Amid the cost-of-living crisis, providing for a growing family is difficult.
With nearly 13 million adults in the UK struggling to pay their bills, there’s every reason to be concerned about your family. From paying for the weekly food shop to meeting costs for school uniforms, the expected costs can sting just as much as one-off commitments too.
Put simply, the average salary now leaves Brits unable to afford basic necessities. And in low-earning households, the challenges are even greater. Whether you’re worried about a friend or looking for ways to improve your own family’s situation, it’s always worth knowing a few tips and strategies for money management during harder times.
How to manage family finances through the cost-of-living crisis
Track your spending:
Keeping an eye on your spending is always a good idea if you’re serious about improving your family finances. Whether this is on a weekly or monthly basis, it can be extremely helpful to gain an understanding of where your money is going – and how much you usually have left at the end of the month.
Sometimes, tracking your spending is the only way to identify areas in which you might be spending money unnecessarily. Once you have a clearer idea of any problem areas, you can ensure that you’re doing everything you can to save up a bit more.
Set achievable goals:
Realistic financial goals are a strong starting point for anyone hoping to save. You’ll need to think about the reasons you’d like to start saving in the first place, along with how the savings you make will improve your finances long-term.
Whether you’re looking to invest in a new car or thinking of applying for a mortgage, there are other factors to consider than solely the deposit you put down. Along with the money you’ve saved, improving your credit score will provide you with more options to consider before you can successfully apply.
Communicate:
It’s vital for you and your partner to communicate with one another. You should both know your joint and individual savings goals, story to ensure that you’re both doing everything possible to help one another in the savings journey.
Saving money as a family doesn’t need to involve opening a joint bank account. As long as you and your partner share openly and keep big purchases transparent, the rest will come in time.
Set more than one budget:
Sticking to one budget might feel a bit overwhelming. Rather than putting pressure on yourself to stay beneath one total for the month, why not set multiple budgets along with a contingency plan?
Whether that’s on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis, you need to be realistic about how much money you have to spend. When you budget successfully, you should naturally start to spot more ways to save money that won’t necessarily have an impact on your day-to-day family life.
Conclusion
With strong communication, budget planning and tracking your spending accurately, family finances can be managed more effectively. However, you should never sacrifice your family’s basic needs to keep up with rent payments or debts. If you’re urgently concerned about your personal situation, don’t hesitate to seek advice on debt and money.
It’s painful to see what you pay when you go to the supermarket these days. Prices still aren’t going down even though gass and electricity have
Your guide on improving family finances is invaluable! The practical tips and friendly tone make it easy to follow and implement. It’s a must-read for anyone seeking financial stability and a brighter financial future for their family.
I have started to track our spending. Everything has increased in price so much that it was the only way I could manage our money.
We’re trying our best to change a few habits that we think would have a huge impact on our finances, like impulse purchases and buying stuff that we don’t really need.
These are great tips. We have a budget for everything and a few savings pots set up for rainy days.