So when you get paid, you take into consideration of bills and weekly expenses, but how much do you put across to a savings account?
Weekly/Fortnightly income + Bills + Expenses = remainder to spending and an even amount to savings.
How Do You Save Money?
Avacardooo Rayy Mee on 02/06/2016 - 10:46
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Is it still empty?
Does anyone live by the rule " NEED AN WANT"
Do you need it or do you want it & if you want it, you don't need it.
Stop buy treat, no soft drink ,no sweet/chocolate, no coffee, no bottled water. People spend lots of money on these but they don't realize. That cause a lot in long term. Cup of coffee everyday will cost you 4*365= 1460. Your coffee cost more than your iPhone.
After I stopped buying junk food like ice cream and chocolate (I used to only buy the weekly specials), I found out i really saved a lot of money. I can't believe I ate so much, maybe $20 a week? Now I feel better and have lost weight.
Coffee is better than iPhone
I find having a savings bank account like RAMS, where they give you NO bank cards, very handy. Keeps you restrained and you will treat it as your "permanent savings". Unlike my ING account where money is easily accessible.
On the sidenote, RAMS vs ING - which is better in terms of interest rates and other benefits?
30 seconds of your own research is just too tough, isn't it?
It isn't, but never mind. My research got mixed reviews and hence my question here to know opinions of fellow OzBargainers.
You asked what is better in regards to interest rates. I don't see how this is subjective. One is higher than the other and they are defined numbers. If you know what these are, perhaps you could have phrased your question more openly.
I'm sorry if this isn't helpful but I've been using ING for the last 6 months and it's been fantastic compared to Commbank. I can make as many withdrawals from the account and it doesn't penalise the interest unlike commbank.. And it's very convenient you can use any ATM with no fee so I would definitely recommend :)
I have 2 golden rules. 1. Only buy if I can justify. Need vs Want and 2. If I am going to buy, make certain that I get the absolute best possible price for it and be prepared to wait. This applies to almost all expenses in life.
I take a photo of it and save it on my phone. Anyone can save money.
I save the queen in a similar way. Guess that makes me god.
Got a better job.
When salary increase > spending increase => money saving increase"Got a better job"
At least someone followed Joe Hockey's advice!!!
"Treasurer Joe Hockey has advised Australians wanting to buy their first home to "get a good job that pays good money".Haha as much as I don't like Hockey it's still true though. I've just had to discipline myself not to spend more, sad truth but no matter how frugal you are and high your ozb level is, if your job doesn't pay enough you won't have much savings, took some effort but actively looking for a better job worked for me, give it a go
So true. That's a hard fact of life.
With all the diligence I feel compelled to do before buying ANYTHING, the question I want to know more is, How do you Spend Money?
and I do want to know, so I did make it.See here
How do you spend money?I budget my bills, phone credit, food and any other expenses….I then give myself $50 a fortnight for coffees or sushi lunches (leisure money)….and then I put all the rest in my savings account.
Any impulse purchases come out of the $50 leisure money, any more expensive impulse purchases are carefully considered for a couple of days for need or want, before I transfer money back out of my savings.
[Check this out] (http://www.filedropper.com/screenshot2016-06-03at95632pm)
Be true to yourself, if you have no real intention or drive to achieve goals then this wont help
This flow is to demonstrate the thought process (I did not account for interest earnings or loss of income during the saving period)
Use it with common sensePS: If you know a better way of sharing this pic pls do it on my behalf :)
Salary goes directly into my offset account. I pay for all expenses on my ING card using paywave to get 2% off. All bills are on my CC on direct debit to make the most of the interest free period, with the exception of strata which is direct debited from my offset account so as to avoid surcharges. I most recently did a 0% BT from applying to a new CC and put the surplus funds into my offset account to reduce interest rate.
Since I pay for everything on card I have an easy record of where money is spent, and I have a spreadsheet which tracks all my daily spends according to different categories: groceries, eating out, bills, etc. I barely drink, and even if I do I still have tons of pure blonde left from the beer run so no money spent here.
