Aussie mums Jordan Baido and Miriah Richards reveal online shopping hacks

Two working mums have revealed the shopping hacks saving them hundreds of dollars a year as they navigate a rolling cost-of-living crunch.

Jordan Baido and Miriah Richards, sisters from Melbourne with newborn babies, said they had moved away from the old days of impulse buys and now pursued a set of careful measures to squeeze the most from every dollar.

“Being on maternity leave and the cost of living being so high and the mortgages and everything at the moment, you can’t really afford to overspend anymore,” Ms Baido said.

For Ms Richards, exploiting the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping bonanza had saved her hundreds on her Christmas shop.

“I had to be really savvy this year with Christmas,” she said.

“My daughter was born in October, so I took the opportunity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to do a lot of my shopping.

“There were deals left, right and centre, so I did all of my shopping over those four days.”

Ms Richards, who worked as a manager at a plumbing business before going on maternity leave, said she booked discounts of about 40 per cent over the four-day retail extravaganza.

“My husband hated those four days, I loved it,” she said

The mum to five-month-old Sadie said moving to online shopping was her central money-saving hack, with less temptation for unnecessary purchases at physical stores.

“Catch.com.au has really good bulk bills, really good grocery bulk bills,” she said.

“I also keep an eye out for your main Coles and Woolworths websites for good deals and Aldi as well.

“I feel online you can see things and you can do it and not go and hunger buy in the supermarket.

“Shopping from home saves a lot of money because you’re not emotionally buying, going to the shops and seeing something and then buying something unnecessarily.”

Ms Baido, a police officer with two daughters, said shoppers shouldn’t be afraid of “free trials” and should exploit them to assess the value of a product or service before committing to a spend.

“I love a good free trial,” the self-confessed “bargain hunter” said.

“I’m always signing up for things and seeing how they work before actually purchasing a product.

“See how much you actually are going to use the product before you purchase it.”

Both mums also praised the delivery service OnePass, which offers shoppers free delivery from a sweep of retail brands connected to ASX-listed behemoth Wesfarmers.

There is no “minimum spend” required for free deliveries and Ms Baido and Ms Richards said they saved up to $150 a year with the platform.

“I’m somebody who would buy more to get free delivery,” Ms Richards said.

“Where with OnePass it just comes with having that subscription, so I’m probably saving on average about $150 a year, just on deliveries.”

Kmart, Target, Catch, Bunnings, Officeworks, InstantScripts and Priceline are all linked to One Pass, with Priceline coming online this week.

Wesfarmers OneDigital managing director Nicole Sheffield said Priceline’s OnePass link would help consumers drive down their household spend.

“With Priceline joining OnePass, you can get even more value when you shop instore and online,” she said.

The more precise shopping habits from Ms Baido and Ms Richards embodies a larger wave of change in retail washing over Australia.

The 2024 Australia Post eCommerce Industry report states “online retail is here to stay”, with more shoppers moving online and choosing to make “frequent but smaller purchases leading to the emergence of the ‘strategic shopper’ – a value driven consumer who is selective with what, where and how they spend their money.”

Some 9.5 million Australian households shopped online in 2023, a 1.4 per cent increase year-on-year, for a total online spend of $63.6bn.

The average online basket size fell 4.6 per cent to $98.10.

The report also states more retailers are increasing their free shipping thresholds and implementing return fees to tackle “rising supply chain costs”.

For Ms Baido and Ms Richards, the attraction of OnePass’ no minimum spend requirement has pulled them further into Wesfarmers’ vast retail ecosystem.

“I feel like I look at these brands and shop within these brands before looking outside of them,” Ms Baido said.

“I don’t personally need to shop outside those main categories. Everything is kind of covered there.”