Making Ends Meet

As a recent single mother I have reading allot about the relationship between single motherhood and poverty. For most single mothers their earnings barely put them over the poverty level. According to the US Census Bureau report, in the US the percentage of households headed by single parents has remained fairly steady between 1994 and 2006 at about 9%. In another study published by Families and Living Arrangements: 2006, there were 12.9 million one-parent families in 2006 – 10.4 million single-mother families and 2.5 million single-father families. That is a tremendous amount of single parent households. With the changes in welfare reform and the current economic climate single mothers like myself are finding it more difficult to make ends meet. To get a better picture of what I was spending I recently drafted a very detailed budget sheet. Much to my surprise I have more money left over after all of my bills are paid. But my mistake is that I do a lot of impulse shopping. Well no more I am taking my finances more seriously. My goal for April was to draft a budget which I have done. My next goal is to track all of my expenses and work towards cutting costs. This may mean cutting out my weekly trip to the hair dresser. EEEK .... the highlight of my week but at $25 - $40 dollars a visit depending on what I get this is an expense I can afford to cut in half.