The thought of saving money can be a daunting one. It can often feel like a rubber band where you save up and then need or want to spend your savings. We’ve sat down with our team and came up with the sure-fire ways to save your coins so you’re not as stressed when it comes to paying off your debt.
Do you have a budget? And we’re not talking about that Excel spreadsheet you did two Christmases ago? Do you seriously track the money dancing in and out of your bank account?
To begin, start by calculating all your regular expenses: your rent or home loan, your electricity and internet bill, your grocery bill, your car financing, and so on. Best to separate them in different columns, all daily expenses in one, gifts and beauty in another as so on.
Then, look at your income (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and deduct these expenses from your income. The remainder is the money you’ll you have to work with when it comes to saving.
This is a great way to identify hidden costs you might not need to pay for anymore. There are plenty of budget planner apps are out there too, so don’t forget you can rely on good ol’ technology for a bit of extra help. moneysmart.gov.au offers a simple budget planner you can start off with.
Streaming services, a gym membership, phone bills, media outlets, the list goes on…
A good money-saving tip is to think carefully about your subscriptions: what are you actually paying for? What would you really like to keep paying for? Phone and insurance are must-haves – but are you paying too much for them? This isn’t always about cancelling your regular payments but seriously evaluating them and maybe even shopping around to see if you can get a better deal with a different provider.
One of the best ways to save money is to let go of particular spending habits. One coffee a day may not seem like much, but at $5 a cup, that ends up totalling almost $2,000 a year!
So, once you’ve let go of a few unnecessary subscriptions, why not try cutting back on a few of your vices? Make your coffee at home and treat yourself to a takeaway cup just once a week instead. If you’re a smoker, you save in both cash and better health by cutting back. Same goes for your eating habits; you can still treat yourself occasionally to Uber Eats, but it’s generally much cheaper to prepare your own meals at home. Click and Collect schemes are great for going grocery shopping without blowing the budget, plus the grocery store picks and packs your order for you, all you need to do is collect your order.
Another force to reckon with when saving money is impulse buying. Many experts recommend using the 30-day rule to combat impulse buying. Basically, instead of buying an item as soon as you see it, you wait 30 days before you allow yourself to buy it to see if it’s really what you want.
This might work for you, but I don’t think much of the 30-day rule. After all, that dress sale is only on for a day, right?
My advice, after all that great budgeting you do, is to allocate a certain amount of ‘splurge’ money per month to spend – or save – as you see fit. Then, if there’s something you want to buy, you’ll know if you can buy it with your access splurge money. That said, sometimes out of sight, out of mind. Try not to look at clothing or beauty sales while you’re trying to save. Most of the time, you don’t know you want anything without looking at it.
How much you should be saving is always up to your financial situation and saving goals. It’s essential to set these financial goals in order to not fall in arrears for certain expenses. Read our blog on credit card debt for more tips.
Rule of thumbs for saving is the 50% 30% and 20% rule, which recommends that 50% of your income goes to essentials like food and rent, 30% goes to your ‘splurge’ pocket, and 20% goes to your savings. If you find 50% and 30% arenas difficult to manage, you may want to make some changes. This ratio, though, will inevitably need adjusting to suit your own goals, but it’s a good place to start.
Want to own your wheels? We have car finance options, similar to rent to own, which may be able to get you into a safe, reliable vehicle faster! Contact us today and chat with one of our sales specialists who will talk you through your options.
