: to get into it. But to help keep things focused,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to break it up into things to consider
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: as part of your shop as well as things to
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: avoid or watch out for along the way.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Okay. I'm eager to hear what everyone's tips are and
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: if there are any glaringly obvious things that I could
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: be doing too.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, I've made this with you in mind. Don't you worry.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I was like, I wonder what Becky's going to think
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: of this. But this whole batch of tips sits right
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in the planning phase.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Cool.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: And I know that's something you don't like doing, but
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: if you want to save money, sometimes we have to get...
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: stuff together and do a bit of planning. And I'm
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: not just talking about, you know, making sure you've got
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: bags in your car so you don't spend 25 cents
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: on a paper one, whatever. I'm not even talking about
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: making sure that you have a dollar in your wallet
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: so that you can get like a trolley token.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: True.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Because like, in fact, if you don't give me a trolley,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I think I save more at the supermarket as well.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, I agree.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Like just carry your basket around because I guarantee you'll
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: be thinking, I can't carry this. I'm not going to
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: be carrying this.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And then you don't need it all of a sudden.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: But here are some things that you can work on
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: before you've even left the house back. So first things first,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to surprise you, but the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: first cab off the rank, budget.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: That makes sense. That makes sense.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Sorry.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: If you don't already have a budget, it might be
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: time to sit down and work out how much you
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: can actually afford to be spending on your groceries. This
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: might mean that you have to figure out how often
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you shop and whether you can buy in bulk or
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: if buying these things as you need them is actually
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: more realistic. Because I don't want you to think that
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do this episode and go, Bec, buy
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: in bulk. And you go, V, I don't have the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: budget to be buying groceries. the 20 kilos of rice.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Like I just can't, I can only afford to do
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: it week to week. And that's okay. If you don't
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: have a budget, maybe it is time for you to
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: set one. I'm so sorry. For example, can you spend
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: less than $ 204 a week on groceries, which is less
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: than the average Australian?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Can you spend less on maybe sweet treats because you've
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: decided to make your own? Budgeting can also help you
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: work out where you currently stand on all of your
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: grocery expenses, because I can almost guarantee if you're popping
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: into the shops on the way home from work, that
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: stuff adds up.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: And it's really rude when somebody adds that number up
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and says, did you know, Bec, that popping to the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: shops after work actually is costing you an extra like
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: $ 200 a month?
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: You'll be like.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely not. It's not. And then I'll show you
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: the numbers and you'll be like, wow, it actually is.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe you'll find that you're spending too much on maybe
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a particular store or like things that you don't need
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: in the nicest possible way. Maybe you're more susceptible to
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: like a little impulse purchase.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Like what do you mean, Bec? The other day, packets
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: of Tim Tams were two packets for $ 4.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: That's pretty good.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I couldn't go past it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: You actually can't.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I did not go past it. But did I need that? Well,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the answer, Bec, when it comes to budgeting is absolutely
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: not because that was $ 4 that I didn't need to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: spend and I did not plan to spend when I
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: went to the supermarket.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: True.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: And I totally understand why I did. And I'm not sorry.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I regret nothing. But it's those little decisions that we're making.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: while we're in the grocery shop that sometimes blow things
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: out completely.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, so fair. I mean, if you're going to like
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: a shopping centre, like the Woolworths bottom level of Westfields.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: You're like, well, I'll pop in a JB Hi-Fi while
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: I'm here.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Rude not to have.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: A little peruse. Exactly.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I've got to enjoy the journey as well. So that
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: might lead really well into actually planning your route and
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: avoiding JB Hi-Fi if that is bad for you. But
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: how often have you started a grocery shop and then
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: called it early because the fruit and veg place is
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: just a little bit out of the way and you've
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: run out of steam and you can't be bothered. So
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: you go for the more expensive option and the pre-chopped pumpkin.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Planning your actual route can make all the difference in
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: time and money saved. If you can get everything you
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: need in one go or even in one suburb. you're
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: less likely to stray from the grocery list and bail
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: early or forget things only to have to grab them
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: later in the week. And this is where you might go, V,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense. And, like, there are a few
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: apps out there that compare grocery costs and, oh, this
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: is cheapest at Aldi and then this is cheapest at
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Coles and this is cheapest at Woolies and you have
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: every intention to just buy it at the cheapest places, right?
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe it won't work out. Maybe we just stick to
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: like an Audi shop in general. And even though you
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: might be paying a few cents more on a few items,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: it actually works out better because you're not driving to
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Woolies and spending money on petrol. And also time is
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: a commodity as well. Like how much time is this
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: taking you?
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Because we best believe. Now I have kids. I'm like,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: why did no one tell me? Why did no one
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: tell me that that is actually an impossible task? Think
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: about the kinds of things that you need and the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: places you shop the most. Then look for, I guess,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: hubs that offer, I guess, a helpful amount of stores
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: in the one go. Like for me, my closest supermarket, great,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: it's a Coles. But if I drive another five minutes,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I get to like one of those shopping centers that
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: has an Asian grocer. And an Audi and a Coles
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: all in one spot and there's parking out the front.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: So it actually doesn't make sense for me to go
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to the closest Coles. It makes sense for me to
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: drive the extra five minutes.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: True.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Because I'm going to save a lot more and get
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: all of my stuff done at once.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I don't like going there as much. It's not as
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: chic because the Coles near me is one of those
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: fancy Coles local.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: And that's like a fun experience.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to lie.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: But I need to do the responsible adult thing and
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: go to the place with the Asian grocer because like
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: everybody knows all the stuff there is one better, but
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: two cheaper.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: That is so true. That's such a great idea.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: What do we got next?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: This one is not for the ADHD girlies, but we're
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: going to try our best, right? We are not going
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: to leave the house without a list. So even if
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: it is mentally like up here, please try and get
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: into the habit of of making a list and checking
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: it twice before we go to the supermarket. Not only
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: does this prevent, I guess, missing items and having to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: pop back to the shops because you forgot to get
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: flour and oh my goodness, I was going to crumb something.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: It means that it actually helps you figure out what
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you actually need and what you might be able to
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: substitute for something cheaper if items are more expensive along
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the way. And this can be handwritten. I always use
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: my notes app in my phone. In fact, did you
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: know you can share if you have an Apple phone?
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: You can share notes nowadays.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: That's really cool.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: So my husband and I have like a rolling grocery list.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, cool.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: And we both add to it because we're trying to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: cut back on just popping to the shops every night
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: after work. We are adding to it.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: And then when the.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: List gets to a substantial amount, my husband will go
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: tick them all off. I'll come home and be like, wow.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: It also updates me and says, oh, Steve's ticked things
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: off the list. Oh, that's so good.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: That's so wholesome too.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: It is very wholesome.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Very cute.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: But- have your list and check it twice. And if
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: your plans change and you can't do the shop yourself,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: you can easily turn it into like a list for
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: an online shopping order for delivery, which I guess from
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: my perspective, because I'm a little bit like, oh, Tim Tams,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: it does curb any overspending habits in real life.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: That is very, very true. You don't accidentally happen upon them.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so many of these places now have free
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: delivery or they have like programs like the Woolies program
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: where if you sign up, it's like, a few dollars
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: per month and you might go, oh, that doesn't make sense.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: But you get free delivery and, you know, 10% off
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a shop per month. Like this stuff adds up.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: True.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Like it makes sense. And then track sale cycles. So
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: sales don't just happen randomly. They are literally on a cycle.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And this is a big one among our community members.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: It really pays to track what things go on sale
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and when. Because as much as you might not like
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the planning of it, if you purchase, let's say, rice
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and you go, oh, I know I purchase rice every
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: week because I love rice-based dishes. But every three weeks,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: rice goes on sale. Maybe every three weeks, we're picking
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: up a second bag.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: And we're really making the most and having a good
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: idea of what we need so that in the future,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: future you benefits.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: That's genius.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Because like then we go to those shops next week
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and it's not on sale and you go, damn, I
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: really need rice. I'm completely out. Well, then we're not
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: being stuck having to pay full price for something that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: we arguably need in that moment. But it does take
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: planning and that kind of sucks.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: I did not know that.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: But yes, sales are on cycles. And so what I
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: would be doing. is signing up for those catalogs or
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: those emails, particularly at supermarkets, not at your favorite fashion location,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: or keeping a reminder in your calendar of when things
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: might go on sale. So you don't have to do
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the maths here. I have gone and found all of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the apps for you.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Thank you. I was going to ask.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are websites and trackers. So a few of
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the ones that are most popular in our community are Kugo, GroceryWise, ShopHop,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: And Pinch, and I'm sure that there are way more
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: out there. So please, if you're on Spotify, comment on
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: this episode so that, you know, our community can scroll
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: through and see what's benefiting you. In fact, if you
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: have any grocery tips and tricks, chuck them in the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: comments for us because the craftier the better, honestly, but
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: there are going to be more out there depending on
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: your needs and preferences. Like for me, I love planning
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: on my computer. I don't love just like looking on
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: my phone.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Whereas there are apps and stuff, but it's crazy. it
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: will compare the price until you wear it's cheapest and
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: when it goes on sale. And like, that's so helpful. Genius.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: It's genius. Exactly. Okay.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And now times have changed, obviously, but I am not
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a meal prepper, but it's something that I'm now looking
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: at and going, even though I don't super enjoy this,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I do need to plan my meals. And I know
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: that traditional meal planning, it's not for everybody. And what
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I mean by that is Not everybody wants to, and
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: I know I don't want to, so I can't expect
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you to do something that I wouldn't even do myself, right?
