As humans, our desires often overwhelms our income, fueling the desire to earn more. If you’re seeking ways to stretch your budget, you’re not alone. The budgeting tips for low-income families shared in this article were curated from individuals just like you, who shared their experiences and insights on Facebook. These practical strategies will help you bridge the gap between your income and aspirations. Warning these tips were not edited to preserve their originality, when you find grammatical errors simply over look.
Let’s dive in
Budgeting tips for low income families
1. Save 10 percent give 10 percent and use the 80 percent for bills.
2. Being in the same boat, my only tip is that I pay all bills off the top (including automatic savings) and then what’s left becomes my allowance and food/housing budget. My goal is to make as much last as possible until the last day of the month. I have been successful for the most part by staying home and enjoying the things that I worked so hard to fill my place with. The less I need, the more I save… and the wisdom to know the difference.
3. If you know how much you bring home every month. Budget accordingly.
4. I balance the check book and pay bills on the same day every month. Hubby appreciates not having to fight with the bills. So much more goes into that. Balancing the check book, paying bills and estimates for those 3-4 bills that vary. Some $$$ goes to the sinking fund for taxes, homeowners insurance and auto insurance.
Which all are coming due. Woohoo. What I do is pay all known bills around the 20th for the next month. I always go back and tweak some payments. And I check my account every day to see if anything has cleared and look for things that don’t belong. At bill payment time I have a plan and tell the plan to hubby, he needs to be aware. For me the budget is a daily check.
5. Here is what I do. Drop unnecessary items – cable, apps, restaurants, fun budget (research free fun things to do in your city), etc… Call your “bills” and ask for struggling help. It works for internet, cell phones can offer a better plan, electricity can look for a cheaper provider – your provider, if in Texas, is the one who send you the invoice… they are the middle man of one company so look for the cheaper invoicer.
Start cooking all your meals at home, be creative with left overs. Use your utilities wisely, turn off lights, hang clothes to dry when possible, keep thermostat in winter at 68-69 wear sweater and pants, make soups or use oven to cook and in summer 78 wear shorts and Ts when possible.
Rinse dishes as soon as you finish the meal to avoid wasting water. Clothes can be used up-to 2 times both undergarments but pants, pjs, jackets can even do 3-5 times in not dirty.
Use basic recipes. Beans and rice are power dishes flavour with 2-3 oz of meat if must have meat. Prepare your meal plan based on sales at stores. Aldis has good prices.
Avoid late charges by paying bills on time. Save at least 1-5% of income do direct deposit to savings account so you will have emergency funds. No soda, or unnecessary expenses including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes.
Start a garden which will save you a lot of money. Get seeds from dollar tree now at 4 packs for $1 watch YouTube videos to learn how to plant.
Involve your kids in the process. Talk with Family to find ways to save and set a goal. If the fam saves $20 all get a favorite inexpensive recipe like mac and cheese, hot dogs, tacos or whatever they like if saved $50 maybe a movie at home with popcorn there are a lot free in YouTube.
If saved $100 maybe they get a snack of choice and so on… motivate the family to understand life is expensive. When showering just open hot water and when hot adjust and regulate with cold. No more impulse purchases.
Before buying anything that is not groceries must wait 2 days to think about it. BTW my garden is very small and I save about $5000 to $6000 per year. Do extra jobs, babysitting, making bread, cleaning a neighbor’s house, selling herbs from garden, anything you have skills do. The more you bring the better off.
Budgeting tips for low income families
6. I found Walgreens for buy 1 get 2 free sales, stocked up on Zippy bags, l detergent, trash bags, kroger for coffee and food sales.
7. Calculate what you need then find your shortfall- Then I work on how to make up the difference with rebates and discounts so I can afford the life I want, rather the one I can afford! Discounts and rebates have been $3,000-$11,000pa
8. I rinse zip lock bags & reuse. I add water to concentrate dish soap to wash dishes & use up most food items before shopping for more.
9. I like to online shop, with free pickup. This is a pain, but I toggle back and forth between multiple grocery stores in order to find every best price. I also look at Ibotta and other coupons, and when I get a rebate or cash back, I use it toward my next grocery trip.
10. When we were preparing to retire I decide to challenge myself to not just randomly shop. That helped cut back a lot. I also rarely buy a coffee, soda, candy bars or chips from convenience stores or shops. Also love shopping the sales for the items I use most often. I do believe using store apps where you can compare prices of the items you buy with the different brands helps save money especially if you do have it delivered to your car. So you do not pick up extra items that can run up your grocery bill.
11. I keep a pump bottle and fill to about 1/6th with blue Dawn dishwashing soap. Then top bottle off with water. Shake very well. Just a little works great to wash your hands.
Budgeting tips for low income families
12. I have been making my own laundry soap for almost 2 years. The initial cost of the borax, washing powder, feels napatha bar and essential oil was about $60. Not needed to restock supply’s and that’s washing for 3 kids and 2 adults. I have also started using all my onion scraps from peeling including the skins and make my own onion powder. Small steps for sure but as long as it’s always in the right direction it will make a difference!
13. Buy Mule Team borax laundry detergent. It’s a booster but smells wonderful. I use it to boost my liquid detergent. Mule Team is very inexpensive under $6.00 and a little really makes a difference. Mule Team has been around a very long time. I use it in every wash.
