A Quick Life Update:
Some of you may have read that in the past month I have resigned from the job I held at Empower Christian Church. My gorgeous daughter, Eve, was also born just 6 days ago. We still have 20% owing on our home loan, an investment property to make payments on and $140k (100% leveraged) in a managed fund where we have elected to reinvest the dividends as a forced savings measure. I will be working 3 days a week as a part-time teacher where I need to budget hack my way to meet the bills, save for the future and put aside $4k for an interstate holiday. This is the time where, more than any other time in my life, my budgeting mettle is being put to the test.

I decided to write about the 11 savings measures I have undertaken in the past month. Hopefully there’s 1 or 2 ideas that might help you to save the odd $20, $50 or $100 dollars.

1. Car Insurance ($232 saved)
I have flogged this horse so many times in the past few years that I have absolutely no idea which insurer I am currently with without referring to documentation. Even so I decided one more call shouldn’t hurt. 40 minutes later and I had cancelled my old policies and signed up with Youi Insurance. I could only carve up an additional $77 in savings across two vehicle policies but was able to receive free roadside cover (which saved an additional $155 per annum). On top of that the excess was lowered from $1200 to $700 and they threw in windscreen cover. Youi don’t do online quotes so you can wheel and deal a little with the sales representative. I paid upfront to avoid the 10% they charge for month by month.

2. Free LEDs ($459 estimated savings)
This week I got a flyer for free LED installation. Normally I don’t put in the time to investigate whether the offers are real or bogus and the flyer rapidly finds its way to the recycling bin. This time, however, I’m glad I made the call. 29 LEDs were installed yesterday without a single cost passed on. The company Aussie GreenMarks then sell the carbon credit created to companies wanting to ‘look green’. All our lighting is made up of 50 watt halogen downlights which were replaced. 12-17% of an average electricity bill is made up of lighting expenses. I’d estimate we saved around $459 per annum by making that one phone call.

3. Tax Return
I would rather have a filling each day for a week than spend hours completing a tax return. We have a wonderful accountant that we use but the process is still painful. I spend a long time each year documenting each and every receipt with clear reasons justifying each claim. This year I envisage around $8-9k returned including unpaid Family Assistance. Some might argue that I should have stated my correct income to Family Assistance in the first place. However, the lump sum I receive now goes straight off the mortgage rather than receiving a fortnightly trickle that could be inadvertently spent.

4. YNAB Budgeting Software
I am a big time Excel spreadsheet budgeter! I have used spreadsheets for years. I purchased the You Need A Budget software for $54 US (about $582 on current Aussie exchange market ) and found the transition a challenge initially. There was so many things I didn’t understand the rationale behind on a programming level. A few tutorials later and I’m in business! The app does make it fun to budget and the interface was exceedingly user friendly. One thing I did love was how it uses geolocation to record your purchases. It is a fabulous way to recognise little spending habits you might not realise you have and how to ‘roll with the punches’ when you have a blowout in a particular category.
There’s a lot of free apps but I really am glad I bought YNAB for $54 outright.

5. Car Servicing ($428+ estimated savings)
I really like my local mechanic. Great guy! Knows my car back to front. There’s one thing I can’t stand about him though… his billing! $100 per hour is the going rate. As a part-time teacher who is renumerated at $35 an hour, this is big bickies! An average service is in the realm of $500-$1,000. I spent $72 buying synthetic oil, an oil filter, drain pan and funnel. A YouTube video later and the job was done! (Truth be told it took me about 2 hours to work out how to loosen the oil filter because I didn’t have the necessary tools.)

6. Council Rates
As Benjamin Franklin stated ‘In this life nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.’ I would also add council rates to that quote. A few months ago I purchased an investment property. The valuation rate on the notice was $40,000 above my purchase price so I rang the council valuer. He was amazed that I was able to purchase the property for the price I paid and said it was ‘unheard of’ in today’s market. I patted myself on the back for a good purchase and now can anticipate a revised rates notice in the mail.

7. The Lights Off, Shorter Showers, Jumper On Rule
I still suffer heart palpitations from last quarter’s electricity bill. I am actually too embarrassed to share it publically on a savings/budgeting blog. Needless to say the electricity drill sergeant was in full force this month demanding lights to be turned off upon exiting an uninhabited room, 4 minute showers and jumpers had to be on before any heaters were switched on. I’ll tell you next quarter how I go.

