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Budget tug of war

The family budget can frequently be a source of conflict and dissatisfaction among family members. Most often a family’s financial decisions are undertaken by the person earning most of a family’s income, but whose decisions are not always acceptable to other family members.

Understanding that money is such an intrinsic part of family life, it is important for families to reach compromise on this subject. In the following paragraphs I’ve outlined a number of steps which might be helpful in maintaining peace and harmony around when dealing with the family’s budgetary concerns.

Set your priorities

Priorities are different from goals. They are aspects in your family’s life that you, as a family, want to focus on – like health or a future for your children – while goals are specific targets that support priorities.

In setting priorities, do not set too many, as it defeats the purpose. Ideally there should only be one, but because life is not ideal, 2 to 3 are reasonable.

As the priorities are set and agreed upon, write them down. Post the paper where everybody can see them to remind them of what your family is focused on for the next few years.

Write down your goals

Once the family has set and agreed on priorities, the next step is to set the family goals. Goals are specific and measurable conditions that, when achieved, will support the priorities.

In setting goals, establish a target that is both challenging yet achievable. A 10-15% of the family’s income is a good savings target for a child’s future education: stretching yet reachable.

Make every effort to get your family into a goal-defining, priority-setting frame of mind in order to maintain focus.

Work towards your goals

After setting your priorities and goals, start living by them. All of the family’s activities must be geared towards working at your goals. Track progress, particularly on financial goals, by using an income and expense-tracking tool. The simplest way is to get a notebook and list down all expenses & incomes, and set a budget for future spending.

There are those that invest in computer software or a family accountant. Whatever it is, the important thing is to have a system of monitoring the family’s performance towards achieving set goals.

Evaluate your family life

At a certain point during these exercises, when you feel like it’s time to evaluate your life, check how your family is doing in relation to the goals. Goals that have been achieved can be checked off the list, and new ones can be formulated.

At times, in major changes like a career move, or when a family member goes away, it might be a good time to re-evaluate priorities. When such a time comes, it is reasonable to assume that a new cycle begins; just like the overall reason we all try to get the most out of our available resources. That’s life!

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Saving money is not as hard as it seems. Here are ten practical tips and techniques that you can use to create a robust money-saving regimen without changing your lifestyle.

1. Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs – CFL bulbs consume 80% less energy than incandescent bulbs, but give the same illumination. Make sure to buy only lamps and bulbs that have the Energy Star rating to ensure quality compliance.

2. Make a list when going to the supermarket and stick to it – Anything that is not on the list is not a “need”, but merely a “want” so avoid busting your budget for unnecessary items. Buy non-perishable consumables in bulk to benefit from the bulk discounts.

3. Use coupons when available – Take the time and have the patience to clip and organize grocery coupons. When added together, savings from using all coupons in one grocery trip can be as much as $20-$30. Purchase dining and shopping coupons online and print them at home. Doing so can save you at least 50% on the face value of the coupons.

4. Buy online, whenever possible – Online stores pass their savings from rental costs and warehousing to the online consumer, thus they can afford as much as 70% off their rack price. When buying items online, Google it first together with the word, “discount code”. This can give you further reductions on the item you want to purchase.

Try also online bidding: they offer at least 75 percent off the original purchase price, for practically new (slightly used!) items.

5. Take lunch to work – Buy potato chips and soda from the grocery and make a homemade sandwich and pack them in a brown bag.

6. Eat homemade dinners as often as possible – Plan menus that are practical and easy-to-cook to encourage eating at home. Save money by dining out only on special occasions.

7. Use everyday pantry items for skin and body care – Cucumbers, honey, milk, lemon, salt and baking soda are some items in your home that can also be used to take care of your skin.

8. Avoid shopping to de-stress – Try walking around the park or watching a movie instead.

9. Bring your own sodas and snacks when watching a movie – The cost of sodas and snacks are at least 25% higher in movie houses. Plus, homemade popcorn tastes much better: you can put on all the salt and butter you want!

10. Pay off your credit card balances each month and avoid finance charges – Better yet, use cash as much as possible, unless using plastic will give you a better deal (0% interest on appliance purchases, or cash rebates).