The key to any family budget is to not spend more than I make. Here are some tips for living within my means.

Many families find themselves struggling to live within their means, either because they have too much debt, or because their spending habits/patterns are uncontrolled and they simply don’t know how to change.  Here are some quick tips on reining in that spending, and keeping yourself debt-free.

1.Don’t use credit cards.

If you have credit card debt and are carrying large payments at high interest that are crippling your budget, talk to a community credit debt counselor. There are many groups that offer this service for free.  They’ll help you to understand how the debt can be cut down faster, and whether a consolidation loan is a good idea.  Credit cards are a temptation to spend money you don’t have. If you must have one card, leave it in the care of the person most responsible for your family’s financial health, and never use it except for emergencies that can be paid off within a short time.

2.Budget your money and expenses.

Even a simple budget in a notebook will work, or you can go to a spreadsheet on the computer.  Gather all your bills, and calculate your monthly expenses, remembering to include a 1/12 portion of any annual expenses.  Then take your gross income and figure out how much has to be set aside per week for absolute essentials. Whatever remains, is what you have for optional spending like savings, education or retirement funds, and entertainment.

3.Before you buy, ask yourself if you really need it.

That could be anything from a new stereo system, to a new car.  Ask yourself if it’s worth going into debt for, or just how far it will stretch the family budget.  Remember that you need room in your family finances for emergencies, and stretching your discretionary dollars to the limit, is never a good idea.

Every family should have a budget, no matter what their financial status is.  A budget tells you exactly how much your have coming in, and how much goes out on a monthly basis for the absolute necessities like housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation and health care.  But what about the future?

That’s another place where a budget comes in handy.  When you’ve allotted a portion of the household’s weekly income to the necessities, what’s left over is your discretionary spending amount.  These are the funds available to you for short-term expenses, or long-term investments, like your children’s education, and your own retirement funds.

When the children are growing and requiring more in the way of expenditures, there might not be a lot left over.  But even 5% of your income can be a healthy start on an education fund.  Extras like bonuses or perhaps half the amount of a raise, will make those future savings grow.  Since they aren’t in the budget to start with, they won’t be missed, and you’ll still have a portion of the unexpected income to add to your regular budget.

Consider financial counseling at your banking institution, or from a professional.  They are often the best sources for learning how to get the most out of the dollars you have to save, and the most out of the future benefits they are going to earn for you.

Tips for Sticking to a Family Budget

You have a family budget in place. Now the hard part begins—sticking to your family budget. With the demands of all the wants and needs of kids, it can be challenging to keep a close eye on your money matters. Here are some simple tips to save money and help you stick to your family budget:

* No satellite – On average, the least expensive satellite package can run anywhere from $35-$40 per month. Multiply that times twelve months and you end up with a whopping $420-$480 per year! Do away with this single bill and your family can save almost $500 every year. Now that’s an incentive!

* Limited video rentals – Many families choose to rent movies for a family night instead of going to the movies. While rentals are a huge money saver, it can still get expensive if you go overboard. Limit your rentals to two every two weeks, for example.

* Return videos early – Another cost that adds up quickly is overdue rental fees. For the cost of a few past due days on one movie, you could purchase that movie and watch it forever if you wanted to. Write yourself a note so you won’t forget to return your movie rentals on time. Even better, try using an online video rental service like Netflix. You’ll pay the same each month, pay no late fees, and get new movies every time you return one.

* Plan meals before shopping – Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. You will want to buy everything you see on the shelves. You may think it’s silly, but you will be amazed at the results if you try it.

* Buy off-brand products – Most off-brand products taste much the same as their counterparts. There are a few, like mayonnaise for example, that taste slightly different. For the most part, if you are trying to stick to a budget, buying off-brand products can save you a lot of money. And don’t forget to clip and use coupons, too!

* Bring your lunch to work – Once again, let’s do the figures. If you spend a minimum of $5.00 per day on lunch (that’s a cheap lunch!), at the end of the week, you’ve racked up $25.00. With gas prices on the rise every day, that extra $25.00 could come in handy if you drive to work, too. Instead of eating out, fix your lunch to bring with you.

