Tips on saving money

I thought it'd be a neat idea to create a thread where people post ways of saving money.

Call me frugal, but when I'm at the petrol station, I always try to get the amount to 1 or 2 cents so it rounds down. Also, if I'm at Coles or Woolies and the cost of what I'm purchasing ends in 1 or 2 cents, I'll use cash instead of eftpos to round down again.

When I buy computer related products, I always go to this shop I know which sells things at a discount to the prices you'd find at JB, Dick Smith etc (happy to name the shop, but not sure if I'm allowed).

Tyler Durden said:

When I buy computer related products, I always go to this shop I know which sells things at a discount to the prices you'd find at JB, Dick Smith etc (happy to name the shop, but not sure if I'm allowed).

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If its not MSY then your kidding yourself.

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As for saving money...buy stuff cheap or don't buy it at all.

So_Cynical said:

If its not MSY then your kidding yourself.

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As for saving money...buy stuff cheap or don't buy it at all.

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It is MSY! Wow, didn't think anyone here would know it. I just bought a 2TB external HD for $133; at JB it was going for $159.

Tyler Durden said:

It is MSY! Wow, didn't think anyone here would know it. I just bought a 2TB external HD for $133; at JB it was going for $159.

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I was down there today buying a router.

Another tip I have is I actually keep all my coins. I don't tip when I buy takeaway, and I don't donate my coins to people on the street.

I put them in a piggy bank and when it gets full, I take it to the coin machine at the bank which counts them and then I deposit it. It normally adds up to about $80-$100.

Tyler Durden said:

Call me frugal, but when I'm at the petrol station, I always try to get the amount to 1 or 2 cents so it rounds down.

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The other thing you can do is if you put in a set amount e.g. $20, once the pump stops, keep squeezing the trigger and lift the loop in the hose up to drain the petrol from it.

Tried and tested money saving methods such as bringing your lunch from home really do work. If you don't want a cut lunch, have a cook-up on the weekend to put ready-made lunch meals in the freezer for the week.

The most important first step to saving money is to know where you are spending them. Do you know what is the top 10 items / expenses for you last year off the top of your head?

Know the data first, then look for saving there. Follow the the 80/20 pareto principle.

Getting 2c at the supermarket per week is worth $1 each year. Shaving 10bps off your home loan is probably worth a bit more. Know what the big buckets are and start from there.

As to my penny saving tip - drive with accelerator control and minimise braking. Keep an eye on the fuel consumption gauge, and try to beat the rated figure. I managed to achieve 7.1L/100km over the weekend (my car that is rated 8.6L/100km)

Define a 'need', what you need to live. The rest is what you want.

Buy what you need to live, save for what you want.

You'll find once you get savings built up you'll want to keep contributing.

CanOz

skc said:

The most important first step to saving money is to know where you are spending them. Do you know what is the top 10 items / expenses for you last year off the top of your head?

Know the data first, then look for saving there. Follow the the 80/20 pareto principle.

Getting 2c at the supermarket per week is worth $1 each year. Shaving 10bps off your home loan is probably worth a bit more. Know what the big buckets are and start from there.

As to my penny saving tip - drive with accelerator control and minimise braking. Keep an eye on the fuel consumption gauge, and try to beat the rated figure. I managed to achieve 7.1L/100km over the weekend (my car that is rated 8.6L/100km)

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I agree it's the big ticket items that is the place to start. We've all grown up with the expectation that we would own our own set of wheels, but what a money-sink. There's plenty of car share schemes now for the occasional driver.

It's unavoidable if you're using the car for work, which brings me to my next tip. Understand your tax return to the nth degree, especially what deductions you can legitimately claim. When you get that bigger lump sum, save it (goes without saying)

Also hate to make this tax-related point, but the 'black economy' is thriving, so plenty of cash jobs out there if you're a tradie (I'm not).

StumpyPhantom said:

I agree it's the big ticket items that is the place to start. We've all grown up with the expectation that we would own our own set of wheels, but what a money-sink. There's plenty of car share schemes now for the occasional driver.

