How to Survive Financially as a Single Mom?
A single mom is a person who is engaging in parenting by fulfilling the responsibilities of both the mother and the father. It is not their choice in life for most single moms to be so, but certain life circumstances have left them with no choice.
I have seen that a lot of single mothers struggle financially due to unbalancing their income and expenditures. Therefore, I thought of sharing some valuable tips that help for smooth financial survival.
So, how to survive financially as a single mom? Single mothers have to face financial challenges when fulfilling the needs of family and parenting responsibilities. To survive financially, single mothers can go with a simple budget by cutting unnecessary expenses. Make your financial goals and go for them with confidence. Also, finding new ways that generate income would be a significant step.
Most of you were in the misconception that it is hard to survive financially as a single mom. Alright, I’m not going to spoil your curiosity. Let’s dive into this question and come up with certain valuable ideas.
I discuss the challenges for single moms and their general expenses. Also, the way of making a proper budget will be discussed thoroughly. Finally, I give some valuable tips that help you to survive financially as a single mom.
This will be a comprehensive post that covers all the relevant information. Therefore, I have listed the topics I discuss below. Please, feel free to jump straight to the section you want by clicking on the topic.
Let’s get started!
Challenges of a single mom
Let me start with a question. How did you feel when you were left alone with your children? Was it a positive feeling? A negative feeling? Or a neutral sense? I’m sure for most of you; it was a negative feeling with your minds straying and wondering what to do next.
Before digging into the question of how to survive financially as a single mom, let me bring you the major challenges a single mom has to face.
- Fulfilling the needs of the family
For a typical family, the role of the head of the family is generally characterized by the father’s role. But, in the single mom context, it differs. If you are a single mom, you already know that difference for sure.
You are the head of the family. So, it is your prime duty to fulfill the basic needs and wants of your family members. As a single mom, you need to maintain a straight head concerning that.
- Fulfilling parenting responsibilities
As a single mom, you should fulfill the parenting responsibilities of both the mother and father. The child should not feel any lack in the love, care, and protection he gains.
The single mom should be confident enough not to let the child feel negative effects through single parenting. That is another major challenge that links with this role.
- Breaking down the stereotypes
Another major challenge is to eliminate the stereotypic mentality in society towards single moms. High school dropouts, drug addicts, and bad parents are only a pinch of imperfect labels that go around with a single mom’s character.
Most single moms get negative emotions through this. As a strong single mom, it is with you to break down those stereotypes and prove that you are a more strong personality in society with favorable attributes and heightened financial capabilities.
Expenses of a single mom
The expenses of a single mom can vary according to different people and their social contexts. Commonly they allocate their expenditure for household activities, children, and emergencies.
- Expenses related to children
These always come as basic essential expenditures. Expenses for school, outdoor activities, child-care such as babysitters, health insurance, can be identified in this regard.
Being a single mom, you might have thought that only feeding and giving education causes expenses related to the child. But in the actual scenario, the expenses related to children must be associated with and ensure the positive exposure of the child to society.
- Expenses incurred during emergencies
It is important to find a firm answer for how to survive financially as a single mom. Emergencies such as job loss, unexpected illnesses fall into this category.
As a single mom to face such dire circumstances, you should have thrived with enough money as savings come in handy.
Making a budget for single mom
The answer to how to survive financially as a single mom always comes up with effective and efficient budgeting. Most single moms ignore the fact that they should maintain a proper budget to run smoothly on financial platforms.
They misunderstand the fact that being focused on money matters lets the mothers get distanced from their children. If you are also under that assumption, just get away from that facade and face reality by making a firm and less complicated budget.
1. Go with a simple budget
Some of you, as single moms, won’t understand the negative aspects of bad financing. But, being knowledgeable on the saving time and energy going along with the efficient, simple budget.
2. Use a budgeting app
Get used to adhere to a budgeting app and map all your budget-related activities in a simple, precise, and yet effective manner. There are ample budgeting apps that you can install and use, and it helps track your income and expenses.
To efficiently use it as single moms, you need to open up your bills without ignoring them and categorize them according to the level of priority. Do not be immature enough to delay your payments.
The budgeting app will give new insights for investments and never miss those chances and identify the true potential in them.
3. Cut unnecessary expenses
To give a cheerful face concerning how to survive financially as a single mom, you should always possess an open eye. Unnecessary expenses are always a headache and an eyesore when you go through your expenses.
My friend, who is a single mom, used her sharp mind to cut her unnecessary expenses by finding means of getting the paid services in a free of charge manner. She earlier maintained a gym membership and had to spend a few hundred dollars per month for it.
Her sharp mind announced to her the fact that she can do her workouts freely at home at her own pace without spending a single penny. She immediately canceled her membership and used that money for the betterment of the children by directing them to reputed tutors to gain extra knowledge regarding their scopes of study at school.
Not only the cancellation of such memberships but also getting away from extra-paying services such as Netflix, unwanted internet services, shopping with Amazon would relax your mind from disturbing financial burdens.
4. Pay your attention towards making more money
Making more money directly involves your capability to broaden your financial aspects in a healthy mode. Do not hesitate to take up new challenges. Some of the money-making ideas can be stated as follows;
- Take mentoring sessions to know more about your opportunities
- Pay your attention towards business startups
- At least try to attend a single networking group
Tips for surviving financially as a single mom
How to survive financially as a single mom can be successfully answered with some helpful financial management tips at your hand. You don’t need to have the expertise or financial knowledge to handle those.
Just a positive view and some basic money handling and management skills would be more than enough.
1. Open a bank account
Opening up a bank account is very important for single mothers when it comes to their financial handling manners. You, as single mothers, should have a better sense of how to deal with your savings.
Through a bank account, you might get a sense of possibilities of how to manage your savings, how to check on possible investment options, and manage your expenses more formally. You just need some ordinary documents at hand to open a bank account.
- An application form
- Possession of personal information with relevant documentation
- A proof of your residential address most probably by having a bill at hand which comes to your residential address
- An identification card (Driving License, Social Security Card, etc.)
2. Get used to a co-parenting app where necessary
If you are still maintaining a co-parenting relationship with your ex-partner, you can get used to that method. There are great co-parenting apps that ease both the parents’ ideal financial expenditures towards their children.
Through that, as single moms, you won’t have to shoulder the financial responsibilities of your child alone. Furthermore, you can track your child’s expenses more firmly and get support from your ex-partner in contribution vise.
3. Manage debt
Never be indebted unnecessarily. Getting debts to manage your expenses is not a good idea especially being a single mom. Get debts only if an extreme necessity occurs and try to pay them back at the earliest.
This would reduce the mental stress and pressure that would occur due to this. Remember the fact that lending money and obtaining debts would lose both the money and the acquaintances.
4. Get support from others
Never think that you are alone. Get support from others without being a troublesome personality to them. But listen to them with an open mind and never follow their advice blindly.
Keep in mind that you are only getting support from others to get some positive insights for the question, how to survive financially as a single mom and not to rely on whatever the things and the ill advice they give.
Conclusion – How to financially survive as a single mom?
All the single moms out there are not alone financially. They are no longer weak in money matters. As a single mom, you should only possess a bit of confidence in yourself, and that is it. Surviving as a single mom financially is no longer difficult.
The only thing you need to have some tips at hand to manage your survival. So let’s shout out a big YES towards the successful survival of a single mom in financial terms.
Thank you for reading. Stay tuned with BestFamilyLife for more good content.
