Movie special night:

Total saving: R86.50

Grocery shopping

When purchasing basic household goods try to stick to 'No-Name' brands which offer standardised packaging and no brand name all of which you would usually be paying for.

Example: We compared branded goods to the 'No-Name' brands offered by Pick n Pay on their website.

Total saving: R58.40

Shopping for clothes

The most obvious piece of advice is to buy quality brands that don't charge a premium for the label, but if you simply must have designer brands then try to buy your seasonal items in advance or at the end of the season you are buying for. Buying in season or just before the season starts means you are most likely paying a premium price for those clothes. If your expenses needs some trimming, but you aren't prepared to cut out the chic, time your shopping sprees correctly.

Travelling

With petrol on the increase it is time for South Africans to embrace a custom used all over the rest of the world — car pooling. If you take public transport to work, then there is little you can do to change the cost of your commuting. If you drive a car, however, the time to cut down on petrol is now. Find work colleagues who live close to you and arrange a car pool system to cut down on all your travel expenses. One day at a time or one week at a time — any time you aren't driving your car you are saving on petrol costs.

By the way, you are not only saving yourself money, but contributing to decreasing traffic on the roads and pollution in the air.

Click here to learn how you can use less petrol or here to learn about a new craze (called 'hypermiling') among US drivers to employ fanatical fuel-saving methods.

Dining

Our favourite way to cut down dining costs? Bring your own lunch to work! You know you should, we know you should and the guy who sells you fast food for lunch everyday knows you should. R35 a day on lunch? Not when you are trying to cut back on expenses! Your mom made you sandwiches for school for more than 10 years; why not return to the past?

R30/day on lunch = R150 a week on lunch = R600 a month on lunch alone. Buy a loaf of bread, some cheese and sandwich toppings and suddenly you can afford the insurance on the car. Makes you think...

If you have to eat out for dinner, winter is the time to do it. We've all seen how many restaurants have winter specials, so if you are in need of some spoiling make sure you take advantage of your local restaurants winter special. Chances are that these will only apply to week nights, so do your homework carefully and you could end up eating and drinking for two for well under R100.

General expenses

It wouldn't be a Justmoney story without us reminding you that you are more than likely paying too much money on a range of financial services you use. Our latest poll (click here for the complete results) revealed that most of our users are spending more than R200 a month on bank charges.

Make use of online comparison tools to ensure you're not overpaying.

Review you insurance

Any idea what your car insurance would cost under a different insurer? Click on the link then simply plug in your vehicle details and get real-time quotes from a number of South Africa's top insurers.

Heard it all before? Probably. Ever actually put it into practise? Probably not...

For the sake of your sanity why not actually put these ideas into practise? Suddenly you'll find the sun just around the corner and the balance in the bank looking all the more healthy.

www.justmoney.co.za