How to Save Money in South Africa?

June 10, 2021

Times have been tough during recent years. A time of unprecedented job losses, health risks and financial toll. This has forced us to dig into our savings to stay afloat. But now that things are slowly returning to normal, how do you build up these savings again? How do you save in 2021? Saving after […]

Times have been tough during recent years. A time of unprecedented job losses, health risks and financial toll. This has forced us to dig into our savings to stay afloat.

But now that things are slowly returning to normal, how do you build up these savings again? How do you save in 2021?

Saving after a crisis can seem hard. However, what we learned from the crisis is that having some savings kept aside can be very useful. When you have been without money and live on a tight budget, it can be hard to save money every month. What if we told you that there are ways that you could save money by changing the way you spend money. By doing this you can give yourself more money to put towards your savings goals and to cover unexpected expenses that may arise.

5 Ways to Save Money Every Month

Saving money can be easy if you restructure and relook at the way you spend money. With a few simple habits, you may be able to cut your monthly spending down by a large amount, giving you more money to save every month.

These are not complicated hacks or tips but rather ways you can save money by shopping smarter and managing your money in a different way.

Save Money On Your Food Spend

We all tend to take the easy route when it comes to food. Prepacked, premade, fast and low effort food. Whether we are feeding 1 or 5, we all try to make it as fast and effortless as possible. However, this has been shown to be an ineffective way of doing things in terms of health and budget.

Rather than shopping daily and buying something that is quick and easy, switch to shopping weekly and doing meal prep. Preparing meals or your meal ingredients on the weekend can often help you to save time, money and eat healthier.

Rethink How You Commute

While the peace and quiet of your own car may seem like a bliss in the morning, it is also an expensive way of traveling. If this is how you commute, switching to walking, carpooling, or even public transport as your means of commuting may be a more efficient way for you to travel. It can also be more eco-friendly.

Buy in Bulk

Apart from food, you can adjust how you spend on your household goods. This can save you a lot of money by shopping a little smarter. Buying items in bulk such as soap, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other usable items can help you to drastically reduce your monthly spend.

Buying in bulk does require careful planning to ensure you do not overspend. We recommend writing down your usage of these products and working out the right quantity to buy to save you money and shopping time!

Use Less Electricity

Even though we have been saving on electricity spend thanks to load shedding, trying to cut down on your electricity usage can be very beneficial to your budget. Electricity costs a fair bit of money, but there are easy ways to cut down your spend:

· Use blankets – blankets are a great way of keeping warm on a cold winter’s night. They are also energy savers as they can help you to cut down on your use of heaters.

· Replace with Energy Efficient Light Bulbs – we are not saying that you should replace all your lights with energy efficient ones. What we are saying is that as you replace lights and bulbs to opt for more efficient versions as a replacement.

· Switch off – By switching off lights, appliances and plugs that you are not using, you can save a lot of electricity.

Consolidate Your Debt

Carrying lots of debt can be very expensive on your monthly budget. Interest can quickly add up, especially when you are paying off high interest debt. But what if there was a way in which you could consolidate your debt into one affordable monthly payment at a lower interest rate?

Our Bond Optimiser team has been working with our clients to save them money by consolidating their debt into their home mortgages. We have helped many clients to save more than R7000 a month!

While 2020 may have been a tough year for us all, we have all learned a lot. Now is the time to take these learnings and apply them to our everyday plans. Planning for the unexpected is a crucial part of this plan. This includes having sufficient savings.

While saving may seem hard while you try to make ends meet, there are ways you can save and cut back. You may be able to save money every month giving you more freedom in your budget.

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