6 Money-Saving Tips For Parents

When you’re a parent, you don’t realize how much money you need to fill in everything that you want for your children. You want them to have the extra-curricular activities and the best crib and the best car seats. You want them to have everything you never had as a child, which means that you need to be willing to part with your cash. Except, when you don’t have much, you have to budget to the hilt to afford it. 

Some of the very small changes in your lifestyle can make a huge difference in your parenting. Your budget may be a small one, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t widen it a little to offer more for your family. If you have managed to use the Debt to Success System – DTSS and get rid of your debt, or you have managed your budget enough to know what you can spend, life gets a little easier! Saving money has to be one of your biggest concerns when you’re a parent, and the most frugal families know that the material stuff doesn’t make for happiness. Still, it’s sometimes the material stuff that makes a difference and for that, you need these six money-saving tips.

• Meal Planning. One of the best ways to stop wasting money is to plan your meals for the week for the whole family, and buy only what you need for those meals. This includes breakfasts and lunches and not just dinners for the family. Meal planning allows you to shave cash from your weekly grocery shop, and you can move the leftovers into a savings account.
• Be Smart. Shopping shouldn’t have to be massively pricey, not when you can shop smartly and stop buying into brands. Buying the store brand instead of the big name brand is going to make a huge difference. We’re talking dollars at a time that you can save.
• Staycay, Not Vacay. It may not be the blue skies and water villas you’re dreaming about, but you can still have a great time on vacation when you stay in the same country you live in. Don’t blow the budget on a DisneyWorld vacation – go camping and save the pennies. You do not have to leave the state for a great time with your family.
• Reuse Everything. Where you can, reuse. You can save more money for the kids’ activities when you reuse as much as possible. The money you don’t use on new things every time you need something can be put away for the next set of school uniforms.
• Thrift Shop. Second-hand is just as good as brand new, especially when you wash and press everything and it comes up new. If your children need new clothes, go for the clothing on Facebook MarketPlace and choose second-hand. You can do the same with furniture and anything else the house needs!

Bargain Hunt. Shop around for the best deals on things that you need for the kids and don’t go for the brand new items if you can help it. Every single bit of this helps you to save money – children are expensive, but they don’t have to be if you’re clever!