How To Hide Five Kids In Your Wallet–Trimming the Household Budget

Maintaining a workable budget is a huge priority in our household. Our family is larger than most, by today’s standards. We have five children under age six.

I am a former entrepreneur, turned stay-at-home mother, and we live on one income. Before you ask, my husband is a contractor. He works hard and makes a modest salary. I often tell our children that it’s his job to earn the money and my job to stretch it as far as I can. Each month, I hide five kids in my wallet, and try to make it look easy– but it’s not.

I’ve devised some tricks to really stretch our budget.

I became really mindful of our finances and where we were spending. I was amazed at how much we could save. Before you make any changes, you need to thoroughly examine where your money goes each month. Carefully review your bank statements and categorize each line item, or simply journal a month’s worth of purchases and expenses.

Keep track of everything, from tolls, to pumpkin lattes–it all counts. Tracking really helped me to define where I could save.

1. Cash Diet–Our family is very much on a cash diet. Credit cards are for emergency only–and not “super cute boots” emergencies. If you have any credit accounts with balances on them, focus on paying them off. Start with whichever account has the highest interest rate. Then move on to the next balance, until you are free of credit card debt.
2. Stop the Take Out Trap–For the cost of a”take out” dinner for a family of seven, I could prepare at least three meals from scratch and have lunchtime leftovers. I often “meal prep” on Sundays for the upcoming week. One of my favorite make-ahead-and freeze recipes is this wholesome “chicken nugget” recipe. Seriously, make the nuggets and freeze a batch or two for when you’re tired and out of dinner-making mojo.
3. Waste not, want not–I try to always fix household things (appliances, my vacuum, couch cushions, etc.) before replacing them. I’m also a huge fan of buying high-end, pre-owned items instead of low- quality new items. Facebook yard sale groups, eBay, and Craigslist are all great sources for children’s items.
4. Save Cash When Cleaning–I seldom buy ready-made cleaning products, especially laundry soap. With five kids, this saves me hundreds of dollars each year. You can find my personal laundry detergent recipe here.

   

5. Money saving apps–I adore cash-back apps such as ibotta, and Target’s Cartwheel app. You can even layer offers with printable coupons from coupons.com for added savings! Many stores and restaurants have coupons you can load onto your smart phone directly from their website.
6. Frugal festivities–Don’t go overboard on holidays. Use holidays to build family memories and give memorable experiences, not just plastic toys. By the time they open gifts from grandparents and others, they still make out like bandits.

The most important piece of advice is: don’t just learn to live within your means, instead live beneath your means. Rein in impulsive buying. Learn to embrace what you have, and carefully consider new purchases.

Small changes add up. Create a budget (that includes contributing to a retirement or emergency fund) and stick to it. Before you know it, you’ll be hiding a family in your wallet, too.