How to save money while flatting
Flatting can mean really taking charge of your finances for the first time. Bridie Chetwin-Kelly has some tips to make it easier.
So you’ve moved out of home and need to show your parents you’re all grown up and can take care of yourself. Lots of us cut our house-budgeting teeth in a flatting situation when money is tight and expenses big. I overhauled our flat finances recently and found we were giving away too much of our precious cash needlessly. Here’s what I did to keep more money in our pockets.
Setting yourself up for savings
So many times you hear young new flatters complain about the costs of their bills each month The simple solution is to overestimate, over-pay and reap the benefits, instead of being surprised when a bill lands. You know how much internet is, you can estimate the amount a power bill is and, in the case of Auckland, water prices can also be estimated. By overpaying your rent with bills inclusive each week, no-one has to worry about massive bills at the end of the month. It also pays to work out how much flat expenses are each month as well. We include toilet paper, laundry powder, all communal kitchen needs and have money left over that continues to accumulate each week.
Make that smartphone work for you
There are now so many apps for saving money that you really have no excuse not to save. I use Gaspy religiously, it hunts down the cheapest fuel prices in town and it’s almost always worth driving a little further for the saving.
Priceme compares more than 500 New Zealand retailers , so it’s easy to find out if you are getting the best deal. SAVINGS: My local gas station in Kingsland sells 91 at 2.15 a litre but 3km away is a Waitomo which sells it for 2.05 a litre. I fill up 23 litres every fortnight, saving me $199 a year.
Save on food without starving
Living on a budget while trying to eat healthily and ignore Uber Eats is one of the toughest parts of flatting. There are steps you can take, though, to impress your parents now you’ve moved out of home. Meal prepping helped me when I was studying. To make five dinners and lunches for the week I would spend 30 minutes shopping and one hour prepping. Having a meal plan meant having a shopping list which, in turn, saved me money at the checkout. I also found getting produce at markets or greengrocers kept more money in my pocket.
If you do find you’ve bought too much, consider rehoming it instead of wasting it. App Olio lets users list food that’s going spare and connects them with other users who would like it. It means not only are you helping someone eat for the day, you are also preventing food waste, so we’re talking a win-win here. SAVINGS: Groceries cost me a strict $50 a week, that’s $2600 a year. Uber Eats equates to about $25 a meal. At maybe two meals a day that’s upwards of $10,000 a year.
You’ve got the power (to save)
The good news is that there are already websites like Powerswitch that exist to help you find out what the cheapest and best power prices are for your area. The bad news is that if you don’t read the fine print you could be stuck with long-term contracts and hefty termination fees if you are not careful. When it came to my new five-bedroom flat in Kingsland we found out that we weren’t even close to being on the best plan for our power. It took about 10 minutes and Powerswitch quickly calculated for me which company I should switch to. It worked out to be $270-a-year cheaper to be with Meridian, which also only sources energy from renewable sources. Sure, this only calculates
to be just over $5 a week but when it’s a hassle-free process that requires you to do nothing, why not save what you can?
SAVINGS: $270 a year.
Stay online for less
It’s a similar situation with internet as with electricity – it literally pays to shop around. When I checked ours, not only was our current provider the most expensive, it also had shocking customer service – all done online. Most internet service providers will require you sign up for a year and sting you with hefty disconnection fee so be aware of this. Keep your eye out for a deal that will chuck in Netflix or Spotify (though compare whether it’s simply cheaper to find another provider and pay for those services separately). Our switch saved us $14 a month, $168 a year.
SAVINGS: $168 a year.
Get a student card
This one goes out to students everywhere – spend that $20 to $30 at the start of your studying and you will save big time. There are discounts on everything from tattoos to gym fees, haircuts to glasses and appliance rentals. Also, get that student concession for public transport because why pay more than you should? It’s worth checking out the best tertiary bank accounts, as well. ASB ranks highly with no fees and interestfree overdrafts.
SAVINGS: Thousands, surely.