August 19, 2025 • 24 mins
There are things lurking in your budget right now that are either costing you money, or causing you unnecessary angst. Join Canna Campbell - a financial planner for 20 years - and Fear & Greed's Michael Thompson as they put together a list of five silent budget killers: the hidden costs or surprise expenses that can derail your finances if you're not careful.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to How Do They Afford That? The podcast that
peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson.
I'm an author and the co host of the podcast
Beer and Greed business News. As always, I am with
financial planner Canna Campbell, founder of Sugar Mama TV, the
financial literacy platform that you'll find on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, books,
podcasts everywhere. Hello, good morning today. Budget Killers sounds very intense,
(00:29):
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It sounds a little bit satanic, baby.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yes it does. These are the things lurking in your
budget right now, potentially that are either costing you money
or perhaps causing you unnecessary angst. For me, it's things
like it's like when your budget's kind of cruising along
nicely right, and occasionally I get into that stage where
everything just seems to be working and you've got everything
(00:53):
under control, and then something just comes along and completely
just blows your budget out of the water. And it
is not like an unexpected expense, which is why this
is so ridiculous. It is for me, the car red
Joe that happens every year, and I should know that
it's coming, and yet every year April is just an awful,
(01:14):
awful month because it takes me by.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Surprise for a lot of people's Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, exactly, school holidays, which I mean are they are
there every year, They're on the calendar. You can plan
around it. Yet these are budget killers. So today we're
going to put together a list. These are the five
silent budget killers to watch out for. I'm not talking
about those kind of random unexpected things like a shock
medical expense that might come along just out of the blue,
(01:42):
but these are things that are probably in your budget
right now doing some damage. And the thing I'm most
excited about, Kenna, is that before we started recording this
today and I said, we're talking five silent budget killers,
and you're just really going to throw me under your
face it went ashen. You're just like the color just
(02:04):
drained from your face and you shook your head. And
he said, I'm guilty of one of these, one of
the five. And I can't wait to see what one
it is. I hope it's a good one. Shall we
jump in? Yes, number one on the list of five
(02:24):
silent budget killers to watch out for? What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This is? I'm gonna have to confess my sins.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Is it you? Are you? Is this you straight off
the top? Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh this is really actually embarrassing to share. Okay, but
I signed up to something under a thirty day free trial,
forgot about it, then saw that it was going to
be about just I got the warning like it's going
we're going to start charging you. Still, did I do
anything about it?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
No? Did I even use this description? No, but in
my head I was like, okay, make sure you go
and give this subscription a good test to see if
you wanted or it. Didn't do that, And then it
gets even worse. I thought the charge was in Australian dollars.
It was actually in US dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh, no, even worse worse.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Have I canceled it?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No, because I still really want to see it works
as a triple whami. You didn't use it, didn't use it,
didn't cancel it, and it was charged in US dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I didn't realize that, and I haven't canceled it yet.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I still haven't canceled it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Because I really I really need to sit down and
have it go, using it to see if it actually works,
because it could be really good.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So Number one on this list of five silent budget
budget killers is don't do what Canada does. Yeah, okay,
so we're talking here. You subscription, I say not.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
What I do is what I was trying to I like.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That subscriptions, direct debits and forgotten free trials.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yes, so what I would recommend the wise, responsible, organized
Canna is normally this is why so shame because she's
so out of character for me, And it's just this
one particular subscription because I'm desperate just to give it
a proper go, and I don't want to cancel it
because I had this free trial which I won't get
back anyway. I'm learning.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is it a streaming service? Is it? You just really
want to see what brick boxes like? So you can
watch the Bill TV. That's the last thing I never sorry, okay,
just gidding.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's like an educational program. That's fine.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Oh that sounds very dull.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I am a bit of a nerd.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We've stavaged that if you're going to break one of
these rules, at least do it for something exciting like naughty.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, No, it's really dull and boring. But what I
recommend you do is, and I say this in my
in my coaching of course for budgeting and cash flow.
Check your accounts on a regular basis at least once
a week, if not twice a week, which is what
I do. And I didn't actually pick this up because
I guy was actually coming out of my business account.
(04:55):
But also recommend checking your phone under the Apple subscription.
Great tip, Yes, so important because that's where a lot
of them are hidden.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, I've signed up for like that Apple News Plus
before you know how Oh yeah, yeah, and I've signed
up for that one the New York I think, oh yeah,
I have had that one before as well. Yeah, okay,
clearly you're speaking my language here with this one. Where
you have all of these subscriptions. You've got direct debits,
you've got the streaming services, magazines, newspapers like always like.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
A clean up the back of your phone, Like there's
there's so many of them, and if you have kids,
sometimes they've downloaded ones that you haven't you realized.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I appreciate it when businesses let you know when your
free trial is coming to an end.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
They should should be the law.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I think, yeah it is, and it's very handy, like
whether it's we need to act on them.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's the problem. I got the notification, didn't I.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And so whenever I sign up for a free trial,
and look, sorry to be lecturing you here on this phone.
