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 We all know we should be saving, but after paying your rent, power and food bills, it can sometimes feel like you don't have anything left over to save!
Our money guru Sarah van der Spuy gives us her top tips to saving success. You really can get a savings plan sorted - all it takes is a little bit of organisation...
 The first step in a successful savings program is making that commitment to better your future by small and regular sacrifices today. If you were able to save just $20 per week into an appropriate savings vehicle for 30 years and earn 8% net per year your total savings and interest would now be worth $122,000! This is an excellent example of how committing to a regular savings plan and taking advantage of compounding interest (interest on interest) over time, can produce amazing results. This is the equivalent of five Auckland Lattes’ a week. Creating good money habits is the absolute key to a successful savings program and being aware that we can only spend every dollar once! Spending less money than we earn! This is a simple concept that we all understand but one that most of us struggle to adopt. So how do we find that extra $20 per week? We need a budget that you are committed to and to review it on a regular basis; say monthly. We need to take back control of our money instead of always wondering where it has gone. A great place to start is to take a notebook and track all of your purchases and expenses over a month. This will provide you with an awareness of where your money is truly going.
By following and tracking our spending we can create our spending plan or budget with the objective to save 10% of our net income. You may like to build up to saving 10%. For example for the first month you could save 2%, for the second month 4% and so on, slowly increasing to 10% or even passing the 10% threshold. It is all about taking action and creating those habits.  Setting specific savings goalsOur first saving goal should be to accumulate an emergency fund. This should be able to cover a minimum of three months of your total expenses and is to be used for that rainy day. If we have a specific savings goal, for example saving $20,000 over the next three years for a deposit on our first home we can alter our savings goal to find out exactly what we need to save per week to make it happen. So to save $20,000 over the next three years by contributing our weekly savings to say a high interest savings account we may be able to receive an after tax return of say 4%, we will need to find $120 per week from our current budget. Our savings targets could include repayment of debt, saving for retirement, or even saving for our next holiday. It's important to find a good savings account and Westpac has a great range available. Find the best option for you here. Money savings tips This is our opportunity to use our creativity to reduce our costs and redirecting those funds to our savings account. Below I have included five money savings tips that you can use immediately.  1: Plan your meals in advance, always use a pre-written shopping list and only shop once a week.
2: Buy the in-house brands – they almost always cost less than the other brands and are usually of similar quality. 3: Pay cash and leave your credit card at home. 4: Buy used – new is nice but for the best buys think pre-owned or pre-loved. 5: Exercise restraint – use your willpower when it comes to spending. Sarah van der Spuy
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