10 tips to live on low income while making your life in Australia as an expat
Recently, I was going through one of the Facebook groups, there was a post someone asking about how to live on single average income with a family in Australia. I think many of us go through this stage of surviving on single income at some stage of our lives. I thought I will share the below 10 tips I know.
When you migrate as a Permanent Resident of Australia, there is a bit of struggle in the initial days until one of the family members get a job. During the time, you try to live frugally as much as you can to lead your life with little income or the savings from overseas. This is a story of every migrant whether it be a student or an expat.
When I came as a student, my situation was even worse as I was single and no other source of income until I got a job. I borrowed $3,000 from one of my uncles to survive myself for the first 6 months. Fortunately, I have secured job within the first month of my arrival and used my borrowed savings for my fee. I had to live frugally for two years until I complete my course as I had to save money as much as I can to cover my tuition fee. I used to think 100 times to spend a dollar, I know this is too much, but I did to save money for my study.
These are some simple and practical ways that you can save money during your first few months in Australia.
#1. Cash Rewards
Since I found about this, I am a big fan of Cash Rewards. It is saving us reasonable money on every purchase we make. We continuously get 5% discount on everything we buy. That means, if there is a sale on any product, we get extra 5% discount on top of it. It is a good saving habit you can embed in your daily lives. Find the below how much we saved for the quarter of year as of now ($252.50).
# 2. Entertainment Book
When I posted my first article about how we saved $700 in a year. I received a phone call from one of my best friends; she asked me why you don’t I write up about entertainment book that helps most of the readers as well. I know about this book, I used a smaller version of it. My husband gets a small entertainment book from his union every year. We use on and off.
Taking my friend’s advice, I bought this book from online for $65 just to try out before I write an article. It was amazing!! I recovered the cost just in 2 months and have got more on my list to try out from the book.
This is installed in my mobile as an app; wherever we go as a family, we look for deals in nearby area and avail it. We pay discounted price instead of paying full price.It helps the family who have migrated and want to explore the places on a budget; this is the best purchase and saves you considerable amount of money over the year.
Most of our coffees are 2 for one price, zoo tickets, list of adventures 2 for 1 price, kid’s places 2 for 1 price and many more. This is very helpful when you are going on small trips and vacations.
#3. Don’t miss out on sale prices
Australia has sales on products and clothing every now and then. I used to buy clothes and products when I have time rather than paying full price.When I thought of writing savings strategies on my blog; I have started implementing before I write an article.
Surprisingly, I started observing prices of groceries and clothing; I felt why I paid full prices all these years on some products, because they are on sale more often.I was thinking about a website where it shows all the catalogues of various places that are on sale: after my research I found these 2 websites help the best:
Crazy sales: This is another website showing all the deals from LED lights to Holiday Deals.
Lasoo: This website provides bargain and catalogues of Kmart to BCF. You can view the bargain and shop accordingly.
#4. Look for meal deals if you plan to go out
This is the best option instead of paying full price for a meal. Just check around to see if there are any meal deals available for the food you are interested in. In a fact that food and accommodation takes up the majority of our incomes.
We sometimes crave for pizzas and tried all pizzas from Dominos to Crust. This involved paying full price for these pizzas as the sales were not available on the pizzas we wanted. One day, we went to this hotel just 300m away from our house (even though we were staying in the area for years but never thought of going into this place); they were having a meal deal on the day we went. We tried pizzas and that’s one of the best pizzas we ever tried. They were fresh, authentic and tasty and just for half price.
#5. Plan meals well in advance
Advance planning always help you in many ways. If you have kids and busy in applying for jobs or exploring the places. You may be tempted to eat out. However, this may cost you heaps and run out your initial savings. So try to cook meals in advance. If you can put some time away on a weekday or Sunday, you can prepare the whole week’s meal in one go. Then store them in the fridge or freezer until you need them.
It will save time to concentrate on more important things like job search, taking kids out or updating your skills.
#6. Negotiate your finances/insurance
Some banks try to sell products which may not be used by you. So always look for the products you need. Sometimes they say it is free of monthly or yearly fee but it may be free for the first year and charge fee from the next year. Just keep an eye and negotiate the best deal with them.I opened a bank account with commonwealth bank when I was a student and all my pay used to get deposited into that account every month.They have informed that they would not charge me while I was a student.
After my visa changed from Student to Temporary resident, they started charging account keeping fee of $5 every month.I realised after a year that I paid $60 in an account keeping fee and read their new policy, it said that no account keeping fee if you deposit more than $1000 a month for new customers at the time.So keep an eye on your bank accounts and the fees paid and negotiate further to get a better deal.
I approached bank and negotiated with them to waive off my fee and eventually they did to retain me as their customer. The same happened with Credit card as well.
We had similar issues on Car, Home and Contents insurance; always keep an eye for better deal. The prices just creep without any notice but you can match the price if you think you are paying high.
#7. Look for giveaways/shop second hand
I know when you move to Australia, you have to buy some basic necessities like fridge, washing machine, lounge or any house hold items. Just look for giveaways, there are many Face Book groups these days like Indian in Melbourne, Indians in Sydney, Indians Mum Connect etc and also Whatsapp groups. Some of them giveaway or sell when they no longer need.
Alternatively, you can look in Gumtree; where people sell their appliances when they upgrade to a newer version or received an unwanted gift.
When we started our family home, we bought our basic necessities from a family who were migrating to USA. We paid may be 1/4th of their actual price. They really helped us until we moved into our new house.
Not only appliances, you can always look for other household stuff or toys in OpShops, Salvos or Anglicare shops.
#8. Buy in bulk
Buying in bulk saves lot of money without our knowledge. We visit Costco once in 6 months and buy bulk items of shampoo, hand towels and other regular household items.Alternatively, you can buy in bulk when they are on sale in Woolworths, Aldi or Coles. I also buy things 2-3 kilos more when they are on sale. This helps us to accommodate until another sale.I have stopped buying vegetables since a year now as I grow them in my backyard as per season.
Buy fruit and vegetables in bulk from a weekly market once in a month; you get them half the price you get in supermarkets.
#9. Share accommodation/budget accommodation
Rent is another huge expense that occupies most of our income. In the initial days, look for share accommodation; this helps you to save lots of money. You can advertise requesting share accommodation in Facebook groups or website like gumtree or tradingpost.
#10.Take advantage of price matching
These days, so many stores offer price matching. Before you make a purchase in store or online, check to see if another store is selling the same item for less. If so, go back to your original store to see if they will beat the price! We always buy electronics items by matching price. Some stores offer cash backs also on these types of purchases.
I know there might be some more tips that I am not aware of. Please share if you know any more tips that helps me and others to lead a better life with less money.
