How to save $100 a week fast!

Sometimes, saving is easy. Other times, some effort is required. Occasionally, you need to have a little fight.

Mrs DebtMan announced a year ago that by driving an extra five minutes each way to a different supermarket, she saved us $100 a shop.

“Soooo,” came my query, “why don’t we do this every week if the ‘cost’ is 10 minutes in a car?”

Of course, a lecture was then provided to me, free-of-charge, about how busy her weekends were, with a suggestion that, perhaps, I could do the shopping instead. I should have known better.

But a joint, recent, major, realignment of our priorities – we want to renovate – has meant the extra car-time will occur. It’s like getting paid $100 for 10 minutes of our time.

We also went through a year’s worth of credit card statements. And were horrified. Instant change has occurred, from eating out less, to cancelling rarely used memberships, to splurging, simply, less.

Everyone can find savings. If you can’t find $100 a week, you’re not trying.

Long term, where could Gen Xers 

save the most money? 

Cars. Your wheels are wealth vacuums. The less you spend on them, the wealthier you will be. 

Buy a new $45,000 car and sell it six years later for $15,000 and you have lost $30,000, or $5000 a year. A $15,000 second-hand car sold it six years later for $5000 has cost about $1700 a year. 

Saving is about priorities. Find yourself a big target – a holiday, a house deposit, a renovation – and set your priorities around that.

Bruce Brammall is the principal adviser with Bruce Brammall Financial (www.brucebrammallfinancial.com.au) and author of Mortgages Made Easy.