Mother-of-two, 28, who saved $30,000 in 12 months reveals how you can put aside a fortune WITHOUT spending less money
- Olivia White, 28, is a mother-of-two and blogger based in Melbourne
- She managed to save $30k in one year by making simple lifestyle tweaks
- She has now shared tips for saving money without spending less
- Tips include collecting points, automating savings and using cash back sites
Australian mother-of-two, Olivia White, has revealed how to successfully save money without making significant budget cuts.
The House of White founder set a goal with her husband in 2017 to save $30,000 for renovations and with a few simple lifestyle tweaks the pair achieved the goal in just 12 months.
'Everyone thinks of "saving" money as "spending less" but the best place to start is with the money you already spend,' the Melbourne-based blogger wrote.
'I've put together my top list of places to start looking when wanting to start your savings journey.'
Australian mother-of-two, Olivia White, has revealed how to successfully save money without making significant budget cuts
1. CHECK ALL OF YOUR DIRECT DEBITS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
According to Ms White, one of the most important steps in saving money is to take care of small auto-payments like gyms, subscriptions and apps that you may have forgotten about.
'I was paying for a lot of cloud based items like storage and premium apps that I thought I cancelled or hadn't even realised I signed up too at one stage. These amounts all add up over the months,' Ms White said.
'Even our daughter's swimming was still coming out when I changed centres and cancelled (they didn't do it). So I had to follow it up and get back paid.'
She also recommended checking the subscriptions section in iTunes and the recurring payments in your PayPal account.
Share this article
According to Ms White, one of the most important steps in saving money is to take care of small auto-payments like gyms, subscriptions and apps that you may have forgotten about
2. AUTOMATE SAVINGS
Ms White advises people to put aside a manageable amount each week that builds up without you 'even seeing it'.
'We save via our home loan, so I have a manual direct debit each week to pay this PLUS a set amount on top that goes with this weekly. This means we are building our savings against our home loan which is also offsetting our loan,' she said.
'Even if you just had $20 a week automatically going into an account on payday, you just become used to it and don't see it happen so your unlikely to touch it!'
3. COLLECT POINTS
Ms White stresses the importance of 'making every dollar you spend work for you'.
To do this she uses a Priceline card to save on cosmetics and skincare and collects Qantas points by shopping at Woolworths, getting petrol at specific stations, flying with certain airlines and using specific credit cards.
'It also means we shop largely with a credit card so every dollar we spend earns us points. I do however only recommend this if you can afford it. If you are paying interest on a credit card then it's never going to be worth it,' she said.
'Everyone thinks of 'saving' money as 'spending less' but the best place to start is with the money you already spend,' the Melbourne-based blogger wrote
4. USE CASH BACK WEBSITES
Cash back websites pay members back a portion of money spent on purchases at certain stores, with Ms White saying they're so helpful they seemed 'too good to be true' at first.
'I use ShopBack because Woolworths are on there. I also have the Chrome Extension on my laptop so when I go to any site listed with ShopBack the offer loads automatically, making it basically effortless,' Ms White said.
'The amount then sites in your ShopBack account and you can transfer to your PayPal or bank account when it builds up! I try not to touch mine until I have a few hundred dollars, then transfer to my savings!!'
Olivia White shares snaps on her Instagram page and insightful blog posts on her blog, House of White.
