I just googled what is the average cost of raising a child to age 18 and Google shot out $288,094. That was substantially lower than I expected. If I’m honest, I thought it would be well over half a million. I really wonder just how true that number is.
Regardless of the number, having a family is expensive. Even if you have pets as children, it’s expensive. We have four children and we raise them with a frugal mindset. I was raised without a lot of money and early in motherhood I didn’t have much money at all. In fact, we were on WIC for several years. (Women Infants and Children- it’s like food stamps only for moms and kids). These experiences early on in my life set the stage for me to live very frugal lifestyle, not out of desire to be financially free but out of a fear of not having enough.
The hardest challenge I have faced while trying to change that mindset is living below my means while not going too far in that direction. What do I mean? Well, if it were up to me, we wouldn’t have tv. My husband on the other hand vehemently disagrees with that. So we find a balance and have one streaming app. If it were up to me, all of our clothes would come from goodwill. My kids are getting to the age they want the name brand items and are very particular about what they’re looking for. So we compromise.
My husband provides a healthy balance for my ultra frugal lifestyle. All this to say, how can we raise a family but still be frugal? How can our kids have name brand clothes without spending a fortune? How can we take vacations every year that aren’t just to the state park down the road? I am here to help!
Please remember the following are tips. I do not suggest trying to take all of these and do them at one time. In fact, maybe just three in your first few weeks. If you are already doing some of these, great! I find motivation in tracking the savings. This might not be for you but for me, when things get hard and I am bored with the pursuit of financial independence, knowing I can look at something and see that I saved a specific amount of money can often give me the boost I need to continue on this pursuit.
We are going to call this the Frugal Family Challenge. I challenge you to see how much you can save in a three month period by implementing these small changes below. Let’s see how you do for three months. (This is not legal or financial advice but simply some tips and tricks for saving on small things)
- Buy off brand at the grocery store.
- Turn your thermostat up or down when you leave the house for the day.
- Wash your clothes on cold.
- Shop only with a grocery list (after meal planning) and do it online if possible in your area.
- Carpool or ride your bike more to save on gas.
- Cut it down to one tv subscription.
- Shop around for different insurance.
- Buy second hand clothes (this doesn’t have to mean goodwill, there are so many apps now that if you or your child have a specific brand they’re shopping for, buy it second hand rather than brand new! Except underwear. Draw the line somewhere.)
- Get a library card- we live 45 minutes from our library and rarely go. But they have an app that we all use almost daily! Allowing us to read our books without having to purchase new ones.
- Wash your own car, stop paying for the car wash.
- If you have your pet groomed, invest in some quality pet grooming shears and start grooming them yourself! There are plenty of youtube videos for each specific breed. Even if you just start with every other grooming appointment, it will save you.
- Remove your credit card from your Amazon account. It’s amazing how much your mind can change just by having to walk to the other room to get your credit card.
This list could go on and on. These items are essentially painless and many items won’t even be missed. There are some that may take some work or there are some tv shows you may have to say goodbye to, but in all actuality, by cutting those shows, you now have time to groom the dog. 😀
This is your starter list. Your beginning of the little changes you can make that can make a huge impact over time. Remember $100/month saved is $35,000 less you will need in retirement.
Best of luck with the Family Frugal Challenge!
