- Drive a P.O.S. instead of a car bought with borrowed funds. I’m not saying drive an unreliable car, I’m just suggesting you might have to drive a not so pretty car or a smaller car than you’d like to have for a while.
- Become a one car family. For some, this may not be an option, especially if your significant other or yourself is a road warrior for your job. But it is an option if that is not the case – remember car pooling is great.
- Use cash – a $40 purchase on a debit card is the same as a $43 purchase. What I mean is that we tend to not freak out if at the cash register we realize we went over our $40 budget by $3 because we have the money on our debit card to pay it. If this were a cash transaction you’d have to put something back in order to only spend your $40. This is why cash is KING – it will make you stick to your budget!
- Save like it’s going out of style. This is how my husband and I do it…plain and simple. We save, in fact I hoard money. Hoard any money that you have left over in your budget. If you don’t trust yourself to keep it in a savings account than take out the cash put it somewhere safe but out of sight out of mind.
- No more going out to eat. This will literally eat up your money in a heart beat! Especially if you’re taking out 2 kids plus you and the spouse. Make the commitment to eat meals at home and to brown bag. Invite friends over for lunch instead of going out to eat.
- Get rid of your fancy cell phone with the data plan. Let’s be honest unless you have a job that requires you to have a smart phone, you don’t need one. You can go down to having nothing but a land line or a prepaid phone plan. Added bonus – if your phone is in great condition you could probably sell it on eBay or Craigslist to add additional income or trade it-in through Amazon’s trade store.
- Shop Goodwill, Thrift Stores, and consignment/garage sales for clothes (especially kids clothes).
- DIY – Google, Pinterest, and YouTube are freaking awesome when it comes to showing/explaining how to do something yourself. Are there things that you should leave to the professionals? Yes, but there are several things that you can do – you can build awesome toys for your kids, update your bathroom, make your own clothes or decorations, the list of possibilities are endless.
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Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog says
Great, great tips! There are so many things we say we “need” that we could definitely do without. Thanks for sharing your ideas! Have a great weekend, Jessi!
~Abby =)