Using bicycles, buses or motorbikes with smaller capacity to save petrol, stop purchasing new clothes and furniture, reducing budget for cooking, no longer using air conditioners, etc. are the measures being used by many families right now.

After petrol prices increased to over VND21,000 ($1) per liter last week, Hieu from District 3, HCM City, who distributes soft drinks to retail shops, said he would change his current motorbike to an older one, which has smaller capacity.

“This motorbike runs more slowly and it is weaker but it consumes less fuel,” Hieu explained. He said he travels over 100 kilometers a day and this motorbike can help save a lot of money.

Phuong from Binh Thanh district, HCM City said her family decided to cut down spending on food, clothes and furniture. “If previously I bought 0.5kg of pork a day, now I buy 0.3-0.4kg/day. I’m gradually turning to other kinds of food like dried fish or tofu. If I don’t tighten spending, my salary will not be enough for daily spending”.

Phuong’s family has stopped using air conditioners. She sometimes she goes to a wholesale market to buy vegetables at cheaper prices.

Loan, a primary school teacher in Tan Binh district, HCM City, decided to go to her school by bicycle, instead of by motorbike. Her home is five kilometers from her school. Loan said this is the optimal choice when the petrol price continuously increase while her salary doesn’t change.

Many families in Hanoi and other cities have begun to cut down meat consumption and increase vegetables in the meals of their families.

Binh, from Tu Liem district, Hanoi said: “My family has decided to only buy cheap, nutritious foods like vegetables and fish and stop buying delicious but expensive foods like seafood, pork ribs, etc. New shoes and clothes are listed as unnecessary things.”

She said she and her husband earn over ten million dong a month but in the price storm, she must carefully reconsider spending habits. Binh said the majority of food consumed in her family is frozen fish and vegetables.

Giang from Hoang Mai district, Hanoi said she would ask her mother, who lives in the countryside, to live with her family in Hanoi to take care of her 1-year-old daughter. With the mother’s assistance, Giang can save VND2 million ($100) paid for her current charwoman.

As the prices for food are rising, Giang has purchased more dried food, such as dried fish, and goes to wholesale markets to buy food at lower prices.

On a popular online forum for mothers, members discussed measures to save money in the price storm.

Even young people, who often ignore cooking and shopping, are beginning to worry about the increasing cost of living.

PV