Fast five: holiday hacks to save you serious $$

1. Do a little (read: a lot) DIY

Last week we touched on the idea of DIY pot plants.

Now we’ve planted the seed, we wanted to build upon it. The reality is, you can DIY pretty much anything for Christmas and save yourself some serious dollars.

From your gift-wrap to your present tags, Christmas cards, the gift themselves and of course, who wouldn’t love a DIY baked good for Christmas.

2. Don’t buy presents for yourself

We see you adding that extra item to the cart. A little something for the list, a little something for yourself can spiral out of control quite quickly and blow the budget.

As tough as it is, resist the urge. It’s likely the item you’re chasing will be available in the New Year when your gift giving finances have had a little breather.

3. Unsubscribe from marketing emails

If you’re not in the market for something, you likely don’t need to be receiving marketing emails. If you are in the market for something, it’s easy enough to find a deal/ discount when you need it. It’s amazing how often you find you “need” something just because it’s on sale.

It might be time to do a quick little stocktake/cleanse of your inbox and determine which emails you need to be receiving and which ones are a little too tempting.

4. Think out of the box for a holiday

The international and potentially interstate borders where you live may not be open for Christmas and let’s be honest, there may be no room for travel in the budget this year.

A little staycation can be a fun way to switch it up and feel like you’re had a break. Sometimes a little distance from the house, away from chores and whatnot is a holiday in itself.

Perhaps go camping and explore a local National Park. Or, if you’re not up for roughing it, support a local business and book a few days at a nearby hotel or perhaps an Airbnb.

5. Bank the points

If you pay your bills with the Sniip app, you can earn full points on your points earning bank card.

While the international borders are closed right now, why not bank those precious loyalty points now. That way, when you’re ready to fly again, you can take off in style!

Five tips for a financially savvy festive season

Finance News

Five tips for a financially savvy festive season

1. Get in early

Write a list of every person you have to buy for and add a rough idea of what you’d like to buy them. Now, it’s time to get in and start ticking each person (or pet) off.

Set aside time in your diary to shop in person, or online and smash it out. Most importantly, start now and cross each person off as you get their gift. You’ll get a little burst of achievement with every person you tick off and will be ready to move onto the next.

By getting in early, you’ll avoid the express shipping costs incurred when you’re scrambling to ensure the gift arrives in time for Christmas day. Plus, you’ll ensure your loved ones don’t end up in an episode of Friends with a gift from the local petrol station. We’ve all been there.

2. Set a budget (and stick to it)

Maybe you’ve got $10 to spend on Christmas, or maybe you’ve got $1,000. Perhaps there’s people you like to splurge on in your family/ friendship group and there’s others you want to give a token of your appreciation to. Divvy up your list with a budget for each person and challenge yourself to stick to it.

If $10/$20 seems unachievable, it might be time to get crafty. A terracotta pot from Bunnings can easily be jazzed up with some paint and a small plant.

And keep in mind, an experience often costs less than a gift and could be as simple as a voucher for the recipient’s local coffee shop. Supporting small business, and on-budget is a double win.

3. Trim the fat

Are there monthly or recurring subscriptions you could pop on hold over the festive season?

Maybe you’re planning to head away over Christmas and don’t intend on hitting up the gym. Perhaps you plan on doing some Christmas cooking and could probably put that weekly food subscription service on hold for a while to save some money.

Not sure of what other subscriptions you have? Here’s how you can see mobile subscriptions on iOS and Android. You might be surprised to see what sneaky subscriptions you’re still forking out for.

4. Group the gifting

Are you from a big family, friendship group or workplace?

Cut down on the cost of individual gifts and suggest a Secret Santa this year and save yourself some serious gift money. The budget might be as simple as $10 or $150, it’s really up to you!

There’s a bunch of online tools to make the process easier (we like Drawnames) and those in the group can make suggestions of what they’d like. Participants can add online links to make the process smooth, simple and cost effective for all involved.

