How can you Save Money and Stick to Your Budget When You’re a Single Mum?

There are many reasons you might be part of a single-income family.

Whether you are a single parent trying to make it work on Centrelink or a household where one parent is at home, there was job loss or illness or anything else, it can be hard.

Here are some tips to help you save money, budget better and stick to it as a single parent or single income household.

Note: If you like freebies and discounts, check out how to get a $100 cash bonus from ING, $15 from Up Bank or have a look at the full list of freebies, offers and discounts for every state.

How to Stick to a Budget as a Single Mum or Single Income Family — Image of woman in brown coat seated on a stool with her son on the floor next to her. Text reads how to stick to a budget as a single mum or single income family.

Advice in this post is of a general nature. Also, there are a few affiliate links here for products we use. You can read the full affiliate disclosure here.

How to Create a Budget and Stick to it

Creating and sticking to a budget doesn’t vary much whether you are married, single, have kids or not.

The basic principles are the same – know what you bring in, what you spend, and spend less than you earn.

We covered how to create a budget and stick to it here and more on getting your budget sorted here.

This post is going to focus a little more on the specifics we found important/useful as single mums.

Get a Small Emergency Fund

Most people struggle with debt and their budgets because every time an emergency comes up, debt is used to pay for it.

Save up $1,000 to $2,000 to pay cash for these small emergencies e.g. unexpected car repairs, medical emergencies, things you cannot put off.

To get that initial $1,000 to $2,000 sell off anything you can, take on extra work or find ways to make money (check out our big list here).

You need to get that fund up and fast. ING offer $100 for new customers so that could be a good start.

Once you have it, you can stop putting all your emergencies on your credit card.

This system is designed to help you break the debt cycle and is recommended by financial experts.

It might feel hard at first, but it works!

With the small emergency fund in place, you move on to paying off your debt asap.

Check out this post on how to deal with debt and some debt payment stories.

Cash Envelope System

This system is for managing your budget. Money from your budget is divided into envelopes for different purposes e.g. groceries, petrol, education, electricity/bills and so on.

Rather than doing your budget online with accounts, you see the cash and have to hand the cash over.

Any money left in the envelope rolls over into the next week.

Having it physically in front of you helps you see where your money is going and be more conscious of your spending.

It’s a great way to break bad spending habits.

Some prefer having their money on their card and in different bank accounts the same way people use cash envelopes.

They find it easier to track their money this way.

2 banks that are fee-free are Up and you get $15 instantly when you join or ING have a $100 signup bonus.

Buckets with The Barefoot Investor

If cash envelopes aren’t your thing, try the bucket system from The Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape.

This book and his advice are geared toward Aussies as he’s based in Victoria.

It’s a simple method that appeals to many.

On the serviette example he uses, you have a few accounts which are split into 3 basic buckets – Blow (daily living expenses), Mojo (savings and paying off debt) and Grow (investing for long-term wealth).

Your income is divided into these buckets in a 60-20-20 fashion, with 60% being for daily living expenses. The other 20% and 20% is split up further. It’s explained better in the book.

Treat Savings as a Bill

Pay yourself first. This was one of the biggest takeaway lessons for us when we read The Richest Man In Babylon.

We pay everyone else out of our income then try to save what is left over. This doesn’t work.

More often than not, we spend it all with nothing left to save.

As hard as it is, set aside a percentage of each pay into a high-interest savings account.

Treat it like any other bill you have and don’t touch it.

David Bach author of The Automatic Millionaire shows how easy it is to become a millionaire in his book by following a simple savings method.

The sooner you start, because of compound interest, the easier it is and the more you will have.

Check out our post on how to be a millionaire as a single mum, it is possible, though it takes time!

Have a Spending Plan Instead

Go over your bank statements and see what you are truly spending, then base your budget on that.

Track each dollar so you know you are keeping within your budget then look at how you can reduce your spending (lots of tips here).

As you do this and get used to it, make sure you are directing your money to where you need to go and account for every dollar coming in.

If you know you spend $100 a month on electricity, account for it and plan it out as your money comes in.

Say No To Your Kids

This is hard, especially at first.

If you say yes to everything you will raise entitled brats who treat you poorly. Learn to say no for your own sanity and their well-being.

Teach your kids about money, help them learn delayed gratification and keep the rewards/treats for birthdays or when it is truly deserved, not just because you went to the shops.

