Duct-tape up your wallets for Christmas, reign in your spending and don't push for a pay rise.
That's the message from the Reserve Bank Governor to try to get the cost of living under control.
Adrian Orr has also admitted he's engineering a recession to reign in inflation which he accepts is partly his fault.
'Twas the month before Christmas and all through the country, Kiwis were planning to tighten their belts.
"I'm not very good with figures but I don't go overboard," said one person.
"You shouldn't just spend money to buy something stupid," said another.
"I think it's more important just to be present at Christmas time," added a third.
While shopkeepers are doing their best to entice us in the door, the Reserve Bank Governor is warning us to resist temptation.
"Spending has to slow," Orr said.
After ratcheting up the official cash rate a brutal 75 basis points on Wednesday, Orr on Thursday morning explained himself to politicians.
"The slowdown in growth that we need means that we will have negative GDP for a while which is a recession."
It's a recession of his own making.
Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick asked the Governor if commentary suggesting the Reserve Bank is "deliberating engineering a recession" to tame inflation is correct.
"I think that is correct," he said. "We are deliberately trying to slow aggregate spending in the economy. The quicker inflation expectations come down, the less work we need to do and the less likely it is that we have a prolonged period of low or negative growth."
Later, Swarbrick told reporters: "We're hearing that the plan is to effectively sacrifice lower-income New Zealanders at the altar of economic orthodoxy."
He wants us all to stop spending because less spending equals less demand.
"The power is in the hands of the people," Orr said. "If you just start behaving just 1 percent different around inflation expectations and wage growth then our job is easier."
Asked if the Government is going to slow its spending, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said that's "exactly what we're doing".
And that's not all. Orr also wants you all to stop asking for pay rises. This is the Grinch part of this story: if we don't do as he suggests, people could lose their jobs and their houses.
"I want to do everything I can to keep New Zealanders in jobs but this is going to be a tough time," said Robertson.
It's a tough time Orr admits is partly his fault because during the worst days of COVID-19 he printed too much money.
National finance spokesperson Nicola Willis asked Orr if it was due to monetary policy being too stimulatory for too long that New Zealanders are now having to deal with higher inflation and interest rates.
"Yes," replied Orr.
Willis afterwards said she was "pleased" to hear that admission from Orr.
"I repeat my call for an independent inquiry into how we got here," she said.
There's one other thing Orr wants New Zealanders to know though.
"We are sorry that New Zealanders have been buffeted by these economic shocks," he said.
Sorry New Zealand, and it's only going to get worse.
Amelia Wade Analysis
Adrian Orr is painting himself as the Grinch who stole Christmas because he doesn't have many tools in his Santa sack.
He needs to suck money out of the economy to slow inflation and he can only do that by hiking interest rates to make borrowers pay more.
He's calling this a "job-rich" recession because there are so many vacancies, instead of being unemployed, Kiwis might have to instead be nimble and shift jobs to get through it.
What we heard today was a public appeal from Orr. So he doesn't have to continue to deck the halls with pain and misery, he's wishing everyone of the team of five million a very thrifty Christmas.
