Remember when you were a kid and couldn’t wait to be an adult? Before you found out that life was one long road consisting of work, bills, and cooking dinner. We’ve been thinking about all the household expenses we pay. Mobile phones, insurance, utilities, and even our home loans. It’s time to reduce household expenses.
Compare and save
We’re the ones in control of our bills, not the other way around. Let’s take action, one household expense at a time, and work towards spending less and living more.
Start with the main bills and see just how much money you could save. It’s important to remember that when you start to compare providers, you need to make sure you’re comparing like with like.
Some car insurance policies may appear hundreds of dollars cheaper, but that’s because they don’t have the same inclusions or higher excess. Some energy provider quotes may be cheaper, but then come with large fees for any changes you make.
Car, home contents, and building insurance
Do you have your car, building, and home contents insurance policies with one provider? Sometimes this provides an extra discount for having everything with one company, sometimes it doesn’t. Every year, they send renewals. This year, look at them and make sure they are looking after you.
Have a 15-minute conversation with your provider and ask for your building, home contents, and car insurance to be reduced. It could save you hundreds!
Mobile phone plans
There are so many options now, and many offer great deals, particularly if you own your phone. Firstly, do you know if you’re on a plan or if it’s expired? Do you know how much data you use a month, and if your existing plan fits your usage? Get all this information first.
When you start to compare, you’ll find suppliers providing the same in terms of product for vastly different amounts. Many of them use the same network.
Utilities
The competitive nature of the current electricity and gas market provides plenty of choices. How many of us continue to use the same provider and accept the price hike? It’s easy to feel intimidated by the number of suppliers that are now on the market. Will you save money? How do you know if changing will be beneficial for you?
The Australian government has a website you can use that will help you compare prices. Answer some simple questions about usage, make sure you’ve got a bill at hand so you can input accurate usage figures and see what you can save.
Check your options here: Energy Made Easy: The Power to Compare
Superannuation
There’s a lot to consider with your superannuation. Everyone sets up super when we start working, then forget about it until we start to approach our retirement and wonder why we didn’t take more notice. We recommend that you get professional advice from a financial advisor before making changes. If you haven’t thought about your super for a while, check out what fees you are paying. There are huge variances between companies.
Home phone and internet
How many of us still have a home phone that we never answer? Is it attached to an answering machine that allows you to filter out all of the sales calls and scams? Is your home internet included as part of the package? This gets a lot more use, particularly as our children get older and we’re all on different devices. If you have a home phone and internet package and only ever use your mobile, you could consider changing your plan.
Home loan
We’re all paying mortgages that have different interest rates. Once a year, phone your home loan provider and ask them to reduce your interest rate.
Give your mortgage lender a ring today. If you don’t get anywhere, consider approaching a mortgage broker and refinancing. If you have other debts as well as your home loan, you can also consider refinancing to reduce your monthly outgoings. Read more about reducing debt here: Feel like you’re drowning in debt?
Life insurance, total permanent disability insurance, and income protection
Do you have insurance through your super provider? While looking at this, consider the amount you’re insured for. Not just in terms of insured amounts, but also to reduce them as the amount of our mortgage and debt decreases.
We recommend talking to a financial advisor or doing some investigation yourself to see if you’re getting value for money and have under- or over-insured yourself.
Start today
We hope this has inspired you to get started. We haven’t looked at everything, many of us will have caravan insurance, boat insurance, landlord insurance, credit card debt, and personal loans. The list is long.
My mother always said, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” This is great advice and I wished I’d listened sooner.
Lastly, do you have a Will?
Make sure you have Wills, Power of Attorney, and Enduring Guardianship in place for your loved ones. Another job on that long list we never have time for. Knowing your family will not have to worry if the worst were to happen will give you even greater peace of mind. Get started here: Do I need a Will? You need to read this first!
Give yourself a little time every week to invest in saving yourself money. Don’t be overwhelmed, just tick one thing off the list each week, even monthly, and take control of your household living expenses. You’ll be glad you did.
