Category Archives: Budgeting

With all the different types of loans available, it can be hard to understand the right loan for you. If you’re looking at an instalment loan, it’s important to know what your loan and your repayments will look like. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to help you learn all about instalment loans and be confident in your loan choices.

Instalment Loan Definition

An instalment loan is any loan, whether personal or commercial, that is repaid over time with set, scheduled payments. Each payment is a portion of the amount borrowed plus added interest on the debt.

Instalment loans are common, and examples of these types of loans are car loan, mortgage loans, and personal loans. They usually come with flexible terms and lower interest rates.

What are instalment loan interest rates like?

The interest rate on your instalment loan will differ depending on what the loan is for and who your lender is. For example, home loans have some of the lowest interest rates, while car loans have much higher interest rates. Your credit score can also affect your interest rate.

Make sure you shop around and compare loans so that you’re getting the right loan and right interest rate for you.

What is a personal instalment loan?

A personal instalment loan is a type of loan that you will repay through scheduled instalments. A personal loan could help you fund a wedding, renovations, travel, education, a car, debt consolidation, or a combination of these things and others. Talk to the loan provider to confirm the details before signing up for a loan. Most personal instalment loans will let you repay the loan on the schedule you choose – with weekly, fortnightly, or monthly repayments.

The options you choose when it comes to repayments and interest rates should depend on your finances and how frequently the interest is compounded. Make sure you know all your information before signing up for a personal instalment loan.

What happens if I default on an instalment loan?

Firstly, if you’re worried about defaulting on a loan, you should try to reschedule your repayments to avoid defaulting on the loan if possible. Defaulting on a loan is what happens when you can no longer make your repayments.

If you listed any assets as security on the loan when you made the loan agreement, the lender can sell these assets to recover the money you owe them. Defaulting on an instalment loan will also drastically affect your credit score, which will make receiving other loans in the future more difficult.

For the most part, your lender does not want you to default on your loan, and they will likely be willing to come to a new arrangement to prevent that from happening.

Plenty of people are doing it tough during the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate hit a 21-year high of 7.4% in June 2020, with the Reserve Bank of Australia forecasting it could reach up to 10% by December.

Many of us will continue to struggle even when the world is recovering from the aftermath. So, as restrictions tentatively lift, now is a great time to think about how to make extra money from home.

If you’ve lost your job or had your hours cut due to COVID-19, here are some ideas for how to earn extra money to help you get by until things turn around.

Become a Virtual Assistant

If you’ve got the experience and/or administrative talents to pull it off, a virtual assistant role could be right up your alley during the pandemic. The demand for virtual assistants was already on the rise before COVID-19 struck, due to the increasing trend of people working remotely and with flexible schedules.

Prior to the pandemic, some experts were already predicting the number of virtual assistants to grow in 2020. Now, as all businesses are forced to reconsider their status quo, virtual assistants are almost guaranteed to become essential components of more organisations.

If you’ve got secretarial skills or experience as a PA or receptionist, freelancing as a virtual assistant could be a great temporary role to help you make extra cash. You may even like it so much that you decide to make it a permanent career change!

Download Some Money-Making Apps

Yes, there are apps out there that will pay you for your time, opinions, and efforts. We covered some of Australia’s best money-making apps in this article, where we looked at:

• Pureprofile (get paid to complete surveys, watch videos and visit websites)
• Cashrewards (get cash back when you shop at over 1,200 retailers including Woolworths)
• Twenty20 (submit photos and get paid whenever a subscriber licenses your pics)
• Field Agent (take on jobs like mystery shopping and comparing grocery prices)
• Receipt Hog (upload receipt photos to earn coins and turn them into gift cards).

Depending on the apps you choose, you might discover how to make money on the side without even leaving your couch!

Start a Blog

Blogging has been around for a while as an alternate way of making money. But in recent years, this pursuit has become more mainstream (and more lucrative) for Australians.