Check out how to teach your kids about money, how to get your kids to help at home and how to be close to your kids without spending a fortune.

Go for Quality Over Quantity

Apply this to every area of your life, from clothes, shoes and mattresses through to time spent with others.

Saving to buy a better quality item with save you time and money in the long run. Investing quality time in relationships is worth it, too.

Quality Items

How do you know which items are worth it and which aren’t? Read reviews, ask in Facebook groups and get advice.

Just because something is more expensive, doesn’t mean it is the best quality.

Know what you need, what you prefer, what you need the items to do and find something within your budget to match that.

Quality Time

Having quality time with kids helps foster your relationship and ‘fills their bucket’.

When kids feel loved and have quality time with you, they are happy to go off and do their own thing more, plus they ask for less stuff.

Read the tips in how to be close to your kids without spending a fortune.

Delayed Gratification List

Whatever you want needs to be planned for and budgeted in.

This can be hard if you have impulse control so learning what helps you avoid blowing the budget will help.

For some, a delayed gratification list or an ‘I want it’ list helps.

Any impulse buys are put on this list and in 30 days, if you still want it, you are allowed to budget it in.

By doing this, you are not completely denying yourself, but usually, at the end of the 30 days, most people forget about it or don’t want it anymore.

Psychologically, it feels better than denying yourself everything because there is a time limit and a maybe later mentality attached to it.

Read 10 tips to stop spending and 5 tips to reduce temptation for more on changing these habits.

When changing habits, replace them with something good such as these 9 habits to save you thousands or these 10 habits to drastically change your life.

Have A Visual Goal

What are you saving and budgeting for? Is it a new home, a family holiday, retirement? Have visual reminders of it all and let your kids be involved.

Put up pictures of what you are working towards.

Use savings or debt repayment graphs to track it all and get the kids involved by having them colour it in.

Do not Rely on Child Support

In an ideal world, both parents would contribute to the kids financially. We do not live in an ideal world.

Many parents don’t pay, some pay sporadically and there are some who do pay regularly.

View child support as a bonus, if it doesn’t come in for whatever reason (your ex loses their job, changes jobs or simply stops paying), it won’t impact your finances or independence right now.

That doesn’t mean giving up on it. Still pursue it and ensure it is being lodged as a debt. Keep active about it but don’t include it in your budget.

What you do with child support if or when it comes in is your choice. You are already paying for all your children’s needs from your income, so child support can replenish that.

Alternatively, you might save it for university, a car, braces or similar.

If you are managing your money well, you will be able to see how much has been spent on expenses relating to your kids.

Child support can be great and is to be used for raising the kids, but there’s no need to rely on it and let it control your budget.

Plan For Retirement

When you are part of a couple, you possibly assumed the super between you both would be enough, or your partner planned for retirement or maybe you had a goal to have rental properties etc.

For many mothers, they have time out of their career and their retirement funds reflect that.

If they get divorced, they often lose in this area.

Think about your retirement. What age do you want to retire?

Will you have your house paid off, be debt free and have income? How will you fund your retirement?

If you want to be a millionaire, you can – this post shares how, as a single mum.

(Be aware, it is not a get-rich-quick option. You need to be consistent, and dedicated, use compound interest and take your time).

Create a life you don’t feel the need to escape from, but also plan for retirement.

Pick a retirement age and the type of life you want then work backwards from there.

The general idea of being able to retire early is to save as much as you can of your income e.g. 20% to 50% and invest it.

The more you are able to save, the sooner you can retire.

Reduce your living expenses and continue to invest.

Choose how you want to invest so you get income from your investments.

Change Your Mindset

“I’m so broke” or “We can’t afford it” isn’t encouraging.

Yes, you might not have much money, but change how you speak about money and shift your focus from being unable to afford things to how can you afford it.

Whenever we focus on my lack of money, it stresses us out and it doesn’t change the situation.

By all means, know what your money is doing, have a budget and spend accordingly.

Don’t focus on the negative though. If you are spending more than you earn, look at how you can bring in more money (try these ideas) plus how you can cut back.

Money doesn’t need to control you or dominate your thoughts and before you go saying “Oh, that’s fine for you, you make good money”.

We know what broke feels like and how hard relying on Centrelink can be. It doesn’t need to control you.

You do what you have to and think outside the box to create solutions.