Managing the cost of living

1. Follow the money

Do you know how much you’re shelling out at the supermarket each month?

We've found that many members underestimate their supermarket spending, often by hundreds of dollars a month.

Having visibility on what you’ve been spending where is key when looking at where you could have space to flow your money towards your goals. Take some time to look at your bank statements from the last couple of months to see where your money’s been going. See if there’s space to cut back and flow that cash towards your goals.

If you don’t have a budget, no worries! There are heaps of templates, tools, and apps out there. Do some googling to find one that works for you.

Sorted NZ has a great free budget planner you can check out through the below link.

Try the Sorted planner

2. Make saving easy

It's hard to save if there’s not much left each pay or if you’re the kind of person with a ‘spend’ rather than ‘save’ money mindset.

Members have told us their number one tip for easy savings is to set up a salary deduction to their PCU savings accounts. Police employees can set up a salary deduction which automatically pops money into a savings account before their pay hits their bank. If you want to set one up, get in touch with us. If you can’t use a salary deduction, setting up an automatic payment works too!

Having a savings account that’s out of sight of your main bank helps build your savings. Just make sure to set up a realistic amount to save so you’re not dipping into it all the time.

3. Be careful with debt

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is a popular way to spread out the cost of buying something.

We’ve noticed members have found themselves in financial strife because they’ve taken on too many over time, and the fortnightly payments mean they’re starting to struggle.

Store Cards offering interest-free payments for a period of time are popular too, but once the interest-free period runs out, members end up on a high interest rate to pay off the balance.

Be mindful when taking on these types of debt. If you’ve taken on too much high-interest debt, you could consider consolidating that at a lower rate.

Find out about debt consolidation