Wife and I changed our mind about having kids.

Learn to fix things. Basic sewing, basic car maintenance, basic home maintenance. I’ve learned a lot over the years just trying to fix things myself. There’s a wealth of information on almost anything on the internet. Yes there will be a small upfront cost if you need to buy tools or supplies, but the ability to extend the life of things is worthwhile. E.g. I’ve managed to get a few more months or years from being able to fix my kids clothes or school shoes.

For me, don’t go to sites like cheapies too often. Too easy to get sucked into buying a deal of something you don’t need or had any intention of ever getting.

This might overlap a bit with what you’ve said, but:

• Just one streaming service at a time. Get netflix, binge watch the shows we want. Cancel netflix, get Disney+, binge watch the shows we want. Etc. Don’t have them all running at once. Or if you want to save even more money, NZ laws are pretty generous for pirates really.

• Use Libby to borrow ebooks from the library and read on your phone (I prefer white text on black background - i.e. dark mode).

• Normally I would say to sign up to power/internet on 12 month contracts to get good deals, then change company every 12 months. It’s pretty easy to switch. But recently I’ve found it hard to find the really good deals that there have been previously.

• We go to the farmers market for fruit, veggies, and eggs every week. But if you buy a doughnut or coffee or fancy bread then you’re undoing your savings 😆.

• Use the Grocer app. You put in your shopping list, and it tells you the cheapest places to get things out of the big supermarkets + the warehouse. It also tells you different options, like the cheapest might be to go to 4 different stores, but it will tell you it’s $1 more total if you go to just these two stores, or here’s the cheapest store that has everything you want, and tells you the total so you can compare how much you save vs going to all the shops. My biggest complaint is probably that you can’t just say “Milk”, you’ve got to pick a specific one. So then if you pick a store brand, that’s normally cheapest, it won’t be available at other stores.

• Growing veggies is fun but you’ve got to be dedicated to make it financially viable. In general, growing your own veggies is not cheaper than just buying them (some exceptions, e.g. if you buy broccoli seedlings then it’s probably best to just buy broccoli from the store, but if you buy a courgette seedling for a couple of bucks, you’ll probably get a KG of courgettes off of it, worth like $10). The problem is that the times you are growing them also happens to be when they are in season, which is when they are cheapest in the shop. Plus you have to deal with pests and provide nutrition.

• If you commute a decent distance to work each day, there’s a good chance an electric Leaf will pay for itself. Best as a second car, where you have another for longer distances (longer distance Leafs exist, but generally there are other cars more recommended when you get up to that price range).

• Plan your meals out for the week before going to the supermarket. Cook big, and plan to freeze leftovers when suitable, or plan to eat multiple days of the same thing to save effort and get discounts buying bulk. Planning out your meals helps keep you focused at the supermarket, and helps reduce food waste. Write the date on them so you can use the older ones first. Old stuff from the freezer won’t kill you, but tastes better if it has been frozen months not years.

• Also try to plan meals that use fruit or vegetables that are in season. They will be a lot cheaper.

• Clean your heat pump to make it work more efficiently (just open the top, pull out the filters, and vaccuum them).

That’s all I can think of right now. Except don’t get a pet. Old pets cost a lot more than young ones 😆