With the effects of COVID hitting the wallet, rising electricity, healthcare and housing costs nearly 9 out of 10 Australians say they are feeling cost of living pressures, or ‘bill burden’.

ABC data shows living costs for age pensioner households recorded the largest rise of all household types due to the highest expenditure for automotive fuel and pharmaceutical products. 

Thrifty Nala Perkins, 75, is one pensioner, who found she is able to keep rising expenses under control by tapping into easy money-saving tech platforms that are predominantly used by young Australians.

“I save around $4000 a year on groceries and shopping bills by using shopping apps such as Trolley Saver, which compares specials across the major supermarket chains as well as Half Price, which tracks everything reduced by 50% in Coles and Woolies,” says Ms Perkins.

“There are so many comparison sites to make sure I can get the best price for my electricity bills and I save on petrol, with Motormouth,” she adds.

“Once you get the hang of it, these programs are really easy to use.”

“I also make use of special discounts offered on email and always look for the 30% off deals.”

“The supermarket receipts can also get my fuel bill down.”

“I also make $700 a month by renting out my car to neighbours when I'm not using it, on Car Next Door.”

“I have to watch the dollars so you could say I’m thrifty.”

“I’m good at getting discounts with my groceries and fuel, and I’m a stickler for paying my credit cards off every month.”

Tech savvy pensioner Nala Perkins shares her top 6 Money Saving platforms:

Track specials across all the supermarkets with Scan2List, OurGroceries and Trolley Tracker.

Find discounted prescription medications and health products through Pharmacy Online.

Most cars sit idle 96% of the time, Car Next Door safely connects neighbours to share cars.

Websites such as MotorMouth reveal the cheapest petrol around the country.

GetReminded keeps track of when to shop around for household services due to expire.

Easy to do all Centrelink business on the mobile app Express Plus.