It’s back to school time for most of us. I remember how worried I was that first year I was divorced. Where was the money going to come from for school clothes? There seemed to be so many expenses. I was fortunate that first summer, my niece and nephew were old enough to stay home alone and Hailey stayed with them so I didn’t have to pay for daycare, when school started it was a different story. There were so many things to worry about, Hailey was going to be a latch key kid for the first time, she would … Continue reading →

When you become a single parent you quickly learn that there is never enough money. Your kids learn this lesson too, much earlier than you want them too. It’s hard for your kids not to have the things everyone else has, it’s also hard when you are the one who always has to tell them no. Many studies that are done on single parents focus on income as a reason children from single parent households struggle. This may be true, but not having everything handed to you and learning the value of hard work gives our children life skills they … Continue reading →

I read a report from the Agriculture Department’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion that estimates it cost $235,000 for a middle income family to raise a child. Wow, that’s a lot of money. As a single mother if you look at the total it can be completely overwhelming. The largest portion of this is housing taking up 30% of the total. Daycare also takes a big bite as more women work outside the home, and if you are a single mother chances are you don’t have any choice but to work outside the home. Kids are expensive there’s no … Continue reading →

As a new single parent the most overwhelming thing is finances. How are you going to support this family? Many of us were stay at home moms or only worked part time. To go from that to be solely responsible for your children is like night and day. It helps if you ex is good about paying child support but unfortunately, for many reasons, many ex’s aren’t always current on their support so you can’t really count on it. The first thing you need to do is figure out what you have and what you can do. If you have … Continue reading →

How do you teach your children the value of money when you are so busy stretching it from paycheck to paycheck? When I became a single mother with lots of debt and bad credit I was determined that Hailey would never find herself in the same boat. When I was growing up we never talked about money, all we heard was that we had none. We had no idea why or where it went. I didn’t realize all the things that went into maintaining a home until I had my first apartment. Who knew you had to pay a light … Continue reading →

One of the hardest things about being a single mom is having to say no so much. When you get divorced you learn quickly that if you don’t stand your ground the kids will walk all over you. Even if you’ve been the softie in the past you learn to stand up and say no. The kids don’t like it, and at first it may seem to make things worse, but once they learn you mean it, life just gets better. It’s always made me sad to have to tell Hailey no about things she wants that I just can’t … Continue reading →

I have been pretty fortunate as a single mother. Most of the time I’ve been single I’ve had a good job that has allowed me not to worry about how I was going to pay the bills. It wasn’t like that at first, when I first got divorced I didn’t even have a car, but things got better. Now, due to some pay cuts I’ve taken at work, things are looking a little scarier. Add to that a few emergencies, a major vet bill and an emergency car repair, and my savings account is non existent. Not having that cushion … Continue reading →