5 ways to save as the cost of living continues to climb

Cost of living got you down? Fear not friends, we at Mozo are here to help. No need to sweat the small stuff, or the large either! Home loan repayments can stack up, so can your grocery and home internet bills, plus not to mention your ongoing insurance premiums for the car or home. Living comes with lots of costs but they needn't get you bogged down!

Mozo has done the sums and come up with five changes you can make that could save you $5,451 on average in the next 12 months.

Mozo spokesperson Tom Godfrey explains that while there’s not a lot we can do about the higher petrol and food prices, people can save significant amounts of money by comparing existing offers on their personal finance products and switching to more competitive deals.

Let’s get into the 5 tips:

1. Revisiting your home loan and choosing a more competitive loan could save you up to $3,000 on average. The cash rate is still at a historic low of 0.1 per cent, making variable home loan rates cheap. Taking the time to compare home loan rates could save you $3,000 a year based on an average $400,000 loan paying principal and interest over 25 years. Mozo found that the average variable interest rate for an owner occupier was 3.04% but if you switch to the leading rate, you could get a much lower rate of 1.79%.
   
2. Changing to a more competitive NBN plan could save you $1,017 a year. There are more than 100 NBN providers offering services in Australia so comparing available offers and switching to one of the best NBN plans in Australia could help you save. You might be less familiar with companies such as Tangerine Telecom, Mate and Belong but they are offering very competitive rates that are worth considering.
3. Switching your credit card to a low rate credit card could save you up to $567 on average, Mozo has found that by switching to a low rate credit card, you could save $567 in the next 12 months on an average balance of $4,000 at 7.49% compared to a 20% interest rate credit card.
4. Switching to a high savings rate of up to 1.35% could earn you $564. By switching to the leading savings rate in Mozo’s database, you could earn 1.35% interest instead of the average 0.23% offered by the big four banks. On a $50,000 balance, this high interest rate could earn you an additional $564 in interest.
5. Finding a more competitive car insurance deal can save you $303. Analysis of quote data from 35 insurers across 9,503 customer scenarios for the Mozo Experts Choice Awards found huge price variance in what insurers can offer. If you’re looking to save, Mozo found an average price difference of $303 a year between quotes for comparable cover.

If you are wanting to make a budget to keep track of your finances and help you save, we have a budget guide and a free budget calculator that can help.