Wedding bells are in the air and your world is suddenly a beehive of activity. For anyone wavering between deciding on a destination wedding or a traditional wedding with all the bells and whistles, this article is a must read. The world may be in recession, but every bride must have her day. You can save money and still throw a wedding party to remember. Destination weddings, contrary to common misconception, are not as expensive as people imagine them to be.
In fact, a well planned and budgeted destination wedding can actually trim the budget and leave you enough over to have a fantastic honeymoon. Surprised? Well here are a few tips to save money while having the wedding of your dreams.
Saving on size
A destination wedding is approximately 30 to 40 percent smaller than a regular wedding. Some couples prefer to have only immediate family and very close friends attend the wedding ceremony, and host a small reception back home for the rest of the crowd. In this way you cover everybody, have a lot of fun and still save money. The reception at home can be a simple cocktail affair on your back lawn, nothing extravagant.
Location
In order to save money on a destination wedding, it is important to choose a location and time of year when hotel and airfares will be cheaper. Generally September to November are the least popular months in the tourism industry for places like Hawaii and Mexico. This is a good time to have the wedding, but make sure to choose a cost effective destination. Some locations are notoriously expensive and super-luxurious, so do your homework well.
Package deals
Many hotels in destination wedding locations that include Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean now offer wedding packages. These typically offer reduced rates for rooms, the wedding ceremony and the reception in one package. If you choose the off-season to get married, you may even get your wedding suite on the house. Packages can also include music and photography. You may want to discuss customizing your wedding package to get the best deal possible.
Travel agent instead of wedding planner
Travel agents have the contacts and inside knowledge to get you the best possible deals on hotels and airfares among other things. They usually know the wedding laws prevalent in most destination wedding locations and can help save you time and money.
Whatever else you do, make sure you give yourself as much time as possible to plan. Advance planning is the key to saving money on a destination wedding. If you decide to marry on the spur of the moment – elope!
Save Money in the Kitchen
With the constant strain of trying to stretch the dollars we earn to cover all the myriad expenses that come up, many people think that saving is only a dream. Not true! Anyone can save if they really make up their minds to do so. Dream vacation, retirement, buying a property, sending a child to college or anything else under the sun can become a reality. The secret is to make saving your priority, set goals and start working toward them immediately.
You have to believe you can do it and that every little bit counts. If you don’t have this attitude then you will not really care about making the effort to cut costs and put aside small amounts.
Food costs as we know are sky-high, and feeding a family and staying on a budget seems like an impossible task. Let us take a look at how to cut kitchen costs to help you save money.
• What you have to do is buy seasonal fruits and vegetables to feed your family. If you insist on buying out of season produce you are going to keep paying high prices. Why buy from supermarkets when you can buy local produce from the market. You will get fresh stuff that is relatively cheaper and better for you.
• Despite the fact that milk and other dairy products are very expensive, they have to be bought. Why not buy milk from greenmarkets? Local dairies are located at greenmarkets and sell milk and milk products. The products are fresh and cheaper by far.
• If you have to buy from a supermarket avoid the attractively displayed fruits and vegetables located right at the front of the produce section. Walk around and you will find cheaper items, but you have to know what is in season and what is not.
• When you buy meat it is not necessary to buy the expensive cuts. Take your time to look around and buy the cheaper cuts like chuck roast or pork shoulder. You can buy slightly larger quantities and cook enough for two meals. Recipes like stews can always be frozen for the following week.
• One expense that you can definitely cut out is the soda that your family drinks. Buy juices or make them yourself from the fruit you buy. Get the kids involved and make it sound exciting to drink juice. Water is always a cheap alternative and very healthy for everyone.
Save Money on Entertainment and Clothing
We live in a time of economic uncertainty; hence cultivating the saving habit is a good idea. The eagerness with which we are willing to spend the money we earn has to be curbed. Saving is the best way to bring some discipline to our spending habits. It is not easy to suddenly stop spending and start saving. This is one reason why it is recommended that people make small changes in spending to start with.
It may seem like a Herculean task to cut back spending on entertainment and clothing. However, it can be done with a little creativity and without noticeably compromising an existing lifestyle.
Dining out
If you are in the habit of eating out at cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs, this is the best place to start with. Cooking exciting meals at home does require time and effort. But when you get the family involved in making food choices and actually helping with the preparation, you will find it a lot of fun. Make a game of it, turn on some music and start a tradition of kitchen family time. Limit time spent at a café or bar with friends to one or two evenings a week rather than every day. You get to spend more family time and of course, save money.
Books, magazines and movies
People who love to read do not need to give up reading habits and should not do so. Rather than getting tempted into buying magazines when standing at the supermarket checkout line, visit the local library to read them for free. Books can also be taken from the library free of cost. If you are a collector, start visiting second hand book stores, you will find some real gems to add to your collection at a mere fraction of the cost of new ones. Read your newspapers for free online and save money by not subscribing to them.
Libraries even have DVDs that you can take check out to watch. Going to the theater is expensive. Why not rent a DVD, make some popcorn and spend time at home watching the movie.
Clothing and accessories
Stop discarding clothes that are in good condition. Buy only from sales or bargain stores. Mix and match your wardrobe for a new look instead of buying new clothes. Add a scarf to a favorite top or a jacket with a pair of pants to give you the feeling that it’s a new outfit. Buy store brands rather than designer for a far cheaper price.
There are many ways to save money, why not start today!
Saving Money when You have a Baby
Babies are expensive and that is a fact of life! There are so many items that need to be bought for the baby beginning with diapers that cost a bomb. There’s shampoo and soap and baby oil and special formulas, a seemingly never ending list. That said, there is no reason why parents cannot save money with a baby at home.
In this article we cover some useful basic money saving tips to follow when you have a baby.
