Imagine being able to easily save as much money as you would like, each and every week. Well, you can by following a simple trick.

The “trick” is called Pay Yourself First. Paying yourself first simply means putting yourself ahead of anyone else.

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There is no doubt about it, the GFC had a huge impact on our way of life here in Australia.

Of course, the impact was not nearly as abrupt here as it was overseas, but we still had some changes to make.

One of these changes we experienced here in Australia was seeing the official interest rate drop.

And as with everything to do with the economy, there are winners and losers. While low interest rates are great for some, it affects others negatively. But, one thing everyone has in common is they have to make the best of the current situation.

And this is true for anyone with a mortgage.

If you have a home loan, one thing you should be doing is taking advantage of these low interest rates while they are here, because, as with everything, they won’t be around forever.

There are two main things you can do right now to take advantage of these low interest rates:

1. Look around for a better interest rate

Along with the official rate, financial institutions have also been dropping their rates and creating new, more competitive, home loan packages.

If you haven’t looked at what’s out there in the market in the last 3 months, it might be worth taking a look.

2. Pay down your current mortgage(s)

Another way you can take advantage of these low rates is to pay off more of your mortgage debt now.

This will have the effect of lowering the principle so when the interest rates start picking up again you have less to pay – saving you money over the life of the loan.

If you can’t afford to increase your repayments, make sure you at least keep up the same repayment amount. Don’t fall into the trap of reducing your payments to the minimum due.

By at least keeping the payments at the same level, you will be paying off more of the principle and will save money over the life of the loan.

Are you paying off more than the minimum? Have you shopped around lately? Let us know in the comments below.