Keep more cash in your pocket

Below are some solutions to help you keep more of your hard-earned money. For more tips on saving money, speak to one of the experienced financial planners at Intellichoice today. Visit www.intellichoicefp.com.au or call 1300 55 10 45 for a financial review. Your first 30 minute review is free.

1. That 4WD of yours is so expensive to fill up!
Look for the cheapest peetrol prices in your area before you head for the pump - but remember that driving kilometres to find a petrol station with cheaper fuel may cost you more than you'll save. Motormouth.com.au reports on currentfuel prices for around 3500 petrol stations across Australia. Prices are updated daily between 5.30am and 8.30am and noon and 3pm, Monday to Saturday.

Also, try buying petrol on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, when it is cheapest. Remember that prices will vary from suburb to suburb - generally, well-heeled areas will be more expensive than low-rent suburbs.

Another easy way to save on petrol is to properly inflate your tyres and when driving over 80km/h, close your windows to reduce air resistance. By doing this, you could save as much as one litre per 100 kilometres, or $195 a year for the average motorist.

2. You shop at the supermarket a few times a week and end up tossing in pricey items as you go
When you go shopping, keep a shopping list and resist the temptation to buy items not on your list.

Consider ordering groceries online and get them delivered to your door. Colesonline.com.au currently delivers to metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney, woolworths.com.au services greater Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and greengrocer.com.au delivers to Sydney and Melbourne, as well as a selected number of Victorian regional areas. There is a service fee depending on location and time of delivery per order to cover your personal shopping, packing and delivery, but unlike in a real supermarket, you can accurately monitor your running total as you pop things in and out of your trolley. You can also keep a master shopping list and tick only those products you require.

If you're not in the mood for cooking, try ordering ready-made snap-frozen meals through the website gourmetdinnerservice.com.au. For home-cooked meals, the prices area reasonable and in most cases, they're incredibly healthy.

3. You buy wine as and when you need it
Buy your favourite wines in bulk online. Online stores such as vintagecellars.com.au, kemenys.com.au and liquorlanddirect.com.au allow you to browse their current specials catalogues and choose wines to put in your online basket. Savings can be substantial.

Bidding for cartons of wine on auction site graysonline.com.au is another option. Bids start at $9 and definite bargains can be had, particularly at the nominated auction closing time. Unlike other online auction sites, if there are no bids at closing time, the auction will continue until a winning bid appears.

4. Your daughter has taken up clarinet lessons and you need to get rid of that old couch that you no longer use
Try 'freecycling'. Community groups across the nation have organised to help consumers give away stuff they no longer need and find free stuff they could use. This isn't a barter arrangement. You give or you get, but not necessarily from the same person. Once you find a freecycler who has something you want, you make arrangements to pick it up.

Freecycle.org is an online recycling site with a network of over 3.5 million members in 4041 communities around the world. Another global site is freesharing.org. Currently, there are only three local groups in Australia (Wollongong and The Hunter Valley in NSW and another on the Darling Downs in SE QLD), but you can always start one in your area. Visit freesharing.org for directions on how to get started.

Ebay is also another option if you want to buy or sell items.

5. You want to keep extending your music library, but CDs are too expensive
Download your music from the internet. Some even offer free tracks from unsigned artists.

6. Your son is travelling overseas, but you don't want to pay huge phone bills to keep in touch
Talk for free on the internet. Go to skype.com.au and download free software that lets you make free calls using your PC's microphone and speakers (or via a headset) to any Skype user in the world.

Google is also developing a network to handle calls and instant messages to friends anytime, anywhere. Google Talk is free. Go to google.com.au/talk to sign up. And JAJAH has recently introduced a free global calling plan using your landline. Go to jajah.com and enter your phone number and the landline number of the person you want to call. Your phone will ring and a recorded voice will announce that you are being connected to your friend's phone. You'll be able to talk within minutes - free. After this initial call, both you and your friend will need to register (there's no charge) at jajah.com to continue the free chats. Most countries are in JAJAH's free zones, but check first.

7. You need new contact lenses or glasses, but want a better deal than what's on offer at the retail shops
Go online, where you'll find quite a few companies offering discounted contact lenses and glasses. You'll need a current prescription to fax or scan and send via email when you make your order. Eye tests are free throug Medicare every two years, and your optometrist must, by law, provide you with a clear, readable copy.

Websites such as eyesonline.com.au, contactsonline.com.au and clearlycontacts.com.au are great places to start. Delivery times, postage and product costs do vary, do decide which suits your needs. For single-wear contacts for example, buying two boxes of Johnson & Johnson 1-day Acuvue moist 90 pack from eyesonline.com.au can save you up to $80 on normal retail prices.

A set of new specs from glassesonline.com.au could cost as little as $65. A pair of designer glasses - with over 70 frames to choose from and including the frame, lenses, case and micro-fibre cloth, can cost as little as $195.

8. Your credit card application was denied and your mortgage rate is higher than what your sister pays
Improve your credit score and save thousands of dollars. When you apply for a credit card or loan, the lender will check your financial history with a credit reference agency. So how can you boost your rating? Pay your bills on time and reduce the amount of debt you carry - don't make too many applications for credit in a short time as it looks as if you're desperate for cash. If you're turned down, don't just try another lender - each application goes on your credit record.

If you've been denied a loan, ask the lender which credit agency they used. By law, you can request a copy of your credit report. When you receive your report, check the accuracy and age of any listed credit defaults. Credit defaults can't be listed for more than five years. If you've had problems in the past, make sure your record shows those debts are cleared. If they were caused by a trauma, such as divorce or redundancy, it's worth including a note on your record explaining this.

If something is listed as a serious credit infringement when you were contactable and weren’t trying to avoid the debt, this shouldn’t be listed. (Credit infringement listings should not be listed for more than seven years.) Contact a consumer credit legal centre and ask the credit reporting agency to amend your credit report. If you’re unable to fix any inaccuracies on your report, you can also take your complaint to an independent complaints scheme, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or the Office of Federal Privacy Commissioner. See fido.gov.au for a fact sheet. So, while you can’t rewrite your credit history, you can create a brighter future if you check your credit report.

9. You're living paycheck to paycheck and you're worried that you'll never own a home or have enough money to retire
Consult a financial planner. The perception that you should see a financial planner only when you already have money is wrong. It can be more important to see a financial planner before you have money - they can help you with budgeting or how you can best put your money to work.

Today, fee-by-the-hour planners will help you with one specific goal – getting out of debt, saving for a holiday, tax advice – for as little as a few hundred dollars. Once your financial plan is generating income, ongoing fees to the financial planner are tax deductible.

At Intellichoice, the first 30 minute review is free and they will clearly outline any fees payable by you.

10. You love books, but apart from joining the library, where can you get cheap reads?
Check out bookmooch.com, which has a simple concept: get book; read book; swap book; repeat. Simply register, type in the titles of ten books you want to give away, then request a book you want from someone else. Each time you give someone a book (by posting it to them), you earn a point and can get any book you want from another BookMooch member. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back onto the site. There’s no joining fee. With 29,000 users members worldwide, you receive three points each time you send a book overseas, to help compensate you for the greater mailing cost, but it costs the moocher only two points to get the book.

Audiobooksforfree.com allows you to download books for your MP3. Current books aren’t overly represented, but there’s a good range of classics from the likes of Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling.