If you are a mom, then you have a lot of responsibility towards your family. Looking after your kids and also managing the finances can be quite stressful. This is even more pronounced if you are working. It is a good idea to keep your expenditure under control so that you don’t end up in debt. Debt management is not easy to do and if this gets added on to your list of responsibilities then life can get quite difficult for you. Thus you should know beforehand how to manage the finances of your family and decrease the everyday cost so that you don’t end up in debt. Here are some ways in which you can reduce the expenditure of the family.
- Buy second hand items when possible – You shouldn’t shy away from buying second hand items just because someone else has used it before you and they are not brand new. There are a lot of such items which look as good as new which people are selling off because of some reason or the other. You should grab the opportunity to buy such items. Usually items like furniture, carpets, and electrical appliances are the items which wouldn’t make much of a different if you buy it second hand, but of course they need to be in good condition.
- Distinguish the needs from the wants – As the person who runs the family, it is very much important for you to distinguish the needs from the wants. Your children might ask for things that are not needed and surpasses the family budget by a great deal. You should explain them the concept of budgeting. This will help them in future too.
- Reduce your visits to the mall – This is vital if you want to decrease your monthly expenditure. The more number of times you will visit the mall, the more time you will have to check out items on display that you feel like buying but don’t actually need. In order to avoid this you should make a list at the beginning of every week listing down the items that you need and visit the mall just once a week in order to buy those.
- Have fun together – A considerable amount of money goes behind entertainment in every household. Movie tickets and popcorns cost a lot, not the mention the price of the fuel required to drive to and from movie halls. Instead of this, you can hire DVDs and sit and watch with family. You can also organize small parties in the backyard with friends in some weekends which will be much less costly than going for weekend trips. Consider visiting a financial advisor such as Jim Potter to show the kids first-hand the importance of money management.
- Teach your kids money management – This is very important for their future too. You can give your kids a certain amount of money at the beginning of every month as pocket money and ask them to manage their personal expenses for the month with that money.
The above tips can be quite helpful if you want to manage the finances of your family efficiently.