Many Australians have experienced financial hardship in the last couple of years, particularly due to Covid-19 and cost of living pressures, so money saving tips and tricks are in high demand. This article from Consumer and Business Services (CBS) highlights two simple ways you can save on essential items including groceries and petrol.
Check the unit price
Unit pricing helps you to compare grocery prices and find the best value for money. The unit price for each item may be displayed on the shelf price label, on promotional signs, or on the store’s website or app. The unit price tells you the value of a particular product as a cost per standard unit of measurement. This could be by weight (e.g. grams), volume (e.g. litres), length (e.g. per metre), or by number (e.g. per item included in the pack).
To provide you with an example, say you’d like to buy a jar of peanut butter.
- The first jar you see is 780g and the total price is $6.50. You look at the unit price, which is $0.83 per 100g.
- A different brand has a 375g jar with a total price of $5. You look at the unit price, which is $1.33 per 100g.
That means the unit price for the bigger jar is 50 cents less than the smaller jar.
While it would cost you $1.50 more to buy the bigger jar, you would get much better value overall. If you can save 50 cents per 100g on every product you purchase just by referring to the unit price, imagine the long-term savings!
You aren’t restricted to looking for other brands, you can also make comparisons with:
- Package sizes and types (e.g. packaged apples versus loose apples)
- Fresh / frozen / dried / canned variants of a product (e.g. fresh raspberries versus frozen raspberries)
- Different grocery retailers or different parts within the supermarket (e.g. the deli section versus the fridge section)
- Different convenience levels (e.g. cheese in blocks, sliced or grated)
- Substitute products (e.g. basmati rice versus brown rice).
Visit the CBS website to find out more about unit pricing.
Find the cheapest fuel price
This next savings tip is highly relevant, given South Australians are witnessing a dramatic spike in petrol prices.
To save, simply download a fuel price app or access a fuel price website on your mobile phone or tablet to locate the cheapest fuel price near you. Whichever fuel you need for your vehicle – e.g. unleaded, diesel, ethanol blend (such as E10) or LPG gas – you can check that on a fuel price app or website.
By law, petrol retailers in SA are obligated to update their petrol price within 30 minutes of there being a change. Should you find a petrol retailer is not complying with this obligation, you can report this via the fuel price app or report it to CBS via the online report a petrol station form or call CBS on 131 882.
Choose from one of these fuel price apps or websites and get the lowest price for fuel next time you need to fill up.