Determined to trim down the expenses

Funnily enough, anything that suggests a change to the daily routine may not be received well by everyone in the family.  Well, not everyone embraces change or has the same priorities; some think a miracle will happen sooner or later!  Following are ideas that will promote discussion in order to breaking the ice, for example, take a look at what some daily habits/routines are costing, particularly if "Mum's taxi" is not available!

Cars are a depreciating asset and it would be worth delving into the pros and cons as to why two cars are necessary, as things like:

• Registration
• Insurance (check the car valuation relative to the policy)
• Maintenance
• Tyres
• Fuel
• Parking
• Depreciation

are taken into account. All the better if a company car is provided.

Also there has been some fluctuations in electricity prices recently, and it is a good idea to periodically check that your service provider has passed on any savings to you. The same can be said of phone company's too as this is a very competitive industry.  I get ticked off when a company offers a new customer a good deal, and the old loyal customers tend to get left our when deals are handed out.

Try giving each of the following ideas a try for a week, ie take the bus/train to work; ride the bike on the bikeway, park the car close to a train station instead of using a parking station.

When I put some figures on the cost of a cup/mug of coffee daily, as well as lunches and morning and afternoon tea the costs escalate just a few dollars at a time, and at the minimum can add up to around $20 a day. If coffee for morning and afternoon tea is a necessity, replace it with coffee in the satchels like Mocha, Flat White, and so on; they do come in packs of 10 satchels which will last for the week.  Put your preferred milk in  the refrigerator in the lunch room. Take lunch, eg., a hamburger, rice paper rolls, salad, fruit, etc and walk to the local park and feed the scraps to the birds. This is a way of getting the necessary daily exercise at the same time. In fact just for a change I bought a prepared take-away lunch the other day and it was $10 and that did not include a cuppa or fruit.

Conservatively, the estimated savings would be around $10k per year.  Double this if a couple have a similar routine.

If you are shaking your head at my reckoning, it is easy to just keep the receipts in a jar/folder for a couple of months; or maybe glance over the credit/debit card statements for confirmation of costs.