{"id":13,"date":"2014-12-04T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=13"},"modified":"2015-06-03T07:21:23","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T07:21:23","slug":"saving-money-in-time-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=13","title":{"rendered":"Saving money in time for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve just bought a house, with a reasonable mortgage to boot. At the same time, Eli\u00a0and I have moved in together and I’ve lost some of my income. Since I’ll be paying mortgage payments as well as maintenance to GD\/GM, I figured I’d best look at other ways to save money. One of my favourite money saving ideas fountain is The Simple Dollar<\/a>. The other is the Barefoot Investor<\/a>. I’m planning to implement as many strategies as possible.<\/p>\n

1. Consolidating Bank Accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m not afraid to bank hop. Also, my main bank is a bit limited in its store front availability. For a while, I’ve had NAB and Westpac accounts lurking. I went to shut them down yesterday, and found a balance of $0.02 in one (they have to post me a cheque!!) and $2.50 in the other (coins). I’m not being charged fees on either of these accounts, so I could have just left them, but I don’t need that much plastic in my wallet.<\/p>\n

2. Changing Bank Accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although there is a credit card attached to our offset account,\u00a0Eli\u00a0and I have decided it’s not with the trouble. Yes, keeping that money safely in the offset account reduces our interest on the mortgage, but credit is something I won’t touch. So I needed a bank account that was worth something, other than my everyday spending account.<\/p>\n

Hello ING Everyday Orange Account.<\/a><\/p>\n

So long as I deposit $1,000 a month into it there\u2019s a 2 per cent cash-back rewards program if you use Visa PayWave. $1,000 should cover most of the household bills (specifically groceries and fuel), so it’s money for free.<\/p>\n

3. Creating an investment for kidkid<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve already put away a healthy sum for KK’s future, whatever KK\u00a0might want to do with it. My parents did this for me in a roundabout manner, and it started me off with good habits for life. Currently the money is sitting in a UBank savings account. But since they brought in the new rules about only the account linked to the deposits will get bonus interest I’ve been looking at saving.<\/p>\n

Enter Bankwest Kid’s Bonus Saver.<\/a><\/p>\n

They’re offering 5.75% returns, which is an amazing rate. The only catch is that the maximum money you can start with in the account is $250, and you can only make deposits of $250 a month. So I’m planning on setting this up on a direct debit coming out of the existing account, and making the most of it. I’ll also shop around for a better eSaver. That money sitting there might do better in my offset account, but as far as I am concerned, it’s KK’s and strictly off limits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve just bought a house, with a reasonable mortgage to boot. At the same time, Eli\u00a0and I have moved in together and I’ve lost some…<\/p>\n

Continue readingSaving money in time for Christmas<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6nzXS-d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11,"url":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=11","url_meta":{"origin":13,"position":0},"title":"Response to: Save a Thousand Dollars in Your Lunch Break","date":"December 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is based on one on the Barefoot Investor - I'm going to talk about how I'm meeting those things, and making the most of what I can do with my money. Best Mojo Money Barefoot suggests opening a UBank USaver Ultra account which has an automatic sweep function\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Finance"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":651,"url":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=651","url_meta":{"origin":13,"position":1},"title":"Review: Australian Budgeting Apps iOS","date":"March 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The first step anyone tells you when you start thinking seriously about (and voicing) your desire to get out of debt, do more with your money or maybe even retire early, is to make a budget. 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I aimed to write down exactly what I spent each day. I succeeded in this goal right up until December. 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