What we can learn from our parents who survived the inflation beast of the 1980’s

There is no doubt that our day to day living expenses are becoming increasingly more expensive as necessities like electricity, travel and food take a bigger bite out of our salary each month.

However this is not the first time South African’s have faced run away prices. In the 1980’s inflation peaked at a massive 20% due to oil price shocks and a weakening rand.

Growing up in the 80’s I have a clear memory of my father walking around the house switching lights off and complaining whenever I used the phone. My parents did things very differently to how we live today and there are many lessons we can learn from them to survive the current cash crisis:

Car pool:

All children who did not live within walking distance from school were part of a lift club. This not only cut down on the cost of petrol but also reduced congestion at the school gates in the morning.

We can take that a step further and car pool into work. This is going to become a necessity for many Gauteng commuters who will be faced with the double whammy of higher petrol bill and tolls.

Eat local:

My mother always grew her own vegetables; in fact my sisters would often pick the vegetables and sell them on the roadside for extra pocket money. If you are not green fingered then find out about a community farm in your area. Where I live there is a fantastic organic community farm where I can go and pick my own vegetables straight from the ground at prices far lower than the local store. If you don’t have one, speak to your neighbours and start your own.

Become electricity obsessed:

I remember being very irritated by my father’s obsession at the cost of electricity and he used to berate us endlessly if we did not switch off the lights when we left a room. Today he could be a poster child for Eskom! If you cannot afford to put in a solar geyser then at least put a timer on your geyser so it is not left on all day. We did that in our home and cut our electricity bill by around 30%.

Since moving into a home with a pre-paid meter we have become a lot more aware of what appliances use up the most electricity. Tumble dryers are the biggest culprit and stews cooked in the oven eat your electricity faster than you can eat the stew! Gas cooking is a really cost effective alternative.

Shop with a list:

My mother had a permanent grocery list for her weekly shop. Before shopping she would go through the cupboards to check what items we needed. This made for a very efficient system and it also helped to prevent impulse buying.

Don’t use credit for your lifestyle:

In the 1980’s credit cards were pretty scarce and quite frankly borrowing money was just unaffordable with the prime interest rate as high as 20%. If you start trying to maintain your lifestyle through credit you will soon face a financial crisis. As inflation ticks up so will the pressure to increase interest rates. Higher interest rates may make your repayments unaffordable and you could be caught in a debt cycle you will struggle to recover from.

Get the kids working:

Growing up in the 80’s all the kids earned pocket money through paper rounds, walking dogs or washing cars and once we turned 16 we found ourselves weekend jobs as waiters or working in shops. It is a good way to teach kids that money is something you work for and it will ease the pressure of buying clothes for your kids and paying for entertainment.

This article first appeared in the City Press.