Five ways a smaller place can cut down on expenses

Saving money or breaking the payday to payday cycle can often come down to simple life choices and changes. The place you live in can play a large role in how much money you’re spending every month, which therefore affects your ability to save money or pay bills on time. There are a lot of ways the place you live in can cost you money, but today we’re going to concentrate on the size. It doesn’t matter if you own or rent, here are 5 ways downsizing to a smaller place will help you cut down on expenses:

1. Heating and cooling costs - it takes more energy to heat and cool a larger home. Australia’s weather can often have severe swings between seasons depending on where you live. A smaller place can help you save on these cooling and heating costs, which will allow you to save money or put the extra money towards other bills.

2. Space to fill - when you have a larger home, you have a much bigger living space to fill. Furniture, sleeping areas and storage needs can all increase. When people have a larger space, they tend to try to fill it with more stuff which leads to more spending.

3. Downsizing - if you decide to move to a smaller place, you will need to find new homes for a lot of your stuff that you won’t have room for anymore. You can sell the stuff you no longer need to build up savings or pay your bills.

4. Pay less in rent or a mortgage - in many cases, a smaller home means you’re not paying as much in rent or a mortgage payment. In a few special cases this isn’t true eg you’re downsizing but the new home is better quality, but generally you will see a reduction in housing costs, which will turn into immediate savings.

5. Location - downsizing your home also gives you the opportunity to choose a new location. You can use this opportunity to move to a place that’s closer to work or places you have to drive. This can cut down on your petrol costs and may even give you the opportunity to sell your car.

Moving is never an easy decision, but it can be one of the easiest ways to reduce your monthly expenses. If you are looking to downsize and you need some extra cash to cover those unexpected moving costs, just check out our flexible mini-loans to find out how quick and easy it is to get your hands on some extra funds. Once a loan is approved, the cash is generally deposited into your bank account within a few hours - so you can stop worrying about those extra expenses and focus on de-cluttering!