The new year means many families with kids are going to lose hundreds of dollars a month from the federal government now that the expanded Child Tax Credit, part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, has expired.
If you know your income is going to drop, you need to act now.
Bruce McClary, a vice president at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, suggests three easy ways to make cuts in your spending plan.
“First, you can pause or cancel subscription services. There could be a lot of redundancies,” McClary said. “Also, start shopping with coupons or using store brands. Store brands are just as good as some of the brand names, and you can save a lot of money by doing that, and then couple that with coupons. And lastly, if you have good credit – and FICO scores increased for most Americans last year, so many people have better credit than they think – now is the time to shop around for a better deal on interest in monthly payments.”
One more tip: If you don’t have a family budget – make one. That’s the only way to see where the money is going, so you know where to cut.