Whether you already have a full brood or are just thinking about starting a family, these
budget hacks will help you keep your sanity and stay within your means without drastically changing your lifestyle. (
EVEN MORE great money-saving tips here!)
Budget Hacks for Families
1. Don’t overload your kids.
Simplicity is actually more conducive to focused, well-behaved children. Get a few
good-quality, creativity-sparking toys in lieu of 100 of the dollar-store variety. You can teach your kids that it is nice to look at things without buying them, and redirect their “I want” to “I think that is so cool, but we don’t need it.”
RESULT: Your house isn’t filled to the brim with STUFF, and your bank account isn’t drained every week.
2. Make a habit of giving things away.
“Wait, isn’t that the opposite of saving money?” Hear me out. Chances are, if you already have kids (or maybe even if you don’t), you find yourself wading through useless clutter day after day. It’s costing you time to clean, space to store, and ultimately, sanity. Take the things that are collecting dust, and give them to someone who will use them. For expensive items, you can even resell them on Amazon, Craigslist, or other similar services.
RESULT: Cleaner space, happier family, more room for the things that are really important.
3. Find alternatives to the expensive things in your budget.
Sit down and figure out what is costing you the most money week after week, month after month. Is it laundry detergent?
Make your own! Is it diapers?
Switch to cloth (It’s actually SUPER easy now, not the pinned prefolds your mother or grandmother used)! Furthermore, cut down food costs with these
meal hacks for thrifty moms. You can save a TON just by tweaking a few ways you do things.
RESULT: Pennies spent on what would have normally cost you dollars. Or tens or hundreds of dollars. (When in doubt, Google!)
4. Replace guilty pleasures with credit card payoffs.
Many of us have credit cards we’re just barely making the minimum payment on every month, with no end in sight, yet we’ll happily go spend money on a new shirt or a cup of coffee without batting an eye. Try denying yourself that little something extra, taking the same amount you were going to spend, and using it to make a payment on your credit card. Again and again. Better yet, for any “extra” purchases you DO make,
team up with people who are giving back on a large scale.
RESULT: You’ll find yourself reducing debt exponentially. (Warning: it’s kinda addicting.)
5. Disconnect your entertainment.
Spend more time with the people around you instead of looking at a screen. Go for walks together. Play games. Explore.
Create. There are tons of things to do that are completely free and all around you. If you want to get extreme about it, cut out TV altogether. That’s a chunk of money you could be pocketing every month. Or, to get really extreme, cut out your smartphone, too. You can read more about how we did this by clicking
HERE.
RESULT: You’re far less distracted, and therefore, far more focused on the things that matter “your family.
If you enjoy a good challenge or need to pinch even more pennies, dig into some
extreme saving by clicking
HERE. You can find many other
helpful tips for families by clicking
HERE. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you like the
Kids Activities Blog Facebook page for even more awesome hacks!
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