How to live the Debt Free life !?

I have always been a "budgeter", a "discount bargain hunter" but didn't have the structure in place that I needed to really get ahead and aim to live the #debtfreelife

I had already formed the opinion that having a baby and being on maternity leave would be the most expensive and worst savings year yet. Like most things in my life what I had pre judged or set my mind on, it turned out to be completely opposite.

The year I went on maternity leave was when I really took a good look at what exactly was coming in and what was going out. I transformed my husbands budget spreadsheet which included future projections of our income, our outgoings and bills into an accurate breakdown of our bank accounts.

I started following some great pages on Instagram who share their family budget tips to help reduce your debt (whatever it is) as quickly as possible. Scrolling through and researching how better I could do things was a game changer for me. I started to become more aware of every dollar and took on my first challenge of the $5,000 savings month in May of 2018.

Did you know the best savings months are when there are 5 week months? Especially if you are paid weekly or your fortnightly pay falls 3 times. These are the months you set extra challenges for yourself or your family and really can save if you stay disciplined.

So I undertook the $5,000 challenge and this entailed shopping smart (using what you can out of the already stocked pantry), no spend weeks and weekends or free activities with the family, listing on gumtree and ebay (maximising your income coming in). Generally each month your bills are set so if your rates fall or your insurance is coming out there isn't a great deal you can do, but if you focus on the extra income and shop smart you can find money to save where you didn't think there was any.

Some other great tips I have picked up have been pulling out your cash for groceries, then itemising your weekly budget and taking that cash with you. You are so much more aware of what you are frivolously chucking in your trolley that 9 times out of 10 you will leave it on the shelf.

Here are the tips I do monthly:

• Keep an accurate budget where you track your spending

• Pay yourself an allowance each week or fortnight and stick to it

• Shop around the sales and stock up on items

• Menu Plan and grocery shop accordingly

• Plan birthdays and upcoming events (buy at sales, Groupon dinner discounts)

• List on Ebay and Gumtree whenever you can

• Always shop around insurance premiums, electricity discounts, mobile phone plans (great savings here each year if you challenge these companies)

• If you can side hustle extra income - DO IT!

Some new tips I have started for 2019 are:

• Create a Christmas account and set a weekly amount that is direct debited out (by the end of the year you will have hundreds of dollars ready for food and presents).

• Plan holidays the same (I have created an extra account and am using the below budgeting table to select an amount each week or fortnight to transfer that is surplus in my budget)

Table from The Luxury Girls Budget

I have pre planned 2019 (in a spreadsheet) for all the bills that are coming up monthly, this allows me to work out actual savings vs money I may need to bring over to the new month to ensure everything is covered. Feb for me was a super heavy bill month with 2 car insurances, rates and electricity all hitting me on top of my normal payments. With forecasting and budgeting I am on track for this month now, when I started I was nearly -$1,000 in negative (que freak out moment).

If you have time to use websites like Shop Back and Groupon they save you additional money on things you are buying anyway (don't use this as an excuse to shop). I started using Shop Back and after I ordered my normal Christmas gifts I have collected $60 back into my bank account. Currently if you use Groupon you can save directly with them and then collect 30% back using the Shop Back ap.

ShopBack Referral Link for $10 activated by clicking above on the picture

If you have time to sign up to survey websites or consumer review websites you might be surprised what you can get paid for answering surveys (some are paying $30 per survey).

Finally if you can hustle any extra money by using your amazing talents or skills research what you can sell on Gumtree, Etsy or Ebay. This is really only limited to your creativity.

I will include some referral links in the pictures to take you to some of the pages I have mentioned and you may benefit by signing up.