3 Budgeting Strategies That Will Help Single Parents

Apart from the fact that single parents don’t have to argue with partners about the budget, it’s a tough situation to be in, handling the needs of a child.

According to a survey, it will take approximately $241,080 for a single parent to raise a child from day one until their 18th birthday, and some single parents will have to raise this amount all by themselves.

That said, here are 3 budgeting strategies that can help struggling single parents:

#1: Own the budgeting process yourself

If your significant other was the one paying the bills and managing all the money decisions, it’s time for you to own the budgeting process all by yourself. In some cases, some single parents have had to start all over from a scratch.

It’s not difficult to do without or replace financial information that might have been lost either with your partner now gone.

#2: Plan on how to pay the bills on time

It’s really difficult to plan ahead especially if you haven’t made that car payment or even the phone bill. One single parent follows this strategy: since she gets paid twice a month, a certain amount is put away in her savings account for the rent which doesn’t look all that big as soon as she receives her second half.

Planning ahead of time really has its benefits even if it might seem impossible! If money becomes tight, then plan how much money you can afford to spend every day until you get paid again.

#3: Buy food last

If you have a lot of bills to pay, and very little to buy food, that’s perfectly alright. In fact, experts suggest that you pay off the rent and other bills first, and then buy groceries. What this also does is ensures that you don’t spend unnecessarily on food either.