Wallet Friendly Tips

I've compiled a list of my favourite ideas on how to cut spending and save money, some you have more than likely heard of, but there may be some new ideas that can help you get ahead.

1. Pay yourself first. You work hard for your money, the least you can do for yourself is set a certain amount aside for yourself so you can start making your money work for you. If you read the richest man in Babylon, one of the key take aways is to make your money work for you instead of you having to always work for your money. So make your money earn you money by investing instead of having to rely on trading your time for money, because one day you may be in the position of being unable to work for a number of reasons, but you’ll still have your money working for you in the background.
   

2. Enjoy the rewards. It’s generally worth signing up to rewards programs, scanning your rewards card can end up saving you thousands over time. I refuse to buy anything outside of my normal shopping but I still get money off my shop every few weeks or a free coffee, reduced air fares or whatever reward you sign up to.
   

3. Cash back. Along with earning rewards is also worth looking into doing your shopping through cash back groups. Cash rewards has just included Woolworths in their list of companies that allow cash back. If you love a bit of online shopping it’s absolutely worth seeing if your favourite shops are available through these groups. There is also the marketplace through Qantas or virgin that you can purchase things and accrue flight points. Just make sure you’re not paying more.
   

4. Marketplace winner. Before making purchases check if someone is selling what you’re after on marketplace. We’ve picked up some amazing bargains through marketplace for a fraction of the cost of buying new. The one thing I would be cautious of is electrical items.
   

5. Bank with a winner. Find a bank that gives you great incentives. I’m with ING and not only do they not charge fees, they offer rebates up to a certain amount for having utility auto deductions set up, as well as atm fees refunded up to $100 annually. Whoever puts money back in my pocket gets my business!
   

6. Check the price! Don’t become complacent thinking big stores can’t get it wrong! I have scored thousands of dollars of free food over the years because the item scanned at the wrong price. Coles, Woolies and Aldi have the scanning policy in play so if it scans at a higher price than displayed on the shelf, your first item is free. I’ve even had meat scan at the wrong price! The manual specials tickets are also a big one as it’s relying on staff to remove them at the end of every week, and almost every shopping trip I come across an old ticket that’s been missed. Don’t pay more than you should be, so take note of the price while shopping and make sure you’re not overpaying for your items! Here I’ve included more information.
   

7. Stop buying lunch from work. There is honestly nothing wrong with having either leftovers or a sandwich for lunch. Some people can't stand having something basic like a sandwich, so you can create pre-prepared meals and freeze them. Take them out in the morning and they will generally be defrosted by lunch time. You can then pop in the microwave and you've got a nice pre-prepared meal that isn't leftovers or a sandwich.
   

8. Buying home brand. We all know the home brand range tends to be cheaper, but be careful about assumptions, some brands are actually cheaper or can be cheaper when on special, so check the per unit price and not the shelf price. What is the price per 100g or 10g as opposed to just grabbing the cheapest item off the shelf.
   

9. Eat through your pantry and freezer first. Create a meal plan around what you already have on hand, this helps reduce wasteful spending as you may end up stocking up on items you already had.
   

10. Don’t shop hungry. This one is pretty self explanatory, when we’re hungry and go shopping we might end up with a few cheeky additions in the trolley we wouldn’t usually, so stay on the safe side and make sure you have something to eat before going grocery shopping.
    

11. Make a list. Again this one is pretty obvious, take stock of what you need throughout the week, pop it either on your shopping list, on a shopping list app or some of the supermarkets will let you pop it on your trolley and that way you can keep a running total of the cost. With some of the bigger supermarkets you can also buy only what you need and do click and collect which saves any hassles of being tempted to buy things you don’t actually want or need.
    

12. Cut the crap. Is it time to reduce the carbs, refined sugars, added sugars and processed foods. It has been well documented that these foods don't actually fill you up anyway so even though you think it's cheaper when you purchase them from the shop, they tend to actually cost you more in the long run as you end up eating more of it. So cooking and baking from scratch is better for your health and your wallet.
    

13. Treats in bulk. If you are thinking of buying some treats it’s worth buying some things in bulk and dividing it into smaller packs. So you can buy a family size bag of chips and divide it across some smaller bags. Same with lollies, pretzels, popcorn, nuts, dried fruits, etc.
    

14. Portion control. As the price of food goes up it’s hard to justify the cost of a lot of items, thinking back to when a bag of chips was over $6. As per the previous point it’s only worth buying in bulk if you have a family that won’t eat the whole lot in one day. A way around this is to divide the treats into bags, give every family member a basket or bowl and allocate the treats across these to ration it out, but also teach portion control. Seems ridiculous but it’s actually quite effective. This way they can enjoy their treats whenever they want through out the day but once their basket it’s empty that’s it till the next day. If you can, provide unlimited fruit and veg in a separate area and then special treats in their own basket.
    

15. Walk it off. Again, after extensive research science has now decided that walking is super beneficial for your overall health, to an extend more so than HIIT sessions. So where can you try get a walk in? Walk around the block, walk to the shops, walk to the bus. I used to catch a bus to the outskirts of the CBD and walk the rest of the way into work, this reduced the zones I paid on the bus so my transport costs reduced too. Yay for fresh air, exercise and saving money.
    

16. Stop boredom or excess shopping. The shops are marvellous, especially when the weather is less than ideal. So many people’s default is to head out to the shops a few times a week, but unless you’re SUPER disciplined, you may find you’re spending more on a few top up shops than if you just do one big shop once a week. I grew up with my parents doing a monthly shop and one small top up shop a week, and this is by far more cost effective than doing them as you need items because there is generally a few additional items that find their way into the trolley (Cheesecake Lindt anyone?). Have a look at our pantry recommendations and see how you can reduce the number of shopping trips by being more organised.
    

17. Plan your shopping ahead. If you do decide to do a bigger bulk shop once a week or every two weeks, it’s worth considering the trip route to make sure your cost savings isn’t eaten up by fuel costs running around from shop to shop.
    

18. Bulk it like a boss. When you’re cooking learn to make a base recipe in bulk. So if you’re cooking say spaghetti bolognaise, cook the base of veg, mince and tomato in bulk and divide into portions. One portion to finish off your spaghetti bolognaise, another portion can be frozen and later additional flavours added to make chilli con carne or sloppy joes or lasagne etc. I’ve got a great variety of base recipes available under recipes. This is especially handy so if you’re short on time you’ve got food ready to go, but it also saves electricity or gas over the long term due to shorter cooking times.
    

19. Recipe basics. Find a list of great recipes that you and your family enjoy that have similar base ingredients and make sure they are always stocked in your pantry and fridge. This way your don’t have to buy additional ingredients for the different meals you’ll make which just adds to your grocery budget, but also may end up expiring on your shelf if you don't make that style of meal often enough. If you know at least 5 different recipes by heart and your pantry is running low, you know your family will still have a healthy meal in no time.
    

20. Stay well stocked with the basics. On that note, having at least 5 good recipes you know how to cook means you can load up on the staples to make these meals. That way you can bulk purchase when they’re on sale and you’re not stuck paying a premium because you need to grab it when it’s full price, or worse, have to buy it from a more expensive after hours shop.
    

21. The savers pantry. Organise your house so you have a place to store excess bulk purchases, not like prepper style bulk purchases, but just having a place where you can store items that are usually expensive but go on half price special or have a great discount. Think passata, pasta, olive oil, soy sauce, beans, noodles, etc. This also applies to non pantry items like nappies and dishwashing tablets.
    

22. Start fakeaway Fridays. It’s always nice having a treat after winding up the end up of the week. But holy moly takeaway has gotten expensive! I like to create a nice fakeaway meal every now and then. For the cost of say one takeaway meal I can feed my whole family homemade pizza or burgers and chips or some either cuisine. And because it’s made at home I know what’s going in there! Win win and win!
    

23. Join the make your own crowd. There are some things that we can buy that are actually just cheaper to buy as opposed to trying to make yourself. But then there are some foods you can make at home that are actually super simple once you know how. I make my own yogurt which is super thick and creamy, I can have whatever flavour I want and it costs so much less than buying store bought. You can see my recipes here, or just skim through some recipes online to get an idea of what you can possibly make at home for a fraction of the cost. Oh, and the yogurt takes me the exact amount of time it takes to boil the kettle to make.
    

