“Black holes” of the family budget

Money disappears, flows through your fingers, fly away from the family budget without returning. It seems that major acquisitions were not made, and a decent amount evaporated. So where does the money go and how to control their spending?

A family of three spends 10% more on food than in Europe. A significant part of the budget is consumed, prices are rising. The “black hole" is snacking outside the home, for example, a cup of tea, drunk during the intermission with a cake and a sandwich, can cost more than a ticket to the performance itself if you are not sitting in the stalls. On a walk in the park, you can spend money on buying chips and Coca-Cola. However, if you stock up on sandwiches with coffee, you can save a lot.

You don’t need to buy a new bag every time you go to the store to put groceries, household chemicals, etc. into it. The total annual check for their cost will be more than 600 rubles. A canvas bag is cheaper and more environmentally friendly. When preparing dinner, cover the pots with lids, pour as much water into the kettle as you plan to make cups of coffee or tea. Then the kitchen energy costs will be less. In a year, you can save about one thousand rubles. This is enough for almost 1 kg of good tea.

You can relax without spending extra money. Keepsake trinkets are a waste of money, as are souvenirs. In most cases, they will gather dust in the closet. Tourist trips deduct at least 10-12% of earnings. Spending money on a good ticket is reasonable, spending vacation pay on trifles is a shame. In hot countries, it is customary to bargain, gifts bought in stores located away from tourist routes will cost 15-20% cheaper.

At least 30% of earnings goes to the needs of children. It’s one thing to buy what you need, it’s quite another to follow the lead, satisfying the whims. If you know in advance that a child in a central park will ask for a chocolate bar, you can buy a bar in a store near the house and take it with you, you can switch attention in the store, distract.

You can quit smoking. On average, cigarettes eat up 0.7% of a smoker’s salary. A heavy smoker, whose dose is two packs a day, blows at least 18 thousand rubles into the smoke. This is the cost of a summer vacation at a camp site, for example.

Traveling with a reusable card in the subway or land transport is always cheaper, thinking about a travel card, you can save time, you will not have to queue for a ticket every time. But buying such a ticket is only worth it if the trips are completely spent by the end of the month.

You can try to go to the official websites of mobile operators, enter your data on a special calculator, and choose the most favorable tariff based on the results. For example, the Megafon operator offers unlimited calls to parents and children for 200 rubles per month, and MTS gives a 50% discount on your favorite numbers. Beeline has an unlimited tariff with a fixed monthly fee.

Keep a home bookkeeping, write down all expenses, incomes and unplanned expenses. Collect checks in a notebook, do not keep a lot of money in your wallet, calculate how much you need per day, take this amount with you. Be careful when paying with a bank card, "plastic money" is spent faster. Regularly check the status of the account, request statements at bank offices, ATMs, you can receive a report on transactions on your mobile phone.

Do not cut several items of expenditure at the same time, reduce, for example, spending on entertainment, and after a month or two, snacks outside the home. Sometimes you can still afford to waste money.

What if the purpose of the relationship is something unconditional for which both the man and the woman could take responsibility? What if this is… the practice of love? Love is what is within us; something for which we are responsible in both good and bad times. Love allows us to focus on our own efforts and responsibilities, as well as to notice the advantages of our partner. Too many people focus on taking something from the relationship. But, for a harmonious relationship, you need to give, take responsibility for your happiness, and then “invest” it in others.