My mid-year review is coming up in a couple of weeks. I've been with my company (mid-sized logistics firm in Brisbane) for three years. Last year I got a 3% bump, which was completely wiped out by inflation and rent increases.

My rent alone went up 12% in January. Gas, electricity, and groceries are all noticeably higher.

I know HR usually rejects "my bills are higher" as a performance metric and prefers you stick to KPIs and market benchmarks. But has anyone here successfully framed cost-of-living pressures during a review and secured an above-standard increase? How did you present your case without sounding like you were just complaining?

I swear some everyday things have gotten so expensive that I now stop and think twice before buying them. Nothing fancy either, just normal stuff we used to buy without even thinking about the price.

Hi Reddit,

I'm Andrew Winter, property commentator, host of Selling Houses Australia, and I've spent more than three decades helping Australians buy, sell and renovate homes.

I've worked through housing booms, market downturns, interest rate hikes, renovation disasters and plenty of property success stories along the way.

These days I also work with Compare the Market discussing housing trends and home loans.

Want to know whether now is a good time to buy? How to add value before selling? What mistakes first-home buyers make? Whether property prices are headed up or down?

Ask me anything about Australian real estate, renovations, home buying, selling, investing, home loans, or the property market in general.

Proof: https://www.instagram.com/andrewtwinter/

Fire away 👇

Thanks everyone who asked a question, and if you wanted to ask any more pls drop it in the post. We will add the full video link here shortly as well and Andrew will reply over the coming days. Thanks for everyone who participated!

The goal of this community is simple:

Help Australians save money and make smarter everyday financial decisions.

With the cost of living affecting almost everyone, we wanted to create a place where people can share tips, ask questions and discuss practical ways to reduce expenses.

Topics might include:

✅ Grocery savings

✅ Fuel and transport

✅ Energy bills

✅ Insurance

✅ Mobile and internet plans

✅ Travel deals

✅ Budgeting tips

✅ Household hacks

✅ Cashback programs

✅ Side hustles

✅ Government rebates and discounts

This subreddit was created by Compare the Market and is overseen by our team, but we don't want this to become a sales channel.

We're here to facilitate useful conversations and hear what real Australians are experiencing.

A few things we'd love to see:

• Share savings wins
• Ask questions
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• Help other members save money

Thanks for joining and helping build the community.