It's unavoidable if you're using the car for work, which brings me to my next tip. Understand your tax return to the nth degree, especially what deductions you can legitimately claim. When you get that bigger lump sum, save it (goes without saying)

Also hate to make this tax-related point, but the 'black economy' is thriving, so plenty of cash jobs out there if you're a tradie (I'm not).

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So true. Tax and interest are by far the 2 biggests household expenses for most.

Tyler Durden said:

I thought it'd be a neat idea to create a thread where people post ways of saving money.

Call me frugal,

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My wife and I are both frugal but we do not go without.

We always use fuel vouchers and always go on the cheapest day and that can us $5 to $10 a tank.

I buy my beer on special only. I just wait and then I will buy 2 or 3 cases at prices up to 20% off sometimes. I also buy all my wine online, spending about $3 to $4 a bottle delivered.

I wait for internet offers for Dominos pizzas, can buy for 50% off.

Get rid of your home phone fixed line if you don't need it, saves $30 a Month. Now my wife and I have a mobile each and it costs about $5 a Month with Amaysim.

Shopping, my wife waits until something is half price then buys 3 or 4 boxes of the item.

I go to Pauls Warehouse and buy top brand joggers when they have a 2 for 1 special.

I never pay for haircuts, bought Wahl clippers from the USA and my wife cuts my hair, saves $21 each 4 weeks. She does a better job too.

I buy all my clothes overseas, I mean everything except undies and socks, Far far cheaper than OZ.

I buy all my cruises and overseas holidays at huge discounts, sometimes at 50% off because we can go whenever we like and never go during peak times. (This is where we do a lot of our spending.)

Get a good credit card. Mine earns unlimited frequent flyer points, costs me zero per year as I am a NAB shareholder. I have had 2 free overseas flights so far and a third is coming up.

When I worked, I always took my lunch and own coffee to work. I drank the free purified water from the water cooler as well. Why spend so much money on expensive junk food and sodas?

Tyres for the car, know what you want then ring all the suppliers in the area and get the cheapest quote for the same item.

I have been known to find a high ticket item advertised in a local rag for a very low price, I cut it out and take it to DJ's or MYERS and they will match it. Saves me going to the other side of Sydney.

We collect free rain water from the roof of our house and water the garden with it.

Insulate your house, rarely need to use heater or air con these days.

Never buy a brand new car, you lose thousands of $$$$$ the moment you take possession of it. A week or 2 later you are back there with these new car faults and they don't really want to know you, join the queue, book it in Danno.

There are so many ways to save a buck, these are just some of mine. As I said, my wife and I do not go without, whatever we want we get but we won't pay full retail for it ever.

skc said:

So true. Tax and interest are by far the 2 biggests household expenses for most.

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For all them retirees out there that aren't doing it, look into income splitting with your spouse. With the low income tax offset you and your spouse can earn about 17k per annum, each and tax free. Together that's about 34k. I don't mind picking up nearly $700 p/w tax free, something to think about.

I am with skc, it's all about cashflow. Assuming you are cashflow positive, the number one tip for saving money is to increase your cashflow efficiency around the big numbers.

Shelter, Food, Clothing, Medicine, Transport.

Almost everything I have learned about this topic has been seemingly obvious in hindsight. It's all about time. You can invest time instead of money in a lot of cases, lots of people don't so they have to pay.

* Don't live in an expensive area for no reason. Pay your rent/mortgage in an area that is commensurate with what you can afford. I see so many uni students for example, who live in the inner city when they could live 20 mins out of the city with all the same amenities for 10-20% less rent...probably equivalent to their whole food budget.
* Bringing food from home for lunch: 30-60 mins cook time of $3 worth food prior day or $7-10 to buy lunch.
* Grow your own food wherever possible: 10h/week vs however much you spend on produce.
* Buy your food from the markets and cook it instead of going to Woolworths/Coles: 1-2h/week vs an approximate double of food costs (my own numbers).
* Keep a healthy natural sleep cycle (11pm-7am) and turn off all possible appliances at night: 5 mins/day of turning stuff off/on in return for large energy savings to avoid the darkest and coldest parts of a 24h period.
* Public transport: increases travel time by 50% in return for massive savings vs using a car.