On average I save about 80%-90% of my net salary.
"On average I save about 80%-90% of my net salary." —- WHAAAT?
On average I save about 80%-90% of my net salary.
Mate, I don't know how to react to be honest. If I swear out of surprise or shock, it will be called misconduct here. I can't either praise you because I am not sure how true it is. But, one thing for sure, it makes me feel like a loser.
It's not impossible. I make around 5k net, that means spending 1k per month. I rent the second bedroom of my apartment out which helps me cover a large portion of my mortgage, and we split the utility bills. I don't have a car so no costs there. Opal hack every week reduces my weekly transport cost to $20…guess that'll change soon. I always shop for reduced price groceries. I'm 23 and no kids.
$5k a month net at the age of 23 isn't bad at all. What profession are you in if you don't mind? Also, which Opal hack are you referring to? Free trips after 8th trip in the week?
Do you recommend buying a property to a newbie in Sydney now? If yes, in which areas if he's on budget?
I work in an investment bank. Yup, referring to the free trips after the 8th trip, I make as many 1 stop bus trips at the start of the week as possible which costs $2.1.
Regarding buying a property, I don't think Sydney property prices are going to fall drastically - they'll most likely either stay flat or fall 5% at most.
Prices will only fall if people start losing jobs and putting their house up for sale (or if negative gearing is stopped?). With that said, if you don't have your down payment sorted out and are considering LMI, perhaps save up a bit more. Otherwise, it wouldn't hurt to start looking.If you've never bought a place I'd suggest you look into buying off the plan. You will receive 10k gov grant + 20k stamp duty savings. I bought off the plan at the end of 2014 and I saved 35k (15k grant + 20k stamp duty exemption). My property has also gone up by $85k and I plan on using the equity + savings to buy a house with my sister. You'd have to look pretty far west to find a place less than 550k to take advantage of the benefits.
I work in an investment bank. Yup, referring to the free trips after the 8th trip, I make as many 1 stop bus trips at the start of the week as possible which costs $2.1.
But there has to be a gap for more than an hour else it is considered as a single trip.
Do you think negative gearing will be stopped for everyone OR it will be effective only for the new loans and continue for old loans? If it is removed suddenly and for everyone, a lot of people will start getting squeezed who would have bought properties only keeping in mind the negative gearing and hence better affordability.
I am looking for a property worth not more than $600k. What do you recommend for this budget and where in Sydney (exact suburb will be good as I am not great w/ Sydney geography yet)? This is a bit off the topic but since we are on it, let's get sorted and thanks a heaps for it. :)
Living off 250 a week total including mortgage while making 1250 a week, there are a lot of tightwads here but you must be the tightest (meant as compliment). That's less than the dole… no one can pay a mortgage on the dole even if they share.
My mortgage costs me 550 per month after rent (that's including P&I and bills).
100 bucks for groceries, 95 for transport, 100 for eating out, 100 on miscellaneous.
All of this is funded through a cash advance by way of a 0% balance transfer.
I don't think I'd enjoy what your lifestyle would be like, but congratulations on a very well executed plan for and achieving what appears to be your priority!Real props to you!
(by that I mean, as much as im a cheapskate my "miscellaneous spending funds"= a lot. Even tho I only ever pay the cheapest possible rate in existence (haha) I think I'll probably spend more on "fun misc" than your entire years life costs.)
@neilpatrickharris
Oh wow thats fantastic … i'm on 50-60%
man gotta change my ways haha
hats off to ya, gotta admit I was saving alot when i was single…
Sometimes you spend some $ to help you earn more $$. This is where it gets tricky. For most items you buy, bargain hunting is usually the best way to save money. For advice and helps sometimes the opposite is true.
Many occasions shows that if you are the smartest one in the room it means you are meant to fail sooner or later. So if I need to have better accountant than my self, better IT programmer than my self etc I will need to spend lots of money to get their service and loyalty.
It is not how to save on spending that is hard, but how to know when to spend that money to earn you more.
Many occasions shows that if you are the smartest one in the room it means you are meant to fail sooner or later.
like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates did.. huh? Very philosophical, antzz! I can't understand or agree with it. Beyond my level of intelligence.
Exactly. Both persona are not the brightest in the room in the respective field, even though they are better than average in most fields (tech, design, marketing). Designer of iPhone are not Steve Jobs but rather Jonathan ivy and his team's. He got the opportunity to pick idea from the best designer and compliment on it. He understands that and pay the design team very high and in the process makes iPhone very successful product.
I wonder if Steve Jobs to design iPhone him self and save millions in salary by not paying Jonathan ivy and his team. I think iPhone will not be as successful as now
Well, both were absolutely champs in their fields. Come on, mate! Both Steve and Gates deserve credits of bring champs/ smartest in their fields. And you are saying that the smartest one in the room are meant to fail sooner or later?? I don't understand that bit, mate. How are those who aren't the smartest in the room more probable to only succeed and not fail?? I don't see a logic.
Managed to save lots of money getting deployed in the adf. Came home and had a house deposit. Of course i didnt buy a house bought a v8 and lots of booze instead. Had my priorities right
adf pays so well like compared to other white collar jobs or tradies?
It really depends where you are in your adf career. Hardly any living expenses with housing, healthcare etc Allowances are good and also depends on rank and years of service
For a single guy going on deployments was great, not so good if you have a family as it strains relationships.There is more money to be made outside of the adf. I walked away with a couple degrees, mba and some ptsd war stories which helped my career.
I have always made it my passion off saving off my bills from my mobile to my electricity. I even helped my neighbour saved $3,200 a year off 4 of his bills. Happy to have a chat to those interested.
More than happy to know! Pls advise how did you do that ethically. PM me if you feel so.
It would be good if you started a thread on this, utilities are unavoidable so any cost saving tips are valuable to all
block ozbargain website, and set restrict on your router
I give myself a guilt free weekly allowance. Doesn't matter what I spend out of it, that's what I've decided I can afford to spend. Anything left over each week is put aside for the WANTS in my life, a holiday, a new TV etc.
The rest of my income goes towards bills and NEEDs (insurance, utilities etc) with the remainder as long term savings.
Unless i come up with a way to totally ban my self from accessing ozbargain then i cant save any money, very hard to resist bargains especially the one that is super cheap and i dont have any use for(Bought ue boom from ebay last year for $99 and still didnt use it, and please lets not talk about the power banks and eneloop :). Tried to talk with my ISP and phone provider and they said no way :\ Parental control will never work as i can easily paypass those.
All these comments on saving are all well and good, but ultimately you should be focused on creating wealth. So a good way to accomplish both saving and creation is through investment. You're less likely to liquidate investments for unnecessary purchases, plus there's a better rate of return. Try looking at property (tangible assets with tax benefits) or some long-term share trading.
If you're looking to budget, there's no tool better than YNAB. Also, if you're a uni student, it's free!
None, I have a wife and kids!
The biggest challenge is to limit/restrict all the unnecessary 'wants' in your lifestyle. Easier said than done but it all adds up over time.
With that being said, you don't have to live like an absolute cheapskate like some people have suggested. At the end of the day, we still need to enjoy life a little.
YNAB.
Even if you don't use the software, use the principles. It requires a small amount of effort to learn, but empowers you to know exactly what your financial position is and makes purchasing or savings decisions simple and informed. I'm genuinely surprised more people aren't mentioning it (or budgeting in general), I found about it from this site years ago.
The key to saving is living with your parents for as long as possible !!
Change your tax declaration with your employer so you pay the full tax rate for the year and receive it back when you do your tax return. It like forced saving, and you have to budget with what you get each fortnight.
And forgoing all interest…
Or set up direct debit to a separate high interest savings account…
Dump entire wage into offset account, everyday expenses onto a credit card with no annual fee + 55 days interest free, and pay it off on the 54th day.
Not terribly difficult, i spend around 200/week in expenses except for mortgage, and in the north of 130k per year wage.
Any big expenses i think it over for 24 hours before buying (if its not a needed purchase aka toys) any tools/appliances i generally buy the best of or whatever is good value for money.
It is nice being able to smash out a 330k loan in ~5 years though.
Whatever is left over after mortgage/bills/groceries is what is "savings". Being dinks helped with saving more money.
do the opal run (NSW) = save about $100 a month. I only spend $17.10 a week for public transport
with the dollar going south daily, I tend to invest in well priced good quality items that I hope will last through the recession that's coming. Saving money when it is devaluing seems redundant to me.
Clearly not a finance man but, What do people mean when saying they bank their money off shore?
An what's the benefits?
If they are joking around then they may be implying that they keep their vast wealth in secret accounts or low tax jurisictions. If they are serious they could just mean they bank in other countries (e.g if a migrant maintaining an account in their old country).
Ah thanks man
Depends on how tight you want to live. Personnaly I find keeping money out of sight is the best option for me and have multiple accounts separate from my primary account. I hate monitoring budgets, and generally the more money I earn the more I spend (unless I hide it!)
I take care of my loan first, then pay myself a small salary that covers my basic needs every fortnight (groceries / petrol etc.) and everything else goes in the offset account. All my regular bills then come out of the offset account. I'm lucky enough that I can set up which accounts work pays to, so all I see coming in to my everyday account is the little chunk I assign to myself. You can easily set up regular transactions around your regular payday that does the same thing (assuming you have a reliably regular payday), just don't look in the intervening time.
Under this system I only have to manage a smaller pot and don't get bill shocked anymore now the offset account has built up a bit. You just have to pretend the big pot isn't there and live within your newly created means.
70% of my income is automatically put into savings, the 30% left over is used for bills and such. It's not hard to save money when you don't splurge on useless shit you don't need.
About 3 - 4K a month. 4 k on a good month.
Before u ask $6k a month is what I take home and got a 50k mortgage. No car payments.
Used to be $1100 income/week, of which $350/week straight into savings, $220/week as rent (inc. power/internet), and live off the rest ($530/week) with usually money left over that I'd whack some more into the savings every month.
Now with a house its $1460 income/week (wage + housemates), $500 on the mortgage (of which ~$150 is not interest, so technically savings), and the rest just sits in a mortgage offset account. Use my credit card and cash-rent money for all weekly spending. Pay the CC off every month from the offset account.
While I like having an offset account (3.95% interest), it kinda sucks not having a separate savings account anymore. I really liked having a set amount going into a savings account every week. When I refinance I'm going to up my mortgage payment to $600/week to get it paid off a bit quicker and force save a bit more.
For the first time, I feel I have to reply a topic.
Rule number one - if I do not bring money, I have no money to spend.
1. I never bring bank/credit card - to avoid any feeling that I am not spending money
2. If I live by myself, I give myself cash every fortnight - if I am running out of my cash during the week, I just have to suck it up
3. I do not bring any money in most cases, since I am no longer live alone; if I have to spend money, and I do not have it, I can always borrow some from my colleagues, return money second day - but it always give a good kick of why I have to spend money during working days.Rule number two - social live just mean people want to meet together, does not mean I have to spend money
1. I always bring my lunch box, and my water bottle; if I was invited to a team lunch, I would just finish my lunch before go to team lunch, we can still chat, but I do not have to buy food
2. I learn two or three recipes which can make cheap food delicious, in case people ask bring your dishesRule number three - always understand what I need, instead of what I want; then, find alternate solution to save more
1. Do I have to drive, for working or for social? if I do not drive, can I rent out my parking space? how much can I save on maintaining a car?
2. How important is my privacy? Can I live with my parents? or can I live in a shared place? How much can I save from it?
3. If I spend small money but everyday, can I reduce it? or can I persuade myself to stop it completely? Such as: coffees is not a health food, if I change to No-doz, it reduce the cost from $5 to $0.3. And it do not give my bad breath and extra sugar.
4. A good deal appear in OZbargain, do you have to have it? Or it is just something you want? If you spend on it, will it change your live dramatically in next three month?Rule number four - it is me I want to save, and only me.
