Being a parent comes with joy, challenges, and a whole new level of budgeting! Did you know the average cost of raising a child to age 18 is over $230,000? That’s a staggering figure, but don’t worry, I’m here to help you keep more of your hard-earned money without cutting corners on what matters most for your family.
Whether you’re a new parent or juggling a busy household, these 19 smart money-saving tips will guide you to stretch your budget without sacrificing your family’s well-being. These are realistic budget, automatic saving, saving smartly, shopping smarter, high copy clothes and toys, planning meals, babysitting alternatives, managing family outings, taxes credits for parents, saving on utility bills, paying high interest first eliminate unnecessary fees, negotiating, healthcare savings, 30 day rule for big purchases, carpooling, eliminating unnecessary subscriptions, teaching kids money management, and gifting or selling unused items.
Let’s dive into these practical strategies and start saving today!
Content Covered Today:
1- Set A Realistic and Practical Budget For The Family
The first and foremost tool is to set a realistic budget that meets your family’s needs and gives room for saving without cutting on any essentials spending in the same time. Setting too low budget means you’re either cutting off necessary spendings for your family’s wellbeing and leads to taking from the money assigned for saving which makes you feel unsuccessful.
There’s no single ideal percentage to spend money every month that fits everyone. You have to come up with your own spending budget as a parent and therefor your saving budget based on the needs of your family. Parents with newborns have different spendings than parents with children or adults in college.
To come up with the ideal budget plan as a parent you need to identify two things:
- Needs and wants list for the whole family
- Average spending limit per month
I’ve shared more details on understanding the Needs and Wants and their different levels in the “Is saving money easy” article. Also you can check out the coaching steps to deciding your average budget in the “11 Proven Strategies for Saving Money Every Month” article.
2- Set Up Automatic Savings for Your Family’s Future
One of the essential tools you can use to saving money every month is by transferring all or large portion of your saving budget from your monthly salary to another bank account. This way you’re setting up barriers to spending from it specially if it’s in another bank with no credit or debit cards issued or if there is fees for wiring them back to your account.
Most banks have the feature of wiring the money online through their websites or application so that’s the digital way. For paychecks you receive physically, you can build the habit of immediately or soon depositing them in the bank account dedicated for savings.
3- Save Smartly
Now you have identified your spending budget and therefor your saving budget. After that you set up your automatic transfer to the money you want to save to the other bank account dedicated for saving. This is where you still can do couple of things to maximize your savings like:
- Consider using a high-yield saving account rather than a current/checking account. This is how you can gain interests on the money you’re saving in that account.
- Consider starting a 529 college savings plan or other long-term savings options for your child’s education.
- Consider investing into Cash Funds with cumulative periodic return and periodic distribution if your bank has it. It’s different from the Certificates of Deposits (CD) where you can easily gain daily interest and redeem these funds without losing interest money like with the CD.
4- Shop Smarter
Shopping without a plan is a leading cause of spending on unnecessary things and lowering your chances of effectively saving money every month. To shop smart you can do one or more of the following strategies:
a- Batch your shopping
This means that you and your spouse set specific number of times per month to do your shopping, like for groceries, home supplies, etc. The rationale behind this is that the waiting period between the shopping activities can, and will in most times, dial down any sudden shopping urgency and save you money.
I am a parent and I personally do my shopping twice a month or every two weeks, so any purchases I think I want in between these two visits I just add it to the list of the next visit to reconsider when I finalize that list few days ahead of that visit. Most of the times I find that couple of these ideas don’t seem that important anymore so I remove it from my list.
If you find yourself still wanting it, then that’s your cue that it’s needed indeed so go ahead and feel okay. Similarly, if anything pops up anytime during the month and you really identify it as urgent, go buy it and don’t wait for your next visit.
For my groceries I do them every 7-10 days to always have them fresh, and for any home appliances needed, I usually do them end of year where most deals tend to happen. You can create a similar pattern and play with it till you find your perfect spot for each spending category.
This has to be followed by both parents, so it’s not okay if you did your shopping twice a month while your spouse is shopping anytime he or she feels to.
Another way this saves you money, to a lesser extent, is saving indirect finances attached to the shopping like car expenses including gasoline or parking fees for example.
b- Use coupons or cashback apps
There are apps that give you coupons or cashback when you use them or purchase through them, then you can use these coupons or cashback to spend in selected number of stores affiliated with these apps. Examples of these apps include Honey, Rakuten, or Ibotta for online and in-store purchases. You can either use these apps or check if your current apps have similar feature. As parents you have double your savings if both of you have these coupons or cashback apps.
c- Discounts
Another way to shop smarter for saving money every month is benefiting from discounts for the products you’re shopping for. This is easily monitored if you’re shopping from a hypermarket that has a website or an app where you can find deals and discounts.
You can even connect this discount strategy with the batching shopping one and select those times to shop when the store is offering discounts. This is what I personally do when I discover that there are deals going on couple of days ahead or after my planned visit so I shift my visit to benefit from these discounts. This applies too when you shop for kids clothes, toys, school supplies, and training supplies for example.
d- Points
Another way to buy products is by using points given to you by the store you’re dealing with. I found out that the hypermarket I’m using has an app that tracks my purchases and gives me points to redeem which I do every few months when I have decent amount to use.
