stop-wasting-your-household budget

Sticking to your household budget isn’t tough. You just need to sew the holes in your pocket. Courtesy: Unnecessary and disorganized spending habits. Here are some of them:

1. Taking your kids to the grocer’s shop

Interestingly, if you take your kids grocery shopping, then it’s likely for you to buy certain that aren't on your grocery list and obviously not in your budget. For example: chips and cookies. If at all, you want to take kids along with you to the grocery store, then you must have a plan on what you’ll buy and what you won’t. However, you can treat them in advance before hitting the store.

2. Buying beverages

You’re losing quite a good amount of money, if you habitually purchase bottled water, coffee or vending-machine soda, and the likes. What you can do instead, is drink tap water more often, sip on homemade cuppa or treat yourself with a healthier choice like homemade lemonade.

3. Shopping without a calculator

While shopping at the grocer’s store, check per ounce/pound/unit cost of an item. It’s easier to save more, when you comparison shop. For example: a pack of 40 diapers is priced at $13, therefore, per diaper will cost you 33 cents. However, if you buy 144 diapers priced at $35, then the cost of each diaper will be 24 cents. This way you’ll save 27%. But, buy only those items that you’ll need, or else you’ll have throw them away and ultimately lose more money.

4. Weddings

According to some personal finance experts, when so many marriages end up in divorce, then why invite financial hardship on day one? Why don’t people do away with extravagant and impulsive purchases? What’s so romantic about being broke at the end of the day? Total cost of a wedding almost match up to the down payment of a new couple’s house. It’s best to avoid blowing dollars on stuffs that weren’t on the list and prevent supersizing your wedding.

5. Cable TV

Cable companies lure people to spend over $1000 each year to watch a handful of channels out of more than 200 channels they’ve subscribed for. These companies ask their consumers to sign up for long term contracts by offering them promo deals for a brief period. Once these promo deals expire, the rates of the cable television increases sharply. So, it's best to reduce the amount of subscription or let go of the connection altogether to save money.

6. Shopping more than once at the grocery store in a week

To avoid this, don’t make any trip to the grocery store during the weekdays, just because you ran short of one or two items. If you do, then chances are you’ll buy something extra most of the time and break your grocery budget. Regular visit to the grocer’s store reveal that you don’t track your household grocery consumption and are unable to make the adjustments.

7. Purchasing several toiletry products and wipes

Given the exception of wood and other upholstery materials, there’s hardly any need to buy specific cleaning products for every other surface in your home. You can make your all-purpose cleaners at home, if there’s a requirement at all.

8. Lagging on health and hygiene habits

Most often, you think it’s not going to happen to you, but it will. You may have to pay a lump sum for dental work in the near future, if you fail to care for your teeth’s health. Moreover, poor lifestyle habits like not washing your hands, consuming alcohol, binging on junk foods, and so on will come back to haunt you in more ways than one. Make the smart choice by weighing the potential medical bills to that of the lifestyle adjustments to keep your healthy.

9. Making full payments for clothes

There are great thrift stores or, consignment shops to avoid losing your household cash. If don’t find a thrift store near you, then you may find them online that sell gently used, good quality clothes, besides allowing you to sell your own. Using better quality clothes that were gently used instead of cheap, poor-grade new clothing, your stuff will most likely last longer. Still, if you insist on getting brand new clothes or shoes, you needn't pay the full retail price. Major retailers price their clothes such that you pay more than what it cost to produce the items, giving them a huge profit.

Instead of making full payments, you can keep a close watch on the items you so longingly want. These items will eventually be put up on sale at a discounted from where you have them. It’s another smart strategy to weed out desires out of needs, by allowing you to think over item you would instantly buy.

Don't miss out: Household debt tumbles to 29-year low

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