At the end of every year, I like to take a moment to reflect on the money-saving tips and tricks I implemented or attempted to adopt during the year in order to save money. For the last few years now I’ve compiled these into a blog post in the hope that they might be helpful to inspire your own saving goals in 2023.
You can check out my prior ones here…
17 Things I Did in 2017 to Save Money
19 Things I Did in 2019 to Save Money
I think it’s always helpful to think bigger picture when it comes to saving money. Often it’s implementing regular habits and behavioural changes that you repeat that end up saving you the most money rather than once-off attempts to save money.
Some of these tips may be things I did to save money in prior years and others might be completely new ones. The magic of these tips is the more you repeat these, the more you will save month after month, year after year!
So here they are without further adieu…
22 Things I Did In 2022 To Save Money
1. Set Up Google Flight Tracker Notifications
Now that 2020/2021 has been and gone, this year we wanted to make up for lost time and so, booked 3 seperate holidays. In order to try and save on those pricey flight prices I utilised Google Flight Tracker to try and get the best deals on flights.
If you are interested, simply google a flight I.e. Syd to Melb flights
Click the Flights tab
Enter your preference options and dates, and then toggle on the Track Prices tab. Google will then email you when there is a sale on your chosen dates.
You can also select the price graph and date grid to see the price history and select the cheapest dates to fly.
2. Used An Expense Tracker For Travelling to Ensure I Stayed In Budget
For my most recent overseas trip I utilised my own Travel Expense Tracker to track our budget to actual expenditure across different categories. This way I could see how much we were spending on a particular category and could be more mindful of spending on our trip. You can grab the same one I used here!
3. Paused Memberships
I love my Audible membership but can’t always get through a book a month, so whenever my book credits start to pile up, I’ll pause my membership temporarily and save the monthly fee until I am all caught up and can start using my credits to select some new books to listen to.
Likewise, with TV streaming I stick to having one or two at a time and swap them in and out as I need them. I find having around two more than enough to watch, especially when you add in Youtube content.
4. Only Bought Clothes When I Need to Replace Something
It’s a good thing that clothes shopping is no longer a hobby of mine, so it’s fairly easy for me to wait to replace clothing until I need something. But rewinding several years back this is where a huge chunk of my money would have gone.
I like to keep a list of clothing items I need in my Trello app so I can replace things as I need to and can easily find exactly what I need to replace. Now I focus on quality over quantity and let my clothes tell me when I need to update my wardrobe, rather than advertisements or shop windows.
5. Upgraded Our Appliances
This year my dishwasher and dryer after 11 plus years of loyal service both bowed out. After previously paying a service tech to attempt to save our prior washing machine, only to have to call him back to fix a remaining leak and then ending up having to replace the machine anyway, this time we just started a new and bought new appliances (with much research!).
We also decided to enter the year 2022 and updated our 11 year old 40″ TV to a 75″ one. I always prescribed to; if it works, why update it – but after achieving some of our huge financial goals the prior year we thought a new TV was a great way to celebrate our financial journey progress!
These updates certainly cost us money upfront but would have given us a slight energy efficiency increase (even if only a small one), saving us on our power bills. Unfortunately dryers even a decade later still seem to still have horrid energy efficiency ratings (but don’t worry it is not used too frequently!)
6. Decanted Products When Travelling
On prior trips, I’ve always ended up needing something I forgot to bring or didn’t have and had to resort to buying things I needed at my destination. More often than not I am irked at the price of things that seem to be so much more affordable at my local discount chemist or supermarket.
On my most recent trip, I tried to think ahead and bring those items along whether it be Panadol, eye drops, Dencorub, or makeup wipes to avoid having to keep buying things on my travels. Of course, you can rarely plan for everything that you need, but you can always try and limit what you end up having to buy whilst on holiday.
I used small travel containers to take only a small amount of what I needed to use to save on extra baggage and make sure they fit in my makeup travel bag and were convenient to travel around with.
Even with my best efforts, I still did need to go and buy a few items at my destination but at least for the most part, I had everything I needed. I am trying to make my life easier but adding these items to a pre-made travel packing list I can refer to before each trip I take. Easy!
7. Found More Fun Free Activities
With all the extra time we had at home in recent years (skipping over that part), we had to find more fun and free activities we could do at home.
We started online gaming and now enjoy playing some PC/Nintendo switch games in our free time. These may have a once-off cost involved to purchase a game (though sometimes PC games are free!) but they do in the long run save us paying for other entertainment. We can also play with friends and family so it has a social aspect as well 🙂
We now love listening to vinyl, look for local walks in our city to enjoy, and take advantage of star gazing on clear nights. All are completely free! We even invested in bikes, although we do need to make an effort to use those more!
When we venture out to see a movie we’ll try and use a gift card (yay for experience gifts!) and search for discounted movie tickets (if you are an NRMA member you get discounts at Event Cinemas or you might be able to get a discount via your health insurance, it is always worth a try!).
