As South Africans tighten their belts to cope with rising food and fuel shortages, Just Property offers the following saving tips:

Small tweaks, big savings

• Start tracking your expenses: you will be amazed at what you spend your money on. Once you know this, it will be easy to know where to start cutting back. Draft a budget and do all you can to stick to it.
• Re-evaluate your subscriptions, e.g. DSTV, Netflix, Spotify and now Disney plus. Do you really need all these services to find some entertainment? Find which one offers YOU the best value and cancel the rest.
• Consolidate your bank accounts. Each account you have attracts banking fees. Try to get your accounts into one account and save on those fees. Once you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.
• Reduce your insurance premiums by shopping around for cheaper premiums where the same benefits can be achieved.
• Eat at home. It is time for you to test your cooking skills and leave the takeaways alone. By cooking larger meals, you can also freeze the food to be enjoyed later.

More tips for in-home savings

These are some of the other suggestions that Stevens received when he put a call out to agents across the Just Property network of ways to cut back at home:

• There’s a reason that wearing a beanie keeps you toasty – heat escapes from the top of your head. Similarly, in a home, it leaves through the roof. Check that your home is properly insulated.
• Install a geyser timer on your distribution board. This can then regulate your geyser. Set it up to activate only for an hour at peak times – in the morning before everyone wakes up and gets ready for the day and in the afternoon just before everyone arrives home. Managing the geyser times and activity can save a lot of electricity usage and cost.
• Adjust the temperature of your fridge to between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius and your freezer to between -20 and -22 degrees Celsius. It’s winter. That’s all you need for now”.
• Eco-friendly and speedy washing cycles are kind to clothes and pockets.
• 29% of the water to Nelson Mandela Bay is being lost to leaks, and Day Zero is looming! Fix leaky pipes and dripping taps and stop unnecessary consumption on your water bills
• Check the seals around your windows and doors.
• Install LED lights, dimmer switches and low-flow taps and showerheads

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