How to Help Your Parents Save Up Money

If your parents are struggling to get by, you may wonder how you can help them save money and be less stressed about their finances. You may live with your parents at home and want to help them reduce their spending on household items and items for you. Getting a part-time job can help your parents save money and contribute to their daily expenses. You can also try a more longer term method by helping your parents to better organize their household finances and set them up to save money.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Cutting Down on Your Parents' Spending

1
Repair and reuse old clothing and items. Rather than allow your parents to spend money on new school clothing every year or new school supplies, try to repair any damaged or worn items and reuse them. This will cut down on your parents’ yearly spending and allow them to save more money to put towards other bills.
- You may have a pair of shoes that are worn, for example, but still wearable. You may bring your shoes to a shoe cobbler to repair the shoes for a small fee, rather than have your parents spend more money on getting new shoes. You can also repair damaged clothing yourself by sewing or mending it, or take them to a seamstress to get them repairs. Repairing and reusing old items will be nominally less expensive than asking your parents to buy you new items.
2
Accept hand me downs. If there are other members of your family who have hand me down items you can use or wear, accept them as a way to cut down on your parents’ expenses. Though it may be tempting to get your parents to buy you new items, be willing to take hand me downs from friends and siblings instead, as this will help your parents save money and ensure the hand me down items do not go to waste.
- You can also look for free hand me downs at your local clothing drive. If you do need to replace damaged or broken items, suggest to your parents that you go shopping at charity shops or second hand stores for these items so your parents will spend less money on them.
3
Follow a no waste policy. While it may be tempting to throw away your school lunch or refuse your dinner, following a no waste policy will show your parents that their hand earned money is not going to waste. Try to eat everything on your plate at dinner and finish any homemade school lunches.
- You can also follow a no waste policy by recycling and reusing any items used in your household. This could be plastic cartons or glass jars that you then reuse to store items or cardboard that you save for craft projects. Focusing on no waste will allow you to be proactive about helping your parents to save money in the future.
Cut down your parents’ transportation expenses by asking to carpool to school with a friend or by taking the bus every morning. Doing so will help your parents to save money on gas and perhaps put the travel time toward working more shifts or longer hours at work.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Finding Part-time Employment and Other Sources of Income

1
Apply for part-time jobs in your area. Look at the online classifieds or the classifieds in the paper for any part-time jobs in your area. If you are currently going to school, you should look for an after school job at a store or restaurant close by that you can get to easily. Negotiate your hours with your employer to make sure you have enough time for your schoolwork.^{[1]XResearch source}
- Make sure your resume for the part-time job showcases your skills and your education. If the position involves serving customers, you should highlight your strong communication skills and your ability to think quickly on your feet. If the position focuses more on processing and arranging items or data, you should include a note about your strong organizational skills.
2
Ask your neighbors for payment to do odd jobs. Another way to get some part-time income is to offer to do odd jobs for your neighbors for payment. This could include mowing lawns, shoveling snow, cleaning houses, or repairing broken items.^{[2]XResearch source}
- You could also start a part-time service where you mow lawns once a week for a set rate or deliver papers in the neighborhood once a week for payment. This will allow you to have a stable part-time income and be able to pay for items yourself, rather than having to rely on your parents for money.
3
Put half of your earnings towards your parents’ expenses. Help your parents save money by contributing to the household expenses using your earnings from the part-time job. Offer to put half of your earnings towards expenses for yourself and for maintaining your household.^{[3]XResearch source}
- You should put the other half of your earnings in a savings account so you can also save money to pay for things you may need later, like school supplies or clothing. You can also use your savings to prepare for the cost of post secondary education.
4
Suggest a garage sale or selling unneeded household items online. Help your parents make some extra income to contribute to their budget by suggesting a garage sale or an online sale of unneeded household items. This could be the pile of sports gear gathering dust in the garage or old childhood items in the basement. Consider any items you or your parents have not used in at least one to two years and if it has any monetary value. You should work together with your parents to identify items that can be resold.
- You may want to hold a garage sale for items that are lesser value or that you may sell for $10-$20. You can then try to sell more expensive items or items worth more money online via online selling sites and advertising.
5
Look for discount sales and benefits for your parents. You can also cut down on your parents' spending by searching for sales and deals on basic necessities like groceries and household items. You should encourage your parents to take advantage of sale items and discounted items when they buy things for the house or for you.
- Depending on how old your parents are, they may also qualify for senior discounts on items and services. Most senior discounts start at age 65 and up. If your parents fall into a senior age range, they may be able to take advantage of senior discount rates.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Organizing the Household Finances

1
Ask your parents if they have a household budget. It can be difficult to ask your parents about their budget, especially if they are embarrassed about their financial struggles. But if your parents are not able to maintain their finances on their own, you may need to get involved in the household budget and help them figure out how they can increase their savings and reduce their sending.^{[4]XResearch source}
- Helping your parents to manage their expenses may be more important when your parents are elderly and cannot take care of their finances themselves. It may then be your responsibility to assist your parents in ways to save money and maintain their existing standard of living with the income they have.
2
Suggest reductions in spending to save money. If your parents agree to let you look at the household budget, you should examine your parents’ set expenses for the household every month against their income every month. Look for any expenses that seem high or unnecessary, such as monthly home insurance payments, cable payments, or heating and electricity payments. You may then want to suggest that your parents consider reducing these costs to save more money every month.^{[5]XResearch source}
- You should also look for excessive spending on secondary items like clothing, household goods, and groceries. Try to find ways to reduce your parents’ spending on these items, such as suggesting they buy second hand clothing, cheaper household goods, and stretch out their allotted spending for groceries.
- There are also government based programs that provide food benefits to struggling families. Consider telling your parents about these programs so they can get assistance on food bills and save money on their food costs every month.
Talk to your parents about how you can help them save money month to month and how you can best contribute to your parents’ budget. This may be agreeing to take on a part-time job or reducing food costs for the household by cooking on the nights your parents are both working late. Work with your parents to come up with several adjustments you can make together to help them save money.^{[6]XResearch source}
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