Looking for ways to save money I stumbled across this helpful little video from Howcast. There were a few good tips on ways to save in there I’m sure you could benefit from.
1. Cutting back on paper products not only saves you money but is environmentally friendly. You can replace paper towels with tea towels and cloth rags and can use the back of envelopes for writing shopping lists.
2. Bottled water is not only becoming increasingly expensive it creates an insane amount of plastic waste. Fill up drinking bottles with tap water and squeeze in some lemon for extra flavour. If you don’t like tap water, use a filter.
3. Aim to buy less food. Make sure you eat food before it goes bad and start monitoring how much food you end up throwing out so you can make better choices.
4. If you use your cell phone regularly, consider getting rid of your home phone line.
5. Find free ways to get fit. Walking, running, stair climbing, jump roping and dancing are all free and great forms of cardio. Using tins of soup or old detergrent bottles filled with water make great hand weights. There are plenty of at-home workouts you can find online.
6. Do you really need that fast food fix? Recreating receipes at home can often be a cheaper and healthier option.
7. More and more TV shows are becoming available online and it is easy to hook up your computer to your TV. Do you really need to keep paying for that TV subscription? You can also wait and rent the entire season of your favourite shows on DVD.
8. Ask your doctor what kind of supplements and vitamins you should be taking and stick to those. Only buy the ones you need.
How often do you buy shampoo? Detergent? Toothpaste? Saving money doesn’t always have to mean you miss out on buying your favourite products, but it does mean you will have to start paying attention to how you are using them. Using less means the product will last longer and you will not have to buy replacements as often. It also means that in many cases the product still creates the same, if not better, results. So why not try it? Here are a few products you can try:
Shampoo/conditioner: Using big gallops of shampoo every day can often create build up in your hair and strip your hair of it’s natural oils. Too much conditioner also makes your hair greasy. You can use far less than recommended amounts and still get great results. Wash your hair every second day and only lather and rinse once.
Moisturizer: Similarly, you don’t need to soak your skin in moisturizer. Smaller amounts work just fine. Especially with cleansers and face moisturizers the recommended amount is about the size of a coin.
Perfume/cologne/body spray: Despite what ad campaigns would have us believe, a single spritz of perfumes and bodysprays is generally enough to give you scent you want. Spraying too much is not only wasteful but the result will usually turn people off because the fragrance is too small. Our noses adapt to smells so because you are surrounded by the fragrance your nose starts to ‘tune it out’ after awhile. So remember, just because you can no longer smell the fragrance, it is very likely that people around you still can.
Deodorant: Similar to perfumes and body sprays, deodorants don’t need to be swiped over the skin five or six times. One good swipe is usually enough to do the job, unless you are going to be sweating large amounts.
Laundry detergent: Using less detergent is good for both your clothes and the washing machine. Too much soap causes build up on your clothes and also in your machine. Try using half as much as normal in a couple of loads and then adjust accordingly.
Dishwasher detergent: Like laundry detergents, you don’t have to fill the detergent cup to the brim to get clean dishes. Try filling it only half full and gauging the results. Or wash dishes by hand is another alternative. Only use the dishwasher for a full load.
Toothpaste: Squirt out an amount slightly larger than the size of a pea to clean your teeth. More most people, this amount is plenty to freshen breath and remove plaque.
Cleaning Products: You don’t have to soak the mirror or flood the toilet with cleaning products just to get a clean house. In general, a little spray on a rag or sponge will clean a large area. You only need a larger amount if you have a massive stain or built up dirt but you can still apply less and just let it soak.
Juice: Most juice is so full of sugar that you can easily dilute it with water and it will still taste good. Try mixing a glass of half juice and half water to begin with and then adjust the amounts depending if it’s too weak or oo sweet. This will make the bottle of juice last twice as long.
I am keen to hear some of your own ideas. What other products could you use less of and still get the same, if not better, results?
Deciding to budget to achieve our financial goals can often feel like joining a gym to achieve our fitness and weight loss goals. We’re all motivated it begin with, enthusiastic of making a positive changes to our life, but then are disheartened to discover habits are difficult to break, motivation is hard to find, and we end up blowing it all by eating an entire chocolate cake…or in this case, spending it all on an extravagant purchase. Although difficult at times, both financial and fitness goals are so important to our well-being and incredibly rewarding. So why not achieve both simultaneously?
Australian health coach Andrew Cate has published a book called The Tight Arse Diet that compares effective effective weight loss techniques with getting control of your spending. Here are some scenarios that can apply to both your budget and your diet:
Weight Loss and Budget Tips
1. Don’t be disheartened
With both budgeting and weight loss, it is important to remember that you are making healthy changes for life, not sacrificing your enjoyment of life. There are still plenty of ways you can enjoy life with less spending. In both cases, these changes are for the better, so stick to them! And yes, sometimes we get off track but that doesn’t mean we can’t get back on it. Your goals are achievable!
2. Clear away temptation
Just as you should clear away tempting junk food in your kitchen to stop unhealthy snacking, don’t tempt yourself into spending money by shopping for leisure and browsing. Buy only what you need.
3. Bring your own lunch
Taking your lunch to work not only saves you money (usually around $70 a week) but lets you make healthy low calorie meals.
4. Plan your meals
Planning your meals not only stops impulse snacking but also impulse buying! Look what you have in your kitchen and plan simple meals based on what you already have. Time to get creative!
5. Stick to the list
In both cases, write a shopping list and stick to it! This will help you save money and calories!
6. Plan ahead
Spend Sunday afternoon preparing meals for the week, so its readily available and you are not tempted with less healthy options, or expensive meals!
7. Keep track
Just like trainers suggest keeping a food diary to keep yourself on track, keep a budget that tracks everything you spend. Using a budget tool like heaps! makes this easier.
Andrew Cate also suggests areas where you can save both money and kilos:
* Consume one less alcoholic drinks a day to save over $700 a year as well as lose 3kg
* Find an exercise partner and save around $1,000 on gym fees and lose at least 2kg
* Drink one less soft drink or juice a day, save around $180 and lose a kilo
* Eat slowly and reduce what you need to feel full, saving $300 on food and lose 2kg
* Keep a food diary to reduce portion sizes and breakouts. You could bank $450 and lose 3kg
Set and modify your budget:
To set a budget that works for you, check out our budgeting page.
Up-cycling is basically recycling, except you end up with a really cool product at the end. By using your creativity you can convert old materials or ‘useless’ products into something you will enjoy and benefit from. Not only does this help the environment, it gives you cool new stuff without spending much, if any, money! Awesome!
You can up-cycle anything! Think about it; your clothes, furniture, art, and electronics can all be transformed from trash to something fun and new.
Who Up-Cycles?
New Dress A Day
“365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…”
Marisa decided to quit shopping the traditional way, and challenged herself to create her own wardrobe (for an entire year!). She also decided to limit her spending to $1 a day for clothing items. Marisa has been blogging her activity, and providing photos of the transformations she is making.
Marisa’s journey shortly after being laid off from a job that was over-working her. She found herself in a creative crisis, but decided to take matters into her own hands. Her inspiration came from watching Julie & Julia; she wasn’t interested in creating french cuisine rather, she wanted to do something that would get her creative juices flowing everyday.
Marisa shares her experience on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Her money saving fashion and ideas are inspirational to many people. What kind of radical things have you done in order to save money, or just to boost your creativity?
How do I Up-Cycle?
If you are feeling creative but need a bit of inspiration, there are heaps of up-cycling ideas online. Keep an open mind and make adjustments to personalize your projects. You don’t have to be an artist to up-cycle, just have fun and try new things.
A great up-cycling idea that I found online was to use your old scarfs to create vintage decorative pillows. Make your pillows whatever shape or size you like, use different patterns on either side, add a zipper to create a more finished look. If you don’t have any scarfs of your own laying around, check out second hand shops, and garage sales. Got any other creative tips? Share them here!
Make it an event: The big Shwop
Join other ethically-minded shoppers in Wellington on Sunday 25th of July. The Big Shwop is a place where you can bring your unwanted, barely worn, quality, fashionable clothes, and exchange them for any of the other lovely threads on offer.
Simply put – bring along up to twenty pieces from your wardrobe that are barely worn quality clothes and exchange them for vouchers. When the shwop begins, you can ‘cash in’ your vouchers for any of the other lovely threads on offer. Guilt free shopping straight ahead!
So spend a day out with a bunch of your best friends, your mum, your daughter. Go home at the end of the day, with flash new threads completely guilt free, knowing that your fashion sense hasn’t been sacrificed for the environment, and the environment hasn’t been sacrificed for fashion either. For more information about The Big Shwop, check it out online!
The millennial generation has more access to technology than all previous generations, more than likely to have an email address, a facebook/bebo/friendster page and would rather use text messaging rather than make a phone call. What also makes generation Y different is that they are now less likely to buy a house and more likely to end up high in debt at a much earlier age.
