Saving money (Tips)

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I'm wondering just how much you could live on as a minimum

I can't believe how much it costs just to have access to the internet, but also many other things.

I think for pure survival mode, it would be possible to live on a low income if you were disciplined enough.

Mobile phone only
No car, walk and ride everywhere (if possible)
Basic meals, rice/pasta/vegetables, everything on special, minimum carbs for survival
Cook only with microwave and slow cooker/rice cooker
Cold showers, no hot water
No heating/cooling, minimal electricity, minimal water consumption.

Rates - $40
Phone - $10
Food - $20 (Absolute survival mode)
Electricity $20
Water $10
Insurance $15

$115/week as regular ongoing expenses
$400 mortgage

$515/week

Board a room out at $250/week and you'll probably pull in another $170 per week with increases in costs.

your expenses will be $265/week. I'm using this as an example of what you could do in dire financial circumstances.

Alternatively if you lived in a tent as "homeless" your costs would be less than $100. If you could do that for 2 years you could save $100k and put a deposit on a house if you were desperate enough.
 
Purple7x08_24 said:
I'm wondering just how much you could live on as a minimum

I can't believe how much it costs just to have access to the internet, but also many other things.

I think for pure survival mode, it would be possible to live on a low income if you were disciplined enough.

Mobile phone only
No car, walk and ride everywhere (if possible)
Basic meals, rice/pasta/vegetables, everything on special, minimum carbs for survival
Cook only with microwave and slow cooker/rice cooker
Cold showers, no hot water
No heating/cooling, minimal electricity, minimal water consumption.

Rates - $40
Phone - $10
Food - $20 (Absolute survival mode)
Electricity $20
Water $10
Insurance $15

$115/week as regular ongoing expenses
$400 mortgage

$515/week

Board a room out at $250/week and you'll probably pull in another $170 per week with increases in costs.

your expenses will be $265/week. I'm using this as an example of what you could do in dire financial circumstances.

Alternatively if you lived in a tent as "homeless" your costs would be less than $100. If you could do that for 2 years you could save $100k and put a deposit on a house if you were desperate enough.
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There are lots of people living on the Murray river at free camping spots…
 
For me I've gone back to using cash. Large stuff like quarterly bills are paid via credit card, as well as monthly internet, mobile phone and gym gets charged to my credit card.

For weekly groceries, takeaways etc, I am back using cash. I find I spend less in general.

Also comes in handy when you have those occasions ie. when the Commonwealth Bank shat itself and no one could access their accounts for the entire day. :smilev1:
 

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Shell said:
For me I've gone back to using cash. Large stuff like quarterly bills are paid via credit card, as well as monthly internet, mobile phone and gym gets charged to my credit card.

For weekly groceries, takeaways etc, I am back using cash. I find I spend less in general.

Also comes in handy when you have those occasions ie. when the Commonwealth Bank shat itself and no one could access their accounts for the entire day. :smilev1:
Click to expand...
I read an interesting post about what happens to $50 when you pay with a card vs $50 when your pay with cash. The $50 paid with the card as it flows through the system moving from one person to another has its value chipped away with fees, while the cash retains its value. That said, this was a post by a crypto pumper on LinkedIn, so I'm sure there are some obvious critiques of that scenario.

Personally, I don't like carrying cash around as I'm constantly losing my wallet and I "enjoy" investing time in playing the credit card rewards game.
 
sabre_ac said:
I read an interesting post about what happens to $50 when you pay with a card vs $50 when your pay with cash. The $50 paid with the card as it flows through the system moving from one person to another has its value chipped away with fees, while the cash retains its value. That said, this was a post by a crypto pumper on LinkedIn, so I'm sure there are some obvious critiques of that scenario.

Personally, I don't like carrying cash around as I'm constantly losing my wallet and I "enjoy" investing time in playing the credit card rewards game.
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I'd say whether someone should have a credit card or not comes down to the level of self control they have. Most people simply don't have that much self control to avoid getting themselves in to trouble.
 
Moved all my savings from Bankwest to Macquarie, they pay great interest rates with no strings attached. 4.5% even in the everyday transaction account. Gets us like an extra $100 a month atm. Was way easier than I thought it would be to set up an account, took like 15 minutes.

The big 4 in comparison are a joke.
 
owen87 said:
I'd say whether someone should have a credit card or not comes down to the level of self control they have. Most people simply don't have that much self control to avoid getting themselves in to trouble.
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I wondered if I could get 3-4 cards with 100K points with travel credit. I've already got one. Keep cycling between cards to keep active and always pay them off.

300K worth of points 12 return flights.
 
Shell said:
For me I've gone back to using cash. Large stuff like quarterly bills are paid via credit card, as well as monthly internet, mobile phone and gym gets charged to my credit card.

For weekly groceries, takeaways etc, I am back using cash. I find I spend less in general.

