He urged people to look at the categories of spending that could need to expand while thinking about areas that could be trimmed.
"That comes down to understanding what the essentials are."
TOP TIPS
• Shop around for deals: like a better phone or power plan, negotiate for better rates and use electricity in off-peak times as much as possible.
• Plan your meals: take a shopping list to the supermarket and stick to it, buy fruit and vegetables in season and preserve these where possible.
• Return to the basics: grow your own veges or plant a fruit tree and swap your harvests with other whānau.
• Pack your kai: fill up water bottles and make to-go coffees at home, and take snacks with you instead of buying them.
• Prepare a budget: try to set money aside for things you know are coming up, have your bills on automatic payments so you're not tempted to spend the money and set long and short-term goals.
• Assess your transport: petrol is getting expensive, so it may be a good time to invest in a bike to save on fuel or use public transport.
• Be aware: if you're being asked to be a guarantor for a whānau or friends, make sure you look at the risks involved and what this means for you – you may be liable for the loan.
• The difference between good and bad assets: borrowing for a house may be better value than borrowing for a car.
• Do some research: join groups like Cheaper Living NZ to read and share tips and tricks with other Kiwis.
• Get more support: your local financial mentor can give you free, in-depth and confidential support to help you make the most out of your finances.
source: MoneyTalks
Hartmann said people should also be careful what they cut out so as not to make themselves feel deprived.
"Those are usually hard to sustain. We are really advocating people keep their spending where it makes them happiest."
He said people could cut back by rating their spending on the emotional return it gave them.
"Subscriptions are a great example. Some things will give you more of an emotional return than others and anything that leaves you indifferent or worse you can cut out without really feeling it too much."
Shop around
Hartman said shopping around was key, pointing to the Gaspy app as a good example of people pitching in to let others know where to get the best deal on fuel.
"That potential to help each other to find the best deal to stretch our money is really good."
Hartmann said Kiwis had so much data at their fingertips that allowed them to do comparisons.
"Online there is a whole bunch of websites that will help you to compare."
Another money saver was bulk buying.
"But you really have to know the difference between icecream and butter and coffee and beer. There are some things that if we buy more of we are going to end up using more."
He said buying more products like icecream or beer would likely just increase consumption of them.
While more butter was unlikely to result in someone using more.
When it came to shopping itself he advocated for grocery shopping online because it was easier to ignore marketing and substitute cheaper products or alternative brands.
Plan ahead
Hartmann said one thing people could do was prepare for future price spikes like the price of power shooting up over winter or their home loan coming off a fixed term.
"We know that July and August [power prices] are going to spike up so make sure you are able to cover that."
It was also important to plan ahead for expected price rises like an interest rate rise on a mortgage.
"Our mortgage tool on Sorted is really good at stress testing your situation. If you bump up the interest rate to say 7 per cent, you can start to forecast and say, if it did go to there what would ours be like; how would we handle it?"
Canstar NZ general manager Jose George said home loan payments were one area over which households still had some control.
Home loan rates have already risen quickly and around 50 per cent of mortgage holders were due to roll off fixed rates this year.
George said the impact would be harshest for households that bought during the property market's recent highs while taking out mortgages at historically low home loan rates.
But he said there were ways to "soften the blow" and he urged borrowers to talk to their bank.
"They may happily offer a discount on the publicly available rate, particularly if you are a long-standing customer."
George said some borrowers may be able to lower their interest rate if they have built up equity in their home through paying down the debt or an increase in its value.
"There are often discounts for those with 80 per cent or more equity in their property. Check your equity percentage against publicly available data such as the new Auckland Council CVs and negotiate a discount on the back of the new ratio."
George said borrowers should avoid just letting their mortgage roll from the fixed term on to a floating rate which was typically much higher.
"Always track when your fixed-rate term is coming to an end and refix at soon as you can, if that is advantageous. Some banks allow a new rate to be locked in weeks prior, which can be helpful in a rapidly rising interest rate market."
Borrowers could also find ways to get ahead by paying fortnightly or making small extra contributions to bring the debt down faster.
Hartmann said people should not feel like they were struggling alone and he urged people to reach out to MoneyTalks for free advice on 0800 345 123.
"The goal of all of this is not to borrow in a crisis. Avoid taking on new debt especially for the essentials."
