#GYST to Even More Savings
A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in the 22seven #GY$T challenge. A way to reduce your spending and find savings where you least expected it or have been ignoring. Since then I’ve had to take 2 trips overseas so some of the ways I’ve been saving money has been travel related. I’ve been using 22seven since being introduced to it last year and have found it a great way to visualise your cashflow. This has been a very handy tool for me as an entrepreneur where your cashflow is of utmost importance, keeping expenses down to a minimum, and also a good way to visualise multiple income sources in a single bank account. The joys of being a sole proprietor.
This is how I used 22seven to help me #GYST, spend even less every month and save R9480/year:
Going Carless
I’m fortunate to have my local clients all based in the Cape Town CBD which is walking distance from my home office. I decided to go carless and decided to walk or bike to meetings. When the weather wasn’t playing along UberX came in handy especially with the multiple credits I’ve been getting with people signing up with my promo code. 3 UberX rides to meetings would have cost me R60.57 but worked out to zero thanks to Uber credit. Zero is cheaper than the extremely expensive parking costs on the city streets. This would have been less than the actual cost of Uber but my time it would have taken to find parking is worth much more.
Coffee deloaded
Since I started seeing how much my ‘tall americano with wings and space for milk’ was costing me on a weekly basis I suddenly changed my view on what a good cup of coffee was. Good bye to spending at least R14/day and hello to this cup of instant awesome… saving me R3200/year
Subscription Subtraction
My internet addiction has led to a whopping monthly ADSL bill (including Telkom line) of R920/month. Thankfully the building I live in introduced uncapped fibre with speeds of 100Mbps for only R400. I have since cancelled my ADSL and Telkom line which saves me another R3880/year. Affordable Fibre to the Home FTW! I no longer own a TV so I tried to cancel my TV license which is about R300/year. They require you to jump trough many hoops so haven’t completed this yet. I also updated my home and vehicle insurance which saved me R200/month or R2400/year.
Extending No-Spend Sunday to include the public holiday Monday
This one just happened by chance. I’m not the greatest cook. I wouldn’t actually consider inviting any friends or family over for a home-cooked meal at all. Along came Sunday and instead of ordering the usual take out on OrderIn, my favourite food delivery service, I had lunch with my family. If you’re familiar with Cape Malay family vibes they always send you home with food too so had enough free food for the next day too which happened to be a public holiday. If you want to try OrderIn yourself use the following promo code “00396D64” to get R20 off your first order. 🙂 Thanks to family lunch I saved about R180. Maybe I should really spend more time with my family.
Saving while you travel
I spent a total of 42 hours airborne over two weeks travelling between Cape Town, Tehran and San Francisco with Emirates. Emirates are well known for their awesome inflight meals and entertainment but also the long layovers in Dubai while waiting for your connecting flight. Did you know that if you have a longish layover they provide you with a meal voucher for you to use at many of the restaurants at the airport. That saves you from paying R112 for a McDonalds meal thanks to our crazy exchange rate. Also if your layover is 8 hours or longer Emirates provides you with free accommodation at a nearby airport hotel. You need to request this at least a day before you travel though. This gives you just enough time to shower, have a meal and take a power nap before your next flight, for free. Another way to save when you travel is to book your forex before traveling. I ordered mine online which saved me a few rands and ‘cos I ordered an amount of $$$$ above a certain tier the forex company gave me a further discount. This beats exchanging currency at the airport where prices are at a premium.
22seven where seeing your money is believing
Here is an example of how the 22seven app helps you visualise your spending which may shock some of you into changing your spending habits like it did me.
To give 22seven a try you can find it in the App or Play stores for iOS and Android. Visit www.22seven.com for more info.