How to Budget for Creating a Nurturing Home Environment for Your Child

Parents have a lot on their shoulders. From preparing nutritious meals to ensuring that the kiddos get to school on time to entertaining little ones from the time they rise to the time they go to sleep, it can feel challenging to nurture your kids when you’re living on a tight budget. Even if you aren’t making the big bucks, picking up some helpful budgeting skills can take the pressure off of your finances so you can enjoy family life even more than you already do.

Make Food and Fun Memories with Gardening

As the cost of groceries rises, many families are looking into cheaper alternatives to pricey produce to ensure that their family gets the nutrients they need at the dinner table. According to Garden Pals, about 55% of households in America report that they do some sort of gardening activity. If you have a green thumb, you don’t need to make raised beds in your backyard or convert your kitchen into a greenhouse. Even spending some time in a community garden or planting an herb garden in pots above your kitchen sink can be a great way to bond with your family while increasing the mileage you get out of your food budget every month.

Enhance Learning at Home

While tutors and educational activities can add up quickly, there are ways to nurture young minds without spending much money if you know how to do your research. According to Kokotree, 85% of parents in a survey said that they work with their preschool-age kids on educational activities, which makes them the primary educators of their little ones. Although some areas might have programs that offer free or subsidized pre-K educational opportunities, you might not qualify for these programs so you will want to factor alternatives into your budget.

If you’re limited on funds, you can rely on free online resources to teach your child essential lessons like basic counting, animal names, colors, and more. You can also look into what your child will be expected to do before they enter kindergarten in your district. For those who intend to homeschool, reaching out to other homeschooling parents in your community or looking into homeschool co-ops early can give you the information you need to set your child up for success.

Don’t Let Financial Stress Get the Best of You

Finances are one of the leading causes of divorce since they are a major stressor for couples. In Kansas, over 11,000 married couples file for divorce annually. There’s no shame if you become part of that statistic, but it would serve you well to learn how to manage your emotions around financial stress and budget with your spouse as a team so you don’t let it break down your relationship if you want to stay married.

Learn Skills to Budget

Based on what you’ve probably seen in your own finances, you should know that budgeting doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It can be hard to tell ourselves “no” to things we want. When it comes to telling your children “no,” it can be even more challenging.

If you’ve never taken a budgeting workshop, now might be a perfect time to do so. Don’t wait until you’re flat broke or struggling to pay rent to learn to budget. Even if you have some skills in financial management, you still may benefit from refreshing your memory on the basics or learning how to do a new budget system like the cash envelope system.

While it can take a lot of emotional energy and finances to raise a family, you don’t have to do it alone. Lean on local resources for learning life skills, making a budget, and lowering expenses. Seeking out ways to lower your overall cost of living while increasing your children’s quality of life is worthwhile.