Also comes in handy when you have those occasions ie. when the Commonwealth Bank shat itself and no one could access their accounts for the entire day. :smilev1:
Click to expand...
Helping track spending is logical but isn't all the change in coins annoying though?
 
Kram said:
Moved all my savings from Bankwest to Macquarie, they pay great interest rates with no strings attached. 4.5% even in the everyday transaction account. Gets us like an extra $100 a month atm. Was way easier than I thought it would be to set up an account, took like 15 minutes.

The big 4 in comparison are a joke.
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This might be a silly question, but I take it you opened the savings account as well to get the 5.55% for 4 months?

After the 4 months is up, you only need the transaction account really as they both pay the same rate.
 
Teagueeee15 said:
This might be a silly question, but I take it you opened the savings account as well to get the 5.55% for 4 months?

After the 4 months is up, you only need the transaction account really as they both pay the same rate.
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Oh yeah I know I will do that but I haven't transferred all of the funds across yet.
 
Purple7x08_24 said:
I wondered if I could get 3-4 cards with 100K points with travel credit. I've already got one. Keep cycling between cards to keep active and always pay them off.

300K worth of points 12 return flights.
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Within the bounds of a credit check you can keep churning through cards I guess, I don't think there's anything stopping you if you have the time and energy to bother?
 

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Kram said:
So mum went into the bank and asked if they could change it to $100k for the day. They told her that they couldn't do anything there and that you have to ring up on the phone lol.

Just be done with it and close all the physical branches down..
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Physical branches are there for businesses to deposit/withdraw cash and boomers who can't use apps. Everything else is done via the app or over the phone these days.
 
Purple7x08_24 said:
Just wondering what your tips are for saving money.

I'm trying to lose weight and save money at the same time so I've worked out exactly how much food I need to eat for each meal and I'm keeping to a bland simple diet to give me everything I need. On gym days I'll adjust accordingly before and after workout. I'm also trying to build some discipline in all of this.

  • I set up a money jar in which I started with a buffer of $50.
  • Each week I'm putting in $70 for food and that doesn't leave much.
  • I've got a lot of staple foods at home so I'm going through that first.
  • I'll only buy bulk items when on special
  • Meals consist of pasta, peas, spinach, chick peas, tuna, chicken when available. Every meal is about 1200KJ
First week doing I only bought soda water, and OJ but the guys at work put on pizzas so I took money out of the jar for that and I had to buy dad lunch for helping me out at home. So far this week I've only spent $50. A far cry from the $180 a week I was spending with all the "Healthy" soda drinks, previously energy drinks.

I'm about to head to Perth on a 2 day trip I'd pre booked so I'm making some compromises. I'm going to a nice Asian restaurant one night and the other nights, I'll cook up some cheap healthy meals for the rest of the trip.

Hoping to be +$20 after this week, +$40 the week after. I'm looking at using the surplus for a soda stream to do my own soda water.

I've currently adjusted my long term strategy to a more balanced strategy which focuses on living for today, being happy, being able to go on holidays several times a year but making sure I pay off my house prior to 60. I can't see the point in building a property portfolio while spending 20 years slaving away to reach that goal with tomorrow never promised.

I've dumped a lump sum on my mortgage, I'm paying off an extra $280 per week. If that's too aggressive I'll adjust. While I'm in surplus it's important to continue to balance the books and run a profit.

Cancelled subscription tv which is another $20 per week

What tips have you used in saving money?
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If you love soda water that much there have been some massive advances in homebrew set ups. Maybe a little extra to set up.
Small kegs large kegs…. With CO2 set ups.
And for those who love beer, homebrew is a great cost savings.
For $26 I can make 2 cartons of quality beer… 73 cents a schooner.
Set up cost about $550. But you can do it cheaper.
Including set up cost the first 15 cartons would cost approx $49 a carton. Then it’s $13 a carton from then on.
I’ve got my process down to about 1 hour, which includes cleaning, prepping , mixing, etc..
very simple process.
 
sabre_ac said:
I read an interesting post about what happens to $50 when you pay with a card vs $50 when your pay with cash. The $50 paid with the card as it flows through the system moving from one person to another has its value chipped away with fees, while the cash retains its value. That said, this was a post by a crypto pumper on LinkedIn, so I'm sure there are some obvious critiques of that scenario.

Personally, I don't like carrying cash around as I'm constantly losing my wallet and I "enjoy" investing time in playing the credit card rewards game.
Click to expand...
Cash loses value. That's objective with inflation.

Definitely hope people aren't keeping sums of money in cash for anything other than having some quick funds in an emergency.
 
Been active in the garden since I moved to WA and today I did an experimental pasta salad dish with mostly home grown ingredients.

Lettuce, Basil, Olive oil and Mandarin. I added corn and black beans but might try chick peas next time.

It was really tasty with the Mandarin and would have cost me 30-40c to make.
 
25 cents to make. All veggies from garden

happy My garden is going well since I started



EDIT: OOF should have taken those stems out...
20231219_193256.jpg
 
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