As inflation surges, Canadians find creative ways to save, cut costs

Sandy Yong is a new mom and bills have piled up like dirty diapers.

Yong’s maternity leave stipend, which gives her roughly 70 per cent of what she’d make in her day job, has been stretched even further lately as her Toronto household grapples with the new daily expenses for her 11-month-old son and high one-time costs like a crib and stroller.

But Canada’s decades-high inflation levels — hitting 6.7 per cent in April — are a dominant factor pushing Yong and her family to re-imagine their budget in search of new ways to save.

“Our family definitely has been feeling the pinch with inflation and the rising costs of gas and groceries,” she says.

“I have been trying to stretch my dollar even more for the last couple months of my mat leave.”

With one month left before she returns to work but surging prices already pushing down the bottom line, Yong tells Global News she’s been changing her approach to feeding her growing family and saving for the future to keep costs manageable in the short and long term.

Global News polling shows that Yong is not the only person struggling to make ends work and seeking out ways to beat inflation.

In a mid-April survey, 54% of respondents were asked their strategies for fighting inflation. saidThey were eating out less. Others were to put off buying new clothes (47%), and reduce entertainment spending (46%).

Some 18% of Canadians say they are now carpooling more, or taking fewer trips because gas prices have risen to all-time highs.

Another person is in the grocery store: One in four respondents (26%). saidThey were changing to a store that they believe is more affordable, but 24% saidThey ate less meat and 22% more vegetables. said they’re buying fewer fresh fruits and vegetables.

More than half the Canadians are bilingual saidThey were looking for flyers to sell, while 31% said they’re looking to use coupons or sales apps to save more on consumer staples.

Yong’s trips to the grocery store have her trying to reduce costs in the baby aisle. She says that she has been replacing premium diapers with cheaper brands.

“One of the ways we’ve been able to be more cost-effective was to buy store-brand or generic-brand diapers and formulas, which saves us almost half of what the name brands would be,” she says.

Parents like Yong are finding that they must be a bad cop as the cost of living rises. Nearly three out of every three parents were surveyed. said they’ve been saying “no” to their children more often.

Roughly 17 per cent of parents are cutting back on their kids’ organized sports.

Some Canadians are being forced to take more drastic action due to rising costs and limited budgets.

Eight percent of those surveyed were satisfied with the results. said they deleted or did not renew a medical prescription in order to offset inflation — that figure rose to 14 per cent among those aged 18 to 34. Twelve percent of parents said they’ve done this as well.

One in eight respondents said they’ve dipped into money they were saving for retirement to cover costs.

Myron Genyk, CEO of Evermore Capital, says now is a good time for people to do a bit of “spring cleaning” in their finances to find ways to trim expenses.

Checking credit card statements may reveal recurring charges that may not be worthwhile, such streaming subscriptions that are being cancelled. Cutting out these passive charges can be easier sources to find savings than overhauling one’s lifestyle and cutting out habits such as fast food, Genyk says.

He says that apps that his children signed up for with recurring payments are a drain on their budget that can be quickly trimmed.

“I think you’d be surprised how much stuff is on your credit card statement that you don’t need to be spending money on anymore,” he says. “Even if you’re saving ten bucks a month or 20 bucks a month there, that can add up.”

Yong is a personal finance writer who offers tips on how to save money and grow your wealth during difficult times. She’s applied some of those lessons to her own situation.

One of the solutions she’s found is Facebook Marketplace, both as a source for gently used items her baby needs but also as a channel to get rid of the household items her family no longer needs and earn a bit of income on the side.

Yong and her husband were forced to increase their weekly grocery bill from $115 to $130 because of the inflation threat.

But they’ve changed up their approach in a few ways to help them plan their purchases ahead of time.

One option is to grocery shop online. This allows Yong to see the final cart price before he goes to the checkout.

“That way we can plan out nutritious and healthy meals for the week, as well as staying on budget,” she says.

She enjoys using rewards points. Though it ties the household to a few name-brand grocery stores, she’s been able to stretch the value of those points by watching for events that let shoppers cash out more rewards at a time and save money.

While it’s not as easy to put away money with the cost of living on the rise, there are strategies to help people save or invest their cash in the current inflationary period.

Genyk says it’s a great time to ask for a raise at work to boost the size of your paycheck. With inflation at its highest point, most employers will anticipate these types of requests.

Genyk suggests that cash or Guaranteed Investor Certificates (GICs), are the best options for those who require their money within the next 12 months. However, Genyk warns that these holdings will not keep up with rising inflation.

He says it’s as good a time as any to get whatever money one has on the sidelines into the market.

The market is down for much of 2022. However, long-term investors who have a longer-term investment horizon will likely see gains once the current inflationary period and rising interest rates end.

Genyk said that while interest rates are on the rise, those renewing mortgages today might consider a longer amortization term to offset the short-term effects of inflation. They might end up borrowing more to pay off their mortgage, but it may be worth it in order to offset the temporary inflationary pressures that affect their monthly budget.

“Should you be thinking short-term or long-term, that has to do with your goals,” Genyk says. “Everybody has different goals. Some people are saving for a down payment, some for their children’s tuition, some are saving for retirement or all of the above.”

For Yong, her family’s savings goals are geared towards reducing the impact of inflation in the long term.

She and her husband have a separate savings account to put money aside to buy an electric vehicle — a move that could mitigate the impact of future fluctuations in the price of gasoline on their household budget.

“That way, in the future, we don’t have to rely on pumping gas,” she says.

— with files from Global News’ Anne Gaviola

The following story contains some of the results from an Ipsos Poll that was conducted on behalf of Global News from April 14-19, 2022. A sample of 1,001 Canadians 18 and over were interviewed for this survey. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters.

Ipsos online surveys are measured by a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. There will be a greater credibility interval among subsets. All polls and sample surveys are susceptible to error due to measurement error and coverage error.