7 Ways Your Family Can Save Money Around Your Home

We have a great guest post from folks at Aussie financial site, HashChing, about 7 ways your family can save money around your home. Enjoy!

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Ever since humans began transacting value with coins and paper notes, we have been told to make and save as much as we can. Today, money is an essential part of everyday life. We work to get it and spend it to survive.

Anything left over is what we save for ‘the future’, whether that be for a house, a holiday or unexpected costs. Unfortunately, saving can be harder than it sounds and many of us find ourselves living paycheck to paycheck.

So, whatever you’re saving for, here’s 7 ways families can save money at home.

Drink more water

Water has some amazing health benefits but drinking lots of it will be a real money saver for you and your family. Firstly, drinking lots of water before a meal will help you stay fuller for longer, and therefore make you eat less. Secondly, water is everywhere you go so it’s easier to refuel with water than any other drink.

Every month, you’re already paying for water with your monthly bills, and even when you’re not at home, water is available at any restaurant or shop, so you won’t have trouble finding it while you’re out. So, if you can skip the soft drinks and ice teas and drink water instead, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of money because water is free. 

Buy Second-hand items

One of the easiest ways to save money these days is to buy items that are still in good condition but have already been used. From clothing, to books and toys, Second-hand items are readily available and can be found at many different locations both in stores and online.

If you were looking at buying something like a book or an item of clothing, then buying it second-hand will help you save a lot more than you would for buying a similar item brand new, and most of the time these items can be found in very good condition. There are many websites online that are great for finding good quality second-hand items such as Gumtree.com.au, and the ever-popular Bountye.com.

Bountye is especially good, because their mission is about environmental sustainability and re-using objects rather than just throwing them into landfill. So, not only will you be saving money, but you’ll be doing your bit to save the planet too.

Plan and prep your meals

Prepping and planning your meals before you eat them is a great way to help you save money around the home, because you get to know what goes into your meals and how many meals you can make out of a batch.

Planning out what you’re going to have each day for the week can be difficult at times, but if you can make something that you can have a few days in the week like a casserole or a pasta dish, you’ll save yourself some money, and some time later on. If you’re making a large dish for the family, get into the habit of making a double batch, so that you can eat it again at another time during the week.

Plan your groceries ahead of time

Most people try to make a shopping list before they go grocery shopping for the week, so that they know what items they need to buy before they get there. If you can stick to your list when you go grocery shopping, you’ll definitely be able to save yourself a bit more money than if you didn’t, but there are also other things you can do if you’re looking to save even more on your weekly shop.

Looking at the catalog for your local store before you go shopping is great way to find out what kind of bargains are available during that week. Obviously, this only saves you money if you’re getting the things that you really need that are on sale, so try to limit your spending on groceries, by only getting the essentials.

You can also compare prices of different stores and see if you can match them. Another thing that can save you lots of money on your shop is buying generic brands. Generic brands of the same or similar items are usually available in every supermarket and are always cheaper than the brand names. Although some may not be as good as the original, you can pick and choose which items you buy that are brand names or generics and save yourself a lot of money. Even if you shop half generic and half brand names you’ll already save yourself a little bit more than you would have before buying all brand names.

Save on your home loan

If you’re looking to save big bucks around the home, then why not try looking for savings a bit closer to home and finding the perfect home loan for you and your family. HashChing is a great website to use when looking for the best deal for your home loan, because it has all the best deals on home loans all in the one place.

Sign-up is free, and you can get advice from verified mortgage brokers who will help you find the best deals to suit your needs. You won’t have to shop around for the best home-loan deals, because HashChing has all the biggest lenders in one place, which will not only save you money, but also lots of time too.

Take advantage of banking offers and account fees

There are plenty of ways to save yourself and your family some money via your bank account if you know where to look. If it is not necessary for you to have more than one account, or if you can find another offer from another bank that saves you money, then you may be better off moving your money into another bank account.

Some accounts can collect more interest than others, so if your savings are sitting dormant in your account and not collecting interest, you may need to look into finding another offer to suit your needs. Things like Term Deposits may be a good idea if you have an amount of money sitting in your savings account. If you know that the money isn’t going to be needed any time soon, the bank will give you a fixed interest rate of a pre-determined term and your money will be kept safe by the bank while it accrues the interest.

Cash-back credit cards

If you’re someone who spends a little too much too often, or if you’re looking to buy some big-ticket items that you already have the cash for, you can apply for a credit card that will give you ‘cash back’ or your purchases. For example, some of these companies may offer you $100 for every $500 you spend or something similar which is great for consumers in the know.

If you’re already planning on buying a big-ticket item, having this sort scheme available will help you save a little bit more money than you originally would have, and you won’t have to pay any interest like you would with a normal credit card because you already have the funds available.