Money-saving tips for people feeling the pinch as inflation climbs in 2022
Global inflation rates continue to rise. In October the consumer price index showed year-on-year growth of 2.72%. The inflation rate has now been above 2% for 15 months solid. And that means everything from food to rent is up in price. If you’re feeling the pinch on your budget, you’re in good company. A survey showed 92% of office workers are trying to save money right now. We spoke to one such careful budgeter, a marketing agent, who shared her tips for saving money this winter.
No matter how tired she is, Ms. Kuo郭 takes the metro to work every day. A few years ago, she’d catch an Uber if there was a drop of rain, but now things are different. Inflation is spiraling and she can’t afford to be so extravagant.
Ms. Kuo
Online retail marketing agent
Sometimes I would have a fresh NT$2,000 in my purse, and I’d think “Where did that vanish to so quick?” One Uber return could be NT$400. But if I really switch to always taking the metro, one journey is just NT$35. This way I can save, maybe, NT$3,000 a month or more.
And she’s getting thrifty in other ways too. She picks up her needle to adjust her own clothes and mend holes. If it’s still wearable, she won’t need to buy new ones. And she puts leftovers from her company lunch into a lunchbox to take home for dinner, saving the cost of another meal.
Ms. Kuo
Online retail marketing agent
If you budget carefully, in this climate of inflation, I think you can save yourself NT$3,000 to NT$5,000 a month.
Yang Tzung-pin
Job bank website spokesperson
In this age of inflation, the rise in commodity prices is the most noticeable thing. It’s focused around food, housing, and transport. Ninety-two percent of office workers are planning to push back against rising costs, hoping to thereby save NT$3,700 a month.
Ms. Kuo is far from alone in tightening her purse-strings. Many people who used to be spendthrift are now counting every dollar carefully, in an effort to counteract the rising prices all around.
2022-11-15