5 Easy Ways to Save Money While Self-Isolating

The world has changed and so is the way that we all look at money. While we’re all staying home and helping flatten the curve of Coronavirus worldwide, there are many small changes you can make that can have a huge impact on your savings. It’s times like these that small changes can have a domino effect on your life as we all return to normal.

Whether you’re still working, working reduced hours or you’ve been financial impacted, these 7 tips can help you; it might even be worth sharing with your partner, housemate or kids as well.

Here are 7 tips for saving money while self-isolating

2. Drink homemade coffee

Nearly all of us start our days with a caffeine hit, usually in the form of a coffee. Throughout our time self-isolating, we want to help out our local businesses as much as possible, meaning that some of us might still be taking a walk down the street to purchase a takeaway coffee from our favourite cafe. Try limiting this to once or twice a week and start drinking instant coffee or investing in an at-home coffee machine for a long term gain. 

By limiting your takeaway coffee intake to once or twice a week, you could save an average of $4 per coffee, which amounts to $20 a week, $80 a month or $960 a year (across a 7 day week). Imagine that, just under $1000 a year straight into your savings account with a small change.

3. Create, and stick to, a budget

Being smart with your money and understanding what you are purchasing throughout this period will be paramount in ensuring you’re still on the right track to hitting your savings goals and not spending more money than you’re earning.  Creating a budget and sticking to it will ensure you can do just that! 

Use a spreadsheet to determine a monthly budget that takes into consideration your monthly and quarterly bills, any expanses throughout this period and essential items such as groceries, pet food etc. Then, work out the disposable income you have left.  Once you have this figure, determine how much you need for any additional expenses not accounted for and the rest you can transfer into a savings account. 

To keep track of your budget, update the spreadsheet regularly and record all items or groups of items you spend money on throughout the month so you can work out if there are any further savings you can make by eliminating any unnecessary spending. Think about all the $$ savings you can invest and begin saving more.

4. Start pre-preparing meals

Under almost every money-savings list you’ll find, they are bound to mention meal prep as a sure-fire way to save some money. And, there’s a good reason for it. Meal-prepping will ensure you aren’t wasting as much food and bulk buying food reduces the amount of money spent on individual meals. 

Sticking to a weekly, fortnightly or even monthly meal plan can also help you bulk-make food or utilise leftovers for future meals that you might not have thought of. Fewer trips to the grocery store mean less time in contact with others, flattening the curve even further and less money spent on unnecessary items. (pro tip: don’t go shopping on an empty stomach).

5. Look at refinancing your home loan

Right now has never been a better time to re-evaluate your home loan and refinance with a lower rate to take advantage of the market slow down. Imagine saving hundreds every month or thousands across the year, just by refinancing your existing home loan. 

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our low-rate, 3 year fixed rate home loan option here: https://www.mortgagehouse.com.au/offers/theres-always-a-way-advantage-home-loan-3yr-fixed-rate-special-payg-70lvr/. You can apply from the comfort of your home and start saving yourself money in no time.

6. Take advantage of online sales

If there is a silver lining throughout the coronavirus period, it is being able to take advantage of all the online sales happening in Australia and even overseas. Taking advantage of these and buy items when they are on sale, you can save hundreds of dollars a month, tucking away what you would have spent in a savings account to accrue interest over time (think of the compounding savings).  

Groceries, clothing, electronic and even automotive businesses are all running sales during this period to drive sales. Set yourself a spending budget in accordance with point 3 above to keep your spending and savings under control. 

So, what are you waiting for? You could be saving $$$ in no time, without even leaving the comfort of your own home. 

At Mortgage House, we hope you are all staying safe and we are here to help you get through this period.  If you are a current customer and require some support, please reach out to us.