Financial literacy rates are not nearly as high as they should be. instead of needing the cash to go forth with a purchase, they are able to just put it on credit and supposedly not have to worry about it for a while. Students at a young age should be exposed to their personal finances and learn how to make spending plans and track expenses before leaving secondary school.
Financial Responsibility and Independence
More debt is only a result of less financial responsibility of course. Students are now able to apply for credit cards, taking out a mortgage no longer has to be the traditional 30 year no longer requires a 20% down payment as well as a 30 year pay off rate. Now there is a greater variety of mortgages that people can take out.
Considering how we are now a credit card world, people are now able to purchase more than they earn. And unfortunately, education and housing prices have increased at a much faster rate than income. It is now harder than ever to purchase a house and to fund for an education.
Unfortunately, due to the high cost of living and sky rocketing education expenses, more young adults entering the ‘real world’ are still financially dependent on their parents. Newly graduated students still need help in paying off debts, purchasing provisions and the like.
Credit Card Convenience
I myself use a credit card for most of my purchases, from food and clothes to books and flights. This is mostly because using a credit card is so convenient. There is no need to haul around cash and to worry about whether or not you have enough in your wallet. The worst part is probably that you don’t actually see money leaving your wallet, leaving you to forget how much you have spent across the day, week, or month.
So what we can do for the future of our children is raise them differently. Financial responsibility is priceless and can not be disposed of. Purchasing goods on cash rather than credit is an excellent practice. This even goes with mortgages. Putting down 2% for a down payment calls for much higher interest rates.
Have you been exposed to any type of financial literacy education? How do you feel about how students are taught financial responsibility? And will conditions only be worse for future generations or is there some hope out there for our children to get out and remain out of debt?
The responsibility of a stay at home mum is greater than anything I could ever handle and I often wonder how countless mothers (including my own mother) have been able to go through such a role. Women like Talia Tuhakaraina (whose video you see below about how her family manages to budget) have the responsibility of raising and taking care of their children, look after their homes, worry about groceries, doctor/dentist appointments, school work, playtime, and the list goes on.
Divide and Conquer
As daunting as it may be, mums’ responsibilities can be split, a ‘divide and conquer’ tactic if you will. Having a clear picture of household finances is very important so bills and groceries can be paid more efficiently and with casualness. A certain budget and a practice of tracking expenses can eliminate any mystery in spendings.
My own mother would take careful practice of how much she would spend on everything – food, clothes, coffee, petrol, you name it. And she would do this on a daily basis (every other day at the least). This has been a practice that my mother adopted rather recently and she exclaims that it does make things a lot easier for her in a sense that she knows where money is flowing to.
Making a spending plan is perhaps most important for families that do include stay at home mums because there is typically only one salary coming in. Having a plan eliminates the fear of not having enough money for a certain necessity in the future.
One practice that has worked is to deposit cash into separate labelled envelopes (petrol, food, clothes and the like) and to try to only use that amount. Make sure there is still income going into savings for emergencies, and debts are being paid for.
Keep Options Open
So besides the well-being of the children, the upkeep of the house, and all the other responsibilities that comes with being a stay at home mum, there are the financial responsibilities as well. And always remember that you can keep options open. Would it be worth-while financially and time-wise to have a part time job? Or would it not be worth hiring a babysitter to take care of the children? My own mother has had a couple part-time jobs in the past years (albeit only after my siblings and I were old enough to take care of ourselves).
Are there ways in which you stick to spending plans in your particular family? Are spending plans something shared with the entire family or the responsibility generally given to one person only?
People who are conscious of their spending habits will probably practice buying in bulk. Bargain stores and bulk warehouses seem to offer customers discounts if purchases are made in large quantities. A small example would be how two litres of milk costs less per volume than buying one litre of milk.
Impulse on Cheap Buy
The danger of this of course is that it is easy to assume buying in bulk always saves money. I myself am guilty of this practice. Two weeks ago I was at the farmer’s market in Wellington on a Sunday afternoon, and one of the stands were selling two-kilogram bags of carrots for only $2.00. When I first saw this offer I thought to myself, ‘My goodness, what a deal! I most definitely will buy it!’
Of course, since I am living with one other flat mate, this was not the most conscious decision I have made. What on earth would I be doing with two kilograms of carrots? This is a combination of impulse buying and the fallacy that buying in bulk is always the best deal.
Practice with Care and Thought
Buying in bulk is a practice that is more heavily used in families. This of course makes sense because if you do have a larger family you might as well buy more of a particular product. But how much of the product are you really going to use? Perishable foods need the most thinking with much of it probably going to waste. Fruits and Vegetables are a big example. Considering how people tend to push their fruits and vegetables in the back of their fridge, they tend to sit there until they spoil and need to be thrown out (and in my experience, heaps of carrots).