I extend these efforts to try and find as much free entertainment when travelling as possible as well; such as walks, gardens, lookout points, museums, and art galleries which often are free entry. There is so much to do when travelling that doesn’t cost anything. By taking advantage of nature and walking as much as we can it helps us save on entertainment when travelling.
8. Transferring Extra Cash To Savings
Each time I get paid, I check my pay amount and if it is slightly higher than normal (I.e. I got leave loading or a small bonus) I will transfer the extra straight into my savings account. This way I actually can utilise that extra cash for something important and spend it with intention rather than just letting it slip through my fingers.
9. I Stayed Out of Debt
Back in May 2017, we repaid the last of my husband’s student loans. That was our last consumer debt owed and we have now been consumer debt free for over 5 years! And I promise there were no regrets about becoming debt free. This has allowed us to fast-track paying off our mortgage as we only had one debt to focus our efforts on.
Even though my husband is back at University now doing his Master’s, we are cash-flowing his studies rather than taking on more student debt. By staying out of debt we can save much more money each year and continue to work on our next financial goal whatever that may be.
10. Found Quality Coffee at Home
My husband is a lover of coffee, I on the other hand don’t drink it so that at least helps hehe. But to try and save money on buying coffee out (and irking at the price to get a takeaway coffee – Sheesh!), which is now about $5.50 or more by the time you add in specialty milk, we were able to find a good quality ground coffee at our local Coles supermarket which my husband was more than happy with after much trial and error of other varieties.
Although this coffee does cost more than other brands at the supermarket, it is a lot cheaper than paying $5.50 a coffee, 7 days a week.
So a huge thanks to my hubby for hearing me on this one and keeping his takeaway coffees to only very occasionally. And a bonus, for tea lovers, supermarkets now even sell Bubble Milk Tea packs for under $10 which again at $8 odd a pop, is helping us save $.
The savings here are great, let’s say a $10 pack of coffee lasts you a week vs $5.50 x 7 days a week, we are already at a saving of $1482 a year (grabbed these rough estimates off my husband based on his consumption).
11. Planned Ahead for Gifts
Have you ever noticed, that when you shop last minute you end up paying more? And then you are stuck paying $8.99 for a card as you didn’t get to the cheap shop earlier and then you don’t have any wrapping paper or tape, so now you are forced to buy a $5 bag on top of finding a last-minute gift that is full price, even though you could have got it online cheaper if you just had more time.
I used to be a serial last-minute gift shopper, but over the years I have attempted to try and be more organised when it comes to buying gifts. My general rule is to try and prepare at least a month out when it comes to gift buying. For Christmas I like to start a bit earlier in October, and take advantage of the Black Friday sales come late November.
Whenever I am in a cheap shop I’ll have a quick think about what birthdays or events I have coming up and what cards I will need. This saves any last-minute expensive gift-related purchases. And gifts do certainly add up in your budget over the year!
12. Asked For a Raise
I’ve never been that confident at asking for raises but I found some awesome advice a few years ago so I got into the habit of tracking what I did above and beyond my job description. Every time I worked on an additional project I would keep a note of that somewhere so I could refer back to it.
When it came time to have our pay review discussions, I had my achievements in black and white to justify my case for a raise ready to go and could demonstrate my added value across the last 12 months.
This enabled me to get a slightly larger raise than had I not asked, so I highly encourage you to do the same and ask for what you deserve. Remember, no one cares about your income or budget as much as you do!
Every dollar is going to be an extra dollar to put toward your goals.
13. Maintained Good Tax Records to Maximise Refunds
Over the years I have set up a fairly easy to maintain tax filing system in Google Drive. It’s a great way to keep records for tax and ensure we can claim as many allowable tax deductions as we can.
When you spend money for your job and are entitled to a deduction for those amounts, you want to make sure you’re keeping track of those expenses as you go and saving yourself a paperwork headache come tax time!
And this could be some serious cash. If you earn over $45,000 per year in Australia, each dollar you can legitimately claim as a tax deduction can put 32.5 cents back into your pocket (As per ATO tax thresholds 2022-23)!
Disclaimer: Correct at the time of writing this but subject to change. This example is based on a 100% deduction for work purposes, with receipts and subject to tax assessment. Please note this is general advice only and should not be relied upon as personal tax advice. Please consult a tax professional for specific advice for your personal tax scenario.
14. I Used Up What I Had First
Before my minimalism journey, I would often bring new beauty, hair, and makeup products home to try, more often than not, just because they were on sale and I couldn’t resist.
Since identifying these unhelpful spending habits, I have made an effort to use up what I have first, and only replace things like foundation, or lotions when I am running out. This way I am conscious of what I already have at home and can avoid buying things I don’t need!
I keep a rule of only having 1-2 spare ready to go when the current item I am using runs out and so far this has gotten me by. If I am ever really that desperate I can usually get the item from the shop that same day.
15. Stocking Up On Sale Items
I used to avoid having too many items stocked up in my home, but with frequent stock shortages and the cost of living crisis we are facing, it now makes more sense to me to stock up on things I buy frequently when they are on sale to make sure that I have them when I need them and ideally on sale.
