http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/ The latest Blog feeds from www.debtfreediva.co.nz en-us Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:42:54 +1200 Rocketspark http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/74231/getting-together-a-house-deposit-as-a-first-home-buyer/ Being a first home buyer is an exciting process but I also know it can be overwhelming – there is so much jargon thrown around and it can be really hard to know where to start. My biggest advice to people is break it down into steps and follow these to get to where you want to be. The first thing that a bank will usually want to see for a first home buying journey is the deposit. This is how much you will be contributing towards the house and how much equity you will own. There are a range of ... Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post74231 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/75893/5-ways-to-sort-your-finances/ We can all get caught in the trap of finding the “best” deal – and then never reviewing it. Companies like to entice new customers to join them by providing a deal or giving away merchandise, but once the promotional period ends it usually means you are back to paying full price. I like to call this the loyalty tax.  This can be one way to save a bit of cash in 2022, by doing your own review. Every year in January I make sure I review my power, internet, phone bill, insurances and eve... Mon, 17 Jan 2022 17:47:02 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post75893 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/74233/types-of-mortgages/ Getting a mortgage can be daunting, but choosing a mortgage product can be just as daunting!  There are so many to choose from and it can be hard to know which one suits your needs the best. Plus, the banks and other providers all have different names for their products which doesn’t help. I have done this guide as a quick explanation of the different mortgage products that are out there. There are more options than these but these 5 products are the most common.... Wed, 10 Nov 2021 16:23:20 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post74233 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72808/lets-talk-about-tax/ The one question I get asked ALL the time is how do I pay for taxes on my side hustles. For some reason I think people are a bit scared of tax – and this prevents them from side hustling.DISCLAIMER: I am going to talk about my personal experience with tax. Please remember I am not an accountant so I can only go off my experience. If you need help then please reach out to a local accountant as they know all the ins and outs. This is a general overview of what I do for tax and does not include a... Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:51:17 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72808 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72813/keeping-the-grocery-spend-down/ Every Tuesday for the last couple of years I have posted my weekly grocery shop on my Instagram and Facebook accounts and it is the themed post that get the most requests every year.I also get a lot of people that will look at one post I do a week and wonder how I keep it so low. I thought it would be about time that I did a grocery blog to capture the big picture of how I keep my costs down. I do have to laugh because honestly, I was never a cook. My staple diet consisted o... Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +1200 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72813 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72811/types-of-budgets/ Last week I wrote a newsletter which focused on budgeting. More specifically the zero-based budget, as this is the one, I find to be most effective for me. I had a few people contact me to ask what other budget methods are out there. So, this week I decided to write all about budgets.Budgeting isn’t a “one size fits all” and is very personal to each individual. I used to think I was terrible at budgeting because I could never seem to stick to it. Turns out I was just following a budget tha... Mon, 03 May 2021 00:00:00 +1200 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72811 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72807/should-i-save-or-pay-off-debt/ Should I save or pay off debt?  There really is no right or wrong answer to this question.It all comes down to your financial situation your goals and what you’re trying to achieve. For some they would argue that you shouldn’t save anything and just focus all your efforts on debt repayment. Others argue that you should save for everything first then pay off debt. Neither is right or wrong, it just all comes down to what YOU are aiming towards.During my debt free journey there were many ... Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72807 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72806/sinking-funds/ Let's talk about sinking funds!This is a financial tool I used the entire way through my Debt free journey, and something I will continue to use well into the future. For some reason this strategy completely resonated with me as it sort of “smoothed out” those annual payments that always felt like they were sneaking up on me. This is very different to an Oh Sh!t fund. It’s not for the big expenses (like the car breaking down) but rather for those expenses you know are coming up (like a car... Sun, 07 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72806 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72804/surveys-and-point-hacking/ Surveys and points earn me about $1000/year. And I get asked all the time how I manage it because it can seem so frustrating (which it is). So here are my top tips. I just want to point out that these are what works for me, and if it doesn’t work for you then that’s fine. Just like everything personal finance related, it is personal. We all have very different goals and different priorities. I am writing this based on my experience, goals and priorities. I have also included some links to si... Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72804 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/post/72803/cooking-the-kumara/ Bulk buying and freezing is my top tip for reducing the food budget. It is something that I have learnt to do fairly well – mainly through trial and error.Recently I managed to score 10kgs of kumara for $20 (outrageous price, I know!). And it got me thinking that I wanted to share my bulk buying tips for kumara as this is such a good vegetable that can be found in bulk. I also like to use these methods for Potatoes (I buy 1 x 10kg bag of potatoes and that lasts me a year).My rule of thumb is t... Tue, 09 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.debtfreediva.co.nz/blog/#post72803