24. Shop seasonal and special. It’s pretty obvious to budget savvy shoppers that buying seasonal is the best way to stock your fridge or shelf with cheaper healthy fruit and veg. But instead of creating a meal plan for the week before going to the shop, you can create a meal plan around what the catalogues have on special. Even better if you’re actually able to go in to a shop to see if there’s anything clearance you can pick up. If you’ve already designed your meal plan you can pick them up and freeze them for the next meal plan.
    

25. Not all shops are created equal. There’s obviously the two major players that take the lions share of the market because convenience wins, but before you head in to one of these maybe pop in to your local reject shop, red dot or Bunnings. I’ve found things like cleaning items or storage items are actually cheaper at these shops. And the reject shop also sells lollies for way cheaper than the big two.
    

26. Check the clearance racks. Most shops now days have a clearance rack, I’ve nabbed great bargains from these! Always do a quick stop by to see if there’s anything you have been keeping an eye on. I was able to get a box of our regular cereal for less than half price because the box was damaged and they marked it down to get rid of it. I also grabbed some silicone moulds for our gummies at $0.75 each instead of $3.50 each.
    

27. If it’s close, buy direct from the supplier. If you happen to live close to a farm or meat processing facility, they will sometimes sell direct to the public. This can be things like buying eggs, strawberries, meat, fruit, veggies, etc. Places like Berry Sweet during summer will sell their 1kg seconds strawberries for $5. The egg farms will usually be much cheaper than the shops. Have a look at what is around you and compare their prices.
    

28. Join your local community. On Facebook there are so many local communities available where you can either buy local or people gift free things. We’ve got a community gifting page we give stuff away on, there’s also the local pages where people that do grow fruit or veg will sell what they have, often citrus fruits. Get involved in your local community and you never know what you might find cheap or free.
    

29. Find a pantry. In WA the feed it forward charity has loads of areas that they try provide food to. Join the local feed it forward page and ask where you’re able to collect food from. I know there are similar pantries around the country, one I’ve heard of in QLD has the $25 trolley initiative which is you pay $25 and get bags of food, it works out to around 70% off what you would normally pay of food. The website Ask Izzy may have some resources too, Have a look around and see how you can get the help you need.
    

30. Track spending. For 30 days track your spending, you may find some ways you can cut down on things you don't use or need. Don't deprive yourself, but also start thinking long term, buying quality is far better for your health in that you have less clutter, your items last longer and it's helping you and the environment.
    

31. Set up direct debits. If you’re relying on manually transferring money it can become tempting to spend what you know you have available. Willpower is like any muscle, overuse causes it to fatigue.
    

32. Save it. If you have the ability to, save at least 10% of your net pay every pay day. If you don't start with 1% if possible, or possibly something as little as $1 per pay if that's all you can afford. Every time you receive a raise add an additional 1% or 2% to your savings amount, you won't even notice it and your savings egg will continue to grow. I mention in budget basics that’s it’s not the amount that really matters, it’s the habits you’re creating around making saving money a priority.
    

33. Compounding. Use the “8th wonder of the world” to your advantage. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn't pays it. This essentially means if you’re living off credit card debt and unable to pay it off within the interest free period, you start paying interest on the amount of debt you’ve incurred as well as the interest you were previously charged. Likewise if you find a good financial institution that allows earning interest to accrue on your compounding savings amount, so you’ll get paid interest on the amount in your account as well as the interest you previously accrued.
    

34. Invest, invest, invest. Invest in not just stocks, bonds and shares, but also in knowledge. Learn as much as you can about how your money works, where is it going, how you can better use your money to your advantage. This provides not just a good solid life for yourself, but also for your future generations to come.
    

35. Comparison websites. Use comparison websites to see if you are getting the best deal with your insurances, your superannuation, your mortgage rate. Check the going rates for rents around you and negotiate better deals. If you don’t have the time or feel overwhelmed trying to discuss this with the business, you can outsource this job to brokers or companies that chase better deals for you.
    

36. Hungry tax. If you buy food through Uber eats or door dash, not only do they get paid a percentage from the business, but you’ll find that usually the prices are actually more expensive than off you order straight from the restaurant direct. And often these companies have their own delivery person too, so it’s worth comparing the price to see if it’s worth buying directly from the restaurant.
    

37. Holiday savvy. Likewise with hotels and short term stays, you can compare the prices by checking the dates you want and then comparing it to the companies website to get their direct booking price. If you’re not sure how to find these places you can use Google reverse image search function and it’ll generally give you a link to the accomodations website.