8. The Power Company Hop ($252.22 in projected quarterly savings)
This relates to the above point. I did previously post about making the change to AGL who had a 12 month special with 38% off electricity. I checked their rates against Simply Energy and found their pre-discounted rates to be cheaper still. If I was with AGL on the last bill I would have saved $252.22 (not that a bill of that magnitude will ever occur again… ever!)

9. Decluttering, Questioning Spending Habits and Reducing Waste
I decided to bundle these 3 topics together.
One of the things that Hayley and I have been progressively doing is decluttering our home. We live in a 17 square home. Most people we know questioned us remaining here with 3 kids, let alone 4. We like it here and don’t want to move just because we need a larger place that can house all our stuff. I’m reading Leo Babauta’s Clutterfree at the moment and I am loving his inspirational thoughts about the innumerable trinkets that we accumulate throughout our lives. Once you declutter it is amazing how readily you view most of the assets you have as future hard rubbish! The tablet that was once the fastest thing in its heyday is now obsolete and can’t download the updated app. All the DVDs I collected haven’t been watched in years and now there’s this thing called Netflix. That jacket that looked great on the 6’ 6” mannequin doesn’t fit quite so well on me.
A declutter works wonders for your spending. You realise you are now disposing of items that once cost you hundreds or even thousands of your hard earned money. This month I was in the market for a new phone for my Hayley and myself as the battery didn’t last a full day. After reading Leo’s book it made me question why it was necessary. My old one works just fine. Maybe I need to stop checking each tweet, post, email and text that comes my way?
Being on a budget has also helped me to reduce my wastage. I have tried to plan meals around the perishable items in the fridge that have a day or two left. I have stopped buying unhealthy packaged goods (most of them anyway). I am also going to implement a rule whereby I forcibly wait 2 weeks before buying a personal item. In the declutter I realised that so many purchases I made served no purpose and were impulse buys. This is a habit I intend to eliminate.

10. Alcohol Free
For years I have enjoyed a wine or two at the end of an evening. Call it working with kids all day or maybe just call it a habit. Either way it results in about 3-4 bottles a week in wine. I made a conscious decision to eliminate all alcohol purchases until I reached a particular savings goal. Each week I would estimate that this decision saves me $25-$40. I have also noticed a feeling of having more energy throughout the day as a consequence.

11. Mobile Phone Plans
I scoured the internet once again fishing for the best mobile phone deal. I can recall those golden Kogan days where $25 a month bought you 5gb of unlimited talk and text on the 3G Telstra network. Now the cheapest I can find is Vaya with $18 a month and 1.5gb. I tried them and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole! I am currently using Amaysim which offers unlimited talk and text with 2gb a month for $29.90. Lebara, Boost and Optus offer similar plans for a similar cost. I decided to remain loyal to Amaysim at this stage as I have been happy with their customer service and coverage.


In life there are a lot of ideas that we have which we think everyone else already knows. This is a collection of the things I have done to consciously save money over the past month. They are not necessarily mind blowing or unique but if you think any of these tips could help someone else, please share the post. If you have any other ideas that could benefit another, please add them in the comments section.

My home was built around 10 years ago before many energy efficient measures were introduced. My family’s electricity hovers between $2500-$3500 despite my frequent attempts to reduce usage wherever possible.

Draughty gaps between the doors, thin window panes, and relying solely on reverse cycle units to heat and cool the house means my bills are always cringe worthy. I have looked into options such as installing solar power but shelling out $4000 for units that return a mere 16 cents per KWh didn’t work out to be financially viable when I crunched the numbers. Retrofitting insulation, double glazing or installing heat retaining blinds were other overly expensive options.

Yesterday we received a flyer in the mail offering a free LED light exchange. An electrician arrives to swap every halogen downlight in the house cost free.

‘What’s the catch?’ I asked the service representative.

‘No catch. It’s just an incentive we are offering at the moment’ she replied.

‘You’re not doing it for free. How do you make money?’

She explained that the company earns carbon credits which are then on sold to companies for purchase. There is no cost to the consumer and the value of the carbon credits is presumably more valuable than the cost of paying an electrician to install the 34 LED lights in my home.

10-15% of the average electricity bill is attributed to lighting expenses. The LEDs I am having installed match the lumen rating (440 lumens compared to 465 is near enough). They use only 6 watts rather than 35 watts, and a rough calculation saw around $400 additional dollars in my pocket each year.

