The Top 10 Ways to Save Money
1. Change your attitude to your mortgage
The most expensive item you are ever likely to buy is your home. If you're
not in the privileged position to pay cash, make sure the loan you use to
finance it is the best available. For example, if you are paying your lender's
full standard variable rate (SVR) you are probably paying hundreds of dollars a
year more than you need to.
2. Clear your credit card debt
One of the golden rules of financial planning is to clear your most expensive
debts first, in other words your credit cards. OK, credit cards offer a
convenient way to pay for goods and services but if you can't clear the balance
every month, consider a low-cost loan as an alternative. Do the sums: a credit
card debt (APR 15%) of $2,200 over three years will cost $545 in interest. A
loan at 6% will cost $209. A saving of $336.
3. Cut the cost of your fuel bills
As the global demand for power threatens to outstrip supply, prices are
rising. But that doesn't mean you need to be ripped off. The domestic market for
fuel is a competitive one and you can change supplier with a few clicks of the
mouse. Your new supplier will take care of the formalities - you just pay less
every month.
4. Do DIY
We're a nation of obsessive DIYers and for around $100 you can take a course
at your local adult education college to improve the skills needed to tackle
most household repairs. If the college runs plumbing courses you could soon be
on track to wiping out costly call-out charges and extra insurance policies once
and for all.
5. Cut your home phone bills
Telstra may seem to behave like a monopoly but it most definitely is not one.
If you must use your phone there are scores of cheaper alternatives from cable
companies that package your telephone, television and even broadband internet
access to low-cost dial-up services that give you access to cheaper calls using
your existing Telstra line.
6. Consider a pay-as-you go mobile
Ask yourself this: is your mobile phone absolutely necessary? If the answer
is yes, then ask yourself whether you really need all those minutes and texts
that come as part of your package. If you hand over $50 a month to your mobile
phone company, that's $600 a year – or around $1,000 of your gross salary. But
you can buy a pay-as-you-go phone for as little as $30 and only pay for the odd
call as and when you need to.
7. Make a shopping list
Food shopping forms a significant part of our monthly outgoings and the
supermarket is where the bulk of the money is spent. Coles / Woolworths takes $2
in every $8 spent by Australian shoppers. But be warned, stores spend a small
fortune studying ways of making us part with more of our money than we would
otherwise intend to. Try Aldis, the savings will be much more than the 4c you
save on petrol.
8. When was the last time you went to the market?
One way to beat the supermarkets - that is, to eat healthily for less - is to
use your local market stall. Lower overheads should mean lower prices. At the
time of writing, pumpkin were $2.49 for per kg, but they were only $0.49 at
Aldis.
9. Consider own-brand goods
You can buy a tin of Plain Wrap own-brand baked beans for 99c and a loaf
bread at Aldis for $0.99. Enough said.
10. Don't buy designer labels
Celebrities are given expensive clothes to wear. You're not. At the end of
the day, and let's face it you may only wear the outfit once, can you justify
paying hundreds of pounds over the odds because a top designer has had his or
her name sewn on the label? And can you honestly say you can tell the difference
at a distance between a $600 designer bag and a $9.99 one from the market? Think
about it.
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