26-year-old works two jobs to cover bills and save funds
NICOLE uses an Excel spreadsheet with months listed, and every bill is planned for over the year.
Cost of Living
Smart Savers help keep more money in your pockets. Smart Savers offers tips, hacks, expert advice and online tools to help navigate your way through your finances. From tax, health, lifestyle, food, fuel, finances to property, Smart Savers has you covered.
Mother of two concerned about Mackay’s economic future
JAIME, 34, and her husband Jason, 39, have a savings strategy.
20-year-old has no particular savings plans at present
TAHLA has always been a saver, but has no particular savings plan at present.
Senior citizen says nothing left to save after paying bills
RON has been retired for 10 years, and he said after covering expenses such as gas, rates, and electricity, there was nothing left to save.
Elderly are struggling to pay way
IPSWICH pensioner Arthur Edwards has been so short of money that he could not afford to put petrol in the tank of his car.
Life’s pretty neat at Pete’s for a Rocky pensioner
YEARS ago Kevin Parsons wouldn’t dare go outside his room after 9pm.
Coles beats Woolies on perception of low prices
NEARLY half of Coles customers believe the supermarket has low prices, a likely result of the grocery chain’s Down Down campaign.
Inquiry: Electricity price rises due to network gold-plating
MASSIVE rises in the electricity costs came down to spiralling network costs and flaws in government regulation, a Productivity Commission inquiry has found.
Get ready for a council rate rise as budget pressures mount
DE-AMALGAMATION, rising costs and pressures on revenue will force the Sunshine Coast Council to increase rates in the upcoming budget.
State Budget: More hip-pocket pain for Toowoomba families
TOOWOOMBA residents Nadia and Ben Horner are not sure how much more pain to the hip-pocket families can take.
Power price rise will hit struggling dairy farmers hard
A STAGGERING 22.6% rise in electricity prices could cripple our struggling dairy industry – and add more cost of living pain to battling Gladstone families.
We need a solution to rising electricity bills
OPINION: THE new certainty in life that should be added to death and taxes should be rising electricity prices.
Power bills hike set to shock households
THE city’s welfare agencies are preparing for a surge in demand on their services as the full effects of electricity price hikes filter through the community.
Hip pocket hit as budget costs families extra $600 a year
COST of living pressures for families may worsen, with expenses set to blow out by $600 more a year when the State Government hands down the budget.
Single, childless, still fearful that costs are set to soar
SECTIONS editor Beth Young discusses the cost of living in Gladstone. And the scary fact that it is set to increase again with the upcoming State Budget.
‘Green’ living reduces household costs
ENERGY hungry appliances, leaky taps and dodgy washing machines – everything adds up in the war against rising household costs.
$812,000: The cost of raising two children
THE average cost of raising a child has risen by 50% over the past five years, new research reveals.
Teenager trials life below poverty line
IF I hadn’t been scrolling on Twitter that morning, I mightn’t have stumbled across the inspiring opportunity that is Live Below the Line.
It seems kids are worth their weight in gold
IF YOU think your kids are sending you broke, you could be right.
Another hip-pocket slug to fund flood levy plan
FAMILIES look set to be slugged again to help fund a $1 billion plan to fund flood-proofing projects across the state.
Federal budget not thrilling but means a lot to families
GLADSTONE parents Lana and Peter Kammholz admitted they didn’t tune into last night’s Federal Budget, but the cost of living is high on their agenda.
Tax data not all that it seems
GYMPIE and the Mary Valley paid out $572m in wages and salaries in 2010-11, with an average salary of $35,786 confirming that this is a low socio economic area.
Families struggle as cost of living soars in Gladstone
LOCAL charities say they’ve had to step up support for struggling families, as the cost of living continues to skyrocket in Gladstone.
Regional survey shows cost of living is a major concern
THE biggest hardship facing Hinkler residents is coping with the increased cost of living, a local survey has found.
Power bills spark pledge from MP McArdle to aid needy
ENERGY minister Mark McArdle has pledged to fight to keep electricity prices down, following reports Warwick pensioners are relinquishing food to pay bills.
Business cluster brings savings
RESULTS from Gympie’s second ClimateSmart Business Cluster were phenomenal; proof that looking after the environment is a great way for businesses to improve.
Minister puts landlords on notice
UNSCRUPULOUS landlords have been put on notice by the Minister for Housing with $100,000 funding to go to the Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service.
Central Queenslanders can’t retire
A Suncorp Life survey reveals almost 46,000 Central Queensland baby boomers won’t have enough super to allow them to live comfortably in retirement.
Shock over power bill increase
WARWICK resident Lara Hemmings said the shocking amount of her latest power bill was enough for her to ditch the health kick she was on and reach for chocolate.
Ipswich family sleeps in city park
AN IPSWICH mum and her eight children have been moving from park to park in search of a night’s sleep after being kicked out of their rental property.
Cost of living is way too steep
HE THOUGHT he had found the perfect place to settle, but Calliope resident Ken Henderson is being forced out of his dream home only five months after buying it.
Supermarket wars
MELANIE Costa is the woman Coles and Woolworths are fighting over.
Price war eases pinch at check-out
CHEAPER winter vegetables and a milk and bread price war are helping ease consumers’ pain at the supermarket checkout.
Birth rate falls from living costs
SUNSHINE Coast men are travelling to the end of the earth to find work, which means less time for “making the earth move” at home.
Pensioner worried over rates rise
HERB Linwood is 70 years old, a pensioner and a very worried Gladstone resident.
Jobless pushed to brink
COST of living pressures are hitting already vulnerable unemployed Ipswich residents hard, according to a job agency.
Householders fear worst
COUNCIL rates have again become a burning issue, just two days after the release of Gladstone Region Council’s budget for 2011-12.
Ease cost of living: Malone
MEMBER for Mirani Ted Malone says the Bligh government should deliver a back-to-basics Budget today to help Queenslanders burdened by rocketing living costs.
Mary-bargain’s more bang for buck
MARYBOROUGH families are getting more bang for their buck, with the cheapest overall cost of living in Queensland.
Rising costs strain relationships
IF YOU asked Cooloola Psychology’s Karyn Hackney whether people were buckling under rising living costs, the answer would not paint a rosy picture.
Mackay paying miners’ tax
IT’S what we all knew – if you live in Mackay or a nearby mining community you are paying the price of the resources boom.
Demand for help is high: Vinnies
MORE people need help from charitable organisations than ever.
Cost fears for our pensioners
PENSIONER Joan Vickers has thrown down the gauntlet on the rising cost of living.
Residents failing to cover costs
AS LIVING costs soar, the figures tell us we are doing well, but the figures lie.
Squeeze angers pensioner
PENSIONER Bill Van Breda says people like him are coming to the end of their financial tether.
Mackay Council owed $6m in rates
THOUSANDS of Mackay households are struggling to meet basic living costs, including their rates bill, with Mackay Regional Council owed nearly $6 million.
Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/topics/cost-of-living/page/30