Frugal parenting is about proper money management to ensure the family is well taken care off. It also includes proper planning that takes into account future expenditures and allocating the necessary funds for them. For example, if you have children, you may want to set up an education fund immediately right after they are born. Below is a family acquaintance (names have been changed) and this is a story on their lifestyle.

Meet the Tang family who are in their late 30’s. They own a house, which is partially paid for, and a car that is already settled in full. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tang are working where Mr. Tang is a teacher in a Chinese primary school and Mrs. Tang is a secretary in a private firm. They have 3 children, the eldest is an 11 year old boy, second is an 8 year old daughter and the youngest is a 5 year old boy. All the children go to the same Chinese school where Mr. Tang is teaching.

The Tangs’ combined salaries is RM3300, barely enough to cover their monthly household expenses. Mr. Tang supplements their income by giving tuition during the night time and over the weekend. By doing so, he is able to bring in an additional RM2000 per month. Mrs. Tang is talented in cake baking but having to work and take care of the household chores leaves her very little time to pursue her interest.

The busy lifestyle keeps the Tangs occupied most of the time and does not leave much time for leisure. Hence, they seldom go out to the shopping mall unless there is a necessity. Every weekend, Mrs. Tang goes to the wet market and supermarket to get her weekly supplies of groceries, vegetables, fish, chicken, etc.

The Tangs live quite near the market and place of work including the school and hence their petrol or fuel expenses are very low. The house location was their main consideration when they bought the house 5 years ago in addition to the affordability. However every other week, they do travel to Mrs. Tangs parents’ house which is located 60 KM away. The whole family enjoys this visit as they get to bring back local fruits that are in season like rambutans, mangos, pomeloes, durians, bananas and papayas from the family owned fruit orchard.

Their simple lifestyle enables the Tang to live comfortably on their income. Mr. Tang also manages to put aside some money each month for his children’s education fund. The children do not complaint much at this stage on the simple lifestyle as their parents continue to teach and remind them on the value of money. An earlier posting, “Simple Ways to Teach Your Child the Value of Money“, gives useful ideas on how to do this.

Wise parents ensure that they plan carefully in order to give their family a stable home and all the basic needs are met. Loving and caring for the children dos not mean giving them the best of everything and spending money unnecessarily. The cost of living is gradually rising and raising a family is no longer cheap. Hence, money management is important when you have a family to support.

The following is about a family living frugally on a single income. The Chan family has two young children to support (1 and 2.5 years old). Mrs. Chan is 32 years old and stays at home full time to take care of the children and the household responsibilities. Mr. Chan is 35 years old and works as an engineer earning roughly RM3500 per month.

They live in a bought apartment right after marriage and Mr. Chan had no problem paying for the loan then. However once the children arrived, Mr. Chan realized that his single income could barely support his family. He even had to trade in his Toyota Vios car to the more affordable Perodua Myvi. Mrs. Chan has to be very careful with the household spending and really plans her groceries for the week to ensure it stays within the budget. The budget must also cover milk powder and disposable nappies for the young children.

photo credit: Dan4th

The Chan has stopped going out to eat altogether and mostly eat at home. Mr. Chan even has to pack his lunch most of the time from home and the food outside is getting more expensive. He is worried whenever there is an emergency in the family. For example, if a member of the family falls sick or if the car breaks down. The small amount of money he puts aside each month will be used up then to meet the unexpected expenses. The Chan know that it is important to save some money now as when the children gets to school going age, there will be school expenses to worry about.

Mrs. Chan is already thinking of finding a job once the children go off to school. Her other option is to do a part-time job to help boost up the family’s income. The good thing about the Chan family is they do not have any other debts except for the mortgage and car loan. Although Mr. Chan has a credit card, he uses it sparingly ensuring that he clears the balance each and every month.

I will be posting similar stories in the future based on the idea of “Frugal Parenting”. You are welcome to post your comments about the subject.

The eMoney Tips is a compilation of fifteen interesting money management articles written by various authors. If you are looking for new ideas on how to improve your financial situation or you wish to broaden your financial knowledge, download it for free below.

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