You and your spouse should check if the stores, shops or hypermarkets you’re dealing with has this feature and use it to your advantage. This way you can have more points using both parents’ points or if both parents use same app to collect points anytime each one of them are shopping. I do this with my wife by sharing the screenshot of my account QR code in the hypermarket application so that she asks the cashier to scan it and the points she earned from her shopping gets transferred into one pool to use later.
5- Buy Second-Hand for Kids’ Clothes and Toys
As parents we all want what’s best for our children including dressing them up in fine clothes. You can still achieve that while saving good amount of money through buying second-hand clothes or toys. When anyone hears this for the first time, they think dirty and torn clothes which is far away from the fact.
Second-hand clothes or toys are called this way and are cheaper than first-hand ones in that they just have a simple defect that doesn’t align with the brand quality for its loyal customers. Most of the times, they are very small defects that are unnoticeable or can be easily fixed and still being cheaper than buying the original perfect piece.
6- Plan Meals
One of the essential needs to provide for your family as a parent is food, specially if you have children, and more specially if you have growing babies. You have to provide it either in-house or buying meals from outside which is a lot more expensive of course.
This means that you need to think of ways of reducing the need to buy meals from outside to maximize saving money every month. One way you can do this is by planning your meals ahead of time for the following day or even week. This supports your saving money project in the following ways:
- It saves money cooking meals in-house rather than buying them with higher prices.
- You get to save on groceries and ingredients bought in the same time if there are deals or discounts on them, and if you used your points to purchase them.
7- Opt for In-Home Childcare or Babysitting Co-ops
Some parents with babies or young children need to have someone to look after their kids while they’re away for work or personal errand. That’s where babysitters and childcare services come into play which tend to be costly.
The alternative is sharing a babysitter with other kids so you won’t pay higher or you can opt for in-home childcare services.
8- Limit Expensive Family Outings
Going out as a family is one of the key tools for a stronger social and emotional family’s wellbeing. The advise here is to cut down on these outings only if:
- You’re doing it too many times in a week. Aside from the basic social outings like birthdays, I see that a weekly outing as a family is more than enough to recharge and reconnect.
- You’re spending too much every time you go out. Going out as a family doesn’t need to be expensive, at least it doesn’t have to be each time we go out. Since the concept is all about reconnecting as a family then you can consider free or cheap alternatives like playing cards, going to parks, beaches, etc.
9- Take Advantage of Tax Breaks and Credits for Parents
Being a parent has its advantages when it comes to taxes and you can leverage on your savings with the following:
1- Use tax credits like the Child Tax Credit and Dependent Care Credit to lower your tax bill.
2- Look into state programs that offer financial assistance or tax benefits for families.
10- Save on Utility Bills with Simple Home Adjustments
Saving isn’t just sparing money from your salary, it’s also about cutting down fees and utility bills are great area to consider doing some improvements to lower your monthly fees:
- Switch to energy-efficient appliances and use LED bulbs to reduce energy consumption.
- Lower your thermostat by a few degrees to save on heating and cooling cost.
- Unplug electronics when not in use to cut down on utility bills.
This is one of the strategies that you not only need to apply, but also teach to your children since you’re all living in the same space and because they will be spending most of their day at home compared to you being at work, so it’s essential to educate your children on the importance of saving money, and how they can support using this strategy like by turning off the light when not in the room.
11- Pay Off High-Interest Debt First
Saving money is not just about putting money into your bank account, it’s also about reducing any fees taken from you repeatedly. Paying interests for credit cards and loans is the single most point you need to consider here using any or all of the following strategies:
1- Focus on paying off credit cards and loans with the highest interest rates.
2- Consider consolidating your debt to lower your monthly payments.
3- If you have a big loan to settle like for the house, then it’s more effective to use the debt snowball method where you settle small debts first then moving to the bigger ones and so on. This way you will build momentum and decreases number of debts you have.
One of the greatest books I always refer to in my coaching is the Total Money Makeover by David Ramsey and that’s why it’s in my highly recommended books to read. Check it out.
12- Negotiate Bills and Expenses
Negotiation is one of the undermined and underused tools that can easily save money just by using one sentence like, “is it impossible to have a discounted price?” or “How can I afford that giving my situation?”. It’s not going to always work but sometimes it will. One of the essential books about negotiation I read recently is “Never Split The Difference” by Chris Voss so check it out for effective negotiation strategies.
13- Save on Healthcare and Insurance
Diseases are relatively a recurring guest specially when you have children. They keep getting sick with various disease and sometimes more than once in a month. That’s why modifying your healthcare and insurance system is important in lowering diseases frequency or severity and saving money as a result. You can check the following tips:
- Shop for Insurance: Compare health insurance plans to find the most affordable coverage.
- Use Preventive Care: Regular check-ups and preventive care can reduce long-term medical expenses.
- Apply for Assistance: Explore government health programs for single parents and their children.
