10 smart money saving hacks for serious savers. Yes, we said serious.

Trying to save money is about as much fun a dieting. It also follows the same trajectory. You make a careful budget save, save, save and then get sick of living like that and you go on a shopping spree and blow your budget to smithereens.

Just like most dieters who follow too strict a diet are likely to eventually crack, and binge, most savers need a release.

Maybe it’s time to completely rethink how we manage our money, much like we’re now realising we need to rethink how we manage our food.

Too much deprivation leads to eventual rebellion.

Cheap online shopping disasters. Article continues after this video. 

What if we could spend more, to save? What if by spending smarter in the short term we can save money in the long term. And how exactly do we that effectively?

David Rankin has over 10 years of professional financial experience working as an award-winning bank manager and he’s also founder of personal budgeting service Sort My Money. He says healthy financial habits are the key to money mastery and he has shared his top 10 go-for-your-life spends.

1. Discount supermarkets

For most of us, groceries account for the lion’s share of our day-to-day outgoings. If we handed over this much money for anything else, we would think very carefully about who we gave it to. The ‘Aldi effect’ is rapidly becoming a recognised way of dramatically reducing your food bill. Spend up big at your local discounter, top up at a full-price outlet and don’t set foot in a supermarket for another seven days. If you’re looking for just one take-away from this article, you don’t need to read any further!

2. A 0% balance transfer credit card

Banks are falling over themselves to create an interest-free environment to help you to repay your debt. Is this too good to be true? It doesn’t have to be. What the banks actually want is for you to bring your credit card balance along with your bad habits over to them, so they can clean up on late repayment fees and the like. By hiding your new card away in a shoe box and maxing those 0% repayments, though, you too can be laughing all the way to the bank!

3. A car loan for a car – not a personal loan

If you’re buying a car, don’t finance the purchase with a 15% personal loan, if you can pay a fraction of the interest with a car loan instead. Overall, you might even be better off buying a somewhat newer vehicle in order to meet the car loan criteria, rather than paying a sky-high unsecured personal loan interest rate for an older car.

 4. A competitive home loan

It’s the biggest financial commitment most of us will ever make, so a small reduction in our mortgage interest rate can bring big benefits to our bottom line. Bells, whistles and specials are all well and good, but they can distract us from the main game, which is an ongoing low home loan interest rate. If you’re paying $400 a year for a loan package fee, make sure you factor it in when comparing your current loan with a bank that doesn’t charge fees.

5. A coffee machine and great quality coffee

“If you’re spending to save, don’t forget to include the good things in life, because enjoyable habits are very likely to be sustainable. $250 will get you a good machine, and $15 will buy you a kilo of premium Italian coffee. If you already have a daily habit, this could be the best investment you ever made. Wake up and smell the coffee . . . day after day.”

6. The right mobile phone data plan

“A tight mobile phone data plan often turns out to be a false economy. If you bought tailor-made clothes for the kids, you’d know there would be extra to pay. With the wrong data plan, you’ll be paying extra on a regular basis, in order to finance a monthly data blow-out. In our mobile-streaming reality, a generous data plan can turn out to be a wise investment.”

7. A film streaming subscription

“Entertainment streaming services have only been available in Australia since last year, but they are already proving to be a game changer – not least for household budgets. Since then, competition among providers has only intensified, and the consumer has never had it so good. This low-cost investment will help you to slash your discretionary outgoings while still keeping you entertained.”

 8. LED lighting

“By now, you have probably ‘switched’ from traditional bulbs to energy-saving globes. When you did so, though, did you leave your halogen bulbs in place? If so, it’s worth knowing that halogen can use significantly more electricity than an LED globe or downlight to produce the equivalent amount of light - potentially translating into hundreds of dollars of unnecessary costs in the course of a year. Time to finish the job properly!”

 9. A platinum credit card

“If platinum credit cards sound expensive and superfluous, think again . . . especially if you are planning to travel overseas. With annual fees of under $100 (for a ‘vanilla’ card, without rewards points) and free overseas travel cover underwritten by reputable insurers, why would you leave Australia without one?”

 10. BorrowBox

“Okay, so you can’t really classify a complimentary app as an investment, but it can save you serious money, hence its inclusion in this list. Why buy eBooks or audiobooks ever again, when – if BorrowBox is available through your local library – you can access its collection for free. At anytime from anywhere. What’s not to love about a free app!”