Ensure a more harmonious life and avoid future
rows about money or getting into further
financial difficulty by making sure that every
member of the family understands the benefits of
living a frugal lifestyle. Once you've instituted
good money sense throughout the family, the extra
time gained and spent together will easily
convince most family members that being frugal is
a lovely pathway back to being connected. Here
are some suggestions for "frugalizing" your
family.
!! Steps !!
Consolidate all debts and savings. Have a
family meeting about incoming and outgoing
finances. Identify where there are leakages and
expectations causing family members to live
"beyond their means". Make it clear that this
is a family effort, and not about singling out
any person; everyone has to rein in the
spending from now on.
* Use only one credit card and check that it gives the lowest
interest rate and the best deal overall.
* Work out a weekly spending budget for each member of the family
and keep a record of spending. People who stick to budgets do not
overspend. Budget your money, Create a working budget, and Create
a budget will help you to plan.
Family goal - a vacation!Set family goals. Setting goals can
make the saving process a lot more fun and more evident. Goals
can include things like saving for a holiday together, buying
something special for the home, etc. Write these goals out on a
large piece of poster paper and display it somewhere prominent
so that all of the family can see it easily. Refer to it often;
mark off goals achieved as you succeed in meeting them.
* Have the kids decorate the family goals poster so that it's
engaging for them as well.
Always needing to own the latest soon adds upInvolve your
children in buying decisions for expensive household and
personal items such as electronics, musical instruments, music
collections, seasonal wardrobes, etc. Sit everyone down and
explain why certain items are so expensive and instill a sense
of how valuable they are.
* Avoid talking about not having things as if going without means
deprivation. Instead, focus on value for money, utility for
everyone, and durability. Explain the concept of quality versus
quantity.
* Ask your children to suggest solutions for minimizing costs, such
as only updating a seasonal wardrobe with one or two items instead
of throwing out the entire wardrobe each season, etc.
* Include the costs of keeping connected via cell phones, iPads, and
the internet. Accessing communications networks can easily undo
unsuspecting family members, so ensure that you have investigated
pre-paid and usage limits to prevent blow-outs.
Clip the coupons!Get all of your children to help with making
the weekly shopping list. As a family, plan a menu for the week
- when you get good at this, it shouldn't take more than 20
minutes to plan a week's menu and you remove the hassle of
deciding every day! Using the menu, write a list of items
needed.
* Check the grocery stores' sales catalogs. Have your kids compare
one brand with another and note the difference in costs. Don't be
brand tied. Most groceries are substitutable even if you grew up
using the same brand all your life. Check the ingredients and
reassure yourself that sale items are better value most of the
time.
* Encourage the kids to collect catalog coupons and to keep informed
about which stores are carrying specials on items that the
household uses.
* Keep grocery and store coupons in an organized way; always
remember to take them shopping; perhaps have the kids be in charge
of this.
* Look for organic and health food on special if this is your
preference. With the increase in people looking for these
products, they are also coming down in cost. And instead of
insisting on everything being organic, select the most important
organic foods instead.
* Shop for food in season. It's always better value than food flown
in out-of-season.
Explain the value of moneyExplain to young children how you
make money and how many hours you have to work to earn certain
amount. It's important for them to understand early that your
labor is the cost of items in the house, and the house itself.
Avoid sermonizing - if you can't find the right words or
explanations, use money books written for kids to help you find
the right way to explain it in their language.
* Give your children a small amount of weekly pocket money in
exchange for a small job around the house.
* Provide the children with a piggy bank and encourage them to save
money for items they want, as well as expecting that some money
will go into a savings account without fail.
* Allocate an amount of money that you are prepared and able to
spend on your teenagers each week for things like clothes, make up
and CDs etc. Then give the teenager that amount of money in one go
every week, making sure they understand that it is up to them to
budget this money themselves. Do not top up money once it's spent!
All this from the thrift store for # 0!Show your kids
alternative places to shop. This includes places like charity
stores and garage sales. They can have a lot of fun finding
quality bargains, especially if the whole family goes together.
* Hold fashion, toy, and book swap parties with your neighbors and
friends. That way, rather than buying new items, you can recycle
what you don't need and get back what you want. Even fashion
conscious teens can throw a great fashion swap party!
Find free ways to have funFind fun things to do together as a
family that don't cost a lot. Think about all the free or cheap
things in your area, such as a picnic in the park, window
shopping, people watching, taking photographs, making nature
trails, going hiking, seeing movies on the cheap night, etc.
While some of this takes a little planning, it's definitely
worth it in terms of savings and fun!
* Find free things to do on weekends.
* Have family fun cheap.
* Make crafts together.
* Have fun at the beach.
!! Video !!
!! Tips !!
* Use water and energy sparingly in your home. Set goals to reduce
water usage in your home and teach children about vampire energy
wastage.
* Overspending often comes with psychological baggage. If you can't
rein in your spending because of emotional issues, seek counseling
to address the broader underlying issues. Some community budget
centers will help you to find someone who can do such counseling
at an affordable price or even free of cost. Ask what is
available.
!! Warnings !!
* Be consistent and don't preach budget consciousness and then blow
it yourself. This is about all of the family pitching in and
making changes.
!! Things You\'ll Need !!
* Budget tools (paper and pen or a computer program)
* Paper and markers for the goals poster, tack to put it up
* Sales catalogs and coupons, scissors and storage file for coupons
!! Related WikiHows !!
* How to Spend Time With Your Family
* How to Plan a Family Vacation On a Budget
* How to Achieve Smooth Skin on a Budget
* How to Feed a Family of 4 on a Budget
* How to Assess Progress Against Budget
!! Article Tools !!
* Read on wikiHow
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