Well worth the change and I feel much better about reducing my carbon footprint. They have also offered to install door seals as my house can be like a wind tunnel at times.

I can’t endorse the company in the photo as of yet as the lights won’t be installed until next week. I also need to note that I have no affiliation with the company. I’m just a guy who 5 years ago would have thrown the flyer immediately in the bin rather than seize a potential opportunity. If you’re an Australian I believe there are many other companies that offer a similar service. If you’re not an Aussie, shop around because I’m sure there are many energy saving incentives available as the planet turns greener each year.

Tweet or share this post if you know of someone who might benefit from this service.

Hi SavingAdvice community,

For years I have used a home job Excel spreadsheet that I custom made myself. It has done a great job of tracking my expenses and I refer to it with great frequency. It has been one of the primary reasons for my savings over the years.

Excel, has one issue however- it is challenging to update your payments on the hop. I have mitigated this issue by having a Google Keep record of transactions which both my wife and I can add to.

I am, however, interested in Dollar Tree Pro's ability to detect via geolocation the shops you have visited and being able to sync your transactions automatically. $99 USD per year, however is expensive for a highly budget conscious person such as myself.

YNAB is only $60 and I like the look of the interface. The only downer for me is that I want to be involved in a forum that I like. I have a few sour grapes in that I opened a journal on their site and posted thoughts and learnings only to get 13 Spam points within 3 days because I used links to verify my findings and people, as a pack, assumed it was dodgy. As I said, sour grapes but I'm happy to move on if it is really worth it.

Mint is free which is a huge plus!

I am familiar with Excel and I like the ability to incorporate all the expenditure of my investments. I also like being able to calculate with near precision the amount of tax I need to pay or the return I am expected to receive.

Dollar Tree and YNAB offer trials but I don't particularly want to upload a month of data onto a subscription that I won't use.

I have also looked at YouTube reviews but they are often given by people with affiliate codes. Not an issue but I sometimes question the objectivity of the information.

Any advice would be appreciated SA community.

Hope you've all had a spectacular weekend.

I recently posted about cutting down my working hours to 3 days as a teacher. The rubber has really hit the road now and we need to make some tough calls in relation to our budgets.
One massive cost that appears on the budget is presents. I worked out that just in my family alone there are 39 birthdays, mother’s day, father’s day and Christmas presents to be bought. Our family figured out that roughly $40-$50 per gift seemed about right.
Add to this friend’s birthdays, engagements, weddings, christenings, sympathy gifts, thank you gifts and $2,500 to $3,000 seems like a reasonable annual estimate. This is no longer sustainable for us as a family nor is it an effective use of our money.
Does this conversation ever happen to you?
You: “Hey. I realise your birthday is coming up and I’d like to get you something. What would you like?”
Them: “Umm… I’m not sure.”
You: “A shirt, DVD, book, CD, shorts?”
Them: “Hmmm. How about cash or a gift card at XYZ store?”
You: “Okay.” [Sigh]
Cash and gift cards, while useful just seem incredibly impersonal and our finances cannot sustain that amount per present anymore. It also doesn’t allow to use wisdom and research in your gift giving. I love buying an expensive gift on sale and wowing the person with something that might actually be useful to them.
First step I’m thinking will be to lower the amount spent per gift. I’m happy to eat humble pie and say “We have allocated most of our income towards investments. We have cut down our hours to spend more time with our family and we love you, but, we may need to be more creative with our gift giving.”
I think we will next think about giving gifts that build the relationship and affirm the person. The amount of times I’ve scratched something meaningless on a card and whacked $50 in the envelope is innumerable.
Perhaps a better gift and a more affordable one would be something that we have invested time into creating. Pinterest here I come! Another potential idea will be to invite the person to dinner, or take them out somewhere special. Quality time instead of dollars.
If you have any ideas for what you do, I’d love to hear them.

