Staying on top of your finances when you’re renting not only makes life easy, but also helps you stand out from the crowd as a desirable tenant.
We all face financial bumps in the road every now and then but with these six handy tips, you’ll be able to manage your money with confidence in no time - and earn a positive rental record while you’re at it!
1. Track expenses
- Ever feel like your salary just evaporates almost as soon as it hits your account? Or maybe you want to save for something special, but it feels like you’re making slow progress? Tracking expenses will help you to understand why.
- There are lots of handy tools that can help, so whether you prefer an old-school spreadsheet or would prefer to manage everything on an app, you can easily identify which spending habits aren’t working for you and what needs to change.
2. Budget
- Once you understand your expenses, you can plan a budget to make sure you cover the essentials – don’t forget to allocate some funds for fun! Start with the biggest and most important expenses first, such as rent and utilities.
- Use your expense tracking tool to make sure you haven’t missed any regular necessities in your lifestyle. Having a clear budget can make it easier to resist the temptation to impulse purchase, while making sure that you still have a little set aside to treat yourself.
- Good money management can be fun too! Set yourself some financial goals and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment you get once you achieve them!
3. Identify money drains
- If you’re a budgeting whiz, you might feel like there is little to cut but it does pay to shop around. Compare the cost of utility providers, spend time getting the best insurance quotes, and check if you’re paying for streaming subscriptions you no longer use.
- Energy prices are one of the biggest spends outside rent, so they merit a little extra scrutiny. Electricity usage monitors are readily available from electrical stores and can show you how much power any device is using. Even switching off at the wall instead of leaving the TV or computer on standby can save you more money than you realise!
4. Put something aside for emergencies
- No matter how well we budget, sometimes an unexpected expense crops up. The car breaks down, the dog gets sick, and suddenly you’re left wondering how you’ll make it to payday.
- Getting in a good saving habit is one of the best ways to prepare for unplanned expenses. Try to include a set amount in your budget that goes into a separate high-interest savings account that is only to be touched in an emergency.
5. Bill smoothing and bonuses
- Some expenses, in particular power bills, tend to vary at different times of the year, which makes budgeting tricky, but RentPay’s bill smoothing service can help. Put simply, it lets you input your utility bills and pay an estimated weekly, fortnightly or monthly amount instead of being hit by a much bigger quarterly bill.
- Bonus: RentPay give you cashback with every payment, which you can put towards your rent. It can mount up to a handy amount – you get up to $260 a year just for signing up, and you never again need to make sure you’re sitting down before opening your power bills.
6. Make payments quick, seamless, and secure.
- We’re all busy but putting payments off until later is a sure-fire way to forget, and this can affect your credit rating. RentPay has partnered with Mastercard to make every rental payment as quick as a few clicks with Click to Pay, a faster, safer online payment method.
- Click to Pay uses intelligent security for password-free identification. It recognises you at checkout when you shop with registered businesses, so no more typing out your card number every time. Since weak or hacked passwords are among the most common cybercrime entry points, and it is almost impossible to remember all the strong passwords you need, Click to Pay is a safer and more convenient alternative.
- When you can make your payments faster, you save time for something more fun than paying bills.
- When you make sure they’re more secure as well, you might save a whole a lot more.
When everything clicks: priceless.
