We live in tough times economically which means that as a family, you are probably wondering what you can do to save money. It is families after all, with young children to care for and possibly only one working parent bringing in an income that feel the pinch more than others.

Thankfully, there are plenty of simple ways that you can save money as a family. From taking advantage of coupons and discounts to reduce your weekly grocery shopping bill to cutting out non-essential services that you can do without, we’ve put together these five simple money saving tips for families.

Organize your grocery shopping more efficiently

Being organized ahead of your weekly trip to the grocery store can help you save money. Writing out a shopping list of exactly what you need ensures that you don’t end up buying unnecessary items, such as a pack of ham when you’ve already got a small pig sitting in your refrigerator.

Take full advantage of coupon schemes

Coupons are everywhere. You probably know all about the coupons you can find in magazines or your local newspaper, but are you taking advantage of the large number of coupons you can find online or have you signed up to the mailing lists of companies whose products you use regularly in order to ensure you don’t miss out on any offers? There are even websites such as Myfreedeals.Com who will do the hard work so you don’t have to, listing various coupon schemes that could end up saving you lots of money.

Never buy appliances “off the shelf”

When it comes to buying expensive appliances, you can make significant savings with just a little bit of time and research. If you need a new television, by all means visit the appliance store but don’t commit to a purchase there and then. Find a make and model you like the look of and then try and find it online. Chances are you’ll find it cheaper on the internet.

Cut out services that you can do without

Most of us have at least one service that we no longer use and which could be cut in order to save us money. It could be something we’ve signed up for such as that gym membership that proved useful for the first couple of months of the year when our get-fit drive was at its highest, but is now proving to be completely pointless, or it might be that landline telephone that has been rendered all but redundant thanks to cell phones. Take a look through your household outgoings and strike off anything that you no longer need or use.

Sell what you no longer need

Ok, this one isn’t saving money, but more making money. How many of us hold onto stuff we no longer have a use for, leaving it cluttering up a garage of spare room when we could turn it into cash? This is especially true when it comes to children’s clothes and toys. Kids grow so rapidly and their tastes change so quickly that a few years after being purchased, clothes and toys can end up having no use at all. Rather than keeping them, sell them through an online marketplace and recoup some cash.

What’s the ideal time to start teaching your kids about money? Three years? Ten years? Read on and find out!

Believe it or not, the tiny and seemingly meaningless financial decisions you make in front of your kids are taken into account by their ever-exploring minds. Because of this, you should always be the biggest advocate of financial intelligence in your kid’s life from day one.

In the long run, you want your children to grow up into responsible, self-reliant money magnets. Here’s how to make your kids the geniuses of investing.

1. Simplify concepts as much as you can

What do you think would happen if you took your five-year-old daughter through some delicate financial topic while using technical terms all through? Her mind would shut off; unless she is a replica of American philanthropist and one of the most successful investors of all time, Warren Buffet.

The method of delivery is important when it comes to kids. By using stock gift cards, piggy banks, and money games, you can teach some of the complex topics to kids, and they would diffuse the concepts in their minds.

2. Make your lessons interesting and use real-life experiences

First things first; figure out how best your kids learn. Is it through watching entertaining clips? Is it through a one-on-one conversation? Is it by reading through something well-structured? Knowing this will not only help you formulate investment lessons for them but also gives you insights on how to improve their learning styles.

Tell stories about how some of the successful people emerged as the giants in the world of investment. To make things even better, give them your real-life experience; tell them how avoiding a particular debt would have saved you a great deal of money. Doing such small things could become quite life changing for them over time

3. Clearly explain how investing is more beneficial than saving

Once they are a little bit older to understand things better, show your children that there is a better-priced possession than just filling their piggy banks; which is a great investment plan.

It would be so interesting for a kid to learn that they could use the money they have, to make more money. Make this lesson interesting by comparing the process to a big family tree, in which, money reciprocates money.

4. Involve your kids in some of your financial decisions

Build the right kind of attitude in your child, and they will never depart from it. When it comes to making simple financial decisions, let your children be part of the decision making process. Make them feel responsible for something meaningful and explain to them why you opted to give money for a certain cause while pulling off investments from another.

5. Build a millionaire mindset in them

There is nothing more important than showing your children how to think outside the box and never to limit the extent of their financial growth. Go through informative sites such as the States Chronicle News and show your kids how people who made wise financial decisions became investment experts. In one way or another, this will inspire them to the path of success.

Ultimately, education is the greatest investment you can ever make in a child. More so, helping them become technical experts and sharpening their wits as far as business and finances are concerned. Take this initiative and exercise these simple tips with your kids today.

There is nothing easy about being a full-time parent. In fact, it’s a full-time job, just without the full-time paycheck to match. When one parent has to stay at home to take care of the baby, it can put a financial strain on the family, because there’s only one income for the entire household. Thankfully, there are loads of ways for you to make some extra money, even if you can’t leave your house to go to work. If your family is struggling, or you just want to give yourself more of a financial cushion, then here are seven ways for you to make money while still taking care of your children.

