Do you feel like the hardest part about moving to Australia is how you’re going to actually pay for everything? Visas, flights, shipping, and setting up a new life in a completely new country doesn’t come cheap, that’s for sure. But don’t despair!
Read on for my top tips on how to save money to move to Australia – all of which were steps we took to help us fund our move Down Under.
10 Simple Tips to Save Money To Move To Australia
1. Start Now!
If not now, when? If you’re serious about moving to Australia, you need to start saving money – today!
So make the decision today, and start putting together your plan of exactly how you’re going to do it.
2. Work Out A Budget
Once you’ve decided to commit to saving money for your move overseas, the next step is to sit down and create a budget for the move.
Work out your costs from start to finish. These could include things like:
- Visa, skills assessment, and medical fees
- Visa agent fees
- Flights
- Shipping
- Temporary accommodation on arrival
- Purchasing a car on arrival
- Transporting pets
Try to round figures up rather than down – that way you might end up with more than you need, and trust me, those funds will come in handy!
Once you know exactly how much you need to save, you will have a tangible goal to work towards. You can track it carefully and be confident on just how much you’ve got and how much you still need to save.
3. Track Your Spending
The best way to save is to track all your spending. Check in at least weekly, if not daily on your spending.
Review your online banking and see what you’ve bought. You might be surprised at the results and start seeing some obvious ways to cut back on your non-essential spending habits.
4. Stop Using Credit Cards
Owing money on a credit card is not going to help you save. Credit cards will keep you in an endless cycle of owing instead of saving, so stop using them immediately.
5. Pay Off Your Debts First
If you have any debts like credit card balances, car loans or personal loans, make a plan to pay them off as quickly as possible.
Interest rates on loans and credit cards can be high and paying them off sooner usually means it will actually cost you less. Do check for any early exit fees though as these can sometimes apply.
Once your debts are cleared, that will free up a significant chunk of cash each month that you can pop straight into your Move To Australia fund.
6. Sell Unwanted Items
Go through your home and sell anything in decent condition that you don’t need or haven’t used in months.
Clothes, toys and furniture are usually easy to shift, but consider everything – art work, ornaments, books – everything!
We all have stuff lying around the house that is in perfect nick but we just don’t use. With the advent of sites like Gumtree and Facebook marketplace, it’s now easier than ever to sell unwanted items.
All the proceeds from this can add up to a tidy sum for your emigration savings account.
Plus, this helps you declutter before you ship all your stuff to Australia- because you probably don’t even need half of the things you’re thinking to ship anyway. Get more tips on how to declutter your home before you move overseas here.
7. Find A Side Hustle
Many people have a skill or talent that could create a nice little side hustle.
Are you good at drawing or painting? Sell some custom pet portraits or cute family drawings.
Good at all things social? Offer affordable social media management to local businesses.
Bake well? Make and sell your most popular treats at markets or via a local tuisnywerheid.
Find your jam and turn it into a profit!
8. Get A Second Job
Depending on your family circumstances and time commitments, you could look at getting a second job.
In fact, this is one of the key things that helped fund our move from the UK to Australia.
We had just decided to move to Australia at the same time as moving to a tiny country village in Herefordshire. The house was in a small development of 5 houses right next door to the village pub.
So I popped in one day and managed to land myself a part time waitressing job there. I already worked 3 days a week after recently going back to my usual job from maternity leave. So by day I was a business analyst and on evenings and weekends, when Mr C was home to look after Mini C, I did shifts at the pub.
It was exhausting but it was a laugh too. And that waitressing job helped us save enough money to help pay for our move to Australia.
9. Cut Back On Your Monthly Expenses
Another key thing to help you save money is to cut back on your monthly expenses.
We managed to slash our weekly grocery shopping to under £50 per week (and that even included things like nappies and wine).
Look at what you’re currently spending on groceries, eating out, entertainment, after school activities, just everything in your expenses and see what can be reduced or even culled completely. Small sacrifices can make a huge difference over time.
Do you really need DSTV, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Showmax subscriptions? Do you need to buy lunch every day? Sure they’re nice to have but cutting back on luxuries like this will help you make your move to Australia a reality quicker.
10. Start Looking For Jobs Before You Arrive
Now this is not always possible, but some people do manage to land a job in Australia before they even arrive.
Knowing that you have a solid and set income already waiting for you when you start your new life in Australia can lift a huge financial burden off your shoulders.
Saying that, we didn’t have jobs lined up when we came (despite trying!) as many employers are not keen to employ people without meeting them first, and knowing they are actually available to start work ASAP.
Instead we set a target to save at least 3 months’ worth of living expenses in Australia before we left the UK.
So that’s all we had – we arrived with $16,000 – the UK to AU exchange rate was the absolute worst it has been for the last 10 years, which is just typical when it comes to our big financial decisions! It was just enough to buy a super cheap second hand car, and live as a family of 3 for 3 months with no income.
Would you believe it – we survived – just! We found a rental and both got jobs in our last week of temporary accommodation. I look back now and think we were absolutely insane but also had this sense of inner clam that everything would work out in the end.
And it did.
And those are my top tips on how to save enough money to move to Australia and start living the life you’re currently dreaming about.
If we did it, so can you – you just have to take that brave step and decide first.
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