Saving Money in Sydney story. I can see why she can't save.

A top of the line secondhand 1 year old iPhone 6 128Gb is trending on eBay for $750 - my point is they depreciate about $500 in the first year, meaning the phone bill should be no more than $90 per month for the latest and greatest phone and usage.

I don't understand why people buy them on "plans" when they're almost always outrageously more expensive.

update: I got my figures wrong, corrected.

 

Some they seem to be a lot more expensive, but then some people pay them off and stay on the same plan. May as well go on a new plan, at least they're paying for a phone I suppose.

 

Some people prefer the steady bill than one big $850 chunk. Sometimes you can also get a good deal where including plan, the phone ended up a lot cheaper.

I have considered phone plan before, and I can't handle the idea of being stuck to one provider, so outright it is. Tips - buy around mid-year for Samsung items, look at Australian store Ebay like the good guys just got 20% off, and similar to several month ago so around $860 for a brand new S7 Australian stock. Even better if you are traveling outside the country after, take another 10%off

 

Yeah, I prefer to go for the outright one as well.
Have bought from overseas before, no issues thus far (knock on wood).

 

It also ignores that some people need to be on Telstra for example so that cheap option isn't available meaning they have to spend ~90 a month just on the contract, when you use your phone for business you often can't afford to have unreliable service like the other networks do. Again, given the industry that phone bill seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I say that as someone who buys their phone outright and has a ~$20 a month plan because I don't use it if I can avoid it.

 

I spend $44 per month on a phone and I have an unlimited plan.

 

$150 is outrageous. I have an high end phone on plan. Including handset, 10gb data, unlimited calls, I pay 70/m. I work in media too, streaming vod content most of the time. I am sure your workplace has wifi. You can't be 'out n about' 9 hours a day 4 days a week. Mondays you work from home, so that's covered too. Your home internet connection seems excessive too.

 

Spends $110 pm on supplements and eats schnitzel for lunch

 

I spend $122/month on my phone plan and I'm happy with it.
I would consider other services but they're just not reliable enough. I'm with Telstra.

 

I'm thinking the young lady in the article has been given Grandad's old Magna to drive to the station, hence the fuel guzzling. She might be stuck with it for sentimental reasons, ie Grandad might think of it as a perfect car and there is no telling Grandad that his opinion is incorrect.

My Uni student son has a 15 year old Nissan Pulsar which gets great fuel economy. They probably cost around $2000. My husband is a car fanatic and he understands about economics from 35 years of me ramming the costs down his throat.

Another issue many of you have is with her buying flowers on the weekend for Grandma and Mum. I have seen families where that would be her token "board" money. You know how I grew up amongst Greek and Italian families, they would not hear of their children or grandchildren ever paying board or any other financial contribution to the household.

 

Lol which route do you take on Mondays and then walk back to North Sydney? Great effort and good work though!

Also I'm sure you're aware of this, but the other day TfNSW has just announced the plan to end of free trips after the eighth and replaced with 50% off normal price after the eighth trip. I think it'll start 5th September. Seriously shocking and appalling though, as if we are not paying enough fee for public transport already...

 

In summary - I commute for over 2 hours a way, so not doing this lol!

Yep - am being given a company phone (yay) so that will cut my phone bill to about a quarter in September. So with you on this one! I use up a shocking amount of data and my phone accommodates to that. Where we live is also terrible with TPG so I had to switch from a much smaller bill to Telstra...

I need supplements for B12 on a vegan diet. I also have some absorption problems so am taking them under recommendations from my doctor. I'm also a runner haha.

Our groceries could do with an overhaul. I'm a big cook/foodie so often go over budget and need to reign myself back in.

We don't know about our savings specifically as my income varies due to freelancing (all of that goes into the mortgage offset). I know a minimum we save on a monthly basis. But the truth is - our animals are strays (we have 12 rescues at home) - and when they need surgery or treatment... well, they need it. Some of them are covered by insurance but others, due to age or previous health issues, cannot be. They can easily eat up $1500-$3000 in "surprise surgery" in the space of 48 hours. My partner is also entitled to spend what she likes on what she wants/needs - I trust her not to be OTT with expenditure - and some months this is more than expected.

 

(In terms of our home internet - my partner is a heavy gamer, which costs $$ on the downloads. That's her hobby. That bill is non-negotiable to her, and I'm fine with that!)

 

Is there a secret to getting it so cheap?? They're typically advertised for about $14/week in Brisbane..

 

It's kinda ironic that Telstra has had the most bad publicity for outages lately.

 

Just the one stop from outside HSBC to 111 Pacific Hway One bus driver held the doors closed on a few of us who were obviously doing it and chided us for abusing the system! Some old woman snapped at him and told him off for sticking his nose in other people's business

Yes knew they'd do this at some stage and its lasted a lot longer than expected. It's been the plan the whole time- Move everyone to Opal, remove paper tickets, slowly and steadily take away the benefits and increase the cost. Have total control.

While it will double my travel cost, it's only an extra $20/wk. Can't be too worried about that!

 

I know we could cut down our cost if we really wanted to however you need a balance of saving and enjoying life.

For me I would rather spend $100 a month (I too enjoy gaming and streaming videos) then going out to the movies once a week with my wife for $50 + Food/Dinner + Drink + Snacks = $200 or ~$800 p/m.

If you want to save the most it would be buy a tent and live in it and borrow books from the library and read under the street lights. Not my idea of fun so I am okay with spending money on things I enjoy.

Another example I drink usually $20-$30 a bottle, as I don't drink a bottle every night I enjoy and to me is reasonable. If I was drinking 1-2 bottles a night I would have to drop it to $5 bottles.

 

What? No activation? Substandard service

 

If she's saving 50% of her income at 24, she's not doing too bad at all.