One of the more popular blogging niches is travel, but this isn’t a particularly viable direction in today’s climate. However, if you have expert knowledge, experience or passion in a specific area, you may be able to turn that into a thriving blog. Here are just a few of the 101 niches that Blogging Explorer nominates as potentially profitable:

• Nutrition and supplements
• Mindfulness (very important in today’s socially disconnected world)
• Gardening
• Arts and crafts
• Exotic cuisine (imagine a guide on making different countries’ signature dishes at home)
• Video game tutorials
• Frugal living (pertinent right now as many people are unemployed or on reduced salaries)
• Relationship advice
• Pregnancy and parenting
• Home-schooling (especially relevant at the moment).

Become a Delivery Driver

When you’re thinking about how to make extra cash during the coronavirus pandemic, the answer might be right in front of you – literally on your doorstep once a week (or more often for some of us!).

You’ve probably noticed that Uber Eats and Deliveroo drivers own the streets at night right now. If you’ve got a bicycle, motorbike or moped and free time during the day or evening, delivering food around town could be a tidy way to pad your pockets with extra money.

Alternatively, if you’ve got the qualifications/confidence to drive a truck, you may even consider becoming a driver for larger deliveries. With people turning to online shopping for their groceries and household items in unprecedented numbers, the demand for delivery drivers is high.

Sell Stuff Online

Feeling a bit cramped at home now that you’re stuck there more often? Wondering how to earn extra money? Take care of two birds with one stone by selling some of your non-essentials online.

While physical garage sales may not be a great option thanks to COVID-19, selling some things on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree could be a great way to clear some space and make some extra dough during the pandemic.

As you can see, there are quite a few routes to consider when choosing how to make extra money from home during the coronavirus pandemic. If you need a quick cash boost to help you get by while exploring one of these ideas, a fast $1,000 loan might be the solution.

For many of us, tax time is an exciting chance to get some money back and maybe splurge on something we’ve been wanting all year. But if you fall into one of these tax traps and get caught, your financial relief can rapidly spiral into money troubles.

Here are 8 examples of mistakes and things you cannot claim money for on your tax return. Take note and take care to avoid them.

#1: Double Dipping

You cannot claim expenses that your employer has reimbursed you for. Whether you’ve travelled for interstate meetings or picked up some extra stationery for the office, if your employer paid you back, it shouldn’t appear on your tax return.

#2: Claiming Rent or Mortgage

If you’re one of the many people who have been working at home a lot in 2020, you might think you can claim a portion of your rent or mortgage repayments. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Occupancy expenses are not claimable for employees.

#3: Not Making Any Deduction Claims

The biggest mistake you can make with your tax return is to not claim any deductions at all. With few exceptions, everyone accumulates at least some claimable expenses throughout the financial year. Don’t miss out by neglecting this section of your tax return.

#4: Travelling to and from Work

This one can be a little confusing at first. If your work includes travelling (e.g. between offices or to clients), you can usually claim a portion of your travel expenses. However, your transport directly between home and work is not eligible to be claimed.

#5: Proof of Expenses

If your tax return includes expense claims totalling over $300, you need to make sure you have written evidence to verify your expenses. Keep this proof for at least 5 years.

#6: Work Expenses That Aren’t Really Work Expenses

Any work expenses you claim need to be exactly that – related to your work. A gaming laptop shouldn’t appear on your tax return, for example, unless you happen to also use it for working at home. Similarly, a portable speaker wouldn’t be a claimable expense unless you’ve bought it to play music in the office.

When you’re considering claiming an expense, think about whether you could justify to an authority figure that it’s a work-related expense. If you’re unsure, it’s usually best to lean towards caution – or ask your accountant.

#7: Rushing Your Return

You might think getting your tax return in ASAP and completing it quickly is a good idea. But this can lead to mistakes that end up costing you in the end. Take your time to ensure you don’t miss any deductions or miscalculate any of your expenses. Also, make sure your bank details are up to date.

#8: “My Tax Agent Is Responsible”

Whether you prepare your own return or go through an agent, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring all the information in your claim is correct and accurate. If you make false claims – intentional or accidental – you’re the one who will face the consequences. So, take your time, calculate your expenses carefully, and always report honestly.

Tax time can be a great relief, but not if you fall into a tax trap. Keep these mistakes in mind while preparing your return to ensure you don’t get caught out.

In the current climate, online shopping is more prevalent than ever, as lockdowns and coronavirus fears force many Australians to turn to the internet for more of their needs and wants.

