How To Live On A Limited Budget
Raising children can get very expensive from diapers to college and as your family grows, you’ll quickly come to the realization that your budget gets tighter than the pants on your expanding waistline.
Here are five tips to save money for budget-conscious frugal families:
The first area to cut spending is in food costs. Your grocery list can be a major drain on your wallet, so knowing how to cut back can really help your financial situation.
One way to cut back on the cost of food is to create a plan for what your family is going to eat. Families eat a lot of food from breakfast to lunch to dinner to snacks. Having each meal planned out helps when you’re shopping because it helps stop the temptation of buying extra snacks and junk food.
Giving yourself a budget when for each shopping trip you make so you won’t be tempted to overspend. You can also buy your goods with cash, so you won’t overspend like you would with a credit or debit card.
At the beginning of the school year, you’ll want to buy your kids new outfits for the new year, but this can end up costing more than you can afford. But you don’t have to cut down on the shopping if you adjust the places where you shop.
Thrift stores, yard sales, clothes swaps, and consignment stores are great places to get discounted clothing. Not only do these places satisfy the vintage aesthetic that so many teens strive for, you can also find clothes that are like new or have barely been worn. You can also use apps like ThredUp or Poshmark to buy more designer clothes at a cheaper price.
Secondhand isn’t just for clothing either. You can shop thrift store in the like for used sports equipment and musical instruments so that your children don’t have to give up on their extracurricular activities for your family to meet ends.
3. Choose Frugal Fun
Vacations and general entertainment can be really draining on your bank account, but that doesn’t mean you should stop having fun when you’re trying to be frugal. The trips and things that you do don’t have to be super extravagant to be memorable or fun.
Instead of spending about $20 a ticket to go to the movies or $100 a ticket to go to an amusement park, take your family bike riding or to a museum that doesn’t charge any admission fees. State parks and historical landmarks are often inexpensive options as well. If you choose wisely, you can easily have fun on a budget.
4. Plan Ahead for the Holidays
You want to always be thinking one step ahead when you want to save money, especially when it comes to the holidays. Avoid shopping frenzies later in the year. While Black Friday has some major sale options, you’re still taking a major chunk out of your budget if you spend it all on that day.
Space out your spending so it doesn’t hit you all at once. You can even have a separate savings account to save for the specific reason for holiday spending so that you can afford some of the expensive items that your kids really want.
5. Hack your Housing Costs
Housing is a huge chunk of your expenses as a family, but there are tricks that you can employ to save some money. A few ways you can do this is by installing a thermostat that is programmable so that your cooling and heating costs go down, refinance your mortgage for lower monthly payments, or downsizing to a smaller home or rental.
Other steps that you can take to help your situation include are hand-washing dishes instead of using the dishwasher and using cold water when washing clothes instead of hot. Most of these steps are small but can really make a difference on your cost for bills.
The Bottom Line
Raising a family can be stressful enough as it is; you don’t want the worry of overspending added on top of everything else. While these steps can greatly improve your financial situation and help bolster the amount in your savings account, you still may want a little more help. Future Advisor is a tool that can help you in remaining frugal. Tools such as Future Advisor help you reach your financial goals and give you recommendations on financial decisions.
Being frugal doesn’t have to be hard.
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