Hayley and I have one month till the birth of our beautiful baby girl and I have recently resigned from one of my work places, thereby kissing farewell to 2 days salary. The craziness continues.
In the past 6 months we have purchased an investment property of around $400,000 and placed an additional $140,000 in a managed investment. We have almost paid off our home but used the equity in our home to finance the loans.
The rental property we purchased came with a delightful tenant (since evicted) who enjoyed avoiding rent payments, boxing holes in doors and taking various illegal substances. In the past month and budgeting ahead into next month, the property has required around $11,000 in repairs and upkeep to make it tenable again.
It gets better, the 3 days of employment that I do have is as a teacher, which is not renowned as being one of the highest earning jobs.
Why in God’s great earth did we decide as a family to drop down to 3 days a week? I’ll give you a few reasons:
1. To spend more family time together. I’d rather live frugally and have time with my kids during these formative years.
2. It gives me a chance to put my money where my mouth is and see if I can save and invest successfully enough to subsist, or better yet, thrive!
3. We have saved and saved for years and know we can do it! Years of budgets proves it even if the knees are a little wobbly.
I realise this might seem silly to some. As I said, we have saved for years though and would have a debt to equity ratio of approximately 1.5.
I have elected to reinvest the returns from the managed fund which is nearly $11,000 in net profits since the beginning of the year.
My wife also earn $8,000 as an editor and we have no personal loans, credit card debt or car loans.
In addition to this we are paying principal and interest off of our remaining home loan and envisage paying off an additional $10,000. We’ll see in a year’s time if this is achievable.
I do have a fall back, I can get contract work as an emergency teacher if the situation becomes dire.
Please if you are going to comment I’d appreciate keeping it positive and I’d love hear any well wishes. I’ll certainly be reading SavingAdvice.com a lot more carefully.

Albert Einstein wrote that “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t, pays it!”
This post is all about a reference to a book written by Tony Robbins entitled Money: Master The Game. Now I’m going to start this post with an admission- I have not read this book!
I am an avid reader (or should it be listener) ever since I discovered the Audible collection of audiobooks. Previously, I would average 4 or 5 books a year. Now it is 3-4 books per month.
I am passionate about savings and investments, and generally read specifically around these topics. One book that came across my radar recently was this one by Tony Robbins. It sounded quite different from his other material and right in my field of interest. Unfortunately, there is no audio version yet on Audible. Being money conscious I am reluctant to ever pay more than $15 per book. Unfortunately it tipped the scales at $25 US dollars, which I hesitate to calculate in Aussie dollars at the moment.
Long story short, I found the PDF book supplement free on Audible oddly enough considering I can’t even find the book there.
The link is http://download.audible.com/product_related_docs/BK_SANS_006899.pdf if you would like to read the supplement.
Let me cut to the chase. There is a lot of fascinating diagrams and tables about funds, 401K contribution limits, average household expenditure and other stuff which didn’t make sense as I didn’t have the book.
Of the greatest interest to me, and possibly to you is the power of continuous saving and the effects of compounding mentioned on page 15.
The very top row stated that if you saved $5 per day, over 50 years and earned 10% per annum compound interest, you would have saved… [drumroll please]… $2,598,659 dollars!
I find that amazing! What a great lesson to teach our children.
As a personal reflection, this has made me value each day’s savings and to keep saving consistently. While I don’t want to forsake every enjoyment today for when I’m 80, I can forgo the daily latté to be financially free.
I’m really looking forward to reading/hearing the book. Hurry up Audible!

What Is Your Net Worth?


Money in, money out, a transfer here, automatic debit there. Sometimes we almost need a full time accountant just to keep track on all the comings and the goings of our hard earned dollars. The more accounts and investments you have, the easier it can be for money to float around in the ether. You know you work hard, you haven’t bought a Harley in the past month so you must be getting further ahead right?

Sometimes we can all feel lost in a crowd when it comes to our finances. It is no good guessing that you are on track. One thing I can wholeheartedly encourage everyone to do, if you haven’t already done so is to KNOW YOUR NET WORTH. It is imperative to your financial growth!

It is very hard to aim at something without having measured increments to gauge your progress. Imagine asking your basketball coach about who won the game and getting a response like “You got some in. They got some in. I think you won?”

There is a fabulous saying: What gets measured, gets managed. You know those charity telethons with those humongous goals to raise $10 million for the hospital upgrade? There is always a scale that denotes the amount donated. Why? Because psychologically we are instantly excited and motivated when we see dollar figures ticking over and momentum being gained.

Your savings journey is no different. Know as accurately as possible your net worth. Write it down, monitor it and manage your financial growth. If you drop behind in a month, note down why and take steps to mitigate any future losses.

The calculation of net worth is super simple:
Assets minus Liabilities (Money owing and taxes) = Net Worth

Calculate the values of your assets as a best estimate. Personally, I don’t tend to calculate motor vehicles as they sink like a stone in value over the years (unless it is a historical vehicle).
The way to work out the value of your home and investments is to spend 30 minutes scanning sold properties on the internet. Compare apples with apples. Stocks are easily by checking on the internet too.

