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miss 
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: New Zealand
Points: 2547
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 Posted: 26 March 2008 at 11:03am |
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Treat it as a challenge, rather than a chore - you can get totally into the competition of improving on the previous weeks spend.
The free stuff on simplesavings.co.nz is helpful
there is a thread on the babies section about saving money, it is stickied, check it out for more ideas.
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caliandjack
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Joined: 10 March 2007
Location: West Auckland
Points: 12487
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Posted: 26 March 2008 at 6:32pm |
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I use the wonders of Lay-by especially at K-mart, I put aside $5-10 per week for clothing, and Christmas/B'day presents adds up to $500 a year I find it more affordable.
I also do the Christmas club/hamper thing, no unexpected surprises at the end of the year, that take all of the next year to recover from.
Also its surprising what you can go without if you really have to.
I only have a latte or hot chocolate on a rare occasions and try to make my own lunch instead of buying it.
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kebakat
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Palmy North
Points: 10980
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Posted: 26 March 2008 at 6:35pm |
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After reading this DH and I have decided we are going to make seperate acc's for bills and spending money for each other etc and dump the rest into savings. DH goes a bit nuts not having spending money so at least he's going to have his own lil account to do what he pleases
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peanut butter
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Joined: 20 February 2007
Points: 8044
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Posted: 26 March 2008 at 7:11pm |
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I transfer a certain amount each payday to a Raboplus account. It is high interest and on call. Then when ever a bill is due I transfer the amount out and back into our everyday account and pay the bill. Its a bit of double/triple handling but I want to get the most out of 8.35% interest. Also we always have enough in the account for things like car regos etc
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3boys
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Joined: 28 August 2007
Location: Waitakere
Points: 189
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Posted: 26 March 2008 at 8:49pm |
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We were bad - and I mean bad. We never had any money at the end of the month which was just wrong considering we earnt plenty.
For the last two years I have used a spreadsheet and run things like a business and man what a diff. Our income and expenses are much the same, but we have money at the end of the month and we even save. We have now just voluntarily increased the payments on our mort which I am really proud of.
The main piece of advice is forecasting - if you can accurately forecast your budget you will be on the right track. I also update it at least once every two days, putting in the bank balance as we go, so I can see exactly what is left for the rest of the month.
We get paid monthly so it has to last!
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Bombshell
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Points: 6665
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Posted: 26 March 2008 at 9:12pm |
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i already have at least six xmas pressies put away for ella bought in post xmas or easter sales...too old for her now but xmas will be sweet...and you dont notice a $50 spend every now and then...although you would notice $300 not going so far in pre xmas sales...
i grew up with mum hiding stuff in cupboards well ahead of birthdays and xmas etc...she occasionally forgot she had stuff too! LOL!!!
much easier on the pocket esp if unexpected bills arrive down the track...
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MissCandice
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Joined: 01 January 2007
Location: Christchurch
Points: 3836
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Posted: 27 March 2008 at 10:40am |
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Good idea BS, we did that in the waitangi day sales last year 30% off toys so we layby'd all Kylahs xmas pressie toys and got them out intime for christmas. We got $400 worth of toys (about 6 things) for $170.
Also this year i am doing the christmas card club thingy at the warehouse. I also think xmas club at supermarkets is quite good.
We do our meat shopping at raewood fresh or mad butcher it works out way cheaper than supermarket.
I agree on the spending money thing though. We are jusst starting to budget properly now as we want to save for a deposit on a house in 18months.
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~ Mummy to a beautiful girl ~
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KABJ99
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Joined: 15 January 2008
Location: Mangere Bridge, Auckland
Points: 293
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Posted: 27 March 2008 at 4:58pm |
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Look at what you are buying and spending on your grocery bill. Especially now as all the prices are going up. Those processed, pre packaged and snack items (ie those multipacks of small chips etc) all really add up.
Buy home or basic brands for stock items such as flour, sugar, salt etc(They're all made by the big name brand owners anyway). Save the good brands for those items that you eat without any preparation.
Look at what you are buying that is processed and see if you can make it simply and quickly for a lot cheaper eg say a jar of Bolagnaise sauce is $3.50. You can make this with a tin of budget chopped tomatoes, little bit of garlic, little bit of tomato paste, onion and some oregano and seasoning (salt & pepper)for about $1.50 hence having the extra money to spend on a luxery item ie chocolate as a treat
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Living within a budget