14- Eliminate Unnecessary fees and fines
Why people pay $1200 on a $1100 bill? It’s because they failed to pay that bill or renew their subscriptions in time so they had to pay more for the fines. This is an easy way you lose money that you could have saved easily, specially when you are a parent juggling too many things daily between work and home.
That’s why productivity and time management are the corner stone habits I teach anyone including parents to stay on top of tasks, specially the ones with negative impact if not done on time leading to financial losses.
You can simply use one or more of the following techniques:
- Set automatic renewals for digital products or subscriptions provided that your balance is always funded. If needed, you can set an automatic transfer from your salary to this balance if possible. This way your balance always has enough fund to pay for the automatic renewals needed.
- Set reminders on your calendar for the recurring bills or payments needed if they don’t have automatic renewal feature, like monthly installments or credit card fees or electricity bill or driver’s license for example. This way you can anticipate required payments ahead of time and avoid penalties.
If you have a lot of finances to manage and adding these reminders to your primary calendar will make it messy and unproductive for you then I recommend creating another calendar called “Financial Calendar” just to mark finances and use it each week or month to plan ahead for upcoming payments, add the tasks to the original calendar then uncheck that calendar during the week to only manage tasks, including the ones related to payments.
15- Carpool or Use Public Transportation
We have a saying in my country that having a car is like managing another household. It’s like you’re marrying your car and you need to fulfill its needs including gas, parking, and maintenance. There are few ways you can save money spent on your car as a working parent:
1- If possible, drop your kids to school and save the bus fees.
2- If possible, take your spouse with you to his/her work and come back home.
3- Use carpooling with coworkers or friends to save on gas, parking, and maintenance.
4- Use public transportation where possible or walk or bike for shorter trips.
5- Look into ride-sharing apps or programs that offer discounts on commutes.
16- Use a 30-Day Rule for Big Purchases
As mentioned earlier, waiting before buying can reveal if the purchase desire is real or not. If it’s saving you money on the small purchases, then it will definitely save more on the big purchases like home appliances for example.
One of my recent big purchases was a 65” TV and I followed the same concept. My wife and I decided we need one in August or September, and we know that in November there are white Fridays deals and in December there are huge deals in one of the big stores, so we decided that to reconsider this decision again comes November, so that if we still want it we buy it and on sale. We bought it with 31% discounted price.
17- Cut Unnecessary Subscriptions and Expenses
– Review your family’s subscriptions (streaming services, apps, memberships) and cancel what’s not being used.
– Opt for family plans or bundled services to reduce monthly expenses on entertainment or mobile plans.
18- Teach Kids About Money Management
Getting your kids involved in learning about money early on is one of the best ways to set them up for financial success later in life. It’s not about making them little accountants overnight, but helping them understand the basics in a fun, age-appropriate way.
Age-Appropriate Financial Lessons for Children
For younger kids, start with the simple stuff, like the value of coins and bills. Play store at home or let them hand money to the cashier during errands—it makes the concept real for them. As they get older, introduce concepts like earning money (maybe with a small allowance tied to chores), saving for something they want, and understanding needs versus wants. Teens can dive into bigger topics like budgeting, credit, or even how interest works.
Fun and Interactive Ways to Teach Saving and Spending
Turn money lessons into games! Set up a “spend, save, share” jar system and encourage your kids to divide their allowance or gift money into these three categories. Use board games like Monopoly or apps designed to teach financial literacy—it’s learning disguised as playtime. You can also plan mini-goals, like saving up for a toy or contributing to a family outing, so they see the payoff of good saving habits.
The Benefits of Involving Kids in Family Budgeting
Letting kids peek into how the family budget works can be a game-changer. Show them what goes into the grocery list, how much things cost, and why we sometimes choose one brand over another. If you’re comfortable, share big-picture goals like saving for a vacation or reducing debt. It helps kids feel included and builds their understanding of managing money responsibly. Plus, you might be surprised how creative they can be about finding ways to save!
When you teach kids about money management, you’re not just helping your family save now—you’re setting them up with skills that will last a lifetime. And who knows? Maybe they’ll start saving for your retirement fund someday! 😉
19- Declutter and Gift or Sell Unused Items
This is not exactly a direct saving money strategy, and it seems more of a making money tool so I kept it at last, but it might work from the angle that you’re selling unused items in a good condition before it breaks down or deteriorate and lose money value. So technically you’re saving its value.
As parents you can have a lot of items that you no longer will use and you can sell them to other new parents like baby stuff including stroller, car seat, etc. You can do the following:
- Go through your home and gather items you no longer need or use.
- Sell your unwanted items on platforms like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or OfferUp.
- If you can’t sell them, at least you can use them as gifts for other parents instead of buying gifts so you’re saving money on that.
Conclusion
Raising a family is expensive, but with these 19 smart saving money strategies, you can save money without sacrificing the things that matter most. Whether it’s meal planning, cutting down on energy bills, or taking advantage of tax breaks, small changes can add up to big savings over time.
Ready to take control of your family’s finances? Start implementing these money-saving tips today, and watch your savings grow while your family continues to thrive!