Top 6 Tips for Living Comfortably on a Tight Budget - A Bountiful Love

Top 6 Tips for Living Comfortably on a Tight Budget

Living on a tight budget doesn’t need to be a nightmare – it’s often just a few small changes here and there until you’re on terra firma. With these six quick tips, you’ll find you’re able to stretch a tight budget a lot further.




Information Is Power

Do you even know where your money is going each month? Begin religiously documenting when and where your money is being spent. Keep a spreadsheet of all of your income and outgoings, and at the end of the month tally all of the items to see where you’re spending all of the money you work so hard to earn.
Consider the debts that you have, how much you still have to repay, and the interest rates you are paying on them. Prioritize repaying the loans and credit cards that are charging you the most interest and get yourself out of debt as soon as possible.

Stop Eating Out and Eat Healthily at Home

Eating out, getting takeaways, and going through drive-ins is one of the most expensive things that a family on a budget can do. The costs really do add up. An average family can spend between $300 and $500 a month on restaurant and takeaway bills.
Do some basic research into nutritional requirements and begin eating a healthy and balanced diet prepared at home. When you cut out the junk food, your home food bills go right down, your family will be healthier, and you might end up having a lot of fun cooking together!

Leverage Credit against Your Collateral Assets

Being on a tight budget doesn’t mean you’re poor. Often, people with sizable assets can be on a tight budget at points in their lives, when they move house or purchase a car, for example. If you have the majority of your money tied up intangible assets, you can find yourself in an illiquid cash situation – you’ve got money on paper but not much cash to spend.
In such cases, consider taking out a loan against your property. Banks will generally give you better interest rates as there is much less risk to them.
Even if you just own a car, this is a potential source of credit. You can get a cash loan on a car title, allowing you to pay more pressing debts immediately and spread out the cost over a much more manageable period at a better interest rate.

Get Into DIY

The internet has made learning new skills easy, yet many people have to pay an external company to do their home repairs and improvements for them. See if you can borrow any required tools from neighbors or friends so that you don’t need to pay out of pocket for them. Most of the repairs around the household are simple to perform – and plumbers/joiners/electricians are expensive!
If something breaks and you don’t have the cash or know how to replace or repair it now, figure out a way to live without it in the short term. If the washer is broken, take your clothes to the laundromat or wash them yourself. If the kettle is broken, heat water in a saucepan until you’re able to afford a good quality replacement.

Save on Kids Stuff

We all know that having kids is a massive expense, but you don’t need to always indulge them. Soda, candy, nail polish, toys – it all adds up. For older kids, it may be time for them to pay for these indulgences on their own through a part-time job. For younger kids, you’ll need to decide which are the most important things to purchase for your loved ones and which will just be tossed after five minutes.
Kids’ activities are a particular drain on funds. If you’re on a budget, you’re going to have to think long and hard on whether those gymnastic lessons are within your budget when you’re struggling to pay the mortgage.
Kids don’t need expensive activities. They’re generally just as happy playing with mom and dad as they would be going on an expensive day trip.

Buy Used

Finally, purchasing items used is significantly cheaper than buying them new. A car, for example, generally costs around 45% of its new price when it is five years old, even if it has been lightly used. Yard sales and thrift stores are alternatives to high street stores that allow you save up to 90% of the cost.


Guest Post by :
Brandon Davis
Outreach Relations Manager
Midwest Title Loans

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