How you can save money every month as a family

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Having a family, starting one, continuing one, and adding to it, all costs money. And that really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone to be honest.

I knew when we started a family we wouldn't have as much "free" money. Your priorities change and going out for meals every weekend just doesn't seem as important so you don't mind not spending your money there. However almost everything else gets more expensive. Higher household bills, clothing bill, food bill, and then there's entertainment for the small one/s which costs a fair bundle too.

However, usually our earnings don't go up to match our new outgoings, in fact for most people it goes down.

So how can you save some pennies for your family each month?

If you're a married couple, my biggest recommendation is to apply for marriage allowance. This won't suit or be applicable for everyone, but if you do fit the criteria, i.e. one of you earns below the tax threshold, and the other is higher than the tax threshold but lower than a higher rate tax payer, you can give part of your tax allowance to the other and they will therefore earn more before paying tax each month. The full benefit is approximately £200 per year, which really isn't to be sniffed at. You can also backdate your claim for a few years if you think you may have been applicable previously, and you will receive a cheque if you are (yes that's right, the tax man will send you money for once! We've put ours towards our little holiday as we could have applied whilst I was on maternity with Henry). You can find out more on their website or find a number to call them on HMRC Contact Number.

Alongside this, if you have children in childcare, you may want to consider signing up to the new Government Tax-Free Childcare Scheme which gives you 20% off childcare when you pay in and to your childcare provider. This scheme is taking over from the Employer Childcare voucher scheme from October 2018, but also increases availability to more people too. Again this might not be suitable for everyone, but HMRC will be able to guide you.

If online shopping is your jam, then you might be keen to try a cashback site, which pays you money for spending money. I'm still getting into this personally - I shop far too much from my phone which means I forget to log in to gain from sites like Top Cashback. However I know a few people who swear by this method of saving money on their clothes and food shopping on a monthly basis. I've actually saved the link into my toolbar to try and remind me as you can earn a fair chunk back from lots of everyday sites, including Tesco and Asda!

Also, don't forget to shop around for your utility bills, especially around renewal time. We usually change car and home insurance every year as it saves us money each time.

And linking to this, if you're an influencer, or have a lot of internet friends, why not join an affiliate scheme? Personally I use Skimlinks, which is connected to this blog, but can also be used across social media (if only I had the swipe up for Instagram, I would be laughing). Again, I don't utilise this as much as I could, but I know a lot of people who make a good income from affiliate sales.

I'm always on the look out for new ways to save money, so hit me up with your top tips in the comments below, or your money-making ideas too!!

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