1. First and foremost, you must have a vision and a resolve that time can be more valuable than money. We’ve never regretted cutting our income in half despite financially tight seasons. The benefits of more time with my kids, more time to “keep things running” and create a peaceful home, and more time to care for my husband and neighbors are insurmountable. Embracing the idea that time is valuable must come first. Also, a penny saved is a penny earned. We sometimes joke about all the people my husband would need to hire to do my jobs for me. With that in mind, here are some practical ideas.
2. Keep a budget. As Andy Stanley says, “You got to be knowing where your money is going”. If you don’t keep track, you will probably overspend or be much less intentional. Keep track and leave as much margin as possible. Itemize the things that are musts to your family. Tithing, housing, utilities, groceries, etc. If this is new to you, start the first month with just keeping track. At the end of the month you can see how you did and adjust accordingly. There are many online tools and surely apps. We use a free tool on our laptop.
3. Drink water. It’s cheap. And healthier.
4. Make your own coffee. Sorry Starbucks. We have an old Mr. Coffee pot at our house. My husband uses a thermos or travel cup for work. This saves us so much money.
5. Fall in love with second hand. Thrift shops and garage sales (and many online pages now a days) are a great way to stretch your dollar. Plus, it’s eco-friendly. I much prefer to get clothing and toys second hand whenever possible. I think when I was a kid I was a thrift store snob. I thought they smelled funny or something. Now they are my favorite place and visiting them with my kids can be an adventure. Getting to college and being on my own, I think, is when I decided my dollars lasted much longer at a second hand store than at a mall.
6. Lower your standard of living. See #5. You don’t need to buy everything new. You can use furniture that doesn’t match. Have a boring haircut that doesn’t require a stylist. Paint your own nails. You can go without something if you need to or ignore trends and fads.
7. Be a minimalist! Learn to love less stuff. Declutter. Donate to others. There are hundreds of research articles out there about why less stuff is better for our mental health. Don’t *buy* into retail therapy. Consider large purchases for a time before making them. Less is more. One of my favorite verses from studying the book of Ecclesiastes in the bible is 4:6 “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” I’ve always compared “one handful” to one income and being content with that over having two incomes and having to burn the candle at both ends to keep up with it all.
8. Don’t try to keep up with the Jones’. It’s ok to be different. It often means you won’t “fit in” but I have grown to really be ok with that. Do things differently.
9. Meal planning. Print a calendar. Get an app. Whatever your forte is. Making a plan not only simplifies my days and reduces my daily decisions, but in planning you will significantly lower impulse buys and last-minute food purchases.
10. Make food at home. This is huge! More than I ever remember in early parenting years, food is so expensive! Make meals at home. Prepare snacks and pack them on an outing. Besides the obvious financial benefit, this strategy also naturally provides much more time around the dinner table as a family. We eat dinner together nearly every night. I appreciate this time together.
11. Use the library. We are a family of book worms. We do own plenty of our own books, but we regularly have 75+ books checked out from the library. Our library also lets you check out movies for free, too! This saves us an astronomical amount of money, gives us access to more than we choose to afford, and also keeps us from being complete book hoarders and getting lost in stacks of books.
12. DIY. This does require time. You don’t have to do everything yourself but pick a few things. We make our own laundry detergent. I cut my kids’ hair and style my daughter’s hair at home. I make the majority of our beans instead of buying them in a can. I make homemade pizza weekly instead of buying it. Stuff like that. I believe that little things do add up.
13. Learn to love simple and keep the big picture in mind. I do wonder every once in a while if my kids would have preferred more restaurants, vacations, and name brand clothing to what we have offered them all these years. If they would have preferred just more or wanted something different. Our lifestyle is often different than their peers’. It’s not unusual for us to have an extra kid, or more recently, a whole family, staying with us. Are we completely insane? But as my first baby is now a teenager, independent, taller than me, etc. I do see that I will never get that time back and I look back at my years at home and don’t regret them. I cherish them. Despite my imperfections and quirks, I pray that my kids will always know how much I deeply and intentionally love them. I think of giving up my professional life only occasionally. I have kept my teaching license. I have options. But time with people. Space to bring in others. These, to me, are life’s true treasures and I’m very grateful.