* Drink water – Sodas are easy to grab and run with, but water is much healthier for you. Instead of spending money on canned drinks, buy a family-size pack of bottled water. You’ll save money and drink healthier.

Fewer Cards

Your first goal in reducing your credit card debt is to avoid accumulating more debt while you work on paying the current debt off. After all, what good does it do you to pay $200 toward your credit card and then use it to make another $200 purchase. A good way to avoid using your cards is to get rid off most of them. If you have a current balance owed on the card and it isn’t feasible to transfer the debt to an account with a lower interest rate, simply cut up the cards to avoid using them again. Close the credit card account as soon as you have paid it off.

Your ultimate goal will be to only have one or two credit cards for online purchases and emergencies. You will only be using it for non-emergency purchases that you know you can pay off within 30 days.

Freeze Your Assets

Most of us like to keep at least one or two credit cards around for emergencies. The problem is we end up using the cards to buy a new pair of shoes, take our spouse out to dinner or buy that new TV we really want. If you are prone to these types of impulse buys on the credit card, try freezing them.

Yes, I am serious. Take a gallon sized Ziploc bag, drop your credit card in it and fill the bag with water. Stick the bag in the freezer. Within a few hours your credit card will be encased in a block of ice, making it less convenient to just grab it and buy something. At the same time you know you can thaw it out in a few hours if you really need it.

No More Impulse Buys

How many times to you go to the store with a particular item in mind and end up buying a few extra things you didn’t even know you couldn’t live without? I’m taking about impulse buys.

We go to the grocery store and are presented with all sorts of special deals and easy grab-and-go offers at the end of isles and at the cash register. We go to the mall to buy a white sweater and end up with a pair of earrings or new boots as well.

Storeowners have figured out exactly how to push our buying buttons and get us to purchase items on impulse that they know they couldn’t sell us if we took a moment to think about it.

Before you make a purchase, take a moment and consider if you really need this now. For larger purchases sleep over it. You’ll be surprised how many deals don’t look quite as good anymore the next morning.

$20 Is All It Takes

We’ve talked at length about how to cut down on spending and using your credit card, now it’s time to start paying off the debt you currently have. All it takes is $20 to get you started. Of course if you can come up with an extra $100 or even more, go for it.

At the very least I want you to come up with an extra $20 a month and add it to what you are currently paying toward paying off your credit card. Start with the card that has the highest interest rate. If you are currently paying about $100 a month toward that card, increase it to $120 until the card is paid off. Then use those $120 a month and add them to what you are currently paying toward your next card. Can you see how quickly this can add up and get you out of debt – especially once you have the first card paid off? By consistently doing this you can be out of credit card debt for good in a few years.

If you’ve tried in vain to set a family budget and it’s constantly failing, it might be time to turn to a professional for help.  Many people struggle with spending and saving and often find that they are unable to make end’s meet.  If that is the case, it’s priceless having the guidance of someone who has a strong understanding of money matters.

Seeking out the services of a professional budget planner is a step in the right direction if budgeting isn’t your strong suit.

It might seem embarrassing to seek out the help of a stranger to set a family budget.  After all, money is a private matter, and if you can’t handle the juggling act of paying your bills and providing for your family, won’t a budget planner view you as a financial failure?  They won’t.  Budget planners are experienced in helping people in all income brackets develop a plan to manage their resources and at the same time keep their heads above the financial waters. They can work closely with you to help you not only pay your bills but budget for a savings account as well.

The first step when you visit a professional to help you set a family budget is to be completely honest with them.  Bring along copies of your pay stubs and also be ready and willing to reveal what you are spending money on and how much money it is.  In order for a budget planner to really give you the best service they can, they need to know exactly what they have to work with.

Any documentation you have in relation to household expenses will be helpful to them.  Armed with that and with the insight they will have garnered from interviewing you they will be able to set a family budget plan that will help you reach your financial goals.

