Family keep growing and money is all we need...
With a growing family, you have to budget everything. Money does not grow on tree's and the way the world is, prices are increasing the by the day. As someone who always been a ball on a budget, budgeting is second nature for me. However, with children, they do not understand "Mommy does not have it" and there may be times we honestly do not have it.
Budgeting is not just so your children can have the best in life (although that is a mommy goal) but it's so you can have a peace of mind knowing you're not extremely stressed about everything else life throws at you.
My budgeting techniques:
First, when it comes to store shopping, to be honest, I'm only at a few stores; food and small miscellaneous items. Amazon is my go to as well (I will blog about my Amazon store for you to shop with me)
Start with asking yourself your needs and current family needs.
What store do you want to shop at? who has the best deals?
how much are you able to spend?
go back to #1, is it a current need lol
Second, when it comes to experiences, I do save up in advance to be able to provide an stress free experience. So for example, my children will be experiencing Disney World for Christmas (a surprise) Here are the budgeting techniques I am currently using
I researched several housing options for our family that are affordable.
I've saved up a portion of the flight tickets each month so I am not overwhelmed with ticket purchases.
I plan to create some Disney character shirts in advance ( I love to DIY) so my kids are not asking me to buy this and that lol along with Disney ears and hats.
Since we have a rental home, we will buy food to cut down on eating out daily
For local experiences, I use Groupon often to see if they have any discounts. I google local community events for the upcoming weeks and a lot are free. Again, I save up, if I know the family want to do something special (amusement parks, go karting, out to a restaurant, etc) but often I create an experience at home as well. My family love to be around others, so in the summer its small cookouts.
Third, budgeting for kids extra- curricular activities. I have two children in Baseball and it cost, mainly for my oldest who is in Travel Baseball. I get the cost for the year and we break it down monthly to make payments. I shop around for the best baseball equipment gear with his suggestions/likings. I also think about future activities the kids may want to join and price the cost as well.
Overall, budgeting consist of being strict with your spending and not living beyond your means. It can be hard and again shit happens where we may need to steer from the budget. Also, as a mom we often feel bad when we treat ourselves. I know for me, I often do not treat myself, maybe 2x a year where I am buying shoes/clothes. Now, it is in my budget to treat myself!
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