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The Life Of A Frugal Mom (Living On One Income)

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How to live on one income

Living on one income is not easy but a lot of families and individuals have no other choice or they don’t want to leave their children and go back to work. To help other families I am going to show you exactly what I do as a frugal mom to save money and live off one income.

This isn’t impossible and can be done with some organization and of course budgeting your money thoroughly.

Don’t worry we still have fun as a family and splurge once in a while, this won’t be a no fun frugal plan, but you just need to prioritize and make some side money for the fun stuff 😉 < I will also show you how I do that. 

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Managing Your Money

living on one income, frugal mom

When it comes to managing your money budgeting is the main focus, without one you will have no idea where your money is going!

On the first day of every month I dedicate the entire day to planning and budgeting for that particular month. (If you are reading this and it isn’t the first day of the month, which is very likely, I would make a plan for the next month and start fresh).

If you aren’t very good at managing your money wisely, there are tons of personal finance apps that can help you!

Trim Finance Bot is the perfect money management App, it is basically your very own personal finance assistant.

Trim also cancels subscriptions, negotiates your Comcast bill, finds you better car insurance, and more.

You can try it out for yourself, free to sign up!

Saving Money On Groceries

When it comes to living on one income, saving money on food is a huge money saver and can really help your budget!

Groceries is one of the largest expenses on my budget so I put a lot of energy into saving money in this area.

Use the following frugal living tips to save money on your grocery bill!

1. Meal Plan

Meal planning is very important and time consuming, so if you don’t have the time to meal plan then investing in the $5 Meal Plan might be your golden ticket!

What is the $5 Meal Plan?

A weekly meal planning service that is specifically for low income families. The best part is every meal will cost about $2 per person OR LESS, can’t beat that!

They also offer two plans, their classic AND they have a Gluten Free meal plan as well.

Grab the 14 day free trial and see if it works for you!

2. Save Using Coupons

Coupons are great to use and can save lots of money once you add them all up. Use Couponsurfer.com and save on groceries with these printable coupons.

Print over 500 Grocery Coupons Free

Save Money On Entertainment

Of course we all love entertainment so keeping some frugal choices around is very helpful. Below you will find different ways I personally save money on entertainment and still have tons of fun with the family!

1. Use Discounts Whenever Possible

Who doesn’t love discounts! Finding frugal and cheap entertainment can sometimes be difficult and well we should be able to spoil ourselves sometimes!

Does that mean we still should pay full price? Heck no! So that is why we use Groupon!

2. Get Rid Of Cable T.V

Cable T.V can cost on average about $99 per month, that is a crazy amount! There are tons of cheaper alternatives, such as:

  • Netflix
  • Amazon Prime
  • Hulu
  • Sling T.V

3. Look for Free Events

Search around for some free local events, most communities have them often throughout the year and they are always a fun way to meet new people.

You can also check out these 28 fun things to do with kids at home!

Save On Clothing

If you want to save money on clothing there are actually some easy ways to do this, and even get savings on designer clothes! Being frugal when it comes to buying clothing will also help you put more money into your clothing fund.

1. Resell old clothes

This is a great frugal way to re use clothing, I always sell my clothes (unless they are ruined) and then use the money I make to buy new clothes!

One thing I really enjoy is browsing a local auction that is all online through a Facebook Group. Search “your town name + auction” and see what comes up!

If there is none always check out local buy and sells I have found tons of brand name clothes for a fraction of the price.

2. Earn when you do shop

If you haven’t heard of Rakuten (formerly Ebates) then you need to! When ever you shop online ALWAYS shop through Rakuten. You earn cash back on every purchase and they often have promotions so you can earn even more money back in your pocket!

Rakuten is free to join, get $10 for USA residents here after you make your first purchase!

Get $5 for Canadian residents here!

Ways to earn extra income

Here are some of my favorite ways to earn extra money, I don’t generally have a ton of extra time on my hands so these are a few quick and easy things you can do as well to earn some extra spending cash.

I do not include these in my budget!

  1. Have a couple gigs on Fiverr. Read more about that here. 
  2. Do a couple surveys on  Swagbucks.
  3. Find a few items I no longer use and sell them.
  4. Do a few Surveys on Survey Junkie.

Living the frugal lifestyle

As you can see there isn’t really much to living frugally even as a mom. The little things are what counts so try making small changes to your lifestyle and those will make the difference. Below are some more articles that will help you with these smaller changes.

Need more frugal living on one income tips?

10 BEST WAYS TO BE THRIFTY EVERY DAY

11 THINGS I QUIT BUYING TO SAVE MONEY AS A SAHM

11 COMMON MONEY MISTAKES AND HOW TO FIX THEM

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steve

Tuesday 13th of December 2022

There are other ways too find free appliances for low-income families: by signing up for e-mail newsletters about appliance deals, going door-to-door in your neighborhood looking for appliances that are available at firewood prices, or checking out popular appliance retailers like Sears or Lowe's. This type of search can help you find appliances at a fraction of the normal retail prices.