If you’re anything like me (and everyone I seem to know), you’re keen to find money saving tips to help get this wild year that we’ve found ourselves in. Interest rates are up, general prices for everything are on the increase, and this might just be the most boring sentence I’ve ever written. But, here we are.
We’ve made loads of changes in our home in order to adjust and adapt to everything costing more, and while it seems boring, every saving counts. If you can cut costs by $100 a month, that works out to be $1200 a year, and there’s opportunities to save much more than that.
I asked my wise Fat Mum Slim community for their best budget tips, and they definitely delivered with over 329 comments. So many tips! I hope you find some that help you save, and get through the year a little more stress-free.
21+ Of The Best Money-Saving Tips
Kitchen Money Saving Tips
1. DIY: Make your own kitchen cleaning product
In a cheap spray bottle (from a bargain shop, or just from the cleaning aisle at the supermarket) make your own cleaning product. Mix 600ml of water, with 200ml of white vinegar, along with 2 teaspoons of bicarb soda. If you have some essential oils, pop a few drops in to make it smell nice.
2. Shop smart at the supermarket
We’ve all noticed that prices have increased at the supermarket, and this is almost unavoidable. Dairy products have increased the most, with an average 14.4% increase in prices (according to the ABS). Shop smarter by buying on sale, and buying when things are heavily reduced (when they’re nearing their use by date). An easy hack is buying cream when it’s near the use-by-date and turning it into butter (which is quite easy to do when you have a Thermomix).
Meal plan! And plan cleverly, plan meals that use similar ingredients so there is no wastage.
Kelly E.
3. Download money-saving grocery apps
It’s a time-consuming task to compare prices for products from all the supermarkets, so why not let an App do all the work. Free App Frugl helps you compare prices and get the most out of your grocery shop. The Half Price App also let’s you know what products are currently half price at Woolworths and Coles. And remember, even if you’re only saving $10 a week, that comes to $520 in a year. It all matters!
4. Sell your second fridge
I know we’re guilty of this, having a second fridge that is home to drinks that we never drink but like to keep cold (whyyy?) and, according to money expert Effie Zahos, this is costing us at least an extra $244 per year. Selling your second fridge will save you money on your power bill, and give you a little cash boost on the sale too.
5. Use energy efficient appliances
How many stars does your dishwasher have? If you’re running a 3-star dishwasher instead of a 4-star, you’ll be paying around $30 extra per year. While it’s not financially viable for most people to replace all their old appliances, it’s important to keep in mind if you’re ever in the market for kitchen appliances, the star rating really matters.
6. Shop and cook in season
This will save you so much, and also will have you eating the best quality food at the right time of the year. You can tell what’s in season by checking the prices when you shop, but this guide will help you shop in season. When something is in season, lemons for example, they’ll be growing by the crateful, meaning they’re not in low supply, equaling better prices!
7. Grow your own herb and vegetable garden
If you only have a small space, opt for a herb garden (Bunnings has these great raised garden beds for $32.40 that you can get started with). If you have more space, go the whole hog and build a vegetable garden. This will save you money, and is fun for the family to get involved with.
Bathroom Money Saving Tips
8. Buy your toilet paper online
This sounds like this most boring thing to buy online, but trust me on this one; it saves money. Amazon has great prices for bulk toilet paper, with the Quilton range (our TP of choice) working out to be the best price available right now. They have 48 rolls for $25.25, working out to be 52c a roll.
9. Try beauty product dupes
It pays to check out dupes of some of your favourite products, because sometimes they’re so much cheaper and just as great as the real deal. AdoreBeauty has a great round-up of their favourite beauty dupes, where they share all the secrets, including how to save almost $30 with their favourite concealor dupe. On a recent CostCo visit, we picked up a great moisturiser dupe for only $12.50 each, when the real deal sells for $80.
10. Shop the chemist for beauty products
My all-time favourite mosituriser is around $120 for a small tub, and with all the rising costs, it was the first thing I had to give up. Finding alternatives at the chemist wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be, and they’ve agreed with my skin perfectly. I won’t ever part with my Go-To cleanser though, but at $33 it’s not too much of a splurge, thankfully.
Bedroom Money Saving Tips
11. Do a wardrobe cull and get selling
I’m seeing a lot more of this, and I’m totally here for it. Selling unwanted clothes, and accessories has never been easier with Facebook Marketplace. Go through your wardrobe and if you haven’t worn something in the past year, sell it! To get the best prices, look for brand-specific groups, which is filled with fans of that label. For instance, I love the label Spell, and if I sell in that group I can get the best price possible, because everyone in that group already appreciates that label and knows the clothes.
