Category: Saving/Managing Money

In the August NZ Healthy Food Guide there is a discussion about ‘choice architecture’ (Thaler & Sunstain, Nudge) and how the strategy can be used to improve areas such as health, wealth and happiness. The idea is that by making the best option the simplest option or the default option we tend to choose it more readily. We definitely have found ‘choice architecture’ works when it comes to avoiding takeaways as much as we can over the last eight months. By having our meals planned ahead with the ingredients already bought and meat taken out to defrost the night before it makes the simplest option cooking which we therefore choose even when we are tired or busy. When meals aren’t planned or ingredients are missing then the simplest option becomes takeaways.

Being the beginning of a new month today I went over the spreadsheet of our spending for July to analyse our spending categories and see if there are any further things we can cut. The Money Man would be proud of me. We lived within our means last month and actually saved some money. I am really thrilled with this as we had a $1400 ACC bill to pay in July so that was a huge bill for us. Our groceries (including our rare takeaways) bill was down by $95 on June mainly by trying to shave off a little bit each week when we go supermarket shopping – putting off things that can last for another week or only buying certain products if they are on special. I know it is still possible to get our groceries down a bit more but I will have to think up ways to do it sneakily as hubby tends to get a little irritable if he feels his food amount is being threatened and the cats wake me up in the small hours of the morning if they think their portions are getting too small!

Sometimes when you see someone win a lot of money like $39 million (!) it can be a little depressing. It can be hard looking at your bills and thinking how much easier it would be with a windfall. This week I’ve reminded myself of the 10 basic principles of financial independence (Noel Whittaker and Roger Moses – Making Money Made Simple, 1992, p 282-285) to motivate myself to keep going, that the changes hubby and I have been making over the last 6 months will make a difference eventually.

q       You have far more control over your life than you think and far more abilities than you know about. Resolve to start to ‘make it happen’ rather than ‘let it happen’.

q       Much of the glamour of wealth and fame is an illusion.

q       Discipline is the key to success in everything. Most people complain about problems and never try to solve them.

q       Life is about a lot of little things that add up. If you start to use all those tiny chunks of time and money you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

q       You must live within your means. This is a habit you must acquire, it is not optional.

q       Everything worthwhile takes time. Success in every field comes from hard work over a long time, financial independence is no different.

q       Never compare yourself to others. It is pointless.

q       Find yourself a competent financial adviser.

q       Never stop learning. Lack of knowledge holds us back; keep learning about financial planning, goal setting, money management and personal investment.  

q       Start today – but slowly. A successful life is merely a succession of a lot of little things done properly. Don’t try to make massive changes all at once – you probably won’t stick to it and will get disillusioned.