Day-to-day life is getting more and more expensive by the minute and it can be hard to decide what costs to cut back on and how to get the most out of your finances. Luckily, the Money Maven has brought you some great expert tips from amaysim advisor and home money expert Greg Smith. Read on to find out how to save money on your everyday expenses.
Greg Smith: With price increases coming from every direction it’s getting harder and harder to simply keep up with bills, let alone cope with your overall finances. However, by making a few small and simple switches, consumers can make instant savings and a huge difference to their budget each month.
Here are five simple tips to switch and save:
1. Switch your energy suppliers – go onto goswitch.com.au or switchwise.com.au to find a better deal for your gas and electricity. There are plenty of savings to be made here and all the work is done for you by these sites. Take for example a typical suburban three bedroom home with three to four occupants; you can save a minimum $16 a month on your energy bills simply by spending a few minutes doing some research.
2. Switch your home loan – with the new rules regarding the removal of switching fees on bank loans now in force, it is worthwhile looking into refinancing. All it takes is a bit of investigation on your behalf to look through loan comparison websites such as ratecity.com.au or infochoice.com.au. Alternatively, you can of course call in a mortgage broker to do all the work for you. Whichever way you choose, you can stand to save some big money. Take for example a $350,000 25-year home loan at the standard variable rate of 7.8%pa. If you refinance at a new rate of 6.95%pa you could save around $20,175 in interest over the life of the loan and put back an extra $67 in your pocket each month.
3. Switch your credit card – look at switching your credit card to save on your interest rate. Check out creditcardfinder.com.au or mozo.com.au to find the card that suits your needs. If you are like many Australians and have the average credit card debt of around $5,000 and pay around 20%pa in interest, you can easily save about $24 a month by simply switching to a card at 10%pa.
4. Switch your savings accounts – being clever about your savings account can quickly add money to your rainy day fund. If you have $5,000 in a basic account paying 1%pa in interest and you transfer it to a high interest savings account paying around 5%pa, you could gain an extra $234.33 a year in interest. That’s $19.50 extra in your pocket a month just by making a small switch. Check out savingsaccountsfinder.com.au or savingsaccounts.com.au for rates and deals.
5. Switch your mobile phone – get rid of complex mobile phone contracts where you are at the mercy of administration costs and exit fees. These alleged added value cap plans are causing consumers to spend more than they budget for.
Happy saving! Money Maven. x
