When you have a family you always have to make sure that you are on top of your finances. It's just something that comes as part of the parcel. You are no longer just responsible for yourself and a partner, you now have to look after your growing family and make sure that you have the funds to pay bills, buy clothing, explore the world, and buy the essentials that you need. That you can be a little bit more frugal with your family finances can help.
When looking at your family's finances you are often aiming for financial stability and making sure that you are ready for anything if it does go wrong. For example, the top earner in the household falls ill or loses their job or you could come across on expected expenses such as having a leak or a fire at home. Financial security should be long-term it's not something that should be a second thought. This means that you should be looking at your finances at least once a month and have a look at it annually together.
Let's have a look at how you can become more financially secure as a family:
Look At Your Monthly Money
The thing that you need to do is have a look at how much money you have coming in and going out. You should include any wages, benefits, and any other source of income such as a side hustle. You should also include every piece of outgoing money, and be as honest as possible. You may need to have a look at your bank statement and credit card bills to find out the exact amount you are spending. Once you have all of this information you will be able to see exactly what's coming in and the exactly what is going out. You can then move on and start building a budget.
Build A Realistic Budget
Your budget should include everything that is a necessity such as paying for utilities, rent, your mortgage, and other bills. It should also include variable expenses such as your food. If you are planning on going on holiday or spending money on birthdays and Christmas, it is also a good idea to include a monthly amount for these. This way you won't go over budget when it comes to spending money on a birthday present or booking a holiday. You need to make sure that you are setting a realistic budget. It is nice to cut back as much as possible and see your disposable income rise, however, if your budget isn't realistic it will be impossible to stick to.
If you want to make your budget as realistic as possible you need to look at how you have been spending your money over the last six months. This will lead to you being able to add in an allowance for things like eating out, family days out, DIY, and more. Remember, that you can always alter your budget if you need to. So, if you need to cut back more and make extra savings you can always relook at your budget at a later date. Likewise, if you are struggling you could always increase your budget, for example, you may be struggling to stick to your food budget every week.
Look For Ways To Reduce Your Bills
Once you have your budget in place you will have a clear idea of how much you are spending on your regular bills for your home. This includes things like your gas, electric, water, phone bill, Broadband bill, and more. Once you have this information, you can start searching for deals and having a look to see if you can save money in any of these areas. If you do this annually, you may be surprised by how much money you can save. Sometimes you're covering provider will offer you a lower price so that you do not leave them and other times you will find that you have incentives to leave and go with a new provider. All you need to do is set a date each year where you sit down go through your bell sheets and do a quick Search to find out if you still have the best price. If you don't have the best price it's time to start making some changes. If you do have the best price make a note of it and recheck it the following year.
Another way for you to reduce bells is to make sure that you are being more energy efficient. This could be educating the children on the importance of turning lights or technology off at the end of the night. It could also be being sensible about when you run your washing machine or drying your clothes outside rather than using the tumble dry.
Plan For The Future
You have a family you need to plan for the future as much as possible. You should be planning for holidays, buying school uniforms, getting books they need, updating the home, College funds, and more. If you are planning on growing your family or are already expecting another child then you may want to have a look at a checklist of things new parents need. Even if you have had children before these checklists can be extremely useful, especially because of advancements in technology and changes in designs. There is a wide range of items you can get for a growing family so looking at a checklist like this can help you to budget and to be more prepared for the future.
If you are planning on going on holiday with your family it can be a huge expense. This expense is even more if you want to go in the summer holidays or are looking to go abroad. It's a good idea to plan for holidays like this rather than booking last minute. So think about adding a savings pot to your budget where you can grow a holiday fund.
Plan Your Food
One of the biggest expenses for families has got to be their food. It can quickly add up and with the rise in prices recently some families have found themselves paying out nearly double for their normal food shop compared to a year ago. This has caused a lot of trouble for people who are trying to stick to a budget. This means that you need to find ways to cut down on your food bill without cutting down on the amount of food you are buying for your family. One of the biggest ways you can save money when it comes to food shopping is to plan your food. When you plan your food for the week or the month you can minimize the risk of having food waste at the end of the week. Try sitting down before you go do your food chart and create a rough plan for the week. Make sure you include breakfast, dinner, and tea for each day for each person in the house. You need to then think about including some healthy snacks, a few naughty snacks, and some beverages.
Planning your food should include a small amount for eating out. Just because you are living on a budget and trying to be more financially secure doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a meal out or have a takeaway now and again. It's more about making sure that you budget for it and include it as part of your food plan.
Think About Where You Buy Clothes
Another huge expense for families is buying clothing. It is completely different from buying clothing just for yourself or a partner. Children grow quickly and they have a habit of marking clothes or getting holes in them. Therefore you may feel as though you are forever buying clothes and that is an endless cost. As your children get older though, you will soon start to notice that their clothing lasts a little bit longer but you still have the issue of them growing. As soon as they have a growth spurt they need a new complete wardrobe. This can become extremely expensive especially if you have only just bought them some new clothes. A great way to cook down your costs when you buy clothes is to change where you buy them or when you buy them.
Have a look at charity shops and platforms like Vinted or Facebook marketplace as you can find some really good deals on second-hand clothing. You may even find that some people sell new with tags and grab yourself a real bargain. Also, have a lookout for any clothing sales. If there is a certain shop that you like the clothing from for your children it's a good idea to sign up for their newsletter and make a note of when their sales are. This way you can get the best deals but still get the clothing that you want.
As you can see when you plan your finances properly it's not too difficult to make sure that you are financially secure for your family and your future. These tips should help you to get control of your family finances and feel happier about your financial future.
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