8 Things to Know for Moms to Save Money

This is a guest post from a woman from England.  Did you know I (Lisa) studied abroad in England while going to college at Lock Haven University?  I studied at Liverpool Hope University.  I hope you enjoy the 8 Tips for Moms to save money.  Here is our first guest post from Gemma Dawson.  Hopefully you will be seeing more of her great tips in the future!

I agree with her first tip of meal planning.  I just meal planned this week for the next 4 weeks make sure not to plan a meal if we have something on the calendar.  I hope you can learn a tip to two also! 


As mums we are always trying to save money, it has been said bringing up a child costs £250,000 over the lifetime of your child. This is a staggering amount so there is no wonder parents are trying to cut back on the costs of having children. Here are some tips on saving money or even in some cases making money with your kids:

1. Food

Meal planning is an essential way to save money in the household. Find meals your child or children will love to eat for their breakfast, lunch and tea time. These meals could be things like spaghetti on toast for dinner or soup and bread or even a sandwich. Most kids after dinner will also have a yoghurt and a piece of fruit so factor these costs in. After tea kids can also eat a pudding or yoghurt so this needs to be considered. Parents can save money shopping in stores like sainsburys and collecting nectar points in which they can redeem against other items or they can do comparisons (stores like asda do their own) and then once compared if the shop didn't save you money you get money off your next shop. Online coupons are also a great way to save money on your weekly shop, another great idea is to plan meals so you don't buy items that aren't essentials.

2. Days Out 

Trips out do not have to cost a fortune when you have kids. You can try looking at the book 1001 days out with kids. The book has a full list of trips all over the UK that you can book to go to with your kids. A lot of the visits in the book are reasonable priced. You can also look online for vouchers for popular attractions and take along a picnic to save money on food while you are out.

3. Sell the Kids

Well not physically selling your children, but get them some photographs done and send them to local modelling and casting agencies in order for your child to start earning you and them some money. Obviously if you live in a major city like London there will be more agencies however if you live in other areas and are happy to travel you should still be able to get signed.

4. Vouchers Special Offers

Collect special offers, vouchers, freebies when online, in newspapers and magazines. Many companies offer freebies for nappies, nappy rash cream and other baby items when your baby is first born. Special offers are available on many freebie websites online, you just register and then sign up to the special offers.

5. Holidays 

Companies like The Sun and The Mirror offer holidays throughout the year, whether the P&O cruise holidays where you can sail for £1 or the sun holidays for £9 per person which could save your family a fortune on summer holidays. You could also shop for summer items for your summer holiday at the end of the summer when shops sell their summer ends of cheap to get ready for winter.

6. Toys, books and games 

Most online websites like E bay and Facebook now have buying and selling groups where you can buy cheap second hand toys, games and books for your children. You can also sell your items on these sites to raise money for the new toys, especially when your child has finished playing with them and the toy is just sat their idle.

7. Make money while the kids are at school 

Mums can now make money by doing things like mystery shopping this means you shop for items and review the shop and purchase on a website and get paid for it. Other jobs for stay at home mums include Avon and better-ware where they would be delivering catalogues to the local neighbourhood. Other avenues can include signing up to media requests on sites like net-mums and getting paid to appear in the local or national media.

8. Lifestyle Budgets

In order to save money for the essentials budgeting and changing your lifestyle is important so cut back on the take aways, days and nights out and ask yourself if you really need the items before buying them. Put money you save each month into a high interest savings account so that your money builds up – This could also include Christmas when costs of presents are very expensive.


Gemma Dawson is a budgeter, mum of 3 and business woman offering items like octonauts party supplies.