I’m currently on a mini-mission to read every one of Mr Money Moustache’s (MMM) vast archive of blog posts. It makes for a really interest read and has so far given me a lot of inspiration to do more money hacking (also hence this short post). I highly recommend you do the same.

I am no where near as naturally frugal as MMM and I live in a *hyper* expensive country (Singapore). My rent payments alone equal 2/3s of his annual expenses – and he has a family! But I’m loving his take on the world and our place in it.

I’ve always found life hacking and optimisation to be fun, but I sometimes struggle to use my down time effectively. I have a tonne of energy but much is wasted on Netflix binging and menial activities like household chores. I’m determined to be more focused, get more done and end each day achieving something that the future me will look back on and say “thanks bud!”.

Today’s “thanks bud” moment

So this morning, I started with a strong cup of local coffee (which I made at home) and got a lot done on my finances:

• Credit Cards: I downgraded a ‘premium’ credit card back in the UK from the annual fee version to the fee free version saving £250 / S$460. This was my primary card in when I lived in the UK. It has a boat load of travel features I used and valued hugely. I only now use it on holidays home now so its not worth the fee. I really should have done this two years ago when I moved to Singapore!;
• Flight Refund: I had a flight cancellation for which the airline gave me a travel voucher not a refund. I called and complained and now they have issued a full refund of 140,000 AVIOS points and £540 / S$994;
• Shared Expenses: I added a number of shared expenses with my friends to our tracking app Splitwise totalled $384;
• Work Expenses: some work expenses had slipped through the cracks, including a recurring gmail subscription for a project. This has now all been claimed back and totals another S$619; and
• Old Bank Accounts: I had a few old bank accounts in the UK which I no longer use. This morning I’ve closed them all down and donated the small balances to charity.

My morning’s efforts has given me a total saving of S$2,457, which I think is pretty impressive! The credit card fee change (which I have stupidly paid twice since moving to Singapore), compounded at 8% over ten years is worth S$7,657 alone. Now that IS a good morning of work!

Money Hacking Your own Financial Spring Clean

Take some time over the weekend and do your own financial spring clean. Just follow these baby steps (you can do a hell of a lot more, but this is a good quick start):

1. check your credit cards and bank accounts for cheeky sneaky fees and assess whether its worth it;
2. check for subscriptions you’ve forgotten about and cancel them (cancel them all!);
3. keep track of work expenses and shared expenses with others. Splitwise is a great app to keep track of things;
4. don’t be afraid to complain when its right to do so. In my case, the flights were cancelled so I should get a refund and not be forced into being issued with a restrictive voucher; and
5. keep your finances tidy and don’t lose track where your money is. Smart simplicity is your friend.

Go have a financial spring clean and see what you find! Would love to hear about it in the comments section below.

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