With the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic, it is safe to say that we are leaving in extra ordinary times. Millions of people have lost their jobs as companies have moved swiftly to reduce their payroll cost in order to ensure they survive this downturn.

 

Unfortunately, this means that unemployment has gone through the roof, with some families going down to a one-income family while others have no income at all.

 

Since we don’t know how long the downturn will last or if employers will be just as quick to come to full employment again, it becomes very important for you to watch your expenses to make sure you and your family can make it through this downturn.

 

I would like to share with you 7 changes you can make immediately to cut down your expenses and conserve your cash.

 

1. Have a meal plan and buy your groceries in bulk

 By having a meal plan and sticking to it, you would only be buying groceries for what you actually need. This helps to prevent impulse buying and also removes the stress that could sometimes come with pondering on what you and your family should have for dinner.

You can make this fun by involving your kids in planning and choosing meals for the week. For example, I have three kids and they each get to choose two dinner meals every week.

 

2. Enjoy home-made meals, and cut down on take-out meals

There is a lot of money to be saved by cutting down on take-outs and drive-through meals.

When you consider that the average take-out order for a family of four would cost anywhere from $30 to $60 a meal, then this can very quickly add up if you are having two to three meals ordered every week. In this instance, substituting take-outs for home-cooked meals can save up you about $3000 a year.

Make home cooking fun by involving your kids in meal-preps and dinner preparation. Kids can help with measuring, setting the table, and tidying up.

 

 3. Do your manicure at home

 Ok, hear me out on this one first! 

 The quality of home manicure kits out there are now much better than they used to be many years ago.

Invest in a very good home kit and do your nails at home to save some money. On average, a nail appointment would cost $65 + tax + tip. You would very well be paying close to $75 per visit out of pocket. 

Usually, these need to be re-done about every three weeks. If you are able to do your own nails for a whole year, you would have saved $1300. 

You can even make this fun by inviting your girlfriends over for a monthly spa date and have fun doing each others’ nails (after the lock down and social distancing requirements are lifted). Just think how fun this could be!

4. Have a smaller budget for the kids’ birthday parties

 A typical birthday party for 10 – 15 kids could set you back about $300 or more if you are having the party at a third-party location that charges per child. While these can be a ton of fun, I have seen that the kids can have just as much fun without the need to break the bank.

There are a ton of fun and in-expensive kids party ideas to try out. For example, you can have a baking party, or a picnic at the park with home-made sandwiches, pizza and some lemonade for drinks.

Remember that your kids will not remember how much you spent on their party but rather, how much fun they had and how they felt on their special day.

 

5. Consider alternatives to gym memberships?

A typical gym subscription will cost about $50 a month. If you find that you are not going to the gym as frequently as you would like, then you should be cancelling this as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, many of them have you committed to a one-year subscription, which is not very easy to get out of without paying penalties.

 And if you really feel that you need a subscription, then find one that has a flexible cancellation policy or allows for month to month contract so that you can cancel when you need a break or are going on holiday and start up again as needed.

 My favourite option is to exercise at home using my body weight and following along one of the numerous free exercise routines on YouTube.

 

6. Take a packed lunch to work 

Buying lunch at work can set you back about between $10 and $20 a day depending on where you buy your lunch and if you buy a drink to go with your meal.

 If you are doing this five days a week, then your lunches are costing you between $2600 and $5200 a year, whereas meal planning and prepping your lunches each week would cost you a small fraction of that.

7. Re-evaluate your entertainment/TV package subscriptions

A recent survey showed that a large number of people have three of four subscriptions to various entertainment packages, the likes of Netflix, Amazon TV, Disney and of course your local cable TV provider.

The most common reason people subscribe to multiple providers for screen-entertainment is to have access to a range of popular programming that are exclusive to the different providers. 

I don’t know about you, but I find that there are more than enough options on one platform, that it sometimes takes me up to half an hour to select a movie or program to watch on Netflix. I imagine that it would take even longer if I was subscribed to multiple providers.

Each package may seem inexpensive on its own, but these subscriptions can very quickly add up to $200 a month or more, if you are keeping 3 or 4 of them.

 

Other bonus tips that can help save money:

• Substituting well-known brand items for shop brand. This way, you are not paying for the extra fancy packaging and advertising costs that are built into the price of brands. For example, superstore has a wide collection on items under their “no name” brand that you can consider buying as a replacement for your regular brands.

 

• Think about ways to “up-cycle” or repair items before throwing them in the bin. In today’s very fast paced lifestyle, fast fashion, and fast delivery for online shopping, many of us now have developed a habit of throwing things out very quickly since they can be replaced fairly quickly.

I hope you will challenge yourself to see how many of these you can take start doing today to see how much money you can save.

Leave a comment below if you would like to share your own ideas on what changes you have made recently that is working for you so we can all learn from each other.