Mount Isa budgeting and savings tips
If you don’t have a Mt Isa budget or savings plan in place, you could be throwing your money away. But if you follow some simple tips, you can avoid money hassles. Read on to find out what you need to know and start doing to avoid going backwards in today’s inflationary times.
Create a budget
Creating a budget will help you to plan and track where your money is going so you can make better financial decisions.
A budget should have two columns: one for your income and one for your expenses. Ideally, align your budget with how often you get paid (e.g., weekly, fortnightly or monthly).
Divide your expenses column into two categories: essential and non-essential.
You should also align all your expenses with your budget time frame as best as you can. For example, if you’re doing a fortnightly budget, divide all your monthly expenses by two, your quarterly expenses by 6, your half yearly expenses by 13 and your annual expenses by 26.
Prioritise your essential expenses
Make sure you allocate enough money to pay for all your essential expenses first, even if you set up direct debits for them to the supplier. Alternatively, you could put money into a separate account for when these expenses fall due, provided you don’t touch that allocated money.
Any money left over after you have prioritised your essential expenses can be used for non-essential expenses, saving or investing.
Review and renegotiate your regular bills if you can
If you have regular, ongoing bills like a phone/internet plan, insurance or entertainment subscriptions, then make sure you review them regularly to see if you can find or negotiate a cheaper deal. Providers often give the biggest discount to new customers, so be prepared to switch to save money if necessary. Loyalty often goes unrewarded.
Shop smarter
Ways you can do this include:
- meal planning in advance
- creating a grocery shopping list and sticking to it
- avoiding impulse buying
- shopping around for discounts (even if you need to buy online).
Be energy-efficient
With the rising costs of energy in Australia, being as energy-efficient as possible will save you money. You can do that by buying and using energy-efficient appliances. You can also do it by doing simple but often forgotten things like turning your appliances off at the power point whenever you’re not using them.
Manage your debts effectively
If you have any high-interest debt (like credit card debt), then prioritise paying it off as quickly as you can. Interest rates in Australia are tipped by many analysts to keep rising in early 2024, so look to minimise or consolidate your high-interest debts as much as you can.
One way to do that is to consolidate any high-interest debt you may have into your lower-interest home loan.
Save and invest regularly
Getting into the habit of saving and investing any surplus budget funds that you have will help to set you up for financial success. Just like you can do for your expenses, you can set up direct debits into savings or investment accounts to make sure it happens. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your Mt Isa savings will grow if you do.
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If you’re thinking about buying, selling, renting or leasing any Mt Isa property, or you need your property professionally managed, then contact our team today for an obligation-free chat!
We’d be happy to provide you with advice and to answer any property questions you have.