Whenever I sign up for a free trial, I go
to my calendar and I put a note in there
about three or four or five days before the free
trial ends saying cancel free trial. And that actually then
has a built in buffer for procrastination of one, two, three,
(06:13):
four or five days. And to date I have not
missed canceling any of those.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's a lie, because you've admitted.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Letting things, yes, but not when i'd set a reminder
in my calendar. Okay, well it's a loophole I am.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You are more of a nerd than I am in
there case.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm not the one who's just lost money on an
educational tool. That is the very definition of being a
nerd here, not that there's anything wrong with being a nerd.
I've been a nerd since I was born.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm a leader of the club.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Like sorry, okay, nerd club.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
That's actually sounds like you're safe with me.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, So subscriptions, direct EBITs, forgotten free trials, the gym
kind of things like this. It comes down to whether
you're still using it in the end, like if you
if you've got Netflix and Stan and Amazon on Prime
and Binge and kind of the HBO Max one and
all that you could easily have and Ko and Fox
telling like you could end up with seven or eight
(07:10):
streaming services all at the same time, and the question
is are you actually watching them all?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
But also what currency? Because this is why I've realized
some of ours subscriptions have gone up quite substantially, and
I've really questioned the value.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So do a subscription audit, go through and see what
ones you're actually using right and just and if you
are not using it, then get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And also ones that are due to automatically renew particularly
expensive annual ones. I'm all caught out on one of those.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, Disney Disney Plus is an annual renew and it
ends up being like one hundred and eighty bucks or
something for the for the annual renewal, which I mean
you forget because it's a year in between, and all
of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's recipe apps as well. There can be you know,
three hundred dollars what yeah, what I got caught out
all as well, But I complained it gave me a refund.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh really, oh well done. Yeah, okay, so you do
the audit, You clean up your subscriptions, Yes, you go
through your direct debits. You mentioned checking your account kind
of every week at least, and going through your your
Apple subscriptions, seeing what is there and just seeing what
you don't use. If you can get rid of it,
(08:22):
get rid of it, because these are the things that
they just roll over and they just keep on coming
back to damage your budget. Right, they are a silent
budget killer. Yes, okay, that's number one. Number two, what
have you got?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Infrequent essentials? So they are things that belong in your budget,
They definitely should be there, but they're irregular. So a
car regio, uh huh, you got me there, insurance premiers,
particularly ones that renew annually. I got on in this
the other day. School fees now my middle both my
two kids are at public schools, and used to think, oh,
(08:58):
they're free, and then all of the suddenly I got
a couple of bills which combined were almost five hundred
dollars with the bills for the for that quarter. Didn't
know about that is because this particular school has this
particular special kitchen that they have for the students and
you're supposed to contribute to it and at this particular level.
So that caught me by surprise. That then coincided with
(09:20):
school holidays where you are the you know, entertainment deck coordinator,
you know, going to this school camp today, Especially if
you're a working parent like I am, you're trying to
find activities for them to do, camps for them to
go to, you know, especially if it's weather dependent, that
can be expensive and frustrating. So these are the ones
(09:41):
that you have to pay them. You need them, but
if you don't plan for them, and you know, this
is why I recommend having a calendar that's always three
hundred and sixty five days in a head so you
can prepare for these and uniforms, sports uniforms, you know,
school shoes, sporting equipment. What I recommend to do you
do with this and again it's what I teach in
(10:02):
my course, but you have a financial float and every
month or every time you get paid, you put money
in that financial float so that when those expenses come,
you always have more than enough to handle them, but
also to handle multiple expenses at the same time.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You just looked at me so blankly.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh No, I was just I was thinking back to
my own cash flow kind of situation and thinking just
how nice it would be to have that set up. Yeah,
to have that and that the peace.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Of mind it's a financial float.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, No, it does make a lot of sense. Okay.
So they are the infrequent essentials that they do come around,
there's no avoiding them, and it is just about, yeah,
making sure that you're actually budgeting for them and aware
that they are coming up. So they are the first
two subscriptions, direct debits, forgotten free trials, and the infrequent essentials.
All of these are lurking within your budget and visibility
(10:56):
and maintaining visibility and being aware that they're coming and
planning for them. That is essential here right, Yes, okay,
quick break, We've got three more. Are you guilty of
any of the next three as well?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Let me see, No, I am?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Would that surprise you? No? Okay, all right, we'll take
a break and come back in a second cana. Today
we are talking about the five silent budget killers to
watch out for the things that can really derail your budget.
And they are just they are built into your budget.
