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  • Personal Finance Basics
  1. Get out of your car loan.

In no time in history have used cars ever gone up in value. A lot of our customers get trapped in car loans. The value of the car decreases and they end up owing $30,000 on a $10,000 car. If they sell it, they will owe $20,000 and have no car. COVID-19 has given everyone a once in a lifetime opportunity to get out of their car loans as the price of used cars has gone up.

  1. Stop eating out.

Eating out costs a fortune. Even if you only eat out 3 times a week, you're still probably spending $1,500 - $2,000 a year. If you've got kids and you get takeaway 3 times a week you could easily be spending $5,000 - $7,000 a year.

  1. Save your spare change.

Raiz is cool app that allows you to invest the spare change from your daily purchases. For example, if you spend $3.55 on a cup of coffee, Raiz will invest the 45 cents that you would have received as change for you.

  1. Unsubscribe from lists.

Every time you get marketing from somewhere in your email address, unsubscribe. It's much easier to save money if people don't keep sending your bargains to buy everyday. You can unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of the email or you could use a service like Unroll.me, which will unsubscribe for you.

  1. Buy a bicycle.

A bicycle is a great way to save money. The rough cost of using a car per kilometre in Australis is 72 cents. The average commute distance in Australia is 16 km. Cycling to work everyday would save you $5,760/year. Not to mention all the money you could save on the gym!

  1. Kick your bad habits.

Alcohol and cigarettes cost a huge amount of money. Even small amounts of alcohol can cost a lot. $20 worth of alcohol a week is $1,040 a year. A 20 pack of cigarettes is $23, so a pack a day smoker will spend $8,395 per year on cigarettes.

  1. Lunch boxes.

Bringing your own lunch to work would save you a fortune; a fulltime employee spending $10/day on lunch at work it would spend $2,500 per year on lunch.

  1. Facebook Marketplace your junk.

There is about $2,500 worth of junk in everyone’s house. Old phones, computers, bicycles, couches, books, even old clothes sell well. When making an advertisement, lots of details about the product’s condition and history, as well as photos, help sell an item. It only takes a couple of minutes with the Facebook app to sell something. If you could sell something for $10 everyday that's $3,650 you could make a year.

  1. Home workout/running.

Even the cheapest gym will cost you $17.95/week ($933.40/year). Pilates will cost you a pretty penny. The cheapest I've seen it is $1,500/year. Thanks to COVID-19 there is a bevy of workout-from-home apps, and running around the block is always an option. Running is super cheap. You can get a good pair of shoes on sale for $150, and it will last you about 6 months if you run 5k three times a week.

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This is the opposite of outsourcing. If you have someone else cut your lawn, wash your car, do you ironing, clean your house, walk your dog etc., insourcing means you do it yourself.

  1. Shave your own head.

Spend an extra $10 instead of your usual haircut and get yourself some cordless clippers for about $40. That way you can shave your own noggin in the shower for free, saving yourself money with zero clean up required.

  1. All-in-one pot.

An all-in-one pot is a slow cooker/pressure cooker/rice cooker/everything cooker. There are a million recipes you can do with it. Additionally, you can use cheaper cuts of meat and dry legumes to save moderate amounts of money.

  1. Chilling pad.

There's been an amazing innovation in cooling. There's a company called ChiliSleep that sells a mattress topper/blanket that cools. You can even set different temperatures for either side of the bed. Ducted air-conditioning will cost $3/hr to run or $12/night vs 20 cents/night for the sleep pad.

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Australians spend over $3 billion per year on takeaway coffee, making it the 3rd biggest discretionary spend after alcohol and tobacco. A cheap pod machine will save you a bundle in the long rong, as will a coffee plunger.

  1. Spending fast.

A spending fast is a great way to set a new habit. It's more of a cleanse rather than a long-term ‘diet’. The basic rules are:

  • Pick a period of time (21 - 28 days).
  • Only purchase necessities. No haircuts, alcohol, eating out, movies, online shopping etc.
  • Only use money you have. No borrowing

 

  1. Ask for a payout figure.

If you call up your bank and tell them that you are looking at refinancing your mortgage and would like a pay out figure, they will generally put you through to a "retention team" who in our experience will reduce your interest rate in an effort to stop you going to another bank.

  1. Search for flights using private/incognito mode.

When you look at Airlines websites, their website will track you by placing a ‘cookie’ in your browser. Every time you go back they increase the price to encourage you to buy. If you set your browser to "private mode" they can't track you.

  1. Start a side hustle.

A side hustle doesn't need to be big. As mentioned above $10/day profit is $3,650 a year.

  1. Cultivate your virtual network.

Delete all the influencers and people living insane lifestyles of your social media. Follow a bunch of other people committed to saving money and investing. This will create the right community to encourage and support you in your goals.

  1. Voluntary Payment to superannuation.

You can salary sacrifice your wage into superannuation, pay only 15% tax and it's not an asset your creditors can touch in bankruptcy.

  1. Get a safety razor.

A safety razor is maybe $25 but the blades are only $15.99 for 100 of them, or 15 cents per blade. That's a lot cheaper than $1 shave club in the long run.

  1. Debt agreements.

A debt agreement is a great way for people with lots of unsecured debt to get a lower repayment AND pay back less. Most people without a home will only pay back about half of what they owe over 3 years. If you owed $50,000 in credit card debt. You would save $25,000 not including the interest you would have had to pay.

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