Single Mom Tips

 

Being a single mother is the hardest yet fulfilling job as a person. Most single mom struggle to support their children especially those who supplement their income from child support. Single moms are amazing multi-taskers from juggling a kid, finances, and a career is a tough one. What you really want to achieve is to be the best parent you can be. As many parents had been said whether single or the other way around – having a child changes your outlook on things and that will make you reevaluate your priorities and your perspective.

Among those priorities is to make sure that you can provide your child on whatever they need as long as it is enough.

Here are five (5) financial tips to juggle it all.

• Create a table of expenses

This is the time you have to give to yourself to familiarize or be aware of the current state of your finances. Even with those unusual expenses, like you kids haricuts, should be on the list. Knowing where your money is coming and going in exact details can help you realize where you are going wrong in managing your finances.

• Follow a list to resist temptation

Knowing that your budget is not enough can be easy once you take time to revise your budget. Learning from your mistakes and reducing your spending, can be hard on the other hand. Improve your chance of saying no by making a list of the things that tempt you – and create a list of the things that are essential to you and your kids.

• Take advantage of tax breaks

You can use your taxes to help you make ends meet – that is if you haven’t already start deducting childcare expenses from your file. The potential childcare tax can pay as much as 35% of the cost of keeping your kids in daycare. Do not forget to claim your kids as dependents.

• Get a line of credit

When you have to pay for a series of purchases or on large repair and you do not have enough money, it is easy to get stressed. You cannot really go right way to traditional lenders and ask for money, a good way is to create a credit line that is good enough to get things covered.

• Look for ways to create extra income

There are a lot of ways on how to create some extra cash online that won’t interfere with your current career or with the job you have right now. Be a freelancer, that is a high paying part time, that way you can increase the amount of your savings for you and for your kids.

 

During the process of divorce or separation with your present partner, people will always stare at you. People will judge you that’s a fact – but then reality will hit you that there is no perfect harmony in a family, every family will face problems and challenges and it’s a matter of how strong and willed person are you to stand up and be on top of the problems you have. There will always be problems along the way as you make up for everything that happened with your family, you still have a lot of questions to answer from your kids – all you have to do is to be honest about what you feel.

It is for a fact that being a single mom is stressful, demanding and hectic. Here are tips to lessen the stress you have in your roller coaster life.

• Get a Handle on finances

Raising a family on your own income, or relying to the support from your ex-husband for child support can be one of the hardest aspects of your journey into parenting alone. That is why it is important to take steps on how to budget your money, you have to learn about long term investment, college plans, and retirement, if there would be a possibility of enhancing your earning that would be a big help.

• Look for a support system

Every single mom will need help – whether it is someone who will look for your kids while you run some errands or simply someone you can talk to about the situation you have right now. It is overwhelming to handle everything alone, do not be afraid to call a friend or family member to help you.

• Maintain a daily routine

Create a schedule for everything such as meals, chores, bedtime, and other family functions at regular hours so that your child will exactly know what to expect each day. A consistent routine will help you and your child to feel more secure and feel more organized.

• Be consistent with discipline

Your child will always thrive when they know which behaviors are expected of them and which of the set rules they need to follow. If you are on the process of divorce, you still have to work with your ex-spouse to create and observe consistent rules and method.

• Be honest when answering questions from your kids

Your child will always ask out of this world questions of what had happened – that is inevitable. Answer their questions honestly in an open, honest and age appropriate way.

No matter what happened with your life – stay positive. It is easy to become overwhelmed by all the responsibilities and demands of being a single mom. Despite of all the negativity that come along your way it is important to maintain a positive attitude.

 

Working full time as a single mom may results in less quality time with your kids. You tend to spend more time in earning money for living to support your child needs. There may be a time when your child needs you to teach them their homework, but you are busy working or cleaning the house. From this, a gap between you and your kids starting to grow and it may result in misunderstanding. Also, as the time pass by, your child might think that you are not prioritizing nor spend quality time with them.

Bridging strong communication with your kids might at risk of being a single mom. However, disconnection can be prevented if you able to set time and stay connected to each other.

1. Avoid gadgets when spending time together

Kids nowadays tend to be more connected to their smartphones and gadgets. From this, a strong sense of a gap between your kids is increasing. Placing limits on using gadgets whenever you are together may lessen the gap. It is better to keep in touch personally rather than updating them through social media.

2. Listen to their thoughts and feelings

A little private time together with your kids is the ideal time to talk about what’s happening to your child. Avoid necessary reactions like reprimanding them to their wrong decisions. From this time, you should be the listener and your kid’s shoulder to lean on. From this, your kids would feel secure and they will not be shy to share thoughts and feelings with you.

3. Eat at least once a day together

Make every meal a family day. Families who were able to eat three times a day is lucky, but if you manage to make time to spend one meal together would be a blessing. Eating meals together can make a strong connection between all the family members. It is considered a sacred time to make an update with your kids.

4. Make your rest day a family day

Spend your rest day a family day to get relaxed, go to parks and eat at their favorite restaurant. Being able to give them at least one day in a week can be your perfect time to reconnect with the lost time being together. Through this, a good bonding connection will nourish so as your kids will surely appreciate it.

5. Make your kids your priority

No matter how much you want to earn more money to support your children needs, you must keep in mind that your children is your priority. Most children crave for their parents’ attention. Knowing that you are the only one that serves as the mother and father to them, surely your children need you to be present and available whenever they need you the most.