They are things that you're already spending money on and
(11:36):
if you don't get a handle on them, then they
can really knock your budget around a bit.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Number three on the list, what have you got loyalty tax.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh, I can proudly say I am not a victim
of loyalty tax because every frugal February I get on
the phone and I demand a bit of deal. So
I let them know politely and respectfully, I may go elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So, in terms of a definition, loyalty tax is basically
when you as a long term customer of something that
it might be your bank with your home loan, or
it's not a classic one, might be your energy provider,
your other utilities, your insurance where you've been with them
for a long time and suddenly you see new customers
(12:22):
coming in getting much better deals than you, as that
really loyal customer who's been there for five years or
ten years. That is a loyalty tax because you are
paying for being loyal exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So that's not good enough, and that is when you
need to jump on the phone and I love the
phone calls and ask for a better deal, but be
armed with the right amount of information so you know
that X y Z are charging this, and you can
at the same level of service or the same rate,
or the same terms of conditions at a much better
rate and give them the opportunity to not just match that,
(12:54):
but beat it if they can. And I do this
every year I call our energy and gas provider. I'm
blown away by the savings I find. Like I think
last year I got one hundred fifty dollars per month savings.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's big, it's huge. We've done an episode previously on
the script to use when you're calling up your bank
or your lender to get a better deal on your
home loan. But I don't think I ever realized that
you could do the same with your energy provider, your utilities.
I just kind of I suppose maybe I've got it
in my head that it's almost like a fixed price
(13:28):
and there isn't room to move on it.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Well, if you're on a fixed plan, it might be
a little bit different, depends on obviously the details of
your contract, but it is always worth asking.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And they may be able to. There might be some
other charges around the edges that they can.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And some of them may have like an a penalty fee,
like an early break fee that they may charge you,
but it may be worth copying that if you're going
to be saving so much more within a month or
two elsewhere. But these are the questions you need to ask.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Okay, So loyalty tax is a big one. Number four,
This one's really interesting. Grocery weight. Yes, this isn't you?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
No, I have well, I had three now I have
two labradors and lubrators eat everything so nothing is wasted
in our house. Yeah, like everything even but even the compost,
like it goes back into the soil of the gardens
around where we live. Like, yes, so that's but on average,
families apparently waste around twenty five hundred dollars per year.
(14:24):
I think it's much more than that.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That's a lot of money. So just by kind of
buying too much.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Duplicates not using it up in time, and it's ruined.
You know, it's gone off, it's gone moldy, or you
know what.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You know what's really handy for this? Do you remember
the episode that we did on using chat GPT for
your groceries.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I use it all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And being able to go, okay, look this is what
I've got in the fridge, Like the I've got some
bacon that's nearly at the end of its life. I've
got some kind of Chinese cabbage. I've got some these
these days, and put it all into chat GPT and
it will tell you what to make.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's awesome. It is so cool. I do this all
the time socially when I cannot be bothered to go
to the supermarket again.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
It's a pretty staggering figure, though, that two and a
half thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think it's much more than that. It's fifty dollars
a week, especially for young families. And like I think
about my kids, like, especially when they were younger, Like
they throw food on the floor and then they'd say
I want to eat this and have a bite, and
they go, no, I don't like that, and you know,
and and fridge meals to get them to eat.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And your fridge ends up full of kind of quarter
full pannets of berries. Berries where they start where they start,
where they start to go soft, and all of a
sudden they just kind of get left and pushed up
the back of the fridge, and a new punnet gets
bought and opened. And pannets of berries are so expensive,
I know, And that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
We should be eyeing and frozen. It's great with second
money on berries.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Oh yeah, but it's hard to kind of pack frozen
berries into a lunch box.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
No, they're perfect. They thaw out during the day. I
put them in the kids yogurt pots. Oh really, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, all right, but two and a half thousand dollars
if you were to cut down on that, and if
you were to buy is one way to get around
that to buy strictly to a list in terms of
what meal planning, and buy to that list and perhaps
use chat GPT for your meal planning.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I was actually chatting with some friends the other day,
and the amount of my friends that actually just go
to the supermarket and just buy without a list. They
just throw whatever in the trolley blows your grocery bill
out massively. But if you just spend twenty minutes going
through going Okay, which days of the week are we home,
what's the balance diet? We'll do salmon one night, chicken
one night, vegetarian the next. Cross references what you've already
(16:38):
got in your pantry, what can use up? You know,
what can you create that's quite a budget friendly meal
and it keeps everyone happy and obviously filled up with
the right quality produce. It is a brilliant way of
actually not just saving money, but also saving yourself a
lot of time energy as well.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I reckon, maybe we are probably the average with the
two and a half thousand dollars, but I would like
to think that because we do so much of our
grocery shopping online, that perhaps makes us a bit more
deliberate in what we're buying. That you are not just
walking along the aisles and describing whatever you see that's
(17:17):
on special, that you're really just going, Okay, I need
to get Rice. Just search Rice up and pop that
in the digital digital trolley. What's it called your basket basket?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think cart.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, now that's it. That's it. But maybe that's a
way to do it as well. It's not for everyone.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I like that because you know, I do my grocery
shop either on Saturday night or what a raging weekend
I have, or Sunday morning.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Oh my god. So yes, So let's just get this clear.
