How to Save Money on a low income - take control of your finances

Make a Plan

The most simple yet effective step is to start with a plan. You want to set yourself up in the beginning to get the best outcome, to know what you want and to have a clear plan to get there.

Take the time to write out what you're doing, why you want it and what it's going to do for your life and then write the plan of how it's going to be done.

Values & Priorities

Just the same as a plan, knowing what your values and priorities are around money, can keep you in check and help you to make better decisions on a daily basis. If you're saving for a deposit for a house but buy that coffee everyday when you don't have to, that can be $40 - $50 per week not saved.

Strategy - Debt

This was one of the first things that I looked at because it was the one thing that you're putting money to every week and it's probably not on something that's giving you a return, just a drain.

Write down your debts from smallest to largest - the smallest you will pay off first.

Keep making the minimum payment to your largest debts while making an extra payment to the smallest - do this weekly so you can see results faster.

When your smallest debt has been paid, go to the next.

Budget

Create a weekly budget so you can track your spending and will help you to remember to pay what you need to. Always pay your essentials first - rent, food, electric, water, etc.

Prioritise

Cut out all unnecessary spending - subscriptions, daily coffee, etc. Ask yourself, "Do I really need this", "Why do I have it", "What can I do instead"

Food

Food spending is a big one because we are all conditioned from when we are young on how and what we're meant to eat, we can be addicted to the processed food and believe that real food is expensive.

Markets are a great place to get cheaper fruit n veg and was a place that I used to sell plants to make extra money.

Cooking at home in itself will save you money and using simple whole ingredients goes a lot further and keeps your brain and body healthy. Win Win.

Have dinner dates with friends and family where everyone brings a plate, it's the company that brings you joy.

Sell it

We tend to have a life of too much stuff, things we thought we wanted at the time. Look through everything and see if you can sell it instead of it collecting dust.

We tend to buy and keep things with our emotions so take the time to understand the feeling behind your purchase or why you hang onto it when you no longer use it.

Public Resources

Before we all started living our lives through the internet, what did we all do? Are those avenues still available? How much do they cost?

Public Libraries - borrow books to read, find books to help you up skill and some may have free events to attend and children's/adults reading clubs.

Community Centers and government programs - Look on your local government website for low or no cost programs in your area. When I was young my mother signed up for local community volunteer groups which allowed her to meet new people, learn new skills and to gain more confidence in herself. One reason why people spend money on things they don't need is to feel 'good' about themselves, so serving others will give a sense of fulfillment.

Savings Account

Open a separate savings account that you can put weekly deposits in or set up an automatic transfer. This works because this money is then out of sight and you'll be less tempted.

Reduce household bills

This is one area that can be high cost but there are simple ways to save more and put it into your pocket instead.

Both cold and very hot climates can be a challenge and it's so easy to put the air con on but that will chew up $$ fast. In summer I've learnt to open windows and doors to get a cross breeze to cool the house and use fans. I used to live in some hot boxes when I was younger so I learnt quickly.

Winter - We have a house in Japan and it is a cold box in winter. I close the window shutters in the afternoon, wear socks and slippers, section off rooms so the heat stays in and I only use a small electric heater, works well and is cheap.

And here's an extra tip, eat healthy fats - gives your body extra insulation.

Extra jobs - Extra Cash

When I wanted more money I faced my discomforts and found a new job, sometimes this is all it takes because do you have extra time to do extra jobs?

Ask at work, are there extra hours?, can you do some freelance work? Simple jobs like dog walking?

My son used to read and edit documents for people for extra cash and I would sell cheap plants at the market on the weekend bringing in an extra $400 - $500 per week.

Up Skill

Want to learn new skills but think you can only do that at college. The internet is full of affordable resources so you have no excuse.

Online learning platforms like Udemy and Skool have a plethora of very affordable courses in just about everything.

Youtube is also a great resource for learning in all areas of life, my son once said to me, "why go to college to learn photography when you can learn everything on YouTube", he's absolutely right.

Remember, it's the small steps that are going to make the biggest impact and shift your perspective in a better direction. Develop habits that serve you and let go of the things holding you back.

Be the author of your money story, not the victim.