Managing Money: A guide for busy parents!

Family life is ultimately a blessing, and we should all be grateful for it. One area that it can cause trouble for some, though, is finances. With mouths to feed and bills to pay, this stuff can very quickly pile up!

So how can parents, and families, cope better? What systems are in place to help them in a pinch, and what tips and tricks can they adopt? From loans to luxuries to allowances, let’s take a look at a quick guide to help parents manage money.

Source // Flickr

Pro-tip: Talk to your kids about money!

Assuming they’re at a suitable age, have a chat with your children about money. Help them understand how important it is, and how important it is to save. Tell them where money comes from, and how much your household runs on per month. This way, your children will be more appreciative of how hard you work for them, and the food on their plate.

Sprucing up our garden without breaking the bank.

As I have previously mentioned the garden in our new home needs a lot of TLC after being unloved and not tended to for a long time.   Even though we have slowly been trying to spruce up our garden by giving the grass some much needed TLC and ridding the garden of weeds unfortunately a lack of funds means it is a slow process to completely transform our garden from a unused barren space into a beautiful haven filled with lots of flowers, garden ornaments and garden furniture.

Being on a low income and watching our spending with a #SpendingDiary in the hope of saving money and improving our financial situation, I have decided to look upon turning our garden into a beautiful and blooming space as a long term project rather than splurging to transform the garden all in one go, spending money we can’t afford to spend to get everything we want for our garden.

As we can’t afford to spend a lot on our garden, with a lot of hard work I have been making the garden look a little better by getting rid of the weeds and clearing the garden debris left behind by the previous tenants.  The work we have done in the garden so far has improved how the garden looks without breaking the bank.

When we moved into our new home we had no garden tools, plant pots or garden furniture at all, so starting from scratch to kit our new garden could potentially be very expensive.  One of the big expenses that we needed to get for our garden was a lawnmower so that we could tend to the garden and keep it trimmed and tidy.  Dreading having to fork out the expense of buying a lawnmower I had been keeping an eye on ebay and local selling sites in the hope of picking up a second-hand lawnmower at a fraction of the cost of a new one.  Thankfully a couple of months ago my wishes for a cheap second-hand lawnmower were granted when I managed to snap up a working Flymo lawnmower on ebay for the bargain price of 99p!!!

Watching our money with the #SpendingDiary campaign.

Unfortunately many families across the UK have money problems and sadly live a hand to mouth existence.  A recent report by the Children’s Society and debt charity StepChange, featured on the Wilson Field blog, highlighted the financial pressure families across the UK have to deal with. 

According to the worrying report one in five UK families are struggling with financial issues and over one million families are suffering from ‘problem debt’, where they are at behind with at least one bill or credit payment.  Sadly the report also highlighted the fact that many families are taking out loans and debt for basic living costs such as food and heating.  Matthew Reed, Chief Executive of the Children’s Society, said “Families are increasingly relying on debt as a way to make ends meet – but we’re in danger of ignoring the impact this is having on children now and in the future.”  The report also looked at the impact financial pressure and debt has on children, with many children from families with money problems suffering from anxiety and being bullied at school.

As Wilson Field realise how easy it can be to fall into debt especially for people already struggling financially, Wilson Field want to raise awareness of financial issues and the strategies to manage financial problems.  Wilson Field, who offer personal debt advice to help you get your finances organised, have teamed up with a number of family bloggers, including myself, on their #SpendingDiary campaign.

For the Wilson Field #SpendingDiary campaign I will be keeping a spending diary to record our family finances with a little help from this useful financial pack from Wilson Field, consisting of The Wealth Chef by Ann Wilson, a Budget Book and a Shopping List/Meal Planner notepad.