Take a minute to look at your bank statements and credit card accounts from the last month. Add them all up and you will see that you spend a lot of money. It’s not cheap to live these days, especially with a large family.
There are the essentials, like food and clothing, then the unexpected. It can seem like money is always going out, often times faster than it comes in. So anytime you can save money it should be something that you take full advantage of.
There are a lot of ways for a family to save money, but I want to focus on just a few for this blog post. There are so many things you can do, but focusing on a few at a time will help you avoid becoming overwhelmed. You have to be consistent, but if you are the savings will start to add up.
Join the super saver clubs at the places you frequently shop at.
Every grocery store, department sore, and even specialty store has a discount club or some sort of rewards program that will extend special offers just for joining. You usually just have to give them your name and either a phone number or email address.
There is nothing else to is. Just by doing this you are going to save money every time you shop. If you see amazing specials like buy one get one free, stock up. Over time this saves you a lot of money.
Register for alerts at surplus websites.
As the internet becomes used by everyone, and sites like Amazon making it acceptable to buy almost anything and everything online, it’s leading to more surplus e-commerce websites coming to market.
The benefit of subscribing to these alerts at a surplus network is that you will be notified as soon as there is a really great deal. They always have good deals, but the ones they announce via newsletters and alerts are typically the best ones to get you on the website and hopefully spending more money.
You can check them on a regular basis, or just monitor the special announcements and offers they send via email.
Look into recurring billing discounts for things you use often.
A lot of companies are realizing that consumers want convenience and savings, so it’s created a huge surge in subscription companies and also companies offering discounts for signing up for auto-ship.
Look at Dollar Shave Club. They made it as easy for men to have new razors every month and their price point when they launched killed everything available in store. You could save more than 60% just by joining and they arrived in your mailbox. There was no need to even go to the store any more. They changed the way people shop and encouraged a lot of different subscription box companies to launch.
Create a rock solid budget to eliminate extra and unnecessary spending.
One thing that is so simple to do yet most don’t is creating a monthly budget. This outlines exactly what you can afford to spend and holds you accountable. It also helps to eliminate unnecessary spending.
It’s much easier to say no to something that you don’t need when you are working off a budget. Accounting for every penny that you spend will make you much more responsible when it comes to personal finances.
Stan is a freelance consumer review expert and has been published on Forbes and USA Today, as well as being featured on NBC Chicago multiple times as an in-studio guest.
