Nathan and I have been living on a budget for over 11 years now, but when Covid hit, we needed to re-evaluate our budget to make sure that we were still able to achieve the financial goals we had set for our family. Thankfully we were able to make some changes to our budget and to find new ways to save money each month to stay on track.
I’m going to share with you 22 ways to save money over the next few posts.
#1: Say goodbye to debt. For many people debt is stealing their income each month. Before Nathan and I paid off all our debt, it was equal to half of Nathan’s pay each month! That wasn’t including our home, that was car payments, credit cards, student loans, etc. It’s hard to get ahead when you’re paying others each month!
#2: Cut down on your grocery budget. The average family of 4 (with 2 kids under 5) is spending almost $1000/month on groceries. I’ve saved almost $200/month by shopping online because this cuts back on my impulse spending. You can also save money by meal planning. I use pinterest for recipes, but have also used emeals.com in the past as well. These give me different recipes so that my family doesn’t get bored with meals and we get to find some new recipes that we really like.
#3: Cancel automatic memberships & subscriptions. Look at your checking account (or credit cards) and see what is hitting it every month that you’re not aware of or not using anymore. We found that we were getting hit with apple fees for increased phone storage we weren’t using each month. Those little amounts add up! Also, see if there are subscriptions or memberships you can save. We canceled Costco and just shop with my mom when we need something from there.
#4: Buy generic. When I was in college I had a job for a week at a yogurt company. I would watch the yogurt come off the conveyor belt and into the containers. The containers would change from a name brand to a store brand, but the yogurt didn’t change! While we don't buy everything generic (graham crackers for instance), there are many products that are the same or even better.
#5: Cut ties with cable. We did this many years ago and we instead have Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon (which we “borrow”). Also, many cell phone carriers are now giving away these as part of their package, that’s how we have Hulu. There are also many networks that you can watch online or on their app for free! Of course, if you’re my friend that I “borrow” your login for watching the Angels games...please keep your cable!
#6: Save money automatically. You can either have your direct deposit set for a percentage to go into a savings account each pay day or you can set up your savings to withdraw automatically from your checking. There are even apps that will help you with saving money...just make sure that you are investing it well after saving it!
More tips coming...if you need help creating a budget to better manage your spending, connect with me!