We all want to save money, but it is sometimes a difficult thing to do with kids, bills, and groceries. It is even harder to save money when your family has only one source of income coming in. As a stay at home mom, I am constantly trying to find ways to stretch out our money. You never know when you might need a little extra money for either a necessity or even a vacation. Either way, it’s nice to have a little extra cash! Here are 5 simple ways our family saves money.
1. Meal plan/make budgeted grocery lists. Every Sunday night my boyfriend and I talk about what meals I should make during the week. We choose 5 meals and ramen noodles or something like that as a backup plan for a day that I don’t have a lot of time to cook. Then I make a very detailed grocery list. If I make a list, that helps me not to spend too much money on extra things in the store. It helps me out a ton. I also buy some things in bulk with some things because in the long run, it can be cheaper.
2. Only go out to eat once a week. We try to only go out to eat once a week. It is usually on the weekends when my boyfriend doesn’t have to work. Sometimes in the middle of the week we pick up fast food or something if I want a little break from cooking, but hey, as a homemaker, cooking is part of my job!
3. Keep a change jar. We keep a giant coca-cola bottle piggy bank in our closet. Whenever we have change, we drop it in our change jar. We plan on putting the extra money towards a vacation eventually!
4. Consult your significant other when making big purchases. If an item cost $50 or more, you should talk to your significant other to get a second opinion on whether you should buy it or not. Sometimes while talking about it, you might realize you don’t want to spend your money on it.
5. Go out less. Sometimes I really want to get out of the house, but it seems like every time I go anywhere, I spend money. If I stay at home, I’m able to make sure I didn’t waste any money.
I hope you found these tips helpful. I just wanted to share the things that help our family save money on a day to day basis. If you do these things continually, I promise you will see results.
Listen to “Episode 18: 5 Money Saving Tips And Tricks” on Spreaker.
13 replies on “5 Ways Your Family Can Save Money With Only One Income!”
These are such easy things to do that can really save money! Thanks for sharing! We try to do meal planning and prepping before doing our grocery shopping so we stay mindful of what we actually need. This has helped a lot!
These are such doable ideas for saving money. You are so right about staying in more often because I always end up spending money when we go places too!
These are a great tips! Very practical and easy to do!
These are definitely a good starting place for saving money!
I need to stay home more too but now that you can have almost everything shipped to your home it doesn’t help much. LOL I do keep a change jar and I try to keep filling it all year. Then come December cash it out for Christmas gifts.
Yes! having backup meals is so important! There are days I just DO NOT feel like cooking, I always make sure I have easy things to throw together, like tuna or pre-made frozen dinner. Eating out is always a big drain to the budget! Great tips! thanks!
These are really great tips – we actually don’t go out to eat except for special occasions to stay on budget. Meal planning and grocery shopping just once a week is a must!
We’re planning to have a second baby and i am starting to think of ways to survive with only one income. A change jar is new to me..great idea! We have coins everywhere
These are great tips! My husband and I really need to go on a meal plan like yesterday!
This was pretty relevant to my fam’s situation. Thank you for your ideas. Even though it’s a challenge limiting the number of times we go to a shopping plaza or restaurant or the beach, doing so really can help pinch those pennies.
Thank you for reading! Yes! Sometimes saving is hard!
These are so practical and handy tips. Sometimes we just get lost in other things so much that we forget prioritizing these little things which ultimately matter the most. Thank you for sharing them.
So true! Thank you for reading and commenting!