7 Budgeting Tips for Families

Moneymagpie Team 9th Sep 2024 No Comments

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The current cost of living crisis means that many families are struggling financially right now.

With petrol, interest rates, and utility prices constantly on the rise, it is becoming much more difficult for people to cover all their expenditures.

For this reason, it is important to form a budget and stick to it. However, for many people, this can be easier said than done.

But don’t worry, if you are one of them, we’ve got you covered!

Here are 8 budgeting tips families can adopt to reduce the financial pressures they are presently experiencing.

Understand your current spend
Eliminate some costs
Try to find better deals
Pay off debts
Organise your grocery shopping
Join rewards programs
Refrain from impulse purchases

1. Understand your current spend

When forming a budget, it is important to understand how much and on what you spend weekly, monthly, and yearly.

A good way to do this is to refer to your bank statements and create a spreadsheet where you can record all of your regular and fixed costs. They might include your mortgage or rent, other loan repayments, credit card bills, insurance payments and subscriptions.

While this might take some time, it is worth it to gain a full understanding of your expenditures overall.

2. Eliminate some costs

After compiling the spreadsheet, it is a good idea to review each purchase point to identify costs that could be eliminated.

If you ask yourself whether or not you can justify paying for a particular cost or service, you should soon identify a number of areas where you can save money.

For instance, are you paying for a subscription service or gym membership that you rarely use?

Do you really need to spend as much money as you do on personal grooming, like getting your nails or hair done? Or even on drinking alcohol?

There is a good chance you spend a lot of money throughout the year on products or services you don’t really need.

Therefore, by identifying and eliminating them, you can end up saving a decent amount of money.

3. Try to find better deals

It can be easy to set and forget certain regular payments. However, you should take the opportunity to find out if you can get better deals on them.

Switching mortgage providers to ones that offer reduced repayments and lower interest rates is an excellent way to tighten your budget.

Additionally, trying to find cheaper insurance for your health, life, or car is another. You should also investigate whether you can get lower utility charges and a less expensive internet connection.

If you can find cheaper alternatives for all these costs and more, you will be able to significantly streamline your expenditures and budgeting.

4. Pay off debts

Debts, such as a credit card or personal loan, can significantly impact your budget because you may constantly be hit by interest charges.

For this reason, you should do everything you can to avoid being overwhelmed by debt and pay them off as quickly as you can.

Ideally, you should overpay on every minimum required payment or at least cover the amount you are charged.

It is also a good idea to pay for all purchases via debit card or cash and to reduce your credit card limit—better still, consider cancelling it altogether.

If you do this, you’ll save a lot of money on interest and be more equipped to live within your means.

5. Organise your grocery shopping

Food comprises a significant part of every family’s budget, particularly if you eat three square meals a day.

However, a lot of food also gets wasted every year – up to 7.6 million tonnes at a cost of around 19.3 billion to Aussie households. Subsequently, it is prudent to look at ways to reduce the amount of money you spend on it. Or at least budget for it better.

One good way to do this is to order FoodSt ready made meals. This type of food delivery service can be beneficial to families as it can help them plan not just the menu schedule but also the cost of their meals over the course of a week.

This, in turn, will make it easier for you to budget and potentially save money for this expense. It can also save you time and reduce wastage.

6. Join rewards programs

In the current economic climate, rewards programs can be a very effective way to ease families’ financial pressure.

Through these types of loyalty initiatives, you can potentially save money on anything from petrol and groceries to flights and clothing.

There are plenty of reward programmes available, so to make the most of them, try to find one or two that you will use most regularly.

7. Refrain from impulse purchases

One thing that can completely blow your budget is if you regularly make impulse purchases.

From time to time, you’ll obviously need to buy something you haven’t budgeted for – though this is why you should always have an amount set aside for contingencies.

However, the more you can refrain from buying something on a whim you haven’t accounted for, the better you will be at sticking to the budget or even coming in under it.

At the end of the day, a little self-control goes a very long way!

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

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