10 money pro tips you need to try

• Pay your own way

We’ve all been in the awkward position where someone suggests you divide the dinner bill evenly and you only ordered a salad, but they’ve had a main, dessert and two cocktails. Being assertive and making sure you pay your own way will ensure that you don’t overspend.

Sometimes paying your own way can get a little tricky, particularly if you’re share housing or are a generous friend and family member. An expense sharing or tracking app such as Splitwise takes the trouble out of sharing expenses and splitting your bills. The app stores all expenses and IOU’s in one place and provides “fairness calculators” that gives users mediation advice about money fairness issues.

• Wait 72 hours before buying anything

This advice can be applied to any non-essential purchase but would be most effective to keep an online shopping habit under control.  Before you press that check out button, give yourself three days to think it over and decide whether you really need to spend money.

• Shop around for your home loan

Just because you’ve been with the same bank since you were a kid doesn’t mean you must take out your home loan with them. Comparing various home loan products based on your individual needs could see you saving thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your loan by ensuring you pick one that is right for you. 

• Investment apps

While it may seem counterproductive to spend your money to save it, investment apps are just another exciting way to invest your spare change instead of a traditional piggy bank.

Acorns is a popular investing app in Australia that does just that. Whatever small amount you spend, Acorns will round up that purchase to the nearest dollar and invest the difference. For example, if you spent $12.50 on lunch, Acorns will take 50c and store it in your portfolio for investment.

• Use cash!

This one is pretty simple; if you have to watch your money physically leave your wallet, you’ll feel less inclined to spend it.

• Zero spend day

Try to dedicate one day a week or fortnight to zero spending – and stick to it! Maybe you want to have a lazy Sunday? Or maybe you’ve done all your grocery shopping on a Thursday night and made it so you don’t need to buy lunch on Fridays? Whichever way you implement them, zero spending days will help you force yourself to save.

• Credit card rewards programs

If you’re more of a tap-and-go than cash-in-hand spender, why not pick out a credit card that rewards you for using it to make everyday transactions. Some credit card rewards programs offer up to three points per dollar spent, or bonus points for shopping at certain stores or spending a certain amount of money. These types of cards generally charge higher interest rates and fees than standard credit cards, so it’s best that you pay your debt each month to prevent the interest costs outweighing the benefits of the rewards offers.

• Complete other people’s tasks

If you haven’t heard of Airtasker, it’s a website that allows people and businesses to outsource their tasks. A user will describe the task they need completed (cleaning, mowing their lawn, editing the grammar in their essay, updating their website etc.) and you can help these users to complete these jobs to earn money. You could earn up to $5,000 per month just by completing tasks.

• Transfer your credit card balance

Are you paying one or even multiple credit card debts? Is the interest hurting your ability to save? Credit card holders who transfer their balance to a new card could save an average of $1,262 in interest and fees and pay their debt off 6 months earlier.

• Be smart with your food

Our relationship with food is often criticised as wasteful. Food Wise believes that Australians discard up to 20 per cent of the food they purchase, which equates to 1 out of 5 bags of groceries they buy. Overall, the average Australian household throws away $1,036 worth of food every year, totalling around $8 billion dollars. To help curb this problem, try to use some recipes that help you clean out your fridge. Website such as Supercook allow you to input your ingredients and instantly find matching recipes from popular cooking sites.

Further, RateCity recently calculated that packing your own lunch every day amounts to a saving of around $1,400 every year. if you were to put these savings away, you would have an additional $42,000 after 30 years.

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