Saving the family budget: tips and secrets

Recent research has shown that over the previous 10 years, the cost of raising children has doubled. Even if the child will undergo free medical treatment, attend state educational institutions, go to the budget department of the university to grow it, parents will need an average of 3 million rubles. In such a situation, saving the family budget comes first. The tips presented in this article will help plan and allocate funds competently.

Preparation

Today, you have to spend huge sums on food, medicine, clothes and education. Many families are struggling to pay. The secrets to saving the family budget are to revise the way of life, limit the cost of entertainment and recreation. On the other hand, parents are not ready to save on their children. Therefore, you need to learn how to allocate funds correctly without radical restrictions for family members.

Saving your family budget: tips

To live better, you need to either earn more or spend less. Not everyone will be able to cope with the solution of the first problem. The second goal is quite achievable. Consider the main ways to save the family budget.

Observation

Before you reduce costs, you need to understand exactly where much of the funds are spent and what you can save on. To do this, it is necessary to fix every penny spent during the month. Already, based on the results of the first week of keeping a diary, you can identify items of expenditure that literally "wash away" money from your wallet.

To properly distribute the family budget, it is very important to fix everything, even the smallest expenses, without forgetting to specify chewing gum, cigarettes, chocolate and sweets in expenses.

Analysis

After a month of research, you can sum up the first results. To understand how to save the budget in the next month, you need to allocate the costs to groups:

• How much money was spent on utilities;
• How much money was spent on paying for loans;
• What amount of expenses were the necessary food products;
• How much money was spent on clothing, hygiene products;
• Whether often there were made unplanned expenses for gifts, entertainments, a taxi.

Reducing costs

Monitor spending and revenue will now need to be constantly. The proper planning of the budget is to allocate the costs to the priority and future ones. Writing down purchases, you can safely calculate the consumer basket and give up unnecessary things.

Obligatory payments can not be reduced. But some articles can be reduced. Most food is bought for pleasure, not for maintaining the vital functions of the body. Saving in the first place is on those purchases, without which you can do without. Refusal to snack chocolate at work will only benefit health. From recycling it is necessary to refuse, if to reach home in the evening it is necessary on a taxi. And if you can not live without your favorite magazine, then instead of a paper version, you will get an electronic one.

How to save on products?

For a family with a modest budget, a spontaneous dinner in a public institution can painfully hit your pocket. Of course, one-time visits to catering establishments are allowed. But if you have to change your daily dinner at a cost of 150 rubles per serving of pizza, then such trips should be planned in advance. It is advisable to make a plan for a week. Special online services allow you to prepare a weekly menu depending on employment, working conditions, lifestyle.

How to save on electricity?

One of the most expensive articles from the list of utilities is the cost of electricity. Modern household appliances make life easier. But if they work all at once, then they consume a lot of energy. Reduce the cost of the following simple tips.

Use energy saving lamps

Such lamps cost two times more than usual, but they also last longer. They practically do not heat up, all the energy goes to the lighting. The average service life is three years, the annual savings is 600 rubles. Dust can "eat" up to 20% of the light. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically wipe the ceiling lights and light bulbs.

When leaving, extinguish the light. In order not to forget this simple rule, you can write a reminder and hang it on the front door.

Buy appliances of class A + and use it strictly according to the instructions

Modern technology class A + or A ++ consumes much less electricity, but only on condition that it is properly operated. If the refrigerator is placed in the kitchen next to the cooker, then it will work in a strong mode to maintain the necessary temperature. A similar situation will arise if you try to cool hot food. Timely defrosting will prevent the formation of ice on the walls of the chamber and reduce the energy consumption by an average of 15%.

Computers and TVs are actively used only a few hours a day. The rest of the time they are in standby mode, actively absorbing electricity. It is not enough simply to turn off the machine with the button on the power supply. It is necessary to disconnect it from the power source.

Periodically carry out cosmetic repairs

Light wallpaper and a white ceiling can compensate for up to 80% of the sun's rays. For comparison, the light output from black is only 9%. But before gluing wallpaper is worth checking the quality of the wiring. Sometimes the increased power consumption arises from the wear of the wires.

Install heat reflective screens

Heating appliances absorb a lot of electricity in the autumn-winter period. If you install a foil or foam on the battery, you can raise the temperature in the room by 2-3 degrees. To further warm the room, it is worth replacing the wooden frames with metal-plastic ones, or at least closing the cracks.

