These tips come from Mark Bouris, an Australian businessman who is best known as the founder and chairman of ‘Wizard Home Loans’.

Top tips for saving on your home loan:

• Pay your loan weekly or fortnightly rather than monthly.
• Don’t take interest only option, always pay principal + interest.
• Know what your fees are both for your home loan and your bank transaction account.
• If interest rates drop, keep your repayments at their current level.

To better track your spending, try and use cash as little as possible and instead use debit cards or credit cards for purchases.  At the same time, allow yourself a weekly or monthly ‘allowance’ in cash – but only a pre-determined set amount, that you are allowed to spend without question.  Think of this as your ‘pocket money’.

Review bank and credit card statements.  It only takes a few minutes to glance through transactions and make sure you recognize charges.  Be on the lookout for recurring or double charges for services, or subscriptions that you are not aware of or are no longer using.

My favorite article on the ‘what to keep, what to shred debate’:  8 Things You Should Shred Right Now (from Yahoo Finance)

Regarding ‘free’ credit reports – there are many, many misleading advertisements and companies offering ‘free’ credit reports, but beware the fine print which states that it’s only free for 30 days.  You will have provided credit card details for ‘verification’, and a subscription fee will be charged after the initial 30 day period.  The ONLY real free credit report site is www.annualcreditreport.com,  where you can access your report once every 12 months.  See the Federal Trade Commission’s website here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm .