As a Successful Solo Mom, your ability to Make Your Budget (and stick to it) is crucial to managing your hard-earned money and ensuring you have a future for your babies. Since you are the head of your household, you are 100% responsible for all your family expenses, which means you cannot afford to live above your earnings.  It is also important that you have a rainy-day fund set aside for the unexpected expenses, like car repairs or broken arms. Knowing how you spend your money is essential to maintaining a Successful Life for you and yours. In this article, we will provide tips on how to make a simple monthly budget for single moms.

Determine Your Available Funds

Most of us have a source of income already. If you are perhaps setting a budget to determine how much you need for income, then obviously skip this step for now but return for tips after the other steps.

To determine your available funds, you must calculate what you will have left after taxes and medical insurance. If your employer does not provide medical insurance, then this would need to be added to the monthly expenses step below.

If you are unsure how many taxes and other items are being withheld from your paycheck, take a look at your paystub.  There will be line items that show you the federal and state taxes, Medicare, social security, and any other withholdings like 401K or medical insurance. If you’d like to reduce or adjust some of these withholdings, then discuss with your HR representative to learn how to update your settings.  One word of caution though, if you reduce how many taxes you pay per check, you may increase what you owe at the end of each year.

The simplest way to determine how much money you have available each month is to simply review the bottom line amount of your check and multiple by the number of times per year you are paid then divide by 12. If you do not have a set number of hours, then add up the last 2-12 months of pay and divide by the number of weeks or months used. Huh?

Ok like this…

Scenario 1: I have a steady job that pays me $1,000 after taxes and withholdings 24 times a year.

(1000 x 24) = 24,000

24,000 / 12 = 2,000

Monthly Available Funds to Make Your Budget = $2,000

Scenario 2: I have a steady job that pays me $1,000 after taxes and withholdings every 2 weeks.

(1000 x 26) = 26,000

26,000 / 12 = 2,167

Monthly Available Funds to Make Your Budget = $2,167

Scenario 3: My hours and pay fluctuate each paycheck. I am paid weekly. I have been at my job for 2 months.

Amount AFTER Taxes, Pre-Tax Expenses and Withholdings

Week 1     $    400.00
Week 2      $   550.00
Week 3      $   300.00
Week 4      $   275.00
Week 5      $   425.00
Week 6      $   375.00
Week 7      $   600.00
Week 8     $   515.00
                     $3,440.00

We divide $3440 by 8 to get the average of weekly pay.

$3440 / 8 = $430

There are 52 weeks in a year. So, now we multiple by 52.

$430 x 52 = $22,360

Assuming you will work similar hours for the next several months, then you’d be on track to make $22,360 for the year.  To then determine monthly available funds, divide by 12.

$22,360 / 12 = $1,863.33

Monthly Available Funds to Make Your Budget = $1,863

Of course, if you receive child support or alimony, that monthly amount can be added on top of your earnings.

Notice! Credit Cards are NOT on this list anywhere

Determine all your monthly expenses

Now that we have your available funds, the next step to Make Your Budget is to determine what you can afford. The first step here is to list the things you need each month.  This is tough because our needs are different than our wants and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.  Think of it like this…If I did not have a job, what are the things I would cancel or live without in order to get by.

Personally, I would not have anywhere to go, so my house, electricity, water, and food are absolute needs and therefore go at the top of the list. I couldn’t find a new job without the internet, so that is also a need.  I couldn’t drive myself to an interview or my kids to school without a car, so car, car insurance and gasoline are needs for me as well. Additional taxes would need to be included if I lived in a place with auto-tax (like the DC metro area).

Your needs may be different. Perhaps you live in a city where public transportation is stellar, and you don’t need a personal vehicle. Or perhaps you live near a library or college campus with great computers and internet access and don’t need to pay for this yourself.  Make your needs list based on your personal scenario.

Next comes your high wants and nice to have lists.  High wants would be: I prefer to have the iPhone Pro Max with unlimited data, but I could live with an older iPhone with a less expensive plan.  Or, it is really convenient for me to eat out 5 times a week, but I can (and should) cook at home more often. Nice-to-Haves are things that you don’t really need but would make life a bit better, such as a shoe shopping budget or having Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and HBO Max.