Make no mistake though – online shopping was well on the rise before COVID-19 existed. According to this Australia Post report, 2018 saw the number of online purchases in Australia increase by more than 20%. Almost ¾ of Aussie households shopped online during 2018, and eCommerce spending accounted for 10% of all retail sales.

With this trend on the rise, it’s essential for you to be aware of the tactics businesses use to encourage you to spend more money when shopping online (e.g. free shipping for orders over $X, discount codes for return buyers).

Let’s explore the links between coronavirus and panic buying, with some tips for controlling your online shopping during the pandemic.

Panic Buying and Coronavirus

People often respond irrationally or in an exaggerated way when faced with a perceived emergency. We saw this in how medical supplies (e.g. hand sanitiser and face masks) and essentials such as toilet paper were rapidly snapped up during the early stages of the pandemic.

According to this piece from Big Commerce, this type of panic buying is driven by 3 fundamental psychological needs:

• The need to feel like you have some control during uncertain times
• The need to feel like you’re doing something to help your family
• The need to feel like you’re a savvy shopper making smart choices.

This was all combined with the instinct to over-prepare and a dash of crowd mentality, which is why so many people turned to panic buying – even people who initially scoffed at the idea.

How to Control Your Online Shopping During the Coronavirus

Most people have moved beyond panic-buying essentials at this point. But that doesn’t mean we’re all making wise decisions when it comes to our shopping. As this ABC article explores, plenty of people are making some unique – and sometimes unaffordable – online purchases in response to the pandemic.

Whether driven by boredom or aspirational thoughts (this is my chance to become the master pianist I always dreamt of being), many of us are making purchases we typically wouldn’t consider. And we’re not necessarily thinking about our budget as we do so.

It doesn’t help that Buy Now Pay Later services like Afterpay are giving us an inflated sense of how much we can afford to spend on non-essentials.

Here are some quick tips to help you control your online spending during the pandemic.

Ask yourself: Why am I shopping?

Do you need that fifth jigsaw puzzle? Or do you just want it? Of course, during troubling times like these, it’s not a bad idea to indulge in some fun items that can fill our time and keep our minds occupied. But if your finances are running thin, it’s worthwhile putting a magnifying lens over your online purchases to determine whether each item you’re buying is truly needed.

Set a budget

The easiest budget to blow is a budget you haven’t even set. Examine your income (including any changes due to reduced hours, etc.) and set aside a reasonable amount each fortnight or month for discretionary spending. If an item you’re tempted to buy doesn’t fit within that budget, don’t buy it.

Do your research

If you’re determined to buy a certain something to help you get through the pandemic, make sure you shop around. You may only save a couple of dollars by buying from a different website, but those few dollars can really add up if you research your options and compare prices every time you shop online.

Unsubscribe from websites

How many times have you bought something you saw in a marketing email and then had buyer’s remorse? Limit your temptations by scrolling straight to the “unsubscribe” link whenever you receive promotional emails.

Be wary of tactics that make you spend more

A 10% discount for making another purchase sounds nice. But unless you were already planning to buy something else from that company, you’ll just be spending more money on things you don’t need. Similarly, “free shipping for orders over $X” is only a real treat if you already have that amount in your cart. Otherwise, you might find yourself spending an extra $30 on something you don’t really want just to save $10 on postage.

It’s important to see offers like these for what they really are – marketing efforts to get you to increase your spending. Only take advantage of them if it truly benefits you to do so.

With a strict budget and some smart choices, you can set yourself up to be a sensible online shopper during the coronavirus – without running your savings account into the ground. But if you need a small financial boost to buy some essentials, consider if a quick cash loan might be the right solution for you. Or for more information on why an online loan might be right for you, check out our article Crucial Reasons to Get Your Cash Advance Online. 

Credit scores are important; they affect the kind of loans we can access in the future. But how does a credit score work? How is credit rating determined? How is credit score calculated? And can you change it? It’s time to take a deeper look at this important score that affects so much of our lives.

So, what is a credit score?

Your credit score or credit rating is a number that represents how financially trustworthy you are or how reliable you are as a borrower. There are several bands that your score can fall into.