You may even find it helpful to calculate 3 prices:
- An ‘I wish’ price
- A ‘Sounds About Right’ price, and a
- ‘No Way’ price.

From that point I would always choose the middle price. The process above might look unnecessary as you could just start with a ‘Sounds Right’ price. The challenge is that we aren’t always quite so objective when it comes to the appraisal of our beloved family home.

Now that you have a plausible valuation, take away any loans and debts. To be even more accurate I like to calculate the tax owing on any potential profits made.

The next step is to write your net worth down on a piece of paper that you won’t lose, a document or a spreadsheet. I use a spreadsheet because I calculate my debts again at end of each month with a fine tooth comb.

Watch your net worth carefully and celebrate each saving milestone that you make. Maybe you can plan a little celebration with your family each time you save an additional thousand. Associate pleasure with saving and you will be guaranteed to form good habits for your financial future.

I have now owned multiple two and even three wheeled forms of transportation. In a budgetary sense they have been brought about a huge saving for me when I rode them exclusively for three consecutive years. 3-4 litres per 100 kilometres travelled. Around $382 for registration (still expensive). And with self-servicing, around $4 in oil to complete a home-job oil change. What’s not to love? When I sold them, I would also estimate that I lost no more than 10% for a year of use. What fabulously slow depreciation!

My latest set of wheels is a Yamaha BeeWee YW100 that I bought with 5,000 kays on the clock for $725. I’ve got to get it fixed, resprayed and registered. All up I envisage around $950 to get it on the road and looking nice.

In the same week I received the registration for my old faithful Rav 4 with over 320,000 kilometres. I would estimate it would now be worth around $500 yet the registration is a ridiculously high $718! I am again pondering returning to a two wheeled commuter as the costs of servicing for a car, the registration and the insurance can be outrageous for such an old, but faithful clunker.

My passion for scooters came about after a trip to Japan and Europe. Those things are everywhere with people easily zipping around.

The location I currently live in is highly conducive to scooter commutes. A gentle 19 kilometre ride through the Yarra Valley has never once brought about anything close to a near miss. Would I ride in the suburbs or city? Probably not. The odds are not really in my favour.
Just comparing the two in a rough tally:

Scooter Car
Value $950 $500
Annual Servicing $4 $345
Registration $382 $718
Insurance $295(Comp.) $266(3rd Party)
Petrol (5k km) $210 approx. $700 approx.
Total Expenses $1841 $2529

$688 is an okay saving to having a scooter. But as you can see there is a large an advantage to having a cheap vehicle with such low annual outgoings and zero depreciation (it’s at an all time low). This year, however, I do have a few upkeeps on the horizon to keep the Rav 4 roadworthy such as tyres, a new headlight and the windscreen. These would easily add another $950 to the cost of the car.

There are advantages to having a car but I tend to travel to work alone, and out and about in the family car. I do love commuting by scooter. At the moment, the minus 3 degree morning requires quality motorcycle apparel to stop from freezing up.

The savings are minimal but still worth it given the table above. Where a scooter really comes into its own is when you have a high value vehicle that is rapidly depreciating.

Owning a newish vehicle haemorrhages money each year. Read the Drive article below for more information.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/biggest-losers-20110506-1ean8.html

We live in a digital age. Numbers are constantly changing in our accounts. Up, down. Fifty-three cents credit, ten dollars out, a thousand dollars gone in the blink of an eye.

Think back to when you were younger. Remember that collection of coins you used to have in your piggy bank? How did you spend your money? What kind of considerations did you have to go through to manage your money? Were you a saver or did you blow your money straight away? Either way, those coins and notes meant a lot to you and you knew they were in a finite supply.

It is so incredibly easy to simply tap your card, swipe it in a machine, or use your phones or computers to move large sums of money around in an instant. The problem with this is that we become disassociated with the value of money. Think about buying a $1200 laptop. Which is easier- handing over a card or handing over cash?

Here’s 3 money saving tips that will make your dollars go further!

#1 Pay in cash.

Yes, I realise that cards allow you to get points, interest free terms for 30 days, maybe special shopping credits. Don’t be deluded into thinking that these are a gratuity. Banks know you spend more when you use your card and the massive interest rates on credit cards outweigh any benefits.

#2 Put aside an allocated weekly amount at the start of each week.

