Saving Money on the Household Budget – Your Say!
Sep 28
Firstly, may I just say how astounding it is that I am mentioning the B-word again after this post!
But I am because I wanted to share with you something that is rather foreign to me – I am getting a little bit, shall we say, excited about the task at hand! Over the past couple of weeks, I have looked into ways that I can make small changes around the way I do things, which make a BIG impact on our family’s hip pocket.
Some of the biggest changes, and the dollar value of saving have been:
No More FFF (Fast Food Friday) – This was a habit that we fell into and never thought much about it. We would have either Chinese, Thai, Indian, Sushi Train or Pizzas. This cost us between $75 – $100 per week. Annual Saving – up to $5200
Giving up Ice Break and Take-Away Coffees - The hubster is a fan of Coffee Break and would have 2-3 bottles a day (not only is this crazy expensive but so so so unhealthy). I would have a takeaway coffee about three times a week. An average week would cost us around $80. Annual saving – up to $4680
Review Electricity charges - I called our electricity provider and asked how we could pay less. By simply entering into a contract, and setting a direct debit, we are saving % on our bill. Such small changes, with no impact on us, but saving $55 per quarter! Annual saving – $220
Phone and Internet - we have separate accounts for our home phone and Internet. By bundling them together so that we receive just one bill, and entering into a 24 month contract, we are saving $20 per month. Annual saving $240.
These small changes have had minimal impact to our lives, but could save us up to as much as $10,340 over one year!! **Did your chin just hit the floor? Mine did when I worked out the figures. UN-BEE-LIEVABLE!**
I now make a coffee at home in the morning and put it in my Contigo Travel Mug from Howard’s Storage Solutions. I still get my coffee while out and about and it doesn’t cost me a cent! (well it does cost a few cents if we are being technical)
I’m certainly a learner when it comes to budgeting so I thought I would ask some of the experts for more ideas! Some of the responses for ways to save money from the fabulous Mummy Smiles Facebook community were:
Trish – There are some great bargains online for just about anything. Never pay full price on things like toys etc!
Shirley - Meal planning. And don’t go to the shops!!
Leila - Do your shopping online, even if you don’t puchase online, you can get a total of what your list will cost and then know that is all you need to take with you.
Olivia - Laundry and dish washing powder: you only need 1/4 of what is suggested to use. Not only will you save money, but your machines and clothes will last longer!!
Natural New Age Mum - I have been doing a lot of opshopping for kids clothes – have scored designer labels, barely worn for under $5! Also we use the library for books, dvds, cds. Less clutter if we borrow rather than buy.
Kahlia – Buy second hand baby stuff on Facebook or eBay then as soon as they are grow out of them sell them off again. Often you will sell them for around the same price as you paid for them. Use bicarb and vinegar as cleaning products, much better then expensive cleaning products.
Jade - No takeaway !!
Lisa – Buy basics at Aldi (also try a new product each week if you’re unsure about making the swap). Work out how much all of your bills cost and determine how much they cost each week, put that aside into a high interest account then when bills come you’ve got the cash. Turn off appliances when not in use
Leanne - Shop the specials at the supermarket. If you use something a lot buy enough to get you through until the next special. Turn the heater down/aircon down just 2 degrees and save $$. Turn lights and TV off when no one is there. Open the curtains first thing in the morning then the lights won’t get used. Always have an easy meal ready to defrost in the freezer to avoid Take away (just cook extra spag bol when having it for dinner).
Michelle - Make as much of your own food as possible. Biscuits,cakes, cleaners etc. and most importantly if you don’t need it don’t buy it.
Chelsea - Shop with cash. You will be surprised at how much more careful you are with money when you are watching in leave your purse.
So many great ideas and I am on mission to uncover more!
So tell me, do you have any more ideas that you would like to add?
Thanks for some great tips in there. We are always looking to save money. We have recently installed solar panels to sell electricity back to the grid – we should make $55 per qrt until the system is paid for and then we should make approx $900 per qrt !!
Have a great weekend !
Me
I am a grandparent and probably do not have to strictly budget now but if you do it now these habits will stay with you and be passed on to your children. (Sorry I probably sound like your parents giving you advice!! But it sometimes has more meaning when you hear it from others…just like all the tips above.)
How I wish op-shopping was as popular when my children were growing up…but I do it now and so does my daughter…my grandson comes to visit and asks if we can go to the opshop! He knows that if we visited a toy shop it would just be for looking at the opshop he always comes home with something and is just as happy with a ‘new’ t-shirt as he is with a toy or book. My tips…
1. Start NOW and include the whole family in the decisions…you are giving them strategies and life time skills.
2. Entertainment does not have to be expensive..yes visits to the zoo or movies are fun but they can be for special occassions. Visits to parks, the beach, a walk in the bush, a pet shop, botanical gardens etc…can be free. Take a picnic..I grew up with picnics and still love them as do my grandchildren…sometimes we have inside picnics.
Sit down with the children and make a list of all the things you can do that do not cost money…put them in a box and choose one when you need / want a family outing.
3. Enter competitions….can be fun and rewarding. Be careful it can also be addictive!
Colleen, what wonderful advice! It’s amazing how so many little things can add up, and I do agree that you can never start too early. I am hoping the children will see a new change in mindset from us and start to appreciate how saving money is really a very valuable skill. Thank you so much!
some really great tips here Nat, I recently did some analysis on our spending patterns (on excel of course) and I was appalled to see that we were spending the same amount each quarter on takeaway/restaurants/coffees and Mr Bond’s “social drinks” after work as we were on groceries! All that time learning to handle shopping at Aldi and meal planning was blown out of the water by all the incidental spending.
I like to think I am pretty good at snapping up an online bargain, but more often than not it’s for things that I didn’t really need so I am trying to cut back on that.
The suggestion of putting money aside into a high interest account for bills in an excellent idea, I will be looking into that one for sure
Oh you are good Erin! I haven’t quite reached the stage of doing a full excel analysis (I’m a bit too scared!), but isn’t it amazing what you uncover! Online shopping is a huge temptation for me – it doesn’t even feel like I am spending money – more like someone just keeps sending me lots of lovely parcels!! I really think I am in denial!
All great ideas..i have to look at a budget..:(( One thing I do is buy our meat in bulk from the butcher eg a hindquarter cost roughly $9 a kg..that’s $9 a kg for tbones rump etc AND the butcher packs it up how I want I.e. 500gm mince/strips etc..for us it lasts about 3months & cost about $400 so saved us about $800 in cost of meat. We do add other stuff to the order but still saving significantly..
Wow that’s a huge savings! It’s fantastic to have a great butcher who looks after you – it can make a huge difference to the way you shop. Thanks Nikki!
Wow what great savings Nat! Some little $ savings tips I have implemented in our home of late were; checking out how competitive our insurance premiums were, in some instances we saved money but in a couple of the policies we switched simply to get better inclusions for our $. We quashed the take-away too, we are keeping it for bdays and special occasions only (like it was back in my childhood, where it was special), started shopping between the three stores Woolies, Coles and Aldi it takes a little longer but it saves you in the long run and if it means I can stay home longer with my little ones, then im all for it
Hey Danielle – great tips!!! Insurance is a fabulous one – it’s often so confusing that we just never do it but there is so much money to be saved by doing the homework.