Real-life stinge-spiration to help you become mortgage-free

I don’t know about you but I’ve watched with growing alarm in the past decade the focus swing from minimising what we owe to maximising how much it looks like we own.

This. Is. So. Dangerous.

Smashed avocados might look great on a restaurant menu but it's cheaper to make your own avocado toast at home.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

While the credit crackup that began in 2007 largely missed Australia, at least it gave us cause for purchasing pause — and a resolve to ditch a bit of debt.

Fast forward to today, though, and life seems again to be all about how impressive and expensive our things look. That might make "present you" feel fancy and happy but, in what looks like soon-to-be tighter economic times, "future you" may be in money trouble… and unhappy indeed.

Already, only 21 per cent of Aussies feel in control of their finances, says a new survey of 2000 of us by Credit Union Australia. Two in five believe they’re “somewhat” in control.

Tellingly, the research showed a clear link between how indebted people were and the level of financial stress they were feeling, with personal loans (an average $28,000) and credit cards (an average $4000) preventing extra repayments on mortgages.

Meanwhile, record-low interest rates mean a massive opportunity to pay down borrowings cheaper than ever. Do it fast and the average $400,000 house goes from costing — yes — just over $700,000 with interest (at an average 5 per cent over 25 years) to just $510,000 if you clear it in 10 years.

This is also the perfect way to defy a property downturn.

So, in a bid to make austerity inspiring, I reached out on social media last week to the growing band of Aussies more focused on mortgage freedom than, well, slavery to "stuff".

Here is our “stinge-spiration”.

Car stinge-spiration

Feel free to complain on my Twitter but I’m not in awe of your big vehicle… it annoys me.

I have to wedge my dodgy car alongside it and am constantly worried I’ll hurt your pretty one.

My family of four gets around in a very situation-inappropriate 1996 Celica and, when they were babies, we’d get our children out through the boot!

The cost-cutting corps loved this thrifty snippet and shared similar strategies, including the stand out: “We never buy new cars. Our last two cars have been three years old when we bought them — let someone else wear the depreciation — and we drive them into the ground.”

Repeat after me: you are not defined by your car.

Food and booze stinge-spiration

I confess to having spent a fortune on avocados over the years... but I (usually) make my own avocado toast at home.

I buy whatever wine is the discounted Woolworths Rewards 2-4-1, with WISH eGift cards bought through the Entertainment Book for 5 per cent off… so nice drops for $9.50 a bottle.

And I hate any food perishing due to poor planning (most people consider a meal plan key).

However, one waste warrior has an ingenious approach: the empty-the-fridge challenge.

“My kids think it’s so much fun — we totally empty the fridge and then we get to go to the shops and fill it up again. So, we never throw out anything and end up having some very odd dinners that may involve a sliced peach on the side. So be it,” she says.

A semi-self-sufficient saver also recommends: “Fall in love with a butcher who also loves to go fishing.”

Entertainment stinge-spiration

The top tip from the belt-tightening brigade is cacooning — the term coined in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, meaning to recreate external recreation venues at home.

So, the collaborative dinner party where each guest brings their hero dish, the cocktail party where everyone supplies an ingredient, the movie on your own (probably) enormous TV.

One cost conqueror spoke of her family recently clearing the lounge, filling it with mattresses and having a "gold class" party, complete with (far cheaper) popcorn.

And have you forgotten how brilliant a picnic can be (get some exercise with a bush walk beforehand, saving on the expensive gym)?

Economising exemplars also swear by the excursion "think ahead".

“If you’re going somewhere and know what treat your kids are going to ask for, instead of spending $16.50 on three bottles of Powerade, just regularly buy three bottles of Powerade from Coles in your food order.” Always take your own water, too.

If a holiday is on the agenda, check out Click Frenzy Travel. The next big sale starts at 7pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

Phone stinge-spiration

You know it…. buy handsets outright and, as one frugal friend said: “Use them until they die — upgrades really don't offer anything significant other than more cost.”

There are plenty of unlimited deals for $30-$40 a month now (you can search BYO phone on whistleout.com.au, just scroll to below the “promoted matches”).

With prices still coming down fast, a contract will really cost you.

Clothes and contents stinge-spiration

Go shopping in your wardrobe.

“Get your clothes out and mix them around a bit to find different combinations,” one Austere Aussie suggested. And possibly find clothes you’ve lost."

Hello Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and Ebay for a regular de-clutter of all things.

As for my main cluttering culprits — the kids — bide your time buying school uniforms and all clothes; other parents will constantly find they have extras to give/sell them to you. And throw beaten up shoes in the washing machine to see if they’ll come up new.

What of the incessant book club (due any day)?

“We add up how much it would cost to purchase all the books he wants. Then we go on the elibrary catalogue of our council library and look up the same books. My 10-year-old can see the savings as it would have usually cost at least $50 through book club.”

Hear hear!

Life stinge-spiration

I live by a great quote by the late English writer Quentin Crisp… "Never keep up with the Joneses... drag them down to your level."

Austerity can be awesome. And, trust me, it’s awesomely effective against debt.

Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is the author of How to get mortgage-free like me, available at nicolessmartmoney.com. Follow Nicole on Facebook or Twitter.