Having the weekly budget in cash ensures that you don’t put on hold your savings goals. Put it in a safe place away from kleptomaniacs.

#3 Keep an weekly ledger.

A weekly ledger is a recording of all the ins and outs of your financial transactions. Write down each and everything you spend. Some might be big items like vehicle registrations, insurance items etcetera that should be factored into your annual budget. The weekly spends like a $5 coffee, take away pizza, groceries and so on should be recorded on your budget. If you do need to pay for a bill or move money online, make sure you record it on your budget and take the money out of your weekly cash.

Remember- the reason you are saving money is for the purposes of investing in your financial future. A dollar invested can have a massive compounding effect.

This post is not rocket science and it is not revolutionary in the slightest. It is something we all know we should do, but don't. It has the potential to save us thousands throughout our lifetime but we often cannot be bothered.
It is the power of getting 3 quotes.

By getting 3 quotes for insurance, phone, internet, utilities and services you know you are paying the best amount. You have the ability to save yourselves hundreds and possibly thousands each year.

I would encourage everyone to do this annually as I regularly find that bills tend to go up each year because of inflation, higher overheads [insert other improbable excuse].

Recently I reevaluated my electricity provider against other companies. I did this only a year ago. I was able to save $272 just by checking the rates against an old bill.

$272 is not chump change either and it has a cumulative effect when you get fresh quotes for your health, car and home insurance. You should also check your gas and phone bills.

Keep a record of what you were paying prior and then record how much you've saved. I believe even the most stringent saver could save at least an additional half a grand just by putting in an hour worth of effort each year.

Let us know how much you were able to save in the comments section or if you have other great ways to easily recheck an old quote.

$8,000! That was what one tradesperson estimated to retile the bathrooms in our extremely modest home. Just to give you an idea of the size that he was working with, it was less than 15 square metres. Understandably he did not receive my business.

My next port of call was to visit a tiling store to explain that I knew what constituted a reasonable price and wanted a tradesperson they would highly recommend who would give a fair quote. They gave me the name of Chris.

Chris was the epitome of professionalism. He was well mannered, clean, tidy, well organised and quoted me less than half of the previous quoted price.

First lesson- Get two quotes as a minimum and go by recommendations.

The second story involves having a repair person from Bosch visit our house for a call out. The water was not being drained. I carefully examined the washing machine and could hear water going in but it was failing to go out. I googled the model number and examined the faults that others had experienced. I ascertained that it was most likely a defect with the outlet house. Later that day my wife rang the service technician. He laughed at my diagnosis and said it wouldn’t be a hose. Upon inspecting the machine for a while he concluded that it was in fact the outlet hose and only charged the $150 call out fee, the hose was gratis!

Second lesson- Do your own research using that marvellous contraption called the internet!

The third story is back from when we built our home out in the country. We had a few outrageous quotes for getting over 150 metres of cabling laid, even up to $15,000. I picked up on a bit of the lingo along the way. By the fourth quote I could say with certainty the exact type of cabling needed and detail the specific measurements required. I mentioned the contacts I had formed with the power company, had an excavator arranged to dig the hole to the exact depth, laid all the necessary conduit in preparation and sealed it accordingly.

Consequently I paid a fraction of the price due to the time that I had saved the electrician in managing the third party tradespeople.

Third lesson- To save money it helps to be proactive. Do your part and get a discount.

The fourth example is not so much a story, but more my experience in negotiating a reasonable rate with tradespeople. I have found you can get a much better overall price when you clarify their hourly rate from the outset. Most people are poor estimators of time. Ask 10 people how many hours it would take to paint a given room. Estimations will vary widely.

When you negotiate an hourly rate you show that you expect accountability from the tradesperson. Most would generally estimate more as a safety buffer when they quote you, so an hourly rate is not only fair for everyone, but usually works in your favour.

Fourth lesson- Negotiate an hourly rate to get a cheaper outcome.

Ever walked past a shop, seen a bargain in a catalogue, found the deal of a lifetime on eBay and thought ‘I have to buy it!’? The fact of the matter is that there are so many purchases we make that are not premeditated in the slightest.

Marketers know this only too well and exploit it as much as possible. Think about your typical trip to the store where you have just 3 items on the list. You are made of steel if you can make it past the half price chocolate and the buy one get one free soft drinks.

