Young families cut takeaway, nights out and their own hair as inflation bites

Fairlight resident Monica Eastwood switched supermarkets a few weeks ago, hoping to save on her grocery bills. “It’s like, 200 bucks a shop for two bags of groceries.”

Eastwood, who works in childcare, just changed jobs and earned a “massive” pay rise but the cost of living hike had forced her family to stay in more.

“I don’t feel like there’s extra money, but I am certainly earning extra money,” she said. “If we ordered Uber Eats as much as we did three months ago, we’d be broke. It’s like $60 an order when it used to be more like $40.”

The latest retail figures from the ABS showed turnover growth has started to plateau. Retail spending has jumped by 7.2 per cent since December 2021, but June brought a meek 0.2 per cent growth.

“People are starting to feel the pinch,” said Melbourne University economist Michael Coelli. “[Retail turnover] turning down with higher prices says that people are consuming considerably less.”

People and families under 35 were more likely to be “hamstrung” by rising prices and had built less of a savings buffer during lockdown, Coelli said.

The years leading up to the pandemic were dubbed the “lost decade” of income growth for under-35s after income dipped 0.6 per cent for those aged between 25 and 24, and 1.6 per cent for those aged 15 to 24.

“Young people are the ones that suffer the most when things turn south in terms of their conditions,” said Coelli.

In the outer eastern suburb of Croydon in Melbourne, where inflation is 0.8 per cent higher than Sydney, the young D’Abico family has noticed childcare costs are stretching their budget, along with higher prices for fuel, utilities and groceries.

Cameron D’Abico has ditched trips to the hairdresser and picked up the clippers himself to save money. The automotive electrician now cuts his own hair, and that of his eight-year-old son, Caden, at home.

“We used to go [to the hairdresser] together and it was $40 for the two of us and now it’s $80 and you wonder: ‘Why are we coming here regularly for a sub-par cut?’,” D’Abico said.

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The family of four is hoping to one day buy a house, but the rising cost of living is cutting into their savings. They are trying to spend less by reducing family pub outings and swapping butcher’s meat for cheaper supermarket dog meat for their two border collies.

“We try to give the kids everything we can, so we are not cutting back on their stuff at the minute,” said D’Abico. “Hopefully, that doesn’t have to happen.”

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