My rotten carrots
“Good Deal”
Another fallacy of buying in bulk is that they are always cheaper than buying single items. Most of the time it is true, but many warehouse and bargain stores only persuade people to buy in bulk just so they can sell more. If a dozen paper towels cost $12 then you probably can get a better deal buying individual rolls for less than $1 each. Which means that using a calculator or making estimates in your head before large purchases can be quite handy.
So before you buy heaps of carrots or two dozen rolls of napkins, ask yourself if you will actually consume all of it before it spoils (even if you are a large family), and whether or not you are actually getting the better deal. A better and more environmentally friendly option would be to get a rag or wash-cloth which you can use multiple times.
Am I Alone?
Please let me know that I am not the only one guilty of buying mountains of fruit and vegetables only to find myself regretting it a week later when I find them a different colour. How do you feel about buying in bulk, and how do you practice it?
So you want to come up with a plan for saving money. There is a limitless amount of ways of which you can save money, and we could probably sit here and talk about it for ages. We could tell you to not buy that cup of coffee in the morning, stay away from the bagel shop and from that cafe in the evening. We could tell you to eliminate cable or satellite and cancel your gym membership.
We could tell you to make an account on trade me to sell your TV, stereo and iPod, as well as half of your wardrobe. And persuade you that you actually only need three pairs of shoes (dress, sneakers, casual). But what is the fun in all that?
Don’t Make it a Chore
Saving money does not have to be such a chore, all one needs are a few adjustments in the way one spends his or her money. For me personally, if I had to avoid that cup of tea in the morning I would get fed up and forget about my expenses and spend like I had compulsive shopping disorder.
Talk about being dramatic, but what I mean is that frugality is key when it comes to saving money and dissolving deeper debt. It’s all about how you buy your goods, not so much avoiding it all together.
Value of Life
I don’t mean to be all philosophical here, but what would be the point of living if you can’t even enjoy the small things in life? Think of it this way, half the joy of buying something is actually buying (paying for) the item, rather than using it. Meaning that when you do go buy that cup of coffee in the morning or an evening snack, you will get about a good amount of euphoria worth more than the $4 you spent.
This euphoria will last not much shorter than when buying a new TV. This is because people tend to get used to what they have, hence never being satisfied with their current lifestyle and always wanting more. So a new TV will only give you a thrill for a very temporary amount of time.
Affecting People Around You
Being frugal is not so much trying to avoid buying everything at all costs. On the contrary, being frugal means you understand the value of what you buy, and you weight the cost and benefit. Being cheap on the other hand means you are only looking for the lowest price. A cheap person might be negligent of tax when paying someone back, or forget about a tip. A frugal person would avoid buying a drink so that she can stay on her budget.
Most importantly, cheap people think of the now, how much they could save at this instant. Frugal people think long term, they have a plan and purpose, and they put it into conscience action. Cheap people might affect the friends and family around them, doing anything they can to try to save money. A frugal person is conscience of their personal expenses, and whether or not buying a specific item is worth their money.
Would you be able to tell the difference between a frugal person and a cheap person? Have you met people that have been a bit of an annoyance because of being cheap? And have you learned anything from a frugal person?
I am sure most of you have heard it before, but budgeting is very important if you want financial stability. And I don’t mean to be parenting any of you, but think of budgeting as a means of getting that special something you’ve always dreamed of having, whether it is a long vacation, a wide flat-screen HDTV, or your dream home.
However, before budgeting, you have to be sure of where your money tends to go. Otherwise you’ll be setting up a budget that doesn’t conform to your needs, and you’ll end up not being able to meet your goals (at least not as quickly as you might like to).
Nicola Sayer talks about brand experience in regards to how she budgets, brand meaning the different methods (software) that she may have used to track her expenses.
Understand Your Spending
So what is it you need to do to get on a roll with budgeting? First of all, you need to be aware of where your money goes and what makes you slip. For me it is using a lot of my money towards clothes. You need to understand your spending patterns and spending habits, and you also need to keep track of your monthly bills as well as the unnecessary spends. And when I say track expenses I mean everything, from that coffee and bagel in the morning, to your groceries, rent, car payments, anything that involves some sort of exchange of money.
Of course, you categorising makes it much easier and actually gives a purpose towards tracking expenses. You can always categorise your expenses using heaps!, which makes categorising your expenses easy. This way you’ll be able to see where your money is flowing, and where you might be willing to change your spending habits.
