Simple Ways Your Family Can Save Money

What's something you always need in order to keep your family running? Hint — it makes it possible for you to provide food, shelter and clothing. You've probably guessed that it's money, and you're right. While spending wisely and building a savings account are important, so is finding ways to save your money each day. This is typically accomplished when making purchases at a store or through certain improvements you make to your home. Over time, this can add up to some serious saving. If you're ready to improve your finances, keep reading.

Start at Home

1. Finding ways to save money around the home is surprisingly easy and the changes you make, such as updating light bulbs to energy saving LED bulbs or caulking drafts around windows, can and will make a big impact on your energy savings. But how about something bigger? Installing solar panels for your home could mean more of your money stays in your wallet (and you can feel good about lessening your family's carbon footprint). Plus, solar is surprisingly affordable and accessible, making it easy to switch or supplement.

2. While you're thinking about your home, think about how often your family goes out to eat or orders take-out. While they're both convenient, the cost adds up. To put it into perspective, studies show that take-out is about five times more expensive than cooking at home. That's a good chunk of change. You don't need to be an experienced cook to prepare food for your family. There are many resources available for healthy and fresh recipes that are also budget friendly.

Go Back to Basics

1. When you think about family birthdays, holidays and other gatherings, do you have feelings of excitement or do you have feelings of anxiety and stress because they've become so expensive (and it's your turn to host Thanksgiving this year)? If you fall into the latter, you're not alone. Financial worries surrounding special occasions are real for a reason. Knowing how to navigate through it by finding ways to enjoy these special times without breaking the bank is essential and there's a good chance you'll enjoy yourself even more once they're simplified.

2. How many streaming services do you subscribe to? While they're convenient and great for entertainment and variety, they can also be burning a hole in your wallet. The average American family subscribes to three streaming services, commonly due to dropping a (very) costly cable or satellite provider. While this typically will be less than a cable or satellite bill, you should still evaluate which services you're actually using and cut the cord with those you aren't. Even if it's not a huge savings on paper per month, every little bit counts.

Be a Planner

Grocery shopping is something everyone has to do and it always costs money. While there's no way around either one of those things, there are ways you can cut your grocery bill down to be more budget-friendly. Writing your shopping list in advance, shopping only with cash, utilizing store rewards programs and clipping traditional paper coupons are all guaranteed ways to save, along with several others. Will you need to be more on your game, list in hand? Yes. Will it be worth it? Definitely.

Talk About It

By the time a child is as old as three, you've got the green light to chat about money. By then, children's "Executive Function" begins to form, which aids in the understanding of certain concepts. This is a great way to lay the foundation for finances in general — something they'll need to deal with for their entire lives. Saving money is something that anyone can do and it's something that has very few limits. So don't wait — be proactive by finding things you can do to either save it or make it work harder for you and your family.