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How to Say Goodbye to Financial Anxiety with Sinking Funds

Posted on June 11, 2018

Leave bill shock in the past with Sinking Funds

It’s that time of the year again, you open the mail (or email ;)) to see a bill for your car registration or insurance renewal staring you in the face. It’s due in three weeks time. What do you do now? Panic? Just chuck it on the credit card? After all, you’ll pay it off gradually over the next year, right? Uh sure… but what about the last three bills you put on that same credit card that you still need to pay off?

That, my friend, is what we call a band-aid solution to your finances and is a surefire way to end up with mounting credit card debt. It’s a quick fix that will only cause you endless stress and anxiety, and throw you into a panic every time you get a new bill. It could be a nightmare for future you. And we don’t want to screw over future you! We want a happy, debt free future you that has the flexibility to travel and go out, and cut back hours at work, doesn’t that sound great?! It sure does to me! So how about instead of continuing down the same old path of panicking every time your car breaks down or you get a new bill in the mail I explain How to Say Goodbye to Financial Anxiety with Sinking Funds.

I was faced with a similar bill shock situation back when I was 21 that changed my approach to finances from that day forward and forced me to think about my financial future.

I had just walked down the driveway to my letter box to check the mail. I saw a letter addressed to me and quickly opened it. To my shock it was a $1200 bill for my car registration and Greenslip renewal. Frick. I had completely forgotten my registration was due. That bill that comes at the same time, every.single.year. I’d only had two of these bills before but hey, it was enough for me to know better. I couldn’t believe that it had completely slipped my mind.

Thankfully at the time I had just enough saved up in my bank account and managed to pay both bills with a little left over to cover the car inspection. However, I now had only $25 to my name to last me until pay day. It wasn’t the end of the world by any means, I still lived at home and would get paid again in a week, but it did mean the small financial safety net (what I’d later learn to be called an Emergency Fund) I had built up for myself was now gone in a split second. I now had no money for petrol, food or anything else for the next week until pay day.

My stress wasn’t over yet. I crossed my fingers hoping the car would pass the inspection as I sat in the waiting area of the mechanics. I knew I didn’t have any more money for any other repairs so needed good news! I held my breath as the mechanic walked over to me to tell me the outcome of the inspection. He told me everything was fine, but he couldn’t pass me. I needed new wiper blades that were going to be an additional $40. Again, not the end of the world by any means, but I didn’t have enough. Had my car needed $1000 worth of repairs I would have been in disaster town. I told him I was down to my last $25 and pleaded for him to pass me, assuring him I’d come back the next day to get them done hoping Mum would spot me some cash, which of course she did, and I went back the next day to get them repaired.

This event was a small financial blip in my adult life but taught me a valuable lesson that changed my financial future. I never wanted to feel that financially insecure again and committed from that moment I would always plan ahead. It was a small moment in my life but made a huge impact.

Have you ever been surprised by a bill or not had the money to pay one? You’re certainly not alone. It doesn’t have to continue to be the norm. The answer to avoiding bill shock is simple and one that you can implement in a matter or minutes. We are going to prepare ahead of time. We know the bills are coming every year or quarter, so why don’t we utilise the time we have to save up in advance and plan ahead for those bills? We can! And this post is going to teach you how to do just that that using a simple budgeting system called Sinking Funds.

Don’t let that term scare you into thinking it will be too much work, or something only finance nerds can manage. It’s going to be easier then you think and I promise, like my financial defining moment, and with a little bit of effort you can say goodbye to financial anxiety too.

The awesome news is you will only have to set up your Sinking Funds once and spend a few minutes a year updating them. The even better news is that once you implement your Sinking Funds you will never have to worry about bill stress again. Yay! Let’s get into it!

Accepting the Reality of Bills

The best thing we can all do for our finances is accept that bills are part of life – the essential ones: water, electricity, health insurance, car insurance, they’ll always be there. Sure there are other, more fun things we could spend our money on but let’s be honest – isn’t having essentials like safe tyres for our car or heating for our homes in winter worth it? Instead of dreading those bills, let’s use our Sinking Funds to prepare ahead of time so they aren’t such a drain on your wallet.

What is a Sinking Fund?

A Sinking Fund is a fancy term for saving up for a future bills such as, your car insurance or your next holiday. Instead of dealing with them as they arrive and trying to cover the cost of your bill out of one or two pay cheques, you can plan ahead for your regular bills and spread the costs over 52 weeks or 12 months of the year. You can set up Sinking Funds for anything you like: Christmas and other gifts; Car insurance; clothing; an annual holiday or to save up for your next quarterly utility bill.

Sinking Funds are similar to a regular savings account but rather than adding to your savings, they are working backwards from the budget expense totals and saving up a portion of that over time. Essentially, you only put away what you need to cover your bills in your sinking fund, whereas with a savings goal your intent would be to grow that savings balance over time above and beyond your expenses.

Why Do I Need Sinking Funds?

Here are some of the benefits of a sinking fund to help you understand their usefulness in your budget:

A sinking fund is a way to plan ahead and estimate bills that are due early on, rather then waiting for the bill and eating two minute noodles for the next month;
They will help you avoid paying bills on the credit card and wracking up large credit card debt at high interest rates;
They give you piece of mind that if a bills arrives you will have the funds to pay for it. This will reduce budget stress and anxiety;
They help take the guess work out of budgeting. Once you know your bills are accounted for you know what you have left over that is allowed to be spent rather then spending all your pay check, when in reality some of it should have been put aside;
You can use them to save up for events like Christmas or vacations to reward your family and make sure there is money put aside to enjoy yourself.

How to Set Up Your Sinking Funds

Here are some simple steps to get you started with your sinking fund:

Step 1: Write a list of all your bills and anything else you want to add (such as a fund for Christmas) during the year. An example has been provided below for you.

Step 2: Write next to the bill a reasonable estimate of each bill or expense for the year. Take note of the bill frequency. If for example, you have a bill paid quarterly, you will need to multiply it by 4 to get the yearly total.

Step 3: Add up the bill totals for the year, write that down and divide that amount by 52 weeks or 12 months depending on your budgeting preference or pay cycle to get your weekly or monthly sinking fund total. This is the amount you will need to put away to cover these costs each period.

Refer to the below table for some category examples.

In this example there are 8 Sinking Fund Categories totaling $15,000 for the year which would require $1,250 a month or $288.46 a week to be set aside to cover the bills as they fall due. In the next step we’ll get your accounts set up.

Setting Up Your Bank Accounts

When setting up your sinking fund accounts there are three options:

Option 1: Keeping all the sinking fund categories in one ‘bills account’ that is exclusively for your sinking fund total

– Pros:

Only requires one ongoing monthly transfer to be set up to one account
Monitoring is easier as you can check your balance by logging into one account only
Can be easily tracked using the Minimise With Me Sinking Fund Worksheet

– Cons:

Having one bank account with all sinking funds in it means that you won’t know the balance of each individual sinking fund unless you track it in a worksheet or in a workbook

Option 2: Setting up multiple bank accounts for each individual category:

– Pros:

you can name each bank account according to your category e.g. Christmas, holiday, car expenses and see at a glance what you have in your account for each sinking fund. No need to calculate your balance as it will be the account balance.

– Cons:

Not all banks let you have such a high number of accounts so you may need to open accounts at multiple banks and have multiple log ins
This option requires a transfer to be set up to each account so takes a little more work to set up initially, but less ongoing work as you can see the balance at a glance.