Shop your wardrobe. Quality over quantity. When online shopping put stuff in your cart. Only purchase if you still want it 24 to hours later.
Natalie F.
12. Sleep under the fan, instead of the air-conditioning
While it’s sometimes nice to sleep in a cool room, it’s churning through the dollars as you snooze. A ceiling fan is an affordable alternative for cooling, without using too much electricity and making your power bill go up.
laundrY Money Saving tips
13. Avoid using the dryer
We know this is a bit of a no-brainer, that the dryer adds so much to the power bill and that line-drying is the more affordable option. By scrapping the dryer each week, you can save around $360 annually on your power bill (according to money expert Effie Zahos).
14. Only buy laundry detergent on sale or in bulk
A FMS reader who is a keen saver noted that laundry products tend to go on sale every six weeks of so at supermarkets, so when she sees it on sale she buys up and saves money. (At the time of writing Cold Power is half price at Woolworths). I always buy mine in bulk, and I only use half the recommended amount per wash because our clothes aren’t highly soiled, and it’s always worked for me (I actually started this years ago simply because we have sensitive skin and I didn’t want to use too much, and have continued doing it because it became a habit).
If you can plan, buy all the essentials when they are half price which usually is once every month or 6 weeks eg laundry powder /liquid, dishwashing tablets, toilet paper, tissues, deodorant, toothpaste, body soap, shampoo and conditioner, hand soap. All add to the expense of shopping. If you can buy a few even better. I know money and storage can be the problem. Be creative with storage. Well worth it.
Karen H.
15. Opt for cold water washes
I wash everything, except the odd towel wash, on cold simply because I’m petrified of colours running, but this is actually a money saver. Washing on cold means less energy being used, saving around $46 a year (if you’re doing around 7 loads a week).
16. Replace your old washing machine
I know this doesn’t sound like a money-saving hack (because buying new appliances is expensive!), but if you’re using an old washing machine that isn’t energy-efficient (check the star rating) then you’ll be seeing the effects on your power bill. It might just be time to upgrade!
Lounge Room Money Saving Tips
17. Adjust your air-conditioner temperature
I love having a super cool loungeroom on a hot summer’s day, but of course this comes at a cost. While it’s cheaper to not use the air-conditioner at all, if you can just adjust the temperature a little (say 23ºC instead of a breezy 21ºC) you can save just under $50 a year, and it all adds up.
18. Bundle or streamline your streaming services
We were the kind of family that had every streaming service, simply because it was novel and through COVID-19 when we were stuck at home we wanted to watch everything. We recently went through and decided which two we wanted to keep, and then ditched the rest. You can also save money by bundling with services like Telstra TV, who often have great deals.
Miscellaneous Money Saving Tips
19. Get savvy when shopping for fuel
I have a favourite petrol station (it’s a thing as you age, I’m sure!) and the prices are always cheapest in town (sometimes even by 15c). There are loads of petrol-watch apps that keep an eye on prices, and one of the best is the My 7-Eleven App which let’s you keen an eye on prices, and lock in the best price for up to 7 days. I personally always fill up when my tank is around half empty as I feel like the second half of the tank disappears quicker. Not sure if there is any data behind this, but it works for us.
20. Activate the Round-Up bank account feature
This little hack is a forced savings function that a few banks, like ING, offer. How does it work? Say you buy yourself some lunch for $6.50, the account will automatically round it up to $7 and pop that 50c into a round-up account to stack your savings. You can choose whether to round prices up to the nearest $1 or $5, so depending on which option you choose, will depend just how much money you save each year.
21. Update your mobile phone plan
It’s common for mobile phone users to just set and forget their phone plan, but this is a great area to be saving money. Canstar has a great comparison calculator where you can search for what you need (Phone on a plan? Sim only?) and shop the best price available.
Do not buy anything you can’t afford!
Judy H.
22. Clean up your auto-payments and subscriptions
It’s almost embarrassing how flippant past-me was about signing up to something, and current-me isn’t impressed. I strongly encourage everyone to go through three things – auto-payments in Paypal, on Apple Subscriptions and then download two months of each of your bank accounts and go through and highlight any recurring payments and make sure that they’re essential – removing any that you don’t need.
