Money Hacks

That is fraud!

 

Hi,

I read gocurrycracker.com and he wrote an article about using points to pay for acommodations and flights so I searched on google and found ANZ Black reward card with 75000 points bonus for spending $2500/3 months no fee for first year, and CBA offers new card with $250 cash back if spent $500 by xxx (need to pay annual fee of $59).

So 2 cards plus 2 banks will earn me $1k in cashback.

PS: it only makes sense if the cards are closed after the 1st year though.

Cheers.

Anne

 

Close your eyes @Terry_w

 

Now that's more the reaction that I normally get!

I'm not focused on it, it's passive for me and my second nature. Plus, I don't feel like it's affecting me negatively nor do I feel poor.
Plus I'm financially better off than the vast majority of my peers.

 

Aka Robin Hood

 

Most households in Australia have 2 cars.
The best money hack I know of is to sell one - and buy a decent bike.

Learn to ride everywhere. Once you are in this habit you wont even notice you do it.

The cost saving will be massive, plus you get the upfront cash 'bonus' from the sale proceeds. Put the cash in the offset, and the savings on this will equal more than any of the other suggestions mentioned so far.

Plus you always have the other car for when you actually do 'need' a car.

Blacky

 

I'm kind of similar. I like a bargain - and pride myself on not spending money on "stuff"

I can always justify spending money on travel, good food/drink and experiences in general.

But when it comes to other possessions - I'd prefer to go second hand or borrow these days. Less is best IMO - I hate clutter and if there's anything we're not using I try to give it away or get rid of it.

I don't like expensive cars either - they're a drain. Owned a sports car once - never drove it because there were no backseats for kids :-(

All in all - I'm not tight to save money - I'm just happier with less stuff. Life's less complicated.

On that note - here's my tip. In Canberra (and I assume everywhere else in Aus) we have "buy nothing" groups on Facebook. They're groups where locals in the community give stuff away to each other. I've seen random stuff from egg rings to IPhones being given to fellow members. It's a cool concept and cuts down on waste.

Cheers

Jamie

 

haha... why does it always come back to mr money moustache, nothing wrong with this, but do you think he may be making pots of money from this...just saying

 

A small one that can add up

Odd times i need quick cash so if i can find a service station instead of paying the $2-2.50 at an ATM i'll buy an .80c coffee and ask for cash out at the teller

 

I call up my credit card company a month before the annual fee is due to be charged. Say I would like to close my card because of the annual fee.

They have waived the fee every year for the past four years. Saved me $800!

 

Oh he's definitely making a mint from his website!
However, I do believe that he's the real deal and that he "retired" with little money and that he would still be comfortable and content if the website hadn't worked out.

I think the key for being happy isn't to have more, but to want less.

 

Balaclava and a sawn off shotgun

the rest is history

 

This one often amazes me more so I wonder how many people just accept it! I get this every year as well and same thing I call them and get it reduced.
Every CRM needs a sucker check box, if you call up and ask for a discount you get it removed and they stop trying to rip you and waste your time calling each year.

 

Apologies for being judgemental towards you or your money habits. It was more of a comment applying to my own circumstances. So sorry I didn't mean to be harsh.

Also, we do have certain money habits,
Like jacking the neighbours wifi, hardwiring into their mains power Etc (joke).

We too have certain penny pinching tactics, no name brand grocery items etc.

The biggest one and the one that will assist in financial freedom/wealth is the proper and maximum use of the offset account.
Apart from the standard salary and rent into it and all mortgages out we:
1. Pay all non negotiable expenses on credit card (rego, insurances, rates, professional body memberships, utilities) then the auto clear at end of month.
2. The discretionary spending: we use a joint debit visa. This is for groceries, fun money, fuel, eating out.

The reason we use this is that if discretionary spending is mixed in with the non negotiable expenditure it gets muddled and you are not accountable. The grocery bill can go from $130 to $170 in a heartbeat as you will just grab this and just grab that couple of extras a couple of times a week, it's on credit so it's all good.
So coming back to penny pinching again it is the monitoring and accountibility of discretionary spending that I find brings most people's money management down.. This ensures there is enough funds for all of that stuff each week, but spend it wisely! Spending on rubbish, chewies, bottles of water etc is what can amount to a few thousand at year end..

Mind you we keep saying that we have enough in our wine collection...

 

Everyone says this...i don't do it. I do the reverse. Most of those are fixed costs so i just work out a weekly avg (pay cycle avg) then put into an offset visa debit card then auto pay that way.

 

I managed to get $80+ off my home and contents insurance renewal this month because I told them i am not going to renew because I found a cheaper quote else where. I actually did find a cheaper quote, but they don't even check i am sure you can just say that and they will lower your price.

 

The insurance co's are already onto that one, I'm sure.

Here's a good site for the little hacks;
http://lifehacker.com/5861800/calcu...utting-a-small-expense-adds-up-to-big-savings

 

Here are some that I can think of:
- Buy long lasting food products in bulk when they are heavily reduced e.g rice, coffee, cereals, long life milk, etc
- Work out when your local grocer discounts their meats because they are going to expire in a few days, buy up a lot and then put it in the freezer.
- If you are with a group on friends at a restaurant and they dont split the bill, volunteer to pay the bill on your credit card to earn more points, and then just get the money from your friends. I did that last week for a $400+ dinner.
- If you have kids in childcare you are entitled to a child care rebate. usually the rebate goes to the child care centre from the government, and then you pay the difference to the centre. But you can opt to receive the rebate directly to your bank account and then pay the full amount to the childcare center. Our center excepts credit cards without surcharge, so I earn more points this way.

 

They are. I used to work in NRMA's fraud investigation department and claiming on windscreen cover shortly after adding it to your policy is a red flag item. Not to say it won't get accepted, but it goes on your record and may make life very hard for you in the future.

Another random insurance fact: cancelling a claim is one of the biggest red flags.

Back on topic, I'm surprised I don't use many of the money hacks mentioned here. A lot of things like sensible grocery shopping, saving on subscriptions etc is just common sense. If anything, my biggest "money hack" is selling stuff I don't need the minute I don't need them. Just unloaded a bunch of networking gear on local forums for about half what I paid for them in the first place... revenue that otherwise would have been lost in laziness and hoarding

 

Or low ball your next buy by 2k and that will get you 400 coffee