Pay day has finally arrived and you’ve vowed to never again be in the position of having $2.50 to your name for the last four days of the month.
We’ve got your back. Here are our absolutely kick-ass, clearly definitive life-hacks to saving money for 20-somethings.
1. Always get off your face before going out. – Sarah, 24.
2. House sit. Save GAZILLIONS!! – Lee, 28.
3. Only meet people for drinks (have pasta before going out), and only buy your own drinks (don’t go in a shout). – Mary, 30.
4. Turn on appliances (eg. dishwasher) after peak hours for cheaper rates. – Abby, 26.
5. Buy clothes from (cheap) vintage stores, like 1950s and 1960s stuff. Better quality than the same amount of money will buy you new, and also less likely to look dated, in a weird way. – Carla, 27.
6. Use Uber! Seriously. It’s cheaper than cabs, and you can equally split fares with your mates. No more of that “oh I’ll just give it to you when I see you next” nonsense. You have to sort that shit out on the spot, or you’ll never get your dollars back. And that adds up. – Kahla, 23.
7. Go out for dinner at BYO places. – Jo, 29.
If you’re a fan of hacks, why not try our hacks for dry shampoo? We can guarantee you haven’t seen them before. Post continues after video.
8. Wash your hair every third day instead every second. – Anne Marie, 24.
9. Buy kids clothes. – Samantha, 24.
10. I would say avoiding convenience stores is a good idea. So exy. – Claire, 26.
11. Basically, invest in a giant handbag that allows you to carry snacks, umbrella, gum etc constantly, and then you’ll never get caught out needing to buy any of these things. (Precisely why big handbags were invented.) – Kate, 21.
12. Go ‘home’ for dinner as often as possible. By ‘home’ I mean to your parents house. – Victoria, 27.
13. Withdraw cash at the start of the week/before the weekend and only spend that. You’re way more accountable when you have to physically part with money. – Fay, 32.
14. Go to the food market on a Sunday late in the afternoon, lots of produce going cheap to make way for fresh stock. – Laura, 27.
15. Carry an umbrella with you always, at all times, regardless of the weather, because having to buy one from the convenience store for $17 that breaks instantly is a life killer. – Sally, 29.
16. If you go to Costco and buy in bulk, be really really careful of use by dates. Will you really eat 5 kilos of prawn dumplings in four days? – Alice, 29.
17. Be kind to your shoes and feet! Re-heeling shoes is so expensive, so don’t plan to walk long distances through the city in them. Ballet flats or joggers if you are walking. Your feet and your bank will thank you. – Nicole, 25.
18. Take a shopping list with you to the supermarket. – Jacqui, 22.
19. Live in an uncool suburb but near a train station. You save a massive amount of money on housing, but you can still get to wherever you want to go pretty quickly. – Catherine, 29.
20. If you’re going out for dinner with friends and you really don’t want to miss it (but can’t really afford it) then eat something beforehand and order an entrée when you’re out. It’s generally $5-$15 cheaper than a main meal. – Jess, 26.
21. Always buy your snack foods from Woolies before you go to the movies. Unless you are a billionaire. – Sam, 27.
22. If you do have to get shoes re-heeled, or dry cleaning done. Don’t opt for the convenience of getting it done in the city on the way to work. Its always twice the price of the local one in the suburbs that’s a little out of your way. – Nicole, 27.
23. Volunteer to be designated driver. You save money on cabs and save money on alcohol (and also save on the hangover). – Jane, 24.
24. Buy second hand on Instagram. People are always trying to offload bargains. – Chrissi, 28.
25. Gotta take advantage of those sales. – Camila, 21.
26. Shop around the outsides of the supermarket, like the outside aisles, that’s where everything you need is. It’s in the other aisles where you spend all the $$$. – Lana, 23.
27. Buy fruit and vege from Aussie Farmers/your local market – they’re fresher, cheaper and last longer. – Jessica, 25.
28. If there’s a bunch of friends going in for a present/buying airfares/booking hotel rooms, make sure you’re NEVER the one to pay. You always end up getting fucking ripped off. It makes you a shit friend, but a slightly richer shit friend. – Sophie, 21.
29. Plan smart left overs. I am really bad at wanting to eat left overs so I try and plan creative uses so its somewhat different. Eg. Soup one night is always followed by risotto the next in our house and the soup becomes the delicious base for the risotto, but you don’t feel like you had soup two nights in a row. – Marla, 27.
30. Buy a Thermomix. Genuinely, this is my $2100 plan to save money. (I’m an idiot)… Also, beware of false economies. – Kelly, 22.
31. Track your expenditure, even your coffee. Writing it down makes it way harder to just be frivolous about things. (Why yes, I WILL have that $12 green smoothie with my muffin and latte for breakfast.) – Andi, 29.
32. Plan all of my meals and make batches of cheap but delicious stuff. Last week I didn’t buy a meal or snack out until Friday night. – Naomi, 29.
33. Splitting bills, don’t do it. If you’re always consciously ordering cheap things to save money, only to “split evenly” and cover everyone else’s cocktails, it eats into your $$$ and it’s also not fair. You try and be polite by saying “Nah it’s fine just give me $20″…but inside you’re burning. – Natalie, 27.
34. Have a coin jar / bucket. I have one, and it collects all the coins throughout the year and gets emptied normally twice a year. Once for each of mine and hubby’s birthdays.There’s no guilt with splashing a few hundred on your birthday that otherwise I’d feel if I took it out of our bank account. Plus its always a fun surprise when you cash it in. (Pleasee note, this only works because my husband leaves coins EVERYWHERE). – Zoe, 20.
35. Work out how much money you need to get through the month. Then break it down to how much money you need to get you through the week. Withdraw this amount on Monday and do not touch your account again until the following week. – Alex, 29.
36. Form food swap agreement. Assign one freezer friendly recipe to each person per week, and make eight servings. For example, you could make stuff on Sundays and then do an afternoon swap over a beer in the evening. That way, you pay for the ingredients of one recipe and get eight meals for the week. – Rachel, 29.
37. Always eat before you go to the supermarket. That makes food less tempting. – Georgie, 31.
38. Sell stuff you’re not using on Gumtree or Ebay before you buy anything new. I’ve been selling clothes and old magazines lately and it’s amazing what people will pay for things you were going to throw out ($45 for an old Vogue!). – Erin, 21.
39. Be organised. Just with everything, be organised. – Holly, 26.