Disclosure: This is a collaborative post
Family life can be expensive. Children grow fast, meaning they’re always in need of something, whether it’s new clothes, new shoes, or new toys after they’ve grown out of what they currently have. Feeding a growing family and keeping them entertained can soon become expensive.
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Frugal living is smart, even if you can afford to spend more, as you can build up savings for emergencies, and can teach your children some good money habits. Whether you save money through small changes, like using vouchers for the food shop, or big changes like using a loan cost calculator to pay less on your mortgage, there are lots of ways to live a more frugal family life.
Table of Contents
Food
Follow The Pantry Principle
Keep a basic list of everything the family eats. Only shop in order to restock these items. By shopping less and shopping from a list, you can avoid impulse buys and spend less at the supermarket.
Cook From Scratch
Prepackaged healthy foods usually end up costing you a lot more than it would to buy the ingredients and cook the dish from scratch yourself.
Menu Plan Before You Shop
Once a week, sit down and plan your menu for the next week. This way you will know exactly what and how much you need to buy. This will stop you from buying more of something that you need, so you’ll spend less and waste less food.
Wait Until You Have 10 Items On The List To Shop
If you’re making trips to the grocery store every time you need anything, you’re bound to pick up more things while you’re in there and spend more than you need to. If you can wait until your grocery list has ten items on it, then shop.
Grow Your Own Food
Growing your own food is a good way to get children in the garden and teach them about different vegetables. It can also save you a bit of money as you’ll have fewer ingredients to buy.
Keep It Simple
Try to keep your family meals reasonably simple. Children are content not to eat a huge variety of foods, and as long as you keep it healthy with plenty of fruit and veg, they’ll get everything they need. Avoid food that comes out of a box, and you can eat well simply and cheaply.
Buy In Bulk
A lot of food can be bought in bulk, where it’s in bulk bins at the grocery store or specialist bulk-buying stores. Dry ingredients and things in tins can be bought in bulk for a much cheaper price per unit than buying individually, and store them until you need them.
Reuse Your Bags
In the UK, you have to pay for bags at the supermarket. If you’re doing this every time you go, even the cheap price will soon add up. Instead, invest in some reusable bags and remember to take them with you every time you shop. Keep some in the boot of the car, so you can’t forget.
Share
If you have friends who are also trying to lead a frugal life, see what sharing you can do to reduce costs for all of you. If you both grow food, you can swap any abundance of produce you have. Buy in bulk together, so you get the lower price, without quite as much food to find space for to store.
Utilities
Turn Your Water Heater Off
After everyone has used the how water in the morning, for a shower or a bath, turn it off for the rest of the day so it’s not heating water that nobody needs.
Aim For Zero Waste
Whenever you need to shop, take your reusable bags and containers with you so you don’t end up with plastic bags that need to be thrown away. Save the containers from takeaways to store your own leftovers in. Stop junk mail coming in. Aim to reduce unnecessary waste wherever you can. This can save you some money, and it’s also a much greener way to live.
Compost
Start a compost pile. Any garden waste, leftover food, and scrap paper can go into the compost. Your food garden will be grateful!
Adjust The Thermostat
You don’t need to make a big change. Adjusting the thermostat just one degree can make a huge difference to what you pay for your heating or air-conditioning, but you probably won’t be able to feel the difference in how warm or cool your home is.
Dress In Layers
When it’s cold, put on some more layers before you turn the heating up. Wear cosy jumpers, thick socks, and warm clothes. Tuck up under blankets in the evening to keep the cold out.
Take Cool Showers
In the summer, dress in light clothing that can breathe, and short showers to cool off during the day instead of cranking up the air-conditioning or turning on fans. Keep the showers short so you’re not wasting water.
Leisure
Find Free Activities
Days out can be hugely expensive, but you can visit the local pet store rather than the aquarium. Alternatively, taking a ball to the park can be just as fun as an expensive city trip. The key is to create magical memories with the ones you love.
Have Home Date Nights
Keeping the romance alive is vital for every couple, but you may feel guilty about the expensive dinner and show. A homemade meal and a film can be equally enjoyable. You can treat yourself (and your partner) to a fishnet body stocking to make the evening even more memorable. Even without a costly hotel stay.
Take Camping Trips
Every family deserve a holiday from time to time, not least after the pandemic. However, a transatlantic trip could cost thousands. A far more affordable route is to take a road trip or camping adventure. The kids will love it, and the memories last a lifetime. Best of all, you won’t break the bank.
Gifts
Give To Charity
Instead of buying gifts for extended family, that are likely to be forgotten about quickly, make a donation to a charity they support in their name instead. This is thoughtful and is better than gifts that get stuffed into a cupboard.
Give Your Services
If you’re on a tight budget and can’t afford to give a gift, give the gift of your time or services instead. For example, offer a few nights of free babysitting, help with the garden, or a lesson in something you’re good at it, like baking.
Make Gifts
If you’re skilled at a craft, you can make gifts for people too. Whether you bake, sew, do woodwork, or make jewellery, a handmade gift is always treasured. Have a look at this simple tiara tutorial for ideas,
Buy Pre-Owned Items For Gifts
If you’re buying with someone who doesn’t mind owning pre-owned stuff, you can save a lot of money with clever shopping. For example, if the kids are asking for a console, a pre-owned, refurbished one will be much cheaper than a new one, and as long as you buy from somewhere reputable, will work just as well.
Set A Limit
If you and the family or your friends are exchanging gifts, agree on a budget beforehand. A low budget can be turned into a fun challenge to see who can find the best gift for £5, for example.
Only Buy For One Christmas
If you have a big family, or a lot of friends, suggest a Secret Santa. Everyone only has to buy for one person, so they can spend a lot less. If you’re only buying for one person, you will have a bit more to spend than if you were buying for ten people, so can get them something much nicer too.
Home Education
Use The Library
Books, especially textbooks, can get very expensive. The library is free! Get yourself and the children a library card and use it to borrow books for education and for fun. Libraries often have lots of other resources too, including DVDs and internet access. Look out for free events at the library for your children, such as story-reading or meet the author afternoons.
Use Free Classics
A lot of classic books are now out of copyright, so they are free to download on Kindle. If you don’t own a Kindle, you can use their free app on your phone or tablet. Download the app, download some free children’s classics, and you have lot s of free reading resources for your children.
Use Children’s Websites
There are lots of useful educational resources for children available for free online, and there are now even more thanks to the pandemic. Children’s TV channels often have good websites with fun, but educational, games and other resources. The BBC made lots of resources available through their BBC Bitesize platform, where you can find guides, activities, and quizzes for kids of all ages, across lots of different subjects. These sites can make learning fun, as well as saving you money on buying things for your home classroom.
There are lots of ways to save money as a family, without feeling as though you’re missing out on anything. Modelling good money habits is also good for your children, as they can learn from your good habits and best tips and tricks, and use them themselves as they get older. When they grow up and leave home, you can feel confident that they understand money and that you’ve given them the tools to make smart financial decisions for themselves.
By saving money on things like your bills and on grocery shopping, you should have some more money that can put into savings for the future, such as to help with the costs of your child’s university or buying their first home, or to spend on making memories with your children, such as on day trips or holidays. Being frugal doesn’t mean being mean with money. It’s about making smart choices so you have more money to spend on the things that really matter to you.
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