Money Saving Tips From Your Own Experiences

[Shirley]

Hi,

Shirley here. We, that's hubby and two primary age children, have been living in North Auckland since January.

We love living here, but the fly in the ointment is money.

There's a well-known saying from Charles Dickens, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

We're not miserable, but we're getting that way because we're spending a bit more each month than we earn. This can't go on, so we need to cut back. That's possible. We can eat less, drink less, go out less, not travel around New Zealand, and so on.

It seems such a shame to be here to improve our quality of life, and then cut back on some of these things that, for us at any rate, make a good quality of life.

Rather than start cutting, I wonder if the good people on this forum can help by sharing some of their tips for saving money without cutting back, if you understand what I mean.

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

Do you think you're shopping like a Kiwi yet - using local supplies when they're in season, for example, and stocking up on basic store-cupboard items when they're on sale? A lot of newcomers spend quite a bit more than necessary if they only use supermarkets, and try to buy the same goods as they would have done in their original country.

[Dave in NZ]

You may be doing these things already but we have saved a fair bit of money by regularly checking tyre pressures in your cars as believe me having the correct tyre pressure improves your mileage considerably. I was surprised how my mileage improved.The next thing is electricity.Do not leave lights on all around the house and watch those heated towel rails if you have them. turn tv off etc when not needed. Use farmers markets or grow your own veg. Check to see you are getting the best deal on power, link enclosed and also check this money saving guide.

http://www.powerswitch.co.nz/powerswitch

http://www.savingsguide.co.nz/

Hope this helps

[fivezero7]

i believe this one will also help a lot
http://frugalkiwi.co.nz/
cheers.

[Moomette]

If you haven't already, signing up with websites like Grabone, Groupy, Groupon, and Livingsocial can be useful for getting good deals for eating out, hairdressers, activities, days out, etc.

[bmasood]

- Use powerswitch website to decide your energy supplier - review once an year and don't be afraid to switch if you get a cheaper deal

- Sign up for grabone and treatme. With good discipline, you can grab great deals for things you actually need.

- checkout farmers markets and fresh food shops

- For things like books, toys, gadgets go global (anything that costs more than $50, can be shipped and would likely not have to be returned for service/warranty). I once had to buy a technical book. The cheapest i could get in NZ was around $100. For half that amount, i got it from amazon (including shipping). Likewise, I have ordered Lego for my son from fishpond.co.nz and got it much cheaper.

- When traveling, check out the reviews of motels/hotels on tripadvisor and shop around on internet booking websites for best deals.

[bmasood]

And yes - always check out trademe for both goods and services .... best place to shop around. Often you can find suitable second hand items and avoid having to buy new.

[Kath]

It took me a while to figure out the best possible deals but when I need clothes or shoes for me or my family, I first go bargain hunting in Dress Mart in Onehunga. That's an outlet shopping mall where you can buy decent basics and accessories for a reasonable price. Just like us from the west, it's probably not worth it driving out there all the way from the North Shore for only one piece of clothing but we go twice a year.
Once for summer clothes and once for winterclothes and we save quite a bit of money compared to buying everything the Westfield Shopping Mall and the shopping streets. You will need a lot of patience, however, because you're never the only one there and finding a car park can take ages but a lot of known chains have a shop in this mall and in my opinion it is well worth a visit.

[Bozeman]

Understand that it's OK to haggle on bigger ticket items (say, $100 or more). This struck us as strange at first but now we would never consider paying full sticker price for things like furniture, appliances, etc. If your business is important enough, even mortage and term deposit rates are negotiable.

[wolfysmith]

It's a difficult call, because unless you know someone's lifestyle and what you spend on, you can't really make a call on what are the essentials in life and what are the just 'nice to haves'. We're a single income family who have been since we first came back from NZ 9 years ago. As a result, we've had, by necessity, to live to our means during that time. That's fair enough, because we made the lifestyle choice for my wife to stay at home and raise the kids, whilst I did the 9 to 5. As such, we've had to always find ways to make our money go further. We rarely go out for meals (our Saturday night treat is a curry in front of the telly), when other families go to local attractions, paying the entry fee, having a meal in the cafe and buying gifts, you'll find us at some local spot in the Dales, which is free. We take our own lunch and we find things to do to keep the kids entertained which are free. You'd be surprised how much fun they can have paddling in a stream with a couple of sticks. You probably already know that kids don't need fancy toys, or go to pay-for-attractions to be entertained. They can make their own entertainment. We've learnt to say 'no' and explain that such-and-such costs a lot of money and that mum and dad can't afford it. To be fair, our two girls don't ask for much and can easily find plenty to play with without having to have the latest Barbie Nail Salon set at $999.99 plus GST.
Its hard but is does get better and we've managed to get one holiday a year in the car across to France from sunny Yorkshire, but it took a couple of years to get back on our feet once we were back in the UK.
What I'm saying is that to take two steps forward you might need to take a step back. A couple of years giving up some of the things you hold dear in order to be able to travel around NZ and do all the things you dreamt of, just not as soon as you expected.