Money

A few ideas to keep your budget on track and more money in your pocket

Keeping with the shopping theme, something that can save you a LOT of money is keeping to your shopping list.

Impulse purchases all add up and often these unplanned purchases lead to food waste. Make sure you write a shopping list before you go to the store and stick to it!

When you go grocery shopping, take re-usable bags with you.

This will save you 15 cents per bag every time you go shopping. Bringing your own bags also reduces your environmental impact because you will be re-using what you already have rather than consuming more unnecessary products. Keep a few handy in your car so that you’re never caught out if you find yourself on a surprise shopping expedition.

Clean out your clothes.

Do you have a whole heap of clothes that you never wear and probably never will? Get some extra cash from selling them on buy-swap-and-sell sites, or even donate them to an op shop. You’ll feel better after a good wardrobe clean out too.

Try catching up with friends at home rather than going out. Inviting your friends over will help you stick to your budget and is something you could turn into a regular thing. Having everyone pitching in to cook a meal can be really fun; try having a Mexican night, pizza party, or make-your-own rice paper rolls. Plus, there are heaps of great things you can do together: watch a movie, play cards, or have a games night!

Do you find catching up with your friends totally busts your budget? A coffee here, dinner there, drinks out–the list is endless.

Try meal prepping.

Even spending one to two hours on the weekend (or whichever day you have off) will give you plenty of time to create lots of delicious food to set you up for the week. Having food in the fridge that is ready to go means that you will spend less money buying food during the week. There are heaps of helpful websites out there that have some incredible, easy recipes that will help you get started with meal prepping.