You do your grocery shopping on Saturday night, you review
your budget on Sunday night, and somewhere in between, and.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Then Friday morning or Friday afternoon. I also do bi
weekly budget review my transactions. Really, yes, I sound like
I have no friends and no life.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
No, No, you sound like you'd be great fun at parties.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I am a lot of fun. I have a lot
of friends.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I don't know if when you are the one claiming
that I don't know how much weight that really carries?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Can I count my dogs as my friends?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Absolutely, because we can't ask them to confirm. Okay, So
all right, so grocery waste that is, that's a big one,
and because we can actually put a number on that
and say it's two and a half thousand dollars probably
minimum that people, and it is just by overshopping and
not kind of paying attention to what you've already got
in the fridge and just not and not kind of
(18:43):
consuming all the leftovers. And even if it's going into
kind of a recycling kind of process, whether you've got
a worm farm or a compost bin or something like that,
at least that is helping, but it's not going to
save it out of your budget.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, exactly. Can I have said one out of the
quick point before we please go to the next, and
that is to actually declutter your pantry and fridge. I
recently did this and I was it was still quite disgusting,
to be honest. You can check it out on TikTok
the video of what I found. But since doing that,
our budget, our grocery bill has come down quite subunificently
(19:18):
because I'm really prioritizing eating up the things that we
bought for a once off meal, like a particular paste
or powder and using that up. And I now know
not to go there again because it's a waste. And
seeing a neatly organized pantry is amazing. What it does
for your mindset is you approach food planning and the
groceries and you want to keep it neat and tybe
with less stuff in there.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I like that last one. ATM fees and bank charges
like ATM fees, right, if you are still paying ATM fees,
and if they are a silent budget killer, that's got
to be a relatively niche thing now, because I mean
so many people are cashless. Yeah, and you can also
(19:59):
find one within you or banks.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Network exactly friends of yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah indeed, but bank charges that one is a little
bit harder to avoid.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Right. Then there's the monthly account keeping charges Yeah, that
definitely could happen in foreign transaction fees as well. And
then of course late fees or overdrawn penalties.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Late fees is probably a perfect example for this as
a silent budget killer because they are things that are
happening that are easily avoided, right just by paying on time,
and whether that is a mortgage payment or a credit
card payment or any of these, or any kind of
loan repayments, they are easily avoided. And also just penalties
(20:43):
for not paying your kind of mobile phone bill on
things on.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Time exactly and could do what you did, put five
reminders in your phone, your calendar, well buffer so you
don't procrastinate.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
As you turn this around on me now to make
it sound like that's a bad thing just because I'm
suddenly organized with my money. Never thought i'd say that
to you. It's quite quite an exciting day. So atm
fees and bank charges they're probably fairly minimal, but then
you do have the persistent as well, and also if
(21:14):
you have a home loan for instance, that you might
be paying a fee a larger fees. Yeah, indeed, is
there room to move on those things?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Definitely, you can, oh, one hundred percent at me Go.
You could definitely call them up and say I'm not
happy about this fee whilst you're also haggling for a
better interest rate deal as well, and quite often they
can wave them well.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And credit card fees, not just the late fees, but
credit card to do.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Much harder to do. But yes, it's worth asking.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
But you could also change to a credit card that
doesn't have a fee.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Definitely, of course you want to make sure that the
credit card works for you.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Okay, five silent budget killers? Which one out of those
five is the biggest budget killer? Do you think what's
the one that does the most damage to your budget?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I would say the loyalty tax is the biggest, particularly
around homelands, because you know, if you look at the
cost of interest per month, it's quite substantial. You know,
the loyalty tax on your gas bill might be say
twenty dollars a month, but you're the loyalty tax on
your home loan could very easily be two hundred or
two thousand dollars a month. So it is the biggest
(22:23):
one that needs to be addressed as a number one priority.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But if you want some quick wins, then go through
your subscriptions and your direct debits because you can get
up you can get some easy little wins there, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
True, But when you think about the time involved, it's
pretty much the same call your bank, or call your
you know, Fox cell provider or your streaming service. Like
it's the same phone call the same amount of time,
probably going to be on hold for the same amount
of time as well. Point, but the payoff is potentially
bigger with a Homeland Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Number one, subscriptions, direct debits, forgotten free trials. Number two
the infrequent essentials annually insurance and car red Joe and
school fees and Christmas those kinds of things that do
come around every year and it just pays to be
more aware of them so they don't derail your budget
when you get to them. Number three the loyalty tax
on homelans, utilities insurance. Number four grocery waste actually using everything,
(23:15):
just buying exactly what you need and shopping to a list.
And number five atm fees, bank chargers and other fees
and charges that you are charged that you just forget
that they're there, and it pays to see them, be
mindful of them, pay on time to avoid them. And
haggle and negotiate your way out of a fee. If
you possibly can haggle, heart listeners, we might have just
(23:39):
going to put myself.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Back on that nerd level again.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Oh yeah, no, that was a very nerdy way to finish.
We might have to do an episode just on haggling,
on your greatest tips for haggling, because I want to
know how you walk into an electrics like a Harvey
Norman or a shop like that, and how you haggle
your way down to a better deal on a washing
machine or something, because I imagine it would be quite
(24:03):
a ferocious thing to witness. Will you do it?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yes, we will a challenge accepted?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Excellent? All right. If we want more information from you,
where do we find you?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The best place to reach out to me is on
Instagram at sugar on my TV.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And you can hear me every day with Sean Aylmer
on Fear and Greed business News. You can use thank
you for listening to how do they ford that? Remember
to hit follow on the podcast. And the best thing
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again next week,
Welcome to How Do They Afford That? The podcast that
peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson.
