If you've earmarked 2019 as the year you'll finally save enough for a deposit on a new home, there's plenty of ways you can manage it without making the task so tedious that you're more likely to give up.
Putting together a plan of action is the first step to creating good financial habits. From the very start, you’ll need to set out:
- What you earn
- How much you need to save to reach your goal
- How much you can comfortably get by on week by week, and
- How much you can put aside for the small treats that make your new habits easier to keep.
Here are six inspirational tips from experts like mortgage brokers and financial planners that should get you started on your saving plan and maintaining it all year:
- Download a saving app. There are some smart saving apps currently on the market to help you put money aside effortlessly. Apps like Acorns, TrackmySPEND and Mint will round off any purchases you make up to the nearest dollar and automatically deposit the difference in a saving account for you. Acorns, specifically, lets you invest your spare change in any portfolio you like, so you won't even notice you're investing until it comes time to check your dividends.
- Create some buckets. Made famous by The Barefoot Investor, creating different savings accounts or buckets for your money can make you more aware of what you’re spending and Open a separate account each for daily expenses, long term goals, short term luxuries, and must-pay bills. Then, whenever you get paid, transfer a percentage of your salary into each – one suggestion is 60% to daily expenses, 10% each to short- and long-term goals and 20% to bills.
- Rent out a room. If you’re not using some space in your home and you like meeting new people, consider Airbnb for a quick injection of cash to get your saving’s program kickstarted. You don’t have to share your space constantly – you can focus on renting your room out during high-profile events in your area. Just $100 a night for two nights a month will add almost $2500 to your nest egg.
- Join the gig economy. If you want to make real money fast, you could share your skills or possessions for work in your spare time. There’s plenty to choose from these days – Uber, Lyft, The Volte, Spacer, Shebah, Airtasker, Mad Paws and Freelancer are just a few to check out.
- Take the No Restaurant Challenge. If you’re a mad foodie, you might be surprised about how much you could save by committing to eating at home for an entire week or month. That includes takeaway coffees and the work snack machine!
- Swap. Sell. Decide to buy second-hand goods only for an entire year and put the difference in your savings account. Have you got your eye on that whizz-bang pasta maker? Need a new dining setting? Yearning for a new pair of shoes? Chances are the exact thing you want is on a secondhand site like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. You can save up to 90% on common everyday goods that are barely used and save the environment's resources, too. You can also sell all your unwanted goods quickly and efficiently to boost your savings.