Financial planning is an elemental part of our life once we have outgrown our teenage years and started earning. Economics in this present age is an elemental part of sustenance, and proper understanding of the monitory factors helps us plan our future better. There is a lot of job prospects, but one has to understand that it is possible only when you are flexible and open to new options. The technology and network facilities have advanced a lot and have a profound influence on our daily life and at the same time intricately influence the perspective of bettering our financial situation. If you are a single mother, you would understand the hardship of raising a child, and there is a lot of co-factors that are to be considered when you have a loved one entirely dependent on you for whom you have to care.
Finance and budget
When you are trying to sustain your life on a daily basis, planning a proper budget and sticking to it is one of the necessary things to do. For a single mother, this is even more important because you do not have any external aid in the form of friends and family who can financially help you out, and also your job prospects become limited when you have to give a lot of time for caring for the child if he or she is an infant. Here we are going to share specific tips which would help with planning your budget and finance better and ensure that you can healthily raise your child and at the same time ensure complete safety of the child’s future as well. Planning the future ahead of time is a quality that you would have to imbibe through practice over the years to make sure the child have a bright and healthy future till they are capable enough to earn their bread.
Tally your expenses and income
This is the first and foremost thing to be done when you are a single mother and in general. Understand the significant and necessary expenses that you have and tally them with the income that you have. Consider specific factors before you chalk out your monthly budget. First, you must consider the necessary expenses like grocery, stationary, weekend plans and every other expense that cannot be cut out. Then consider the amount of money that you should set aside for each of these plans and try to fit your expenses within that limit. Also, monthly rentals, servicing of various kinds are another vital set of expenses to be considered when you are planning your budget. Focus on chalking out the budget and still saving a certain amount of your earnings every month and over the months, try to increase the amount that you are saving.
Cut out unnecessary expenses
Be it a sudden mood to party with your friends or a booze night- remember when you have a child to care for every dime you spent and how you spent it matters, and you may regret later the expenses that you incurred today. Hence try to reduce all your optional expenses like a sudden shopping spree, spa plans, and booze night. While occasional indulgence would not harm but do keep your urges in check and make sure that your occasional indulgences are not that frequent that you are not able to keep up financially because your earning do not permit you to do so. Planning a budget accurately has a lot to do with self-control regarding expenses, and this is an art that you have master over the years. If you are trying to raise the child all by yourself, your actions as a mother also count not just financially but morally too. This is why planning a budget would not only help regarding saving enough but also help you to raise your child to be a better person and set an example for him or her.
Use your credit card judiciously
A credit card is an indispensable part of our lives today, and we all have one or multiple of them in our bags. However how you are using it is the matter of concern, and that is where the real trouble comes in. Many people are reckless and do not have an idea about how to reap the maximum benefits out of credit cards and often end up bankrupted. Do remember that when you have a child to care for, you cannot afford to fall into a situation as difficult as bankruptcy which is not only financially draining but also emotionally tumultuous too. The best idea would be not to over drain your credit card limit and not use it until the situation demands it. Since you have a credit card does not mean that you have to flash it at every instant that you get. The primary purpose of a credit card is helping you access money that is not your own when you are in a dire need for it. Try and use the card that way so that you are not facing any extreme consequences to the expenses. Also, try to pay off the debts you have as early as possible to avoid any additional interest charges on the money you borrowed through it.
Debt settlement
In an unfortunate situation where you have fallen victim to credit troubles, you can take the help of the debt lawyers and try and settle the debt. Being a single mother would give you certain unique advantages in this situation, but if you are abusing those advantages repeatedly, you would not be entitled to them anymore. You can consult the debt consolidation reviews to get an idea about the firms which can help you out in such a situation, but the best option would be trying and avoid falling into such a situation in the first place. Â
It can be concluded that proper budget planning not only involves planning how you spent the earning but also avoiding debts too.