Lastly, determine or research how much these items will cost.  For some quick tips, see the amount column below…

Here’s a sample of my lists

Category	Type	Amount
Auto & Home Insurance (Bundled)	Need	Bundle expenses whenever
Auto Gas	Need	Use Rewards
Auto/Car Payments	Need	If possible, pay more than you minimum!
Debt Payments	Need
Groceries (not including Eating Out)	Need	Estimate 9% …And Walmart is cheaper than Publix (by far!)
Kid Care & Clothes	Need
Mortgage & HOA	Need	No more than 30%
Phone & Internet (Bundled)	Need	Bundle expenses whenever
Rainy Day Fund	Need	(see below)
Water & Electric	Need	Control your usage
Work Clothes & Other Essentials	Need
Tithe & Giving	High Want
Eating Out	High Want
Kids’ Sports	High Want
Netflix & Prime	High Want
House Projects	High Want
Fun Shopping	Nice-to-Haves
Nail Salon	Nice-to-Haves
Fun Activities	Nice-to-Haves

 Make Your Budget

Using a spreadsheet or free online budgeting tool, enter your lists and estimated amounts. Then do the math.  If the estimated amounts are higher than the calculated monthly available funds, then look at your list of needs and determine what can be cut.  This may mean cutting snacks from the grocery budget for a bit or canceling Netflix. These are not fun choices but are essential.

The goal is to get your available funds to be greater than the monthly expenses. Personally, I like cushion in my budget but if nothing else, get your remaining funds in the positive.

Create a Rainy Day / Emergency fund

Ladies, we cannot afford not to have an emergency fund. Experts suggest that you should have an emergency fund that can cover 3-6 months of all your living expenses. An emergency fund will cover you in the event of an unexpected financial blow. It also helps to prevent you from going into debt. This type of fund will cover you in case you lose your job, become too sick to work, and other emergency expenses.

When determining how much you need to save, include all your and your children’s needs, which should include medical needs too. It will not be easy to just set aside this substantial amount of money. Three primary recommendations to help you get there…

1. Set up a savings account separate from your checking account (preferably one that you don’t physically see each time you check your bank account)
   
   
2. Determine how much to pay yourself each month. This number is determined by how comfortable you are with your situation. If you have a stable job and healthy children, you may feel comfortable paying yourself less over a longer time.  But that is risky as things can change on a dime. Try to pay yourself more to reach your goal faster.
   
   
3. Pay yourself first. If your employer allows, then direct deposit into this account before the rest of your check is deposited into your primary bank account.

If this goal is not achievable because of credit card debt, then focus on paying off this high interest debt and getting rid of the credit cards.

Live within Your Means

You have done all this work now to Make Your Budget. It is crucial that you now live within this budget.  As long as do so, you will not run out of cash in the middle of the month or go into debt. Once again, notice credit cards are not on this list and should not be a method for budgeting your life. 

This is important! Check yourself each month to see how you are doing. Make adjustments to your expectations if say your internet bill is higher than anticipated. Make adjustments to your behavior if your grocery or eating out or other bills or spending are over the budget.

As a single mom, you need to be financially responsible because you are the sole provider of your family. Living within your means refers to spending less than what you earn by controlling your urge to buy everything you want. It’s hard. You will need to make tough choices sometimes. Don’t buy name-brand everything. Buy consigned clothes. Cook at home instead of eating out. Don’t give every child a phone with an internet plan…they will survive. I promise.

When crafting your monthly budget, be realistic and ensure that it reflects your true financial status. Living within your means helps you to practice self-control and discipline in your wealth and finances. It also helps you to prioritize your budget and expenses according to your financial ability.

Ultimately, living within your means will help you achieve financial freedom and secure your family’s future.

Live Well!

Now that you have your budget, there could be other issues. Perhaps you need a side hustle to supplement your income and provide that cushion.  Check out the below articles for tips:

Flexible Jobs for Stay At Home Moms

Best Jobs For Single Moms

Another thought! Once your rainy-day fund has been created, that monthly amount can be saved for paying down debt, other projects or even save for vacation. Woohoo! To read more on learning to Thrive, click on this article. Don’t Just Survive…Thrive!