Single Mom Money Tips - Gratitude is Big

The Single Mom Money Tips continues with a few pointers about having an attitude of gratitude. You will notice a very different perspective when you change how you view life through the eyes of thankfulness.

1. Pay your bills with a grateful heart. The services you receive in exchange for your money are essential for living.

2. Be grateful because you have the benefit of using the services provided by the city, Phone Company, car finance company, and on and on.

3. A changed perspective may change your attitude about paying bills. You could be in a homeless shelter, unemployed, or living with your parents.

4. Lights, water, a car, gasoline, food, and many other necessary services are reasons to be grateful. So the bills are a blessing and you should gladly pay them.

Single Mom Money Tips - What Do You Really Need?

Today's Single Mom Money Tips is all about the truth about needs. What do you think about these tips?

1. Learn to separate your wants and needs. Sometimes it is hard to separate our needs from our wants.

2. Air, water, food, and shelter are really is the only things we need to survive. Okay we need clothes too, but the basics are few. The rest of the stuff is optional.

3. Plan your purchases. When you see that you need (or want) a new thing it is very important to plan the purchase.

4. Write down what you need/want, do the research, save the money, and then make the purchase.

5. Make the wanted item a reward for doing certain challenging tasks that you may be procrastinating about.

Single Mom Money Tips - Get Creative

The Single Mom Money Tips series is back with a few more ways to make the most of your money. These tips will also help you think outside of the box in getting what you want.

1. Discover other ways to get what you really want (money may not be the bottom line). With money constantly on the brain we forget that it is not what we really want.

2. The true needs are a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothes to wear, or a problem solved.

3. Look past money and see the true need or want, and then release the tension and negative thoughts about money and your situation.

4. Open your creative eyes and you find ways to get what you need without being burdened by the “not enough money” syndrome.

5. Barter with others including moms, small businesses, your health providers, etc.

6. Bartering was the first form of exchanging goods for services.

7. The basic idea is to give something to get something. You may have something that others need or want. It may be a product, service, or personal item.

8. Others may have what you want so you come to an agreement to exchange things or time instead of money.

9. The barter system is a temporary way to get what you need when money is flowing in slower than you want.

Single Mom Money Tips - Get Your Head Straight

These tips in the Single Mom Money series gets into the meat of how to be successful with money. Getting your head straight is another important key to attracting money into your life and making the most of what you already have.

1. Change your thinking about money. For many people, especially single moms, money has many negative connotations. You don’t have it, there is not enough of it, and you don’t know where the next batch is coming from. We have a tendency to think that it is out of reach we struggle with it.

2. Money is simply a tool to get the things we need and want. Of course not having it and thinking about your lack will not make it come to you any faster.

3. When you change your thinking about money, see its true purpose, and realize it’s abundance you will have more of it.

4. Remember that there is more money available for you. Whenever I have to pay a bill, write a check, or spend money I keep this truth in mind. I will have more, not because I am doing anything special but because I just know that it will come again.

5. Let the money go to receive more. Sometimes we get so caught up in holding on to money with such tight fists that we fail to understand that a closed hand cannot receive more.

Single Mom Money Tips - Extra Money

The Single Mom Money Tips series continues. This blog is known for the side hustle series so some of this you may know but just for reminder sake here are a few more tips on making extra money.

1.    Find a way to make extra money from your skills and talents. I talk about this on my blog and now I am talking about it again.

2.    Have multiple streams of income; it is almost a sin if you don’t.

3.    Your extra income doesn’t have to be consistent at first but enough to give you extra money for the special thing you want to do or have.

4.    Do something you are passionate about or just be able to see what people need/want and fill it.

5.    Check out Rich Single Momma for side hustle ideas.

6.    Take a class on starting a business through the local Chamber of Commerce. You don’t have to have an MBA to run a business but you can take a class.

Single Mom Money Tips - Banking Basics

In the continuing series on Single Mom Money tips today I'll share a few banking basics.

1. Join a Credit Union to avoid outrageous bank fees.  Your money will earn interest over time.

2. Banks are notorious for nickel and diming people to death. There is a fee for everything from checks to account balances below a certain amount.

3. A credit union may be one available through your employer, your state, or your school. (look for credit union website)

Research, Research for Best Deals
4. Research products or services online for quality and price before purchasing. Before you go out and buy a product or hire someone to do a job for you please, please check online.

5. When you research prices and quality of service you can same much time, effort and possible frustration.

6. Places to go online are Google, Amazon.com, ePinions, Znet.com, Cnet.com and a few others.

7. Get the inside scoop on the quality of a product and to get a good idea about how much it will cost. You can never go wrong with good research.

Single Mom Money Tips - Rainy Day Funds

Here are a few more tips in the Single Mom Money Tips series. Establishing a rainy day fund is a key to successful money management.

1.    Have a savings plan to prepare for emergencies. It is hard to predict when an emergency will happen that requires a large chunk of cash.

2.    Putting away money for a rainy day is very empowering (I’m speaking to myself here).

3.    If you have money saved, that is specifically for these times, your stress level will go way down.

4.    A stash of cash can relieve feelings of desperation and resorting to uncharacteristic behaviors.

5.    It is recommended that you have $1k-3k in savings. If you can manage to save at least $500 that is better than nothing.

6.    Open up a separate account for your rainy day fund. Use your tax refund, raises, or other windfall of cash to fund this account.

Single Mom Money Tips - Your Kids & Money

The Single Mom Money Tips series continues with ways to involve your kids and teach them about money:

1. Involve your kids in creating and maintaining a budget. Because the older they get the more money they will want.

2. Kids should know how the money is spent so that they can be more sensitive to money limitations.

3. When kids know approximately how much money is coming in and how much has to go out to maintain a life they will be more sensitive to your role as provider.

4. Knowledge about financial obligations might encourage kids to find ways to earn money on their own.

Single Mom Money Tips - Control Spending

This is the first post in the Single Mom Money Tips series. You may already know about a few of these tips but there may be many you haven't heard of.

I hope as you read you will make a point to apply them to your life. You will see a great difference and can begin taking control of the money flowing in and out of your life. Enjoy!

1.    Develop a spending plan to avoid overspending.

2.    The word budget conjures up the feeling of restriction and lack; so I like the word spending plan.

3.    Realize that when you develop a plan you feel more in control and it’s easier to stop overspending.

4.    Think about and list everything you need, and then assign a dollar amount to each item.

5.    Look at past spending trends to get an accurate view of how much you spend for bills, food, clothing, car/ transportation, and entertainment.

6.    Review your bank account online for a ready source for seeing where your money goes.