• “Excellent” includes all scores that range between 833 to 1,200.
• “Very good” includes scores between 726 and 832.
• “Good” includes scores from 622 to 725.
• “Average” includes scores between 510 and 621.
• Any score below 510 is considered below average or even poor. But remember that a bad credit score doesn’t necessarily prevent you from getting a loan!

It is possible to get a loan if you have poor credit, but it’s a good idea to try to improve your credit first if possible, as this can mean better interest rates.

How is credit rating determined?

There are several things that factor into your credit score, but most of it comes down to your borrowing history. Any loan you’ve ever taken out will contribute to your credit score, as will how steadily you repay your loan(s). For example, even a HECS-HELP loan that you repay automatically will help you build a healthy credit score. So will paying all your bills on time.

There are a lot of ways to improve your credit score if it’s not at the level you want it to be at; a bad credit score isn’t the end of the line.

How to find out your credit score

Improving your score is one thing, but you need to know what your score is if you want to watch it improve. The Australian government website Moneysmart has some great resources and suggestions if you need to figure out what your credit score is. There are some myths around credit scores that suggest that checking your credit score will negatively affect it, but we busted that myth (and several others about credit scores) already.

What’s the purpose of credit scores?

Now that you’re no longer wondering how a credit rating works, you might still be wondering why you even need a credit score. For lenders, each time they offer a loan they are engaging in a certain amount of risk. There’s always the possibility that a borrower could default on a loan.

Higher credit scores let lenders know that a borrower is a lower risk. This can affect the interest rates you see as a borrower. If a lender notices a low credit score and is worried about losing money if they lend to that person, they may charge more interest to mitigate losses. A lower risk borrower with a higher credit score might see lower interest rates.

University life is expensive, so knowing how to budget your money is more important than ever before. For some, being at university is the first time living out of home, which comes with a lot of new expenses and responsibilities. If you’re not sure how to budget as a uni student, we have some answers for you.

How to Make a Student Budget

It’s not exciting, but the easiest way to get a solid understanding of your finances and your budget is to start with a spreadsheet. You can make use of the built-in formulae within Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel so that you don’t have to calculate your spending allowance yourself.

Within one column, input all your income – your part-time job, your government assistance, money from family, whatever you have it goes there. Then you can easily add it up using the built-in sum formula.

After that, you can input all your expenses or costs, and add up the total.

Finally, that should bring you to your total, remaining budget.

Budgeting in a spreadsheet is the easiest way to fully understand your spending potential each month, week, or year.

No matter how much or little your income and expenses are, log them all. No one has to see this spreadsheet except for you, so feel free to include everything. You can duplicate the sheet and have a different tab for each month so that you never forget anything.

If a big spreadsheet isn’t your preferred method, there are a lot of mobile apps you can access that will help you keep on track as well. Just remember to start a budget and stick to it.

How to Budget at Uni and Save Money

The reason students should write down their budget is so that they don’t go over their budget and accidentally spend too much money. You don’t want to spend so much you can’t pay rent, though if you do find yourself in that position where you can’t make ends meet, a short-term loan might be able to help get you out of a sticky situation.

When looking at how to make a student budget, you first need to consider the things you must pay for: rent, bills, groceries, etc. Then the things that would enrich your life: a physical copy of a textbook, a backpack to make getting around campus easier, a protective case for your laptop, etc. Finally, consider the things you’d like to have but don’t need: a nice new shirt, new sunglasses, a cup of coffee, etc. Keeping this hierarchy will make budgeting simple and make life easier for anyone wondering how to budget for students.

No one wants to give up all the fun of being young at university, and with a stable budget that keeps you in control of your finances, you won’t have to.

How to Expand Your Budget

Sometimes your budget as a uni student is a little too tight and you need to expand it a bit. There are generally two ways to expand a budget.

The first is to cut down on any unnecessary spending – anything at all that you don’t strictly need.

The other option is to make more money. If you don’t already have a part-time job or you want to get another, there are plenty of options available to uni students – from tutoring high-school students (their parents are sure to pay you more if you’re getting your degree in a relevant subject) or doing odd jobs around town. Check to see if there’s a corkboard anywhere on campus with a listing of these kinds of jobs. Or check out Australia’s top money-making apps to make some extra cash.

