Shaving 10 to 20 years off of your retirement date is one of those eye-opening ideas that might keep you up at night. It’s just so exciting! In fact, it’s so exciting, that trying to get 1% better with your finances may sound like a rather boring goal. But anybody on the path to Financial Education also knows that after the enthusiasm for a new way of thinking wears off, the journey to financial education can start feeling more like a slog. While it’s easy at first to make huge cuts in your lifestyle that lead to huge gains–things like cutting back on your restaurant habit or avoiding Target without a concrete list–you might find that your forward momentum begins to slow with time. If you are starting to feel like there’s far too much time and distance between where you are and where you want to be, here are a lot of little hacks that are small financial improvements that make a big difference over time and push you toward the financial education fast track. In addition, watch your financial future get better 1% at a time! Aiming to get 1% better with your finances can make a huge difference over time. The ways you can improve are endless even though I’ve limited this article to 15 just to get your started!

1. Exercise At Home (or ekasi)

The average gym membership costs R300 per month. That’s nearly R3600 per year going toward getting access to a building that many of us only visit a few times per month. Just go to your local park and I promise you’ll score yourself a gym buddy who’ll keep you motivated and committed.

2. Volunteer With An Organization That Can Help You Develop New Skills

Volunteering can be a great way to fine-tune existing skills or acquire new ones. No matter what you’d like to learn more about, whether it be gardening, photography, running a blog, or more; there are probably organizations near you that specialize in that kind of work. By volunteering, you get free training/experience and they get free labor. It’s a win-win!

3. Create Your Debt Snowball or Avalanche

Sometimes the first step towards getting serious about Debt repayment is just seeing on paper what it will take to knock out your debt. And with a debt calculator, you’ll see how much faster you’ll retire your debt by just paying a little extra each month. With the debt snowball method, you’ll pay off your debts from smallest to largest.  With the debt avalanche method, you’ll start with the highest interest rate debt and move down. Both methods are perfectly fine. Just pick whichever method you think will motivate you the most.

4. Stop Using Your Credit Cards

Yes, credit cards can be convenient and, as we’ll discuss in later articles, can offer valuable rewards. But for many people, they’re simply too big of a temptation. When you’re trying to get out of a hole, the first step is to stop digging. In the same vein, if you’re trying to get out of credit card debt, you may need to eliminate credit cards from your life.

5. Round Out Your Savings Account After Every Paycheck

With this method, you just contribute whatever is needed to make the nearest hundred whole (i.e. R178 to R200). Alternatively, you could round up every single transaction to the nearest Rand (i.e. R2.65 to R3.00) most South African banks have this tool on their App.

6. Save Unexpected Bonuses or Gifts

Did you receive a quarterly bonus that you didn’t see coming? Perhaps your grandma decided to send you a “just because” ewallet. When we receive unexpected Money like this, it’s easy to think of fun ways to spend them. But if you already have your budget set for things like entertainment and clothing, there’s no need to rush to increase your spending for the simple reason that you have more money than you anticipated. Consider throwing the money in your emergency fund account instead.

7. Watch YouTube For Ways To Fix Appliances Or Home Repairs On Your Own

According to Angie’s List, the average dishwasher repair costs R1700 and the average refrigerator repair costs R900 to R1900. That’s crazy expensive and most of that cost is going toward the labour (the average dishwasher company charges R75 to R150 per hour). You can save yourself a ton of money by learning how to fix your appliances yourself. Yes, some issues may require a professional, but you’d be surprised how many problems you can learn to fix on your own with the help of some YouTube tutorials.

8. Declutter and Donate Room By Room

Decluttering can benefit you in multiple ways. First, it makes you enjoy being in your home more. Second, it helps you know what you really own so that you’re not buying duplicates of clothing items or home supplies that you already have. And, third, it gives you a chance to donate things that you no longer need to worthy causes. So get started decluttering!

9. Take Less Shopping Trips Throughout the Week

Do you find yourself running out almost every night to pick up a random ingredient that you need for dinner? All of those “small” trips add up and can cause you to quickly burn through your money. Why not create a menu at the beginning of the week and do all of your weekly grocery shopping at one time? It will save you on fuel…and will probably save you on your grocery budget too since you’ll have fewer opportunities to make impulse purchases.

10. Disconnect From Restaurant Marketing

Restaurants love to get ahold of your email address so that they can entice with you a never-ending stream of “deals.” If you struggle with resisting temptation, unsubscribe from all restaurant marketing emails. While you’re at it, delete the restaurant apps from your phone too. Unsubscribing or deleting an app can help you resist temptation and keep that 1% (or more) in your savings. Since I deleted my food ordering Apps, I haven’t thought about ordering food online even once.

11. Shop Off-season

Buying school supplies, Christmas gift wrap, winter clothes, or garden supplies as the season ends is much cheaper if you have the space to store things. Forget about 1% with this hack. You can save 75% or more off of your purchases by shopping off-season.

12. Abstain From Shopping (Except Food) For One Month

Like any other enjoyable activity, shopping can become addictive. And you can slowly spend more and more of your time and money each month at your favorite department store. As with any other habit that’s getting out of hand, sometimes a “detox” phase can be helpful. Try taking a full month off from shopping to re-learn how to make do without non-essential purchases.

13. Learn How To Cut Or Colour Your Own Hair

Learning to take care of your own hairstyling (or having a friend or family member do it!) can save you a ton of money. My friend’s sister learned how to braid hair on YouTube so that she could take care of all the hairstyling for the girls in her street and it turned into a very profitable salon business with two franchises now.

14. Swap Sitting Duties With A Friend

Do you have a friend who would also like to save on childcare? Instead of paying for babysitters, exchange free babysitting services so that you each can enjoy a night out to yourself or with your spouse. This idea may seem simple, but babysitters are expensive so it can easily net you more than the 1% you’re striving to save.

15. Volunteer In Exchange For Free Room And Board

This is an idea that my Aunt takes advantage of every year. She’s a high school teacher, so she has a month off every summer. And for the past few summers, she’s volunteered around the country for non-profit organizations. She spends a few days of each trip helping them out. And they, in turn, take care of here lodging and sometimes food as well. It’s really a win-win!