It’s no secret that inflation is now a reality. If you’re experiencing higher prices on groceries, food and other everyday essentials, you’re not alone.
If you’re wondering how to go about this situation or what changes you can make in your daily life to combat inflation, we have a few suggestions that you could put into practice.
Here’s a sneak peek:
—Listen to the experts: Watch TED Talks featuring financial experts to gain insights and get advice on how to save and manage expenses.
—Prioritize essentials: Now that prices are increasing, it’s good to highlight the needs you can’t go without in your daily life and ensure that you’ve got the bare minimum covered.
—Go for quality over quantity: Invest in good quality items that can be used on a long-term basis rather than spending on multiple cheaper purchases that won’t last.
—Having a budget is key: Take into consideration aspects which may be affected by inflation, such as transportation, food, utilities, education, and healthcare and plan for the. future.
Before we go through an in-depth explanation of each one, we just wanted to let you know that Zilch could be an option.
Zilch is a virtual Mastercard that gives you the ability to choose the way you pay. There are two payment options: pay in 4 and pay in 1.
With pay in 4, you pay part of your purchase at checkout, then the rest over 6 weeks. Ideal for bigger buys, or if you just need a little extra time. First instalment payment varies from 25-50% depending on eligibility checks.
With pay in 1, you can pay in full for your purchase but the awesome thing about paying in 1 with Zilch is that you’ll instantly get 2% cash back in Zilch Rewards for every pay in 1 transaction.
You can then use these Zilch Rewards to discount your next shop or save them to buy a bigger purchase in the future.
With this type of flexibility at your fingertips that Zilch offers, we believe that it could come in handy during inflation.
Without further ado, here are some everyday practices you can do to help combat inflation.
Listen to the experts.
Financial experts know best. Luckily, in this day and age, we can easily access online workshops, ebooks and TED talks by the experts, just like this one.
We all take days off for rest, holidays and self-care. According to Behavioural Psychologist and Financial Expert, Wendy De La Rosa, adding a Financial Health Day to the list could be beneficial too.
In this talk, she shares 10 simple steps you could take to potentially spend less and potentially save more, including tackling your fixed expenses, creating a savings goal, using technology to your advantage and more.
One key step she mentioned is paying less more often, which you could do with Zilch, through the pay in 4 over 6 weeks option with zero fees and 0% interest.
Watch the full video to find out how this practice could possibly help you manage your money better.
Prioritize essentials.
Shortages usually happen during times of inflation. Because of that, it’s worth making an emergency gameplan for yourself and your family.
What do we mean by this? We think that maintaining an emergency supply of non-perishable food (ex: canned goods and pickled assortments). The logic behind this? You’ll be prepared when stores are unable to re-supply stocks.
You might want to do the same for toiletries like shampoo, soap and bathroom essentials. No— we’re not telling you to hoard toilet paper and other essentials just like what some people did at the start of 2020.
Just accumulate enough supply for what you and your household will need over a certain period of time — like 6 weeks, for instance. Moreover, prices are likely to keep on increasing so allotting a set amount for your 6 weeks household supply might be helpful.
In this case, using Zilch could work to your advantage because you can buy your essentials now and pay only 25% to 50% up front (depending on eligibility checks), then pay the rest in 3 more installments over 6 weeks.
Go for quality over quantity.
When it comes to making important purchases for your household, remember to prioritize quality over quantity.
Yes, high quality items may be more expensive but since they’re made of durable materials that are built to last, it’s wiser to go for them that buy something cheap and low-quality which will most likely not be functional anymore after a few uses.
Case in point, if you’re looking to buy a washer or dryer, picking a quality and trustworthy product with good reviews will be less risky because it won’t likely need to be replaced or serviced anytime soon.
In the long run, you will spend less and save more because the product is effectively serving its purpose. And if you decide to use Zilch’s pay in 1 option as a payment method, you can even get 2% cash back, allowing you to save as you spend.
Having a budget is key.
Having a household budget is very important in times of inflation. It is especially crucial to focus on categories like transportation, food, utilities, education, and healthcare – as all of which could take the hardest hit when prices increase during inflation.
Making a list and sticking to it is always a good idea but getting creative with ways of stretching your budget further is also a valuable skill to have.
For instance, it’s better and healthier to stick to homemade meals (plus make a meal prep plan) rather than eating out all the time.
Doing your shopping at less expensive stores or buying in bulk for less at stores such as Costco might be helpful too.
Think about which expenses you can reduce or eliminate without affecting the quality of your life. Maybe limit getting your hair done to once every three months instead of monthly, for example.
And that rounds up our suggested tips. We hope that these ideas can help you figure out what works best for you. Best of luck!
Please note that this article was written to share information and insights. This is not to be considered legal advice, nor a recommendation of a particular financial strategy. It is best to consult a licensed financial advisor for bespoke professional advice.