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Become A Mommy (Or Daddy) Blogger

Blogging is a fun and creative way to earn some extra cash for you and your family. Of course, you won’t start making money right away, but once you’ve published a few posts and have started to build your audience, you could receive a fair wage each month. If parenting advice isn’t a passion of yours, then write about something that is. There are millions of blogs out there, so be as unique as you can if you want to get noticed.

Take Online Surveys

If you’re searching for a quick and easy way to earn a few extra bucks, then you should consider taking online surveys. Each online survey website is slightly different, but most generally reward you with points for completing surveys, which usually take between five and thirty minutes to complete. Then, once you’ve collected enough points, you can exchange them, for gift vouchers that can be used at different retailers.

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Look After Other Children

If you’ve got any friends or family members that need child care throughout the week, why not offer to look after their children while you’re at home with your own. They’ll probably be grateful to have someone they know and trust looking after their child, and this way your child will have someone besides you to play with all day, while you also have a bit more money to play with. Just make sure that you stick to two or three extra children at most, or you might not be able to cope.

Cater For Parties

If you love baking and cooking, then why not offer your catering services to your family and friends. Depending on how much time you have on your hands, and your skill set, you could make anything from a single birthday cake to an entire buffet, and will earn a decent amount of money while you’re doing it. Just make sure that you don’t take on too many orders at once, or it’ll quickly turn into a full-time job, which is something you probably don’t have time for.

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Sell Your Baby Clothes

First-time parents tend to stock up on adorable outfits, and although these are incredibly cute, there is one big problem – Babies grow fast. Most babies grow out of clothes before you have the chance to blink, so you’ve probably got a whole pile of baby grows that have barely been used. Rather than waste these outfits, sell them online, along with any shoes, books, and toys you no longer need or use.

Make Your Own Jewelry

If you’re particularly creative, why not create your own metal stamped jewelry and sell it online, on websites like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon. You’ll need to buy the necessary tools to do this, as well as the blank bracelets and necklaces, but you can get all of this from ImpressArt at CraftDirect. Once you’ve got what you need, you can start making a few simple designs, to begin with, and slowly get more creative and extravagant.

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Tutor Struggling Students

If you have experience in teaching and have a few hours spare each week, there’s no reason why having a child should stop you from helping students. You can find struggling students through you own children’s school, in local newspapers, and through online ads, who can come to your home and be taught there. You could also tutor students via webcam, using one of the many online tutoring websites that pay you by the hour.

You may have to stay at home and look after your children, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t support your family financially too. There are lots of ways for you to make some extra money from home, so if none of these takes your fancy, you can do some more research and find something that does.

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There are few things likely to cause a lot of people to become incredibly anxious and frustrated than their finances. Let’s face it, worrying about money is just a part of adult life that we all, sadly, have to come to terms with. Of course, most of the time it’s the little things, and it’s not too difficult to get by for the vast majority of people. Then again, sometimes something happens that causes you to have to consider your finances in a way that you really don’t want to. Those kinds of hefty costs or purchases can leave you feeling incredibly anxious and worried and can even cause some pretty serious long terms problems for you further down the road. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do when those hefty costs rear their ugly heads.

Look for the best deals

The first thing that you’re going to want to do when you find yourself dealing with those kinds of large costs is to see what you can do in order to minimise them. For instance, buying a house is one of the most expensive purchases that you can make so using services like homeequitylineof.credit can make life a whole lot easier. The same goes for things like finding the best finance deals on a car or looking for the best value for things like home repairs.

Be ready

If you really want to avoid falling into a financial pit when large costs crop up then the best thing that you can do is to be ready for it. This means putting money aside in a savings account rather than spending everything that you have. Just because you’re in a financially comfortable position now doesn’t mean that you’re going to be in the same position in the future and planning for that kind of eventuality is going to make your life a whole lot easier in both the long and short-term.

Make cutbacks

Of course, if you do find yourself in a position where your finances are suffering then one of the best things that you can do is to make some cutbacks in order to make the most of the money that you do have. Whether it’s simple things like cutting back on luxuries or something more significant like downsizing your home, there are always things that you can do to reduce your spending and balance out your finances when you end up having to spend a lot of money in one place. Sure, this can be pretty discouraging and upsetting but you’re not going to be in that kind of situation forever, and it’s better to downsize for a while until you’re back on your feet than to end up in a pit of debt and financial trouble.

One of the biggest problems that a lot of people run into is that, when these kinds of large costs appear, they want to hide their heads in the sand and ignore them as much as possible. However, doing this is always going to make the whole situation far worse. Trying to hide from problems, especially financial ones, is never, ever a good idea.