Having a family can be quite expensive. When you’ve got a growing family, it might feel like you are constantly spending money. Depending on how many children you have it can quickly get more and more pricey. As the kids get older they’re going to need more things and with all the prices on bills going up recently, it’s important now more than ever to start cutting costs and saving money where you can. Whether you are buying food, gear, or other necessities, the cost of raising a family seems always to increase.
You might think that as your family gets older that your expenses decrease, but you blink, and your sweet baby is a teenager. Then, you have to pay for driver’s training, a car, insurance, and eventually college. These ongoing expenses are why so many parents look for money-saving hacks that don’t take much time. Fortunately, people have learned how to save money without much work at all.
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12 Money-Saving Family Tips
There are lots of different ways that people can save money and sacrifices that you can make. However, there are some sacrifices people are willing to make and some that people are not willing to make but that’s entirely personal on what your preferences are and how you live, and what you want to give up or not. These twelve hacks can help you save big as your family moves from infants to toddlers to school-age children to teens. You might even save enough to take your family on a dream vacation or a few small quick trips.
Enjoy Freebies
There are several great places to look for freebies. Many restaurants and stores offer freebies on birthdays. Some stores provide freebies for children who are going back to school, and many companies give freebies to new mothers.
Along with getting free products and food from local companies, most communities have libraries and parks that offer free activities throughout the year. For example, your local parks might hold special events for Halloween with free treats for participants. You can also find plenty of free events on Facebook.
Another popular way to entertain your child for free is to partake in the learning sessions at Home Depot and the other big-box hardware stores. They occasionally offer free classes for kids on the weekends. These can be rather busy because children learn how to make something, then they get to take it home. You might have to sign up online to get a spot.
Fun, Free, or Cheap Weekend Activities
Meal Plan
One of the ways that you can look to save money is by thinking about how much you spend on your food and if you’re wasteful with your food. As food prices climb higher, this is more important than ever. If you find you’re throwing away a lot of food it can mean you’re wasting money as well. If you are spending money on food and you don’t use it, it’s essentially like throwing your money in the bin. A good way to deal with this is to plan your meals. You don’t always have to batch cook everything in one go but by planning what you’re having for the week, then checking in your cupboard to see what you have and what you need to make those meals then you can save a lot of money. If you just mindlessly go to the shop and pick up random things you may not make for meals out of it or you may find that you’re buying stuff that you’re not going to use.
One of the advantages of meal planning is that you can use leftovers as lunch is the next day and also pop extra ingredients or leftovers in the freezer to last for a day when you need a quick meal. This means you’ve got no waste coming from what you’re making and it can go a lot further. You can even use veg scraps and potato Peel for either compost or even stock for soups and stews. You can also make your own treats to save money.
Here is a free meal planner for you to download: Meal Planner
Get Into a Qualified Tuition Plan
Noah in his dorm room at Oregon State University
The best time to begin saving for college is now, and you can do that with a qualified tuition plan or a 529 plan. Talk to your employer or your financial advisor to start saving money at each paycheck. The sooner you start, the more you will save.
State governments run tuition savings plans. When teens get to college age, parents can spend the savings on predetermined schools. Along with using the money for tuition and room and board, you can often spend the money you’ve saved on college expenses like computers and textbooks.
While you are busy saving for college, don’t forget to check out scholarship opportunities. As soon as your child reaches high school, you should start investigating ways to save money on college. Local businesses often offer scholarships for children at nearby schools. Your employer might have scholarship programs, too.
Coupon
When you’re in the money-saving mode you start to notice where and when vouchers are available. You can find vouchers online like netvouchercodes.co.uk and you can also find them in supermarket brochures, magazines, and leaflets that come through the mail. Looking for vouchers and even just reduced-priced stuff you can save your money even if it’s in the long run. If you find a toy that is a really good deal you could buy it and save it for the next birthday or Christmas that comes up. If you find that there’s a lot of meat on offer you can buy it and put it in the freezer.
There are lots of ways to make the most of offers and freebies available. There are ways to get freebies like samples which can be offered on different websites or in stores and even on things like Facebook marketplace or Freecycle people are giving away free items that they no longer want or need. They are normally in good condition and just something that people don’t want anymore so offering it for free for someone to come and pick it up saves on the hassle of getting rid of it.
Load A Savings Extension on Your Computer
One of the quickest ways to save money is to load a pair of extensions on your computer. Rakuten and Honey are two of the best money-saving extensions that you can add for free. When you shop online, these extensions look for promo codes that will automatically save you money on your purchase.
To make the deal even better, if the extensions cannot find a promo code, they will give you points. Eventually, you accrue enough points that you can get a gift card. If you aren’t using a money-saving extension, today is a great day to add it.
Cancel Unnecessary Services
Another way you can look to save money is by assessing and looking at your outgoing bills each month. When you look at everything you pay out and make a list you can see some things that maybe you should’ve canceled but you haven’t got round to yet like cable. So you can go ahead and cancel those that instantly save money, maybe a subscription that you no longer need or something you just forgot about and it went out automatically each month.
You can also look at how much you’re paying for things like energy and your Internet. Normally these will revert to a standard type of rate after a certain amount of time. These normally are a lot more expensive. By simply calling your provider and asking if they have any better deals or looking elsewhere you may find that you can save money instantly.
Buy Gear and Necessities Online
Another smart move is to buy your baby gear and other necessities like diapers and formula online. Huggable has a buying guide to help you decide what organic formula and other products are right for your family. Their buying guide shares the benefits of organic formula and where to find the best deals.
Organic formula and eco-friendly baby products are expensive in brick-and-mortar stores. So, when you buy online, you can look around for the best deals. Or, you can save time and use the Huggable guide.
When you buy your baby’s diapers and formula online, you do not need to pack up your child and go to the store. Many online retailers will arrange subscription boxes so that you can have your diapers and formula sent weekly or monthly.
You can change the sizes as your baby grows, too. These conveniences are practically priceless, especially considering the lower prices you find from online retailers.
Plan Ahead with Gifts
As your children move through preschool and into elementary school, you should expect that they will get invited to birthday parties. Buying gifts for all of these parties can become expensive. To prepare for the onslaught, you can plan ahead when buying gifts.
Throughout the year, toys and other items go on sale. So, stock up when the sales happen, to avoid paying full price at the last minute. You can do the same with the gift wrap. You can also buy gifts for older family members as popular items like bedsheets, kitchen gadgets, and yard items go on sale in certain months.
Birthday gifts aren’t the only thing you should be buying when they go on sale. There is nothing wrong with buying gifts for Christmas when items go on sale on December 26. You can save things for the next year, or give gifts on December 27.
As children get older, they prefer getting gift cards instead of actual gifts. Believe it or not, but those go on sale, too. Amazon occasionally offers discounted gift cards, and stores like Costco and Sam’s Club also offer gift card discounts. Stock up, especially on popular ones like a video game, restaurants, and popular retailer cards.
Gifts for Teens They Will Actually Like
Use Amazon Subscriptions
If you’ve ever bought consumables on Amazon, you’ve probably seen the subscription offer. When you sign up to receive products on a subscription basis, you can save 5% or more on the items that you use. These are great deals because you get products you use delivered regularly. And you get a discount on them.
Amazon sends a reminder before they send each subscription item. You can decide to have it mailed or pause the subscription, while still receiving the discount. Amazon often gives shoppers digital gifts if they can have their items shipped at a slower rate.
Another great way to save money on Amazon is to take advantage of the daily deals. All day long, vendors offer specials on everyday items. But, the specials are only available for a short time. Lightning deals are incredibly fun to check out because you never know what you will find, and many come with added coupons.
If you live in certain areas you might even have Amazon Bin stores nearby. They are another fabulous way to save money.
Load Apps on Your Mobile Phone
Mobile phone apps offer several opportunities for saving money. There are coupon apps like Ibotta and Fetch Rewards that give cash back and gift cards when you buy qualified items. These apps are free to use, and they offer bonuses for referrals, too.
Many people like to use micro-savings apps like Acorn, too. These are apps that you can connect to your credit cards. Each time you spend money, the apps will round up and put the difference in your savings account. The apps offer interest on the change that you deposit, and eventually, you find yourself with quite a bit of money.
Your local grocery store and other favorite chain stores might also have money-saving apps. Nearly every grocer has a loyalty program with exclusive coupons. Stores and restaurants like Target and Starbucks also have apps with rewards programs that offer freebies after accruing points.
Become Friends with Facebook Marketplace
If you haven’t checked out Facebook Marketplace, you have missed opportunities to save money and make money. Facebook Marketplace is like a giant garage sale in your area. The site is organized by neighborhoods, so if you decide to sell something, someone near you can pick it up from your home.
On Facebook Marketplace, you can list items for sale without paying any fees to Facebook. You can also shop around for things you need. So, before you buy a brand new backyard playset, check out Facebook Marketplace to see if someone near you is selling one that is like new but for half the price.
Travel in the Off-season
If you like to travel with your family, you probably know that the most expensive times are when school is out in late December and during Spring Break in March and April. Summertime is another costly travel time. You will pay a premium to travel at that time. But, if you want to enjoy a week with your family, try traveling in October, early December, and late January.
You might be pleasantly surprised to see how much less expensive it is to visit Orlando’s theme parks in the off-season. Resorts offer large condos for low prices, and tickets to parks are often a fraction of the busy-season cost.
Family cruises are also inexpensive during the off-season. While you could spend over $1000 per person for an in-season cruise, you might be able to spend under $300 per person in the off-season.
These are just some of the ideas on how you can look to cook costs and reduce your bills to go ahead of all the increases that we are having recently. It’s also a good way if you’re looking to save up for something like a wedding or a new baby or just generally wanting to not spend more than you need to.
Read Next:
How To Save Money While Traveling With Family
20 Ways to Save Money on Vacation
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