With smaller items it perhaps doesn’t matter too much and won’t exactly break the bank. Larger items however, can have a devastating effect on your budget and long term financial goals. Sometimes we get eBay alerts or an email from an online store and are tempted by the option of purchasing a bargain just in case it disappears forever.
Let’s face it, we get a rush of endorphin when we buy. It makes us feel good. But how do we control ourselves?

I have a solution. Introduce a ‘Buyer’s Lag’ into each sizeable purchase.

A Buyer’s Lag is a time that you decide upon before you make a purchase that involves a prescribed amount of money.

An example of this might be to write down that that you would not make a purchase greater than $50 without writing in a diary and waiting a fortnight. Yes, you might lose the deal. Yes, a fortnight is also a long time, but by being disciplined you will save money and only make purchases that you really need.

You may even like to introduce an accountability partner that you have to call to discuss your prospective purchases with. Hayley and I are quite serious about budgeting and know to run our purchases by each other. The Buyer’s Lag adds in another layer of protection and gives you time to think carefully about whether you truly need the item that you desire.

How would you feel if you were told you had to move house next week?

Aside from the potential nerves you might experience about moving somewhere new, how would you feel about packing and moving all of your belongings?

For most of us living in developed nations, we would feel utterly overwhelmed and fearful by such a situation.

Over the last century, manufacturing has become comparatively cheaper. We can buy a lot more things with a lot less money (relative to the inflationary factor). Think about the toys you had as a kid and compare them with that of a child of today. Contrast this with what your grandparents used to have when they were children.

The average house size has more than doubled since the 1950’s while the average family size has progressively decreased. The business of extensions, sheds, storage facilities is a huge and booming business. We have so much stuff nowadays and we need a place to store it.

When you declutter, you gain a new perspective over each and every item that you purchase. You spend less time looking after your ‘stuff’, more time enjoying what you have, and you don’t spend time wishing you had more things.

Here are 3 tips to help you declutter:

#1 Wardrobe- Sift through your wardrobe and take out all the clothes you would never wear again. Next do another sift with the filter ‘Would you wear it today?’ I understand that there are seasons and we can change sizes at times, but… with all that taken into account, would you wear it again? Some items might be considered high value jackets. eBay or Gumtree might give you a few extra dollars for those if you wanted. Otherwise take those items to the nearest thrift store to donate.

#2 High Value Items- What do you really use and what is just sitting there collecting dust? Some items we have sitting around have cost us a huge amount of money yet we cling to them while they devalue and decay. Caravans, motorbikes, unused furniture, boats, musical instruments, appliances, kayaks, televisions, computers, even an unnecessary car. You may not want to part with them, but think of the dollars you will retrieve and the space that will be cleared.

#3 Paperwork, cards, souvenirs, memories- Don’t clear out what is really precious but consider doing a cull on what mementos are excessive. When Hayley and I were first married I had instantly inherited boxes of trinkets and souvenirs. Just to give you a taste of the items she had collected, boxes of roller skating trophies, stuffed toys and even a container of cat fur from her deceased childhood pet. Gross! Most things you can just get rid of, some you should keep and others you should photograph and then say goodbye to. It might not save you money, but it will save you space. With saved space, who knows? Maybe you could live in a smaller dwelling?

If you apply some of these tips, hopefully you’ll have a few extra dollars in your pocket, you’ll save money with your new formed spending habits, you’ll feel liberated of possessions and your home will be neater.

Many, many more tips to come so stay tuned!

We live in an age of unprecedented levels of fitness. I would argue that the developed world’s health levels are quite polarised- The uber fit and those who are sacrificing years of their life for the consequences of their lifestyle habits.

The fitness industry is gigantic with gyms and personal trainers residing on almost every street corner. Nowadays we look for ways to correct anything short of a six pack. With all this pressure, it is no wonder we turn to gyms to give us a helping hand.

But some of these expenses have a tendency of adding up. Gym fees of $800 per annum are considered cheap, personal training sessions of $30 for 30 minutes and expensive supplements to keep your nutrition up to scratch. It gets even more expensive if you decide to do it with your spouse.

Just to clarify, I think faith, fitness and relationships supersede any quest for financial wealth. Agree or disagree with that statement. If a gym membership will add years to your life then who could possibly put a price on that?

I would like to offer an alternative however. Could you exercise at home? Think of the travel time saved, the expense and the flexibility.

