THRIFTY MUM!
MUM-OF-NINE CLAIRE HOOKER’S TIPS, TRICKS AND BUDGET HACKS
Aquestion I often get asked is, how do we slash our bills? It’s great to be able to share a few of my tips and tricks to do just that, especially with prices sky-high!
At times it can seem like bills are never-ending. As a working family, we try to budget for bills in advance. This helps in two ways. Firstly, it reduces bill shock, and secondly, it can dramatically cut your costs.
So, how does budgeting reduce your chance of bill shock? Some organisations allow prepaying of bills with no extra cost. As an example, our rates for house, land and water are some of our biggest bills. By working out your average payments over a year and paying that bill weekly or fortnightly, you shouldn’t get a huge bill all at once. I have found the best way to do this is by setting up a recurring payment through internet banking. When you do receive your rates notice, you just pay the remainder!
Insurance is an important but often expensive necessity of life. It’s hard to think of a terrible misfortune without the comfort of knowing you will be looked after financially.
A tip to massively reduce your costs is to pay annually. I have noticed that when I pay my insurance monthly,
I am often paying a lot more over the year.
It’s not always practical, however, to have money available to pay the house insurance annually. If you’re not able to do this, I have a tip for you. Jump online, get a quote and add 10 per cent for inflation and market increases, then work out how much you will need to pay per income cycle. Put that money into an account and when it comes time to pay your insurance premium, you will be ready to go with dollars in your pocket.