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Feeding a Family on a Budget by Michael Colucci
If you only had $300 a month to spend on groceries for a family of four, could you do it? What sort of food would make the list and what would stay tauntingly on the store’s shelves?
Whatever your reason for having a tight budget, the truth is that going to the grocery store without a plan is a BIG budget breaker. And sadly all that cash ends up vanishing into our stomachs and then…let’s stop there.
Could you save $25 a month on groceries? How about $50 or $100? Possibly you could cut your bill by almost 50% if you consider some of the following suggestions:
First you must divide the budget you have into three categories; weekly, bi-weekly and monthly. Once you have the totals fixed, try to find a way to make it work. If you budgeted too tight, only then consider how much more you really need to spend.
Second, identify your WEEKLY needs; milk, bread, fruits. These will be your saving graces when the troops are hungry. You can load up every week and always have a healthy snack available. Think about $15/week.
Third, identify your BI-WEEKLY needs; eggs, cheese, vegetables, meat and cheese for sandwiches etc. These items have a slightly longer shelf life but you will watch how much you use when you know there’s still four days until your next purchase. Try $20 every two weeks.
Fourth, get the remainder of your groceries in one place. Use cash to pay (to avoid temptation of over spending) and work out your shopping list ahead of time. You only need to do this once as many of the items (Cereal, meat etc.) will need to be repurchased each time. Other items (sugar, flour etc.) may be substituted every other month. In this example you have $200 left.
Fifth, have a schedule of meals that you can rotate. Cheap, healthy meals like stir fry can be inexpensive as they use less meat than full pieces of chicken or beef for dinner. Plan to have a meat meal offset by a simpler dish like pasta every other night. This way your family will not go through ‘feast-and-famine’ when they eat like kings the first week and are eating canned chili every night for the last week.
Always determine your meals based on what you really plan to cook. If you have easy weeknight staples, try to find the cheapest method of preparing them, or make do with less pre- packaged affair on other nights when you have more time. Using items like frozen vegetables can make eating cheap also healthy and convenient.
Clearly the $300 suggestion will depend on your family, the age of your children and how much your budget really allows. Whatever your budget, taking the time to draw up a plan and think about your choices will guarantee that you keep more cash in your wallet for other important things.
About the Author
For free cooking recipes please visit www.dailyrecipes.net
Is Your Family Budget Really Working? by Mo Conley
This may seem like an easy question to answer but the sad fact is that most people think that just because they aren’t bouncing checks that their budget is working. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The point of a budget is to help you reach specific financial goals you have set for yourself. In the following article we are going to discuss some the ways to ensure your family budget is really working by showing you some ways to periodically check your budget.
Firstly when setting up your family budget it is advisable to create checkpoints. These checkpoints should be set up with your goals in mind. So if you decide that you want to save up to buy a new car in 6 months, the you would create monthly checkpoints to ensure that you are on course to reach your goals.
Secondly, make sure that you are setting realistic goals. Don’t create a goal to buy a new car in 6 months if it just isn’t possible for you to save enough money. For example, if you make $2000 per month and you only have $200 left over at the end of the month, it really isn’t possible to save more than $1200 in 6 months time.
Lastly, make some cutbacks. Take a hard look at the where your money is being spent. You will be surprised where your money goes. You will be amazed at the different places you can cut back spending in your household budget. Most people don’t realize that eating out is a huge money leak in a home budget. It is easy to spend $10 a day on fast food which equals $300 per month or $3600 per year. That is a down payment on a new car.
As you can see these are a few simple ways to ensure that you budget is functioning on all cylinders. The most important thing you can do to ensure that your family budget is working is to stay on it and consistently checking it. After a few months, it will become habit to do these things and before you know it, you will accomplishing your financial goals!
About the Author
Mo Conley is the author of Setting Up And Maintaining Your Family Budget which walks you through setting up a budget for maximum results. For more information on how to create a budget personalized to you visit: http://www.setupafamilybudget.com
Making A Family Budget That You Can Stick With by Lee Dobbins
Some people do a lot of compulsive buying. It may feel good now that the item has been purchased but this will all go away when the bill comes and there isnt that much money left for savings.
Can anything be done to stop this from happening? The answer is yes. All the individual has to do is make a budget plan that everyone in the household will follow.
The objective of the family budget is to spend less than how much the individual is actually earning. This could be from the salaries of the spouses and any other investments such as stocks or properties being leased out which is income generating.
The first step in making a budget is making everyone compute how much is actually being spent per month. This is the only for everyone to realize that spending for example $4.00 a day for coffee is actually $80 a month if the individual does this 5 days a week.
