As Quick Money Saver (QMS), we are unhappy to realize that most families nowadays spend more and more money, while at the same time save less and less each year. The main reason is not just about the rise in living costs, inflation or quantitative easing etc, but because not many families do not spend time reviewing their total expenditures or expenses to find out how they can save more money.
In fact, almost all families have somewhere pennies may be pinched or living costs may be cut. If these saved funds are can then be transferred to pay down financial debts or just save money for better future, the freed-up resources might create dramatic improvements on quality of their family life or level of their family debts. Here we, Quick Money Saver (QMS), would like to introduce some creative ways that can help saving money effectively for your own family:
Creative Ways to Save Money For Your Family
(i) Food Stuffs.
Food is indeed one critical area where every family can become more thrifty. According to CES (Consumer Expenditure Survey) by the U.S. BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), each family is spending approximately USD$2500 on food stuffs away from home. For example, if you (and also your children or spouse) do eat lunch out each day every week, then better try brown-bagging for lunch at least one of these days. Just if anyone of your family members does this money-saving trick, your family as a whole can save up to USD$400 per year effectively. If your family members could double or even triple that savings, you might easily finance a few family holiday trips or recover from family loan debts.
(ii) Home Expenditures.
Another key living expenditure is from your home. Do ask yourself when was the last time your family tried mortgage refinancing? Could you search for a lower mortgage interest rate? Could you also renegotiate for a shorter mortgage time frame? Even though you may not possibly change any mortgage payment or loan credit terms, you can still consider to proceed with remortgage plan by paying a bit more money every month. Then over time and time this will reduce interest-rate related costs accordingly and thus will speed up paying down your total mortgage borrowing expenditures.
(iii) Utilities Costs.
Expenses for utilities are also the top costly living expenditures. Do remember not to overlook saving costs from utilities of your family. There are many creative ways to save money from this important area, including but not limited to updating insulation or weather stripping, updating closely with cleaning or maintenance of air conditioner and house furnace etc. One other creative money-saving method is to use a programmable thermostat that can cut off electrical appliance when your family is already asleep and home is just empty.
(iv) Banking Transaction Services.
Expenses for banking transaction services can also be costly with most family members. Always wisely select your banks for better transactional cost-saving, especially those can provide competitive services such as free (or low-cost at least) checking and electronic bill-paying etc. Free electronic bill-paying or debit card may reduce your needs to write checks and pay for extra postage costs. These effective savings on bank accounts not only can save you a lot of money in long run, but can also manage payments for your whole family in a better way so that you can avoid sudden penalties, higher interest rates or unreasonable banking transaction fees etc.
The above are just part of our creative methods for family cost-savings. We will share additional money-saving tips later in our next post, so please stay tune on our QMS (Quick Money Saver) blog for your best interests. This at least can help you build up some practical solutions or innovative ideas on family cost-savings. Don't bother waste any of your creative mind!
