6 Tips for Living on a Budget

Today, on Redhead Mom, I’m sharing a partnered blog post about 6 Tips for Living on a Budget. 

Something we have been working on in our home is living on a budget. It’s amazing how quickly money spent can add up! It might seem like a little bit here and a little bit there, but if you’re not keeping track of it, you might not even realize where your paycheck went before the end of the month. Here, we are going to share our tips for living on a budget.

1 – Look for free events in town. During the Pandemic, this one is a bit trickier as there aren’t a lot of events happening right now, but when it is over, this will be a good one. Often times, you can visit the tourism bureau sites for the cities in your area to see what free events they have going on. You’ll likely see a lot more free events around different holidays (such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas). You also might consider going to your local museum or library or even going for a walk or bike ride in the park.

2 – Stock up when items go on sale. I typically like to stock up on items we use on a regular basis when they go on sale. Often times, they are grocery products like soups, canned vegetables and meats, pastas, or items we can easily store on the shelves. Make sure to know the quantity limit on the items you’re purchasing so you don’t end up going over the limit and paying full price on any of the items. For example, they might have pasta for $0.69 each with a limit of 5. If you buy more than 5, you’re going to pay the regular price (or sales price if specified).

3 – Buy used instead of new. A lot of times, you can find some pretty good deals when buy things used instead of new. Search online for garage sales or estate sales, as well as listings online where individuals are selling things. You can also google terms like “engine for sale” plus the city where you live, to find locals who might be selling that used item at a good price. Make sure you check for the new price as well though so you know you are getting a better deal on the used item. You don’t want to pay more for a used item than you would for a brand new one.

4 – Do your own repairs. Instead of paying a repair man to fix things around your home, trying doing it yourself. For example, check out this site called Canadian Doors for information on fixing garage door openers.

5 – Eat out less. A big way to live successfully on a budget is by cutting down on how much you eat out. This is definitely an area we need to work on and are working on improving in. Instead of going to the fancy restaurant in town, I might visit a local butcher near me for quality cuts of meat or sales they might be having. You’ll pay a lot less to cook it up yourself than you will in a restaurant.

6 – Clip coupons. There are quite a few ways to clip coupons these days. It used to be that you would get coupons from your newspaper on the weekends, but now you can also “clip” coupons online on coupon sites. You can also save money by selecting coupons on your store’s app from your smart phone. I do this quite frequently when I shop for groceries at Vons. I love waiting until the end to enter my phone number because I get to see how much my total goes down and how much I saved on my shopping trip.

There are quite a few ways to live on a budget, but these are just a few tips I have that we use in our home. I would love to hear what tips you have for living on a budget or how you save money on monthly expenditures.

What tips do you have for living on a budget?