Top 20 Money Saving Ideas

Use these money saving ideas to reduce the expenses in your family budget.

2. Save money and rent a DVD rather than go to the movies

3. Watch you don't pay too many bank fees like overdrawn funds fee or over the limit transaction fees. Know your limits and stick to them. Or better yet shop around for an institution with little or no fees.

4. A good budget saver is to keep lights off and use only energy saving globes.






5. Use the sun rather than your drier for your washing (boy did I get a shock with that one. Try an $800 power bill because of heaters, electric beds and driers during winter!)

6. Wear extra clothes rather than put on the heater

7. Buy meat in bulk from a local fresh produce market

8. Never buy anything from the shelves at the cash register. It’s not something you have planned for so will usually not help you save your money.

9. When you go travelling, pack sandwiches and your own drinks. Food on the run is always way overpriced and eats into your holiday funds.

10. If you have a number of different loans, refinance them into one loan. This is a great money saving idea as then the loans are easier to keep track of, less interest will need to be paid and repayments are easier to manage

11. Decide not to buy anything new. Always check op shops, garage sales and ebay first. I was looking for a winter blanket for my horse. I found a new one on ebay and was able to save money because I won it for a cheaper price than a similar used horse blanket being sold at a local horse auction! I love a bargain! It meant I could buy two – one for each of my horses.

12. Join Freecycle which is a Yahoo Group. This is where you can give and receive free stuff. Make sure you only get what you really need though because otherwise you end up with a lot of stuff you don’t need and it clutters up your house.

13. Take shorter showers and install a water saver/money saver shower nozzle.

14. Limit yourself to one mobile in the home. Especially if there is a stay at home parent. Or even consider two linked mobiles (with free calls to each other) and no land line which can often have high line rental. Be creative and shop around!

15. Grow your own vege’s and produce. This is a delicious money saving idea and one that you can involve your kids in too!

16. Don’t have expensive money drainers like Pay TV. A money saver would be to hire DVD’s or just watch free TV. Or better yet, do something creative together like go for a walk, play cards and plan a favourite holiday together.

17. Try to get over the idea of having to own everything! Develop friendships with people who you can trust to lend your gear too and who trust you to borrow theirs. Or go into shares for items that don’t get used very often like boats.

18. Don’t buy books & magazines, borrow them from the local library (some libraries have an awesome range of popular magazines!)

19. Cancel your gym membership and take walks as a family together instead or high exercise DVD’s from the library and set up your regular routine at home. Your children will be watching so they will be learning healthy exercise habits too.

20. Learn that gift giving is more about the thought behind the gift rather than the gift itself. Decide to only give something each person has made for birthdays. And make sure they always write thank you cards to friends and relatives for gifts that have been given.

I Hope these money saving ideas help in reducing your family budget and allow you more money to do the things you would love to do together. To see just how much some of these things will save you download this Spending Leaks excel worksheet from the Moneyminded site. Follow the directions and find out how much more you could be saving in your budget!

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