Make extra repayments right from the start, repayments made right from the beginning of your loan term will have a much more significant effect on your loan’s overall time and cost than starting five or ten years into the loan. Even if you are already more than five years into your loan term, you can still make a considerable savings by starting to make additional repayments.

Cut back on expenditure. Reduce expenditure on vices and redirect the money into your home loan instead. Smoking, an after-work beer, morning coffee, and that afternoon chocolate fix all add up over the week. Add to that buying at least one lunch, breakfast or dinner a week, and you could be putting more than $50 extra a week into your loan.

Set up an offset or salary credit account loans with offset facilities allow you to have your salary paid directly into the offset account, reducing the interest you pay on your home loan. The balance of the account is ‘offset’ against the loan balance for interest calculations, and because you pay interest daily, this can save you a lot of money over the long term.

Align your repayments with your income cycle. If you have an offset account, changing your repayment dates to match your income cycle helps you take advantage of the money sitting in your account for as long as possible.

Don’t lower your repayments when interest rates fall; when interest rates are falling, it may seem tempting to let your home loan repayments keep pace with the minimum required repayments and pocket the difference. However, before doing this, consider that keeping your repayments at the old level will shave a significant portion of the principle off your loan, particularly if rates continue to drop.

Reviewing your loan regularly will help you assess its effectiveness and take steps to correct any waste if necessary.

Being on top of changes rather than waiting months or even years will save you a lot of money.