We’re in the business of saving money for you, our customers, however we’re also about helping you use money and other resources and utilities carefully and not wastefully! You don’t have to be tighter than a hair in a biscuit to save money, after all, generosity makes the world go around. Here are five key ways to rescue some dollars, especially around this time of the year!
Prioritise debt
Whether you have credit cards, personal loans or pay day lending loans – make sure you list your debts and sort them in order of annual interest rate. The debts with the highest rates should be prioritised and paid off first. It doesn’t make any sense to invest your money in a term deposit to receive 4% per annum while you are paying a credit card off with an interest rate of 20%.
Budgeting
This big scary word and the meaning behind it can be so foreign to people. Where do you start? You do not need to get out a golden calculator with an excel spreadsheet. All you need to do is break it down to your pay cycle. If you have a monthly phone bill of $100, and you are paid on a fortnightly basis, simply take $50 away from your available funds each fortnight. Do this with all your costs and that will give you your true disposable income (the money you can spend freely) each day pay. Once you’ve worked this out, stick to what you can afford! Sound easy? It’s not. If it was, everyone would be doing it. Make yourself ‘accountable’ to yourself, pardon the pun and you will achieve great money savings results.
Review Suppliers
Have you ever considered comparing costs on your home insurance, health insurance or car insurance? How about your phone plan, or gas and electricity supplier? We live in such a competitive world, transparency is clearer than it’s ever been. Pick up the phone and shop around, negotiate with a few providers, you’ll be surprised on how much you can save – $10 a month here, $5 a month there, all of a sudden you’re saving $100 a month – there’s your phone bill paid for! Get on the heckle! People want your money more than ever so make sure you’re getting more for less.
Cook up some savings
The delivery of food to our homes has become a regular treat for many Australians. It used to be pizza only, now we can have anything delivered. This unfortunately gives rise to laziness and increased expenditure on household food budgets each week. Let’s put it out there, a kebab delivered for $20 is a bargain. However, you could buy all the ingredients for less than that and have leftovers for lunch the next day. Grab a cook book, even better, read online and get creative in the kitchen. Have a look at some of the existing ingredients in your pantry and fridge and see if you can use them in different ways. This will bring your grocery shop costs down, particularly on weeks that you’re a little ill-disciplined with your money. Don’t forget that people love home cooking, whether you’re cooking for yourself or other people, think about the satisfaction and the savings.
Diarise gift giving
If you’ve got a smart phone or a calendar, start marking 2019 dates. Whether they be anniversaries, birthday’s or even secret santa for next year! When you mark it in the diary you know it’s coming up. By establishing a gift list and setting a budget for each recipient ahead of time, you can progressively buy gifts on sale during the year. This will help your cash flow, especially at Christmas time.
Let’s get thrifty.. Happy Saving!
