As a pensioner in South Africa with rising costs and interest rate reductions, it is prudent to take a good look at your expenses and see where you can save money without it affecting your lifestyle.
The First and easiest way to reduce your expenditure is to reduce your short term Insurance costs:
If you have had your car and home insurance with the same company for many years, you will have seen your premiums increase annually according to what you signed at the time. In recent years the competition among Insurance companies has become fierce and we have seen customers save in excess of 30% on their insurance premiums for the exact same cover.
Then perhaps you could also look at changing the nature of your short term Insurance. If you have comprehensive car Insurance, perhaps you don’t drive much or your car is more than 5 years old. Options to consider would be a total loss car Insurance policy where you would self insure minor bumper bashings or scrapes and only be covered in the event of a write off or theft.
Put our people to work by completing the form to the right and they will get you insurance quotes from South Africa’s best Insurers for you to compare. There is absolutely no cost involved in getting quotes and you are under no obligation to accept any quote offered to you.
The second way to reduce your expenses is to take advantage of pensioner discounts:
Cinema’s, DSTV, Car rental companies and any number of Resorts and hotels offer special discounts to pensioners but you must ask for them. For example AVIS offers 20% off to anyone over 65, DSTV have bundles of programs which are far less but don’t include all of the channels… do you ever watch some of the channels?
Pick n Pay stores are able to establish their own pensioner discount policy with some opting for a discount booklet and some offering a discount day once a week. Ask at your local Pick n Pay.
Dischem have double points days and an annual tea where they give away hampers,
The key here is to ask where ever you go if there is a Pensioners discount, you will be amazed at how many businesses are prepared to offer a discount to pensioners. The basics are that by offering a discount you are going to tell others!
Electricity consumption
All things being equal, you are likely to be using a whole lot less water and electricity with the children having left home and you will still have a large geyser which is being heated. There are a few strategies to use here.
The first is to use a timing device which switches off your geyser for a few hours a day and are available at most hardware stores. These have shown to be extremely effective in reducing electricity consumption.
Convert to a gas or solar geyser. Both of these option require a capital outlay but will save you a lot of money in the future.
Stop Smokin and Drink less coffee at coffee shops
Smoking costs a fortune and is very detrimental to your health but for smokers the idea of giving up is terrifying. We recommend that you take advantage of Dr Gavin Zipps Smoking Cessation treatment which takes away the cravings for nicotine and for a one off fee has over 90% success rate. So of you really want to give up smoking take Dr Zipps Auricular therapy. At R30-R35/pack the savings experienced by quitting smoking are incredible which compound on your health, life insurance and medical aid costs, so don’t muck about, just Quit.
Coffee costs anywhere between R15 and R35 a cup and if you are anything like me, you tend to have more than 1 cup. I now only have a single cup of coffee when I am out and order a glass of water at the end. This alone is saving me around R600/month.
The car insurance – what if you make an accident, and it is your fault? will the one ascribed above pay out without me paying any access?