{"id":386555,"date":"2026-01-02T09:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386555\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:36:22","slug":"how-changing-your-spending-habits-can-help-you-save-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386555\/","title":{"rendered":"How changing your spending habits can help you save money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From skipping impulse coffees to trying a no-spend day, small changes add up to big results. The Kim family put it to the test and discovered just how powerful tiny shifts can be.<\/p>\n<p>Financial fitness starts small<\/p>\n<p>When CommBank personal finance expert Jess Irvine talks about \u201c<a data-tracker-locationid=\"link_financial-fitness\" data-tracker-type=\"richtext\" dtmtracker=\"@@link_financial-fitness@@@@\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commbank.com.au\/brighter\/financial-fitness.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">financial fitness<\/a>\u201d, she\u2019s quick to point out that it\u2019s not about cutting every luxury or sticking to a rigid budget. Instead, the focus is on creating small, beneficial money habits that can be sustained in the long term (like committing to a daily walk to improve your health). \u201cIt\u2019s all those little daily choices that either move us closer to our goals or away from them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a philosophy that can be applied to any household. Take the Kim family, for example: Han, Vanessa and their two young boys. Busy, hardworking and juggling everyday expenses, they decided to test how a few smart adjustments, like cutting back on convenience spending and <a data-tracker-locationid=\"link_financial-fitness-lesson-3-2\" data-tracker-type=\"richtext\" dtmtracker=\"@@link_financial-fitness-lesson-3-2@@@@\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commbank.com.au\/brighter\/financial-fitness\/know\/lesson-3-2.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">being more intentional with their budget<\/a>, could put them on a better path.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge: Pressing pause on spending<\/p>\n<p>Like many families, the Kims noticed how quickly small costs (think takeaway coffees, cafe lunches, convenience splurges) stacked up. Han, who loves a spreadsheet, knew <a data-tracker-locationid=\"link_financial-fitness-lesson-3-1\" data-tracker-type=\"richtext\" dtmtracker=\"@@link_financial-fitness-lesson-3-1@@@@\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commbank.com.au\/brighter\/financial-fitness\/know\/lesson-3-1.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">where the money was going<\/a> in theory but admitted they often \u201cmade a budget we never really followed\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Jess set them a \u201c<a data-tracker-locationid=\"link_grow-your-savings-with-the-no-spend-challenge\" data-tracker-type=\"richtext\" dtmtracker=\"@@link_grow-your-savings-with-the-no-spend-challenge@@@@\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commbank.com.au\/brighter\/magazine\/grow-your-savings-with-the-no-spend-challenge.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">no-spend challenge<\/a>\u201d. For one week, they would track expenses closely, avoid unnecessary purchases and substitute habits that drained their budget with more intentional choices. Instead of daily barista coffees, they invested in a home machine. Instead of last-minute takeaway, they focused on meal prep. And to up the stakes, they trialled a Saturday \u201cno-spend\u201d rule, where, as a family, they would only do free activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From skipping impulse coffees to trying a no-spend day, small changes add up to big results. The Kim&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185,207408],"class_list":["post-386555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-the-brighter-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}