Saving money tips: 5 hacks to smash your savings goal in 2022

If you made a New Year's promise to yourself to be better at saving cash…here’s how to actually follow through.

What's the key learning?

Be realistic with your savings goals by using the SMART goal-setting method
Set a budget to ensure you hit your goals...whether that's the 50/30/20 budget or any of these budgets
Keep a spending diary to track your expenses
Cut down on the subscription services that you're not actively using
Let your banking app do the work for ya by automating your savings on pay-day.

If 2021 taught us anything, it’s that we need to stay on top of our savings just in case things go pear-shaped (ya know, like another lockdown, Vic?).

So, if you made a New Year's promise to yourself to be better at saving cash…here’s how to actually follow through.

Saving money: Set a SMART savings goaL

We all wanna have $50k in our bank accounts by the end of the year…but sometimes we need to be a ‘lil more realistic with our goal-setting.

So, before you set a massive (often unachievable) goal, be SMART.

AKA, be:

Specific
Measureable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely.

Saving money: Budgeting

Ya can’t get from A to B without a map. That means you need to have a financial plan in place from now to ensure you hit your goals. So, set a budget. Whether that’s the 50/30/20 budget…or any of these budgets.

Pick one, and be consistent with it.

Saving money: Keep a spending diary

Sometimes, you need a reality check.

A spending diary is just like a regular venting-diary, but for your cash. You write down everything you’re spending money on - no matter how small - for a few weeks. Then, take stock. Are you buying 20 coffees a week? Is your grocery bill way too high? How much are you spending on clothes?

It might be a little daunting, but this’ll help you cut your spending back so you can put more into your savings.

Saving money: Cut your subscriptions

Subscriptions can add up - and there are likely some you’re paying for that you didn’t even know you had!

Do you really need Binge, Kayo, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+ and Stan? Probably not. Figure out which subscription services you can live without, which you can borrow from a friend and cut the rest.

The money you don’t spend on those subscriptions you can instead direct into your savings (or even an investment). Boom! That’s another 50 bucks a month.

Saving money: Automate your savings

Life’s busy. Why leave your savings in your own hands, when you can let your bank app do that for ya? Set up automated transactions from your everyday account into your savings account on pay-day. That way you know you’re saving - without even thinking.

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