Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Methods For Parents To Save Money


Families need to save money now more than ever. Remember when you were a child how much a loaf of bread cost, or even a can of soda as opposed to now? It is very difficult for some families to live with the inflation of prices for items they may need on a daily basis. Is there a way to provide for yourself, your spouse and your children without working two jobs?

Yes, in most cases it is. What you need to do is make a plan for all of the things in your lives that are absolute necessities. This is means no cell phone for junior when he is thirteen years old unless it is mandatory. You have to provide the necessities for your kids such as food, shelter and clothing before you concern yourself with any additional expenses you simply can live without. Millions of people live outside of their means each and every day. If you live in a huge four bedroom house when you are a single parent with one child, why don’t you move into something smaller? Think of the money you are wasting each month on heating and electricity for a larger home that you both can do without. Look at your shelter first, if you have to stay where you are then work your finances around it, but if you can live somewhere less expensive and you are having difficulty paying for bills, it may be time to move.

Food is another huge part of where money is distributed each month. What is your grocery bill each week? Do you eat outside of the home frequently and why is that? Just about every person can pack a lunch for school or work which is much less expensive than buying them everyday. Some people spend well over ten dollars per day on lunches, which ends up to be well over two thousand dollars per year for a five day work week. Children can pack lunches for school, if they are in high school this may be more of a challenge to get them to want to pack, and in some cases the school lunch programs may be cheaper to allow them to buy instead. Use coupons, it may cost you ten minutes of your life each week to clip them out, but you can save quite a bit of money by doing this. Buying things in bulk will also help you with your grocery expenses as far as any paper products and drinks.

Do not waste money when you do not have to. Skip the morning run to pay for a pricey coffee or smoothie and make them at home before you leave instead. Buy clothing pieces for work or for school that you know you can mix and match all year round. Take the public transportation options to and from work if you can in your area and save the gasoline and wear and tear on your vehicle in the meantime. If you make a budget and stick to it you will have a lower chance of getting into debt and also provide your family with additional funds to use for any downtime together.

4 comments:

  1. Good tips, you got that right, with everything being as pricey as it is these days, and having a large family on top of that, it's all you can do just to keep your head above water.

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  2. Yes the price of grocery is going up very much. Yet, it is still cheaper than eating out all the time or paying triple for something you can eat at home instead.

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  3. Oh yeah! A lot cheaper to eat at home. Thank goodness for ebt.

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  4. It can be very surprising how much money you spend on things you can do without, and the best way my husband and I found to do this was tracking our spending for a week.
    It was ridiculous how much we wasted on things we really didn't need. But it opened our eyes and allowed us to budget a whole lot more accurately.

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