By now most New Year resolutions are lying on the scrapheap of wasted intentions.

If that’s you, it’s likely one of your goals included saving more money in 2016.

The New Financial Year is here and what a great excuse for people to dust-off that money-saving resolution, review their household finances and see what new savings can be made.

Good money habits can be hard to develop and keep.  If you’re goal is to be better-off financially, then linking your goals to your home loan will help you get serious about managing the family budget.

Stagnant wage growth, rising living expenses and a decline in housing affordability is keeping many people from building a nest-egg for the future.

We’re all time-poor, but developing a savings plan and regularly reviewing it is important because we can’t predict the future.

A few simple adjustments could be significant.

It’s time to take control.  Let us show you how.

Start reviewing now

With so many other distractions going-on in our lives, reviewing the household budget can be easily pushed aside.

Keep calm and save more money with these easy steps.

Step 1

Mark-out a time on your calendar for reviewing your new savings goals and stick to it.

Step 2

Divide your current expenditure into the following 3 categories:

  • Essential
  • Living
  • Non-essential

Step 3

Enter this information into a combined budget e.g. spreadsheet so it is easily viewed.

Step 4

Create realistic and measurable savings goals and prioritise them.

Step 5

Create realistic and measurable debt-reduction goals and prioritise them.

Step 6

Identify opportunities to eliminate or reduce unnecessary spending.

Step 7

Use comparison sites to negotiate a better deal on such things as health, car and home insurance and utilities such as electricity.

Step 8

Automate deductions for payments that have no flexibility such as electricity bill.

Step 9

Declutter and shift to a paperless process by moving everything online such as statements and bills.

Step 10

Update your household budget.

Step 11

Review your home loan and ask the benefits of a 100% interest-offset home loan savings account.

Related Video: 'How to save 000s with a 100% interest-offset home loan account'

Step 12

Mark-out a time on your calendar for reviewing the above each quarter.

To help kick-start the process for you we have a range of finance calculators and budget planners located here.

Make the switch

When it comes to saving money, it’s the little things and the big things that count.

Making a new financial resolution is easy.  Keeping it is the hard part.

Like most Australians, your home loan is probably the biggest financial commitment you’ve ever made.

The New Financial Year is the perfect motivation for setting new financial goals by linking your household budget savings goals to your home loan goals using a 100% interest-offset home loan savings account.

This can result in stripping years from your home loan term and increasing your savings amount faster than expected.

Related Reading: 'The key to unlocking your home loan and saving 000s'

Final thoughts

Saving money may not come naturally to some people, but developing a household budget and reviewing your financial position regularly is a must. 

In fact after allowing for essential spending, people are often surprised to discover which unnecessary spending to cut-back on and what needs a better deal negotiated, leaving a reasonable amount to be saved.

They are further amazed to learn how these savings can be accelerated by using them to reduce your home loan balance.

Give us a call today if that’s something you’d like to talk about some more.

Ask for a home loan review today

When it comes to home loans, there’s no such thing as one size fits all.

It pays to talk to someone that wants to hear your story and run through some different borrowing solutions with you.

Why not incorporate a discussion about 100% interest-offset accounts as part of our free, no obligation home loan review with one of our experienced and accredited professionals by organising an appointment today.

That’s right.  In a refreshing twist you’ll actually talk to a real person.

It’s just one of the many features and benefits included in a tailored home loan solution from Loan Avenue – affordable home loan solutions for everyday Australians like you.

Let us show you.  To take advantage and make an appointment call 1300 56 26 28 or leave a message here.