“It’s not about how much money you make, it’s about how you save it!”

– Unknown

This is third part of the series “Ways to save Money”. Please check Part 1 and Part 2 of this series too.

There were two brothers, one was a doctor and other was a teacher. But the net worth of the teacher was far better than the doctor.

This is where the above quote fits the best! The teacher had learnt how to live with less money but the doctor was living in a big bungalow, had to maintain his status and had to buy expensive cars, sent his kids to private schools and so on.

Who do you think had a better life after retirement? The teacher, who had put all his savings in retirement fund and was already living lower than his means.

More ways to save in your daily lives:

1. Stop buying Bottled Water, use Reusable Bottles:

We are 4 people in our house hold and we all have our own water bottles.

Smaller ones for kids and 32 oz for us. I am done with my water quota for the day if I finish the water in my bottle twice which is 74 oz.

2. Use Library for Books, Music, Magazines etc:

If you are an avid reader, try out your local library and get some books issued.

I also take my kids and let them browse through books for hours and they come home with books for themselves to read too.

3. Budget for Kids Birthday Parties:

This is another area I struggle!

I love organizing birthday parties for my kids and I get almost all the parties theme based which asks for theme based cake, decorations, goody bags etc. Hence it becomes very easy for me to go overboard with money.

But I decided this year to create a budget for every party I organize and stick to it. And one of my friends told me that dollar tree (Disclaimer: not sponsored) is a great place to find affordable decorations and goody bag gifts for kids.

Another place that worked with my budget was dollar spot at target. It carries cute gift items for $1 and $3 also.

You can research the stores you have around in the country you live and find out cheaper options for all the things you need for parties.

Also there are few individuals (magician, face painting etc) who can come to my house to entertain them for 1.5 to 2 hours. You can find about these options in your country and area by joining some social groups on facebook or if you have a community hall etc near you.

How much do you spend for birthday parties? Do you get rentals (slides, rental toys etc) to make the parties memorable? Any other tips I can use for my daughters next birthday party coming soon 🙂

You will be interested in the rest of the series:

Ways to Save Money, Part 1

Ways to Save Money, Part 2

Ways to Save Money, Part 4

Ways to Save Money, Part 5