I have been a home trainer now for years. I was a gym guy but moved way out into a country town an hour from my gym. I purchased around $6,000 in fabulous gym equipment which was well used. Once we moved to a smaller home and had a few kids, we found we needed to reacquire space. I sold off most of the gym equipment except the bare essentials.

What were those essentials?

Power Tower
24kg kettlebell (thanks to Tim Ferriss’s ‘The 4 Hour Body’)
And that’s it!

There are so many body weight exercises that you can do to give you a well-rounded physique. Body weight exercises work on so many stabilising muscles rather than isolated muscles. I would highly recommend reading ‘You Are Your Own Gym’ by Mark Lauren.

The time you could save and money is nothing to be snuffed at. You do need to have incredible discipline though. If you feel you need people motivating you, the pressure of eyes staring, a workout schedule that is combed over by a trainer, then perhaps stick with your gym.

We have private health insurance and have had it for the past few years. It costs us approximately $3500 after the government rebate. We barely ever make use of it aside from when my wife has another amazing child. Even when we do have another child, we still need to outlay nearly $3000 for the obstetrician so it is not exactly cheap.

Australia has an incredibly public health system. There is obviously huge improvements that could be made, but by global standards, we rank pretty high.

Now you know by now that I love to save, so why on earth would I choose to pay for private health insurance? The answer- If my wife is having a baby, she gets to choose where she has it and who her obstetrician is.

To be honest I’m not entirely sure we will keep the health insurance once our family size has met its quota. It is a sizeable cost each month. We did use the hospital cover once when my wife had severe pneumonia. She had spent an agonising week going back and forth between doctors who prescribed her various medicines and told her to come back again in a few days. This went on until she could endure no more and we paid the $300 to be seen by the hospital. In this situation, private health was invaluable.

A few pros for private health insurance:

You can sometimes select your doctors.
You usually receive a private room.
It could be argued that you receive a higher standard of care with doctors and nurses checking on your welfare more regularly.
You get the care you need when you need it.
A few cons for private health insurance:

It is expensive.
You still need to pay for extras.
The difference between public and private might not be worthwhile.
Either way, the choice is yours. I have witnessed a few friends needing surgery who had to wait a long, long time as they kept receiving phone calls notifying them that they had been bumped down the list.

One alternative to most forms of insurance is to pool the money you would have paid into an interest earning account. When you need the money, you just redraw it from the pool. For example 3 years of my health insurance would equate to $10,500 of available funds.

See which method works best for you and the ones you love, which method helps you sleep the most soundly and which bears the least mental cost.

Here’s a real simple solution to save you money- Try cutting your own hair!

Some of you instantly hear alarm bells at this post and will see visions of yourself with shaved bald patches at the side, a mullet at the back and a sea of people pointing and whispering about the hack job you did to yourself.

I have been cutting my own hair for years. At first it wasn’t to save money, but more for convenience. I have a slight OCD tendency which prompts me to freak out at random points because my hair is too long at the sides. I don’t know when this freak out will occur exactly, but once it takes hold I am doomed to be irritated by this 7 millimetre protrusion above my ears until it is trimmed. My wife has learned to live with this deformity in my character and is accustomed to hearing the clippers going at erratic times throughout the day.

I used to love going to an upmarket hairdresser that knew me by name, never kept me waiting, had my favourite magazines on hand and served me lattés as I reclined in the massaging chair. That was about 10 years ago now. Back then it cost me $35 and would only look good for a fortnight. If I had continued at this pace of haircuts it would now have amounted to $9100 over 10 years! That’s a huge amount you could save!

When I moved to the country the drive began to seem ridiculous and I began cutting my own hair with a $40 pair of clippers. I don’t do anything too fancy but my technique involves interchanging between 4 comb lengths.

I would say that there is nothing complex about cutting your own hair. Try watching an hour of YouTube videos and be conservative in the lengths you cut at first. It may even be worthwhile to train up a family member or friend so you can help each other out. Hayley checks the back of my head for me but it can be easy enough for you to do yourself.

You then just vacuum it up, jump straight in the shower and you are done in a third the time it would take you to get to the hairdresser and back.

For those who don’t like your God-given hair colour, you can successfully dye your own hair too with a little practise. Hayley did try to train me but has now succeeded in doing it solo after a few of my bad attempts.

At the end of the day it is just hair. Some of you love the experience and the $9100 (approx.) is a therapy that keeps you sane. Others may have gasped at the sheer amount that could be saved and will be immediately running for the Remington’s.