Working A Casual Job? Here’s Some Tips On How To Save Money

Most people start off their working lives these days working in a casual role. When you’re young, it can be a great fit - your schedule is way more flexible, and you may be able to have more of a say about how many hours you work each week. Plus, those public holiday rates can mean that you can make some major moolah. The big downside is that you’re not always sure how much money you’re going to make from one roster to another, which can make for a hard time if you’re trying to save up for something big like a gap year or a new car. Here are three of our top tips to help your savings a little.

Take a zoomed-out view of your finances

It’s a little dry at first, but this is genuinely the best way to see where your money’s actually going. The problem with looking at your paycheck to paycheck is that your lifestyle probably changes depending on how much income’s coming in, how study’s going, and any emergency expenses that come up.

Instead, take a look at your bank statements (or use an app like Money Brilliant) to look at your spending history over the last few months. This has a couple of benefits. Firstly, when you actually see how much you’re spending on different things (nights out, petrol, and Netflix just to name a few), you’ll be a bit more conscious next time you decide to get an Uber instead of the train.

The second benefit is that you can try to spread your spending and saving. If you have a goal to work towards by a certain date, figure out how much you need to save per week or paycheck to make progress, and how much you need for the essentials - stuff that you can’t change or go without.

Everything left over is now your money to spend as you see fit, or you can let it roll over to the next week. This has the effect of smoothing your habits out to a fixed amount, while giving yourself a little buffer for the occasional spending spree. You’re only human after all!

Build an emergency fund

Emergency funds are important for everyone, but they’re even more important if you’re working in a casual job. If you haven’t heard of them before, the basic idea is to build up some savings to act as a safety net if you unexpectedly take a big financial hit. For most people, this can include stuff like sudden medical bills, or car repairs.

If you’re working a casual job, it’s especially useful because casual workers aren’t entitled to a payout if they’re made redundant. That means that you could be taken off the roster with little to no notice, and suddenly you’re without an income until you get another job. Plus, as a casual, you don’t get paid sick leave, so if you find yourself under the weather for a little while, you can use your emergency fund to make sure you have the time and space to rest up.

For the average adult, the most common recommendation is about three months’ pay - but even putting 20 bucks a week into a high-interest account can be a great start. Just remember to top up your emergency fund if you have to take anything out of it!

Use your tax return as a savings tool

This one might be a bit more controversial, but casual employees often get pretty hefty tax returns. This has to do with the way that tax is usually paid as a casual employee. Essentially, most tax is paid per paycheck, in a system known as Pay As You Go (PAYG). Your employer takes a look at your pay for the week, calculates how much tax you would pay if you were earning that amount weekly for the entire year, and then pays the tax for you based on that amount.

Normally if you work really consistent hours or have a yearly salary, this all works out because your paycheck doesn’t change much from week to week. But if you work a casual job, you know that some weeks you could end up working more hours than usual or earning penalty rates. You’ll still take home more money, but more tax will get taken out as well.

Then, at the end of the year, you’ll lodge a tax return. This is where you and the Australian Tax Office compare your earnings for the entire year (minus any financial deductions you made), with the amount that they’ve withheld, and you both settle the difference. This could mean that all that money your employer kept from you over those big Sunday shifts could be coming back in one big lump sum.

Now - it’s really tempting to see that huge ATO deposit in your bank account and hit the town - I’ve done it myself. But, another way of thinking about it is that the ATO has kind of done the job of saving your extra money for you. Take a bit of your tax return and get yourself a little treat to help scratch the spending itch, then put the majority of it right into a savings account. The harder it is to get to it, the better, so you can take advantage of interest rates to make your savings grow.
 

Disclaimer: The following content has been created by Year13 in conjunction with Westpac as part of a paid partnership. The information is general advice only, does not take into account your personal circumstances and you should do your own research and seek advice before acting on this content.