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It often feels like there is only so far that the paycheck can stretch, yet there are so many expenses related to having a family. Rest assured there are plenty of ways to save money at home that will make a bigger difference than you might think. Whether you're raising a baby on a budget, or have two young kids, or a lage family, here are some ways you can save money each month.
1. Groceries
For most families, the food bill is usually the highest bill that you can actually do something about. You still want your children to have proper tasty and healthy nutrition though. To get started, take a look at:
- The book "Cheap. Fast. Good!" by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross at Amazon.com. This is more than just a recipe book; it's a clear and helpful guide especially for families explaining exactly how to bring down your grocery bill, how to make a meal plan, and more. I own a copy of this book and love it. And the recipes besides being cheap, fast and good, are actually healthy too.
- Take a look at my list of cheap, easy, family-friendly recipes with pork or chicken. Beef (even ground beef!) is so expensive right now that you can make instant savings by using these pork or chicken recipes.
- Don't spend on fancy snack items - these can add up surprisingly quickly and become quite a big contributor to your grocery bill. Instead, fix any or all of easy, healthy yet cheap snack ideas for picky eaters.
- Typically your child's school lunch option is going to be cheaper than what it would cost you to fix them a sack lunch. That said, if your child doesn't like school lunches, here are some awesome school lunchbox ideas for picky eaters that you can send them off with.
- Look into other grocery stores besides the closest one, if you haven't already. Don't have many other options in your area? Then how about Misfits Market, a grocery delivery service which delivers to almost all US zip codes. It sells produce that is oddly shaped or too small to fit the superficial appearance requirements of the supermarket, so you save money and reduce food waste. However, this is not always going to be the best solution for everyone - the savings might not be as much as you thought; you can read more about Misfits Market in my review here.
2. Gift-giving: plan gift buying during the year
This is a method I started so I didn't forget anyone's gift at Christmas or birthdays, but it had the wonderful side-effect of saving a lot of money. Here's what you do: open up your memo app on your phone and write down the name of each person to whom you normally give a gift during the course of the year. Then leave a gap under each name. There are two steps to this:
- Any time you think of an idea of something they like, for example you're reading a library book and you think "my mother-in-law would love that book!" write down the item in the gap below their name. Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time.
- Next time you're shopping - whether online or in person - and you see a deal related to your gift idea for any of the people on your list, buy it!
You'll save money by clever planning and ensuring you have the right gift for the right person. Also, you'll wind up spreading out your gift purchases over the year. You're also less likely to make costly impulse purchases at the last minute. I find that of all the ways to save money I've listed here, this one has a much bigger effect than you would think.
For more smart ways to save money, initiate a gift tradition with an extended family member with whom you've previously been exchanging gifts. In this agreement, you could suggest a particular budget to stick to, or alternatively suggest occasions where you do or don't exchange gifts (for example, exchange gifts at Christmas but not at birthdays). We have a couple of family members who we've made arrangements with to give gifts from the adults to each other's kids, but not between adults themselves since the adults already have most things they truly need. This avoids needing to get a gift just to get the person something, and is a wonderful way for both families to save money.
Finally, a gift of home-made cookies or other home-made craft can often go over a lot better than a gift you don't know if the person will truly like. Home-made items are a wonderful way to show the recipient that you spend time and love on them - not just money.
3. Limit streaming services
Before talking about the best strategy to limit streaming services, I'm assuming you already don't have cable TV, but if you do, stop it and replace it with a streaming service. If you want sports, use Sling TV with the sports add-on package.
In most areas of the US, it's cheaper to have 2 streaming services than 1 cable TV package. Even if cable is bundled with your internet, it's often cheaper to unbundle it, go to internet-only, and add in separate streaming services (e.g. Netflix, Hulu) separately. Different areas and providers will vary, so do the math for your situation.
Assuming you're using streaming services, evaluate how many of these you have. It can be easy to lose track of how many you have active of these. We limit to 2 services active at any one time, which means that if we want to switch a new one on, we switch another one off first. Most of the services have options to suspend it instead of deleting your account entirely.
If you want to save even more money, get it down to only 1 active streaming service at a time... or even zero, you can stream for free as shown next!
Save money each month by doing all your streaming for free
Alternatively, to save even more money, go for a combo of all of the following to get all your viewing entertainment for free:
- watch YouTube on your TV
- use an ad-supported free streaming service such as Tubi
- rent DVD's for free from your local library
4. Free family activities
Entertainment and activities can be expensive. But they don't have to be! And you don't need to be cooped up at home all day either. Find family activities that are free: hike some local trails, play football in the park or backyard. Go to the library. Play one of these family-friendly board games for all ages.
I've put together a list of 23 free or cheap summer activities to do with kids. I also have a separate list of free or cheap winter activities for families (that don't rely on snow!) so you're covered year round. These are awesome money savings tips for families that will get everyone together having fun.
5. School supplies, electronics, and home items
You may be wondering how to save money on all of these at once. It's simple: declutter. The next time you have 15 minutes, start on decluttering one room. Just start! We decluttered for another reason: painting our house. But we found again that a wonderful side-effect was saving money. We uncovered all kinds of things - extra school supplies like a new package of pencils, plastic folders that could be re-used, and more. We also found earbuds that I would have otherwise had to shell out for, and other things. The way you save money is by finding stuff you didn't think you had, which saves you from having to buy more. Don't wait until you desperately need something to declutter and hope you find it - that's too late! Start now and do little bits at a time.
If this seems overwhelming, don't worry! I've written a separate article on how to successfully declutter with a busy family life and the method I followed (spoiler: it was not the Kondo method).
Your aim when decluttering is to find things you don't want and donate it to charity. Or if anything is in near-new condition, you could sell it on eBay or have a yard sale. This approach could even make you a bit of extra money. But during this process, you'll come across lots of stuff that you will actually truly need, and that you didn't know you had.
The other bonus is that you actually feel richer when your home is less cluttered. It just looks better. So it's well worth doing this for the positive feelings you and your family will experience.
Even after decluttering, you may still need to buy some school supplies - but don't worry, I have a separate article on the best places to order school supplies online without breaking the bank.
6. Buy seasonal items ahead, in the after-season sales
For example, purchase the next year's Valentine's cards for your children's class immediately after this Valentine's Day. Same for Halloween decorations and other seasonal items. If you buy right after an event is over, the item is marked down a lot. The only downside is that you may not have as much choice of what's available. It's still worthwhile doing this anyway, because you can always supplement during the main buying season later if there's an item you really need. At least this way you'll have some items at rock-bottom prices.
It's also worth thinking about how many seasonal decorations you really need, given that you're storing them and typically only bringing them out once a year. Don't feel tempted to buy more than you need.
7. Clothes
Kids need new clothes because they grow, so you can't ignore this. One of the most practical ways to save money for families is by purchasing affordable children's clothing:
- For everyday clothing for kids (pants, tops, shirts, etc), I find that I can often get cheaper online deals at budget-friendly children's clothing stores like The Children's Place than at Walmart or Target. As a bonus, you'll find much trendier styles at The Children's Place too. I also recommend Carter's as a way to save money. If you want more ideas, take a look at my article on the 6 best budget-friendly children's clothing stores.
- Want free kids clothing? Ask a friend or family member with older kids if they would be willing to hand down outgrown clothing. Here is my guide for how to ask.
- For yourself, try the designer markdown stores. I like shopping online at TJ Maxx, Belk, and Marshalls. You can get brand names at rock-bottom prices there.
I'm passionate about helping people find good deals on kids clothes. If you want to hear about it when there is a sale or deal on children's clothing, just sign up below.
Bonus:
I've also done the calculations for how much you save if you make your own laundry detergent - you can decide whether or not it's worth it to do it for your situation.