Yes tracking expenses might be a bit overwhelming, but there are ways in which this can be a little easier for you. For one thing, it might be a good idea to put as much as you can on one debit card. Therefore you’ll have a very convenient way of tracking what you’ve been buying. And since there is an eftpos virtually everywhere you go, this shouldn’t be much of a problem. Of course, make sure that you have enough funds in your bank account.
And since you can use heaps! as your software to keep track of your expenses, you won’t have to worry about further categorising and manual adding as heaps! does this for you. Tracking your expenses has never been easier.
Everything on the Card
The debit card will work well for everyday expenses – food, clothes, restaurants, gifts, and the like, but for all the goods that you decide to buy with cash, it is a good idea to keep the receipts with you. At the end of the week, split all those items that you have bought with cash into the above categories (you could always use heaps! to categorise all the items for you).
After analysing how you’ve been spending your money, you can then create a budget that will not only save you money, but one that will suit you too. When setting up a budget it is important that you give yourself breathing room and a little fun as well. If you do not do any of those, then the budget will not work for you since it will be difficult to follow, and you might just give up on saving money.
Also, make sure you have some kind of saving goal. It is more fun to save money when you know you will reward yourself with something in the end, like that flight to Asia or a deposit on a house. Set aside a fixed amount of your income towards savings every month, and please be reasonable, meaning don’t allocate 20% of your income towards savings if it does not even allow you to spend on some coffee in the morning. Again, it is perfectly OK to treat yourself a bit every now and then.
Budgets are handy, but they have to be tailored to your needs. How did you set up your budget and was it based on expenses that you have tracked? Has tracking your expenses worked for you? If not, how do you propose to create a budget? Do you use heaps!, Excel, or other software if any?
How many of you have seen countless tips on how to budget? I don’t know about everyone else, but every time I think about budgeting or tracking expenses, I get bored. Why does budgeting have to be so tedious and time-consuming?
Maybe if we make budgeting a little more fun, as hard as it may be, people will actually start to save money instead of just talking about it. Honestly, how many times have you said to yourself that you would start saving more money tomorrow, next week, in the following month? And how many times have you sat yourself down and planned a budget and started to track your expenses only to find yourself abandoning it three weeks later?
Listen to Others
For me, I particularly like listening to other people’s financial stories as it helps me with my budget. And when I listen to others, it motivates me to get my act into gear. Setting a goal especially helps me save money because then I actually have a good incentive to keep on top of my money.
A lot of people tend to follow in others footsteps. Which is why it is indeed a good idea listening to how others budget. Similar to how people talk about how awesome their new expensive shiny car is, and you have the strongest urge to go out there and buy an even bigger and more expensive car. Why can’t budgeting be like that? You should go out there and show off how much you are saving just by knowing where your money is going.
So we at heaps! decided that we would talk to some people about how they feel about budgeting and tracking their expenses. We hope you enjoy the video and that you are more motivated to be aware of where your money is going and to really understand your finances. Maybe it will provide a little boost to budget, and help you save. After all, that is what we are here for.
Personal Finance in Social Media
Yes it may sound odd, but it’s only for a good cause. Think of it as a Facebook, Twitter or Youtube for budgeting. It should be a very social thing. With everything pushed very quickly because of the internet, and communication being more convenient than ever, budgeting and tracking expenses should be pushed out there just like all the social media channels.
I really don’t think promoting budgeting out into the social world is very strange. Just think of it, if saving money was so much talked about, then you would start being motivated to do the same. So instead of wanting to beat your neighbours in how brand new your new phone is, how about showing off how stable your checking account is. And how your savings account is only growing.
The more mature generations should breed a new generation of youngsters who want to save. Considering the amount of debt we are all in, and debt being continuously spread (not just for individuals but for entire nations), let’s educate our children (more importantly, ourselves) so we can lead lives that are just a bit more stress free.
Small Start, Big Dreams, Bigger Savings
The video that we have is a small start no doubt, but it is a start nonetheless. When you watch this video, don’t think of it as another site pushing budget tips into everyone, but more of a video to help you get inspired to budget. Now that I’m about to stop rambling, go out there and strike up a conversation with your neighbour, friend, relative, bus buddy, and spread the joy of saving a few dollars. What have you got to lose?
Dare I ask, but how often do you share your financial life with anyone? Let me know if you think we’ve gone crazy. I mean how often do you come across anyone who wants budgeting to be the “in” thing?
Looking for ways to save money I stumbled across this helpful little video from Howcast. There were a few good tips on ways to save in there I’m sure you could benefit from.
By Alicia
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