Being a frugal mom and saving money isn’t something to be ashamed of. As moms, it’s important that we find the best ways to care for and provide for our families, without having to break the bank.
Just think about all the ways that you can allocate your money to disperse throughout your monthly bills and expenses if you can find ways to save money elsewhere! Looking for ways to save money? This frugal mom is excited to share my tips with you!
A Step by Step Guide to Saving Money from a Frugal Mom
First and foremost, embrace your frugality. The word “frugal” isn’t a bad word. Instead, view it as a way that you are able to make a contribution to your family that will have an everlasting effect. Saving money allows your family to do so many other things and activities that wouldn’t be possible if you weren’t money-savvy!
Know Your Household Finances
Before you can start saving money, it’s important that you educate yourself on your finances. While saving money is important, having a general idea of what you are saving for and why should also be on your mind.
Break down your expenses every single month, and compare it to the income that you have coming in. Make certain to count all “fixed” sources of incomes so you have a solid idea of what is realistic. Other incomes like commission and bonuses are great but can fluctuate monthly causing a real difference from what you “think” you might earn to what you actually do.
Break Down Your Household Costs into Categories of “Needs” vs. “Wants”
This is where most budgets are truly broken. And trust me…it’s a hard one to tackle. In order to save money for your household, you need to know what you’re purchasing and why. Once you write out all your expenses that occur each and every month, sit down and have a candid conversation with yourself.
Are the majority of your expenses because of a need or a want? Do you really need to have the biggest cable TV packages or is that something that you want to be able to watch all the latest Hallmark movies? (trust me…I get it)
What it really boils down to is this. If you can afford to have certain wants, do so. BUT, once those wants start to cause chaos on your saving money budget, it’s time for you to make a choice.
Choosing to pay for only the needs in your life is a great way that you can start saving money, and start doing it quickly. If your cable packages cost you $125 per month, that means that cutting it out will put another $125 in your pocket! See? It adds up really, really quickly.
ALWAYS Do Your Research
Didn’t you know that studying and doing research was part of being a frugal mom? Honestly, I find myself doing this daily! I take pride in the fact that I’m frugal by being smart about it. Let’s talk about the cable bill scenario again. If your bill is $125 per month, that’s steep and a strain on your budget.
You know this, and I know this. BUT…by doing research you can then educate yourself on ways to make that cost NOT as steep. If you can’t bear the thought of cutting out cable altogether, take it upon yourself to find a frugal way to overcome. Believe it or not, there are some great alternatives to cable that are a fraction of the price! (Sling TV starts at just $25/month!)
Any way that you can cut down your expenses of your “wants” each and every month, you should. Why pay more when there are more frugal options out there?
Communicate Your End Goals with Your Family Members
To me, this is a big step that shouldn’t be overlooked. Being a frugal mom means that you are trying to do what is best for your family; however, in stating that, your family should have an idea of what those goals are as well so that they can help out any way that they can.
Communicating with your spouse about the budget and ways to cut costs is extremely important as well. I say this because I believe it…but, trying to save money when your spouse isn’t on board will not work. At all.
In order for your family to move forward to increase the bottom line of your finances, your better half has to be willing to listen, understand, and implement as well. While it may be an easy concept for you to understand, you may find resistance from them.
And if they resist, that also may mean that they aren’t going to be as willing to cut out some of the excess spending that happens every month.
Communicate the reasons why you want to become more frugal to your spouse and your children, but do so in a positive light.
Let them know that you want to pay off the car, or that you want to save up money to take everyone on a vacation at the end of the year. If you communicate and let them know WHY you want to save money, you may find that they are actually on board and supportive of the idea!
Last but not least, don’t be hard on yourself. There may be days where you go over budget or you spend too much money on something that you didn’t anticipate. Life happens. It happens to all of us! Instead of letting it derail you and all of your frugal plans, embrace it and find a way to get back on track.
Remember, every day is a new day when it comes to being frugal. And don’t be ashamed of your frugal wants and needs!
You being frugal is one of the greatest gifts that you can actually give your family because it frees up money to spend on other things that everyone can enjoy. Embrace your frugalness! You’ve got this mama!
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