20 tips and tricks from a financial adviser to help you save money

In this edited extract from her book, financial adviser Helen Baker reveals the tips and tricks that she shares with her clients that could potentially save you thousands.

Over many years, I’ve compiled tips and tricks that have benefited my clients, and I hope they’ll help you too. Here are my top 20.

1. Look at your credit card debt

Consider switching to zero interest or lower interest cards or organise an automatic transfer to pay off your debt every month so that you never pay interest. A credit card debt of $2,000 becomes $5,187 over 17 years when only the minimum repayment is made!

2. Review your fixed costs

Review all your fixed costs such as utilities, phone and insurances annually to see if you can get a better deal. Ring your current providers and ask them what their best deal is. They won’t knock on your door offering it.

3. Minimise interest on your mortgage

Speak to your lender or mortgage broker to ensure your debts are structured as efficiently as possible to minimise the interest you are paying. For example, a home loan of $500,000 at 4.5%pa adds up to $412,034 in interest over 30 years. Reduce the interest rate by just 0.25% and you could save $26,452 over the course of the loan. That’s almost $1,000 a year. Put those savings into your home loan to reduce interest and you could save even more.

→ Related: 5 ways to pay off your mortgage faster

4. Revisit your bank accounts

Review the structure of your bank accounts. Do they help you to manage your money efficiently or hinder you? How much are you paying in account fees? Seek zero bank fees for your loyalty.

5. Consider bill smoothing

Smooth out your bill cycles and reduce the peaks and troughs of having to outlay substantial amounts and then having to play catch up until the next lot of bills arrive. Often people forget to pay bills on time and they lose a discount (this generally applies with rates, car registration and electricity). For example, you could potentially save $250-plus per year on rates if you pay in the ‘discount’ period. One way to do this is to organise to have all your bills paid from a separate ‘bills account’. Work out your annualised fixed costs and transfer this amount on a monthly/fortnightly/weekly basis to that account.

→ Related: Bill smoothing: What it is and how to do it

6. Look for a better mobile phone plan

Does your mobile phone plan work for you? A friend of mine was paying $160 per month on a plan that was appropriate a year ago but not now she could be on an equivalent $80 per month plan – saving $960 a year – if she had the motivation and took the time to select a new plan.

7. Set up a holiday account

Setting up a separate ‘holiday’ bank account into which regular contributions are paid and having the money saved enables you to take advantage of sales and discounts on flights, accommodation and car hire.

8. Clear your personal debt

Pay down personal debt as quickly as possible to minimise the interest payable. Start with the one with the highest interest rate first. Do you have a personal loan for a car? Is the interest rate higher than the home loan rate? You could save around $2,800 a year in interest and pay it off quicker by consolidating it into your home loan.

→ Related: How to become debt-free

9. Take care with rewards credit cards

Be wise to credit card points and loyalty program points systems. Spending money just for points is not a good idea. Depending on your situation and how the numbers stack up, you may be better off with a no-fee card or a low-fee card and no bonuses.

10. Be organised when it comes to gifts

Buy Christmas and birthday presents at sales throughout the year and you’ll bag bargains as well as be organised.

11. Shop smart

Buy your clothes in the changeover or sales seasons. They’ll still be fashionable next season.

12. Don’t smoke

Cigarettes are expensive and smoking adds a loading onto your insurance premiums (TPD, life, income protection and trauma). One lady I met saved $20,000 a year by quitting! She used the savings to pay for holidays.

→ Related: What does life insurance cost for a smoker?

13. Don’t go to the supermarket on an empty stomach

Never grocery shop when you’re hungry. You are more likely to impulse buy. Even an extra $20 a week on impulse purchases adds up to about $1,000 a year.

→ Related: How to save money on groceries

14. Think smart about regular purchases

I love my daily can of diet cola. I tend to have two cans a day (in my defence, I don’t drink coffee). I could purchase a can at the café downstairs every time I wanted one during the working week but at $3 a pop (no pun intended), that’s $1,460 over a year. Instead, I buy 30-pack cartons, as needed, from the supermarket and pop them in the work fridge. I save nearly $1,000 a year.

15. Look at what apps you are paying for

Cancel apps that you or your children paid for that you no longer use – the saving could possibly be $200 a year.

16. Round up

Rounding up can be a great way to chip away at your home loan. A friend saved an extra $400 in one month just by rounding up to the nearest dollar every time something was purchased and placing those extra cents on the home loan. Over time, doing this will save on interest and you could pay off y sooner.

17. Bring your own cup

Many coffee shops offer discounts if you take your own mug. You win – and you’ll help the environment too. You could probably save around $146 a year.

18. Make the most of leftovers

Eat the previous night’s leftovers for lunch twice a week instead of buying lunch (at, say, $15 for a wrap or burger and a drink) and you’ll save $1,560 per year.

19. Top up your super

Salary sacrifice to superannuation. If you put just $20 per week from the savings above into your superannuation (pre-tax voluntary contribution or salary sacrifice) that would result in an added $1,040 in your superannuation each year. It would likely save you around $239 in tax each year. If you kept doing it year after year for 30 years (a total of $31,200), this would likely build in the vicinity of $75,000! And that’s not including your tax savings.

20. Reconsider the way you donate

Rather than donate a little bit here and there into those tins which generally you don’t claim as a tax deduction, make one big donation, get a receipt, then claim it as a tax deduction. If you don’t want the tax refund, then when the refund comes, you can donate it too. If you do keep it, you have stretched your money further.

This is an edited extract from On Your Own Two Feet: The Essential Guide to Financial Independence for all Women (Ventura Press, RRP $32.99), republished with permission. Proceeds from book sales are donated to charities supporting disadvantaged women and children. 

Cover image source: Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock.com

About Helen Baker

Helen Baker is a licensed Australian financial adviser with a Masters in Financial Planning. She is the founder of On Your Own Two Feet and the author of several books.