Everyone knows how great a mother's role is. From starting to care for her family, cooking, cleaning, everything you can do. There is one important skill thing that should not be missed. Yes, it's managing family finances.

Of course, it is not easy to become the finance minister at home, arrange income to meet the daily needs and set aside some for savings and emergency funds. This task will be more difficult when dealing with personal shopping desires and temptations of promo prices. How to be a smart mom in managing finances? Here are the five smart financial secrets that we summarize for you.

  • To avoid wasteful spending, before going shopping make a list of purchases using a priority scale, ranging from primary to secondary needs. Important and immediate purchases are placed in the first position, followed by important necessities that do not have to be bought immediately, and in third place are purchases that are not too important and immediate. Although it sounds conventional, this method makes shopping more efficient. One condition, discipline is key. Obey the rules you have created.
  • Especially mothers who have babies/toddlers, prioritize the needs of your child—like milk and diapers—on your grocery list. When shopping for your child needs, you may see great items that you think will be suitable if used by your child, when in fact these are not really needed. Avoid thoughts like, "maybe a moment is needed", "can be used if the child is older", and so on. To avoid waste spending, again, follow the priority list you created earlier.
  • Don’t rush to pick groceries. Spend enough time to shop in order to compare the composition, quality, and quantity of the goods you will buy. Don’t shop when hungry. When hungry, you will tend be rushed, and it will easily create situations of to buying more than you need or buying items that you should not buy.
  • Forget the discount. Discounts and promos at stores are always a heavy temptation when shopping. Does a discount save you money? Remember, a cheap price will not necessarily reduce the amount of money you spend if you didn’t use it properly. Go back to the first rule before shopping, adjust to priorities. Even if you find items at a low price, check first whether you have got all the items on the priority list? If not, let's practice orderly on the deal you've made yourself.
  • If you want to buy goods that you always buy, for example always the same brand and type, there is no harm in completing your shopping list with the price of each item. If any of your favorite brands and products are experiencing significant price increases, there is no harm in looking back at the same type of quality with different brands. Who knows you find a cheaper price for your goods?

In addition to the shopping plan, a smart mom will also take into account the savings for emergency shopping. You don’t know what will happen in the future, but you can prepare for many possibilities. Set aside some money and keep it in a separate wallet for that purpose, don’t keep all the money in the bank because some necessities still require you to have cash.