14. I do bills and then automatic saving. And Emergency fund.
15. Dry clothes outside in the warmer months, buy in bulk may cost now but In the end you save, meal prep, set yourself up for success by using envelopes and allowing yourself a set amount for each thing within your budget putting priorities first i.e house payment utilities phone bill and then break up the rest for groceries, hygiene fuel, medical etc.
16. This is all such wonderful advice. My budget starts with separating fixed and variable expenses and figuring out what I spend. A major place for savings can be getting rid of your car, if you live someplace with decent public transit and cabs when necessary, much cheaper than a car. If not, getting updated insurance quotes on all your insurance, they go up when they think we’re not looking.
Your local power company might do a free home energy assessment to help you reduce your power, including free things like LED light bulbs. I reduce online/impulse spending by never buying anything on impulse, we “save” things we might want to buy and review the list once a week. A good budgeting app can be helpful but the one I like is defunct and I haven’t found a replacement yet.
Budgeting tips for low income families
17. Turn down your furnace at night while you sleep. Will save you money.
18. Write down everything you spend your money on. Then go to fixed and variable expenses. Variable expenses are thing that you can cut, fixed are the must haves. Carry cash when getting gas so you can get a lower price. Every little savings helps.
19. Everything written in budget, including “sinking funds” to where you plan in advance for things like holiday gifts, subscriptions, insurance, etc. You have to be honest with what is coming in and going out.
20. Great time to start a garden if you have the space.
21. I think state park stickers are worth every penny. For one annual price, I can swim, walk the trails, ride my horse on the trails, hunt for agates, find rocks to paint, feathers to hoard, deer to enjoy. I get to be in the woods, pick a few (only a very few) wild raspberries, grapes and plums to just get a little taste. Teach my grands about wildlife and enjoy nature.
22. Food pantries.
23. When I first got our finances in my control. I gave all the bills to God and asked for His help. I talked to him about groceries and the things needed to live on earth. Our income did not change Dad was in and out of hospital for 10 years. Meanwhile the amounts due kept going down debt was being paid and we were still eating and living our lives. Paid about 40000 in about 3-5 years.
24. Take a calendar and write down when all your bills are due and the amounts, then mark down when your paydays are to see how they fall with your paydays. Whatever is left would be for food, gas and misc.
25. Less is more. I am thinking of switching to cash vs card and when it’s gone it’s gone. Too easy to flip the card all the time.
26. Buy a bidet $75 and never spend on toilet paper again.
Budgeting tips for low income families
27. If possible, coupons there are some coupons that you can add to in store coupons. Shop for food in nontraditional places. There are some pharmacies that sell food items, you might want to try them. Potatoes are long lasting staples they generally start to grow instead of rotting away on you. Rice, dried peas and beans, powder milk, macaroni. Cooking in bulk helps baked macaroni pie, meat and pelau (look on YouTube for recipe). Pelau and baked macaroni pie can be frozen and defrosted when needed.
28. Remember to forage for free food in nature. (Dandylion greens are delicious!) If you have a yard or a patio, plant berries and vegetables. Freeze scraps and use them for soup. Stay away from expensive and unhealthy prepared boxed foods. Cook from scratch. Buy foods marked down at the produce counter. Skip the meat and bread.
Legumes will provide protein for you. Use local food pantries if you have access to them. Turn the furnace down to 68 or air-conditioner up to 75. Dry your clothes on a rack or outdoors cancel cable TV.
29. Find a tracker for every penny you spend. Personally, I use an Excel spreadsheet. Works for me – I used to use it for work. Enter your expenses as detailed as you can. Once you can visually SEE where your money is actually going then you can make educated decisions on where to cut and where to make adjustments. Just cutting Willy nilly here and there, to me won’t make you FEEL like you’re LIVING – it’ll feel like you’re depriving yourself.
30. When I had extra money a few years back, I purchased over 30 hand towels so I don’t purchase paper towels or even plastic bags, just reuse grocery bags. I also have my utility bill in a leveling program so that it’s always the same amount give or take a dollar.
31. Sit down with a pen and paper, write down all of bills you pay and how much. Then use 3 colored markers, in one color mark all bills at you need to pay to live (ex. Rent, electric, water, trash, car insurance, car payment ) total those bills up, then on another paper write the total and subtract from your income, that is the amount of working money you have.
If you can get cheaper car insurance do some research and try to lower it. Then in a different color marker mark all bills that make your life easier, (ex, cell phone, internet,) do some research and see if you can get those cheaper, move those bills over to you other paper subtract from your working money you have.
With the rest of your bills, if you have cable evaluate it (do you need it? There are free streaming services I have Roku and the removed my cost of cable) if you have other streaming services decide do you really need it? If you do things like hair and nail care do you need it?
Going out to eat or getting drinks is there an option for making it at home? With what I’d left of your money decide what amount you want to save in case of emergency how much you want to allocate to food. If you like going out to spend time with friends and family why not do a BBQ at your house or a family members house everyone brings something, provide fun board games, indoors and outdoors, you all will enjoy that so much more than going out to eat. It will be so much cheaper also.
In conclusion
The best tip I was given was to keep putting all these tips into action. At least the good ones you find that work for you. So many people do something once or twice to save money and then forget about it and don’t keep doing it. There are a lot of tips on this site and others, but they don’t do anyone any good unless you put them into action on a constant basis.