I'm an author and the co host of the podcast
Beer and Greed business News. As always, I am with
financial planner Canna Campbell, founder of Sugar Mama TV, the
financial literacy platform that you'll find on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, books,
podcasts everywhere. Hello, good morning today. Budget Killers sounds very intense,
(00:29):
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It sounds a little bit satanic, baby.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yes it does. These are the things lurking in your
budget right now, potentially that are either costing you money
or perhaps causing you unnecessary angst. For me, it's things
like it's like when your budget's kind of cruising along
nicely right, and occasionally I get into that stage where
everything just seems to be working and you've got everything
(00:53):
under control, and then something just comes along and completely
just blows your budget out of the water. And it
is not like an unexpected expense, which is why this
is so ridiculous. It is for me, the car red
Joe that happens every year, and I should know that
it's coming, and yet every year April is just an awful,
(01:14):
awful month because it takes me by.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Surprise for a lot of people's Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, exactly, school holidays, which I mean are they are
there every year, They're on the calendar. You can plan
around it. Yet these are budget killers. So today we're
going to put together a list. These are the five
silent budget killers to watch out for. I'm not talking
about those kind of random unexpected things like a shock
medical expense that might come along just out of the blue,
(01:42):
but these are things that are probably in your budget
right now doing some damage. And the thing I'm most
excited about, Kenna, is that before we started recording this
today and I said, we're talking five silent budget killers,
and you're just really going to throw me under your
face it went ashen. You're just like the color just
(02:04):
drained from your face and you shook your head. And
he said, I'm guilty of one of these, one of
the five. And I can't wait to see what one
it is. I hope it's a good one. Shall we
jump in? Yes, number one on the list of five
(02:24):
silent budget killers to watch out for? What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This is? I'm gonna have to confess my sins.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Is it you? Are you? Is this you straight off
the top? Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh this is really actually embarrassing to share. Okay, but
I signed up to something under a thirty day free trial,
forgot about it, then saw that it was going to
be about just I got the warning like it's going
we're going to start charging you. Still, did I do
anything about it?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
No? Did I even use this description? No, but in
my head I was like, okay, make sure you go
and give this subscription a good test to see if
you wanted or it. Didn't do that, And then it
gets even worse. I thought the charge was in Australian dollars.
It was actually in US dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh, no, even worse worse.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Have I canceled it?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No, because I still really want to see it works
as a triple whami. You didn't use it, didn't use it,
didn't cancel it, and it was charged in US dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I didn't realize that, and I haven't canceled it yet.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I still haven't canceled it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Because I really I really need to sit down and
have it go, using it to see if it actually works,
because it could be really good.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So Number one on this list of five silent budget
budget killers is don't do what Canada does. Yeah, okay,
so we're talking here. You subscription, I say not.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
What I do is what I was trying to I like.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That subscriptions, direct debits and forgotten free trials.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yes, so what I would recommend the wise, responsible, organized
Canna is normally this is why so shame because she's
so out of character for me, And it's just this
one particular subscription because I'm desperate just to give it
a proper go, and I don't want to cancel it
because I had this free trial which I won't get
back anyway. I'm learning.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is it a streaming service? Is it? You just really
want to see what brick boxes like? So you can
watch the Bill TV. That's the last thing I never sorry, okay,
just gidding.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's like an educational program. That's fine.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Oh that sounds very dull.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I am a bit of a nerd.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We've stavaged that if you're going to break one of
these rules, at least do it for something exciting like naughty.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, No, it's really dull and boring. But what I
recommend you do is, and I say this in my
in my coaching of course for budgeting and cash flow.
Check your accounts on a regular basis at least once
a week, if not twice a week, which is what
I do. And I didn't actually pick this up because
I guy was actually coming out of my business account.
(04:55):
But also recommend checking your phone under the Apple subscription.
Great tip, Yes, so important because that's where a lot
of them are hidden.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, I've signed up for like that Apple News Plus
before you know how Oh yeah, yeah, and I've signed
up for that one the New York I think, oh yeah,
I have had that one before as well. Yeah, okay,
clearly you're speaking my language here with this one. Where
you have all of these subscriptions. You've got direct debits,
you've got the streaming services, magazines, newspapers like always like.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
A clean up the back of your phone, Like there's
there's so many of them, and if you have kids,
sometimes they've downloaded ones that you haven't you realized.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I appreciate it when businesses let you know when your
free trial is coming to an end.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
They should should be the law.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I think, yeah it is, and it's very handy, like
whether it's we need to act on them.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's the problem. I got the notification, didn't I.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And so whenever I sign up for a free trial,
and look, sorry to be lecturing you here on this phone.
Whenever I sign up for a free trial, I go
to my calendar and I put a note in there
about three or four or five days before the free
trial ends saying cancel free trial. And that actually then
has a built in buffer for procrastination of one, two, three,
(06:13):
four or five days. And to date I have not
missed canceling any of those.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's a lie, because you've admitted.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Letting things, yes, but not when i'd set a reminder
in my calendar. Okay, well it's a loophole I am.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You are more of a nerd than I am in
there case.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm not the one who's just lost money on an
educational tool. That is the very definition of being a
nerd here, not that there's anything wrong with being a nerd.