If things I will definitely use are on sale, I will now stock up a bit more than I used to.
I won’t buy a year’s supply but I will grab 1 or 2 extra to help save some $! Things I try to stock up on now are vitamins, hand soap, dishwashing liquid, dishwashing tablets, lotions, shampoo, conditioner etc.
16. Utilised 7/11 and NSW Fuel Check Apps
I am sure I don’t need to remind you about the increase in petrol prices at the moment, we are all feeling the cost of living increase this year. To help with this wallet pain, I regularly check the 7/11 and Fuel Check Apps to see what petrol prices are around my local area so I can stay aware of when petrol prices are going up or down and plan to fill up my car accordingly.
I am lucky to have a friend who is as vigilant as I am with fuel prices so between us we keep on the ball with when the best time to fill up is.
I’ve used the 7/11 fuel app to lock in petrol prices that are low and saved myself $20 on a tank countless times. It’s definitely worth the slight hassle for me. If you aren’t using a fuel app like the 7/11 ones or NSW Fuel check one, this is something that could really help you save some serious dollars!
17. Invested in Quality Shoes
A while ago, if you looked at my shoe collection you would have a common theme of budget shoes, all under $30 a pair – bargains! This past year I spent the most I have ever spent on a pair of shoes before ($240) and I will sing from the rooftops about it. When you hit mid-30s, you cannot put a price on a good pair of comfy shoes!
Although this is an example of me spending more money than before, and may not be a saving in that respect, technically I am saving money as I am buying one pair instead of many shoes, that are quality, will last me longer and I am certainly going to save money on massages for a sore back and feet!
And so I am counting it a savings win for me.
18. Used Bank Cards with no Fees or Reimbursements
My bank card refunds me all ATM fees and International fees and charges me no monthly fees, all of which can be expenses that add up quickly.
I extended those savings on my recent overseas trip where I managed to save myself around 3% of each transaction as international transaction fees were reimbursed to me as well as $5 overseas ATM withdrawal fees. It sure pays to look into your banking card options before you travel! Look at all these green refunds!
19. Cut and Died My Own Hair
I have been trimming and dying my own hair for years now, which came in particularly handy over recent times. To hit the salon with my locks, I would be forking out over $250 every six to eight weeks versus the $20 or less it costs me to DIY my hair at home.
If I dye my hair 9 times a year thats $20×9=$180 vs $2250 if I went to the salon each time.
I keep my hair the same colour so I am not worried about any colouring mishaps, but of course, if you want to do something more experimental please do see a good hairdresser and save yourself any unwanted heartache.
20. Dined Out Less
I am not sure about you guys, but after months of being stuck at home, I kind of got used to eating in the comfort of my own home, away from the noise and squishy, awkwardly placed tables.
We started to adopt the habit of eating out less a couple of years back to save money and have carried that into 2022.
Sure, I still love to dine out on occasion, but nowhere near the number of times I would have in prior years. We now prefer to save eating out for more special occasions.
By eating at home we can save much more money than eating out. We usually stick to buying only two mains, often make our own rice for Indian or Thai curries, and drink what we have in the fridge to save even more.
So to add in some dollar values:
- At home, we can pay $1.77 for a bottle of Coke No Sugar vs paying $8 (or more) for two glasses in a restaurant. Again, repeat that once a week, and hello savings! Estimated savings: $323 a year.
- If we skip ordering rice and make our own at home we pay 50c vs $5.00. Again, $4.50 saved once a week is $234.
- I even asked for some alcohol for Xmas last year for a mini cocktail bar so I could make myself some of my favourite cocktails at home, saving a whopping $18 a pop. Say $18 twice a month I am saving $432.
Of course, it isn’t all sacrifice! These small adjustments have made our “Outings” budget stretch a bit further so we can enjoy ourselves when we do go out.
21. Found a High-Interest Bank Account
It’s always good practice to look around for the best high-interest savings accounts. When I did this earlier this year, I found a new bank account my current bank was offering that was paying a much higher rate of interest than I was currently getting. So after a quick change, we were able to earn a lot more in interest than we had been.
If you have just $5000 in a savings account earning 3% the interest alone might cover one of your subscription costs per month and I think that’s a win 🙂
22. Learned For Free
There is so much free knowledge available out there whether it be books, online courses, documentaries, Youtube videos, podcasts – you name it. This year I did my best to take advantage of as much free educational content as I could.
Not to say that I didn’t spend any money on my own personal growth this year, as I did, and I think that is always a worthy investment, but I did take advantage of as much available information as I could.
Don’t forget to sign up to the Minimise With Me Mailing list for your free eBook ‘101 Ways to Save Money, Whilst Still Living Awesomely’!
Of course, this is all in unison with everything I have done over the prior years, don’t forget to check out my prior posts 17 Things I Did in 2017 to Save Money and 19 Things I Did in 2019 To Save Money
If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂
Question: Which of the above suggestions are you hoping to implement in 2023 to save money? Let me know in the comments 🙂
Photo by Eyestetix Studio on Unsplash
