You might think that having a financially successful life and being a single mother are mutually exclusive, but that’s just not the case. While it is a tough task to provide for both you and your kids, it’s not impossible. In fact, with the right tips and strategies, budgeting for single moms can be a lot easier! Here are 15 important tips you can use to reach your financial goals as a single mom:
Create a budget
While it may sound simple, you’d be surprised how many people don’t actively keep a budget. 1 in 3 American households don’t even bother budgeting their monthly expenses!
Despite this, a reasonable budget is essential to a healthy household. Having one means you have a plan for paying your bills every month. This ensures that your family’s needs are met and that you’re doing without overspending. Unfortunately, many single moms struggle with having a big enough budget for their family’s needs. That’s why you need to…
Generate passive income
As a single mom, your time, wallet, and patience are probably stretched thin. Finding a side hustle while working a job while being a parent is challenging. Instead of a traditional side hustle, you can find a way to generate income passively. Multiple passive income streams will make budgeting for single moms much easier.
Some ways to generate passive income include:
Creating and selling a course online
Everyone’s good at something! Whether it’s cooking, gardening, or even digital marketing, many moms have a skill that other people want to learn. Websites like Skillshare allow you to create and sell your course to people so they can learn your skills. All it takes is a bit of time, a good video camera, and voila! You’ve set up your first passive income stream.
Building a blog
You don’t need to be an internet celebrity to make money off your personality and life experiences. Building a successful blog takes time and strategy, but it can be a lucrative passive income stream when appropriately monetized. The best part about writing a blog is that if you have fun while writing, it’ll feel like you’re not working at all! After reading this article, you may be inspired to start writing.
Selling digital resources
Are you creative? You can sell all kinds of resources, like PowerPoint templates, ebooks, and stock images, online to generate extra income. While they take some time to create, the return on investment could be massive! If you have a computer, you don’t even have to leave your home to make and sell them!
Build a second emergency fund
If you’ve been following my blog posts, you probably already know what an emergency fund is. It’s a fund you dedicate solely to emergencies, like necessary trips to the doctor or mechanic. However, as a single mom, you may want to consider building a second emergency fund purely for family emergencies. This will ensure that your kids will be cared for in case something happens. Typically, this fund should be about six months’ worth of expenses.
And if you haven’t been following my blog posts, you’re missing out! Here’s a list of even more tips moms on a budget need to know.
Automate your finances
Between having kids and a day job, even opening your phone to pay the bills might take too long. Instead, you can give yourself some extra time by automating your bill payments and subscriptions. This will take some of the mental load off managing your finances and help improve your quality of life.
Still not sold on automating your finances? Here’s an article of mine that digs deeper into why you should!
Get and stay out of unnecessary debt
You already have paying bills and being a parent to worry about. Adding debt to the mix causes even more stress. As a single mom, you need to be even more careful to ensure you live within your means.
If you’re already in debt, it’s not hopeless! You just need to figure out your debt-elimination plan to start your journey to a debt-free life. Here are a few extra tips that you can follow!
Teach your kids good financial values
To build generational wealth, it’s essential to instill good financial values into your kids at a young age. Try to teach your kids the value of saving money, investing resources, and delaying gratification when you can. It’ll be a challenge, but they will thank you in the long run.
Have your kids earn their allowance
Even if money’s tight, giving your kids an allowance is important. Instead of just handing it to them every week, you can teach them to earn it instead. Having them help around the house to earn their allowance by doing chores will teach them the value of hard work. It will also save you from doing all the work yourself.
Find a good babysitter
One of the most important investments you can make is in your mental health, which means the occasional night out. A good babysitter, whether a neighbor, friend or relative, can give you some valuable “me-time.”
Tax benefits
The government tries budgeting for single moms a lot easier. As a single mom, you’re entitled to quite a few tax benefits if you aren’t already aware. Declaring as head of household, declaring dependents, and claiming credits are all tax tricks you can do.
Financial aid
Government aid doesn’t stop at just tax benefits. There are quite a few financial aid programs you may be entitled to as a single mom. Low-income single mothers are entitled to health care, food assistance, and even scholarships for higher education!
Don’t forget your financial goals
It can be easy to get so lost in your day-to-day life that you forget your goals. This is especially true for single moms who already have to handle a lot of stress. Financial goals will give you something greater to work for than just what’s in front of you. Achieving your goals will probably even improve the lives of your kids!
One thing that can help with this is creating a financial vision board. Check out my article to find out how to make one!
Keep learning
It’s never too late to learn a new tip or two! This is why you should join the money squad. As a member, you’ll receive exclusive financial tips every week. Whether you’re a single mom or not, these tips can be life-changing. Signing up is free and takes only a few seconds!
