It does not matter how great your income is; when you have kids, it never seems to be enough. You think you are doing all you can to make frugal choices, but are you? Below is some money saving tips that have more an impact than you might think.
1. Kiss Your Car Insurance Goodbye – Okay, you need car insurance, but when was the last time you shopped around? Rates often factor in age, address, and credit. So, if you are still paying the same rate as you were five years ago when you lived in a questionable area, had no credit, and still had a speeding ticket that had not dropped off your record, then you are probably paying too much. Call your provider and ask to be reevaluated, and get rates from others while you are at it.
2. Examine Your Phone Bill – How often do you use that call forwarding option on your home phone service or digital voicemail on your cell? Phone bills are often full of a lot of services you don’t need.
3. Cancel Movie Channels – Get rid of those expensive movie channels and get Netflix or something similar. Most people pay an average of $30 per month on movie channels. Let’s face it; you are lucky if one decent movie is added every week anyway. It is just not worth it.
4. Buy a Water Fountain – Right now, you are saying, “Wait! I’m trying to save money, not spend it.” Instead of having an air purifier, vaporizer, and sound element all plugged in the nursery, eliminate these things for one fountain. The sound is soothing, the water evaporates to provide moisture, and the movement of water cleans the air. You can pick one up from online stores like IndoorFountainPros.com.
5. Stop Eating Out – Eating at restaurants is so expensive. Even if you are only grabbing a muffin and coffee for breakfast or a salad for lunch, this really adds up. Pack snacks, lunches, etc., when you are on the move, so you are not tempted to hit the drive thru.
6. Don’t Buy Bottled Water – Bottled water is truly the biggest waste of money and it is bad for the environment. Buy a few BPA-free, washable water bottles and a water pitcher with a filter and fill the bottles with your own clean water.
7. Clip Coupons – How many times have you been standing in line and kick yourself because you remember seeing a coupon for something you are buying? Use a recipe box with dividers to create a coupon filing system that works for you.
8. Save Gas – There are probably plenty of times when you can easily walk or bike to where you are going instead of taking the car. Gas is expensive. If you have a smaller yard, ditch that gas guzzling mower for a reel mower instead.
9. Make Baby Food – Buy small jars and puree your own baby food. It will cost a fraction of the price. There are recipes all over the Internet.
10. Ask for a Better Credit Card Rate – You never know if you can get a better rate, if you don’t ask. Call your credit card company and tell them you are going to transfer the balance to a new card with a better rate unless they can do a little better.
3 Responses to “10 Money Saving Tips for Parents”
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These are some great money saving tips, especially for those of us that have kids and always seem to live paycheck to paycheck.
It’s so hard nowadays Tim – I don’t know how some folks do it.
These are some good money saving tips, thanks!