According to the Norwegian Student Organization (NSO), Norwegian students will lose NOK 6,000 each month this spring semester. – With increased food prices, the budget will become even tighter, says manager Maika Marie Godal Dam in a press release. Many have had to make budget cuts. Student Johannes With (22) is no exception. – First there was the current, and then it went exactly like that. Now there was also an increase in food items – so it’s a bit like kicking your toe on the table and stepping on Lego afterwards. Fortunately, he has found some great (?) saving tips: Turn off notifications on vipps Johannes says that if you go into settings and remove notifications on Vipps, it will be a financial lifehack. Out of sight, out of mind? Let the lady pay the entire electricity bill Johannes finds out that much of the electricity is used for cooking, vacuuming and washing clothes, which he himself does not do much of. The woman, on the other hand, uses a lot of electricity on these activities and it is then fair that she should pay for the expenses that come with it. Or? Move the ham, save the toppings A final tip from Johannes is to save on the toppings. This can easily be done by moving the ham topping further and further off the bread slice for each bite you take. Then you will trick your brain into thinking you have eaten bread with toppings on it, and you can use the ham again. Already in saving mode The student says he has always been advised to save – even before prices rose. – When you get tips on saving even more, you get some silly tips like that – because there is no more to save on now. Dam also points out that initially the students did not have much to worry about. – It is a calculation that already does not add up in today’s student budget, says the head of NSO. She refers to a student budget that the Consumer Research Institute SIFO has set up based on figures from Statistics Norway. It shows that, on average, students are paid NOK 11,717 a month. According to the budget, the students are left with NOK 400 after expenses for rent and food. With other monthly expenses, the students will lose NOK 5,828 each month. Then it is perhaps not so surprising that there are creative savings tips from more than just Johannes With. Here are some who have been on social media: Be invited on six dates a week for a fancy dinner Pay with cash, then it feels free If you filled up with fuel for NOK 300 before, fill up for NOK 300 now too. Then you won’t notice that it’s more expensive Some “actual” tips If you think these tips are a bit frivolous, YouTuber and podcast host on money talk, Lise Vermelid Kristoffersen, has some simple tips for students and young people who want to save a few kroner. Kristoffersen says she likes to do financial challenges together with her followers. Photo: Kristine Elvemo – When both fuel, mortgage interest, electricity, food and other goods and services become so much more expensive at the same time, many people have to think again. We can’t do anything about the external factors – but there is a lot we can do about, says Kristoffersen. Here are her best savings tips: Set up an automatic savings agreement, so that a few kroner goes from a current account to a savings account every single month. Plan your meals several days ahead. Packed lunches, coffee in a thermos and bottled water are habits that save you thousands of kroner. If you receive a grant, put it in a separate account. Then you have a buffer that you can draw from if things get tight during the semester. Job. If you earn more, you have greater opportunities to save. Increase the automatic savings deduction when you get your first job. Follow others who are saving on social media. But why does everything become more expensive at the same time? news has spoken to Torberg Falch, professor of economics at NTNU, to try to get a simple and clear answer. He points to two factors in particular: Less and more expensive food production Falch explains that less food is being produced in the world. This leads to greater scarcity of food, which results in higher prices. – The food we buy from abroad has thus become more expensive. Professor of social economics Torberg Falch. Photo: Elin Iversen / Elin Iversen He also says that food production in Norway has become more expensive as a result of high electricity, diesel and fertilizer prices. – The background for these price increases is the war in Ukraine, says Falch. Russia has stopped selling oil and gas to Europe. This has led to us having to find new sources of energy, in addition to rising prices for clean oil products such as petrol and diesel, he explains. From the farmer to the store A hotly debated topic is what happens from the time the farmer produces the food until we buy it in the store. Both the dairy, the butchery and the grocery stores must have their profits along the way. – In Norway, there is relatively weak competition in what happens from the time the food goes to the farmer until it ends up in the store, and this contributes to our relatively high food prices in Norway, says Falch. He also points out that it is important to know that food has always fluctuated in price, and that what is happening now is completely normal. – The abnormal thing is the war in Ukraine which amplifies these fluctuations.
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