Option 3: Cash Envelopes

This third option is for those who prefer to work with cash in their budgets. Simply grab a few envelopes and write on each one what expense category it relates to.

– Pros:

Great for people who prefer cash and seeing their money or those who want avoid budgeting worksheets

– Cons:

Putting away $250 or so into a cash envelope you leave lying around at home or in your handbag can be a security risk. This method is best left for the smaller, more frequent bills to limit how much cash you have in your home. Of course you can mix and match with the bank account option and cash envelopes.

Once you have decided on one of the above two bank account set ups or cash envelopes you can open the necessary bank accounts you need.

These accounts should ideally be fee-free accounts. Shop around for your bank account/s to ensure you aren’t paying fees you don’t have to.

Once they are set up, ensure that you use them exclusively for your sinking fund. Do not go and withdraw money for anything that is not included in your sinking fund or you will leave yourself short when they are due.

Take the Work Out of Saving and Automate

Now that your accounts are set up you will need to set up your automatic savings transfers. You need to schedule a regular transfer from your regular transaction account where your pay/s is deposited to your sinking fund account/s for the relevant totals you have listed. Set it to come out the same day every week or month and for the same amount until you cancel it or revise it. Set it for the day after your pay day every week or month. That way the money comes out the day after you are paid, before you can accidentally spend it.

Once these automated transfers are set up you will only need to review them every so often. A quick glance every quarter and adjustment at the end of the year to account for any increases or changes would be ideal.

If you have an irregular income, but are sure that your earnings will cover the total of your transfer each pay period you can go ahead and set it up as an automatic transfer as well. But please note, if your pay is extremely erratic you may want to opt to do this manually instead so your automated payments don’t bounce. A simpler method is just to budget off the minimum you earn so you know you will always have enough coming into the account and save yourself from the manual work. Automated finances are much more convenient.

Build a Buffer

When you first start your fund you are going to be a bit short for some of your sinking fund categories. If for example, you are starting your sinking fund in January and have an annual bill due in March, you are not going to have 12 months to save up for that bill so you will either need to save more for those three months to cover that bill amount e.g. The bill divided by three months or you can start off your sinking fund with a bit of a buffer. A $1000-$2000 Sinking Fund buffer should cover you for any bills you are short for in the first 12 months until you can build up your payments to cover each bill as it is due.

A good tip to get this buffer built up quick is to walk around your house and grab anything you no longer want or use and list it online to sell and get some quick cash that you can pad out your sinking fund account/s with.

Keeping Track of Your Sinking Funds

If you you didn’t opt to have separate accounts for each sinking fund goal and want to keep track of your Sinking Funds in the one account, you can do so by using the Sinking Fund Worksheet which will help you plan out your sinking fund goals, monthly deposits and withdrawals and keep track of each individual sinking fund balance within the one account. It comes with some pre-filled categories to get you started and has plenty of space for you to add your own to suit your lifestyle and budget needs. Simply update the worksheet each month and reconcile it to your Sinking Fund account balance. And that’s it, you now know what your Sinking Fund balances are at any given moment!

If you are finding that you are relying on credit cards or overdrafts to pay your bills, or are in arrears, give the Sinking Fund budgeting method a go and in time your bill woes will be a thing of the past!

This week’s question: Do you use sinking funds in your budget? What happened that made you realise that you needed them? Please share your experience in the comments below 🙂

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 🙂

[Photos: J Kelly Brito & Raw Pixel]

Budgeting

How to Change Your Spendaholic Ways and Be More Intentional With Your Money

Posted on May 17, 2018

Do you want to change your spendaholic ways? Take the Spending Questionaire and find out how intentional a spender you are.

Have you ever found yourself browsing the mall out of boredom and walking out with more bags than you can carry? You get home and soon cringe at the pile of stuff thrown across your bed. You hang everything up in your wardrobe or fold it neatly in your drawers with the best intentions, not realising that you might not ever wear any of it.

Maybe you just love a good sale and can’t resist a buy one get one free offer. You walk out with two pairs of whatever you just bought thinking to yourself how great a deal it was even if though you know you didn’t need either of them.

You reach for your credit card, and with a quick tap, you’ve bought a new lipstick to add to the 20 others you have at home in your bathroom drawers.

Your once new car is now seven years old and you might have finally paid it off. You have a spare $300 a month freed up to do whatever you want with it… Maybe you’ll save it up for a rainy day fund or put it towards that holiday you’ve been wanting to take the family on. But some of you will quickly go out and buy another new car with a new repayment to go with it. After all, you’ve grown used to having a car payment so what’s the difference right?

If you can relate to any of the above occasions these could indicate that you may be spending your money without intention.

Of course, when we are bombarded with advertisements wherever we look, it can be hard to recognise problem spending patterns until you stop and consider your spending habits and their impact on your finances and maybe even those close to you.

If you appreciate a new handbag or new camera lens, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We all work hard and deserve something we love or enjoy every now and then – of course, as long as we can afford it. That is, we can pay for it in cash or at least pay off the credit card in full when the payment is due.

But that’s usually not the case.

We can all so easily pull out our credit cards to get that must-have new item today rather than waiting until we save up for it. We justify our spending because we can afford the repayments, but this might not always be the case. Our unintentional spending can overtime blow up into much bigger financial problems.

A new subscription or pair of shoes here and there is manageable, but when spending becomes a regular, impulsive, and unintentional habit we can find ourselves in a financial situation that can be very difficult to get out of.

Take the Minimise With Me Spending Questionaire to see if you might need to get more intentional with your spending habits.

take the spending questionnaire

Some tell tale signs you could be a spendaholic

These are some signs that you may need to adjust your spending habits and curb your spendaholic behaviour:

you earn good money but have nothing to show for it
you often find yourself at the mall or shopping online in your spare time or to alleviate boredom
you list shopping as a main hobby of yours
you shop socially, with your friends regularly
you have mounting credit card debt
you don’t remember what your credit card debt was for
you’re running out of space in your home, potentially looking into additional storage or upsizing your home
you often find yourself buying things on sale just because it was cheap but have no idea where you will store it or if you even need it
you feel guilt after a big shopping spree
you hide what you are buying from your loved ones
your spending causes arguments with your spouse, children or other loved ones.

If the above examples sound like you it may be time to reassess your shopping habits and curb your excess spending. It’s important to acknowledge that it’s not just yourself that you are harming. You may not realise it, but your shopping or spending addiction could be harming those around you such as:

causing a partner or family stress via clutter or increasing debt. Maybe your children are aware of your lack of financial self-discipline and they spend their days worrying about your quality of life in retirement or your parents worry about your ability to pay your day to day bills when you move out of home.
depriving yourself and loved ones of things that add value like experiences and a family vacation when all your money goes on stuff and to ever increasing debt repayments. Or even depriving them of the basic necessities like power because you couldn’t pay the bill.
finding it harder to make ends meet because you’re outspending your earnings and in turn having to work more and more to keep up.
setting your children up with the expectation of a life of instant gratification and the financial woes and unhappiness that come with that.
hurting yourself in terms of looking for fulfillment in your shopping trips rather than in more meaningful pursuits like following your passions, personal growth and achievement and strengthening your close relationships.

Change Your Spendaholic Ways

If you identify with any of the above scenarios and feel that you could minimise your spending and be a more mindful spender, here are 10 Ways to Change Your Spendaholic Ways and Be More Intentional With Your Money.

