Kiddipedia Financial Support Information
by Angela Sibley
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Assess your financial situation:
In tough times, my family and I find it really helpful to sit down and work out what our current financial and future money situations look like. It gives us the opportunity to work out how many months we can pay the mortgage for with the money we have, without looking at other options (including the worst case – selling our home).
Sitting down and laying it all out on a plan is a great tool which has helped us put our situation into perspective and decide what to do next.
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Meal prep, meal prep, meal prep!
We have found it helpful to plan and prep our meals in advance. It’s a great way to avoid food wastage and wasting money on unused groceries. Whether it is weekly, fortnightly or monthly – think about the produce you will need from the supermarket and plan how you can make the most of it throughout the week. For example, if you’re making a pumpkin dish, plan out how you can make the most of it with pumpkin muffins, a pumpkin salad, cheesy pumpkin puffs, pumpkin tortellini and so on. We’ve also learnt to save some extra cash on grocery shops by bulk buying what we can and when it is available. This planning ahead also helps us stop those impulse purchases at the supermarket – another money leak of ours!
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Immediate changes:
I’ve found some of our biggest money leaks are on unnecessary items or subscriptions such as Stan as well as takeaway coffee, getting take-way or eating out. You can make great meals for the family on a budget and will cost you half as much as it would ordering in. You can easily make a special night of it with the family, including a date night in. Making these immediate changes, such as cutting down on non-essentials, allows us to cut down costs and avoid splurging.
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Check-in on your home loan
While many of us have been keeping busy spring cleaning our pantries and linen cupboards, the intangible things like your home loan is just as important. Our loan is one of our largest financial commitments… so it makes sense to start there.
I highly recommend the ANZ Home Loan Check In as it helped us understand our options to achieve more certainty. Best of all it is free! It was a 15 minute consultation with an ANZ Home Lender who listened to us. We found it great we could ask all our questions, and they were all answered, and that we had the information and help we needed so that our home loan is working in a way that better suits our needs. It was a great tailored conversation.
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Set a financial goal
Most people would overlook this simple step, but setting solid financial goals is the most important place to start. I’d recommend making the goal something that you have an emotional connection to as it can be easier when it’s something you actually want. Once we get our finances are back on track after hubby’s job loss earlier this year, we will be using a helpful tool, the ANZ new goal tracking feature within the ANZ banking App.
For more information, visit: ANZ Home Loan Check-In
Angela Sibley is a self-confessed home organisation specialist and DIY fanatic. She is a mum to her 3 gorgeous children and devoted wife. Located in Sydney, Australia, Angela is a creative at heart and brought her passion to life by sharing her love of home organisation and creating organised, decluttered, beautiful and homely spaces for the family. Recently announced as the ANZ Home Loan Check-In Ambassador, Angela is excited to bring to light how to get your savings organised as you would your family home.
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