6 Easy Money-Saving Tips for Families that Actually Work

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Are you struggling financially and stressed about making ends meet every month? Sister, I feel you. It can add a lot of tension to a home and family. But I have good news. By making a few tweaks to your lifestyle, you can move your family closer to savings and thus, financial stability. Come read how with these 6 easy tips that actually work.

Tight Finances is No Strangers to the American Family in 2020

Money is tough. Add a family to the mix, it gets tougher. Throw in a pandemic and a struggling economy, and it becomes a serious burden. With so many families struggling financially, now is the perfect time to talk about the critical skill of saving and budgeting your money.

It’s not easy. And to be honest, my family and I are a work in progress. I feel like some months, it’s two steps forward and one step back. Getting on track financially and saving money isn’t always a linear process. There are often unexpected bills, expenses that just come out of the blue, job loss – and sometimes, even a pandemic. I mean, who even saw that coming?!?

But as long as your trajectory is moving in the right direction, you’ll be on the road to a more secure financial situation, even if it feels like it’s just a crawl. Each baby step adds up, and with some consistency and perseverance, you’ll get there.

Today I want to share a few simple hacks you can adopt today to start building up your reserve. These are small tweaks you can make in your lifestyle and budgeting that will add up to savings in the long run.

6 Simple Hacks You Can Do at Home to Help Your Family Save Money

1| Grocery and Meal Planning

Meal planning is a great way to save on groceries. Besides saving you the daily hassle of staring in the fridge trying to decide what to make for dinner, planning meals ahead of time around the items on sale at the store will help cut your grocery trip expenses. You can be sure to get everything you need, and nothing that you don’t. If you don’t know where to start, try out this easy Pinterest meal planning hack.  There are lots of ways to meal plan, and this is how I often go about it.

I also often go through some of my posts here, where I’ve already gathered some great recipes for my readers (and thus, myself!)

Here are a few you can look through to get started:

30 Easy and Healthy Weeknight Dinners for Busy Moms

30 Easy and Healthy Crockpot Dinners

30 No Mess One Pot (or Pan or Skillet) Dinners

30 Healthy and Cozy Soups

And if you happen to have a baby in the family who is on formula meals, and you want a quality, but budget option for clean, organic ingredients, Huggable’s infant formula is a stellar choice. A baby satisfaction guarantee, free shipping on orders over $50, and the ability to order in bulk for less make Huggable a fantastic option in order to provide premium nutrition for your child while saving money.

2| Find Ways to Save on Daycare

If you have both parents working in order to make ends meet, it can sometimes feel like you’re just getting by if you have to factor in daycare. Daycare can be a huge hole in parents’ pockets. Ask your employer if they offer childcare vouchers, discounts with local providers, or other support. You can also ask your daycare if they have sibling discounts or other offers. Or perhaps look into local home- or church-based options, which tend to be less expensive. There are plenty of ways to save on regular care for your child. 

3| Shop Wisely and Carefully

This is a big one. If you’re making a big purchase, shop around for the best deals first. (Pro tip: Use a browser extension like this one to have all that footwork of finding the best deals and discounts done for you.)

Don’t be afraid to shop consignment—especially for kids’ items that tend to be gently used and quickly outgrown. I thrift all the time – for my children’s clothes as well as my own. Yard sales are also great for super-cheap clothes.

On the flip side, resell those outgrown items when you’re done with them. Selling on Facebook Marketplace or having your own yard sale is a great option.

When possible, you can save a good chunk of change (and reduce waste for the environment) if you use this idea of buying reusable products instead of disposable (washcloths instead of paper towels, dishes instead of paper goods, or reusable water bottles instead of plastic). Keeping an eye on your trash can probably give you a lot of ideas for where there is waste and things you can buy as reusable items instead.

Don’t forget to take advantage of end-of-summer or post-holiday sales to buy your seasonal items for the next year at a discounted price. (Personally, this is one of my favorite hacks.)

Shop online to avoid impulsiveness, or bring a set amount of cash to the store, so you can’t overspend. Be wary of credit cards. If you must, keep just one, and pay it off every month. That said, in some cases, it might be worth trying this tip of using companies’ rewards programs—just be sure to actually use them, keep track of any purchases made on those cards, and pay them off right away. 