1. Shop with a grocery list and meal plan
One of the biggest budget leaks and opportunities to change your spendaholic ways can be your grocery budget. It can easily add up to $500 or more a month and we all love our food! Instead of feeling guilty again at all the random stuff you threw into your trolley, go prepared. Writing your shopping list and meal plan before you have even stepped foot in the store is a great way to cut down on impulse buys and go over your shopping budget. Make a game of it and set yourself a challenge to try and stay under a certain weekly dollar amount with your grocery shop each week. And don’t be afraid to try the discounted home brand ranges. They can often be as good as the regular brands and save you lots week to week.

2. Avoid the shops
Create new habits and stop shopping every time you think you want or need something. You’re not going to stop breathing if you don’t have what you want right now. Slowly build up a list of items that you need or want and give yourself time to truly consider if you really do want those items before you hit buy. You might find the next morning or week you have completely forgotten what you even had in your cart.

Only go to the shop once to get those items. You’ll be so busy getting everything off your list that you won’t have time to spend browsing the aisles. Eventually, you will develop a habit of running in, grabbing your list and running out. Once you see how much time and money it will save you. you’ll change your spendaholic ways in no time!

3. Try a no-spend challenge
A great way to reprogram old spending habits is to take on a no spend month challenge. Make a list of any approved purchases for the month ahead and commit to only buying those or consumables and food. Anything else you want will have to wait a few weeks. Do it with a friend for moral support. Make it a little more fun by seeing who can spend the least amount of money that month.

4. Pause and research before you buy
Have you ever bought something in a rush only to realise that it was cheaper somewhere else? Or regretting that you even bought it because you knew you didn’t really need it? In order to change your spendaholic ways you need to recognise when you are buying on impulse and put the brakes on.

Think of how much you could save over the next year if you just waited 24 hours before making each purchase. If that’s too much of an ask, take a walk or go and have some lunch. If you really want that item you will make the effort to go back to the store. It’s a small barrier to your impulse buying for something you probably don’t need.

Before you hit the Buy it Now button take a day to think over what you are buying and give yourself time to consider if that item is the best fit for you. Don’t forget to do your research and look into product reviews to make sure it is a quality product and ask these 7 questions to make sure you are making an informed decision before you part with your hard-earned cash.

5. Find a new hobby
Too often we can find ourselves shopping as a form of entertainment. We go out with our best friends looking for a new outfit and shoes to match, it’s what we’ve always done. Or we wind up at the shops on our lunch breaks spending money as we have nothing better to do. If you are heading to the shops looking for entertainment or freedom from boredom it’s probably time you got yourself a new hobby.

Think of all the things you could be doing with that time and money. Instead of spending all your money at the mall find your passion. It might even be something that costs money but will at least be something you are spending intentionally on. Try reading more, catching up with friends in the outdoors, learn to sew, or sign up for a new class. Fill your time with things that add value to you like exercise, volunteering, or learning. There are many things you could be doing that are more fun than being locked away in some change room for the day.

6. Learn to value yourself and experiences over things
So many of us have been stuck in a mindset where we derive our self-worth from what we own or wear. The brands on our shirts, the luxury car, and McMansion we live in are now deemed so necessary that we will go into tens of thousands of debt or more in order to have them to show off to others and fit in.

We could all stand to worry less about what people think of the car we drive or how much our handbag costs and focus on what really matters. When we derive our value from the things that truly matter – our relationships, passions, growth, and experiences, not just what we can buy, we can break the cycle of keeping up with the Jones and change our spendaholic ways. In turn, we can learn to be more mindful of what we are buying and redirect our money towards things that truly add value to us such as a class we enjoy or saving up for a trip on our bucket list.

7. Adopt a minimalist lifestyle
Minimalism is the pursuit of what is meaningful and removing what is not. It is a tool that can help you identify what truly makes you happy, which may be less than you think. I’ve personally sold, donated, and recycled 70% of our possessions over the past two years and this has shown us how little we need to be happy. Two years later and I am still finding things we can do without. By truly asking yourself what adds value to your life you can eliminate wasteful spending and better utilise your time and money on what is important to you.

Maybe you don’t need an overflowing wardrobe to feel stylish and put together and a smaller capsule wardrobe would be enough. Maybe you don’t need every single book you see in the bookstore with an interesting plot and instead, you can order it on your eReader when you have the time to read it. Minimalism can help you focus on the essential and eliminate the excess without depriving you of what you enjoy or need.

8. Identify one problem expense area in your life and start cutting it
Small changes can go a long way. Rather than trying to cut all expenditure at once, ask yourself what your biggest problem spending area is? The one that makes you feel the most guilt every time you blow your savings on it. Once you have identified that one area, work on reducing your expenditure. Don’t worry about the others for now, you’ll get to those in time, for now, we are just tackling the big fish.

Set yourself a new budget for that cost whether it’s coffee, clothing, weekend drinks, books, or whatever your vice is, and try and stick to your budget. It might be difficult for the first and second month but after a while, you will start to form new spending habits, and spending less on that area will feel less difficult. Once you have developed the habit of sticking to your budget set a new one for your next problem area and work on that. Over time you will gradually change your shopaholic ways and adapt to your new budget goals.

9. Limit your exposure to ads
If there’s anything that unravels your attempts to change your spendaholic ways it’s the constant subjection of advertising. Whether it’s on the radio, TV, YouTube, in your favourite magazines or online there are thousands of new products trying to nab your wallet contents. Within 15 seconds you are considering buying something you didn’t even know you needed. To reduce the chances of you stumbling upon something you probably don’t need, try and reduce exposure to as many advertisements as you can. Of course, it’s not easy to do as we are bombarded with these everywhere we turn but there are some helpful tips to reduce what you do see:

swap out cable and free to air TV for a subscription like Netflix that doesn’t have advertising
Unsubscribe from email newsletters that will tempt you with their sales updates and latest products
Stay out of the malls – if you can’t see a sale sign you won’t know it’s on
Limit reading of magazines that contain hundreds of advertisements and reach for a book or blog instead

10. Consider the opportunity cost
Every time we buy something we are using a resource, our money, that could be utilised elsewhere. Consider the opportunity cost if you really wanted to buy a new car. You could buy it for $30k or you could instead, buy one for $10k and invest the $20k. In 30 years that car will be long gone but had you invested the money at age 30 until age 60, at an 8% growth rate without adding a single dollar that money would now be worth $218k. Which one do you think future you would pick?

Maybe buying more stuff means you have to work longer hours in order to earn more money to keep up with your spending. The opportunity cost here is the lost time you have when you have to work more to bring in more money to cover those extra debt repayments or spending habits. When we spend money we lose out on time or future growth opportunities.

If you want to change your spendaholic ways consider when making those bigger purchases in particular, if that really is the best use of your money. If it is something that will really add value to your life and bring you joy then it’s okay to go ahead with the purchase if you can afford it, but if it’s something that won’t really make a lasting benefit to you think again before you hand your card over.

Want more help?

For extra resources to see if you might need to reevaluate your spending habits Take my Spending Questionaire, a list of 30 Questions to help you know if you are Spending Intentionally or have room for improvement.

You may also like to check out 17 Ways to Reduce Mindless Consumption in Your Life for some additional tips on how to minimise any excessive spending and spend your money more intentionally.

