Tips for Moms to Reduce Expenses
Moms are most often the bill-payer, grocery shopper, budget monitor, and chef, so we need to learn how to scale back whenever and wherever possible. By following these basic and easy tips, moms can greatly reduce their monthly expenses. Many of these areas we take for granted every day and don’t give second thought about – but with a little more consideration, these are all areas that you could reduce your expenses:
Breakfast at Home
Make your own coffee and breakfast in the morning; don’t buy it. Spending $6 every morning at McDonalds or Starbucks doesn’t sound like much but that equals $2,190 a year…per person. This may require splurging on a coffee maker with a timer, but all that’s required of you is the water, coffee and filter the night before. Some fancy models have permanent filters– no paper filters needed- and some offer insulated travel mugs for your convenience.
Lunch at Work or School
Pack your own lunch with drinks and don’t buy them everyday. If you are spending $10 or more every work day for lunch, drinks and snacks, that racks up a whopping $2,700 a year. Just think of all the deli meats, wheat bread, and fresh fruit that can buy! This includes dad and the kids’ lunches; insulated lunch boxes are sold everywhere in designs to please everyone, even dad.
Transportation
Inner city or suburb residents can change their mode of transportation; consider carpooling, bus, subway, walking, or scooter.
Dinners
Plan dinners a week in advance. Put your slow cooker and microwave to good use. For small families or singles, a toaster over uses considerably less electric than a conventional oven. Take a Sunday afternoon doing nothing but semi-preparing for that week’s meals, such as chopping vegetables or frying burger. You can save even more time, money, and sanity by preparing some meals to freeze. Moms, you should also consider serving your kids Koolaid instead of those sugar-laden, ten-percent-juice-drinks. You’ll save money and your kids’ teeth.
Reduce Your Heat
Turn down heat, buy some slippers, put on your hoodie, and then keep your heat below 74 degrees Fahrenheit and the air conditioning above 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Reconsider Cable Television
Choose the smallest satellite or cable package. Reassess how much TV you actually watch and you may decide to cancel all together. Why spend $60 a month on something you seldom use when you can save $720 a year?
Remember the Library
Utilize your local library – where else can you rent a movie for a week, free of charge?
Get Rid of Junk
Reorganize, have a yard sale, then use the cash to pay bills.
Stop Paying for Unnecessary Electricity
Unplug what’s not in use – charges, printers, radios, electronic games. These items all pull electricity even when turned off if you leave them plugged in. Try plugging things into a power strip and hitting the “off” button whenever you're not using them.
Debbie Dragon is a freelance writer providing articles for Billeater.com, a site that helps its readers save money, with unique money saving tips and tricks for your busy lifestyle.
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6 Responses to “Tips for Moms to Reduce Expenses”
October 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
How would Kool-Aid be better than juice drinks? Don’t you use sugar to make it? It doesn’t even have the redemptive 10% juice. Why not serve milk, water or juice? Frugal and healthier than juice drinks or Kool-Aid in my opinion.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:18 am
you will get better results and savings on the use of air conditoning if you keep the thermostat at 78 and better results on the furnace/heating bill if you keep your thermostat at 68 for daytime and lower at bedtime. the koolaid tip is atrocious even if you use sugar free koolaid…water, water, water!
October 12th, 2009 at 10:35 am
We keep our thermostat at 65 during the winter, and 60 at night. We just wear socks and sweaters if we are cold. It takes a little getting used to but your body adjusts.
I’m going to have to disagree with the Kool-aid tip, as well. it might be cheap, but it’s as high in sugar as anything else, and sugar-free is just full of chemicals. We drink water and milk. Juice is only served a couple of times a month (usually when someone is sick and needs calories without food).
Some great tips, though!
October 12th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
None of these tips is anything new, it’s really all just common sense. And, yes, I have to agree with all the other comments: Why even suggest Kool-Aid instead of water?? I give my son bottled apple juice but I dilute it so it’s less sweet and lasts longer!
October 16th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I agree the Kool-Ade ‘tip’ is bizarre. My kids drink milk or water, and occasionally an herbal tea. Nobody needs sugary drinks.
We don’t have television at all, either, and this saves us even more money. In fact, Dave Ramsey says that studies indicate those who do have television spend more money each year buying advertised products than those who don’t watch it, so you save money twice over, once on your cable bill and once again by not being subjected to thousands of ads.
I have tried to get my family to unplug the electronics, but they don’t believe that the trouble is worth it. Is there a chart somewhere showing how much electricity that saves?
October 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Kool-Aid saves kids’ teeth???? That’s insane. It is full of high fructose corn syrup (awful stuff) and if it is sugar free, it is full of awful chemicals. Was that sarcasm that went over my head or were you really serious?
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