Budgeting for the Single Parent

Not for everyone of course - but i have asked and bless my mom, she has allowed me to live at home. I pay her board, but its much less then the price of the average rental and she feeds me. And there is a fire.

I contribute to keeping my board low by line drying and vege gardening - not for everyone and some rentals arent keen, but god its a money saver!! I would do it even while renting if i could get my fingers on big pots but not everyone has green fingers.

I shop only at 50% of sales (thanks for having one every week, farmers) and outlet stores.

I make homemade baby food and cloth nap. While that is more of an expensive hobby then a money saver at the moment its going to even out over the long run, and besides that DS is sensitive to most types of disposible anyway so i'd do it money saver or not.

My main faliure is my car - i SHOULD walk everywhere, but i don't. And its a station wagon. I should sell and downgrade but i need something 4wd for the conditions i live in.

Join in, kiddies!

I'm a bit different because i am working full time but:

I live in a 3 bdrm house that costs me $285/week just for me and DS.
It has both heat pump and fire so i use the fire mainly as i get free wood from my parents.
I also get a lot of free Meat from them to as they are farmers.
For DS daycare, i use the childcare subsidy to its full advantage.
It is tight for me some weeks money wise, but i like having my own space. I could live with my parents. but they live 20 mins out of town and i like the conveniece of being close to my frieds ad if i lived with them my petrol bill would be a lot bigger than it is now!

My Tips:
I use cloth nappies (day care are happy to use these to)
I made my own purees etc. Just bought a few extra vege when doing groceries.
Before working, i used to walk everywhere ($20 petrol would have lasted me a few weeks)- i Do live in a small town and the centre of town is a 10 min walk for me
I put $20 aside everyweek into a seperate account for 'other' eg doctor
I pay $5 a week onto power and phone bills so when they arrive they are never that big

I have all my important bills/loans set up so they get paid the night i get paid so i never have to worry about being behind on them.

Thats all i can think of for now

direct debits!!!! i love the fact that my power comes out automaticly at $35 a week so in summer it builds up in credit and generally covers me for the big bills in winter! It comes out before i even see it so i dont have a chance to miss it .

i use to bus everywhere and this saved me heaps $$$$$ but since feb earthquake there still no buses working in my area and my work has moved from the city centre out to the other side of town so that totaly sux cos i now end up paying about $60-$80 a week in petrol and i have no choice cos theres no dam buses grrrr!!!! but for everyone else not living in the shakey city , public transport can save ya hepas!

doing odd jobs in return for babysitting or babysitting share with another friend (eg you look after their child one day or night and they return the favor)

as bowie said - only shop at big sales!!!! theres so many around these days . i dont remember the last time i paid full price for something and if i really like something i will wait untill it goes down in price before i buy it .

subscribe to online sales like grabone, spreets, groupon grabaseat etc etc . iv been able to get some awesome things on these sites , even things like 60% off a WOF , or 60% off admission to wildlife parks or other recreational activities to take the kidlets to , also cheap meals like a $40 voucher for $20 - these are great if you have a special occassion lke a birthday coming up and you want to treat yourself but cant afford too much . i also managed to get $1 flights to queenstown on grabaseat plus i got some awesome queenstown meal deal vouchers and 1/2 price bungee jumping and 1/2 price jet boating so altho we had an AWESOME muchneeded holiday after the feb quakes  we also ended up doing it fully on the cheap thanks to the magic of online sales!

Edited by julz85

sorry to hog posts but another thing just popped into my head - i went to a vincent depaul store last week as Amelias buggy had just broken and i needed one to get me by as altho shes walking everywhere its alot easier to have her in a wee buggy at the mall or for long walks ,anyway i had a look on trademe first and the cheapest was about $50 , i walked into the vincent depaul store and got a awesome one for just $10!!!! i was super stoked , i noticed they had quite a bit of baby gear there and for super cheap ! definatly cheaper than trademe and the moneys going to charitys :)

Edited by julz85

Bowie - you could have gone to WINZ????? They would have paid out. I needed slightly more than $1,000 but they still paid the whole lot.

Not only that - legally the landlord can only claim up to 4 weeks bond and 2 weeks rent in advance. So if they tried for more, they're having you on. They also can't ask you to be more than 2 weeks in advance at any time. So technically, it should have been 4 weeks bond, 2 weeks in advance and then the letting fee which is one week plus GST (provided they are a licenced property management firm).

Bowie, you could still ring them and put in an application! they obviously really liked you!

Im living with my mum aswell and thats helping me to save heaps. Drives me crazy at times, but it is worth it int he long run. I have almost paid off an HP that the ex left me with, so after that will hopefully be able to save a bit more.

I do try and save all that I can each week, and have APs set up for board, daycare etc so it goes out pretty much as soon as I get paid so I dont miss it. The childcare subsidy is great and really helps. Ive tried catching the train to work, but I find if DS is sick it takes me too long to get to him. I might try it again when its a bit warmer.

This budget worksheet is FANTASTIC. I have just deleted out all the unnecisarry things and put in whats relevant to me.

I have a set amount for food each week. What I dont spend I get in vouchers. Same for petrol.
I live with my aunty and pay no rent as its part of the family farm.
We split the phone/internet bill.
I have insurance on my car and contents which is monthly. I rung around all the companies and found that FMG was the cheapest, they are also really good to deal with and have been around for yonks.
I put $20 aside each week for my car. This covers the warrants, rego and some repairs.
Each week I put aside the money needed to cover the phone and insurance, then transfer it back the day before. This way I get some interest on it while its in 'savings'.
I put money into DD's account each week and I also have savings for a back up/emergency and for my house deposit.
I give myself $20 or so a week for lunch etc... But have been a but naughty lately! Got to knuckle down and save save save!

lol I just went through and did one for all my bills, its actually quite empty to look at. I left out things like clothes/medical expenses as they are 'extra' things that happen randomly IYKWIM? Each week I just update it for the week for things that I have brought on TM etc.... Within about ten minutes of me logging onto internet banking most of my money is gone or allocated away to pay bills *sigh.