There’s a lot to know about credit cards, whether you’re thinking of getting one or you want to learn more about the card (or cards) you have. To help you out, we put together a simple credit card guide to help you use a credit card with confidence.

The Difference Between a Credit Card and a Debit Card

You might be unsure as to how to use a credit card for the first time, but in practice, it’s no different from using your debit card. The difference you need to keep in mind is that when you pay via a debit card, you’re using your own funds from the bank account that’s linked to your card. With a credit card, you’re using the line of credit you’ve been offered by your bank or credit union.

While using a debit card and a credit card may feel the same, it’s important to know how much you’ve spent with your credit card, and to pay it off as soon as possible.

Getting a Credit Card for the First Time

Before you apply for your first credit card, shop around and compare the credit cards available from various banks and credit unions. Consider what you want to prioritise for your credit card. For example:

• Do you want a generous limit that lets you spend a large amount?
• Do you want a lower interest rate?
• Do you want access to rewards offered by certain cards?

There will be benefits to each option, but you’ll need to choose what’s right for you. It isn’t as simple as there being one best credit card for beginners, but credit cards with low interest and low fees are a good idea.

Once you’ve decided what card you want, you’ll need to apply for it. Just don’t apply for a lot of cards all at once when getting a credit card for the first time. If it looks like you’re trying to get a lot of credit cards, that can negatively impact your credit score.

The Dangers of Credit Cards

Most credit cards aren’t dangerous on their own; they don’t bite. But if you don’t keep an eye on your credit limit and spending, you might find yourself in a bad situation financially. If you don’t pay back your credit card spending (it’s usually billed on a monthly basis) you could be hit with a lot of fees and much higher interest on the amount owed.

Budget in a way that works for you. Some people create spreadsheets of their budget and write down every dollar they spend or gain. There are also plenty of mobile apps to help you stay on top of your finances. What matters isn’t the method you use, but that you have a method so that you never forget to pay your credit card bill on time. Your bank or credit union may even let you transfer funds into your credit account, paying off each purchase as you make it, so that the balance is never in the red for long.

The Benefits of Credit Cards

If you can manage your finances responsibly, credit cards can be very useful. Some debit cards may have hidden fees that you’ll face for high-cost or frequent purchases, so making those purchases with your credit card can actually save you money. There’s also the useful benefit of your credit score. Poor use of a credit card will hurt your credit score, but responsibly using a credit card and paying it off in time will help build a healthy credit record.

Alternatives to a Credit Card

You might consider applying for a credit card to cover an upcoming expense. Maybe a holiday, an event, a large purchase, or to cover an emergency. But a lot of the time, a credit card isn’t the solution to that kind of spending. A short-term loan might actually give you access to more funds and have a lower interest rate. If you don’t want a credit card for everyday spending, then a loan might be the better option for you.

When you want to save money, you need to look at every aspect of your life and spot any unnecessary spending. Alcohol spending is a great choice to cut out or at least minimise, since for most people it’s not a must-have item – it’s just a small luxury to enjoy every now and then.

But are the savings really that big? How much does alcohol cost and how much money could be saved by not drinking? Let’s discuss.

The Average Cost of Drinking

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in 2015-2016, the average Australian household was spending $32 a week on alcoholic beverages. That’s $32 that could be going into savings each week or that could be spent on the occasional splurge meal.

Don’t forget that if you’re someone who goes out to drink at clubs and pubs more than the average person, your costs will be higher still. Consider how much a single drink costs on a night out and come up with your own average weekly spending on alcohol.

Seeing friends and spending time with them is great, but try planning cheaper activities that will keep you all just as entertained without straining anyone’s budget.

The Other Costs of Drinking

A night out will cost you money as you buy yourself drinks, but don’t forget that there are other costs too. There’s the cover fee that some venues will charge, the hot chips and kebabs you crave throughout the night, the rideshare home, the expensive hangover meal the next day… it all adds up. The money you spend on alcohol isn’t the only money you could save if you quit drinking.

Overpriced Events

Putting on some fancy new duds and going to an event is exciting but costly, especially for drinkers. Sporting events, Oktoberfest events, National Beer Day or National Wine Day events, and festivals will all overcharge you for your drinks. While some of these events aren’t something teetotallers will enjoy (National Wine Day isn’t that fun without a glass of wine), some of them can be enjoyed without a drink, which can save you a lot of money.

