In my work as a finance broker I see many people looking to buy their home and get into the property market, and struggle to find the deposit. Some ideas I saw posted this week :-
- I make my own morning Latte.
- Cook.
- Eating out is phenomenally expensive.
- I try to keep my car until it gives me reason to replace it.
- Buying used cars
- I always try to buy based on value, rather price.
- If I can buy a pair of shoes for twice the price that will last four times as long, I actually pay less for my shoes.
- If you can do this with most of your non-perishable items, you will find that your costs go down over time.
- Spending little money on products that do not help me achieve my goals (TV, car, smartphone, clothes, trendy places to eat) and spending lavishly on those that help me (laptop/pc and everything in my workstation, good food, books, plans with my people).
- I enjoy vacations I can drive to, it’s cheaper and no flight delays or lost luggage.
- I still get to be with the people I love so nothing really has changed.
- Buy my kids clothes and toys at KMart. They grow out of those clothes so fast so need to buy new ones!
- And they love it that every time we go to Goodwill they can pick whichever toy they want 🙂
- Grow our own vegetables.
- It reduces our grocery bill with added health benefits.
- Use mindfulness to realise that it’s rarely the money spent that makes an event or a trip memorable.
- I have begun to ask myself if what I think I want is worth the price of some future object.
- Most times I can wait, walk away, and remind myself that the object desired was not as important as I had first thought.
- I never carry a balance on my credit cards. They are simply a convenient means of transaction and get paid off shortly after the purchase has gone through. Watching the bank balance dip when pay them off keeps me mindful of my purchases. Buy used/refurbished stuff where possible/reasonable.
- Example: Refurbished year-old electronics are often almost as good and much cheaper.
- I first ask the question of Want vs. Need. If need, then I put the item into my Amazon Wish List, and it stays for 30 days.
- After 30 days, I again ask the question… if still a true need, then I ponder the purchase – most times I delete and move on
Kelvin