Once you have moved into your dream home, there's a whole lot of ways you can save yourself thousands of dollars by being smart with your payments.

Here are just some hints from our experts:

• If your loan permits, make your repayments weekly or fortnightly instead of monthly.
• Make extra repayments if your loan permits. By making slightly higher repayments when you can afford it or when interest rates are lower, you'll pay your loan off faster.
• If your loan permits make lump sum repayments. Whenever possible, put any extra money you have into your loan. The sooner you do this, the more you will save.
• Use an offset account to reduce your home loan interest. Instead of earning interest on your savings, the balance of your offset account goes directly against your home loan balance. This means that you pay less interest.
• If interest rates fall and your loan permits, try not to reduce your loan repayments.
• Prepare a budget to see if you can find some extra money to pay a bit more off your loan.