This month’s theme at Canvast is finance. Ya’ll know (and if you don’t, you’re about to) that one of my fav topics is money and budgeting and being in control of your finances. You can pretty much guarantee that most things we want require money. Whether you want to travel, buy a house, keep up with every Gucci release or go nuts at Mecca on the reg – you’re going to need money.
The problem for most of us is that we live beyond our means; we spend more than we earn, leaving us with crippling credit card debt and a bleak looking future. Yes, having pretty clothes in your cupboard and having your nails done fortnightly is nice, but not if it costs you your livelihood in the future.
If you’ve never done the whole ‘budgeting’ thing before, and the thought of cutting up your credit card makes you really uncomfortable, you’re going to want to keep reading. I’m about to share some of the simplest ways to help you cut back without feeling like you’re cutting off your left leg to get ahead.
- The first and easiest tip is to USE a budget to start with – my mind boggles at how many of you go through life with ZERO idea of where your money is going. It’s time for a good old dose of reality. Crunch the numbers and get your head around where you’re spending your hard earned cash. (hint: I’m giving the Canvast budget template away for free via our Instagram freebie link now until the end of the month!…what are you waiting for?
- Reduce your spending. Read this again: REDUCE it. I’m not asking you to stop completely, but take note of how much you’re spending every week on things like coffee, alcohol, take away and then make a conscious effort to cut back.
- Plan your meals ahead and make a grocery list. If you’re anything like me, the worst thing you can you do is go grocery shopping hungry. The SECOND worst thing you can do is go without a game plan. By planning your meals and your grocery list in advance, you’re won’t be adding anything unnecessary to your trolley.
- Make some freezer friendly meals and have them ready for the nights where you finish work late, have training or can’t be f*cked cooking – and save yourself the Ubereats bill.
- Budget for your bills – if you know you have phone, electricity, water, rates bills etc, work out how much you need to put aside each pay to prepare for them. It saves getting the bill and putting it on that dang credit card!
- Earn money from the sh*t you don’t use – do a stocktake of your wardrobe and sell that dress you wore to that wedding ONCE (you know who you are), list the perfectly good old iPhone that’s sitting in your cupboard, the unused stand up paddle board you bought 3 years ago because you swore you’d use it every weekend. You know what that extra cash can go towards? Useful things like car rego, a romantic weekend away with bae, an online course you’ve been dying to do but can’t afford. I can’t stress this enough, sell the sh*t you don’t need.
- Track down your lost superannuation – yep, boring I know. But I did this last year and found over $3500 in super! Hint: your current super provider can do this on your behalf, they generally just need a form filled out.
- Cancel your unused memberships. Gym, library, tinder (yep, real thing) – if you’re paying for something you don’t use, it’s the equivalent of burning your money. Cancel it and move on.
- Round up your purchases – some banks will let you opt in for rounding up your purchases and putting the extra into an automatic savings account. For example, if you purchase something for $3.75 it will automatically round up to $5 and add the $1.25 into your savings account. It might not seem like a lot, but trust me it adds up quickly!
- Start each pay with $0 – my favourite thing to do (I’m a budgeting pervert) is to put whatever is left in my bank account the day before I get paid, into my savings account. So when I get paid the next day, it’s like I’m starting from scratch. I also do this with my allocated ‘grocery money’ – I withdraw $200 as my fortnightly grocery allowance, and whatever is left in my wallet the day before my next pay day, I put into my savings jar.
These budgeting tips are really easy to apply, I promise, even for those of you out there who are notorious for spending your money willy nilly. And if you haven’t got yourself a Canvast yet, don’t forget you can get the exact budget template from the Canvast planner from our freebies link in our Instagram bio!
Imagine being able to pay for holidays in cash (*gasp*) taking weekends away every couple of months where you can treat yourself with a weekend of white robes, margaritas and boutique strolls without worrying about which credit card is going to max out first?
Yep, this is real life, and the first way to start is by applying the tips above.
If you’re still struggling, check out the “Where the fuck is all my money” E-book from the Canvast website here. It was created for anyone who is sh*t with money, and is struggling to pay off their debts and finally start saving.
Happy Budgeting!
Em x