This week’s comment question: What have you found has been the most helpful way to Reduce Your Spendaholic Ways and allowed You to Spend Your Money More Intentionally. Share your tips and what you have found worked for you in the comments below 🙂

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 🙂

[Photo: Tristan Colangelo, Unsplash.com]

[Photo: Robin-Spielmann, Unsplash.com]

Budgeting

How to Communicate With Your Partner About Finances

Posted on February 20, 2018

**This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase of a product from the links in this post I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This allows me to keep my blog advertisement free and support the running costs of my blog. I only recommend products I believe will add value to others and that I love myself.**

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the financial stresses in your relationship and struggled to effectively communicate with your partner about budgeting and finances? *Raises hand*. Financial discussions with your loved one can cause stress and anxiety, but if left unresolved can cause more serious financial woes and long term unhappiness in your relationship.

Maybe you are the one who carries the bulk of the financial stress on your shoulders because you feel your partner has enough to worry about? Perhaps your partner doesn’t want to hear about financial issues or they don’t even know there are issues as they assumed you have everything under control? By being open an honest with each other you can remove the guesswork out of your financial security and get the reality of your finances out in the open so you can both start working together on a plan of attack.

Money can be one of the biggest make or break things in a relationship. Relationships Australia 2015 survey found that 7 out of 10 couple report relationship tension as a result of financial woes and stress. Finances are not something that should be pushed under the rug or left alone to cause endless stress in your relationship. Ignoring them will not make the bills disappear but make them harder to deal with when the time comes to pay them… and it will come.

Even though at first, it may be a difficult and awkward subject to discuss in the beginning, you will have more of a chance to achieve your financial goals when you are both on the same page working as a team. Don’t struggle alone when you can both be working together tackling your debts and achieving your savings goals head on. Just like having a gym buddy to hold you accountable for going to the gym and finishing a set, having your partner on your team will help keep you accountable to your financial goals.

Even if you aren’t married and have separate finances that doesn’t mean that you can’t both be on the same page when it comes to money and will certainly give you a head start if you relationship does progress to something more down the line.

Here are they are: 9 Tips On How You Can Communicate With Your Partner About Finances.

How to Communicate With Your Partner About Finances

1. Set a time to meet and discuss finances
Avoid leaving financial discussions with your partner to what you can yell over the TV ad or what discussion you can get in before you are interrupted by the kids. The best way to communicate with your partner about finances is to plan some time to get together and talk about your future goals and current finances in a quiet place so you can both focus and not be under other pressures or distractions. It can be be a over a home cooked meal when the kids are out for the night or morning (if you have kids) or out on a date night over dinner, it doesn’t matter just find a spare hour somewhere in your schedule to chat about your finances.

Don’t forget to let your partner know in advance that the purpose of meeting is to discuss about finances so they aren’t blind sided. After the first one, make it a regular gig. Set a monthly reminder to sit down for half an hour to talk about your budget each month and how you are progressing towards your goals.

2. Approach the conversation from an understanding and non-judgmental zone
When you try to open a dialogue and communicate with your partner about finances, don’t assume the worst or treat the meeting as an opportunity to bring up every unacceptable expense (in your eyes) that you have been bothered by in the past. You may find that your partner actually agrees with you on getting your finances in better shape and completely acknowledges what your financial problems are. They might have even been thinking the same thing and weren’t sure how they were going to bring it up with you!

Sometimes they are even aware of their own spending problems but don’t know how to change their spending habits and need a plan and your support in order to help keep them on track. Approach any conversations calmly and with the intention to work as a team, not go on the attack and lay blame on your partner. Acknowledge that you might even have your own over-spending areas that you need to work on and be honest about these to your partner. Leave the mistakes in the past, and focus on what changes you can make in the future to reach your financial goals.

3. Know your why
Get on the same page with your goals. Budgeting isn’t meant to be about torturing yourselves indefinitely and saying no to anything and everything that is non-essential expenditure. It is about making your goals and dreams come to life. How far away that is will depend on your current state of finances. If you are swimming in credit card debt and other loans with little in the savings account it may take a while for you to see that you are making progress on your debts but you will get there with a little bit of determination. And there is nothing more motivating that having future plans written down and at the forefront of your mind. These goals are what are going to keep you on track during those times when you want to quit.

Write down your joint future goals:-

Do you want to go on a family holiday next year?
Be debt free so you or your partner can cut back hours at work or for you to spend more time with the kids?
Are you wanting to stop living week to week?
Or remove the anxiety you feel about your finances and get an emergency fund built up?If you are both on the same page you will have more motivation to stick to your financial plan for the long haul. Put your goals somewhere where you can see them such as a Financial Vision Board or on the fridge so they are there to remind you of why you are doing this.

4. Acknowledge the finance problem areas
Now that you’ve got your financial goals written down and you’re excited to take the next step in your financial freedom journey, it’s time to acknowledge the problem areas. If you are hiding debt, bills or anything from your partner, now is the time to come clean. A genuinely honest relationship includes being open an honest about any debts that you may have or spending habits that you know are not helping you achieve your financial goals. If there are any pressing financial issues bring them up and be ready to hear them. Take a deep breath and appreciate that your partner is being honest with you and starting to communicate.

Acknowledge that your budget issues are not going to be something that you can fix in a night or a week, or possibly even a year. This is going to be a long-term process that will take time to work at. Be patient with each other as you slowly replace your less-than-ideal spending habits with more intentional ones.

A good place to start is reigning in the expenditure that won’t hurt so much. Cancel unwanted gym memberships or subscriptions to services that you are no longer using, make more of a conscious effort to save electricity where possible, renegotiate your mortgage to a lower rate and commit to only shopping once a week to reduce the amount of times you are stocking up on groceries. None of these measures leaves you feeling any extreme budget pain but the savings will give you a super helpful boost to paying off those debts and speeding up the debt repayment process.

As you progress in your financial journey you can move on to tackling those not so easy spending problem areas. Consider how you can reduce any excessive spending on areas such as:

Overspending on clothing, shoes, accessories
Regular costly dinner outings
Car repayments that you cannot afford
Spending on hobbies that is costing large sums of money
Buying coffee multiple times a day, every day

Don’t try to tackle the problem expenditure all at once. Pick one and go from there. Maybe this month instead of buying coffee each day you could bring your own from home or make one at work. Next month you can limit your expensive dinners to once or twice a week and cook at home more. The following month you could adopt shopping at thrift stores instead of buying everything brand new. These small changes may seem unimpressive on their own, but when you add all those savings together it can really add up! Over time you will build your budgeting muscles and find new ways to save.

5. Plan your budget
Your budget needs to be something your partner and you both agree on. Think of it like taking on a new commitment, you both have to sign on the dotted line. By leaving your partner in the dark about finances they may think things are rosier than they are and that is not going to work now that you are a team! With the numbers in black and white you can both be on the same page and work together to dodge any budget pressures that come up.

Don’t misconstrue that being on a budget will suck the joy out of life. It is a tool to make your life easier, with the end goal being what you want it to be! More time, regular holidays or an emergency fund, whatever your financial goals are. Be sure to allow individual and joint fun money in the budget (we’ll go into that below) to ensure your budget is realistic and that you will not set unrealistic expectations and fail before you start.

