With electricity and water prices on the rise, Logan residents are feeling the pinch – but some have found ways you can still save on your bills.
Kingston resident, Jeni Gallagher has been living frugally for years after her husband fell ill and could no longer work.
“My husband is on a disability pension due to medical problems and illness, and I take care of him, so we are both unable to work and it’s been that way now for quite some time,” she said.
“With no real income coming in I had to learn how to manage the bills and our daily expenses on a very tight budget and had to cut costs where I could.”
Mrs Gallagher said she realised quickly there was a lot she was paying for that she didn’t need.
“We are empty nesters now and we only got the internet for our children, so we cancelled that. We never had smartphones to begin with, but we use a pre-paid recharge for our old mobile phone, and we just stick to normal TV,” she said.
“We couldn’t afford to splurge on extra things, and we found that we didn’t need any of it. It may not work for everyone, but it’s been working completely fine for us.”
Mrs Gallagher said through a little bit of discipline she also found where she could cut costs on electricity and water.
“Some rules in our house when the kids were with us, was turn off lights as you leave a room and instead of using lights during the day open the curtains or blinds and use the daylight – it’s free. They also had a time limit on TVs and devices and showers,” she said.
“I only wash clothes once a week and I hang dry. If you have a large family, I understand it can be tough but just try to reduce the number of times you are using the washer and dryer and you will see a big difference.”
“You would be surprised at the amount you can save from bill to bill, just by doing simple things.”
With prices set to go even higher, there has been a lot of talk about solar power. Could it help families save more during this time of financial stress?
Logan Village resident, Sue Williamson seems to think so.
“We were early adopters of solar and have stayed in the same house since having it installed so our feed in tariff back to the electricity grid is a lot more than if you have moved house or signed up after July 2012 – it ranges from anywhere between 0.60 to 0.08,” she said.
“We have had to adapt our use of electricity habits to get the most of our feed in tariff, so we do our washing and put our dishwasher on at night and we utilise the sun during the day to score us 0.60 per kwh.”
Mrs Williamson said solar helps makes electricity more affordable.
“When both my husband and I worked during the day we were reducing our bill between $150 to $200 per quarter. Now that I am retired and at home during the day, it has reduced to about $50 to $70 per quarter,” she said.
“In regard to electricity it made sense for us to make and use our own before having to purchase it, especially when you live in the sunniest state, Queensland. Solar helps make electricity more affordable for us.”
