Improve your savings health with a financial Feb Fast

The beginning of the year can be a bit of a tough time for our wallets, with plenty of us struggling to find the money to squirrel into our savings accounts. If you’re looking for ways to save, take some inspiration from FebFast and FebFit and put your financial fitness in focus this month.

Traditionally, FebFast refers to cutting out a vice for the month of February – usually alcohol, as many FebFast programs aim to raise money for young adults dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. There are more ways to participate, though. Your Feb Fast could involve quitting alcohol for the month but could also mean giving up sugar, or signing up to work out for 25 minutes a day.

How can a Feb Fast help my finances?

Dropping a bad habit for the month of February is a great way to extend the good intentions of a new year’s resolution, helping you pull your savings into shape for the year ahead.

The connection between cutting down and saving up is a clear one, especially as the cost of living continues to lift. 

If you take Feb Fast as inspiration to cut back on a single thing, you could save to make some serious savings. Let’s look at the banner FebFast example of alcohol to see what your savings could be.

Even if you aren’t a big drinker, a couple of beers at the pub or a glass of wine here and there can begin to add up fairly quickly. The average household spend on alcohol in the 2010s sat consistently in the range of $32 per week, though this figure may have been impacted by rising inflation and manufacturing costs. A saving of $32 a week, stretched out over the course of your February fast? That’s an extra $128 in your pocket.

What other habits can I kick for my own financial fast?

If you’re not quite willing to give up the grog, there are other ways you can use the FebFast model to kick off a serious savings journey. 

Some things you might consider cutting out for a month to see the impact on your bank account include:

• Coffee: 1 coffee a day at $5 a cup works out to $140 a month. If you drink several takeaway cups a day, you could be saving considerably more.

• Chocolate: Aussies spent roughly $200 per capita on chocolate products in 2022. It’s safe to assume a fair chunk of that is in February, since Valentine’s Day monopolises the chocolate market. Cutting it out for the month could see you making some major savings!

• Driving: If getting active is more your style, swapping out your car or regular rideshare trips could be a real relief to your bank account. Fuel costs the average Australian household nearly $100 per week. Swapping out driving for public transport, which costs roughly $21 on average per week, could save you more than $80 and get you active.

• Takeaway: Even though groceries can be a bit more expensive than they used to be, there’s a lot to be saved in swapping out your home delivery indulgences. Skip out on the delivery and service fees and keep that money firmly in your back pocket.

• Subscriptions: Have you taken stock of your subscriptions lately? From Spotify to Stan, Netflix to the New York Times, you might be paying a bunch of monthly fees that you’ve forgotten about. Do a cull and pull back on a few, and you could claw back some monthly bonuses.

If it sounds like a challenge, that’s because it should! While saving money can be tough, imagine the reward at the end of the month when you’ve done something for yourself – and saved up some spare change in the process.

Make the most of your extra monthly savings by checking out Mozo’s best savings accounts.