Simple tricks to get an extra $9,838 in your pocket each year

With the cost of living biting, a bit of extra cash in your pocket can make a big difference. To give you some inspiration for how to save, we’ve honed in on a couple of simple strategies that could help you boost your bank account. From deleting those pesky apps that tempt you to spend, through to utilising your skills in a side hustle, we found ways you could get an extra $9,838 in your pocket each year.

Keep in mind these are hypothetical examples, and you may not be able to check off all of them. Our goal, though, is to inspire you to take a look at what you may be able to do today to save some money and maybe even develop some healthier spending habits.

1. Do a subscription audit: $240

Do you have subscriptions you’re not using? Streaming services you don’t watch anymore? A gym you don’t attend, or HelloFresh ingredients that sit in the fridge til they’re thrown out? These costs can really add up.

Make a list of all your subscriptions, think hard about whether you need them, and ditch the ones that aren’t giving you any real value. If you miss them you can always subscribe again. Assuming you ditch just one subscription costing $20 a month, the savings can add up to $240 over the year.

Potential money in your pocket: $240 a year

2. Consider a side hustle: $2,232

More and more Aussies are supplementing their incomes by taking on side hustles or taking on odd jobs. Online job marketplace Airtasker revealed the most in-demand side hustles of 2025 and their average job prices:

• Gardening – $186
• Removals – $174
• Residential cleaning – $222
• Handyperson jobs – $349
• Waste disposal collection – $136

Say you were to take on one gardening job per month, and charged $186–you’d be looking at an extra $2,232 in your pocket a year. If you do decide to take on a side hustle, be sure to declare your income, and check to see if it will affect your pension arrangements.

Potential money in your pocket: $2,232 a year or more

3. Reward yourself for taking lunch to work: $2,160

Packing your own lunch takes effort, and buying a cheeky takeaway in the middle of a workday can feel like the easier option, but the cost of those bought lunches can really add up. If you want to make a habit of packing lunch, then why not reward yourself for it?

Say you spend $15 on a normal takeaway lunch. Next time you bring a packed lunch to work, transfer that $15 into a savings account instead. Do this three days a week and you’ll put away a tidy $2,160 within a year.

Potential money in your pocket: $2,160 a year

4. Trim your grocery bills: $2,424

The price of groceries was the top concern for 18% Australian adults, according to Canstar’s 2025 Consumer Pulse Report. One way to potentially reduce how much you’re spending at the supermarket is to give supermarket-branded products a shot. On average, they are 38.8% cheaper than brand-name products.

According to Canstar’s Cost of Living Calculator, an average family spends around $12,480 on groceries per year. Switching over to cheaper options could cut this down to $10,056, for a savings of $2,424.

Potential savings: $2,424 a year

5. Try the 52-week challenge: $1,378

Money-saving challenges can be a fun way to grow your savings, and can give you a goal to work towards, rather than just saying “I should start putting money away”. The 52-week challenge is a popular one to start at the beginning of the year but that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a go now.

The idea is to save $1 in week one, then increase it by $1 each week – so $5 in week five, $20 in week 20, $35 in week 35 and so on. At the end of 52 weeks, you’ll have $1,378 stashed away. There are plenty of free printables online that you can use to track your progress.

Potential money in your pocket: $1,378 a year

6. Make the most of cashback sites: $216

It may be worth looking into cashback providers that pay you when you shop. Each time you make a purchase though their site or app, you can get a percentage of the purchase price back as cashback, ranging from 1% to 15%. Platforms such as ShopBack pay the cashback into your nominated bank account. If you prefer the cashback to go straight into your super fund you can try Boost Your Super.

Let’s assume you spend $600 a month using these platforms and earn 3% cashback on average each month, you’d earn $216 cashback over 12 months.

Potential money in your pocket: $216 a year

7. Delete one app that’s costing you money: $960

Apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, Amazon Prime and Afterpay provide convenience, and can bring a treat to your door at the click of a button, but this convenience comes at a cost. Apps like these make it all too easy to spend, with the fees and charges that are tacked on to each delivery, the amount can rack up fast. Let’s say you are spending about $80 a month on one of these apps – delete it from your phone, and you could save $960 a year.

Potential money in your pocket: $960 a year

8. Cut your mobile phone bills: $228

Speaking of phones, saving money on your mobile phone plan doesn’t mean you have to compromise on data. A quick look at Canstar’s comparison tool shows that prices for a postpaid plan with 5-30GB of data range from $22 a month to $41 – that’s a difference of $19 a month. Over one year, switching could see you save $228.

Potential money in your pocket: $228 a year