7 Ways to Provide for Your Family on a Budget

Most families today, have a hard time providing for their  family within the budget that they have available to them. Finding ways to make the dollar stretch can be stressful and at times, tedious when you have a difficult time identifying the ways you can make a difference within your budget.

My husband loves the word ‘budget’ and has mastered the idea of saving money. However, he isn’t the only one in the family that has learned a few tricks to make a dollar go a little further. I’m so excited to share with you the 7 ways that I have been able to manage the blessings of providing for our family within the budget that blesses my husband at the same time.

Here are the 7 ways that we provide for our family on a budget:

1. Make Our Own Breakfast – We kill the budget when we eat cereal, because we could go through so much in one meal and it doesn’t fill us up.  A breakfast full of protein and fiber is a perfect way to start the day and keep the budget in control.

2. Mill Our Own Flour – By milling our flour, it helps with keeping the cost down for all of our meals.  Yes, the cost of getting set up is an investment, but is will pay for itself quickly, if you are making your own quick recipes for things like pancakes, waffles, muffins, sweet breads, sandwich bread, cookies, brownies and more.  Saving your budget and making a difference in your health.

3. Eat Out Less – When we first stepped away from eating out often, we were surprised with how much was left in the budget. We all need a break from time to time, but there are ways to save on the budget in the process of having a dinner done for you.   Frozen meals, like pizza or prepared meals are perfect for these nights.  However, for those times that you really want to go out, be sure you are on your favorite restaurant’s mailing list and take advantage of coupons they email you.  Only go out to eat when kids eat free.  Or do a take out and eat at home, which will save you $10 or more, because you don’t need to pay a waitress.

4. Plan Family Outings Around Coupon Savings – We love to go bowling, to play miniature golf or watch a movie together.  These can really affect the budget quickly.  Just like the mailing list for the restaurant, get on the mailing list of your favorite places to go as a family.  We often times save $12 a person for bowling by going at off-times or by using their special promotional coupons. We also have learned patience when it comes to movies.  We NEVER take the family to the movie theatres, but we will rent the movie within the first month it comes available.  My kids love having our family movie times and especially when they realized that we saved so much money learning patience!

5. Gift Shop in Advance – Birthdays are a part of every family and they extend beyond those within your home.  Taking advantage of clearance items at different times of the year and storing them in a covered box will make a huge different in the budget and those last minute shopping trips when your child gets an unexpected invitation to a birthday party.

6. Planning for Clothing in Advance – Our family rarely buys our clothes full price.  We take advantage of seasonal clearance sales for the next year’s needs, Goodwill and even one of our favorite pass times… yard sales!  In fact, you may love to take advantage of my ebook (used code SPRING, until April 30th, to get it for free) that has helped our family prepared for years down the road and many times for 25 cents an article and many of the items never seemed worn. These strategies have literally saved us hundreds of dollars!

7. Planning Trips for Errands on One Day – With the cost of fuel, this is a really something many people have been forced to do, but we started it before the cost of fuel skyrocketed. Not only does this save you precious budget money, but time you can be spending together.

By using these ways to help stretch the budget you can easily save hundreds of dollars a month, depending on your current spending and the size of your family.

Do you use any of these ideas to manage your blessings of finances?