Money can be super stressful or super fun. It’s super stressful when you don’t have enough, and super fun when you have plenty! Luckily, it can be fun to manage your money well and grow your net worth. Here are some money management tips you can start today and have more fun with your money in the future.
Money Management Tips That Aren’t Too Painful
Buy In Bulk
One of my favorite ways to save money is by shopping in bulk and buying sales. In order for this to actually save you money, you need to have a good understanding of what your family eats and how much of it you eat at a time.
When you are doing your regular shopping, notice if an item is on sale. If it’s a great price, buy enough of it to last until the expiration date.
Be very careful not to buy too much of something or not to buy something you wouldn’t normally eat. It won’t save you money if you end up tossing it in a landfill six months later!
Another money management is to buy in bulk when it makes sense. Because my family is large, we do almost all our shopping at Costco. Not only do we get discount prices, but we also get our membership for free because we do so much shopping there.
A membership store may not make sense for your family. Buying pantry staples such as beans, rice, and flour in a large bag will almost always be the cheapest route.
Don’t Sign Up For Re-occurring Memberships
Another easy peasy way to save money is to not sign up for subscription memberships. If something is auto-drafting out of your bank account every single month, you may not even realize that money is leaving! Cancel re-occuring memberships as you find them.
When you are making a new purchase, most companies have a gift option where you can purchase a limited time frame subscription in one upfront purchase without signing up for automatic payments. Use that option whenever possible.
If that’s not available, try to pay for an entire year at a time in one payment. Once your payment goes through, read the fine print and make sure you won’t be charged for another year in 12 months. If you will be, you can usually cancel that automatic payment immediately. You should be able to keep your current membership for the next 12 months.
If you can’t afford a subscription to something all at once, then you really can’t afford it each month either. Skip it and save up until you can pay upfront.
Review Your Spending Each Month
Most places recommend you set a budget and stick to it. That’s great, if it works for you. I think most of us aren’t able to set a budget, because we don’t even know where our money is going in the first place. Every month, look through all of your purchases and add up how much you spent for each type of purchase.
How much do you spend on groceries each month? How about eating out? Take a look at those Amazon purchases. Is the number a lot higher than you expected? If you’re spending more than you think is reasonable for each category, that gives you a great way to plan how to cut back.
If you are ordering too much online, put stuff in your shopping cart and leave it for a set amount of time before hitting buy. Sometimes a little break is all it takes for us to realize we didn’t actually need that item. I personally like a 30 day waiting period for most items. Although some people have great success with just a 72 hour break before hitting buy.
If your eating out budget is over the top, maybe you need to put some time into preparing easy freezer meals you can whip out on crazy days. Even a frozen pizza you pull out of your own freezer is going to be cheaper and just a fast as fast food.
Utilities too high? Shop around where you can. There’s usually a cheaper option for things like insurance or internet. If you are locked into a provider for something like electricity, trash or water, start finding ways to cut back your use. You can also call up the company and see if they have any cheaper options, such as a smaller trash can or less frequent pick up.
Save What You Would Spend
This is my favorite way of staying motivated. When I want to buy something, but decide to put it down and walk away, I like to take the amount I would have spent and put it in my savings account. If I had spent that money it would have been gone. But instead I can use that money to increase my net worth.
Little things here and there may not seem like a lot. However, but when you add up many small amounts and put them together it doesn’t take long to see a substantial amount in your savings account!
What are some of your favorite money management tips? Share in the comments!
Want To Raise Happy Chickens?
Subscribe for our newsletter and get the free email course Intro To Backyard Chickens as well as a free printable checklist to walk you through step by step!