Home HOME LIFE Media
Category:

Media

Get the latest updates for media related to the Savings Room and articles written by Penina Petersen in the media.

LatestMediaSave Money

Best money saving blogs – Kochie vs Penina

by Penina
written by Penina

It’s nice to get my name up in lights in the best money saving blogs category. I’d like to thank creditcard.com.au for their fabulous story entitled: If Finance Blogs Were Movies. I was impressed. Not only was I chuffed with the angle they took on this one, but I was also smitten by the caricatures of all us finance bloggers.

Here’s a snippet of my blog battle with Kochie

The following first appeared here: Creditcard.com.au

The Top Australian Finance Blogs Reviewed

Everybody loves movies, but not everybody loves enough of the helpful info that personal finance blogs provide. It’s understandable, we’re sure thinking about paying the bills doesn’t exactly give you that warm fuzzy feeling you get at the end of The Wizard of Oz, or the sense of satisfaction you feel when you realise Batman set the controls to Auto Pilot before flying the bomb out over the ocean.
So, to get more non-financial types reading more helpful finance blogs we decided it would be fun to think about what movies different finance blogs would be if they were ever developed into blockbusters (or old classics). It’s a different way of looking at it – and we hope you find it at least a bit entertaining!
We also only want you to be reading the blogs which you will actually find useful, especially if you’re new to the world of finance. That’s why each of the six blogs reviewed below has been given a Hollywood Star rating out of five.

Best Money Saving Blogs

David Koch: The Kochie Blog

Rating:

4 1/2 Hollywood Stars. The only reason we took half a Hollywood Star off this blog is because it might be hard to hear back from Kochie himself if you actually do write in – but only because he’s so busy and popular!

Who’s behind it?

Best money saving blogs

Best money saving blogs


One of the 50 most recognised (sometimes described as trusted too) Australian TV personalities; former business journalist, self-confessed economics nerd and Sunrise morning television co-presenter David Koch.

What does it cover?

Some sections are larger than others, but all are pretty well written, the advice is clear and easy to understand, and has the air of someone who knows what he’s talking about, which is what the world sorely needs when it comes to personal finance – and which of course Kochie does! What does it cover? The Kochie Blog covers everything from finance for the home, investments, tax advice and the stock market to opinion pieces, plugs for the latest Kochie book, inspirational people and role models and kids’ money advice. It also links to his Business Builders blog, where he has advice tailor-made for those who own their own business.

What movie would the Kochie Blog be?

Reading Kochie’s blog can make you feel like the people on the streets of New York must have felt when they saw Iron Man flying overhead towards the end of the Avengers, or when Spiderman comes swooping down and scoops up the falling taxi with MJ locked inside in his web. One minute the news is chaos and financial doom and gloom, but when you’ve read about it from Kochie’s perspective, you feel as safe as houses all over again and ready to take back control of your financial future. Because of that we’ve chosen The Avengers as the movie that most closely resembles the Kochie Blog. It’s all encompassing, and represents team work.

Best Money Saving Blogs

Penina Petersen: The Savings Room

Rating:

4 Hollywood Stars. This is a really useful, quirky resource, but it’s worked out that good advice often doesn’t come for free so charges for the best content. (Note: Not anymore – it’s all FREE!)

Who’s behind it?

Best money saving blogs

Best money saving blogs


Australian women with a penchant for fifties style distressed housewife pictures that make budgeting look like a funky retro home wares store

What does it cover?

This site is run very professionally, and has a number of excellent resources, but you have to pay a membership to subscribe and get to use them. There are samples of newsletter articles and resources, to give you a taste, and it looks to be mostly tips for saving money on shopping and cooking, and as mentioned a lot of helpful looking budget spread sheet links for members. We have to hand it to this site for providing the odd non-related but really useful article too, with video posts and titles such as ‘Top 10 party tips for avoiding a hangover’ thrown into the mix. This is the kind of site members would be spending a long time on! It mixes entertaining articles with the info you need to know and does a nice job of it.

What movie would The Savings Room be?

This site is the kind of modern, quirky and fun place you’d actually like to escape to on a boring Saturday afternoon or when it was raining outside. The odd-ball graphics, bold colours and text and bizarre Savings Room Jingle make us feel like we’re watching something along the lines of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and the level of creativity is about equal too.

Best money saving blogs – Final words

Oh. Here’s that jingle if you haven’t heard it!
Makes me just wanna dance a little jiggy…

Thanks again creditcard.com.au for your take on this one. Nice work. Damn. Kochie beat me by half a star but then – he is famous.
Read the whole article: Best money saving blogs – If Finance Blogs Were Movies
 
 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
ChristmasMedia

Battlers on a Budget – Consumers Slashing Grocery Prices

by Penina
written by Penina
Inflated grocery prices are forcing consumers to find ways to slash their grocery costs. One Aussie mum has devised a simple system for fighting Aussie battlers’ ever-increasing spend at the supermarket reducing the weekly dinner budget to just $35 each week.
Aussie battlers are overworked, tired and struggling to pay rising grocery, vehicle and home utility bills.  According to australian.migration.com the average weekly household spend is a whopping  $1095, which includes an average of $450 per week on mortgages, $110 per week on rates, utilities, insurances and phone / internet bills and TV bills. A further $250 per week is spent on food and shopping and $100 per week on drinking and eating out.  Add to this $5 on schooling, $125 on car costs and $55 on sport and recreation.  These costs do not include clothes, holidays, childcare fees and other lifestyle choices of an average Australian family.
The average cost of living equates to over $56,000 per year requiring a gross salary of $75,000 (one wage) or $36,000 each if both partners are earning. According to the ABS the average individual after tax salary equates to roughly $46,430 after tax.
In response to the inflated prices and current signs of a recession, one Aussie mum and experienced penny-pincher is taking action again. Back in 2008, and then coined ‘The Great Foodini,’ Penina Petersen dished up Aussies a grocery-shopping book that slashed consumer dinner bills to $120 per week and helped consumers get three nights off cooking each week.
But now this Aussie mum has gone further, setting herself a ‘mums’ challenge of slashing her own dinner bill to just $35 per week, while only cooking once a month and getting out of the kitchen completely.
Penina’s family, who were recently spending a conservative $140 per week on dinners, are now saving roughly $100 per week due to the simple system and that $140 is now this family’s dinner spend per month.
“Parents are exhausted. Many mums I’m in touch with are either working full-time or part-time while also managing a home, or they are stay-at-home mums struggling to find the money to do much more than keep up with the bills and housework,” says Penina Petersen, who runs the Savings Room blog and website.
“I wanted to create a system to help Aussie battlers and busy parents with small children, to free up cash and live a fuller day, week and year.”
The result is a bulk cooking system delivered in the form of a bite-sized 28-page eBook. But despite its size the book packs a massive punch in terms of potential savings.
“I’ve successfully worked out a system that reduces my dinner budget to $35 per week.”
The system includes setting up a small pantry, (which generally stays the same each month) and then combines budget ingredients, bulk-cooking principles, strategic supermarket shopping tactics and a small number of convenience meals to deliver 28 meals to Aussies for just $140 for the month. That’s just $5 per meal (for 4 people).
“Having an extra $100 per week, which equates to $5200 each year, for my family is really helping. This money is going to pay for events and items like Christmas, gifts, a family holiday, clothes and those little extras we weren’t able to afford previously. We also do not cook in the evenings, (with the exception of a few 10-min and convenience meals), which means I’m getting entire nights off cooking, not washing pots and pans, and spending more quality time with my family and children.” says Penina.
You can read more about Penina’s money-saving eBook FREEZER MEALS at savingsroom.com.au 
0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail