As I have written previously on this topic of affording many children, there are many things that our family has done to afford having a large family. I know there are folks that probably have even more or better tips than I do.  With our country in serious financial crisis, our house of financial [credit] cards is falling.  However, as the economy continues to get worse, my growing concern for who I believe may be elected as our next president, is fueling my desire to help other families to learn to manage in these tough economic times.

So what can large Christian families, or families of any size, do to better provide for their families? I have a few tips, and if you’re ready to listen, I may be able to help you. But you need to be at a place (mentally/emotionally) to make some change. If you’re not, then bookmark my site, and then you may need to come back and read this again when you are – because what I’m going to tell you isn’t going to be easy to ‘hear’, much less do. But if you’re willing to do it – then you can save yourself some serious cash, provide for your family and not stress so much about money.

Here are my 7 Tips for Large Christian Families in Tough Economic Times

1. Stop using credit. Do not put one more thing on a credit card. Do not buy one more thing on credit. Period. You’re done with credit. Credit is not your friend. You need to pay off your credit debt – including your mortgage. You need to get 100% debt-free.  This is probably going to be one of the hardest things to do, especially if you saw your credit cards as your own personal ‘bail-out plan’ when cash was tight.

Get Dave Ramsey’s books. Read them. Put them into practice in your daily lives (this would include budgeting and all that, so I won’t list that below). Just do it. He’s a Christian, and he’s a financial genius. Seriously. It’s all Biblical and it’s all good info.

Here’s my affiliate links for his Total Money Makeover book and the workbook. Buy them from me, or buy them elsewhere: just buy them.

2. Wants vs Needs.  No one needs cable TV, pre-packaged food, designer clothes from a mall and your kids do not need cell phones and video games:  those are wants.  Needs would include electricity, running water, food (junk food not included), clothes and a roof over your head.  We are a spoiled nation that lives beyond our means on credit.

3. Clothes. Other than children who actually outgrow their clothes, adults do not need new clothes every year.  If an adult finds their clothes getting too tight, stop eating so much, exercise more so you’ll fit into the clothes in your closet.  Harsh words perhaps – but it’s truth.  For the kids:  shop at resale shops, garage/yard sales, outlet malls or sales at retail stores. Some retail stores have some awesome sales & you can get some fabulous deals on great quality clothes: but shop around & do your homework.  NEVER PAY RETAIL!

Sewing: while this is often thought of as a way to save money on clothing, the truth is the price of fabric is such that it isn’t necessarily cheaper to make your own clothes anymore.  However, if you like to sew, and if you can find sales on fabric and/or have fabric available to you and/or an excellent seamstress you may very well end up with better quality clothing than the cheap stuff you would get at Walmart or some place like that.

4.  Cost & Energy Saving Tips

• Lock your windows to help seal them and make them more energy efficient.
• Turn off lights when you leave a room.
• Use fluorescent light bulbs, they use up to 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer.
  
• Adjusting your thermostat by 3 degrees (up in summer, down in winter) will save you as much as 3% on your utility bill.
• Close vents in rooms not in use.
• Keep the furnace filter clean.
• Let dishes air dry in the dishwasher, instead of using the dry cycle; or hand-wash them.
• Take more showers instead of baths to save on water.
• Wash only full loads of clothing and dry just until dry; or line-dry.
• When replacing appliances, buy high-efficiency.

5. Washable, Not Disposable. Use real cloth napkins, not paper. Use cloth diapers, not disposable.  Use newspaper to clean your mirrors and windows (recycling) instead of paper towels. Whenever possible, do not buy or use anything that you just throw away.

6. Food: Coupons or not? Many people save a ton with coupons. The problem with coupons is that they are only available on name brand items, name brand items cost more, because you’re paying for the name brand. Store brands are usually the same exact product as a name brand, just re-packaged.  I only buy a few things that are actually name brand, everything else is a store brand and I usually shop at a discount store (Aldi), which saves me a ton of money.

Make a menu plan If you plan out your menus first, then you’ll know what food items you will need to shop for.  Make sense, but if you’re not in the habit of doing this, it can be overwhelming.

Make a shopping list & stick to it! Use your menu plan to make your shopping list.  It’s vitally important that you have a list so you know what you need; and you only buy from your list of needs.

Loss-Leader Sales I also shop other local stores for their loss-leader sales, these are sales of the week which lure customers into the store with a great deal (and they usually are really good deals, IF they are products that you actually use and would buy anyway) so you will then stay and buy some of their other, higher priced food. I usually just buy the loss-leaders and go on to the next store.

Buying in Bulk If you have a large family, you may find food co-ops will save you quite a bit of money.  Places like Sam’s Club might, but again – they carry a lot of name brand foods there, so do some price shopping to see if it’s cheaper to buy bulk at Sam’s or cases at Aldi for the same/similar item (keeping in mind need vs. want on what you’re pricing).

Make it Don’t Buy It Prepackaged food is expensive.  Make it from scratch.  It’s healthier, cheaper and you’ll know exactly what’s in it.

7. Stop the Present Insanity! Christmas is not your child’s birthday, it’s the celebration of Jesus’ birthday.  While I do not have issue with giving gifts at Christmas (or for birthdays!), I absolutely have issue with giving gifts that one can not afford and giving excessively just because it’s Christmas, or birthday.  This is insane! Why do we do this?! If you do not have the cash to buy gifts, you children will not wither up and go insane or need years of therapy because they did not get yet another toy that they will forget about within a week or two, but you put on a credit card and will be paying on for a decade or two. Only buy gifts for birthday, Christmas, or whatever the occasion, that you can afford to buy with cash. No cash – no buying of a gift.  Make a gift instead; get creative: but do not buy a gift if you do not have the cash to pay for it.

The above tips will help you sort out areas in your budget where you can ‘trim the fat’, so to speak.

Do you have other cost-cutting tips? Share yours below.