Who else needs to save some money? I am a lifetime cheapskate and I love finding savings hacks where I can. How about you? Are you up for a savings challenge? How about we work together to get our budgets in order and start saving some money!
I always look for coupon codes when I shop online, add coupons on my grocery store app, and I also love me a clearance rack, but I know that there are countless other ways to save money. I have compiled a list of awesome savings hacks that can help families save money on anything from groceries to diapers to travel!
Savings Hacks That Will Help Get Your Family’s Budget Under Control
For my family, the most important thing to help get our budget under control was to start comparing prices on the products that we buy the most. I recommend that you keep a list of the items that you buy on a weekly or monthly basis, and track the sales prices that come along with those items. When you find an item at it’s lowest price then you purchase enough to last you six to eight weeks since that’s about what the sales cycles run.
Vacations are important everyone needs a break from time to time, and I think that family vacations can bring your family closer and help you refocus on the important things in life. However, vacations can be budget busters. One of the ways that my family saves for a vacation is we keep all our change in a giant jar and once a year we cash it in. Usually, we can get $500 or so from that jar. We also put any single dollar bills that we have into the jar. Those dollar bills can add up quickly adding on an additional $1000 a year or more to help our travel budget.
Now that you’ve saved up some cash for your vacation you will want to stretch it as far as possible. I wanted to share my tips on saving on flights to help you stretch those dollars as far as possible. Flights tend to take up over half of your vacation budget, but with a few tips you can reduce that spending a fraction. Always make sure that you compare prices. Each airline will have a different price so research them all before you book. If you are lucky enough to have more than one airport near you also look for prices departing and arriving at the different airports. Flight prices can range hundreds of dollars cheaper at a different airport. These tips can ensure that you get the most bang for your buck.
If your family is struggling to start the habit of saving money I have a trick to help you get a jump start on saving. If you commit to a penny saving challenge you will learn the foundation to a savings habit. There are several different challenges floating around that you can search for on Pinterest or Google. But, with a penny challenge you aren’t taking too much out of your pocket each week or day but you are adding some to savings on a regular basis which will help you make saving money a habit.
Another one of the tips that I used to help reduce our monthly budget is to reduce our spending as much as possible. I started meal planning our dinners based on what we already had on hand. We reduced our eating out habit to once a week at first, and then we lessened that even more to twice a month. Otherwise, we ate at home. You will be amazed at how much you can save just by doing these simple things.
Of course my favorite saving hack is to start couponing. If you pay attention to the blog posts on my blog you will find that I can help you save 50% or more on your usual purchases. Couponing does require time and effort but you can also save enough money to help you have more flexibility in your family budget. If you want to start couponing you can find some simple tips here. My best advice for you though is to go slow, research as much as possible and keep an eye on my blog. I bring you the best deals that I can help to you save the most.