How do pensioners make their dollars stretch?
Neil Macandrew and Betty Laing have a lifetime of wisdom to draw on when it comes to making their pension dollar go further.
Neil Macandrew, 80, is Dunedin born and bred. He spent his working years as a sales rep, travelling around the South Island from Geraldine to Bluff.
Now living on a pension, Macandrew is well placed to dish his money-saving tips - many inspired by the era he grew up in. He was born just after the end of the World War II.
“Mum would say look I can't buy this for groceries this week, but we'll get it next week because they were rationed," he tells RNZ's Thrift podcast.
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These days, he said, it's like going back in time, still rationing, but in a different way.
Macandrew says he lives pretty much from payday to payday, so every week he makes a call on what he spends his dollars on.
“Can I afford to go away for a weekend? I might think well next week I've got the insurance bill to pay so I'll give it a miss."
“[Or] I might think well because I want to go away next week I won't buy as much food.”
Nearby in St Kilda, 79-year-old Betty Laing is semi-retired, and works part-time at an early childhood centre.
Like Macandrew, her approach to budgeting also harks back to the way she was brought up. It was a simple life, one she believes has lessons for us now.
“I try and get things fixed if I can, doing a wee bit of mending. Or your car, just be gentle with your brake and your accelerator and I'm sure that must cut down on petrol.
“One of the biggest things is just watching what you buy and just think well do I really need that?”
Laing doesn't like to waste anything - she only buys veges she likes and knows she'll eat. Every ingredient is accounted for in her meal planning.
A keen baker, there are always butter and dairy products in her fridge.
“One batch of biscuits, that's probably the equivalent of two packets of bought biscuits," she tells Thrift.
She makes her butter go a bit further by mixing in other ingredient such as margarine. and she's swapped out olive oil for a cheaper oils.
While Macandrew grows some of his own veges, he makes good use of his freezer. Fish, meat, vegetables, ice cream and pies are all stashed in there, helping him pick his portion size without wasting food. He shops around to get good deals.
“That's a good motto, shop around. There's always bargains out there.”
However, neither ration their social life. Laing goes out for coffee, visits friends, or they visit her, and she has a weekly lunch date with a group of ladies.
“It's quite a basic place that we go to, so the meals aren't expensive.”
Macandrew has a diary stuffed with appointments, he is a member of various clubs in the area, including two men's friendship groups.
Neil Macandrew is an active member of various clubs and friendship groups.
RNZ/Nate McKinnon
“My favourite club, or one of the many, is the Otago Historic Military Group.
“Another group I'm in is the Otago Orphans Entertainers Club.”
The busyness brings thrifty benefits, he says, so he’s not sitting at home “on your own eating too much".
The subs for virtually all of his clubs are $20 to $30 a year.
“To me that's cheap entertainment. It's good value for money.”