Over time you will get better at finding frugal ways to have fun such as going for a long walk or bike ride together, inviting your family over for breakfast, going to the beach or inviting friends over for a night of board games. If you think you can’t have fun without spending money you have tried hard enough 🙂

To help you get started, you can download my Budget Worksheet here. Don’t forget to include those often missed budget expenses like your Spotify and Netflix membership, house repairs or beauty treatments!

6. Set an allowance for you and your partner.
This is a great tool and bound to save you lots of arguments over spending by yourself and your partner that you both probably will never agree on (I am a non-coffee drinker, the hub loves his daily coffee, I’ve come to terms with it ‘;)). We are all individuals, with our own interests, hobbies and wants, use this allowance avoid explaining to your partner every purchasing decision you make.>

Having $0 for ‘free spending’ to do as you wish is not going to work, nor is questioning every dollar your partner spends. Set an allowance based on what your budget will allow. It could be $50 or $100 a week to spend each, whatever you both agree on and stick to it. This gives you and your partner the autonomy to spend it as you see fit. If you have kids you can add in a small allowance for them, it will be a great start to teach them about budgeting and saving!

It also takes some of the guesswork out of budgeting and makes it easier to stick to your goal. Withdraw your weekly allowance in cash or keep it in a separate account for each of you so it is easy to keep track of. Simply check your wallet or bank balance and you will know what is left. Great for those who aren’t that great at keeping track of their spendings or remembering to enter them into an app or notebook. Of course if you don’t spend it all you can save it up to buy something you really want down the line!

At the same time set up a joint spending account and allowance so you have some money each week to go out on a date night or day, or to catch up with friends. After a while you will get into the routine of what you can and can’t afford and sticking to your budget will become less of a struggle.

What about expensive hobbies?
If you or your partner have some big spending categories, this might also be a good time to set other budget allowances for those expenses to keep them in check. If you love shopping for new outfits, maybe you can set yourself an annual allowance on what you are allowed to spend on clothing. This can work for any expense; concerts, hobbies, beauty, new tools etc. This gives you the permission to spend guilt free on those items when they are in budget and helps to keep you conscious of when you are overspending on those categories.

7. Be considerate and honest
I’ve heard horror stories of partners going out and buying new cars without speaking to their spouse first. This kind of thing makes me cringe. Agree to avoid making large spending decisions without consulting with your spouse first. If you have shared finances and even shared debt, you should both be on the same page with spending. It can be helpful to agree on a threshold as to what you need to discuss together before buying something.

You don’t have to ask permission to buy every single item, how exhausting would that get! I’m suggesting to consulting your partner before buying those more expensive items. Such as a new appliance, phone or piece of furniture for the home. Even ignoring the financial aspect, it can’t hurt to ask for their opinion on something you want or need they made have some great advice or suggestions to offer, and it is particularly handy if it is something for your home (I’ve certainly unknowingly bought some things home that were deemed “ugly”).

8. Get Educated
Open your mind to new budgeting tricks and tips and financial strategies. If you are short on time listen to an audiobook on your commute to work or on your next shopping trip – wherever you can. I recommend listening to (or reading) Scott Pape’s Barefoot Investor and Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover which have some great strategies to get your started on your new financial journal.

It’s something that might get you more open to talking about finances with your partner and get you both excited about your new financial path! If your partner wouldn’t date touch a finance book, don’t push the issue. You can sometimes effectively communicate with your partner the message of what you are reading just by discussing your favourite parts of the book with them.

If you sign up for my mailing list you can also get your free copy of my eBook “101 Ways to Save Money Whilst Still Living Awesomely!”. Reading about finances might not be the most enjoyable thing for everyone but listening to a few financial gurus will open your eyes and ears to things that may make achieving your financial goals that much quicker!

9. Be patient
You might not be on the same page at day one or day 100. Sometimes people need more time to grasp new ideas and lifestyles and long-term support in order to do so. I’ve listened to many Dave Ramsey Debt Free Scream stories where people had read the Total Money Makeover books years earlier and yet only started to change their habits after years of thinking about. Or it took their partner longer to get on board but once they were they were a strong team.

It might not happen as quickly as you would like but over time you will learn how to effectively communicate with your partner. In the meantime you can always lead by example and start making changes to your own spendings such as reigning in grocery spending, skipping the drink at lunch and just bringing your water along with you and finding more frugal ways to catch up with friends such as skipping lunch and going for a walk instead.

Find what your partners passion is and what they will be willing to change their financial habits for. Go back to your why and find out theirs. Sometimes the only thing they need to hear is that it would make your family more financially secure and both of you happier to get them motivated to start on the financial journey with you.

Don’t forget to be a little flexible. Maybe your loved one won’t give up their monthly gym membership for the budget, their Audible membership or their daily coffee but hopefully they will be willing to make other changes to get you to their goal and be more proactive in reducing expenditure such as taking more notice and filling up on cheaper fuel days or cancelling their unwanted memberships.

When the above measures aren’t helping

Of course there are instances where no amount of discussion or understanding can get your partner on board with your financial goals. If your efforts to budget and get ahead are met with constant resistance you may need to consider other issues that are present. If your partner is facing issues with addiction e.g. drugs, alcoholism or gambling, attempting to adjust your budget may not be met with encouragement and make your efforts come undone.

I won’t go into that situation in too much detail as this is a finance blog and I am no psychologist, but I will mention that if you partner is constantly resisting and attempting to tear down your efforts to get ahead, that it may be time for them to seek help with those issues, or for you to reassess the relationship and whether it is in line with your long-term values. This article written by The Minimalists may help you with how to approach a relationship with deteriorating communication.

Do you have any tips for how to effectively communicate with your partner and approach budget and finance conversations? Please share them in the comments below 🙂

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 🙂

Budgeting Freebies

Zero-Based Budget Worksheet

Posted on February 19, 2018

This Zero Based Budget will help you to take stock of your income and expenses and help you spend and save more intentionally.

Zero-Based Budget Worksheet

If you’re unsure of where to start on your budget I am going to share mine with you! I’ve tweaked it a little to try and add some extra expenses that may be relevant to you, but it is completely flexible so you can add categories that apply to you and delete ones that don’t.

Keep in mind those expenses that you know will come up but might forget in your everyday budgeting like home repairs and maintenance, school fees, and those irregular bills.

How to use the Zero-Based Budget Worksheet

Simply sign up below and you will be emailed a link to the Zero-Based Budget Worksheet in view-only mode. Save a copy and use in Excel or upload to use in Google Sheets and get started on your very own budget!

Keep or change the categories to suit your personal circumstances.

Add in your Budgeted and Actual spending amounts each month into the respective columns and their category.

You can grab an Expense Tracker Printable or Worksheet to help you track your month’s expenses or simply note them in a notebook each month.

The formulas in the unchanged columns will populate automatically so don’t change these (it will warn you if you try to change them :)).

This is a zero-based budget which is a fancy way of saying that you should allocate every dollar of your income whether that be to expenses, debt, savings or investing. And the final surplus should be $0.00.

Grab your free copy of the Zero-Based Budget Worksheet here.

And that’s it! happy budgeting, Minimisers!

Don’t forget to sign up for your free copy of my eBook “101 Ways to Save Money Whilst Still Living Awesomely” for 101 tips on how you can reduce your budget expenditure whilst still having fun and enjoying life!

Budgeting

7 Helpful Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying Anything

Posted on February 6, 2018

Ask yourself these 7 questions before buying something to make more intentional purchases.