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: But not everyone wants to buy and cook and eat
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: chicken and rice seven nights a week.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: No, I know.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And like, I get it. And in theory, you go,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that's so cost efficient. And there are people who are
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: really happy with that. And I applaud you. Like, I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: am genuinely envious because the mental load that that would
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: take off is immeasurable. Yeah. But there are so many
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: ways that you could do this really effectively and You've
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: just got to find a way that sticks for you.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: So this might mean planning five or seven meals around
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a particular protein or key ingredient, then having, I guess,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: some flexibility around how those meals are rolled out. So
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: for example, burgers one night, then stir fry the next
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and a pasta dish that incorporates that same protein so
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that you can buy it in a bit more bulk
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: with portions and leftovers. That way you've got a bit
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: of variation without introducing too many ingredients. Meal planning might mean,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and some people don't like using AI and I get it,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: but AI can be so helpful for saving you money.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: But meal planning might mean asking AI to help you
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: create meals from what you've already got in the pantry.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: I've done it a few times and I'm always so
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised with what it comes up with because not
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: only does it feel a little bit creative- I didn't
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: have to think, I didn't have to Google six million things.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: It's done it for me.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Just make sure you include things like obviously your dietary
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: preferences because they might be like, oh, and you said
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: you have all these spices, let's use them. And you're like, Actually,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I have all those spices because I don't like eating
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: them and they're just in my pantry.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, very true.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: And planning might actually be dictated by your budget. So
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: maybe it's worth finding a week's worth of meals that
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: are under a certain amount. You could even challenge yourself
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to see if you can buy the bare minimum to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: create those dishes and gamify it a little bit. Our
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: friend Chelsea has a whole heap of content in her
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Facebook group of $ 10 Meals Australia and And just, she's phenomenal.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: They are so crafty. Like, I think my favorite hack
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: that she's had, just because I'm shocked at how cheap
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it is. is buying like a whole chicken not cooked
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: but like a whole chicken and then portioning it off
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: and roasting some of it and like chopping some of
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: it up for a stir fry like she's like Victoria
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: you can get like three or four full dinners out
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: of this for two people and a whole chicken is
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: under ten bucks and Like so good.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: But it does include work, but like, how do we
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: gamify that and make it a little bit fun? Yeah.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: For me, it's making sure that we understand the flip side.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Like if I'm going to do this, great. I'll have
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a little bit more budget for something bougier because we
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: all want the merit of the scoats cheese, right?
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: But like, we're going to have to strip that out
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: of our budget, but like, maybe we could keep that
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: in the budget if we're crafty somewhere else.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Like, and I think that that's where compromise comes into
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: it because there has to be some level of compromise.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Now I mentioned the Woolies app before and how good
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: it is. The other thing I want to talk about
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: is stacking your rewards, points and perks. So it's now
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: pivoted or I'm seeing the points conversations really pivot from Beck,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: get all your points because you can get flights to
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: We're not doing that anymore.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: No.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Get all your points so we can spend them on groceries.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: So are you a point stacker or rewards program chaser?
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: If so, plan your grocery shop accordingly. So many people
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: in our community, including us, only shop with the majors
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: when things are on special or when bonus points are involved.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: We've also read that so many of you are buying
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: groceries Coles and Woolies vouchers when they're five or 10%
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: off so that then your whole shop is cheaper.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: That's so good.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: You know you're going to have to spend the $ 50 anyway.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: So buy the $ 50 card on sale. You've already saved
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: some money and then use it at the checkout like cash.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: And we know that so many banks and lenders in
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: general offer perks based on who they've affiliated with. So
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: suss out what rewards come with your bank or your
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: mortgage provider or your insurance company or your super. It
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: might actually really surprise you.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: And you've heard me talk about them a million times,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: but apps like Shopback are free to join and offer
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: you cash back on everyday purchases with major and online retailers.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: This is not sponsored by them.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: No.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I wish it was.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Shopback, call me.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: I love Shopback.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I love Shopback. I would love to work with you
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: guys again. But this is just a free shout out
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: because they're just so damn good. They've even introduced a
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: receipt feature where you can upload receipts and be rewarded
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: with cash back on eligible purchases because if you make
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: it in store, you shouldn't be missing out, right?
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: Money win.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Got it.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: Okay. So there's a lot we could be doing even
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: before we've brought anything.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Literally before we've even gotten to the shops, we need
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to be planning. And I know that's not what you
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: want to hear.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: No, it's like all good in theory, but in practice,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: like once you're under those fluorescent lights and you're In
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: the aisles, it kind of goes out the window. What
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: do you do then?
