How to Create and Stick to a BudgetUnless you've grown up being taught about money, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start and what to do. With the way the world is at the moment, more and more people are scrambling to try to learn and get control of their finances. Even if you know a lot about money, sometimes it just feels hard. Expenses are outweighing income in many families and it feels hopeless. When it comes to creating a budget, a lot of the advice from the past might not feel relevant. The high cost of living, barely scraping by each week, not being able to set up the buckets or sections in the budget you want to get on top of things because there is always another big bill etc... There are numerous reasons budgeting feels too hard. So how can you make it easier? 1. Face it head on: Burying your head in the sand won't make it go away. Know how much you owe, what your expenses are and what your income is. If your expenses are more than your income you need to find some ways to cut back but also look at ways to make more. Read the tips to get your budget sorted and decide what you want to do. Money With Jess is a popular and easy to follow budget book. She is about to launch The Cost of Living Survival Guide: Budget with Confidence, Beat Rising Prices and Invest for Tomorrow. It is the updated and extended version with a lot more and available for preorder. 2. Automate what you can: This part can take a little juggling at first but can make life so much easier. Look over your finances and see what you can automate such as salary sacrificing into superannuation, having your payroll transfer some of your pay straight into a savings account. Some people like to transfer a small amount to each of their bills every pay so they are never surprised with a huge bill. The Automatic Millionaire is a great book for automating savings and money. Find out more about automating in this post about how to get rich being lazy with money. 3. Make learning about it fun: There are so many ways to learn, part of it is simply taking action to find what works for you. To learn more about finances there are financial professionals but also blogs, podcasts. YouTube channels, Facebook groups etc. Find what you enjoy and how it can be fun to learn about finances for you. 4. Try one thing: Don't try to make all the changes at once. Pick one thing and try it. It can be tempting to want to overhaul your entire life but often that leads to overwhelm. Try one of these 23 things to save money to start with. 5. Use an app: WeMoney is an easy to use, secure money management app that I have used since July 2021. Check out the review here. How to Make Life EasierYou don't have to do it all yourself. Years ago there was more of a community feel to everything and "it takes a village" was taken literally. Now, we are more isolated, more things demand our time and it is harder to switch off. So how can you make it easier? Use these tips to find more time every week. Get control of life admin (all the appointments, schedules, paperwork etc). Many love the tips from the book Life Admin Hacks. Rotate through the meal kits to get their discounts, your meal plan is sorted and if you have others living with you, including kids, everyone can take turns cooking. Find ways to make easy money e.g. bank bonuses up to $200. Get your kids to help at home. Use these tips on how to do that. When your family is on board with saving money, life is infinitely easier. Here are some tips to do that. Check out the 5 easiest ways we have made money too. What I Am ReadingJess Irvine is an Australian money professional and multiple international best seller. She is about to launch The Cost of Living Survival Guide: Budget with Confidence, Beat Rising Prices and Invest for Tomorrow so I have pre-ordered it. The Thrifty Issue CommunityFor more and to connect with others check out The Thrifty Issue Facebook group, Facebook page, Instagram, Pinterest. |
Tips to make and save money, especially for Aussies. How I am clearing $59,973.72 worth of debt,As featured on ABC, Nine and Channel 7. Sign up for weekly tips plus freebies and discounts.
How to Reduce All Your BIG Expenses Coming to the end of the year can be stressful with big expenses rolling in such as bills, groceries increasing, rent or interest rates changing, not to mention the school holidays, gifts, events etc. Here are some tips to reduce all your big expenses and hopefully give you some breathing room in your budget. How to save money on housing/accommodation How to make your home pay for your mortgage How to save money on groceries 18 tips to reduce your groceries...
How to Get Freebies How good does it feel when you get something for free? While it can be true that most freebies have a catch, it's up to you to decide if that 'catch' is worth it or not. If you do want to get some freebies, here are some ways you can: Enter competitions: It's not guaranteed you'll win so it might be a waste of time but last year I won thousands of dollars in gift cards and products, this year I have won a few hundred in the few I have entered so far. Admittedly, I am not...
$100 Winner is.... Thank you so much to all who did our survey and the results were interesting and have given me a lot to think about. Also, thank you so much for the well wishes with running The Thrifty Issue and sharing my experiences. Our winner is Catherine, who has been emailed separately as well. Tips and Advice There were a few common themes in the survey, some of which have been covered on the site. By far, the biggest issue was groceries, followed by housing. I share some tips for...