The Thrifty Families Carnival….

January is usually a bit of a nightmare month for most families – overspending at Christmas coupled with the extra week you usually have to make your wages last for due to the early Christmas pay so i hope this months carnival will give you lots of inspiration and ideas to make getting to the next pay day that bit easier.

So here you go, the third Thrifty Families Carnival, an idea of mine, Becky (Baby Budgeting) and Jen (Thrifty Mum), in association with My Family Club, who are our proud sponsors and a brilliant resource for time and money saving ideas.

Don’t forget to make sure you link up with next months Thrifty Families Carnival….

Did you make any New Year resolutions?  If not, it’s not too late and there’s some great money saving resolutions from Becky at Baby Budgeting or why not have a look at Jen’s Winter Manifesto or her Winter Financial Manifesto.

If one of your resolutions is to make money from writing then you’ll find some invaluable tips from Becky at Family Budgeting.

If I had to choose my favourite resolution that I’ve seen made this year it would be My Reading Resolutions – I’m going to be stealing this one to add to my own resolution list.  Ant to help with this resolution have a look at Love your Local Library from Kids One Stop Shop

There’s lots of meal planning inspiration around this month and I love the recipe for home made low fat flatbreads from Lisa at We Don’t Eat Anything With a Face – great for a quick tea or for packed lunches.  You could also make a wall planner for your meal plans to keep you extra motivated.

Tracy from Green Mums has some great ideas on how to save money with your food shopping or you could have a look at my guide to meal planning which is guaranteed to save you money.

If you already meal plan and you’re looking for some inspiration, you should have a look at Jen’s meal plan over at Frugalicious or Zoe’s Whats For Dinner? post on her Eco Thrifty Living blog.

I love the challenge that Stacey over at It Takes a Woman is doing – a January no spend challenge.  Go have a look, it’s not too late to join in.  Talking of challenge’s there’s one going on at Me and My shadow this month where Liz is running her Take One Jumper challenge.

Debbie from Motivating Mums has some great tips in So you want to start couponing.

Rose from Mamma Saver offers some ideas to save money at motorway restaurants.

If you’re stuck for ideas for what to do with the children when the weather is bad, look no further that Cathy’s weekly play planner over at Nurture Store which is filled with ideas for things to do together.   I’m loving the snowflakes you can eat idea!

There’s also some great ideas from Make Do Mum that I know I’ll be stealing in her post Free Stuff For Rainy Days.

Another great craft idea comes from Zoe at Eco Thrifty Living – making gift tags from up-cycled materials.  Get them done while early.

And finally, if you have a children’s birthday party coming up, you won’t go far wrong following these fantastic tips from Becky at Kids Love Parties.

The lovely Nicki is a girl after my own heart with her fantastic budget cutting ideas over at Curly and Candid with Money Money Money - you can’t help but save money if you read this one!

Have a look at Living it Little to find out how you can save money with hand me downs.

See you all next month for lots more thrifty tips

Next month’s carnival is being held by Becky at Family Budgeting on Feb 9th.  Please send your posts to becky@family-budgeting.co.uk.