I've been a nerd since I was born.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm a leader of the club.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Like sorry, okay, nerd club.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
That's actually sounds like you're safe with me.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, So subscriptions, direct EBITs, forgotten free trials, the gym
kind of things like this. It comes down to whether
you're still using it in the end, like if you
if you've got Netflix and Stan and Amazon on Prime
and Binge and kind of the HBO Max one and
all that you could easily have and Ko and Fox
telling like you could end up with seven or eight
(07:10):
streaming services all at the same time, and the question
is are you actually watching them all?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
But also what currency? Because this is why I've realized
some of ours subscriptions have gone up quite substantially, and
I've really questioned the value.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So do a subscription audit, go through and see what
ones you're actually using right and just and if you
are not using it, then get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And also ones that are due to automatically renew particularly
expensive annual ones. I'm all caught out on one of those.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, Disney Disney Plus is an annual renew and it
ends up being like one hundred and eighty bucks or
something for the for the annual renewal, which I mean
you forget because it's a year in between, and all
of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's recipe apps as well. There can be you know,
three hundred dollars what yeah, what I got caught out
all as well, But I complained it gave me a refund.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh really, oh well done. Yeah, okay, so you do
the audit, You clean up your subscriptions, Yes, you go
through your direct debits. You mentioned checking your account kind
of every week at least, and going through your your
Apple subscriptions, seeing what is there and just seeing what
you don't use. If you can get rid of it,
(08:22):
get rid of it, because these are the things that
they just roll over and they just keep on coming
back to damage your budget. Right, they are a silent
budget killer. Yes, okay, that's number one. Number two, what
have you got?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Infrequent essentials? So they are things that belong in your budget,
They definitely should be there, but they're irregular. So a
car regio, uh huh, you got me there, insurance premiers,
particularly ones that renew annually. I got on in this
the other day. School fees now my middle both my
two kids are at public schools, and used to think, oh,
(08:58):
they're free, and then all of the suddenly I got
a couple of bills which combined were almost five hundred
dollars with the bills for the for that quarter. Didn't
know about that is because this particular school has this
particular special kitchen that they have for the students and
you're supposed to contribute to it and at this particular level.
So that caught me by surprise. That then coincided with
(09:20):
school holidays where you are the you know, entertainment deck coordinator,
you know, going to this school camp today, Especially if
you're a working parent like I am, you're trying to
find activities for them to do, camps for them to
go to, you know, especially if it's weather dependent, that
can be expensive and frustrating. So these are the ones
(09:41):
that you have to pay them. You need them, but
if you don't plan for them, and you know, this
is why I recommend having a calendar that's always three
hundred and sixty five days in a head so you
can prepare for these and uniforms, sports uniforms, you know,
school shoes, sporting equipment. What I recommend to do you
do with this and again it's what I teach in
(10:02):
my course, but you have a financial float and every
month or every time you get paid, you put money
in that financial float so that when those expenses come,
you always have more than enough to handle them, but
also to handle multiple expenses at the same time.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You just looked at me so blankly.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh No, I was just I was thinking back to
my own cash flow kind of situation and thinking just
how nice it would be to have that set up. Yeah,
to have that and that the peace.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Of mind it's a financial float.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, No, it does make a lot of sense. Okay.
So they are the infrequent essentials that they do come around,
there's no avoiding them, and it is just about, yeah,
making sure that you're actually budgeting for them and aware
that they are coming up. So they are the first
two subscriptions, direct debits, forgotten free trials, and the infrequent essentials.
All of these are lurking within your budget and visibility
(10:56):
and maintaining visibility and being aware that they're coming and
planning for them. That is essential here right, Yes, okay,
quick break, We've got three more. Are you guilty of
any of the next three as well?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Let me see, No, I am?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Would that surprise you? No? Okay, all right, we'll take
a break and come back in a second cana. Today
we are talking about the five silent budget killers to
watch out for the things that can really derail your budget.
And they are just they are built into your budget.
They are things that you're already spending money on and
(11:36):
if you don't get a handle on them, then they
can really knock your budget around a bit.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Number three on the list, what have you got loyalty tax.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh, I can proudly say I am not a victim
of loyalty tax because every frugal February I get on
the phone and I demand a bit of deal. So
I let them know politely and respectfully, I may go elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So, in terms of a definition, loyalty tax is basically
when you as a long term customer of something that
it might be your bank with your home loan, or
it's not a classic one, might be your energy provider,
your other utilities, your insurance where you've been with them
for a long time and suddenly you see new customers
(12:22):
coming in getting much better deals than you, as that
really loyal customer who's been there for five years or
ten years. That is a loyalty tax because you are
paying for being loyal exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So that's not good enough, and that is when you
need to jump on the phone and I love the
phone calls and ask for a better deal, but be
armed with the right amount of information so you know
that X y Z are charging this, and you can
at the same level of service or the same rate,
or the same terms of conditions at a much better
rate and give them the opportunity to not just match that,
(12:54):
but beat it if they can. And I do this
every year I call our energy and gas provider. I'm
blown away by the savings I find. Like I think
last year I got one hundred fifty dollars per month savings.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's big, it's huge. We've done an episode previously on
the script to use when you're calling up your bank
or your lender to get a better deal on your
home loan. But I don't think I ever realized that
you could do the same with your energy provider, your utilities.
