Buying New Cars Doesn’t Help You Save Money

That’s a big call but I mean it. Buying a new car is the single stupidest thing I have done twice now. Each time I enjoy the fact I am getting a brand new car that is mine, only to find my hard earned money quickly disappear come time for resale.

The moment you buy a new car – the value of that car drops. That means you could have literally sat in a $40K car just once and as a result, it is now worth $38K – a loss of $2000 as quick as Hugh Jackman on a flying fox.

 

Using Your Smart Phone To Save Money

Seems these days everyone’s got a smart phone, so why not utilise it? After hearing others sing the praises of money-saving phone apps, I finally decided to trial one for myself. There are plenty of them on the market many of which are free so in the never-ending quest to spend less, I thought, why not?

Which App To Save With?

There is a multitude of applications to choose from, it’s hard to know where to start. After a little quick research online I learnt they pretty much all serve the same function, so I opted for Droid Wallet, a simple looking, free app with an easy to use interface. Whenever you are downloading an app on your smart phone it is critical to read what “permissions” the service asks for. Some of these are necessary for the app to run, but others are purely for information collecting and potentially more sinister purposes. Apps that ask for internet connectivity, the ability to make phone calls automatically, or access to your SD card need to be assessed with caution.

 

Keeping Track Of Your Money Via A Budget

In the battle against spending the biggest enemy is temptation and your only ally is your willpower which, let’s face it, has a tendency to wimp out at the last minute. Sometimes, to win a losing fight, you need to get creative so when a friend said she tracked every cent she spent, I figured I’d give it a go too. And I did… for 6 long months.

I set up a spreadsheet in Excel

..and set about recording every single thing I spent money on, from the monthly rent to the banana I bought on the way to work. I was vigilant; no cent would escape my notice! But did it work? Well, yeah, actually it did!