With the ever-increasing interest rate, your bond repayments might be pushing you to your financial limit, forcing you to take money allocated to other monthly items in order to pay the extra thousands on your home loan.
Get on top of your finances by working out a proper budget to help you visualise your monthly spending. Warning: This exercise might be a harsh reality check, as you may be spending a lot more than you thought. Take this opportunity to reel in your spending habits, lower your debt and stock up your savings.
We’ve got five tips from RE/MAX of Southern Africa to help you cut down expenses:
- Keep your food bill lean: If you don’t already, start purchasing groceries in bulk to cut down on your monthly food bill – and avoid buying fast food, takeaway coffees, or eating out. The average cost of a takeaway coffee is around R30. If you do this daily, five days a week, you’re spending around R600 a month just on coffee.
- Get thrifty: If you need new clothing, consider thrift stores or second-hand items sold through Facebook Marketplace. Avoid buying anything on store credit (unless they’re interest-free accounts) and, if possible, pay these off as soon as you can and close the accounts.
- Declutter your subscriptions: Cancel any unnecessary subscription services. These days, it is common to have subscriptions to multiple streaming services. Try to limit your household to just one at a time to save a couple of hundred rands each month.
- Opt for pay-as-you-go: If your cell phone contract is nearing its end, switch to pay-as-you-go instead of opting for an upgrade.
- Don’t be a slave to the brand: It is worth finding cheaper alternatives for your daily consumables, such as perfumes, deodorants, make-up, cleaning and food supplies, as this will go a long way to helping you reduce your monthly expenses.
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