With rising inflation as well as a recent increase in interest rates, trying to save money is become difficult for South Africans.
This along with the increases in the cost of food has left people with little or no room in their budgets for savings.
Here are 5 hacks that can help you start saving money:
Switch off vampire devices
Unplug all of the devices in your home that suck energy even they are not in use. These devices could be your TV, phone charger and laptop chargers.
By unplugging your devices you will be saving energy, saving money on your electricity bill and protecting your devices from energy surges when load shedding ends and the power comes back on.
Drive less and slower
Following the pandemic, the transition of the workplace from the office to people’s homes has led to people spending less time on the road.
With less time on the road, people will be saving on their petrol costs. People should also check if their insurer will reward them for spending less time on the road.
Other ways that you can save on petrol costs include consolidating all of errands into one trip and taking it slow on the road.
“When you drive faster, your car’s fuel consumption increases to power the engine to drive at higher speeds. Add in more air resistance the faster you go, and you’re burning rands as fast as your burning fuel,” Keletso Mpisane, head of MiWay Blink said.
Leave online items in the cart for a few days
Online shopping is increasing in popularity because it is convenient but people may be tempted to buy more than they planned to.
The trick to saving money is to leave the items in your online shopping cart for a day or two to give yourself some time to decide whether all the additional items are really needed and worth the money.
Review your subscriptions
Most people will have moments when they sign up for an app because they are working on something specific and need a particular feature, or they hosted an event and needed uninterrupted streaming music so they signed up for a premium account.
Then they forget about it but the cost of the subscriptions continue to be deducted out of their account.
Make sure that you check in on your app subscriptions monthly and remember that even a smallest amount taken off every month can add up to a large amount in the end.
Make lunch at home
The mornings can be a rush so it’s easy to forget to pack a lunch bag for yourself and then buy lunch at work.
Buying lunch from the office or a food delivery service can be even more expensive.
Think about packing your lunch the night before or cooking a bit extra for dinner and then packing the leftovers for the next day to make your life easier and save money.
IOL Business