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: You just eat all of the Tim Tams that you
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: just bought.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, I see.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: No, no, that's not it. But, like, let's be for real.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: If the supermarket environment is overstimulating for you, you might
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: actually want to plan your visits when it's not as
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: busy or you might want to opt for places that
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: aren't as over the top when it comes to lights
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and signage and, like, you know, being overwhelmed. And secondly,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: if you simply can't shop because of time, or maybe
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: you've got kids and so the supermarket is an absolute nightmare,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: know the delivery options out there. They're actually pretty good
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: and pretty competitive nowadays, and they are a great way
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: to prevent overspending or impulse buying. And I don't know.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: I really like seeing the number at the bottom of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the screen, knowing exactly as I'm adding individual things, exactly
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: what the tally is. And to be honest, even if
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: you're spending $ 10 on delivery, Bec, if you're doing your
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: big weekly shop, I would argue that by being able
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: to sit in front of a computer and pull things
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: in and do the comparison each time, you're probably going
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: to save more than $ 10 as well. I completely agree.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: So maybe just having that and going, maybe I'm spending
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: this and you're right, it might feel like a waste
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: of money. it saves you more on the flip side
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: because you're like, I'm being more thoughtful and more purposeful
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: about these decisions that I'm making. And you might go, oh,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: but I don't want to give my self permission to
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: spend that because it's waste, right? 10 bucks on delivery,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: so dumb. But like at the same time, I know
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: I'm saving more when I'm being really thoughtful about what
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: I'm putting in my cart. Exactly. And it doesn't feel
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: as good adding Tim Tams to your cart when you
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: know that it's not immediate. Like you're removing that sense
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: of instant gratification because like I know by putting the
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Tim Tams in my cart, I don't get them in
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: my hot little hands to open on the car ride home.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: You know, like it's just a bit different. Exactly. I mean,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: let's try and sell this. You don't need to lug
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: your bags to the car. We've all had a paper
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: bag break. And you can also click and collect at
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: a bunch of places too. So if you want more
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of a hybrid model, and I mean, technically you could
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: do what one of my girlfriends does, Bec. You could
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: organize your click and collect. You could not tell your
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: partner that you do click and collect and you could say,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to the supermarket. And then you can do
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: your hot girl walk and have a coffee and listen
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: to a podcast. And the kids are at home with
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: your partner. And then you can do click and collect.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: It was like you just went to the shops.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: We don't have to tell them.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: No.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: What they don't know is not going to hurt them.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Speeding around those aisles.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: You're crazy. That's amazing. You did such an efficient shop there.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And obviously, again, you can, if we're forward planning, you
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: can look for free delivery slots or cheaper delivery slots.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: And you might want to even like suss out if
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: you live in an apartment complex and you have to
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: pay delivery like and you've got a mate, maybe you
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: could go in together and have a delivery done on
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: the same day at the same time.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: That's a great idea.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: We're going back to the perishable conversation because you know
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: how I said when something's on sale, maybe we're forward
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: planning and buying it early, whether it's like your tinned
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: lentils or it's laundry powder. By the way, you will
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: never catch me spending full price on laundry powder.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: No chance. No chance. Any cleaning products, I never spend
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: full price.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: Don't need to.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Even if I need it, I'm like, oh, at the
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: shops the other day, I needed Windex. I should be Greek,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: but I'm not. But I love Windex and I use
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: it for everything. In fact, it might be a problem,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: but I will not buy it full price. Like I
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: needed it. I didn't buy it because I was like,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: absolutely not. That's a rip off.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: No.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Like in my head, it costs the sale price.
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: But we are only shopping sales cycles for things that
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: can live in a pantry or in a laundry. And
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: better yet, waiting until they're 50% off. Because usually with
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: a sales cycle, Bec, you'll see a particular item, it
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: might go 30% off every two weeks and then every
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: six weeks it's 50% off. So like get to know
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: those cycles so you know when to stock up. because
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: they aren't going to go off anytime soon. They can
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: live in your pantry and you can stock up when
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: they're on sale. And this goes for like double pantry staples,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: things like your pasta and your tinned tomatoes or your
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: tinned beans or whatever you buy so that you actually
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: have a backup meal in the pantry when you've got
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: nothing in the fridge. Like one of my favorite pantry
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: meals is is vodka pasta or vodka rigatoni.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: It's my favorite, right? And you might go, but Bea,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: you need cream and you need like all of these
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: like things you don't because I keep all of my
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: shredded cheese in the freezer because cheese goes off so
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: quickly and like sometimes I don't get through it. And cheese,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: if it's pre-shredded, Bec, it melts in 0.2 seconds. So
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: like cheese goes in the freezer in my house. I
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: have tomato paste. obviously pantry item, pasta, obviously pantry item.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that I purchased that I
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: think not niche, but you might think is weird is
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: UHT cream.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: UHT cream.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: You know how you can get like long life milk?
