Money Tips 61 to 70 Explained (#MoneyTips)

Time for my seventh set of 10 money tips to gain an explanation. I have posted my money tips to Twitter (using the hash tag #MoneyTips) and found that some of them were very hard to keep within that magic but annoying 140 character limit (can you tell I started this before twitter changed to 280?). So far, I have managed it, however sometimes a little of the meaning seems to get lost, and occasionally I wanted to add a little more explanation. This is where I do it.

I hope you enjoy the next 10 tips below – and remember to tweet @RememberToWater with hashtag #MoneyTips if you have any of your own tips you want to share with the world.

Money Tips 61 to 70:

Middle of the road tips. No real order (as always). And of course, along with past and some future ones, are all listed on the Money Tips Explained page if you are after more.

61. Use good deals to help with the cost of holidays.
    • This holiday top is not intended to get you to skim on holidays. A number of my best holidays have been ones where I paid top dollar for things. However I have also been on some that stand out because they were fun enough holidays for a very low price. The first one was a return flight between Melbourne and Brisbane for $9.95 (well, $19.90 for my partner and me). These sort of sales don’t come up often, but when they do – make the most of them.
62. Don’t tell your employer your expectation first. Let them set expectations.
    • In almost all situations, your employer (both the HR department and people interviewing you) will have a better idea of what you are “worth” than you do. If you are able to get them talking specific numbers for salary first, you will either be surprised (and potentially move a little higher), or disappointed, in which case you can stick to your original numbers.
63. Take a holiday with friends sometimes. Half the price and twice the fun.
    • Similar to the trip to Melbourne (#61), some of my best holiday memories are from when my partner and I rented a large cabin or house in a nice location, and brought along a few other friends. It helps to keep the accommodation costs much lower.
64. Save loose change, it wont change your finances, it will change your habits.
    • This is how my savings started way back when I was around 5 years old… sort of. The idea of saving change is how Acorns (now Raiz – stupid name change) works, albeit with fees that are too high. After a while, if you are like me, your inbuilt competitive nature will kick in and you will start saving more to try and reach better milestones and see the effects of compounding interest.
65. Make sure you know whether salary numbers include super or not.
    • This may sound obvious, but the difference between including and excluding super is 9.5%. If you start to include other aspects some positions offer (commissions, bonus, incentive payments, allowances) it can really add up.
66. Don’t try and save a cent if you might lose a dollar.
    • This one is sort of the opposite of tip number 17 but on a larger scale. If you are driving 20km to a supermarket to save 20c on some milk – it may nor be worth it. The idea can be expanded further too. Have you ever bought a Groupon, or gift card on sale only to have it expire? Have you ever attempted to pay bills to close to the due date, only to get a late payment when the BPay takes an extra day to process?
67. Convenience costs money, save it by buying in bulk and being prepared.
    • Again, looking back at #17 and #66 – if you always buy items at a convenience store, think about whether a small change to your routine can cost you less. In a similar way, prepackages items can often cost multiple times more than portioning them yourself.
68. Try and upgrade technology a year or two later, it will save you a lot.
    • This is not intended to be a brand war, but I spent $750 on an iPhone around 2012. I replaced it in 2018 after 6 years. That works out to $125/year. During those same 6 years, one friend purchased 3 low end mobiles for around $200 to $300 each. The last phone probably had better specs, but there were also many complaints about problems, crashes, broken headphone jacks etc. Of course, a new iPhone every second year would have cost much more, but keeping the phone for a bit longer (6 years may be too many for some) can result is some good savings. Make sure there is a good reason to upgrade.
69. Don’t be afraid to haggle, especially on larger items.
    • Everyone I know asks for a good deal when buying a new car, or house, but what about a new TV, or a speaker system? Many places will be happy to give you a small discount if you ask. Even if they don’t – the worst that will happen is being told “no”.
70. Cheap is not the aim, value for money is. Sometimes quality costs.
    • See #68. But seriously, this is one area I have learnt the hard way over time. The best example of this I can give is my bed. I decided that I spend so much of my time in bed that I should not skimp on it. Every time I get into it (even 11 years later) I still love it! I know people who spent $500,000 on an apartment, but didn’t want to spend over $1000 on a bed. Over a 10 year lifespan that is 20c per night for the bed and $137 for the roof. The bed seems like the wrong space to skimp.

So that is it for another 10. I hope you enjoyed them. Let me know in the comments below if you disagree with any. I am always open to having my mind changed – just give me a good reason.