4| Make Memorable—Not Expensive—Family Memories

It takes a bit of creativity to find activities that are fun and cheap—and now we have to think about social distancing, too. But when you really get brainstorming, you’ll realize there are tons of choices available. Go camping (even in your backyard), play games, hike, build forts… the list is endless! You don’t need to spend money on zoos, aquariums, bowling, restaurants, etc (although those definitely are a nice treat!).

In fact, check out these long lists of kids’ craft ideas, easy indoor activities, and a summer bucket list of adventures. Now you have a running start on ideas. {You’re welcome. 🙂 }

5| Trim Monthly Expenses

Cut out those monthly services you hardly ever use—such as cable television or a landline telephone.

We recently just canceled our subscription to Netflix because we get so many free options with our cable provider. I know some aren’t a fan of cable, but it’s actually cheaper for us to bundle internet, cable, and cell phone than to pay for internet and cell phones individually while ditching cable. So, explore what is actually the cheapest for your family.

Save on energy by turning off lights when you’re not in a room (I feel like walking around the house and turning off the lights is my second job!) or practice water conservation by shutting off the water while you wash hair or brush teeth. I know these tweaks might seem small, but they really add up to lower utility bills. You can even try setting your A/C just one degree higher or your heat one degree lower.

Regularly evaluate your insurances, subscriptions, or any other monthly services to determine if you really do still need to pay for all those things. It’s a great idea to systematically go through your monthly bills, identify absolute essentials, such as car insurance, electricity, etc. and see what things you can do without.

6| Vacation Wisely 

Life is stressful and crazy, so while staycations are a wonderful option, sometimes we do actually need a change of scenery. And you can do it in a cost-effective way with some pre-planning, so you don’t have to give up vacationing altogether. Travel can be so valuable for making memories.

Try taking your trip during a less-busy season to avoid pricey flights and hotel stays. For example, our schools are on a balanced schedule, where they start up again at the end of July and get a two-week break the 1st 2 weeks of October. That’s when we take our ‘summer vacation.’ It’s off-season, so it’s less crowded and things such as hotels, amusement parks, etc. are cheaper.

Booking far in advance can help keep those costs down. And, on the flip side, if you’re not especially choosy as to where to go, sometimes booking last minute can get you deals. Those hotels and resorts are often looking to get rid of unused rooms for a steal!

You can also save money by finding alternatives to hotels, such as Airbnb, VRBO, or home swaps.

If driving is an option, it can save you hundreds. If you must fly, try out our previous suggestion of using rewards programs. This article has all the low-down on how to get the most out of a travel card program. 

If you really need to save—and especially given the current circumstances that make travel difficult—consider if you really need to take this trip, or if you can perhaps opt for a staycation instead. A staycation is really a great option if traveling just isn’t on the table right now.

You probably haven’t seen all there is to see in your area, so maybe it’s time to be a tourist in your hometown. Check out this collection of awesome staycation ideas to create a memorable experience with your family. If there’s someplace you hoped to go, but no longer can, organize a country-themed day or week at home. Plan meals, activities, books, and movies around a specific country to get a little taste of a visit to that dream destination. 

A Word on Budgeting and Financial Goal-Setting

To improve any area of your life, you have to start by evaluating where you are right now. Keeping a monthly budget will help you assess your current situation.

It can be simple—just track your incoming pay and all your expenses. Once you have some bearings on where you’re at now, you can set some financial goals. Your goals can be small—like saving for a trip or a cool gadget—or big—like paying off a credit card, student loan, or car. 

Don’t forget to make a plan to save for retirement and emergencies. I know-  this is where I’m the worst at budgeting because these things are so ‘future,’ and we need help right now.  But you can start by setting aside just a small percentage of your take-home pay, and gradually increase that amount. Have a fund ready for anything unexpected that might come up—like unemployment or a big medical expense. You never know when something crazy might happen (like a global pandemic, maybe?) and you’ll be so glad you have a savings cushion to fall back on.

(Hint: If you hope to save a million for retirement – lofty goal, right? lol – this tool can help you calculate how much to save each month to get there).

It’s not easy, moms. I know. But with a little grit and determination, I KNOW YOU CAN.

Now go get it, girl.

Thoughts? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below!