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: They do long life cream.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Yes. Okay.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: And I buy long life cream. Because it tastes the
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: damn same.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: It does taste the same.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: But it can live in the pantry and then all
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: of a sudden I have a creamy tomato pasta on
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: the table and I would very happily eat that over
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: ordering Uber Eats.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: So like for me... your HT cream works really well.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: It lives in the pantry. And then all of a
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: sudden I have a meal that my husband and I
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: really like, like vodka pasta. So good. The only thing
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: that we laugh about missing when we're doing this as
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: a backup meal is I would love some fresh basil,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: but beggars can't be choosers.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: Hey, that's okay. You can get the dried basil. You can.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: And we do, but like, as you know, it just
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: never hits the same.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: It doesn't hit the same. I agree.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: So Things like that we are stocking up on because
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: we want to stop the temptation of takeaway. And this
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: also works for things that can be frozen. So I
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: was talking about the cheese, but our community members, they
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: talk about buying meat in bulk when it's on special
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: and then putting into Ziploc bags. So we're not just
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: putting the whole tray of meat into the freezer. We're
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: putting it into Ziploc bags. We're portioning it off so
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: you can just grab what you need for a particular
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: meal because like, girl, I'm not. I'm sorry, but my brain,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: if I put the whole thing of meat in the freezer,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: it's never getting unfrozen.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: I know, totally.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: It's not. But if you said, oh, there's two portions
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: of steak in that Ziploc container, I'd be like, wow,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: that's exactly how much I need and I will defrost it.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: But if I have to defrost a whole tray of
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: on-sale steaks, what am I going to do with the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: rest of them? Then I just have anxiety and I'm
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: just not going to do it.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: It's just not for me.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: Will I get sick if I put it back? Probably.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: And then you just like- Yeah, can you refreeze it
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: or can I snap it off? Like I just, we
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: do the prep when it gets home.
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: Great idea.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: And then obviously you can use like the cuts that
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: you like more because if we're buying it in bulk,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: they're cheaper. And just make sure you label everything because
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: if you're like me, you'll pull something out of the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: freezer and you'll be like, what's this though?
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Like it looks slightly different frozen. Not sure what this is. Also,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: let's not knock tinned items.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: Love a tinned item.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I love a tinned item. Some fresh stuff ends up
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: costing more when it's not in season or on sale.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: So maybe consider going tinned when you can because every
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: dollar actually counts and it can save you heaps.
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: That's so true.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I love also niche again. I love a tinned potato.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: Tinned potato? I haven't tried that.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: So niche. But they tin the baby potatoes.
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: And you can like get a whole tin of potatoes,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: drain it, chuck it on a roasting tray and roast
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the baby potatoes. And because they're basically already cooked and
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: you're just like reheating them. They're always really fluffy in
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: the middle. Yeah.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: Yum. Okay.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: And also, you didn't have to peel them. You didn't
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: have to organize them. If you've got kids, you can
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: literally tip it out, tip it on the tray, put
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: it in the oven. A little bit of Tuscan seasoning
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: is my go-to for everything. The Tuscan seasoning by Master Foods.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: That's something I will never buy the home brand version of,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: that Tuscan seasoning and I. Yeah, hell yeah. But I
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: put that on everything straight in the oven and then
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: you've got an easy side for a dinner. Oh my God.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, amazing.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Please try it. Please try it.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: I will do.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Also, fresh stuff, we're eating seasonally. So fruit and veg
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: is up there when it comes to grocery costs. I
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: feel like it eats most of my grocery costs as well.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: But to help save in this section, we are eating seasonally.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: So like just Google it or ask AI, but what
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: is abundantly growing in your region and then be shopping accordingly.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Coming into winter, mandarin season. We're having mandis as our fruit.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Like I'm not buying berries for my kids. I know
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: so many people like, oh, but my kids are berry fiends. Same.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: If I gave my kid at any stage in the
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: year a punnet of blueberries, he would scoff them. Point
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: two seconds. And then somehow he goes, more? What, you
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: think you're getting two punnets of blueberries, sir?
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: So good for his brain.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're not getting two punnets of blueberries in
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: this economy. You would give it to him. I know
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: you would.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: I would. You would.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: You'd be like the best aunt ever.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: You'd be like, oh, you want chocolate?
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: You can have all of the chocolates. You can have chocolate.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: If I don't have it in the house, I'm sorry.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: You're going to have a mandarin and some apple.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Like it is what it is.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, fair.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Like I cannot justify that spend. But what you can
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: do as well is stock up and freeze. And you know,
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: you can often freeze stuff like bananas and like blueberries
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: and like strawberries and use them throughout the year.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: Very true.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: I would say we're becoming besties with our freezer actually
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: based on all of the conversation that I've had.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: Besides buying meat in bulk and chucking it in the freezer-
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Frozen fruit and veggie provides so much nutritional value and
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: many of them are surprisingly comparable, get this, if not
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: better than the fresh fruit in the fresh fruit and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: veg section. And they are obviously great for bulking out
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: dishes and adding to smoothies or throwing something together when
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: you're on the skint. But frozen veggies nutritionally are a
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: lot of the time better for you because they are
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: snapped frozen that's true the location that they were usually
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: grown and then the fruit and veggies if especially if
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: they're out of season like they've been shipped somewhere they've
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: been stored for ages they're losing their nutritional value and
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: i think that that's a really cool thing my favorite
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: things are not just buying frozen peas and corn i
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: don't know about you but are you triggered from the
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: mix of frozen peas corn and the tiny cubes of
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: carrot yeah yeah like i'm really sorry i get it
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: it's cheap I do. And if you can do that,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: you do that because that's actually the best.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: But.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: The frozen stir fry mixes are my favorite when they
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: go on sale because they're usually like, I don't know,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: got some capsicum in there, got the like nicer beans
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and stuff that I usually wouldn't buy in the fruit
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: and veg section because like they're the expensive ones.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: But on sale the other day, I got two bags
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: for six bucks and that's at least four meals for me.
