Keep clothing longer and buy groceries when they’re on special.

Buying generic brands at the supermarket and keeping an eye out for markdowns can save you a lot of money. Also, I find that meat costs a lot, so we only have red meat once a week and have meat-free nights or more chicken and fish.

If you have a chance watch on Utube : “Australia’s Tightest Family ” which was shown on A urrent Affair . You will find it so entertaining as the lady of the house even makes her own laundry detergent . I got a laugh as she dilutes all her shampoo /conditioners ( which I won’t ever do ) and she uses shower gels as handwashes as well, which was handy to know . They breed chickens to make fresh eggs , and go to various supermarkets to compare and make bulk purchases and so many other tips etc. I have watched it over and over and still find it great entertaining .

Make and stick to a budget, it is the best way to stay on task and reach your savings goals.

It’s definitely not easy,no take away and coffees,no eating out,make your own lunch for the family,shop smart ie check the specials,review your various insurance,phone,power etc(don’t pay for what you don’t need) and best of all good luck!

yeah just try to live minimal and practise self control/ also try to just withdraw what you need and maybe curb the urge to spend. keep that goal in sight and work out the best path to take to acheive it

become a freegan! lol maybe not that extreme but work out where you can cost cut and draw up a budget. learn to make food and art etc yourself if you don’t already. change your mentality and think of this time as a challenge –like this week i am only going to spend $100 on food–but because you have shopped for a few months and have lots of pantry food left etc

this is what we do
buy what we need, not what we want
cook more often at home
shop with catalogue and buy in bulk for non perishable goods on great sale- toilet paper
free activities for the kids- parks, beaches- rather than paid- movies, zoo etc

This is what we do most of the time, but you also have to treat yourself and the family to something every once in a while

Try and reduce your grocery bill
Reduce shower time to save water
Turn off lights and power points that aren’t being used
Sell things you don’t need
Do online surveys to earn some extra cash

Pack a lunch for work and make your own coffee at work rather than buy it. Cut out non essential grocery items in your weekly budget such as high processed, junk and snack foods. Reduce your meat consumption to 4 times a week and substituting with quiches, tuna pasta bakes, etc. You could also try online surveys to reduce your grocery bill.

Another way of saving money is if you have to do family activities do it on a budget. Go to the movies when it is cheap tickets. They are not always on Tuesdays a lot of the cinemas have promotions on on weekends too, look on their websites. Go for picnics, go to the beach and see it there are community activities or events. Oh….search your local library for DVD’s. Have your movie night in….make your own popcorn.

Sell things from around the housebound don’t need. Aim to sell one item each week such as a piece of clothing or children’s toy that never gets used. It feels great to receive extra cash and you never miss things once they are gone.

I do a shop for the week making sure there is something there for dinner every night and only use whats in the house until the end of the week otherwise i end up buying extra things i don’t need if i go during the week. We used to get take away alot so every time we think oh Chinese would be nice for tea we will put the money we would have spent into savings or off credit cards etc, so hard to save with the cost of things today thanks everyone for your tips some for us all to use!

Set a budget and stick to it. Have an allowance each for gifts or little treats. Work out how much your bills are and put that amount away in an envelope towards each bill – eg power, phone, fuel, insurance, misc, haircuts, gifts, clothes, then when bill comes in there will be cash in the envelope to pay it. I started this a few years ago and it works well managed to save several thousand dollars because I was consciously spending. Also use credit card only for emergencies – it’s too easy to charge things to credit. Cash all the way till you have control. It’s really different spending cash than plastic – very psychological reasons why banks & shops & casinos want people to use credit cards, efpos cards, chips in casinos, PayPal etc.

The best thing I ever did while saving for our home loans was stopping take out and eating out…. Generally tho I’d recommend ensuring you have a comprehensive budget and list everything you spend money on then cull it and remove anything that isn’t essential that you can forsake for the goal of buying a house! (It’s a fantastic time to build and buy new/first homes) good luck!!!!

My mother is in her eighties and she has lived frugally all her life (being brought up the in the Depression and Word War 2. She always has kept a book where she writes all her expenditure at the shop down. This shows her where she is spending unnecessarily.(eg chocolate bars) She keeps an eye on the water metre and gas metre. She times her showeres – no longer than 3 minutes. She has always brought her own food and cooked it. She has made her own, mine and my sisters clothes when we were young. She had recently bought a small oven instead of using the stove. She does gardening, knitting and sewing as her hobbies and does not go out a lot. When we were kids we went on picnics with home made ham sandwiches and cordial. She looks for the lowest prices by looking at catalogues. We try to do our shopping in the one shopping centre where now there is more than one grocery store As for my husband and I, we have just retired, so our money is not much either. My husband is growing our own vegetables (although at first he started to grow to some food which we did not eat). We bought a microwave/oven combined instead of using the wall oven (we have 2 adult children still at home) I fill the washing machine to maximum when I wash clothes. When the kids were little and had gone to bed we only used one light in the house. We planned activities during the holidays (our own crafts or a trip to the swings) We go to the petrol station on Wednesday because that is the day they have the lowest prices. We use reward cards. (I have about thirty in my wallet). We buy over the counter prescriptions and use generic brands in the shops if they are cheaper.

Living to a budget is good starting point. Where does money go? Buying food that is in season good saver and making own meals.Package food is expensive and has lot of additives of no use to use. Outings such as picnics, parks, pools and no cost entertainment is usually advertised in local paper. Try making it fun not chore. When I was younger and kids little I planned meals for week.Made larger quantities of dishes and froze one for later. It is sometimes cheaper to buy in bulk . Say if apples cheaper some for now and cook some and make a pie for freezer. Hope this helps it did for me. Good luck on getting your new home. But have fun together too as kids grow so quick it is true

I use an app on my phone called PocketBook. It syncs with my bank accounts so I always know what money I have available, and also categorises purchases so I know where my spending goes. Cash transactions have to be entered manually, but once you get into the habit of this, it’s both interesting and advantageous to see just where your money disappears. You can set up your budget as well, so you know what your descretionary spending is for the week/fortnight/month.

I also have accounts with ING. They don’t charge any fees for ordinary banking, they refund the ATM transaction fees for every ATM within Australia, and they give you a cash back when you use Pay Wave. They have no physical branches though, so you have to like doing your banking electronically.

Drop the entertainment non-essentials, like cable tv. Borrow DVDs from the library rather than the store. Check your local parks and recreation website to see what they offer for free/low cost. Reconnect with old fashioned past times with the kids like backyard games and boardgames. Eat the contents of your pantry. Don’t let your perishables perish before you eat them. Shop at a local farmer’s market. Learn to make (or make do without) something from your shopping list every week (ok, so I don’t advocate going back to newspapers in the loo, but washing powder, household cleaners, personal body care and many pre-packaged food items are all easily do-able.)

Embrace the frugal and keep your eyes on the prize of your own home.

I turn the hot water heater off and only have it on a couple of hours a day. You can look at your electricity bills and two readings one for the main, and the other is the hot water heater (but not labelled that). I save about $50 each electricity bill (so each quarter).

If you can afford it, buy a gift card every week or fortnight when you do your shopping, only $10 or $20 dollars. Put them away for those special events eg. birthday or Christmas presents, extra groceries for an event or even just to do your weekly shopping and put your usual shopping money in a savings account.