Purchasing clothing for yourself can easily be a budget buster, but add the needs of growing children, or a spouse, and clothing costs are a major expense on any budget. These days we need clothing for work, for working out, and for after work. Our children want the latest trendy clothes, plus brand name sneakers that may be pricey. How can one save money on all this and still keep the family dressed well?

Thrift Shops

One place you can find great second hand clothes for sale are thrift shops. If you’re looking for an item that you wear around the house, there’s no reason to get designer labels. However, you can sometimes score designer labels in these stores on gently worn items. They offer shoes in various sizes, the only problem is that what they have on the rack is it. You can’t look for the same style in your size, as often they have one style, one size, and you’re out of luck if it’s not your size.

Discount Stores and Warehouse Clubs

Discount stores can offer you a chance to get something in your size, but obviously it will cost more than if you bought it at a thrift store. It will be new, however, and that’s definitely a plus. You can get great underwear, socks, and bras at these stores at a fraction of the cost of the regular retail stores. Tennis shoes are great buy here too.

Hold a Clothing Swap Party

If you have a bunch of friends and family members with either kids or adults in the same size, this will help to offset costs. You can each bring clothing from you or your kids wardrobes to exchange for other items that you may have tired of wearing now too. It can be a social event and a nice social hour. This works well for families with children at different ages as often kids outgrow their clothing before it is worn out. It can easily go to another family who might want to give it away or trade it for something else.

You may have decided that the best way to save on a vacation this year is just to stay put. That’s what the media has recently been calling a “staycation.” Granted, traveling costs are a large part of the expense of a vacation, but just because you’re staying home doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy yourself with some fun budgeting ideas for a staycation. Take a look and see how you can make this year’s staycation rival even your best vacation plans.

(more…)

If we lived in a perfect world becoming wealthy wouldn’t be hard to do.  However, our world isn’t perfect and it takes a little bit of work to become a millionaire.  If you have children it is the perfect time to begin amassing a small fortune for them.  The best time to start this path to wealth is when they are newborns if at all possible.  You don’t have to put a lot of cash away for your child when they are infants, but it should be done on a monthly or even weekly basis.  Teaching your children about finances is probably one of the best things you can do, and if they have their own account they can see proof of your teachings.

(more…)

You might be wondering how you can afford a vacation this year, what with the fall out from the credit crisis. Things may be getting better, but you may still feel a bit uneasy about spending too much, particularly when it’s a non-essential like having fun. Don’t worry! You don’t have to give up taking some time to enjoy yourself, particularly when you focus on these family vacation ideas on a budget.

(more…)

There is no doubt about the fact that having a baby is expensive. Some estimates show that even just the first two years, you might end up spending an extra $16,000 just in food, clothing, health care, and more. If you’ve been struggling managing a budget with just two people, it can come as a shock to learn that the pint-size version of you has to have a bigger share of the budget pie than you might expect. Before the actual event, it’s a good thing to take a cold, hard, look at how to build a realistic budget and find out where you can make adjustments and how to position yourself to not only afford the new addition to your family, but also to enjoy your new life as parents.  (more…)

The recession may indeed be almost over, and the urge to splurge is coming right around the most tempting time of the year - the holidays. You may be finding some economic relief with the stabilization of the economy, and this can put you in a better mood. It can also be a justification for overspending again on the holidays, something that can lead to financial difficulties the following year. Even if there is more cash to be found this season, and you want to have a better holiday season than last year, you can find ways to splurge without it forcing you to pull out the credit cards or get a paycheck loan. All it takes is a little awareness and a whole lot of creativity. (more…)

Working mothers struggle with the pull of being there for their children and the need to contribute to the household income. Child care costs can be so high that many will justify that it pays more to stay at home than work. In an economy where more women are becoming the sole breadwinner’s for their families, it’s becoming clear that taking time off to raise children comes with inherently high risks for the financial future of themselves and their households. It reduces your ability to get different forms of credit in your own name, whether payday advance loans or credit cards. It substantially impacts your earnings over time. It’s time to take a look at generating child care options that don’t cost as much as traditional day cares and can provide a way for women and the unemployed to continue gaining income and laying a sound financial future. (more…)

If you’re a parent during this recession, you may have questions on how to tell your children about your financial situation without scaring them unnecessarily. You can use the recession as a great history and economics lesson to help your children grow up with a better sense of money values. Explaining economics to kids doesn’t have to cause anxiety, and many times just communicating the needs of the family will help the kids to understand how they can contribute to the solution, instead of being part of the problem. (more…)

Visiting exotic locales and eating out at scenic restaurants make for a great family vacation, but it also can quickly add up to a budget killer. You don’t have to opt for a staycation just because funds are low, though. You can still plan family vacation ideas on a budget that help you to have fun while saving money on lodging. Here are some things to consider when you are trying to plan a budget-friendly vacation. (more…)

In the current economic climate people are looking to save money on everything possible. Clipping coupons and looking for budget oriented or “bargain” items is a very popular and common past time.

This has spilled over into vacationing as well, and now everyone is hoping to enjoy some discounts and savings on their holidays. Many parents look for family vacation ideas on a budget as a way of enjoying a unique, but cost-effective trip. There are entire websites dedicated to saving money while traveling and many news stories about ideas that others are using to enjoy a fun and yet inexpensive trip. (more…)