What You Could Purchase Instead

For those already trying to build savings, the money saved by not drinking is already worth it. But if you’re not sure if it’s worth it, consider what else you could spend your money on.

If you’re considering quitting drinking to get healthier, the money you save could fund your gym membership. You could put the funds towards a holiday. You could relax with a massage and address your aching back instead of ignoring it. You could do whatever you like if you quit drinking and save money.

If you’re saving for an investment and need a quick boost, a short-term loan might be able to help you out.

Everything in Moderation

With everything considered, quitting alcohol entirely isn’t the solution that works for everyone. A lot of people still enjoy a glass of wine at fancy dinners with family or a beer at a celebratory afternoon with friends.

What it comes down to is cutting down and enjoying alcohol in moderation. Even if you don’t cut down 100% of your alcohol spending, you can cut down some of it. Either drink less in general or consider going out less and hosting friends and drinking at home instead; that way, you’re paying a much lower price for the same drinks.

We’re all looking for clever money-saving hacks we can implement at home without drastically changing our lifestyles. Here are 10 to help you on your way.

1. Use the food you already have

We all have food in the back of the cupboard or pantry that we just keep forgetting to cook.

Take a Sunday afternoon off, pull all your food out of the cupboard, and catalogue it all. You should be able to find a few essential ingredients that you can build a meal out from, meaning your weekly shop should be a little bit cheaper this week. Saving money on groceries is a great way to save money around the house. (As an added bonus, when you put things back into the cupboard, you can tidy it, so you never forget what’s in there again.)

2. DIY what you can

There are some tasks you will need a professional for, but smaller chores around the house might be something you can do yourself as a way of saving money at home.

You can even extend the DIY attitude to other aspects, like gifts. Not only can handmade gifts save you money, but they’re often more heartfelt than bought gifts.

Want to fix up your home to save money in the long run, but don’t have the cash upfront right now? Consider getting a quick loan so you can get started on that project.

3. Avoid the AC and the heater

Minimising the power bill is one of the best and simplest hacks to save money, and heating and cooling are two of the biggest costs on most heating bills.

• In the colder months, wear thicker clothes, warm robes, and blankets to stay cosy.
• In the warmer months, stay cool with showers, drinks, and a swim if you can get out to the pool or beach.

Do all you can before you turn to the air conditioner or heater. If you do turn on heating or cooling, close all the doors. You don’t need to change the temperature of a room you’re not in and doing so will just waste power and prevent you from saving money at home.

4. Turn off appliances you’re not using

When looking at how to save money at home, appliances are another secretly costly element. Save electricity at home to save overall on your power bill. Turn off any appliance you’re not using, especially at night. The only appliance you need on at night is any security system you use and your alarm clock.

5. Use LED bulbs

Another of the easy hacks to save money when it comes to your power bill is to invest in energy-efficient light bulbs. Traditional bulbs waste more power than they need to use to illuminate your home. LED bulbs use the power more efficiently and so they use less power.

6. Reconsider all those streaming services

A lot of us have more than one streaming service, and we probably don’t need them all. When you add up Foxtel, Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hayu, Spotify Premium, and anything else we’ve missed, it equals a lot of content! You don’t have enough hours in the day to watch all that content. Review which ones you really need and cancel (or at least suspend) your subscription to the rest.

7. Switch to cloth

One of the most vintage and potentially glamorous money-saving hacks is switching to cloth.

Cloth napkins and tablecloths can save you money in the long run and can make each dinner feel like a formal affair. When a cloth napkin gets dirty, you can just pop it in the washing machine instead of buying a new one like you have to with paper napkins.

Cloth nappies or diapers are also popular, especially as little ones are transitioning to no nappies and are less likely to have accidents.

8. Minimise ordering in and having takeaway

There are some days when you’re just not in the mood to cook and a burger delivered to your door sounds ideal. However, if you’re wondering how to save money around the house, try minimising your orders on UberEats/Deliveroo/DoorDash/Menulog.

Try meal prepping if you know you’ll be too exhausted to cook a full meal each evening, and you should find saving money at home gets a bit easier.

