By Chris Schulz
Investigative Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakatewhatewha
Podcaster Frances Cook knows a thing or two about saving money – after all, that’s what her podcast Making Cents is all about.
Here at Consumer NZ, we’re also experts on the subject.
So, we joined Cook for a 30-minute chat about what’s going on with supermarket, power, insurance and grocery prices at the moment. We spent 40 minutes offering each other simple tips for saving a little money on everyday expenses.
As Cook says at the start of her podcast, “It's not just inflation or you being undisciplined, it's that modern consumer life is now engineered to separate you from your money."
Two dollars a week here, five dollars a fortnight there may not sound like a lot. But over time it can really add up – especially when money seems so tight for everyone right now.
If you could do with clawing back some of your cash, here are four ideas we gave Cook for reducing household budgets – and one she gave us.
Get on the cheapest power plan
Power prices rose 12% in 2025 and they’re tipped to go up another 5% in 2026.
Household power might feel like a tough thing to save money on – after all, everyone needs power to heat their home, cook their food and run their appliances.
But Consumer research shows 9 out of 10 people who use Powerswitch to compare power plans find they can save money.
We watched this play out in real time on Cook’s podcast, as her producer listened to our advice then plugged his details into Powerswitch as we were talking.
He found he could save more than $1,000 a year just by switching to a different provider.
Are you paying too much for power?
We'll help you compare and find the best electricity and gas plan. Check now to see if you’re getting the best deal.
Spend $5 a week to save on groceries
Supermarkets are designed to wear you down.
All those signs, all those specials, and all those loyalty card boosts are crafted to impact your decision-making, wear you down and encourage you to buy more.
That’s why supermarkets are so big and packed with a confusing array of colour-coded specials, loyalty programs and points boosts.
“[Mindful shopping] takes a lot of energy,” Ekant Veer, a professor of marketing at the University of Canterbury, told us. “So much energy that it wears you down. That cognitive load, that amount of information, just wears you down so much that you end up confused."
That, Veer says, is why you end up with 23 things in your shopping basket when you only came in for three.
The solution? It can cost just a few dollars to do your grocery shopping online and have someone to pack your groceries for you. At Consumer, some of us are paying as little as $5 to have their online grocery order packed ready for pick-up.
We know $5 a week is still a lot of money in this economy – especially when groceries are already among the biggest weekly purchases we make.
But shopping online can save you time, help you stick precisely to your shopping list and stop you from making impulse purchases, all of which save you money in the long run.
Read more: Why is supermarket shopping so confusing?
Learn how to fight for savings
Your insurance company isn’t going to call you up and offer you a discount on your house and contents package.
Likewise, your phone or internet company won’t offer you a deal on your mobile or broadband bill if you’re already a customer.
Instead, you’ll have to ask for it.
That means being prepared to shop around, get quotes and ask your current provider if it’s prepared to offer you a better deal.
Doing this can work for insurance, power, phone and other utilities.
It can also work with other major purchases.
A Consumer staff member tried this out at Farmers recently. A bed was already marked at 50% off. He asked for a better deal. The salesman passed him his card and told him to call the following Thursday, when he promised the bed would be discounted even further. He also threw in free delivery.
Sometimes you just have to ask. But it’s on you to do it.
Know your consumer rights
In this day and age, it’s important that you know what your rights as a consumer are.
If your TV breaks outside of the warranty period, can you still ask for it to be repaired or replaced? (Yes!)
If you took your car in for repairs and it breaks down again with the same problem a week later, can you ask them to fix it again? (Yes!)
If a company offers a money-back guarantee, should you get your money back? (Yes!)
Getting familiar with the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Guarantees Act is important so you know your rights, can judge what’s right and what’s wrong, fight for fairer deals and hold businesses to a high standard.
Read more: Understanding the Consumer Guarantees Act
The tip Frances Cook gave us: set annual reminders
It’s easy to leave your bills rolling over year after year without shopping around to see if you’re still getting the best deal.
One way to make sure you’re regularly reviewing your bills is to set annual reminders in your phone.
That was the tip Frances Cook gave us, and we think it’s a good one: plug regular annual reminders into your calendar to check that you’re still getting the best deals you can.
It sounds boring, but these days every dollar adds up. You can do this for every major monthly bill – even your mortgage.
Who doesn’t want a few extra dollars in the bank at the end of every week?
Read more: Can you save money on your car insurance? Yes – here’s how