Could you use some questions to ask yourself before buying anything to curb your spending ways?

After discovering minimalism a couple of years ago I have had numerous opportunities to learn how my brain ticks when it comes to consuming. In the past, I used to run to sale bins and couldn’t walk away from anything that was a two for $10 special, even when I didn’t need it.

I would go to the shop with my birthday money in hand looking for some random item of jewellery to spend my money on, waiting for the stores to tell me what I wanted or needed. I would look forward to Mondays when I got my weekly catalogues in my letterbox and would comb a whole bundle of them each week, marking in things I would like to buy. These were the days before I discovered how to spend my money with intention.

Since then, I’ve learned that I can still buy things I want and need with a little forethought and more often than not, no buyer’s remorse.

Nothing much will necessarily free you from the urge to want new things, to upgrade and replace, but there are tools and strategies to help you reroute your purchasing habits into more intentional ones, with you in control, not the marketers and stores who are experts at making you part with your hard-earned cash!

Over time I have developed some helpful questions I ask myself before buying anything, prior to handing over any cash or cards.

These are seven questions to ask yourself before making any purchases to help you spend your money with intention. These questions can be applied to any purchase for any amount, but of course, the more they cost, the more necessary they will be for your budget.

7 Helpful Questions To Ask Yourself Before Buying Anything

1. Can I afford this?

The first of the 7 questions to ask yourself before buying anything is can I afford this?

I’ve put this first as it really is the most important one. If you are broke then you shouldn’t be shopping so you can skip the other questions and exit the shop (hehe worth a shot!).

But in all seriousness, if you don’t have enough money to pay your car registration or buy everything on your grocery list, or pay your utility bills then you definitely shouldn’t be out or online shopping and spending money.

Here are some general guidelines that you can’t afford something. Answer yes or no to the following:

you have credit card debt and don’t pay off your card in full each month.
you are struggling to meet the minimum repayments on your credit card/s.
you have to use BNPL to pay for it.
you know that by spending the money you are going to leave yourself short for essential purchases like petrol or groceries.
you save $0 saved and struggle to put even $50 into your savings account each week.
you don’t have an Emergency Fund saved of at least $2,000.

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, it’s time to put the items down and leave the store – you have some homework to do.

When you get home, you need to seriously consider cutting up your credit cards if you have them and can’t resist the urge to use them.

2. Do I need this?

Before heading for the check-out line, ask yourself do I need this item or do I just want it? Sometimes we can convince ourselves we are buying something we need when it is really just a want.

Think about whether you really need another bottle of nail polish or a set of pajamas or you are just buying them because they were on special or caught your eye.

Picture your drawer at home, is it overflowing with pajama sets? Do you already have 50 bottles of nail polish that you barely use?

It’s okay to buy things just because we want them on occasions, we work hard and should be able to reward ourselves! There is nothing wrong with that. The key is to make sure that those purchases are intentional.

Forget the Joneses’

Are you looking at blowing $1,500 on the latest iPhone even though yours is only a year old and functions perfectly well? Or get the latest TV because it has XYZ features? This is a slippery slow and an endless cycle, with new technology coming out every single day you are never going to keep up. Forget what everyone else has and make decisions based on your needs not on how you want to be perceived by others. Let’s be honest, no one really cares what you do and don’t have in your home, and you shouldn’t either.

3. Do I have something similar, can I borrow or buy it second-hand?

Before running out and buying something brand new consider your options. Do you have something at home that you could use? If you need some new containers, maybe you could repurpose some glass jars from your pantry. Or repurpose some gift boxes instead of going out and buying new containers. If you need something for a once-off project like a power tool, ask around if you can borrow one from a neighbour or family member. Check local freecycle or sale sites or your local thrift store for more affordable options. If you can’t find what you need then you can look into buying it new knowing that you are doing so intentionally.

4. Do I love it?

Before buying anything I ask myself do I love it. Is this the one? There is nothing worse than buying something similar to what you want only to realise days later there was a better one that you liked even more available.

If you are about to buy something and it’s not 100% what you were looking for but 80%, consider holding off on buying it and look around more for that close to perfect item. In time you will have a house of items you love rather than things you rushed into buying and probably won’t like for the long term.

In the words of Derek Sivers, if it isn’t a hell yes it’s is a hell no. Find something that you love the design of, ask yourself is it comfy, does it make me feel good, do I love it enough to wear it regularly? By all means, we shouldn’t become too attached to anything we have bought but we should make sure we are buying things we truly love into our homes and not just anything.

5. Does it suit my needs at this moment?

Ask yourself does this suit my needs at this moment for each purchase. Avoid buying an outfit that is a little too small with the intent to lose the weight. Buy what fits you today. If you are car shopping resist buying the fuel-guzzling SUV if you are single and could get away with driving a small fuel-efficient hatchback. If you only use your phone for text messaging and calls do you really need the latest iPhone or could you get away with a much cheaper option?

6. Will I get a lot of use out of this item?

As they say quality over quantity. Before buying an item, one of the most important questions to ask yourself is about the quality of the product. Maybe you are about to get a bargain on some $10 flats but will soon experience foot pain from the poor quality and toss them within a couple of months as they are worn out.

Maybe you’re considering buying a new shirt but you notice the buttons are a bit uneven or the lining of the shirt is already coming undone. Before parting with your hard-earned cash consider whether you should perhaps save your money and buy a more quality item.

Consider how often you will use and item. Are you going to buy a dress to wear to a wedding and never wear it again? Maybe it would be better to hire a dress instead and save yourself the money. Are you buying a pair of shoes that will only go with only outfit in your wardrobe or be out of style in a few months? Leave them behind and opt for something more classic that you can get your value out of with repeated use.

7. If the item was full price would I still buy it?

If you would not pay full price for an item, do you really love it, and is it really the right decision to be buying it. Sometimes we are pulled into making purchase decisions by the sale price and we lose a bit of our ability to see something exclusive of the bargain that it may be.

I have found this one of the great questions to ask yourself before buying anything that really cuts to the chase of a purchase and whether I am making the right decision in buying it. Of course, buying something on sale is amazing, but just playing a momentary trick on our brains can help us spend with intention.

8. Is this an impulse decision?

Sometimes even when the above questions are all a yes, we can still be making an impulse decision which is when that after shopping high disappears and we start to feel a pang of guilt over what we just spent.

Ask yourself before handing over your card, am I making an impulse purchase, or is this an intentional spending decision? If you walked into the store without a list of what you needed, found something randomly, and are at the register you are most likely making an impulse purchase that you may regret.

Two helpful tools

Here are two tools I also use to help me make more informed purchasing decision

1. Try it on first rule

In the past one of my worst budget and clutter offences were caused by buying clothing on impulse and in a rush. I would grab a new stripey singlet that I just couldn’t resist whilst waiting in line at the register only to take it home and realise it didn’t fit. I would see the line at the change rooms and think – Um, no…. It’ll be fine and if it’s not the right fit I will take it back.

But I soon realised that if I didn’t take it back with the limited time frame most stores had for returns I was stuck with something I couldn’t wear.

Since those days I have implemented a new rule that has saved me a lot of wasted money and unwanted items. I avoid buying and item of clothing unless I have tried it on first. This doesn’t work so well with shopping on line, but if you are in store try and stick to this rule to save yourself the hassle of bringing things home that you probably aren’t going to be bothered or have the time to return.

