Budgeting Ideas
There are four areas here with over 40 tips to help you. If you choose a few things from each list that you’re not doing, you will surely be on the right track to turning your financial situation around. Just think what would happen if you took on all 40 tips!
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10 Tips for saving money in 2010
TIP 1
Refinance or consolidate all of your debt into one loan. This saves you a headache and money at the same time.
TIP 2
Do you have a flash car you can’t afford? It happens. Consider down grading your car or house or rental property, so that you can get control of your finances. Sounds like a big move, but for some of you it will be necessary.
TIP3
Pay before the due dates. This will save you hundreds of dollars, for example;
A late visa payment fee$35.00
An overdrawn fee$35.00
Tip 4
Small amounts of money are a waist of money. Think about all the coins you have either lying around the place or that just keep adding up each time you get change from shopping. Here’s a little challenge. For two weeks collect every single coin. At the end of the two weeks, total up the amount of coins. Now times this by 26. This is approximately how much you would have at the end of the year if you saved up all of you coins. Here’s a scarier thought. What do you actually do with that money? We waist it on cans of coke, packets of chips, and other little things that we can’t even account for.
Tip 5
I know some of you can’t be bothered, but it really helps when you bulk buy household items such as dish washing liquid, toilet paper, cleaners, and the food staples, flour, sugar etc. You can buy 20kg box of washing powder at KMART for around $40.00 or less and it lasts nearly six months (a load a day).
Tip 6
Can you travel to work with a friend a split the costs? Can you car pool with a bunch of people heading in the same direction? This can save you a heap of money.
Tip 7
Be clean and green and save! Conserving energy in your home and water saves you bucket loads. Turn off all switches at the wall, make sure no water is leaking. Turn your entire water system off, check the meter and an hour later check the meter again, if it has ticked over, you have a leak somewhere.
Tip 8
Refuse, Reuse, Recycle – follow the 3 Rs. Don’t buy things you don’t need. Easier said than done right. Here’s a challenge. Write down everything you buy for two weeks. EVERYTHING. Add up all the items you could have done without. Now kick yourself in the behind and get on with saving money. Reuse and recycle items as many times as possible.
Tip 9
Buy on line. Now we know we said get rid of your credit cards. You can still buy on line without a credit card. You just need a Pay Pal account linked to one of your savings accounts. There are so many things you can buy on line in bulk that could save you thousands. Think of the regular things you use. Like nappies. Would you even imagine that you can buy bulk nappies on EBay for a fraction of the cost? So remember think of the everyday things you use a lot of, and then find them on line.
Tip 10
Package things together. That’s everything from Insurance to home loans to your phones and Internet. Packaging products together always saves you money so shop around. Don’t just stick with the same company because your great great great grandmother went with that company. Ask for discounts too everything. All you need to say is ‘can you give me a better price on that?’ And think to yourself, what’s the worse that could happen?
10 Tips for getting organised in 2010
TIP 1
Make a space somewhere in your house where you can do your budget planning. Make a regular time each week when you know you won’t get interrupted. Bring your spending and organising money habits into your consciousness.
TIP 2 - IMPORTANT
Account for all of your spending. This will allow you to see your spending patterns and recognise where you need the most help. Keep all receipts in a special bag so that you can tally them up once a week. When using the jars, each time you use money, a receipt should replace that amount!
TIP 3
Create folders that can house all of your incoming statements and invoices. Display them prominently as a reminder of your fantastic organisational skills e.g.
Folder 1 – Insurances
Folder 2 – Phone/Power and Water/Rates/Car
Folder 3 – Tax
Folder 4 – Bank Statements
Folder 5 - Household Budgeting
TIP 4
Use a calendar to mark when bills are due. Display this with your jars, goals and folders. Once you’ve paid a bill, stamp it with a paid stamp and date it.
TIP 5
Set up automatic payments. This way you won’t have to worry about paying your bills at all but you can sleep at night knowing they will be paid, and you won’t spend the money!
Tip 6
Some companies or departments let you split your pay into two different bank accounts. If you organise this correctly you can have one lot of pay going into an account where all of your automatic payments will come from, and the other account will be the amount you withdraw for your jars.
Tip 7
Check your statements. Time and time again we are incorrectly charged for things. Most commonly bank statements and phone bills. Use a highlighter to mark things you’re not sure of and find out if you're right.
Tip 8
These days statements are being sent to you via email. Don’t forget that these need to be organised too. Create folders in your email account for each type of statement you receive. Each time it arrives, send it straight to the allocated folder. And remember if you request statements that have already been sent to you it will cost you a lot, especially if you need six months worth to apply for a home loan.
Tip 9
Have two trays set up somewhere that forces you to deal with your day to day budget planning.
1.a tray for your incoming mail
2.and a tray for bills/statements to file
When your mail comes in, put it straight into your incoming mail tray. When you’re ready to do your budget and pay your bills, the paid bills go into the filing tray. Make sure you file your bills/statements and important documents away on the same day you do your budget. Don’t leave it for a few weeks because then you won’t be on top of things and are more likely to not stick to your routines.
Tip 10
Share your organisational tips with a friend who is not organised. This often gives you a boost of motivation to continue on the right track. You might even become the ‘organisational guru’ in your group of friends! Share your ideas with us and we'll post them on our site.
