Living on One Income

Another area in which a family like ours get the most of savings is by being aware of the extra expenses that come from electricity consumption. A few smart changes can save a lot. So, what are we doing right?

LIGHTS
- maximize natural light by using thin curtains in our living room and dining area.
- replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights.
- use low-watt bulbs.

CLOTHES
- iron clothes in bulk, and during the cooler hours of the day.
- on sunny days, let clothes dry naturally.

COOKING
- match the size of pots and pans to the size of the burner, and cover food that's boiling or
simmering to cook the food with trapped heat.

AIRCONDITIONER
- a professional aircon maintenance expert should check the unit at least once a year.
- clean the filter and condenser at least once a year, or once every six months.
- put blinds on the windows to deflect heat.

REFRIGERATOR
- defrost before the ice builds to 1/4 inches.
- check its parts every six months, clean condenser oils twice a year with a vacuum or
broom, inspect gaskets; they should be tightly sealed and not show signs of wear.

Becoming a wise spender takes a lot of skill and knowledge. If you can't keep track of your family's expenses, it's time to start keeping a budget and sticking to it.

Inspect all your expenses including car registration, birthday gifts, school expenses, etc. Know what your expenses are so you'll know where you can cut back.

How do we save?

There's nothing more annoying than an unexpected car repair bill. So my family has decided to be smart and we had put a stop to those breakdowns before they can cost us a fortune.

1. We have regular car oil check-up.
2. We regularly check transmission and brake fluids.
3. We regularly check our tires.

1. Never buy anything without knowing y our store's return policy.
2. Always keep your actual store receipts.
3. Know what could never be returned, like underwear, makeup and perishables like food and plants.
4. Supermarkets will likely replace items that have gone bad prior to expiry date.

1. Bottled water - if you think you're doing a good thing by reusing your old water bottle, think again. After two days, that water bottle can go from 1 bacteria per mL to more than 5,000.
2. Sports shoes - your feet take three times your weight when you exercise. Without the righ support you can expect injuries so get a good pair of sports shoes.
3. Foundation - higher priced brands have a higher level of pigment and less filler. That means truer color with fewer breakouts.

Being in a one-income family, a Budget is a must. I have printed a spreadsheet of our budget and posted it in our bedroom wall so that even the kids can see it. Although many families may view a budget as unnecessary, it is really vital if you want to know where your money is going. However, a budget is not just for show or for paper, like what happens sometimes in my household. A budget is more than a written record of the money flowing in and out of your household. It is a financial tool that can help you save money, change your bad spending habits, or to help your family in times of emergencies.

Where did all your money go?
You need to keep track of all your daily expenses by writing it down in a small notebook which you can carry around with you. It's an eye-opener, believe me! Do this for at least one month and write down everything, and I mean, everything, that you spend money on, even the littlest thing or amount.

This will help you trace your spending habits, good or bad. Tracking your expenses is only the first part. If you're spending less than what you're earning, you're on the right track. If you're spending way beyond what you're earning, then it's time for a financial makeover.

Lastly, if you want your budget to work, let the family into it. In my case, my husband and I have discussed this with our kids so that they're aware of where we stand financially. More than discipline and motivation, it is communication that makes a family budget successful. It's going to be hard for you to save and save while everybody else wants to spend and spend.

Of course, the kids should be informed about the change in your family's financial status, and with this, comes the adjustment that they also need to make. So, depending on the way you have handled your family's finances before this change, your kids might have picked them up from you without you realizing it. So, if you have allowed them to enjoy material things before when there were still 2 paychecks in your household, you really have to do double time in telling them that it's not going to be so much fun anymore in your current situation.

So, next time you go malling, don't easily give in to their requests for you to buy them the latest doll or robot.

• Teach your kids the value of things. Let them understand that it takes hard work to pay for the things that they want you to buy for them.
• Don't motivate your child through these material things, rather teach to be motivated through intangible things.
• Don't use material things as a way for you and your kids to bond. You can go malling together, but you shouldn't give them gifts unnecessarily.
• Give your kids a small allowance so that they will have a sense of responsibility.
• Allow your child to spend some of her allowance. Help them in this aspect for them to buy little things.

Since living in a one-income family, we had learned to cut down on a lot of things. We have also identified a lot of areas in which to minimize our spending. I have listed most of them here:

• I always carry snacks when i go to work. And i don't eat out. I also take advantage of the budget meal offered to staff in our office, which is really cheap but a complete meal already.

• To save on gas, i just commute to work. The heavy traffic that i encounter everyday can take its toll on our budget for gasoline, so, this is where i am very careful.

• As in my previous post, i have identified switching from branded products to store brand products as one of the best ways to save on grocery expenses. The quality of these products are now at par with the name-brand products.I even know for a fact that some grocery stores get their products from reputable companies, and stamp them with their own brand, thus, making it cheaper, because these companies don't need to spend on advertising.

• We are also extra careful on how we use the electricity in the house. The kids are trained to always turn off the lights which are not in use. We have also minimized the use of our airconditioner, although of course, sometimes when the heat is unbearable, we couldn't sacrifice the health of our kids for this.

• We have stopped using the rice cooker and just cook our rice in the range. This saved us a lot because hot plates consume a lot of electricity.

• We don't have a microwave oven in the house, because, again, this can eat up a lot of our electric bill.

In all honesty, it was a very difficult process.

The living expenses in my country are high and ideally, one family can survive better if both parents are working. But, it was a fact of life that we had to accept. Looking back, we are also grateful for what happened because we have learned a lot.

• We became more conscious of our spending habits.
• We had a great bonding as a family because of the trials that we had.
• We had kids who are "really" members of the family because they are sensitive and aware of what's happening "in" the family.

• We stopped being in denial and accepted the situation that we are in, by facing the reality that this wouldn't be an easy task ahead of us, more so because we were used to receiving two paychecks for a long time.
  
• We learned to identify what are the necessities and wants. This was very difficult at the start because we found it difficult to distinguish between the two. But, later, whenever we wanted to buy something, and we weren't sure about the decision that we were going to make, the question that we always ask ourselves is, "Can my family still survive even without this, or can it still wait for the time when we have saved enough money to buy it?". This becomes the deciding factor.
  
• We learned to be very frugal in everything that we do. We have lowered our standards in terms of buying things for our kids. Just recently, we needed to buy them shoes for the opening of the school year, and because we are very much aware of our spending already, we were able to buy them shoes that were half the price of what we used to buy them, without sacrificing the quality of the shoes.
  
• We talked to our kids about our financial situation so that they will be aware of the changes that were about to happen to our family, and believe me, when you do that, your kids will truly understand. This coming school year, i told my youngest daughter that i wouldn't be able to buy her a new bag, and instead she will use the bag of her sister. At first she resisted, but when i explained to her why she had to make do with the old bag, she understood.