Consider starting a Meal Prep Sunday at your home. That way you can take lunch into work instead of buying lunch out and you’ll have dinner ready to go and won’t be tempted to order in!

9. Grow your own veggies

If you’ve got the garden space, invest in some seeds and seedlings and grow your own produce! Even if you only grow herbs on your balcony, that means you don’t have to buy those herbs during the next trip to the grocery shop. Stick to easier plants like mint and rosemary if you don’t have a green thumb but still want to try these organic hacks to save money at home.

10. Don’t go out

Our last tip on how to save money at home is to stay home more. Instead of going out for drinks, invite friends around. They can bring their own drinks and you can even do a potluck-style meal with everyone bringing a part of the meal and sharing the cost.

With these 10 hacks, you won’t be wondering how to save money around the house anymore – you’ll be saving those extra dollars to put towards something more important.

It’s important, now more than ever, to save on electricity at home and reduce our power bills.  That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide on how to save electricity – from easy switches like turning standby off to introducing modern technology to your smart home.

1. Switch to LED bulbs

One of the easiest electricity-saving tips is to make the easy switch to LED bulbs.

LED bulbs use less power than traditional lights and they give off more light while they’re at it! They can cost a little bit more to purchase them to begin with, but you’ll more than make up for it in your savings.

If you want to make your home a smart home, you can look into smart bulbs that can sync with your phone to adjust the colour of the bulb to whatever you like – mood lighting is just a tap away.

2. Use a smart board

We all have a lot of appliances. We know what a precious resource power outlets are, so most of us end up using power boards. The thing is, we’re hardly ever using all of the appliances that are plugged into the same power board at the same time, especially in the kitchen (it’s rare to toast something and use the blender at the same time).

A smart power board can sense when an appliance is in standby mode and it will stop sending power to the appliance, saving your power bill. This is another tip that comes with an initial cost, but it has long-term benefits.

3. Turn things off when you’re not using them

Lights and appliances that are left on in the night are known as ‘vampire appliances’ because they’re sucking away your energy while you sleep at night.

Turn off all non-essential power users before you go to bed. Or, better yet, turn them off whenever they’re not in use. Consider Earth Hour Day – the things we turn off when we celebrate Earth Hour are things we can survive without, so turn them off whenever they’re not strictly needed. The lights don’t need to be on in the bathroom when no one is in there.

Vampire appliances are one of the first things you should cut out when considering how to reduce an electricity bill.

4. Replace older, less efficient appliances

So by now you only have your appliances using power when you need them, but they’re still using more power than they need. Older products are less efficient and use more power than they need to. Check the energy ratings for your appliances and see if any are ready to be replaced with more efficient versions if you’re looking at how to save electricity at home.

If you need to complete renovations or upgrade appliances to save money in the long-term, consider a short-term loan to achieve your goals.

5. Air dry your washing

Of all the household appliances that use power, a clothes dryer is one of the worst offenders, and on a warm day, you don’t even need it! Clothes dryers use a lot of energy as they need to spin and produce heat to properly dry your clothes.

A clothes line strung up in the backyard, on a balcony, or in front of a window (if you live in a small space without an outdoor area), will do the job just as well and won’t cost you a thing. It’s one of the easiest ways to save electricity at home.

As an added bonus, UV light is a great disinfectant and will kill any germs you might have left on your clothes. That means you can rely less on higher temperatures when washing your clothes too, to save even more power.

6. Optimise your appliance usage

If you use a dishwasher, a washing machine, a clothes dryer, or any large appliance, make sure you do a complete load every time. You’ll end up costing yourself more when the power bill comes in if you run your appliances when they’re not completely full. It might mean waiting a little bit longer for your favourite top or mug to be clean and usable again, but it’s worth it when considering how to save electricity.

7. Insulate your home

Another option that will have up-front costs but long-term savings is home insulation. It can make a massive difference on your power bill.

Insulation is also one of the best ways to save electricity without you having to do anything yourself – the insulation does it for you. If you can’t afford insulation right now or maybe you rent your home, invest instead in high-quality curtains and draught stoppers for your doors. This will help to stop warm air from escaping or cool air from dispersing out.