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: That's so good.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: And it's already like a diversified number of fruits and veggies. Yeah.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: Because I'm a money person.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: I'm like, look at this diversified bag of.
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: Fruits and veggies.
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: No, I'm saying.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's like- Let's get that
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: because I also, I never defrost anything. I tip those
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: veggies in to the fry pan, frozen, and they will
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: unfreeze as they're cooking.
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: Yep. I'm the same.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Just as good. And also, do you know what's really helpful?
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: Niche sidestep, you can buy frozen onion.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: True. Yes, I have seen that.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: It is not necessarily cheaper. So I've done the maths.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: It is not necessarily cheaper, but it is more accessible
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: because And so having a bag of frozen diced onions
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: means I don't have to think about the fresh side
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: of things. If I want to grab a handful of
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: onions and start a pasta or something, I can. Not
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: only is it accessible, but I'm not throwing away half
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: an onion here and there.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: So like for like, about the same price. Yep. But
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: I'm also not throwing away half of a yellow onion
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: every couple of weeks.
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: It doesn't make you cry.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: It doesn't. No, because someone already chopped it.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: That is luxury, Bec.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: It really is.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: And this obviously doesn't stop at the supermarket. It keeps
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: going when you're meal prepping. And like something that I
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: really like. is using those larger ice cube trays to
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: freeze meals. So that sounds a little bit niche, but
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: you know, like the bigger ice cube trays you can
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: just get at Kmart?
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like the silicon ones.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Leftover pasta in there, pop it out once it's frozen,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: put it in a Ziploc bag. Not only will it
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: defrost quicker and easier, but like if I have a
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of leftover rice or leftover pasta, freeze it,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: it's in chunks. I actually have freezer bags in the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: bottom of my freezer that of leftover veggies, leftover rice,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: leftover stir fry stuff. I can pick and mix and
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: make up my own meal, chuck it in the microwave.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: I've got fresh rice, fresh veg, fresh meat.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: That's such a good idea.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: I'm a thinker.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, hell yeah.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: When I say I'm a thinker, I mean, I stole
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: that from someone on TikTok. So that was incredible for me.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: But if you've got leftovers, chuck them in the freezer.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: Because like how many times do you go, oh, there's
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: a bowl of pasta there. I'll pop it in the fridge. Girl,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: pop it in the freezer because you and I both
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: know you weren't going to eat that tomorrow.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: No, exactly.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: You weren't.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: But if you're like, oh my God, I'm so hungry
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and like budget's tight, you'll be grateful. Actually, that pasta
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: was pretty good. I'll defrost that.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Totally. I think it's a great idea. So it sounds like,
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: you know, besides things like rewards programs and sales cycles,
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of this is about your mindset around meals
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: and groceries, like preparation seems to be the key to success. Sadly.
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: And then remembering these points as you're in the aisle
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: sounds like it might be the game changer.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And I mean, you also have to understand your
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: own habits. So whether that's around spending money or impulse
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: buys or knowing that deep down, you only really want
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: to cook once or twice a week, that can have
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: a really dramatic effect on how much you spend on
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: your groceries. Because how many of us have been like,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: be the best at budgeting. And you like find maybe
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: like a $ 50 meal plan online. You buy everything and
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: then you cook none of it because you were like
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: never going to do that anyway.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: But we committed to it and we want better.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: We just need to be realistic at the same time.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: So sure, it's very important to factor in things like
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: calorie intake and getting enough protein and fiber and making
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: sure you have enough energy to do what you want
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: to do, but also understanding your habits and your behaviors.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: It's actually... The difference between spending a little every day
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: on morning tea and making a week's worth of morning
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: tea for a fraction of the cost, Bec. Like just
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: understanding our own habits is so important and I think
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: so undervalued. And if you know you struggle with the
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: mundanity of meal prep, can you make it fun? Like
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: a few years ago before kids, because like life for
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: me has gotten pretty hectic. One of my besties used
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: to come over. And she'd cook something while I was
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: cooking something and then she'd take home half of each
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: of those things and I'd keep half of each of
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: those things. So I'd get double the amount of food
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: that I was cooking. My bestie and I hung out.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: We definitely opened a glass of red wine. I'm not
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: sure if that counteracts the money saving, but we definitely
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: had a red wine. It was so wholesome and meal prepped.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: And to be honest, food tastes better when you didn't
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: cook it.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: That's so true.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: So whenever she cooked it and it was in my fridge,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: I was excited to eat it.
