Money for Any Reason You May Need!

How to Save Money as a Single Parent

When living as a single parent, trying to save money often becomes quite a large concern. You have to make your income spread to cover each need you and your family have. This can make it difficult to do things outside of the daily grind simply because the funds are not there to make that happen. The best thing to do if this is the case for you is to figure out extra ways of being able to save money. Here are a few places to look.

Cut Down the Cable Bill

When you and your family enjoy watching TV or movies, but you want to be able to save some money, consider cutting down your cable bill . There are many different platforms that can be used to watch these items on that are significantly cheaper than what most cable providers offer. Look into platforms such as HuluPlus and Netflix if you want to pay a monthly subscription that’s under $10 a month or you can look at Amazon Prime and pay a flat fee for an entire year that’s even cheaper. This is just sometimes harder to come up with up front. This will help save you quite a bit each month that can go towards other bills or other forms of entertainment.

Lowering Daycare Costs

When it comes to paying for things like daycare, there are a few ways that you can try and save money. If you happen to have a friend or family member that can watch your child or children for a few hours here and there, try and schedule your work during those times to keep from paying out for daycare costs. Another option is to talk with your friends that are in similar situations as yours, and find out if you can swap days with them one day a week. You take all of the kids one day you have off to save them daycare costs, and ask that they do the same one day a week to spare you the costs as well.

Buy Necessities Second-Hand

More often than not, kids grow through items faster than they can get used up. Which means if you go out and spend a bunch of money on clothing, shoes, toys, or even bedding, you will likely end up spending more than you will get a use out of? Now, consider the savings if you went through local consignment shops and bought those items already used, for a fraction of the price? You can still buy only the items you want or need that are in great condition, but for a lot of savings that can go into your pocket. Some places even have clothing with the original tags still on, so you can buy new items for the price of used. The same goes for furniture you and your family might need!

Being a single parent presents its own unique set of challenges, so take the hardship out of trying to split up your budget. Plan ahead, and figure out little things you can do to save money as you go. Once you find something that works, stick with it and keep looking for more. All of those little things add up, and give you and your family the ability to have the fun activities you want for them, no matter what type of parenting situation you and the child’s other parent have set up.