Diapers
One of the best ways to save money on diapers is to buy cloth diapers. If you find tailored diapers expensive and they can be depending on the brand you choose, you can buy the softest cotton material available and run up the diapers on your sewing machine. Use disposable diapers only when you have to take the baby outside the house.
Clothing
Have you just had a near heart attack at the prices on some of the baby clothes in the store? Welcome to the club! Specialist baby stores are frightfully expensive to shop at for a baby. Check out places like goodwill stores and eBay (online) for cheap baby clothes. You don’t have to dress a baby in store bought designer outfits. As good as new clothes will do just fine. Kids outgrow their clothes so quickly it really does not seem worthwhile to shop at the expensive places for a baby’s clothes.
Food
Babies can be breastfed for the first 12 months of their lives. This will save you an enormous amount of money on store bought milk formulas. Breastfeeding is advantageous because it is the healthiest food for a baby and you don’t have to pay for it. As the child grows older, you can prepare baby meals from the foods you have at home. Simply puree the preparations for easy digestion. The sooner you get children used to home foods, the fewer problems you will have as they grow up.
Toys
Plenty of people who have had babies have toys lying around the house. Get your friends to give you the toys that are no longer of use to them. Goodwill stores and bargain stores are good places to buy toys. The online eBay site is also a good place to find cheap toys. Remember that children get bored easily with the toys they have and want new ones. The less you spend the better and don’t forget to visit yard sales.
Wise up and start saving money that you can use for your children’s education when they grow up!
Saving Money with No Budget
There are people who are extremely organized and can really save money when there is a clear budget to work off. However, there are also people who simply cannot keep to a budget no matter how hard they try. If you are one of those people with a hearty dislike of budgeting, keep reading to find out how you can save money regardless of the absence of a budget.
Plenty of stores offer discounts for bulk purchases. You can find bargains that will help you save on your household budget. Toiletries and cleaning agents can be bought from bargain and discount stores. It’s the same products with different labels. You don’t need branded toilet paper! Study the catalogues that the stores put out to buy what you need at the cheapest prices.
When something is very expensive and you have to pay full price, ask yourself whether you can do without it. In this way you are not paying high prices for products. What you can do is wait till it is discounted to buy it or find a cheaper alternative.
You can save on food bills by cooking simple yet healthy meals for your family. Let the main emphasis of your shopping be on seasonal fruits and vegetables. This way you are not paying high prices for out-of-season fruits and vegetables. Buy the less expensive cuts of meat and make tasty dishes with them; no one will be able to tell the difference.
Start saving on your energy bill by turning off what you don’t need; turn off lights, use heating or cooling only when needed, keep appliances switched off at the main power point, avoid using the dryer facility in your dishwasher and air dry clothes rather than using the laundry dryer.
Make a list of all your outstanding payments and debts and start paying them off. Get rid of credit card debt first, the interest is exorbitant and you will never get ahead in your savings when you are in debt. It is better to buy what you need by paying cash outright rather than opting for a monthly payment scheme. Don’t be tempted to own everything at once!
Sales and coupons are there for a reason, to help you save money. To really save, you have to exercise restraint and wait for the sales to buy what you need. But shopping at sales should not become an excuse to go on shopping sprees.
Summertime Money Saving Tips
While everyone waits for summer to get outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature, get rid of bulky winter gear and feel free from the bone numbing cold, summer brings its own problems. It is the time for paying, paying and paying. There are licenses, insurance and taxes that have to be paid – as well as cooling bills.
Here are some simple ideas that can help you beat the heat and save money doing it.
• Summer is the time for providing an unlimited supply of ice cream and cold drinks for your kids, and we all know what that means. Spending money! Stock up your freezer with ice cream and start making fresh juices instead of giving the kids sodas. You can buy the value packs of ice cream and save money on not buying from outside.
• Plan all your summer activities around what is on offer free of charge. Check out the community center for activities, picnic on the beach and in the park and go on nature walks. Hold barbeque parties at home and get your friends to each bring something to eat. You can see where this is going, of course; anything to avoid spending money. If you take the trouble to research summer activities and get ideas, there are plenty to be found and it won’t cost you anything.
• Some things like summer carnivals, circus and festivals are going to have to be budgeted for. However, you can reduce your expenses by either eating before you go or taking your own snacks and water with you. Zoos and wildlife parks are a cheaper alternative to some of the more expensive entertainment options available.
• Use your air conditioner only when it is really needed. If you open up your home, the cross ventilation will keep it cool enough. Turn off the air conditioner when you are going to be out all day. When the nights are cool you can do without the air conditioner, just open a few windows.
• Do as much as possible of your cooking outdoors. Try to plan as many barbeques for the evenings as possible to avoid cooking indoors. The oven generates a lot of heat that stays in the house making it necessary to turn up the air conditioner.
• Keep the filters of your air conditioners clean or you will end up paying an even bigger electricity bill. You may not even think about it, but dirty filters increase your cooling costs.
You don’t need to use the dryer in the summer months. Air-dry your clothes outdoors and save a lot on your bill.
Wintertime Money Saving Tips
The winter can simply throw your budget out the window especially if you live in a really cold climate. Gas and electric bills go through the roof during these months. Why not read up on these simple tips to help you save money rather than spend it during the winter.
Here are some simple preventive measures you can adopt to help keep your expenses down in winter.
• Wear really warm clothes when you are indoors. Really dress like you are off to the North Pole if need be. Then you will be able to keep the thermostat down. Even two degrees makes a huge difference to the bill you will receive. Lower the thermostat each morning before you leave the house. Turn it up a notch when you get home. Then turn it down again when everyone is tucked up for the night. The reason we have blankets and comforters and every warm garment imaginable is to use them. There are really big savings to be had if you keep the thermostat down!
<