What family doesn’t want to cut their budget when it comes down to everyday expenses? If you take a look at your family budget, there’s a good chance that there are some items on there that you probably don’t need.
Saving money with your budget really isn’t that hard. It’s going to take motivation, as well as a little discipline. If you have this, you’re going to soon find that anything can be possible! I wanted to give you 5 strategies that I used when I wanted to cut back on my budget.
#1 Start using coupons – I know you’re going to grocery shop, and if you’re not using coupons, you’re going to want to start using them right now! Services such as CouponMom and AFullCup are great sites that you can use to find coupons in order to save big. The basic strategy is to find the items on sale, as well as a coupon that you can throw on top of it. By doing this, you can save up to 90%.
#2 Cut out the cable TV – With today’s technology, why rot in front of the TV paying $90 a month for 500 channels. Seriously, who needs that many channels? What you’re going to want to do is look into many cost saving alternatives such as Netflix, Amazon on Demand and so much more. These all only cost $10-$15 a month.
#3 Free entertainment options – If you have children that are under the age of 5, you’re going to find that they are rather easy to keep entertained. Instead of taking them to a $20 movie or dinner, take them to the library or even the park. Many local cities have many various events for children that won’t cost you a penny.
#4 Your cell phone – For a while, my family had 4 phones and what I realized is that I didn’t need this many. What I did instead was cut all my phones but kept one. I then added MagicJack to my home phone. This allowed my kids to call their friends from home for a fraction of the cost. Whoever left the house would then take the cell phone. Our bill went from $180 a month to almost $55! This was a great savings.
#5 Utilities – I can’t stress this one enough but it can help you save a lot of money if you invest into a programmable thermostat to help save on your heating costs. What you’re going to want to do is set down your heat at night while you’re sleeping, or when you’re at work. By doing so, you can see your expenses go down by 30%.
These are just a few steps that you can do to save on money. Open up Excel and write down each bill that you have to pay. This is going to give you a great idea on where you can cut corners and more. Good luck!
This was a guest post written by Elizabeth Cutten. Herself, as well as a few other college classmates run a project called HowMuchIsIt.org, a site that helps you find the price on anything such as family vacation costs and more.
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Very informative post. I always ignore coupons but now I will start using them. I really like the idea about utilities. Saving 30% in your monthly bill means a lot.