The best saving tips are the ones nobody ever tells you. Those money saving tips the big companies are hoping you don’t find out about so they can keep making boatloads of cash from you. We have all heard the normal saving tips: Pay your debts off, save for a rainy day, increase your income and reduce unnecessary expenses. Yes, these do work but you need better saving tips, saving tips the general public is never told. Saving tips you wish you knew, saving tips that actually increase your wealth.
So here they are:
Saving Tip #1:
Use the equity in your home loan to buy your car instead of signing that hire purchase or lease agreement. On average you will save R 20000 in 56 months. Yes, you heard me, don’t spend 1 cent more and save yourself R 20000. Pay the home loan back at the same premium as the vehicle instalment added to your existing repayment and you automatically save that money, not to mention the discount you can negotiate on the vehicle when you are paying cash!
Saving Tip #2:
Re-evaluate your insurances every year. I mean every year. Insurance companies do not lower your premiums, in fact they increase them annually, but intend on paying out less year on year due to the depreciated book value of your vehicle. Call a garage, get a book value and get your insurance company to adjust your cover value to match either the book value (if paid for) or the outstanding finance balance if under finance. Tell your insurance company to adjust that value and get an immediate reduction in your premiums.
Saving Tip #3:
Check your bank statement. Are you paying large penalty fees for drawing money at other bank’s ATMs? Drawing cash at your own bank’s ATM will drop your charges from R 30 to R3! Still writing out cheques at a huge cost? Switch to Internet banking and save yourself between 20% and 80% of your bank charges. You are probably paying for membership to a rewards programme too. Do you really get enough rewards for your membership fee? Most programmes actually favour the institution not the customer.
Saving Tip #4:
Does your cheque account pay you interest on your credit balance? Most don’t! Open a savings account and pay your salary into that or you sacrifice between 0,5% and 7% (available at CAPITEC Bank) interest on your positive balance by keeping it. A cheque account has no use if you do not write out cheques and Internet banking and debit cards make this a reality. Why are you losing money when you could be earning it? Even better is to switch to an account attached to your home loan (available at FNB), you could save thousands in interest over the term of you loan by a simple account switch.
Saving Tip #5:
Cut your electricity bill by up to 50%. Switch your geyser off everyday, the whole day (6am – 9pm) and shower in the morning. If you have timer, check it, most do not switch the geyser off for that long and during peak time you pay maximum demand. Check for “vampire electronics” and switch them off. Your pool pump only needs to run for 4 hours per day, change your timer setting. Check all your plugs everyday before you leave for work, you should draw NO power while you are not at home! You aren’t using it while you are not there, yet you are paying out your hard earned cash to keep that meter running. Don’t spend money on something that is not in use?
These tips are easy to follow and will make an impact on your bank balance. It is empowering to know you can and will be wealthier without spending an extra cent!