Where to find $55-a-week in household spending cuts

Sunday, 19 April 2026

Senior business reporter Rob Stock answers your money questions. Got a question for Sunday magazine? Email it to sundaymagazine@stuff.co.nz

QUESTION: We are struggling. We’ve made cuts, but we still need to do more. I’ll take any advice I can get.

ANSWER: Financial struggles can be a lonely experience, so I would have you first remember that you are not alone.

ASB economists have estimated households will likely face an average $55 per week elevation in the cost of living over 2026 thanks to the effects of US President Donald Trump’s adventures in the Middle East.

That’s $2250 or so for the rest of the year.

That’s an average, but everyone gets a share.

This comes on top of already tough times. Stats NZ reported last year that just over half of renters, and a third of people in homes with a mortgage, felt their incomes were either not enough, or only just enough to get by on.

I’d also say it’s important not to lose perspective.

Most people experience tougher times at some point in their lives.

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I can recall them in my life, and I have friends going through them now. Living leanly for a spell of time does not mean the end of all happiness.

Last year, for example, in an effort to be a decent mate, I formed a novel-writing club with an unemployed friend, and with another, who was also struggling to find work, we went for a lot of hill walks. These were fun, social, and largely free activities.

Low-cost pro-social activities lift the spirits.

This last weekend, I turned 3kg of windfall feijoa pulp from one of my neighbour’s trees that hangs over my shared driveway into a mass of jam and chutney. The cost was not much more than $10 in sugar, vingear, spices, and a little electricity and time. The result was jam and chutney for my household and my neighbours, and good neighbourly relations.

But back to that $55-a-week.

Better-off households will probably just save less, and retired households will probably end up running down their retirement nest eggs a little faster than they had hoped.

Poorer, and middle-income households, will be the ones to struggle.

We can already see evidence of some of their actions. Non-essential car journeys are way down. I can feel that when I ride in to work on my bike.

ASB economists expect to see a “shift back towards essentials at the expense of discretionary and durables spending”.

They mean less spending on entertaining, eating out, buying coffees, going to the cinema, taking holidays, and replacing older items like cars and whiteware, unless they clap out.

This is where households go first when tightening their belts.

The biggest areas where people tend to spend money a little frivolously included food (buying lunches, eating out, multiple supermarket visits in a week, buying takeaways, coffees out, etc), on things like alcohol, vapes and ciggies).

It also includes small, unplanned purchases that just add up over time, the kind of daily flashing of the payment card that hasn’t been planned for.

Many people still don’t budget, which offers an opportunity.

When you decide how much you can afford for each line item in your budget you can start making decisions about what is worth spending money on.

It can also identify things like an electricity provider that’s charging you too much.

I’d recommend you make an appointment with a financial mentor. They can help people get over the psychological and skills barriers that get in the way of budgeting, and making cuts.