1. Inflation-proof your budget
To help tackle any financial curveballs, organise your accounts with purpose. Don't just dump everything into one bank account. I personally operate on a zero-based budgeting system; assigning a purpose to each dollar of income, ensuring all expenses are justified and (more importantly) not paying more than I have to.
Ideally, you want one main transaction account and then several other accounts that are clearly labelled (bills; splurges; emergencies, etc.). Your pay goes into the main account then funds are automatically dispersed into the appropriate "buckets".
You need to work out how much money should go in each bucket, but once you get this right you should never find yourself short on cash again.
If you have a home loan, talk to your lender about how many offset accounts you can have attached. An offset account is a transaction account linked to your home loan.
The benefit of an offset account is that the money you have in this account can be used to "offset" the amount you owe on your home loan, and you'll only be charged interest on the difference. Setting up your accounts like this means your money is still organised into buckets and collectively these buckets all work together to offset the interest on your home loan.
2. Slash your bills
Household bills like home and contents insurance often increase from one year to the next. The good news is you can always find savings if you put in the effort.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2024 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición January 2024 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
