Why has your household cut back on spending?

Can I ask what/why are you spending a lot on your 9 month old baby? How much a month and what are you spending on? I've got a 7 month old and it's been pretty cheap so far, only about $350 per month at the moment.

 

Thailand is super expensive to live/travel because of the very strong Thai baht. I didn't think the accommodation in Myanmar was good value for money. Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam are better places to live like a king.

 

Clothes, I like to buy her nice clothes. Also good food, eg blue eye cod.

 

I don't spend a lot on clothes because they grow out of it so quickly at that age but I like to make sure he looks gwapo. What's blue eye cod, is that a fish she likes to eat? Mine has just got 2 bottom teeth coming through so he can only eat congee and other soft things.

 

Yeah we go through clothes alot but I don't mind. She also has 2 front teeth, she loves blue eye cod fish lightly pan fry. It's like $70 a kilo.

 

I am holding back because childcare cost is Astronomical in the inner city! I got two kids so there goes our one salary. We still do cafes and eating out from time to time but I havent spend anything on clothing for more than 2 years, maybe thats why the likes of Roger David and Harris Scarfe folded.

 

I rarely drive. My primary modes of transport are: public transport, walking, cycling and ride sharing. I have a cheap car for when I need it only. Unfortunately Perth is not great to go completely carless but minimal driving is definitely possible.

 

No Kids No Worries

 

https://bluenotes.anz.com/content/d...rgan-Financial-Wellbeing-Indicator-Report.pdf

Figure 8 shows that the amount of savings Australians hold in deposit and transaction accounts has increased, with mean savings rising from $29,430 in December 2014 to $41,262 in December 2018, and median savings increasing from $4110 in December 2014 to $5640 in December 2018:



APRA monthly banking statistics and the ABS demographic statistics both show an increase in Australians’ household savings on a per capita basis from $28,146 in December 2014 to $36,068 in December 2018…

The report also shows that households have cut back on their spending amid weak income growth:

Figure 9 shows that Australians have adapted to lower wage growth in recent years by restraining their spending, as illustrated by declining levels of household expenditure growth…

 

Need to grab some of these bad boys. Like $2 a kilo. Kids love em.

 

I'm not cutting back, in fact probably spending much more, however I've always lived with being happy with what I have. For example, earlier this year we replaced our main car, not because we wanted a new, shiny car, only because the old one had started to become expensive. We'll keep this new one for many years until it starts to cost us too much. It's not like we can't afford to BUY a new car when ever we want one because we paid cash for it, but why buy one until you NEED one. My office computer is getting quite long in the tooth, but it still works fine, so why replace it. When it starts to have problems I'll have no issue purchasing a new one.

 

It's funny that we seemed to cut spending in Aust and increased spending overseas for the last 7 years

Probably in thinking that while younger we can travel far away and when older slow down to domestic when the children had grown up and not likely travel with us any longer