The question then becomes if this is necessary? If the family buys coffee for the home, why not just make it then bring it to work in a mug? The money saved can be spent on paying for credit card bills in full rather than paying the minimum and earning interest.
Some rules must be set when making purchases. If this exceeds for example $300, the spouses must first discuss if this is needed. There might be a similar item available at a cheaper price in another store.
Most stores accept either cash or a credit card in making a purchase. One way to save money is to find out if this can be paid through an installment plan. This will ease the burden of paying for the item if there isn’t that much money in the wallet when the bill comes at the end of the month. Energy conservation is also part of the family budget. If no one is in the room, the lights or even the air conditioner should be turned off. The faucets must also be closed properly so that the amount paid per month to both companies is not that big.
Even before the pending oil crisis, families were encouraged to car pool to get from one destination to another. If the place where the person wants to go is not that far, it will be a good idea to walk, take a bike or rely on public transportation, which can save some money that, was once used for gas.
Most homes have a telephone. If the individual pays more than $50 a month, perhaps it is best to start looking for another carrier that is offering a similar package at a more affordable rate.
Shopping at the grocery doesn’t have to be tedious every time. There are some establishments that are cheaper than others and also offer promos to the customer. The person should just drive around the neighborhood and find it.
Many American families give children allowance. This is used to buy food or spent on buying clothes and other items from the mall. Another way to save on money will be reduce the amount given if this is necessary.
The kids will likely complain if a friend gets more in a week so it is best to suggest an option like getting a part time job to offset the cash reduced in the allowance. A few options are mowing the gardens or clearing the gutters of the neighbors, delivering newspaper and even doing some household chores.
A survey has shown a lot of children like this idea because it allows the kid to earn more money that what is usually given at the start of the week.
A study has shown that the average American household spends more than $500 on expenses a month. If there are a lot of children and the house is quite big, this can even exceed $1,000.
The family especially the kids must understand the money does not from trees. The parents have to work or one of the spouses will have to take a second job just to make ends meet.
There are ways to save money like those mentioned above. The challenging part is sticking to the plan especially if some people in the household cannot control the urge to buy something at the spur of the moment.
About the Author
Lee Dobbins writes for http://familybudget.biz-review.com where you can get more money saving tips.
Creating A Family Budget That You Can Live With by Mark Eblin
When it comes to debt, getting into it easy, it is getting out of debt that is hard. To help avoid getting into debt or to help bring yourself out of the debt atmosphere you should consider implementing a family budget. A family budget can help product your hard-earned money and help every family member avoid frivolous spending. All too often, we find that we spend more than we make, leaving ourselves with little to no money left over for the necessities. Then we might suddenly see ourselves at a lenders doorstep just to provide for our families or pay the necessary bills to keep life moving along. This only creates more bills than we need and therefore, puts us deeper into the pits of debt.
The above only leads us to harder times and more money to pay, more money than we really have. Creating a family budget will help you in prioritizing your payments and plan every area of your financial life. Eventually, through the family budget, you will have achieved the financial life you can enjoy and be proud of. The first thing that you should consider is your needs by assessing them on three different levels short term, medium term, and long term.
To arise at these assessments you should be asking a few questions of yourself including:
What are my objectives? What would I like to achieve in time? What targets should I have within my budget?
Sit down and write them down on paper. Once you have answered these question, you can begin laying out your financial situation.
Itemize your monthly expenses and your monthly income. Your family budget should be on a monthly basis, even if you get paid weekly or bi-weekly, or twice per month. The reason for this is that generally all bills come on a monthly basis. When itemizing your expensive, the very first one should the most important, the second one the second most important, and so forth all the way to the least important. A formula of prioritizing should be implemented within your planning. Make a list of all your costs of consumptions on a monthly basis, this includes gas, travel, food, clothing, and other such items. After listing your expenses, create another column for income and its source, make notes of what each source brings home on a monthly basis. Expenses should be on the right column and your income should be on the left.
Add each column and subtract from each other to figure out the difference between the two. This will tell you if you are facing a surplus or a deficit within your financial life. You should be aiming for a surplus of course.
After you have done this, amend the budget accordingly. Find out which items you can actually afford, which items you can do without. Then once you have finalized the family budget, print it out, stick it on the refrigerator or somewhere easily seen, and stick to the budget. Sticking to the budget is probably the hardest, but ultimately important part of creating a family budget.
About the Author
Mark Eblin writes financial related articles to help people better understand and improve their financial situation. More articles can be found at: Personal Finance and Home Finances.