I just kind of I suppose maybe I've got it
in my head that it's almost like a fixed price
(13:28):
and there isn't room to move on it.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Well, if you're on a fixed plan, it might be
a little bit different, depends on obviously the details of
your contract, but it is always worth asking.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And they may be able to. There might be some
other charges around the edges that they can.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And some of them may have like an a penalty fee,
like an early break fee that they may charge you,
but it may be worth copying that if you're going
to be saving so much more within a month or
two elsewhere. But these are the questions you need to ask.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Okay, So loyalty tax is a big one. Number four,
This one's really interesting. Grocery weight. Yes, this isn't you?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
No, I have well, I had three now I have
two labradors and lubrators eat everything so nothing is wasted
in our house. Yeah, like everything even but even the compost,
like it goes back into the soil of the gardens
around where we live. Like, yes, so that's but on average,
families apparently waste around twenty five hundred dollars per year.
(14:24):
I think it's much more than that.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That's a lot of money. So just by kind of
buying too much.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Duplicates not using it up in time, and it's ruined.
You know, it's gone off, it's gone moldy, or you
know what.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You know what's really handy for this? Do you remember
the episode that we did on using chat GPT for
your groceries.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I use it all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And being able to go, okay, look this is what
I've got in the fridge, Like the I've got some
bacon that's nearly at the end of its life. I've
got some kind of Chinese cabbage. I've got some these
these days, and put it all into chat GPT and
it will tell you what to make.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's awesome. It is so cool. I do this all
the time socially when I cannot be bothered to go
to the supermarket again.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
It's a pretty staggering figure, though, that two and a
half thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think it's much more than that. It's fifty dollars
a week, especially for young families. And like I think
about my kids, like, especially when they were younger, Like
they throw food on the floor and then they'd say
I want to eat this and have a bite, and
they go, no, I don't like that, and you know,
and and fridge meals to get them to eat.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And your fridge ends up full of kind of quarter
full pannets of berries. Berries where they start where they start,
where they start to go soft, and all of a
sudden they just kind of get left and pushed up
the back of the fridge, and a new punnet gets
bought and opened. And pannets of berries are so expensive,
I know, And that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
We should be eyeing and frozen. It's great with second
money on berries.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Oh yeah, but it's hard to kind of pack frozen
berries into a lunch box.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
No, they're perfect. They thaw out during the day. I
put them in the kids yogurt pots. Oh really, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, all right, but two and a half thousand dollars
if you were to cut down on that, and if
you were to buy is one way to get around
that to buy strictly to a list in terms of
what meal planning, and buy to that list and perhaps
use chat GPT for your meal planning.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I was actually chatting with some friends the other day,
and the amount of my friends that actually just go
to the supermarket and just buy without a list. They
just throw whatever in the trolley blows your grocery bill
out massively. But if you just spend twenty minutes going
through going Okay, which days of the week are we home,
what's the balance diet? We'll do salmon one night, chicken
one night, vegetarian the next. Cross references what you've already
(16:38):
got in your pantry, what can use up? You know,
what can you create that's quite a budget friendly meal
and it keeps everyone happy and obviously filled up with
the right quality produce. It is a brilliant way of
actually not just saving money, but also saving yourself a
lot of time energy as well.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I reckon, maybe we are probably the average with the
two and a half thousand dollars, but I would like
to think that because we do so much of our
grocery shopping online, that perhaps makes us a bit more
deliberate in what we're buying. That you are not just
walking along the aisles and describing whatever you see that's
(17:17):
on special, that you're really just going, Okay, I need
to get Rice. Just search Rice up and pop that
in the digital digital trolley. What's it called your basket basket?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think cart.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, now that's it. That's it. But maybe that's a
way to do it as well. It's not for everyone.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I like that because you know, I do my grocery
shop either on Saturday night or what a raging weekend
I have, or Sunday morning.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Oh my god. So yes, So let's just get this clear.
