10 Easy Ways to Save Money with Kids
Are you looking for easy ways to save a ton of money as a family on a medium to low income? I get it. Kids can be so expensive to raise, but don’t worry, there are SO many easy ways to save money with kids. Let me share with you my top 10 family money saving tips.
1. Second Hand Kids Clothes
It is really incredible the amount of good quality second-hand kids clothes and shoes you can get nowadays. If you don’t regularly shop second-hand, I would really advise giving it a try! You’ll be amazed at the amount of money you save each year!
We buy bundles of leggings for our daughter and bundles of jeans for our son from places like eBay, Vinted, and local Facebook selling groups. I also find second hand coats and shoes from these places too, as well as our local charity shops (thrift stores).
In fact, it isn’t just supermarket brands you can pick up second-hand. I know a lady who bought a beautiful Pandora bracelet for her daughter second-hand! Personally I’ve seen loads of brand name clothes in the second-hand stores I visit.
If you’d like some more easy tips to save money on kids clothes, you’ll find them on 8 Smart Ways to Save Money on Kids Clothes.
2. Check Local Selling Groups
Local moms group on Facebook can be an absolute gold mine! I always check my local groups before buying an expensive item for my kids. Things like Slings or Winter coats that can easily be washed, or a buggy or cot that can be easily cleaned are great things to save money on.
Often, even if an item isn’t listed on one of these ‘Mom’ groups, if you ask if anyone is selling it, you’ll be amazed how many times someone has just what you need sitting in their attic. They’re often been meaning to sell it and just not gotten round to it. There’s a lot of savings to be had here!
3. Meal Planning & Budgeting
It’s rather incredible the amount of money you can save by something as simple as meal planning and budgeting. As an added bonus, I’ve also found that planning my meals for the week takes away that 5pm panic when you’re looking through the cupboards trying to figure out what to make for dinner.
I like to plan my meals for the week, and then do my weekly shop accordingly. However, some people plan the entire month out and prep meals ahead of time to go in the freezer, saving time as well as money.
4. Set a Limit on Extra Curricular Activities
I know everyone’s kids are doing extra curricular activities these days and you don’t want your kids to miss out, but our kids really can’t do it all. As well as becoming overwhelmed and tired, it reduces quality time with you, their parents, time which is actually more beneficial to them than all these activities.
We found it helpful to set a limit on extra-curriculars. Our kids can choose two weekly extra curricular activities to take part in, and if they want to take up anything new, they need to drop something to free up space and money! It’s worked well so far, and I know many parents who are beginning to take a similar approach.
5. Save Money with Reusable Products
Not only are reusable products better for the environment, but they save you a ton of money too!
In our home, we use reusable kitchen roll, reusable wipes, and reusable period products. Reusable nappies are also brilliant for saving money! In our area we even have a real nappies library where you pay so much a month to borrow reusable nappies.
You can save so much money with them, as they last ages! Therefore you can use them for multiple kids, or buy them second hand, or sell them on when you’ve finished with them. As long as they are washed at a high temperature there’s nothing gross about it!
You can check out some fab reusable nappies, reusable period pants, and reusable kitchen roll on Amazon to see what you think.
6. Save on Learning Resources
While you can get sucked into spending huge amounts on books and educational resources for your kids, there are much cheaper ways to help them learn.
We LOVE books in our family! We have loads, spread out over multiple bookcases. Now this habit could get expensive, if it wasn’t for the fact that the majority of our books were bought second hand from charity shops (thrift stores) or borrowed from our local library.
If you have a printer, or access to a library where you can use one, you can save a lot of money with free printables. Coloring sheets, activity pages, and worksheets for kids, are often available as free printables. You can find some of my free printable learning resources here.
We have found lots of second hand learning games in charity shops (thrift stores), and some are available to borrow from our local library, as are exam prep books.
Free learning games are available online too, and libraries offer computers to be used for these if you’re struggling at home.
Kids Craft materials are another thing that can become expensive, but I have discovered multiple ways to save money with these. I share these in my post, How to Save Money on Kids Crafts.
It really isn’t that hard to help your children learn with free or inexpensive resources.
7. Reduce Childcare Costs
Childcare costs are often one of, if not the, most expensive thing about raising kids.
Firstly, I advise that you make sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to in regards childcare and employment costs. This will vary greatly between countries, but in the UK and US there is some help available so it’s worth checking to see if you qualify for extra support.
If you have family living close by, it’s worth checking if they can help, even if they can’t offer fulltime childcare, a day or an after school session will save you money too. Another idea is to swap childcare with a trusted friend who works different hours to you. If you each do a day a week for one another, it will reduce your childcare costs considerably over a year.
Inquiring about more flexible working options may be an option depending on your job. It may also be possible to work around a partners work hours, or from home sometimes.
Lastly, it’s always an idea to look into different types of childcare. Childminders, day care, and after school activities will all charge different rates. Some childcare providers may offer reduced rates for siblings, while others will charge less based on age.
8. Budget Family Bonding Time Ideas
Family time is important, whether it is time together as a whole family or a mother-daughter date. However, these special bonding moments don’t have to come with a huge price tag.
Instead of meals out, trips to the cinema, or pottery painting, consider family movie nights at home, baking together in the kitchen, nature walks, and at-home pamper nights. The important thing is that you are spending time together, enjoying each others company.
9. Budget for Christmas & Birthdays
Christmas and Birthday presents can be a tricky area for parents. A lot of it comes down to who you mingle with, and our tendency to compare ourselves with others. We all want to spoil our kids a bit on special occasions, but at some point we have to set a budget.
At the end of the day, our kids prefer our company to the things we buy them. So let’s not buy them so much that we have to take on a second job to pay for it all!
Putting a spend limit on each occasion can really help us to keep it in perspective. It also helps with making sure that we are spending equally on each child. If our kids ask for something big outside of special occasions we suggest they write it on their birthday or Christmas wish list. This also helps teach delayed gratification, a vital skill to learn for their future.
You may also like: Easy Ways to Save Money at Christmas
10. Borrow where Possible
It’s always worth stopping before you buy something new to consider whether you could borrow the item instead. This is especially the case when it’s something you know they won’t be using for long.
We have a sling library where you pay a small amount monthly to borrow a sling. You can change it each month, borrowing different sizes and types as your baby grows. This saves you having to buy new slings each time. We also have a real nappy library near us which has the potential to save parents thousands! And our local library lets you borrow dressing up clothes, as well as books.
It’s always worth looking around and searching online to see what is available in your local area.
Simple ways to Save Money with Kids
I’ll leave you with this thought, ‘what do they actually need?’
Figure out your families priorities. Think about what they really need, not what they want, but what they actually need, to be healthy, happy and fulfilled. As long as they have that, everything else is simply extra.