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. 10 out of 10.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: 10 out of 10 takeout or something.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: And she said exactly the same thing. So if you
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: struggle with that, could you collaborate on the life admin?
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Or if you have housemates, could you agree with your
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: housemates to, hey, I'll cook a whole heap of eggs
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: and I'll pop it in the fridge and I'll pop
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: some in your containers.
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: And if you do Y, then we'll do a switcheroo. Yeah,
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: that's a great idea, actually.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: And how jealous are you if you're in the office, Bec,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and someone, you go, oh, that pasta looks good. And
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: they go, oh, thanks, my housemate made it for me.
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: That feels good.
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: And it's really wholesome. All right.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: So we're all going to meal prep together now, Bec.
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: After the break, we're going to share some naughty habits
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: that you probably should avoid so that you can sustain
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: those grocery shop savings. Guys, don't go anywhere.
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I know everyone has a grocery habit that in itself
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: is pretty innocent, Bec, but might actually be costing more
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: money in the long term, which is not good. And
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: I am talking to myself. We are personally victimizing Victoria
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: and the Tim Tams. I'm talking things like impulse buys.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: And making purchases with present bias and going to the
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: supermarket when you're hungry, which is just– we all know
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: we shouldn't be doing it. But just because we know
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: better and can do better doesn't mean we do better.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's very true.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: Bec, do you also find yourselves in the aisles when
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: you're a little bit stressed?
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I feel like– because when you're hungry, sometimes–
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: You just want convenience. You don't care. Like, I'm like,
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: I can't even think about cooking toast because waiting for
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: food for a second longer, I'm going to die. And
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: so you do just, you end up in the aisle.
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: like the bakery aisle at Woolworths, like whatever's quick and easy.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I know. And I think why the
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: bakery aisle at Woolworths, like they always have like three
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: pain au chocolat together.
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: And then I'm buying three that I didn't need and
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: then eating two that I didn't need.
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: Two. Impressive.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, three plus.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Okay. I can and have been known to
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: demolish an entire packet of caramel crowns in one sitting.
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: Oh, she loves a caramel crown.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Without sharing. Oh, that's fair.
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: That's okay.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: If Arnott wants to sponsor our show, you just let
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: me know because I am pretty happy to be paid
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: in caramel crowns and mint slices and the odd Savoy
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: because I do prefer a Savoy over a Jats. That's
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: probably a topical.
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: Thing to say. That's crazy.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: That's crazy.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, my husband thinks it's insane as well, but that's okay.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Moving on. Moving on. I guess who amongst us has
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: not reached for something sweet after a bad day? Like
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: we can't be the only ones, Bec, and I'm here
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: to remind you We're not alone. We're actually in this together.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: You are human. And maybe emergency snacks are part of
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: your grocery budget. Like maybe we budgeted in, Bec, instead
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: of being like, oh, we shouldn't do that.
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good idea, actually. Let's just do it.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: And the buying these things when they're on sale to
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: support you when you need them might actually be a
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: hack that saves you a lot of money in the
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: long term. Like if you're popping to 7-Eleven and buying
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: a really expensive chocolate bar a couple of times a
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: week because you're just like, oh, my goodness, I need it.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: why don't we put it into the budget and buy
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: the ones that are on sale for a dollar at
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: the supermarket and keep a stash in your desk? Like,
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying don't do these things. I'm saying let's
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: find a more economical way to do it because I
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: guarantee that little shop under your office is ripping you off.
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: That's actually a very good idea.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: They absolutely do. And it's just about thinking about, okay, well,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: what habits do I have? And let's be honest about them.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Another habit to avoid is just the like, Oh, just
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: a few things shop.
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Like I know that sometimes you need to do a
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: top up shop because you're a mom and you've run
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: out of avocados and yogurt and you literally can't do
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: breakfast time tomorrow without yogurt, without a meltdown. And then
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden your $ 30 shop has suddenly become
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: an $ 80 shop and you're questioning your life choices. I
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: speak from experience. And this is where things like online
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: shopping and delivery might help in that the format kind
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: of forces you to review what's in your basket with
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: a clear view of your total before checkout.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: I really like that.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: For me, it's also about measuring what you're consuming. So
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: like if you're doing your weekly shop and you're like,
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: my family eats yogurt each week.
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: Great.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: And you buy one big tub of yogurt and you're like,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: that should do it. But in reality, every single week
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: you're popping out and buying another one. Let's buy two
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: in our big shop. Like, let's actually understand how quickly
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: those things are being consumed. And again, this is because
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: I have done this and I have a toddler who,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: if he looks at yogurt, it disappears.
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 52:15
  Speaker 3: Loves yogurt.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, you've never met a toddler that doesn't love a yogurt.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that in toddler land, a yogurt pouch
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: is currency.
