If you're always finding that there is more month left at the end of your pay or are saving for your next holiday or first home perhaps, here are some great money saving hacks to put more money in your back pocket.
- Start a piggy bank - small change adds up, don't let it fall between the cracks of your couch or car, pop it in a piggy bank and reap the rewards each time it fills up.
- Eat a few vegetarian meals each week - a big part of the weekly grocery bill is for meat. Try cutting this cost by having a vegetarian meal or two a week.
- Carpool - petrol and parking are expensive (not likely to get cheaper any time soon). Cut the cost by carpooling to work.
- Turn off lights when you leave the room - to add even more power savings, as well as turning lights off when you leave the room, change to energy efficient bulbs (not need to do it all at once but as each bulb goes replace it with it's energy efficient equivalent)
- Shop second hand - make second hand the new brand new. There are so many things you can buy second hand, from clothes to furniture, and so many ways that you can buy them now from op shops to local buy and sell pages to trademe.
- ebooks instead of physical books - the purists wont agree with this but it's the cheaper, and often more convenient, way to buy books. Plus, think of the trees you're saving.
- Get the flu shot - the cost of the vaccine is far less than the cost of actually getting the flu. The time off work, the over-price and under-effective cold and flu remedies and the risk of passing on to the rest of your family and incurring these cost over and over again.
- Lunch = leftovers - leftovers for lunch makes a tasty, sometimes healthy and always cheaper option than buying your lunch every day.
- Delete your credit card number from your favourite websites - this will mean you have to think twice each time you want to buy something online, rather than just clicking a button and the purchase being made.
- Put air in your tyres - make sure your tyres have enough air in them. This is free to do at any petrol station and will mean your car is running as efficiently as possible, saving money on petrol
- Decrease your heating thermostat by a degree or two (vise versa in summer) - you likely wont notice too much difference but your power bill will
- Have a grocery list - have a grocery list and stick to it and never ever go shopping when you're hungry.
- Use the clothes line - use the clothes line where possible, dryers gobble the power up
- Insulate - insulating walls and ceilings will keep your home dryer, warmer and healthier
- Buy own brand products - when shopping don't always go for brand name products, own brand products are usually cheaper and often are made in the same factory, with the same ingredients as other brands.
- Grow food not lawns - instead of growing lawns, grow food. You'll reduce your food costs as well as saving time with less lawns to mow
- Check your fridge seals - to check that they are working correct try putting a piece of paper in the seal and closing the door. If the seal is working properly, it will hold the paper firmly.
- Use loyalty schemes to your advantage - use loyalty schemes to get rewards. Don't necessarily change your habits to suit a particular scheme but if you do shop somewhere frequently that has a loyalty scheme make sure you are taking advantage of it.
- Choose a credit card with rewards - when looking at credit cards look at the one that has the best rewards programme that suits your lifestyle
- Turn things off at the wall - when things are not in use turn it off at the wall to save power. This includes TVs, computers, random charging cords, monitors etc.
The great thing about most of these hacks is not only are the good for your wallet, but most of them are also good for our planet too! #winning
A bonus tip - for those of you with home loans, book an appointment with one of our team today to see how with the right structure you could save thousands in interest costs on your home loan.
The information contained in this article is of a general nature and should not be taken as advice. It reflects the opinions of the writer only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of New Zealand Home Loans