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You may not have to look too far to make some quick and easy savings to your household budget.

Here are some new and not so new ideas that encourage sharing and swapping to improve your savings balance:

1. Car sharing / car pooling
With the cost of fuel on the rise, it makes sense to cut down car travel where you can. That could mean making friends with families in your local area with similar schedules or creating a roster for all those school and sport drop-offs. This is a great money and time saver.

While car sharing through services like CarNextDoor could actually earn you money by renting your car to locals when you’re not using it.

2. House swapping
Aussie House Swap and House Swap Holidays offer house swap services where you exchange your home for something similar and save on expensive accommodation costs while enjoying the convenience of having a fully equipped home.

Aussie House Swap say the average savings can be as much as $1,500 up to $4,000 for a week swap.

3. Swap your Credit Card for a Debit Card
Although credit cards are often a large part of your financial lifestyle, you should think about swapping to a debit card when you’re at the checkout if you want to get serious about your saving.

Using a debit means you’re using your own money and obviously not paying interest, but the other benefit is you can track your spending in real time which helps you stick to your daily or weekly budget.

If you’re not sure what cards are available and which one is best for you, check out Mozo for a full comparison of bank accounts which offer debit cards.

4. Open up your unwanted wardrobe
Save the money you would spend on shopping by swapping clothes you don’t wear for other pieces of similar value.

The Clothing Exchange and Swap Style are two websites designed to save you money and the environment by facilitating clothes swapping.

Both sites give the option for you to sell your items regardless of whether you need anything new.

What do you do to help save money?

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • I like the idea to cloth swap. I have just started clearing out my wardrobe and selling some clothes I haven’t worn in years.

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  • We have debit cards. No way would I come at anything else on this list though. Not into sharing..with anyone

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  • I save money by doing a weekly menu and only buying food to make what is on the menu

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  • my sis and i are always giving each other our clothes about every 6 months or so, we will clean out the closet. same goes for those things that we don’t use like make-up that we have bought but wrong shade or that we never opened but only bought because it was a bargain


    • oh i don’t think that i could share my car with strangers though lol

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  • doing 2nd hand saturday sale is great to get rid of stuff & make a bit of money

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  • Ooh I need to do some clothes swapping!!

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  • If you can’t find anything that way, you can always try an op. shop. You may even find clothes with the original retailer’s tag still on them. I certainly have on clothes for all ages.
    At Red Cross and Vinnies I have found brand new and near new clothes look like they haven’t even been worn. Friends of mine got outfits for 3 girls for what they would have paid for one brand new that was on special in a discount variety store. All the outfits were either grand new (tags still on them) or near new.

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  • I don’t do any of these things. I don’t like sharing my clothing etc. it only comes back damaged so I would rather not. There are however many other ways of saving money.

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  • Great ideas. (If only I had friends the same clothes size as me…..)

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  • Thanks for the inspiration, did some car pooling and clothes swapping.

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  • I wish relatives or friends wore the same size clothes of me. It makes it even harder when you have sensitive skin and synthetic materials cause irritated skin. There is a lot less cotton clothing about. Most of it is cotton blend – cotton being the much lower % if there is any.

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  • Thanks for this interesting article and useful tips. I love swapping and sharing clothes. Good to get into the habit of sharing whenever possible.

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  • i don’t think that most of these tips are practical really

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  • thanks never knew about the clothing exchange will check them out :)

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  • Quote “Aussie House Swap say the average savings can be as much as $1,500 up to $4,000 for a week swap.” …..Haha, if you were seriously considering spending $4000 a week for holiday accommodation you probably don’t need to be worried about saving dollars – ouch!

    Reply

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