Got a budget? Well, today’s contributed post will help you with some family budget hacks to save money. Enjoy!
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The family that budgets together is one that is strong with great financial goals and ideals. Teaching children about money from a young age is a good way to ensure that your kids learn to appreciate money and where it comes from.
When you have children, your priorities shift and your budget changes quite drastically to accommodate the new additions to the house. Also, the budget that you had before you had a family likely didn’t include trying to save up for a large family car and all the bells and whistles of car seats.
Families that understand that they should cut their budgets in the right way can make sure that they achieve their savings and purchasing goals without compromising on the quality of the life that they have. You don’t necessarily have to put in huge amounts of effort, either, when it comes to budgeting.
The hacks that we’ve got for you below can help you to learn to budget for your family in the best way.
Set Savings
You can’t decide on how much to save without a goal. Saving a random amount of money isn’t the best way to do it, because it’s far easier to dip into savings if you don’t have anything concrete to aim for.
Each family will face different needs and circumstances. Some families won’t have the need to upgrade their car, for example, so won’t need to save for one.
There is never a ceiling to how much money you should save, but you should set yourself a goal so that you have something to aim for to keep you on track. Sit down as a family and decide on things that you’d like to achieve together, including the formation of an emergency fund, and go from there.
Save First
When you get paid, it’s always tempting to spend what you need to spend and then save whatever happens to be left. The thing is, there can always be nothing left! You can always find new things that you have to budget for and doing this means that you don’t save your money effectively.
It’s far easier to spend all your money and worry later, than it is to save up what you know you should be saving. Keeping your savings money in a separate account is a smart choice, as well, as this will prevent you from dipping into it.
Recycle
We live in a world of conscious consumerism. We see pretty things, we buy pretty things, we want pretty things to fit in with our friends and be on trend for what the media decides that we need. Before you head out for a new outfit for a family event, you need to look at what you’ve got and learn to recycle it.
Buy a sewing machine and teach yourself how to use it, so that you can upcycle your own belongings and have them looking as good as new without spending your cash to do it. Hand me downs can always be upgraded a little with patchwork, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
Cash
Spending money on a debit or credit card is dangerous. Not because you’d get into debt, but because you cannot see what you are spending. It’s so easy to go out shopping and use your card over and over again, because you can’t physically see what you are giving away.
Moving your spending money to gift cards with Cards2Cash or simply dealing with cash can prevent you from spending more than you’d bargained for. You can do this for your grocery budget, your clothing budget and your utilities. Splitting your budget each month into envelopes will help you to manage your money well.
Lunch
It’s insane the cost that goes into buying lunches at school cafeterias and your own cafeteria at work. You’re paying for the convenience of not having to cook or create your own lunch bags at home. Not only is this not cost effective, you can’t judge what is going into the food that your kids are getting, and you are buying.
If you choose to make the lunches for the kids and for yourself at home, you are going to better control what goes into your gut and the gut of the kids. It’s going to save you money, as you can buy lunch foods in bulk and freeze sandwiches, defrosting day by day. The cost is a minor thing at home as you’re only adding a few items to your usual grocery budget, which is going to be considerably less than paying out for lunch at supermarkets and school.
Impulse Buying
When you head to the grocery store, arm yourself with a list. Don’t deviate off that list and don’t buy more than necessary. Impulse buying or popping into the stores between grocery shopping days can be the one thing that makes you spend more money than you intended to. If you run out of something like meat during the week, stick to vegetarian options until the next time you head out to the shops.
Reuse
One thing that most families don’t think about is reusing what they need to. For example, when you have babies in the house, cloth diapering and using cloth wipes that you wash is a good way of not only saving yourself some cash, but saving the environment, too.
Learning what you can and cannot reuse will take some time, but you can reuse water bottles by buying a filter jug for the refrigerator and a refillable bottle. Carrying your own water wherever you go will save you a few dollars here and there – it’s surprising how it all adds up.
Family savings start with knowing what you have to spend, what you need to spend and what you shouldn’t spend. Once you know this, you can ensure that you do everything that you can to make your family budget make sense for you. Follow the hacks above for financial success.
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