I have a couple of questions in one. I'm sick of living week to week. No matter what we do we cant get ahead. We don't eat out, over spend on things we don't need etc. we both work but are not on huge wages. we have 2 kids primary age and high school age. So my questions
- how do I cut our grocery bill? I shop at Aldi I shop at Coles by specials, we eat healthy and very little packaged food. No matter what I do I can't get our bill down. How do others do it?
- please share any family/budget friendly receipts you may have
- is health insurance really worth it? We pay $200 a month (have shopped around) I just feel we don't use it enough, considering just doing ambulance cover.
- any other tips for every day saving would really be appricated
Thanks
6 Replies
I would say cut the health insurance to just ambulance.
We used to have it and my hubby needed surgery a few years ago our out of pocket was 8k.
I need a knee reconstruction and our private can get me in within 2 wks and costs us 6.5k or wait 4 wks and its done through medicare
Put the $200 a month into savings. Don't spend it, let it grow. When I've needed surgery quickly I've gotten in as a private patient in a public hospital, it is much much cheaper but faster. Some things there is no wait list and some things there are very long wait lists. So it's worth having the money there.
My grocery bill is about 50 per adult. We don't have an Aldi so that doesn't really help.
Where I realised ages ago we were wasting money was on uneccessary cleaning products. I've switched it mostly vinegar and bi-carb soda for cleaning most areas and it is much cheaper, and does just as good a job. We used watered down meths as a glass cleaner.
Another place we've recently pulled the reigns in was with Internet and phone plans. I found we were using the Internet mindlessly, time wasting and data wasting. Putting limitations has meant less usage and a much cheaper plan. The same as phones. We were upgrading phones out of habit at the end of contract and were not using the features on the phones. Plus using data etc mindlessly, so cut down to much lower contracts, less features on phones and saving.
Do you have room for a vegie patch and a few fruit trees?
Have easy nights, really cheap dinners or let kids fend for themselves. Baked beans, jaffles, breakfast for dinner, pancakes, two minute noodles with a fried egg and some sliced veggies. I used to do it two nights a week to help the budget but now I do this more often than I cook.
Definitely cut the health insurance out. Put that money away monthly and you will hopefully have a nice little buffer if you need anything done (unless you anticipate needing things like 3 kids worth of braces, glasses for all family members etc). Hospital cover really isn't helpful anyway as you're out of pocket when you go with excess etc. Public hospital is pretty good and you can choose to pay up front if you need something done urgently. Get family ambulance cover and be done with it.
Look into cheaper energy plans and those that will heavily discount if you pay it all off by the due date. We worked out each of our bills and expenses (power, gas, water, rego, insurances, clothing, medical, loans etc) by working out the annual amount, then dividing by 26 (fortnightly amount). We added up the total (plus an extra 10%) and that amount goes to a separate bills account every fortnight. That money pays every bills that comes due as it comes due. Some fortnights we have nothing due, some fortnights we pay a few bills out of it.
We eat meat-free a few times a week. We have "whatever" nights where we have toasties or baked beans for dinner. That saves us a bundle. We buy bulk meat.
That's what we do, hope it helps x
Health insurance is worth it to skip waiting lists. You don't don't get better care in private ( I have worked in both sectors). You just get a few extra nice things in private and you don't always get a private room. Many private hospitals don't take kids and if they were very sick would probably need to be seen in a public hospital anyway. It's not essential.