10 Tips for getting motivated in 2010
TIP 1
Write to us at Organiseyourmoney.com and we’ll share your story with the rest of the world. Seeing your story helping others will be motivation for you to stick to your game plan.
TIP 2
Make a chart that you can colour in each time some of you debt is paid down. Celebrate the fact that you are on the path to financial freedom.
TIP 3
Buy one of those tins that you can only open with a can opener. Buy a couple. Put all of your gold coins in one of them. Every single five dollar note that passes your way, put into another tin. At the end of a year, you will be surprised not only at how much you save but how much we spend those little amounts of money on nothing at all!
TIP 4
Create a Vision Board. A vision board is a display of both material things and types of lifestyles you would like to be leading. For example, if you would like a nice shiny red car, find a picture of one and stick this onto your board. If it’s good health you long for, find a picture that reflects this. The purpose is to bring your thoughts into your consciousness. It helps you to make choices about your life that will lead you into a more positive lifestyle. Make your vision board interesting, fun and colourful. Remember what we said about action. There's no use trying to dream these things into your life. Think of some actions you can take to make these a reality.
TIP 5
Get some friends on board. There’s nothing like embarking on a new project with some motivation in the form of friendly competition. You can get a group together and do the Organiseyourmoney Group Challenge, that way you’ll save money on the price of the budget kit. Put a wager on who will be the most successful.
TIP 6
Have an I’m going to be debt free in x amount of months’ party. Sure it sounds crazy, but hey you’re in debt, why not have a laugh about it. Show everyone how serious you are about turning your life around. Maybe some friends would like to join you.
TIP 7
Use motivational cards or written notes as reminders about what you are trying to do. Sometimes we lose motivation. Reminders can be placed around your home, your office and in your car. This will help you to stay on track.
TIP 8
Collect all of your credit cards and bury them, burn them, hide them, cut them up, have an ‘I’m never going to use credit cards again’ ceremony. Do something fun to make the moment memorable. This way it will be imprinted in your memory so that you’re not tempted to use them as much or at all.
TIP 9
DON’T make your budget so strict that you’ll do it for a week and then fall off the wagon. It’s unrealistic to be so strict, when you’ve been so naughty! Be sure to add in your bottle of wine, or drinks with the boys, or money for your golf game, or to get your hair done once a month. We’re not saying spend all your money, we’re saying live a little too because you’re more likely to stick to your budget.
Tip 10
Read some really good books or articles that will motivate you further. Sometimes you can take ideas from these or they might help challenge your thinking and allow you to think outside the box on different ways you can generate money. Check out some of our recommended reading. Really Good Books to Read
10 Tips for making extra money in 2010
TIP 1
If you need money quickly, think about selling items you don’t use. Trade me and EBay are great ways to sell things (we said sell not buy!). If you can’t do that, sell to family or friends. Or have a garage/lawn sale. Start up a little stall at your local market. Just imagine, if you could make $500, what debt would you reduce?
Do an audit of things around your home that you don’t use. Use our form as a guide to get you started. Download Form. Think of things that are not being used frequently;
•Bikes
•Kids toys
•Baby stuff
•Clothing
•Electrical goods
•Furniture
•Garden equipment
•Movies, DVDs
TIP 2
Get an extra part time job, just to pay down some of your smaller debt. Work out how much smaller debt you have and work out how long you might need a part time job for. Or you could get a part time job to save for a house deposit.
Tip 3
Ask for a pay rise. If you're working, you should be prepared to go into bat for regular pay increases. If you don't, it's unlikely your employer will jump up and say “damn it, you need a pay rise!”. If you work for the government then your salary is fixed but you can work towards up skilling yourself to take on leadership roles that may attract a higher salary. Let your line manager know you are interested in a leadership role and ask what you could do to make that happen.
Tip 4
Do overtime. If your job pays overtime rates and your family life won't suffer, this is an easy way to bring home more money even if it’s just to pay down some of your debt.
Tip 5
Take a boarder or ask your kids to pay rent (no not your five year olds) . If you have a spare room, rent it out.
Tip 6
Can you make or bake things to sell? Think of some creative ideas that can make you a little extra cash. Muffins for the school canteen, ironing for five people once a week, painted canvases for a market stall.
Tip 7
If you have a market near you, visit and see what’s missing for sale. If you have a great idea, jump on line and find the product wholesale and then sell your product at the market.
Tip 8
Do you have a skill? Can you make some extra money from it? Think about using your skill. Market yourself to your friends, family and to strangers. If someone needs their house de-cluttered, and you’re a great organiser, offer to help them out for a reasonable fee.
Tip 9
Fund raise. You can only do this with your family and friends in your own home. Otherwise you would need permits. However, if you’re not afraid to let your family and friends know that you need a bit of help with your financial situation then you could have a fundraiser where they will get something out of it too for example, family bingo with great prizes, a beautiful dinner that they pay a fee for per head or baked goods or vegetables that they buy, do their shopping for them!
You’ll need to be creative here and make the deal irresistible so that you don’t get your family off side.
Tip 10
Family photographs – no one can resist a family photograph. You can organise taking the portraits, black and whites are always a hit. Have them developed and framed and charge a fee for them. Be sure to show some examples and here’s a tip, the bigger the photo the more impressive it looks so find a place that will print them in a large format. Another tip, find bargain priced frames first then get the photos done. Charge double what you paid.
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