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I love a yogurt pouch.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: I can negotiate. anything with that toddler by saying I'll
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: give you a yogi pouch and he goes okay okay
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: no worry no worry and if he offers you your
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: yogurt pouch in a toddler's culture that's actually them accepting
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: wow that's quite honorable yeah it is but this is
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: where I think you know we need to be quite
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: thoughtful about what we are actually consuming. And also yogurt pouches, sorry,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: they are a special occasion thing for me. My kid
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: gets yogurt in a bowl. Like I just, I cannot
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: justify it. It costs like $ 2 a pouch.
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: And that kid could eat six of them if I
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: let him in a row. It is much harder to
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: abandon your cart when the customer service person is standing
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: over your shoulder at their like self-checkout beck. than it
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: is if you are shopping online and putting in things
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: that maybe you don't need.
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, very true.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Much easier to remove a few things from your cart
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: once you've added it all and been like, oh, that
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't fit in budget. Maybe I will remove X or
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Y or Z. Most of us aren't doing that at checkout,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: even though we probably should because we're just like, oh,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: that's awkward. And where do you put them? Like if
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: I don't want the Tim Tams anymore, once I'm at
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: the checkout, Where do you put them that's not awkward?
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: I know. I know it's impossible. You just have to
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: buy it.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to get it. I'm just going to
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: get it. So I think it's really important to also
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: think about that. Another cheeky habit that can really sneak
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: up on you is buying in bulk because of the
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: perceived value when really you can't afford five kilos of
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: one thing right now. And this is where unit pricing
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: is really, really helpful. So if you're not already familiar,
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: it's when the cost of an item is broken down
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: by its lowest unit of measurement. so that you can
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: compare products properly. So sometimes you'll see, oh, 100 grams
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: of this is $ 2 and 100 grams of that is $ 4,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: but the $ 4 box actually looks much bigger and you
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: think you're getting a better deal and you'll buy that
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: one because the branding's nicer, but then you're like, oh
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: my God, I didn't realize I was getting screwed. So
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: looking at that is really important. And like, for example-
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: Are you really saving money by buying five kilos of
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: potatoes if the cost per kilo is higher than the
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: loose ones that you were planning on getting in the
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: first place?
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, exactly right. Or like, you know, a big
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: tin of Milo, which seems like a good idea in theory,
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: but how.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: Much Milo do you actually drink? Oh, if it's you,
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: Drink a whole tin in a few weeks.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably a bad example for you because you
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: could scoff a tin of Milo.
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: I really could. But for everyone else, are you just
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: going to have this big tin looming over you for
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: the next few months? Maybe.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: Maybe. Maybe.
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: And that's the thing. Would that money be better off
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: split like between a bunch of things?
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: And then also, this is a personal attack on my
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: love for Rigatoni vodka pasta, buying things with no shelf life.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: Silly.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: I'm here to break it to you. But buying that
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: basil that needs to be used today or it's gone. Yeah.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: It's gone, my friends. Like the basil never lasts. You
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: are always going to put some of those fresh herbs
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: in the bin. So have a think about like what
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: items are you buying that you have absolutely no business
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: buying until you actually use it? Or can you store
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: it in like a wash bag in the fridge to
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: extend its life or things like that? Or even just
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: like genuinely compromising like Steve and I do. Love vodka pasta.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Love fresh basil. I'm not buying fresh basil just to
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: put on the top of an item. I'm really sorry.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: It just makes no financial sense. We compromise. We get
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: dry basil. That's the end of the story. Is it
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: as good, Bec?
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: No.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Full stop, end of story, no. But it doesn't make
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: financial sense to spend $ 4 on a packet of basil
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: that is going to go off when we're going to
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: use such a minute amount of. And the taste difference, yes,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: it is there. I'm not saying it's perfect. But it's
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: still good.
• 56:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Still good. Still okay. I'm not having people over. I'm
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: not entertaining. I'm not trying to impress people. I'm just
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: trying to get dinner on the table. And I think
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: that some compromises like that are really important to make
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: because they actually do impact the bottom line.
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: That's very true. That's very true. So I kind of
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: said what I said.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: And if this episode has inspired you to shop differently,
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: like I really hope it has, or to change up
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: your spending habits or to understand your shopping mindset, please
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: let us know by sending us a DM or or
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: hitting us up in the comments on Spotify. Additionally, if
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: there are any other hacks that you would love to
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: see shared with this community, please sing it from the rooftops.
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: We will take all the tips that we can get.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: We'll also be sharing any handy references from this episode
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: in our show notes. So thank you, Miss Bex Syed.
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: And thank you to our community for joining us for
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: another deep dive. Please remember to subscribe so that you
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: never miss a beat and to give us a review
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: if you like what you have heard. We will catch
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: you later in the week for another episode of Friday Drinks.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Until then, take care of yourselves and of each other.
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: Bye, guys.
• 57:17
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• 57:19
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• 57:20
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• 57:24
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• 57:27
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