All the rules are only apply to the people practice it, it should never apply to apply anyone-else.
I met people who apply it to their partner, it was a disaster and it tears family apart - do not do that, I always a big supporter to my partner when she want to spend - I trust an adult's choice, also, if a problem can be fixed/avoid by money, then why not?I think everyone knows: save is not the goal, it only serve the goal - never forget that.
Rule number two - social live just mean people want to meet together, does not mean I have to spend money
1. I always bring my lunch box, and my water bottle; if I was invited to a team lunch, I would just finish my lunch before go to team lunch, we can still chat, but I do not have to buy foodI understand that you want to bring your lunch from home normally but for a team lunch, I would recommend that you join the team lunch for your career.
I don't think being this frugal will help your career.
Not buying lunch will cost you what- $15-20 once a month or so, but you will be seen as not a team player. What you save could cost you much more in terms of opportunity costs.
If I was managing 2 equally capable people and was selection one for a promotion, I wouldn't be choosing the person who doesn't buy lunch at a TEAM lunch.
Well, true. But that do give me a good motivation to not be professional equally with someone.
Besides, people emotion is not very hard to change, I maybe not buy lunch, but it does not means I do not bring interesting topics or bring more laugh to the table.
By remove money from what I can offer, it makes me feel more challenges and more live, also different :-)Fair enough, sometimes being so tight isn't socially accepted, and IMO can damage your reputation in the workforce and team environment.
@JB1:
It depends on where you work. In some places you may become a spiritual leader with people coming to ask your advice on how to save money on everything and anything…@JB1:
Not so sure…I noticed that a lot of professional people on good salaries are extremely careful with their money. Tradies on the other hand tend to spend big unless they have no money.Nothing wrong with being careful, but when you don't eat at a team lunch due to $$$, that's a different matter.
@JB1: Human are story telling animal. When you do not play normally, you need a good story and that's it. If I cannot make a good story of it, well, I think I have much bigger problem than save the money from team lunch.
IMO what could damage my reputation is not being tight, is being stupid. Such as: I paint myself to become a heartless tight-ass.
Besides, my salary or promotion is not defined by my team leader in reality, it is defined by market and industry. I think if my team leader by pass my promotion and I leave current company, he would lose his coming promotion too. One thing I learn from my ex-manager was "do not sink the boat", therefore, promotion is never about spend money on team lunch, it is always about who does not receive promotion would do least damage and most benefits to the team.
Step 1: Subscribe to YNAB
Step 2: Set up your real budget in YNAB. There are tons of how-to guides to get you started. Don't miss anything, you need to be exact.
Step 3: Enter all your expenses and spending for at least 30 days
Step 4: Review where your cash goes, expense by expense, see what you can begin to tighten up. Coffee and eating out used to be my worst habits.
Step 5: If you have done all of the above correctly, you will now be saving money. If not, your expenses outweigh your income, seek help.
There's an interesting blog called Mr Money Moustache
One of the best tips is to think of everything as cost over 10 years and to value your time appropriately especially commuting. Once you put everything in a common framework some decisions are easier.
ie cutting down 6 dollars per day is about 20000 or more over 10 years. A one off purchase such as a new Dyson vaccuum may only be 500 and save you 10 hours over that time frame etc.
How do I save money ?
Well, when I hear it screaming I grab my gun, run up to it's door, kick it in, and yell "Freeze Muther Focker", and that normally is enough to save the money.
ps: I refuse to take my meds.
My approach is buy only when you have the cash to do so, never on credit (unless it's interest free credit) and need a thrify mindset in general (i.e. you should always be out to get the best price/shop around on everything within reason).
I use an app called "Pocketbook", it connects to my bank accounts and tracks my spendings and earnings. It's actually really informative.
I have been reading the post and seems like most people are using YNAB.
But, it seems that it is free for 34 days only (Or I could be wrong).
Can anyone advise on this one and/or send the link.
Cheers
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I got a money box when I was five.