7
ways to start
SAVING MONEY TODAY!
By Jo Violeta
S
aving money is a great habit although, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. I believe that saving money has received a bad rap, many people see it as boring, restrictive and too difficult. The truth is saving money can be relatively painless and the benefits far outweigh any perceived pain. Saving is fun and achievable if you have a strategy and are committed. When our youngest Marcus was born, we had to adjust from living on two incomes to one.
This provided a great opportunity for us to examine our money habits to find ways to stretch our dollar further and maximise our reduced income.
Here are our favourite, easy to implement strategies to help you get started with increasing your savings today:
1
Track spending Record everything that you spend money on for at least 3 days. This will help you understand where your money goes, and allow you to make adjustments.
2 Save loose change
Print out your bank account transaction records and spend 30 minutes going over them line by line. Look for subscriptions and direct debit payments that you may have forgotten about and/or no longer need. Cancelling unwanted subscriptions can save you heaps.
Deposit those saved coins into a high-interest savings account every month. If you were to save $2.50 a day in loose change for 12 months, making monthly deposits into a high-interest savings account, with compounding interest (at 5%) you could save approximately $1000 in a year.
44
Peninsula Kids – Winter 2017
Every day when you get home, empty coins from your pockets, wallet and handbag into a money box.