5. Avoid late fees

Sometimes you might head away for Christmas and other times you’re just so focused on relaxing, spending time with family and having a bit of a digital detox that bills can creep up.

Add your upcoming bills to the Sniip app now, select when you’d like them to be paid then set and forget, enjoy your Christmas and know your bills are sorted without any painful late fees.

Stats show 90 percent of bills paid using the Sniip app are paid on or before the due date (probably because it’s so fast and easy!). That means more money for Christmas and less money burnt on late fees.

Are you still typing in the BPAY Biller Code?

Finance News

The easiest way to pay BPAY bills

Life’s too short to be manually typing in BPAY Biller Biller and Reference codes. Do you slice your own pizza?

Save yourself time by scanning your bills. All you need is your mobile phone’s camera and the Sniip app.

Once you have scanned in your first bill, you will never go back to typing. But don’t just take our word for it, test it out for yourself!

The Sniip app auto-magically captures your bill’s BPAY Biller Code and Reference Code with a single scan. Then, all you need to do is confirm your details and choose your payment method.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Tap “+” to add your bill

2. Tap “Scan”

3. Scan the BPAY Biller Code and Reference.

Hover your phone camera over the BPAY Biller Code and Reference Code on your bill. The camera will automatically scan in the codes to your Sniip app.

4. Enter the amount you’re paying and your bill’s due date.

5. Tap “Pay”.

6. Select your payment method and enter your PIN or Face ID.

Done!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Sniip has so many amazing features to make your life easier. You’ll love the ability to set reminders for bills and to save your bill history for easy access later.

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Are you embarrassed by your late payment charges?

Finance News

How to stop paying your bills late

Are you embarrassed by your late payment charges?

You’re not alone. Late fees are costing Australians around $286m a year according to research from one of the big four banks.

Some energy bills can have late fees of up to 40 percent.

But despite this, 27 percent of Australians pay at least one bill late each year.

In times like these, with unemployment up to 7.5 percent, we simply cannot afford to throw money away.

So what’s the answer?

Lining up at your local post office to pay your utilities bills is not only time consuming, with COVID-19, it’s less appealing than ever before.

Then there’s paying bills via internet banking. What should be easy enough tends to be a real chore. You start off your regular bill paying session with a coffee and a biscuit but after getting through a stack of bills and data-entry, you’re ready to drink something a little harder.

And let’s not forget to mention the bills you never even saw. Maybe the paper bill that never arrived, or got accidentally thrown into the bin with the latest wad of junkmail.

Electronic bills sent by email definitely help. But why is it that most important bills end up in junk mail or spam? Or if you’re like us, you need someone to remind you to check your email regularly – both junk and spam too.

Surely there’s a better way!? Well there is.

There’s Sniip.

Sniip is a Brisbane-based, Australian owned bill paying mobile app that makes bill payments super easy.

Better yet, Sniip’s bill scheduling feature helps you say goodbye to those late payments fees.

Sniip’s m-billing (mobile billing) subscriptions means your regular bills can be sent straight to the app with push notification alerts for you when they arrive. This is in addition to any paper or electronic version you may wish to receive.

You can then pay your m-bill directly in the app with just a few clicks. Goodbye manual data entry and wrong digits!

With Sniip, you can pay any BPAY bill. That’s right. Simply take a picture of the BPAY or Sniip code with your phone and let the Sniip app do the rest.

But our favourite feature? Bill scheduling of course!

We’ve all paid a bill late because we’re waiting for our pay to come in, or wanted to push the bill into the next credit card cycle. There’s usually a good reason for not paying straight away, but then we often get distracted and completely forget about it.

With Sniip, you can schedule payment for when it best suits you. As soon as you get the bill, simply schedule the bill, and then forget about it. No worries!

But don’t just take our word for it. The results speak for themselves: 90 percent of bills paid using Sniip get paid before the due date.

That’s compared to our 63 percent national average.

It’s time for you to start getting back those late fees? You deserve to spend your money on what you want to spend it on, and we bet it’s not late fees.