The budget planner will explain the situation to you and your family. They will outline exactly what steps you need to reach your financial goals.  Often this means significant changes in spending habits.  You may have grown accustomed to shopping for new clothes once a month and the budget planner may insist that in order to set a family budget plan that addresses all of your financial needs that your clothes shopping adventures have to be curtailed to once a year with a set amount of money allocated to that.

It’s important to listen and absorb what the budget planner is telling you.  Their objective is to make your life easier by relieving you of the ongoing burden you’ve felt when it comes to money matters.  Their suggestions and ideas are designed specifically for your family and the individual needs that you have.

Working with a professional to set a family budget plan isn’t always easy. But the effort and frustration you felt will quickly turn to gratification when you realize that by adopting and embracing their suggestions, your money situation looks a lot brighter.

With the invention of the ATM machine, visiting the bank and seeing the bank teller has become a thing of the past.  It’s so much more convenient to drive up to an ATM, punch in your pin number and withdraw enough money to meet your current needs.  The ATM is also a time-saving way to pay your bills.  For many people it’s the only way they bank.

All of that convenience does come at a price though and you may not even realize how much it’s costing you.  Almost every bank charges some fees for their customers to use ATMs and if in a pinch you have to get money quickly and the only ATM in the vicinity is another bank’s it might cost you much more than you are willing to pay.

It’s rare when you sit down to set a family budget to consider the price that your banking is costing you.  You instead budget for things like food, utilities, housing payments and car costs.  These are all essentials but the monthly fees your bank is charging you need to be taken into consideration as well.

Most monthly banking plans offer a set number of ATM transactions.  If you go over this amount they are authorized to automatically charge a fee per transaction. If you frequent the ATM quite often, this can quickly add up to a significant expense.

A first step in determining how much your banking fees are impacting your finances is to look at your last banking statement.  This will explain what fees you were charged and if any of them relate to your ATM usage.  If they do you can make some easy changes that will help you keep the banking fees at a minimum and allow you to account for that amount when you set a family budget.  If you approach it this way, your fees will always stay the same and you’ll know what to expect to pay each month.

To keep banking fees at a minimum consider trying the following:

* Keep a minimum balance in the account.  Often banks will waive monthly fees if a minimum balance is kept in the account at all times.
* Try to pay bills in alternate ways.  Perhaps you can visit the department store where your credit card payment is sent or you can visit a kiosk at the company that supplies your electricity to pay the bill.  Often companies will have payment drop-off boxes that may be on your way home from work.  Paying this way can save ATM fees.
* Withdraw as much cash as you’ll need for the week.  Instead of taking $20 out 5 times in the span of a week, withdraw $100 once a week.  By doing that you’ve already saved four ATM transactions for the month.  This could keep you under the minimum and also not paying extra fees for usage.

It’s also important to bear in mind that every family member who banks has to pay fees.  This is something that you’ll want to keep track of when you set a family budget that everyone needs to follow.

When you and your family sit down to set a family budget plan, savings might come near the end of the list. Routine living expenses normally soak up a great deal of a family’s resources and whatever is left over might be so miniscule that it won’t seem worth saving.  Regardless of the size, savings are a necessity.

No one can predict when life will take a turn for the worse.  We rarely ever budget for illness, a broken car part or a furnace that is too old to keep us warm in the winter.  These are rainy day expenses and as the old saying goes, sometimes when it rains it pours.

When you set a family budget you should consider savings as a high priority.  One way to guarantee that you will save is to deduct a portion of your paycheck before you budget with it.  In other words, you can take perhaps 5% or 10% of your paycheck and put it in a rainy day account.  In that sense you are pretending the money isn’t there and you can’t be tempted to spend it.  With the remainder of your paycheck you can set a family budget that will tend to your regular monthly expenses.

Another effective method of budgeting for savings is to take any extra money you receive during the year and place it in a rainy day account.  This could include things like year-end bonuses at work, or income tax refunds.  If you take those amounts and immediately put them in a bank account that is dedicated to emergencies, you won’t have time to consider what else you could be buying with that money.

