Tips for Saving Money – from an Accountant

As a follow on from the post I did about budgeting , I thought I would give you some tips for saving money. Given it is only 20 days and minimal pays until Christmas I thought some of you may find these tips useful. 

If 2014 wasn’t the best year for you savings wise and it was one of your goals then you definitely need to read my tips for saving money and put them to use in the coming year!  

• Review how you are going every now and again, this makes life easier as you will find it easier to stay on track when you are more mindful of your spending and your savings goals. 
• Think of ways to minimize or reduce your costs – if you have a number of different loans think about consolidating them. Pay off the one with the highest interest rate first. Think of other recurring expenditure and how you can minimize these, are you overpaying for your mobile phone, internet or power? If you’re in NZ and with Contact energy they have a new system where you get your bills online and pay online and you can save 22% compared to 10% normal prompt payment discount. We recently changed our internet provider and while we are paying the same amount each month we are now getting 4* the data so we don’t pay for going over our data occasionally like we used to! Are you paying a monthly bill for your mobile phone which is now outdated? Would a prepay plan work just fine? I’ve never understood paying $80+ a month when you can do pretty much everything you need to on a $19 plan!  
• Ensure any savings you do have is earning the best interest rate [without putting it somewhere dodgy], shop around and see what deals you can get. You may be able to combine some savings accounts to get a better rate. 
• Making savings automatic – if you can’t see it you’re less likely to spend it! This is my BIGGEST TIP – Put your savings with a different bank to your chequeing account. This means you don’t see it each time you log on to internet banking. Put a certain amount into an automatic payment which comes out the same day you get paid, direct into your savings account. 
• Save money – buy buying in bulk [so long as it won’t get wasted]. Are you a daily coffee drinker? Get a coffee card to get a free coffee every now and again. . Think in terms of the long run so long as it won’t get wasted. See my eating healthy on a budget tips for more information on buying in bulk in relation to food.
• Have a side hustle – what do you know that other people would pay for? Offer your services! Are you a social media guru who could help small businesses or perhaps you could tutor students? Or conversely, what crap do you have that other people will find treasures – sell these on trademe or one of the many facebook buy and sell pages. Pop the proceeds straight into your savings account. 
• Save money on presents by making use of sales. We all know that Briscoes and Rebel Sports can’t go more than a few weeks without a sale so whenever you see something that is truly a bargain that you could gift during the year – grab it! Pizza stone for $10, that’s an easy pressy for a foodie! 
• Save money on holidays, go on trips that won’t break the bank. Get used to enjoying doing things that don’t cost money, some of my best finds on my trips have been when I’ve just gone for a long walk to see what I can see.
• You don’t need the four star hotel, you appreciate it a lot more when you do find amazing places too. I’m not saying rough it but if a three star is $100pn cheaper why not go for it, you’ll often find that the more expensive places per night are even more expensive with their things to do, eating at the restaurant of a 4 star restaurant is always more pricey than a three star etc.
• Pay for everything in cash! It feels a lot more real and harder to part with if you pay for everything in cash. Each pay day take out your spending money and put it in your wallet, transfer out your savings to your dedicated savings account and transfer any funds that will need to be used for bills later in the pay period so you can’t touch it. 
• You don’t always need the latest and greatest, Iphone 6, why? What are you really going to get out of it other than a headache when you drop it and insurance doesn’t want to cover it. Wait a few months and you’ll save yourself $!!
• New isn’t always the best – especially when it comes to things like car’s – as soon as you drive it off the lot you loose a few thousand $, buy near new and save dramatically.
• Cut out or minimize some of your bad habbits – drinking, smoking and buying takeaways are common culprits. If you don’t want to stop, think about reducing the amount you’re having, it will be good for both your health and your wellbeing as well as your bank account.
• Mid Week Date Night! Move date night to one day during the week and you will find places less crowded as well as saving money! Mid week movies can often be found a lot cheaper than on the weekend and I often see special deals such as $10 Curry on Mon-Wed, or a restaurant back in Wanganui used to do 2 for 1 Burgers on Monday nights which is great. 
• Make things realistic, you don’t want to skimp on living your life! You just need to decide what is more important too you, if the goal you are saving for is important to you, you will make it happen!  Put some money aside into savings each pay but don’t make it tough you will crack and binge (shopping spree’s are kind of like binge eating, allow yourself a little bit of the fun stuff every now and again and you’re less likely to binge and fall off the bandwagon!). 

Phew, there we have it! A number of my tips for saving money! 

I’d love to hear what your best tip for saving money is, or if you are struggling and have any questions let me know!