Your Little Bundle Of Joy Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive

Ahh, your little bundle of joy. As soon as you start thinking about them, your face probably lights up with happiness. Or at least, I hope it does. Sometimes you may have a face full of concern, but that passes as soon as they do something super cute.

What doesn’t seem to pass, is the feeling that you have little money. Once that feeling is there, it doesn’t go away easily. Because it’s not actually a feeling, it’s more of a reality.

One minute you seem to have loads of money to play with, the next minute you haven’t really got much in your bank and those times can be a little sad. By sad, I mean mega stressful. Once the money problems hit as a family, it can be hard to get out of them. All you can think about is the money you’re going to have to spend, what to do if you have no money, how much money you need in your bank account right now, and whether looking into “what is the best helium miner” can help to make gradual improvements to your overall income.

If you’re worried about all of that, your mind is going to be full with anxious thoughts. Which is why I’m here to tell you that your little bundle of joy doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think.

Cutbacks

The first thing you need to do is think about the cutbacks that you could potentially make. If you’re pretty bad at spending on whatever you want, even though you have no money to fall back on, then you’re never really going to get anywhere.

You’re only going to get yourself into a pickle when you sit and think, oh no, I actually do need to spend money on something important! So, cutting back is the number one thing to start with. You can’t keep spending your money on food. Well, you can, but just not the food that you’ve probably been spending it on at the time being. You need to make sure you’re spending it on essential foods for the week, not treats throughout the week. For example, when you get paid, you need to set a certain amount aside for food from the grocery store, not food from a takeout. Then, rather than spending your money on junk food, stick to the foods that you’ve brought from the shop!

You can read my post on how I save money on food HERE

Bargain Hunting

Bargain hunting is essential, and something that you might not have felt the need to do during your younger years. So, first of all, you need to bargain hunt on the big items, such as household ones. You could save so much money if you had a look at the nursery furniture sets from Cuckooland, rather than going for these super fancy expensive brands. They’re still great quality and look amazing, you just don’t have to pay through the nose for them. You should definitely think about the furniture you get for the rest of your home as well. You can get pretty much brand new furniture for half the price if you search for show items. These are items that were once on the shop floor, but are now looking to be sold. Because they were ‘used’ at one point, you can get them for next to nothing! Well worth the bargain.

Stop Treating Them!

You’re probably going to be a serial overspender because you just can’t help but spend to keep them happy. A lot of parents do this, and I understand why. When they give you those little puppy dog eyes, or you see something that you really think they’ll love, or you maybe you just persuade yourself that they need something new. Well, all of this treating them that you’re doing is only going to burn a hole in your pocket. What you need to do is restrict the treats to once a month. Only buy them something regularly if they really need it, such as clothes or food!

Don’t Always Go Branded

You definitely don’t always need to go branded. Brands are just so expensive when they aren’t shop owned, or when they’re the cheaper branded brands. Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Cadbury’s, all of those are so overpriced compared to cheaper brands. You could easily cut your shopping bill in half by looking for the cheaper brands, or even just looking for when the branded brands are on sale. Branded brands are allowed to overcharge because people love paying for the brand, so they know they can get away with charging the higher prices!