If resources are very tight when you set a family budget and savings are essentially impossible, it might be time to consider some cost cutting measures to free up some extra money.  Here are a few ideas of things you can do everyday to save money:

* Walk instead of drive.  If you need to stop at a grocery store to fetch milk or bread and it’s only a few blocks away, take a walk.  It not only saves on fuel costs but the exercise won’t hurt either.
* Take a bagged lunch instead of buying lunch.  Bought lunches can add up to a fair bit of money over the course of a year.  If you prepare a lunch at home, you’ll quickly notice the extra money you’re saving.
* Visit the library instead of the book store.  Reading is a favorite pastime of many people, but it can become costly.  Instead of purchasing each book you want to read, visit the library.  The cost of a yearly membership is a very small fraction of what you’d normally spend on books over the course of twelve months.

By adopting a few small changes you can start saving money each month.  It’s always good to be prepared for any possible financial emergencies and having a saving plan in place when you set a family budget can help with that.

When your family sits down to set a family budget you might not be considering the value that coupons and rebates hold.  Those little slips of paper you clip out of the newspaper and magazine can add up to big savings.

The practice of cutting coupons is decades old.  People get their scissors ready and flip through newspaper inserts and magazines cutting out coupons that help them save money on a favored product.  While most coupons offer a savings that might seem minute, when you put them altogether it can add up to tidy sum.

There is a craft to cutting and using coupons and rebate forms and with a little planning while you set up a family budget, you can easily save a sizable amount of money.  Factoring in the savings that you’ll garner from coupons isn’t prudent during the budget planning stage.  After all, you can’t predict how much money you will save that month by using coupons.  However, you can keep track of how much money you actually save and put that in a rainy day jar or a mad money bucket.  That way, when you want a special treat or decide to take the family out to a nice dinner you’ll already have the financial resources to do that without it impacting the decisions you made when you set a family budget.

There are a few important rules to follow to get the most value from coupons:

* Use coupons on sale items.  If you do this you are dramatically reducing the price of something that you generally purchase at regular price.
* Watch for “double coupon days” at local stores.  Some stores offer the consumer a chance to use their coupons at a double discount once a month.  This can save a substantial amount of money even reducing the cost of certain items to almost nothing.

Trade coupons with friends, relatives or co-workers.  Many people cut coupons and save them waiting for a chance to use them.  If they have a coupon for a product you normally buy and vise versa, you can make a trade.
* Visit websites that offer coupon discounts.  There are many websites that have literally hundreds of dollars of discount coupons available.  All you do is point, click and print.
* Use rebate forms for sale items.  If you have a rebate form for a product, purchase it when it’s on sale and be certain to ask for two copies of the receipt.  Most rebate requests don’t honor photocopied receipts and if you have two copies, both printed from the store’s cash register, you can keep one for warranty purposes and use the other to mail-in for your rebate.

When you work to set a family budget in place, consider that coupons are akin to bonuses.  When you use one, take the money saved and use it one something special.  The whole family will want to take part, just to get the reward!

One of the things that most people consider when they set a family budget is how much money to allocate to entertainment expenses.  This may seem like a small portion of the money a family spends, but it can add up quickly.

Most people enjoy getting out to the movies, especially when it’s time for the next blockbuster to hit the big screen.  If you’re planning on taking the whole family it can quickly add up to a costly night on the town.  With new movies opening each weekend it’s crucial when you set a family budget to think about how quickly you need to see that new release.

Most movies that are in the theater can be found on DVDs within a few months.  If you are patient this can add up to substantial savings over the course of a year.  Considering that the cost of purchasing the DVD is equal to, on average, the cost of two adult movie tickets, you can see the benefit in waiting a few months to see the film.  An even bigger incentive is to think about the cost of renting that DVD.  If you take that route, you’ll be spending a very small amount to see the exact same feature film just a few short months earlier.

Although the cost of the movie tickets is going to take a big bite out of your monthly entertainment budget, there is another aspect to the theater experience that can prove expensive.  That’s the refreshment stand.  For anyone who has been to a movie recently, they can attest to the fact that popcorn and peanuts face a huge mark-up when they are purchased inside the doors of a movie theater.  For most theater goers though, it’s an important part of the experience and one they don’t want to forfeit in the name of a budget.

