Budgeting Your Money As A Single Mother

Every single mother knows that it’s a challenge to have no other adults to rely on in the home.motherhood is packed with challenges, but single motherhood has a set of unique difficulties all on its own. Not only do you have the kids to raise, but you have to manage your budget all by yourself. 

Budgets – for some – need to be stuck to strictly. When you’re a single mother, it’s even more important because children are relying on you to make sure that everything is paid for properly and no one goes without each month. Budgeting can be a lifesaver, and as a single parent, you need to be on the ball! Here are several ways that you can budget as a single mother.

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1. Know Your Income. You need to know what’s coming in and what’s going out as a single parent. Your budget has to cover so many things, so you need to identify when payday is, when bills are paid and have a calendar to organise all of it. Organisation is key to success here, and you can plan your budget by adding your monthly income. Add the income from your main job, any side hustles and any government help that you may get. Once you have that listed, think about child support and maintenance payments. 
2. Know Your Spending. Once you have sorted your income, you need to learn your expenses. Highlight everything from rent to groceries on some bank statements, your car payments with Suttons UK and more. From here, you will be able to know exactly what you spend on essentials vs what you are spending on non-essentials. The essentials maintain your standard of living with the rest being added extras that you don’t need, but are nice to have.
3. Emergency Funding. As a single parent, you need contingency planning in place. Savings may not be the first thing that you think of given that you haven’t factored it into your budget. However, an emergency fund is so important for a single parent. You need to know that you are covered if you lose your job. You don’t have to save much: start with £25 a month. It soon builds!
4. Childcare. Your biggest costs may be childcare costs if you’re saving money and running a house. Depending on where you live, you can get a child care rebate to offset the costs. It’s so important that you take a look at how to find savings and reduce your costs where you can. 

You want to make sure that you are pulling those costs down and having more coming in than going out. The last thing that you want to do is be left without any money at all. Budgeting when children are relying on you is paramount, and while you can’t always control how much money is going into your bank account, you can work on how much is leaving it. Take the time to plan your budget and there is a much less chance you’ll have any surprises.