You get the idea.

My best tip on saving money is to manage your time well. If you have no time to cook dinner, dry your clothes in the sun, or get to work via public transport, then you will pay for it.

Lastly, on intoxicants. Whatever your poison, invest the time to learn how to do it yourself. Drink grog? Brew/distill yourself. Unless it's a special occasion, don't pay $15 for a crap beer at a fancy nightclub. If you are a smoker, let nature cover the costs instead of the all night convenience store. Coffee drinkers should invest time in learning to use and then using good beans, a grinder and a good espresso machine. At the minimum when it comes to intoxicants, buy quality at wholesale. Never buy single units at retail, the only exception is special occasions.

Well done Bill, my wife is Chinese(thrifty)-Australian and she'd be impressed with your money minding!

CanOz

Where possible replace halogen downlight globes with LEDs. Saves energy and you won't have to change a globe for many a year.

Goes without saying but I'll still say it: make sure the unit is suitable and use an electrician if necessary. Ain't worth getting yourself fried or turning the house into a bonfire just to save a few bucks.

If you are using Wollies fuel vouchers, and it probably applies to Coles too, always round your purchase to an even litre. I usually find that if it auto stops anywhere above a fraction of 4/10ths of a litre, you can usually get it up to the next even litre without overflowing by just gently squeezing the handle.

Wollies does not proportion the discount to the fractional amount of litres bought. So if you have a 10 cents voucher and buy 50.9 liters, you only get the 10 cents off on the 50 liters and nothing on the 0.9 liters. Bring it up to 51 liters and your saving will be $5.10 instead of just $5.00

Also, enrol in Wollies Everyday Rewards and use the card. Instead of the standard 4 cents, they often offer petrol discounts of up to 12 cents if you purchase above a certain amount of groceries or liquor in a week (usually $70 or $90). Easy to do if you purchase a carton of beer and some wine in the same week.

Learn how to make more money. Worrying about the small stuff will stop you from looking at the bigger picture.

You should always value your time. When I was living in Melbourne I spent more on my mortgage to live next to work. That got me home earlier and enabled me to spend more time on trading. Spending extra can also earn extra.

I wouldn't bother driving further to save a few dollars on petrol, prefer to be home sooner and using my time more effectively.

Judd said:

Where possible replace halogen downlight globes with LEDs. Saves energy and you won't have to change a globe for many a year.

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Halogen downlights. One of the most unnecessary energy uses around, and damn inconvenient to be forever changing globes.

50 watts per globe, plus transformer losses so make that 60 W, and nobody has just one or two in a room. It's much more efficient, and less maintenance, to use literally any other type of electric lighting.

And believe it or not, there's something known as the "sun". Just let it shine in during the day, especially during winter, thus heating and lighting the house completely free of charge.

The other big, obvious energy waste is windows. There's a lot of effort put into limiting the amount of air movement in modern buildings although most are still excessive. Then someone comes along and opens the windows during the afternoon, necessitating use of heating in the evening. That's just silly but it's not uncommon.

special for families, especially with small kids. Rechargeable Batteries

You would be surprised how much the savings add up over the years.

When kids are small, it is quite common for them to leave appliances, toys etc switched on, (even adults do this)...so new batteries dead

Unbelievably, I still have some of the original old purple ones that last incredibly well (over 20 years)

The newer NiCads etc, dont take as many charges.

I encourage my Uni going son to be an urban scrounger, but he turned his nose up at the idea, until they found out the local Dan Murphys sometimes throw cartons of beer into the skip

Smurf1976 said:

And believe it or not, there's something known as the "sun". Just let it shine in during the day, especially during winter, thus heating and lighting the house completely free of charge.

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We've done all the right things, and use either CFL's or LED's, however we've also just put 5 skylights in. Even in the long run, it would probably have been cheaper to just turn lights on during the day, however the 'natural' light really does make a difference.

We also have a lot of fruit trees and all that jazz, but we're fortunate enough to have the land to do it.

At the end of the day, it's the wife who keep's our savings in check, because if it's not a monthly payment, i'm more than likely to spend it elsewhere