\u201cThings were tight when I was a young mum bringing up my kids. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut both of us are really aware how hard it is for young people to get on the property ladder now. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was easier to get into the property market back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, Jenkins and Crockett make careful choices to stay within their means. <\/p>\n
The budget savvy couple live centrally so they can walk into town, and they only have one car which halved insurance, fuel, registration and maintenance costs. <\/p>\n
Like many older people, they\u2019ve had to ditch their health insurance because the premiums got too expensive. <\/p>\n
They undertake preventative health care instead, working out at the gym and going for long walks with their dog Cedric. <\/p>\n
Crockett, a former social worker and counsellor, has cut back on alcohol and Jenkins, a former teacher who went to Northland College, doesn\u2019t drink at all. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a conscious decision to be in optimal health, which also saves them money. <\/p>\n
The couple are thrifty in other areas too. <\/p>\n
Retirees John and Jennifer turned their backyard into a productive vegetable patch. Photo \/ Jenny Ling<\/p>\n
They transformed their back lawn into a productive vegetable garden with several raised garden beds, growing tomatoes, lettuce, beetroot, herbs and rhubarb.<\/p>\n
When Jenkins spotted a pair of disused wrought-iron gates, she enquired, snagged them cheap, and repurposed them in the garden as grape vines. <\/p>\n
The couple also planted numerous fruit trees including plums, lemons, lime, mandarins, feijoas and guavas. <\/p>\n
To save on power, they chose a cost-effective woodburner over electric heating and they don\u2019t use the clothes dryer. <\/p>\n
And when the sofa became worn, Jenkins got the squabs recovered instead of forking out thousands of dollars for a new one. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents were children during the depression; they did things that we inherently do without realising,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up learning ways to be less wasteful and more creative.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jenkins also sews her own clothes and shares her skills at the local sewing group. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t buy clothes back then, you made them. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you wanted an outfit for the school ball or dance the only option was to make it. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, if I get sick of an outfit, I can unpick it and make something else.\u201d <\/p>\n
As for food, Jenkins and Crockett add legumes and vegetables to meat dishes to flesh out the meals because of skyrocketing meat prices. <\/p>\n
They\u2019ll make a standard recipe for four people and make it last two nights. <\/p>\n
Jennifer and John make coffee at home instead of forking out $6 per latte. Photo \/ Jenny Ling<\/p>\n
The couple rarely go out for coffee, instead they use their Bialetti stove-top coffee maker at home. <\/p>\n
According to Stats NZ figures, food prices increased by 5% in the 12 months to July 2025. <\/p>\n
Higher prices for the grocery food group, up 5.1%, contributed the most to the annual increase, and was driven by milk, butter and cheese. <\/p>\n
The average price for a 2 litre bottle of milk has risen 16% to $4.70, a 500g block of butter is up 42.2%, and a 1kg block of cheese has increased by 29.5% to $13.01. <\/p>\n
Prices for meat, poultry and fish were up 7.9%, and fruit and vegetable prices are up 7.3%. <\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei Age Concern president Beryl Wilkinson said seniors were struggling with living costs \u2013 particularly increasing rates, rents and insurance \u2013 \u201cthe same as everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Because retirees were on fixed incomes, they were having to be more careful and often went without, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey can\u2019t increase their income so they\u2019re having to downsize on the amount they eat and what they choose. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost of us are having to avoid any of the added extras and treats you used to have.\u201d <\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei Age Concern president Beryl Wilkinson said seniors were having to be a lot more careful with their budgeting.<\/p>\n
Wilkinson suggested buying seasonal fruit and vegetables, and choosing what\u2019s on special at the supermarket. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of preparing ahead and buying when the prices are right. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you buy what\u2019s in season and grow yourself some silverbeet you can eat quite well.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wilkinson also highlighted how generous Northlanders were at sharing food. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are community gardens and church gardens and generally people I know who share their extra mandarins, lemons and vegetables. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople look after each other. <\/p>\n
\u201cThinking of others when you\u2019ve got something spare is a big aspect of keeping your costs down.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThings were tight when I was a young mum bringing up my kids. \u201cBut both of us are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,11357,5343,24004,803,802,33118,807,4188,11964,111,43,139,1067,69,13011,801,2122,35836,11584,3765,67575,1955,102],"class_list":["post-250707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-budget","tag-climb","tag-coming","tag-continue","tag-costs","tag-creative","tag-kiwis","tag-living","tag-moneysaving","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-retirees","tag-rising","tag-share","tag-strain","tag-stretch","tag-tips","tag-wallets","tag-ways","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}