Once you establish a firm goal that requires you to save, the idea to start saving might sound easy, but it’s a big habit change for most people. One of the fundamentals to financial success is mastering the act of spending less than what you earn.
Some tried and tested ways to save some extra cash, that in isolation don’t seem like much, but can make a huge difference over the long term are:
- Unsubscribe to the emails – go through your inbox and unsubscribe from the emails you receive from stores and online shopping outlets. This will help remove the temptation to open the latest newsletter offering you 30% off or a free gift with purchase over the amount of $100.
- ow I know it’s unrealistic to expect people to give up online shopping completely but if you are going to shop online be savvy about it. When you are making an online purchase, order enough to get free delivery and then you can return what you don’t want to avoid paying postage. (this obviously relies on a free returns policy) or waiting until you have enough to order to justify the cost of the delivery.
- Unfollow on Instagram – this might be controversial given this is an Instagram post but how many companies or influencers are you following who are advertising or pushing product in your feed daily? I personally fell into this trap seeing the hype and internet frenzy of the latest hair treatment and realised that if I kept up this habit I’d have no money left. Instagram is now making it easier to shop. Remove the temptation and unfollow those companies or people who are pushing products.
- Learn to cook once and eat twice. This is a rule in our house, we will cook up something yummy for dinner which will stretch at least to lunch the next day. I cannot stress enough that if you are buying your brekky, lunch and dinner regularly you will be burning through cash! This is the number one area where you can make a massive difference to your surplus cash flow. If you are stuck for meal ideas there are some amazing food bloggers you can follow for some inspiration @lady.lolas meal prep queen @budgetbytes budget meals.
- If you are going to eat out, be smart about it. Find the lunch deals and the happy hour specials. I use this the happiest hour website to find local specials. Some of my favourites in Sydney CBD are Angel bar which offers delicious sandwich and a glass of wine for $9.90, Contrabando have Taco Tuesdays, and their $3 tacos are amazing! They also offer $20 express lunch if you have a lunch meeting with work. It’s a great place to go. Hunter Street Connection has an assortment of cheap lunch options too.
These are just a few of my tried and tested tips to start saving. What are your savings hacks?
