Spring clean your money

So we have had the first taste of spring, the days are getting longer and thankfully warmer.

While the BBQ may need to be dusted off and the weeding probably needs to be done as well, spring cleaning is now and truly underway. Now is also a great time to start organising your money before the busy season arrives. It is only three months until the horizontally challenged man in the red suit come climbing down a chimney near you.

Here are our top tips to spring clean your money

1. Renegotiate your Energy Bills

Take the 5 or 10 mins depending on your energy provider. We found savings straight away but just using the government website, which is set up to compare energy plans. https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/

Armed with this information, it is worthwhile phoning your electricity and gas company to see if they can offer you a better deal, based on a competitors offer.

2. Check your subscriptions

Subscriptions are nothing new. The variety which is now available has grown is now exponentially, Kayo, Foxtel, Netflix, Disney is coming, let alone audible, prime to mention a few. How many of these are you using regularly? Do you need them all? Or do you need the current level, or can you downgrade to a cheaper plan? Nothing like paying for a Spotify family plan, however only one of you in the house is using it. These add up and depending on what you subscribe to add very quickly and before you know it, you are $60-$100 per month. Have a look at your local library; we know that our local library offers Libby (https://meet.libbyapp.com/), which is essentially all ebooks and audiobooks for free, not bad! They also provide RB digital, which is a tonne of free magazines all on your digital device for free.

3. Compare your mortgage

Debt has never been cheaper for consumers in Australia, that’s not to say that you are getting the best deal. It is worthwhile getting in touch to see if there are better options out there. We know, we recently questioned our bank around the rates which they were potentially offering, and a couple of loans a rate reduction resulted in over $5,000 in savings per annum. Again it is a 10-15 minute call which potentially saves you $6-$7,000 per annum before tax. If you ask us, it is a pretty good hourly rate.

4. Mobile and Data Bills

This should almost be up there with electricity and other utilities. Apple has just released another new phone **Yawn**. Nobody is lining up for these bad boys anymore. We still remember when people would pay you to line up at the Apple store for them. When was the last time, you asked your telco what deals they have on, especially if you already own your phone. Worth asking the question? There are plenty of reasonable offers out there.

5. Set a spending plan or budget.

Not a stimulating conversation, we know budgets are as exciting as watching paint dry, to most people. What we do think is incredible is planning a holiday to the Whitsundays, a family holiday to Disneyland, or a trip to Bali! We believe that the keys to financial success are having a spending plan (budget) so that you are consciously spending money, and not just have it disappear out of the account every month. It makes it much easier to resist impulse spending.

Budgets are the fundamental financial operating system for our wealth. It’s not about restrictions, more about making sure every dollar is working as hard as they can for you. We are experts in this and if you are having issues getting one nailed down then book a call with us to see how we can help you.