You do your grocery shopping on Saturday night, you review
your budget on Sunday night, and somewhere in between, and.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Then Friday morning or Friday afternoon. I also do bi
weekly budget review my transactions. Really, yes, I sound like
I have no friends and no life.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
No, No, you sound like you'd be great fun at parties.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I am a lot of fun. I have a lot
of friends.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I don't know if when you are the one claiming
that I don't know how much weight that really carries?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Can I count my dogs as my friends?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Absolutely, because we can't ask them to confirm. Okay, So
all right, so grocery waste that is, that's a big one,
and because we can actually put a number on that
and say it's two and a half thousand dollars probably
minimum that people, and it is just by overshopping and
not kind of paying attention to what you've already got
in the fridge and just not and not kind of
(18:43):
consuming all the leftovers. And even if it's going into
kind of a recycling kind of process, whether you've got
a worm farm or a compost bin or something like that,
at least that is helping, but it's not going to
save it out of your budget.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, exactly. Can I have said one out of the
quick point before we please go to the next, and
that is to actually declutter your pantry and fridge. I
recently did this and I was it was still quite disgusting,
to be honest. You can check it out on TikTok
the video of what I found. But since doing that,
our budget, our grocery bill has come down quite subunificently
(19:18):
because I'm really prioritizing eating up the things that we
bought for a once off meal, like a particular paste
or powder and using that up. And I now know
not to go there again because it's a waste. And
seeing a neatly organized pantry is amazing. What it does
for your mindset is you approach food planning and the
groceries and you want to keep it neat and tybe
with less stuff in there.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I like that last one. ATM fees and bank charges
like ATM fees, right, if you are still paying ATM fees,
and if they are a silent budget killer, that's got
to be a relatively niche thing now, because I mean
so many people are cashless. Yeah, and you can also
(19:59):
find one within you or banks.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Network exactly friends of yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah indeed, but bank charges that one is a little
bit harder to avoid.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Right. Then there's the monthly account keeping charges Yeah, that
definitely could happen in foreign transaction fees as well. And
then of course late fees or overdrawn penalties.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Late fees is probably a perfect example for this as
a silent budget killer because they are things that are
happening that are easily avoided, right just by paying on time,
and whether that is a mortgage payment or a credit
card payment or any of these, or any kind of
loan repayments, they are easily avoided. And also just penalties
(20:43):
for not paying your kind of mobile phone bill on
things on.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Time exactly and could do what you did, put five
reminders in your phone, your calendar, well buffer so you
don't procrastinate.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
As you turn this around on me now to make
it sound like that's a bad thing just because I'm
suddenly organized with my money. Never thought i'd say that
to you. It's quite quite an exciting day. So atm
fees and bank charges they're probably fairly minimal, but then
you do have the persistent as well, and also if
(21:14):
you have a home loan for instance, that you might
be paying a fee a larger fees. Yeah, indeed, is
there room to move on those things?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Definitely, you can, oh, one hundred percent at me Go.
You could definitely call them up and say I'm not
happy about this fee whilst you're also haggling for a
better interest rate deal as well, and quite often they
can wave them well.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And credit card fees, not just the late fees, but
credit card to do.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Much harder to do. But yes, it's worth asking.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
But you could also change to a credit card that
doesn't have a fee.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Definitely, of course you want to make sure that the
credit card works for you.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Okay, five silent budget killers? Which one out of those
five is the biggest budget killer? Do you think what's
the one that does the most damage to your budget?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I would say the loyalty tax is the biggest, particularly
around homelands, because you know, if you look at the
cost of interest per month, it's quite substantial. You know,
the loyalty tax on your gas bill might be say
twenty dollars a month, but you're the loyalty tax on
your home loan could very easily be two hundred or
two thousand dollars a month. So it is the biggest
(22:23):
one that needs to be addressed as a number one priority.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But if you want some quick wins, then go through
your subscriptions and your direct debits because you can get
up you can get some easy little wins there, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
True, But when you think about the time involved, it's
pretty much the same call your bank, or call your
you know, Fox cell provider or your streaming service. Like
it's the same phone call the same amount of time,
probably going to be on hold for the same amount
of time as well. Point, but the payoff is potentially
bigger with a Homeland Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Number one, subscriptions, direct debits, forgotten free trials. Number two
the infrequent essentials annually insurance and car red Joe and
school fees and Christmas those kinds of things that do
come around every year and it just pays to be
more aware of them so they don't derail your budget
when you get to them. Number three the loyalty tax
on homelans, utilities insurance. Number four grocery waste actually using everything,
(23:15):
just buying exactly what you need and shopping to a list.
And number five atm fees, bank chargers and other fees
and charges that you are charged that you just forget
that they're there, and it pays to see them, be
mindful of them, pay on time to avoid them. And
haggle and negotiate your way out of a fee. If
you possibly can haggle, heart listeners, we might have just
(23:39):
going to put myself.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Back on that nerd level again.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Oh yeah, no, that was a very nerdy way to finish.
We might have to do an episode just on haggling,
on your greatest tips for haggling, because I want to
know how you walk into an electrics like a Harvey
Norman or a shop like that, and how you haggle
your way down to a better deal on a washing
machine or something, because I imagine it would be quite
(24:03):
a ferocious thing to witness. Will you do it?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yes, we will a challenge accepted?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Excellent? All right. If we want more information from you,
where do we find you?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The best place to reach out to me is on
Instagram at sugar on my TV.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And you can hear me every day with Sean Aylmer
on Fear and Greed business News. You can use thank
you for listening to how do they ford that? Remember
to hit follow on the podcast. And the best thing
you can do is tell somebody else send them a
link to this episode, spad the word about how do
they ford that? Thank you for your company, join US
again next week,
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My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com