Family budget. 6 Tips for the family budget

When you know you are getting ready to go to the grocery store, be sure to have a snack. While some of you might think that this is really strange, you are more open to buy things, foods, that you don't need when you are hungry and you are grocery shopping. Eating something small like a few grapes, a few crackers, a sandwich or even a slice of cheese, you are going to feel fuller, more content. When you are content and have a satisfied feeling you are not going to purchase things, foods, that you don't need. This helps you stick to your grocery list and to your budget!

Make a list of what you need at the store. Having a list when you walk in the store not only ensures that you are going to get exactly what you need, but you will be able to gauge exactly how much you need this item when you put it on a list and you have to stick to a budget. Take for example, you walk into the grocery store with a listing of 25 items, and you have fifty dollars. You most likely are not going to be able to purchase them all, but this is all you have to spend this week. You are going to look for the better prices, and you are going to have to determine what on the list that you can't be without. Sticking to a budget is tough but it can be done with a little will power.

Knowing what stores have the best prices on certain items can make your money go further! So, you have that listing of 25 items that you want or need to purchase and you have that same fifty dollars. There are three stores in town and they are do vary a little on pricing. Using your buying power of the price war, shop at all three stores. Get to know the prices and where the best prices really are. If a box of crackers is $2.29 at one store but you know that they are $1.59 at another store, you can afford to buy those crackers if you shop at the right store. All of us do it, or if not we should be. If you are paying the higher price just for convenience of shopping at one store, you are wasting your money. Stick to your budget by knowing the prices of items at certain stores.

Another way that the family on a budget can learn to save money is by not wasting food. If you make dinner and have left overs you can take the extra to work and eat it for lunch instead of buying lunch out or you can keep it in the fridge for the left overs night. Freezing left overs is always an option. When you have frozen dinners and everyone is away from home leaving just one or two to cook for frozen left overs make a great meal without the wait or the mess.

If you do work out of the home and you have to take lunch away from home, you can keep the family budget in line by not buying anything out for your lunch.  Take coffee or tea from home, take some juice in a container, and a lunch from home. With the microwave you don't have to be eating sandwiches all the time, you can have a nice hot meal for lunch, and all for just pennies a day! Instead of buying the newspaper every morning, borrow someone's at lunchtime or go to the library and read it on your lunch break. There are so many ways to lighten the budget but still get what you want that it is really worth the effort to save money.

Family budgets doesn't mean that the family can't have any fun. You can make dinners a family occasion where you can make your own pizza, make your own barbeque, and have fun while doing it for pennies. If you want to make dinners fun, tasty and keep on your budget, learn to cook from scratch. Making pizza dough, cookies, or even bread is so much cheaper when you make it from scratch than it is if you were to be buying it out in the store. A bag of flour might cost $1.59, but add a little salt and water and you can make twenty pizza crusts! Everyone can get in on the fun and have a tasty treat at the same time you are sticking on your budget.