02 April 2020
Many of us might find ourselves in some financial difficulty during this lockdown and the months to come.
There are some things we can live without, if necessary, until we find ourselves in a more favourable financial position. Here are some suggestions to consider to lower monthly household expenses over this lockdown period:
- Look for alternative, cheaper life, home and car insurance policies
- Consider a more affordable medical aid policy
- Ask your bank for a payment holiday on your home loan and/or other debts
- Try to negotiate a better deal on the interest rate on your home loan
- Cancel any inessential subscriptions (for example, DSTV / Netflix / Spotify / iTunes / Showmax)
- Cancel or pause any club memberships, including gym fees
- Pause unnecessary extracurriculars for kids
- Purchase more affordable brands when grocery shopping
- Downgrade your cell phone contract or switch to pay-as-you-go. Do you really need all those minutes and extras?
- Downgrade your internet connection
- Save on fuel by cutting out unnecessary trips
- Find ways to lower your electricity bill (examples include replacing bulbs with energy saving ones, setting your geyser to a timer, using hot water sparingly, unplugging all electrical appliances when not in use, etc.)
- Find ways to lower your water bill (examples include reusing grey water to water the garden, only doing your washing when it’s a full load, limiting shower time, etc.)
- Reduce expensive habits like alcohol consumption and smoking. Try cutting back or going alcohol-free for a month to see how much you save
- Cut back on expensive cleaning detergents. Only buy essentials such as dishwashing liquid, bleach and laundry detergent.
- If possible, cut back on expensive beauty products until the financial situation is back to normal
- Change of attitude: Be grateful for what you have rather than complaining about not having enough. You’ll be surprised by how much a simple change of attitude can help you to manifest more money and help you cut expenses.
Giving up some of these things might be challenging, but rather start to practice good spending habits than finding yourself in a hole that you cannot dig yourself out of once things finally return to normal.
Good luck, and stay safe….