Planning and Reservation

The allocation of funds for the next month should be carried out in advance. This is the saving of the family budget. The advice of financial gurus says that it is not so difficult to save funds for long-term goals. It is enough to postpone 5-10% per piggy bank to each payday. This reserve fund can be spent on expensive purchases, for example, a car or an apartment.

Considered purchases

To make purchases only during the actions is not the best way to save the family budget. Rather, on the contrary. Frequent shopping trips are costly. It is best to make purchases once a week, for example on the day off, and prepare a list of the necessary goods in advance. If possible, go shopping with no children. This will reduce unscheduled expenses. What, then, is the saving of the family budget? Advice:

• Disposable goods save time on cleaning, but take a lot of money. Replace the paper towels with fabric, and instead of bottled water, get the filters for the faucet.
• Participate in promotions only if you know that you will use all goods. Buy a conditioner for linen with a 50% discount only because it comes as a gift to a pack of powder, which has never been used before, is not worth it. But to watch for seasonal discounts you need to have time to buy clothes on sale.
• If possible, buy food in the same shops. Today, all supermarkets offer discount or accumulative cards to regular customers.
• Shopping in stores should be done after eating and in good spirits.

Time for shopping

Some have become accustomed to purchasing all the necessary goods for life immediately after receiving their wages, while others distribute these costs in several parts. Everyone decides how to save the budget. On the one hand, a one-time payment for utilities, the purchase of goods from household chemicals and foodstuffs allows you to immediately stock up on goods. The risk of wasting the right amount for rest and entertainment is minimal. On the other hand, long-term storage goods should not be bought as far as possible, but wholesale, at low prices.

Use envelopes

If expenses are paid in installments, it makes sense to reserve funds for them from the moment of receiving the salary. For this purpose, you can use multi-colored envelopes. For example, to postpone from each pay part of the money to pay for utility services in a red envelope, pay insurance - in green, rest and entertainment - in yellow. In this case, even if there are extraordinary expenses, you can always pay off debts on mandatory payments and defer part of the funds for long-term purposes.

Organization of rest

Not everyone can afford an expensive trip. And it is not always appropriate to put money on her for six months. Most often the purpose of travel, especially family, is to change the situation and have a good time. And for this it is not necessary to fly to the other end of the world. You can go on an excursion to a nearby city, visit historical museums, exhibitions or simply go to the forest. Bowling, water park and children's playgrounds without attractions, and no one has canceled. Families with children should think about home entertainment. Relax and spend time with benefit will help board games.

Buy used goods

At auctions and internet sites, you can find a large number of second-hand goods of good quality and at an affordable price. Of course, family savings should not be reduced to only one second-hand. But sometimes it makes sense to buy a bike or scooter through an auction.

Compare rates

In the market of telecommunication services there is a huge competition. Therefore, companies periodically hold shares. Periodically, you need to view the tariffs of the company you are using, and competitors, in order to switch to a more profitable package in time.

Use the services of the bank

Tips for saving the family budget during a crisis often include a recommendation to save money on a bank deposit or store it on a card. Both options have the right to exist, but only with a reasonable approach.

Bank deposits are designed just to save funds, rather than multiplying them. The rate provided for such deposits usually does not exceed the level of inflation. But if you try to withdraw funds from the account before the contract expires, you can lose some of the investment. Moreover, during the crisis period, fearing capital outflow, Central banks impose temporary restrictions on early disruption of deposits. And in institutions with a very difficult financial situation and do enter the temporary administration. That is, the term of return of funds deposited on the deposit is permanently delayed. But this does not mean that the funds are lost forever.

If economic news does not foreshadow a major change in the next few months, you can safely make out a deposit in any commercial bank. And not worry about the safety of funds. In other cases:

• Make a deposit in government financial institutions, for example, Sberbank;
• Carefully read the contract with the bank;
• To open a deposit, and not to acquire a savings certificate ;
• Open a short-term deposit with the possibility of prolongation.

Payment by credit card excludes the possibility of losing money. But recent studies have shown that it is psychologically easier for a person to part with invisible figures than with real pieces of paper. Therefore, the continued use of plastic can lead to loss of control over costs. To avoid such a problem, activate the SMS-notification service or download a mobile account management application on your phone. Only in this case it will be possible to visually track every penny spent. Does the bank not provide a detailed transcript of each payment? Take the habit of studying each figure in the check.

Finally

The presented tips on saving the family budget in a crisis should not be taken as a direct guide to action. These are just recommendations for reducing costs. To get used to even the simplest manipulations, it takes time. But the result is worth it.