This rule will help ensure you have a wardrobe you love rather than an overflowing one of clothes that don’t fit or make you feel great!

2. 30- Day Wish List

To resist impulse buys, make a plan for future purchases. Keep a list somewhere on your phone or in an excel document of all the things you would like or need. Don’t act on them for 30 days. For more costly purchases, set a price limit such as items over $100 and aim to stretch out that waiting period to 3 months.

In that time, think about the item and do your research.

Establish do you need it, what does it cost, what is the best price, what do the reviews say, what are my friends and families opinions of the brand etc. Then start saving for it so by the time the 30 days or 3 months roll around you will have enough money to buy it in cash! And sometimes after a week or so you will realise that you really don’t want that item anymore and save yourself some money and unwanted clutter in your home!

The great thing about this is when your birthday or Christmas rolls around, if people ask you what you would like you can suggest something on your list. It will also mean so much more to you when you finally get something as you have waited for it for the past month or more and confirmed it is something that will add value to you.

And there is no greater feeling than buying something after you have thoroughly researched it, know it is the right buy and you have paid cash for it!

Do You Want Help With Spending Your Money With More Intention?

If you want to learn how to spend your money with intention and in line with your values and take the stress and anxiety out of your money, book in for a free Q&A call to see how Minimise With Me financial coaching can help you gain clarity around your finances!

You can learn more about my financial coaching services and how I can help you achieve your financial goals here.

Do you have any questions to ask yourself before buying anything that has helped you curb unintentional spending? Share them in the comments below 🙂

Budgeting

17 Things I Did to Save More Money in 2017

Posted on December 20, 2017

Check out the 17 things I did in 2017 to Save More Money

As the 2017 year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to reflect on financial decisions I made during the year to save more money and try and estimate the total money that I would have saved from those actions. I am more than happy to spend money on things that add value to my life or bring me joy, but I do not love spending my hard earned cash inefficiently.

We work so hard for our money, why don’t we find savings in the things that don’t take away from our enjoyment of life so that we can spend money of the things that do! When we find non value-adding way to reduce our spending we can allow ourselves to spend money where we like guilt free.

These are the 17 Things I Did to Save More Money in 2017. When I added the savings up just for this year they came to over $8000! I hope they will inspire you to find more ways to save in 2018!

Shopped Around for Car Services or repairs.

When my husbands car was due for a major service within ten minutes I had retreived four quotes raging from $350 to $750. I went with the cheapest who also happened to be our regular and reliable mechanic. This can be more limited for newer cars that for extended warranty purposes need to go to the dealer service centre but for any other cars shopping around is a must if you don’t want to pay too much for your car services!

Total Savings: $400

2. Reviewed my mobile plan frequently

I started off with a sim only plan that was $49.90 a month earlier in the year that had 10GB of data included. The 10GB never seemed to be enough for my needs so I often ended up paying for additional data on top of that. As a result the bill was often more around the $70-80 mark and certainly more than I was willing to spend on my phone plan.

I wanted to get my plan back under $50 so did my research and ended up switching to a 6 month discount offer for a sim only plan offering the same inclusions for only $24.99 a month to new customers. I figured even with extra data charges, the same deal would still fall under my $50 budget whilst saving me that additional $20-30 a month I was forking out.

Once that six months discounted period was up and I was back on a $40/month 10GB plan I did my research again and have just switched to a new plan which although will be slightly less flexible (it is a 12 month contract!) it includes 15GB of data for the same price. The great news is I will no longer have to top up my data each month and pay any extra. I was also offered a 25% promotional discount on sign up so actually only pay $30 for the $40 plan.

Total Savings: $480 (Original $70 a month vs new $30 a month plan :))

3. Requested a better rate on our mortgage

I was recently talking with a friend about his plans to get a better mortgage rate and realised that it had been a little while since I had done the same. Jumping online I saw that my bank was offering new customers a 0.61% discount on the rate I was paying. I rang up the next day and requested that we get access to the advertised rate. Within a week I had approval and had signed the paperwork. This was a huge win for our budget and for us to save more money.

Extra Tip: Come prepared when you make the call. Research what other banks are offering in terms of rates and ask your bank to match their competitors!

Total Savings: Our new repayment was $27.23 lower a total saving of $1415 for the next twelve months alone. Based on keeping our original weekly repayment over the current life of our loan this could save us up to $13500 and allow us to own our house 8 months earlier! This is real money and life changing stuff!

4. Stopped spending creep and saved our raises

My husband and I have had the same weekly allowance since we started budgeting six years ago after moving into our first home. We made it a fair figure to us so that we could live within it without feeling like we were too restricted day to day. With any pay raises, bonuses or anything else we receive we do not just absorb those into our lifestyles (know as bracket creep) and increase our spending. We try to be intentional with anything extra we earn so that it is not wasted. When we get extra money it goes to our savings or straight onto our mortgage. If you want to save more money don’t absorb your future raises, put them away and watch them grow 🙂

Total Saved: A wage increase of $20 per week saved and not spent can increase your savings balance by $1000 over a year.

5. Reviewed our electricity and gas plans

Once a year I like to review our electricity and gas plan and see what deals they are offering new customers. After researching online and checking our latest bill, I realised we were not receiving the full discounts we could be. With a short fifteen minute call we went from a plan with an outdated discount of 16% on our Electricity and 10% on Gas usage to a current advertised discount on Electricity of 23% and Gas 17%. A bonus was that we got a $50 credit on our next gas and electricity bill for signing onto new plans. If you are not checking your utility plans annually you are going to find that you are on an outdated offer that is probably costing you more. Check it annually to the competition and their new customer rates.

Total Savings: $30/quarter on electricity and $11/ quarter on gas plus $50 credit Total savings $214

6. Limited our electricity consumption

Don’t stop the electricity and gas savings there, there are ways to save more money on your bills to put back into your pocket! After getting a few too many $500 a quarter electricity bills we decided we needed to make more of an effort so cut down out power use. We made sure that we used only the appropriate amount of lighting e.g. turning on one down light instead of the other power point that turned on six lights when we didn’t need that much lighting. We started turning off our TV each night and turning off our PC monitors and power. I set the air conditioner at 22 degrees on hot days rather than 18 (much to my husbands disapproval :p) and only used fans at night.

I downloaded our electricity providers app and started monitoring the week to week electricity use and savings. Within the first few weeks I noticed them drop by about $7 a week. Not bad! Not to mention when you can see your impending bill estimate it is a great motivator to turn off those power points!

Total Savings: $364

7. Got smarter with our herbs and fresh produce

As a huge Basil fan, I got sick of buying new Basil bunches week to week only to have them go bad within a handful of days. I was determined to find a way to keep them fresher for longer. Since then I have been buying the Basil plants from Aldi which sit on our windowsill, and seem to last weeks with a small amount of care. I also researched the correct way to store different foods to extend their shelf life which helped us reduce our food waste and the cost of replacing spoiled food so often.

Total Savings: Let’s guesstimate on the lower side of things, a saving of $10 a week in reduced food waste at $520 a year!

8. Switched to high interest savings accounts

After reading the Barefoot investor, I realised how silly we had been leaving any number of dollars in our bank account that was paying a whole 0.01% on balances, a.k.a. nothing! After a small amount of effort we made the switch to Scott Pape’s favourite ING’s Savings Maximser which currently gives us 2.8% on any balances in our account which is a hell of a lot more than the big fat nothing we were previously getting! Nothing to motivate you to save more money then someone paying you to do it 🙂

Total Savings – $2000 Emergency Savings Fund will now be earning $56 a year in interest. Doesn’t sound like much but the more your balance grows the more your interest will add up!

