Weekend Spending

You’ve decided to save for a new car, or perhaps a trip to Mauritius. You don’t buy unnecessary lunches and instead pack them for work. You take the bus to the office. You stay in during the week instead of eating out at expensive restaurants. Then the weekend arrives and you spend two weeks’ worth of your savings in one night.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Just because you’re looking after your financial interests, doesn’t mean you have to hibernate over weekends. Bryan Leach, a financial planning consultant for Private Client Holdings, shares a few money-saving tips to keep your savings in check on the weekends.

Friday Night: Movie Night	Remember the days when movies cost R10? Well, with a ticket costing more than R39 now, those days are clearly long gone. Investigate a more cost effective way of going to the movies, says Leach. Discovery Vitality, Clicks and Edgars card members get great discounts on movie prices, he says. If you don’t want to change your medical aid scheme just to watch cheaper movies, the retail club cards are free. If you’re a Ster-Kinekor regular, the Edgars ClubCard knocks 50% off your ticket price, while at Nu-Metro you’ll pay R25 for all 2D movies with a Clicks ClubCard. ‘Watch the cost of the extras though – they often don’t add much to the experience, but they can add substantially to the cost,’ says Leach. Popcorn, coke and a packet of sweets can end up costing more than 50% of the price of the movie itself, he says. Too often something that should cost R50 ends up costing R100; yet the person who spent R50 and not R100, has just as good an experience as the person who spent money on all the extras, he explains.
Saturday Night: Eating Out
Sunday: Shopping

Author: Lindi Brownell