There are some steps you can take to enjoy a family outing to the movies within the limits you had when you set a family budget.  Consider these ideas:

* Go to a matinee instead of an evening showing.  Matinees are less expensive and the show is identical.
* Bring your own candy.  Smaller size versions of the large movie theater candy bars are more than enough to satisfy your sweet tooth and your budget.
* Purchase a bottle of water instead of a soda.  Often the water in a theatre is much less expensive than buying a sugar filled soda or juice and it’s better for your health as well.

Making a few small changes in your entertainment choices can result in big savings for the family.  Make a night out at the movies a special event and the children will enjoy it more knowing that they don’t get that luxury each week.  Keep your eyes open for any discount or 2-for-1 coupons from your local DVD rental outlet.  A big bowl of popcorn, a few cans of soda and some rented movies make for a fun family night that’s easy on the budget.

The worst part of entertaining is the preparation. Trying to anticipate everyone’s needs can be a lot of work. You can spend countless hours racking your brain to come up with the perfect plan. Every host or hostess wants their presentation to be perfect, but there aren’t enough hours in the day, especially if guests show up unannounced. The instinct is to order food to be delivered from a local restaurant or order a pizza. Both are highly expensive and not very personal.

An option is to run out and purchase prepackaged foods. Food warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club sell prepared food trays. Tray sizes vary so it is easy to choose the one that fits the number of guests you are serving. And they offer a wide variety of selections. Create a buffet with cheese, meat, deli, fruit, chicken, and cracker trays. You can also purchase a variety of appetizers to serve as a meal. This can keep your costs down while offering a little bit of everything for everyone. Because they are usually frozen, they can be conveniently kept in your freezer and taken out when guests arrive. Plus kids love appetizers and adults love variety.

Offering a variety of sodas can be messy – and expensive. Instead, fix a citrus punch bowl.

You will need: two or three 2-liter bottles of lemon-lime soda, two cans of pineapple juice, a bag of ice cubes, and a tub of lime sherbet.

The taste is light enough for everyone. If you don’t want to use regular ice cubes, fill your ice trays with some of the punch. As the punch warms up, add punch-flavored ice cubes to cool it down without watering it down. If you really want to offer soda, get the 2-liter bottles. This way people can serve themselves and you won’t be picking up half empty cans for hours after the party. Plus you can limit the amount of sugary soda that kids get.

A wise hostess keeps a list of things to do around town that are free or cost very little. Keep a folder of newspaper articles and brochure from places in your area. Several websites offer lists of things to do in your area. Guests with kids may like zoos or museums. A picnic or cookout in the park gives everyone a chance to eat, socialize, and take advantage of park activities all in one venue. Other options are State Parks, local public attractions such as art fairs, state and county fairs, and nature reserves. All are very affordable, and guests love to visit the local attractions. If you have yard games like bocce ball and croquet, it’s a great opportunity to stay home and socialize while getting a little exercise.

If guests are spending the night, make it as convenient as possible for them and you. Purchase trial size bottles of deodorant, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and travel toothbrushes from the dollar store. Guests may bring these items, but having a basket of these miniatures in their room will help them if they forgot anything. You may also want to include a local newspaper or magazine so they see what your area has to offer. Also magazines often have tear-out cards with trials of perfume or cologne in them. Pull out these cards and place them in the basket. It’s a great way for guests to try a new scent and for you to find a use for these sometime annoying cards.

Entertaining can be painless and fun even for those who don’t particularly like to play host or hostess. Even on short notice, you can whip up a meal, draw up an event calendar, and prepare a room for those unexpected friends and family. Making guests feel comfortable and welcomed is simple as long as you have a basic idea of what to do ahead of time. Take advantage of all your area has to offer. Your guests will appreciate the fact that you gave them a great opportunity to experience local events. And you’ll have fun showing them all there is to see and do in your area.