9. We stopped buying as many clothes

After adopting a capsule wardrobe I found the need to hit the shops for new clothes greatly diminished. After all, I had a perfectly functional wardrobe ready to go day to day. The only time we bought new clothing or shoes this past year is when we needed specific items. Knowing what we had in our wardrobe and only keeping what we loved really helped us to limit any desire to go out and spend a ton of money on a new wardrobe.

Bonus tip is to resist buying a new outfit for each event and to ask friends or family if they have something you could borrow for the night. Return the favour the next time they need a fresh outfit.

Total Savings: Who knows but over the long terms I am going to say lots! 🙂

10. Started having dessert at home

I am a dessert girl at heart but spending $20-30 on dessert on our weekly date night was not really value for money in my eyes. Of course a girl needs her dessert on occasions so we started having our desserts at home. Instead of going out to Max Brenner or San Churro, or ordering dessert with dinner twice a month we started to make our own dessert at home. Desserts like home made scones, waffles with strawberries and ice cream are a fraction of the price at home. If we were not going home we were happy to grab a coffee or ice cream at the movies. Rather than spending $25 or $30 or dessert each time we were only spending $10 or less!

Total Savings: Opting in for dessert at home twice a month total saving $360 over a year

11. Found more creative ways to have fun

Saving money doesn’t mean missing out on fun. We just got a little more creative. Some nights we were more than happy to go home and watch Netflix rather than paying $40 to see a movie. When we did see movies we got discounted tickets which saved us 50% on the ticket price. We tried to go at times that the discount was valid where we could. On weekends if it was a beautiful day we would go for a walk or drive up the mountains. If the weather was crappy we’d crack out the Nintendo 64 and have Mario Kart Battles. Check out these Fun Frugal Ideas for more ideas on how you can have fun whilst you save more money.

Total Savings: Again a tough one to calculate, let’s guesstimate one night a month and $360 for the year!

12. Cut back spending on beverages

Coffee, beers, wine, hot chocolates they all add up to more than you would expect over the year. But making small sacrifices we were able to save more. Some ways we saved this year was by having hot chocolates at home. I buy Jarrah White Chocolate 10 packs which set me back less than $1 a cup! My husband chose quality over quantity and opted for drinking his favourite beers less often as a treat over cheaper beers more often. We also bought coffee for him to have at home to take with him on the go of a morning to skip the $4.50 or more morning coffee (I don’t drink coffee so that’s a big $0 for me ;)). So far we haven’t found one that stands up to his store bought versions but hopefully we’ll find a pro one in the near future! Coffee drinkers you could be throwing away $1170 on your morning coffee per person. We are working on that one 😉

We also cut back on our $8 fortnightly 24 water bottle pack and instead invested $12 in two water bottles and haven’t looked back.

Total Savings: Hot chocolate savings $150 and water savings $208

13. Started online grocery shopping

This was something that we adopted not necessarily to save money but to save time and make life a little easier. A great bonus of this decision was that we were buying less. When you are shopping online you aren’t walking past the sale ends or easy to grab, ever so tempting confectionery at the checkouts. When shopping online, the only way you will see those heavily discounted items are if you are specifically searching for them unlike in store where you’d be hard pressed to avoid making eye contact! We certainly don’t do this always, it takes some forethought but is a great way to help you reduce your impulse buying!

Total Savings: Complete random estimate let’s go with $10 a week and $520 for the whole year. Hopefully it is actually more 🙂

14. Got organised

This one would have to be one of the biggest food saving methods in our budget for 2017. Through my decluttering journey I realised how much food we had been buying unnecessarily. At one point I found 8 cans of corn for two people, of which one of us does not like corn and the other one barely eats it. Go figure. We had kilos of flour, daily reminders that we had to find a way to use them up before they expired. All brought on from shopping on the go and not checking what we had in our pantry, fridge and freezer before we hit the shops! This was a huge realisation for our budget. We were shopping with no real plan and with little clue of what we already had to start with.

For a new aspiring minimalist the endless cans and boxes of stuff were starting to bother me, not to mention my knew found goals of reducing our household waste. We decided to get ourselves organised and got to work re-organising the pantry, fridge and freezer. Now that we could tell with a quick glance how many items of food we had we knew what we could buy and what we didn’t need within seconds. The cans were all lined up in a row on tiered shelves waiting for us to come and quickly check on shopping day. We also keep a shopping list on our fridge to write down groceries as they run out so we knew what needed to be replaced. This means that we only buy what we have used and need, anything else that sits in our pantry will end up getting eliminated from our shopping list in time.

Total Savings: This was a budget saving biggie! I am going to guess this alone has saves us $1000 over the year.

15. We limited buying toiletries and other consumables

When I started on my minimalism journey I realised the waste that had occured in this area of our budget alone. We had about 10 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, about 8 cans of insect spray, a life time supply of air freshener, random and unfinished cleaning products, sponges galore – you get the idea! It was too much and completely unnecessary. Not only was it taking up space, cluttering our cupboards (clutter, ew!) but we were wasting money buying products that we didn’t need and couldn’t possibly use up in a timely manner.

It took over a year to use up our excess supply of deodorants, hand creams, body washes, soap you name it. It seemed never ending and really opened my eyes to the fact that you don’t need to buy so much of that stuff in bulk. We now only buy things as they need replacing and if something is on sale we will just get a spare 1 or 2 max, rather than buying 10 bottles. We also just stuck to the brands we loved. By only buying what we needed, we were able to spend on quality products and things that added value to our lives. Remember that saying quality over quality, we definitely found that to be the case.

Total Savings: My sanity!

16. Cut back on buying make up

Now I have given this one it’s one section as this tip alone has the potential to be a huge budget saver! The old me would buy eyeshadow pallet after eyeshadow pallet, have 4-5 foundation bottles and 15 odd lipsticks. I would browse my local Price Line walking out with what I thought was the nicest shade of purple nail polish only to find I already had three similar shades at home. Not to mention that I never even paint my nails. Wrong! At one point I have four bottles of foundation open which was pretty ridiculous for a girl that only wore it to work or the odd outing.

Once I did my research I realised how wasteful this habit was. I was buying too much, more than I could possibly use up before the expiry dates. And yes make up expires! Most last 12-18 months which was truly eye opening experience! As with my groceries I now only replace my make up products as they run out. It is very rare that I will buy anything new that I don’t need as I no longer look at make up stores or aisles unless I am there to buy something I need to replace.

Total Savings: Not shopping for make up multiple times a month has saved me at least $240 a year!

17. I sold my stuff on eBay

My first eBay listing was a 4 pack of hair dye that I have bought and realised I was never going to use. I listed it for $10 as an experiment (I paid $20 for them so would have been chuffed to claw back half). They ended up selling for $27 and from that moment I was hooked on finding things to sell around my home. I continued to chuck items up on eBay items for the next one and a half years making $965 back alone in 2017 for selling items around my home that I no longer needed! If you haven’t tried selling your unwanted stuff on EBay, CraigsList, Gumtree etc you might be missing out on some serious cash and serious motivation to declutter 😉

Total Savings: $965

Total estimated minimum savings in 2017 $8252