Budgeting success comes from ditching your car, not coffee

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's why your big expenses often slip under the radar. Hosted by Frances Cook. <br /><br />You'll often hear the saying, to watch your pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. <br /><br />Well, I disagree entirely. <br /><br />Little expenses like takeaway coffees are easy to target because it's an expense that's right in front of your nose. <br /><br />But it's the bigger expenses that we take for granted, often assuming we can't change them, that have the most potential for being cut back. <br /><br />Cars are a notorious one, especially in New Zealand. <br /><br />It's not just the cost of first buying the car. It's then the cost of fuelling it, keeping it registered, insurance, your WOF, maintenance and replacing your tyres, car parks. <br /><br />This is what's called the true cost of your car, and it's much bigger than any small treat like a coffee. <br /><br />In fact, a conservative estimate from the AA is that even a small car is costing you more than $7,500 each year. <br /><br />For the latest Cooking the Books I talked to John Bolton from Squirrel. <br /><br />We discussed why a car has such a big impact on your finances, what you can do to reduce it, and what a bank looks at when they look at your ability to save for a mortgage.<br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/</a> and Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/FrancesCook</a>