Basic Budgeting Hacks

When it comes to saving money for my family, I have learned many important lessons. But, in the beginning it was hard to know where to start. In this article, I share with you the three money-saving tips that helped me to get started saving!

Number one, USE COUPONS. They are still offered almost everywhere. A little extra time and effort may help you save big in the long run. Apps such as Rakuten, Honey, and RetailMeNot help you to avoid the inconvenience of carrying a huge stack of clippings and instead just pulling the coupon up on your phone. It is a little old school, but if it works, it works!

Number two, stop spending so much on activities, entertainment and eating out. Write out a list of all the places that your money is going to that fit in these categories. Then, prioritize them. Pick the top one or two to keep and get rid of the rest. Keep in mind that eating out and buying prepackaged foods are much more expensive than eating simple meals made from scratch. Not that you have to spend lots of time cooking all the time, but maybe add in a PBJ night or two and it will make a difference. We all want to do something that's fun and relaxing, but some of our activities, such as seeing a movie, can require a large amount of money when you have many kids. Instead of spending all of our money on activities that are pretty expensive, try doing something that is free in your local community.

Number three, sell the things you do not use anymore. This one was great for me! I liked using Facebook Marketplace or Mercari to sell my kids' toys, outgrown clothes and furniture. You can also use Craigslist. My husband and I went through a stage where we wanted to live minimally and reexamined (almost) everything we owned. We only kept what we used and sold the rest. It was great! We also have a rule that if we haven’t used something in over a year we get rid of it, within reason obviously. We still have fire extinguishers in our house even though they have never been used;)

Take the time to evaluate your budget habits and improve them. The sooner the better and it's not something that you will ever regret!