What You Need to Know Now: A Solo Parent Guide to Money That Actually Helps

October 3, 2025

(7 min read)

You’re doing everything you can to hold your world together. You’re not just making lunches, paying bills, and folding laundry. You’re putting out fires while your kids are watching. You’re answering hard questions you never thought you’d face. You’re holding your own tears back so they can feel safe.

And when it comes to money, the pressure only multiplies. A late-night car repair. Groceries that cost more than last week. The lawyer’s bill that shows up when you least expect it. As a single parent, it can feel like every dollar you spend has to stretch twice as far, while every mistake feels twice as heavy.

Below are the top financial tips we’ve gathered over the past five years of walking alongside single parents and learning from experts who understand. They’re practical, doable, and designed to help you find peace and stability one step at a time. Use what serves you today, then come back for more when you are ready.

1) Start with the Four Walls

Food. Utilities. Shelter. Transportation. Protect these first. If these are covered, you have done enough for today. Build your first budget around the Four Walls and let everything else become secondary until you have breathing room. One more hard but helpful truth: do not build your budget on child support. Treat it as a bonus when it arrives, not the foundation.

Try this: Write your Four Walls numbers on a single page. Tape it inside a cabinet. Pay those first each month.

2) Reframe “Budget” into a “Spending Plan”

The word budget can feel heavy. A simple reframe helps. Call it a spending plan. You are deciding on purpose where this month’s dollars will go. Begin with a one-month plan. Do not aim for perfect. Aim for honest.

Try this: List your income for the next 30 days. List your expenses. Make the numbers match. If they do not, adjust the discretionary items (like shopping, eating out, subscriptions) first.

Learn more about this on one of our podcasts: Simple Steps to Financial Stability with Ron Rauch, CPA

3) Budget = Freedom (Rachel Cruze)

A budget is not a punishment. It’s actually the opposite. As Rachel Cruze, Ramsey Personality and financial coach, shared in our episode All Things New: Finding Financial Peace, budgeting doesn’t limit your freedom. It gives you freedom. When you decide ahead of time how much you can spend in an area, you get to enjoy it without the constant second-guessing or guilt.

Try this: Pick one category this month (like eating out) and give yourself a set amount. Spend it freely and fully, knowing it’s already in the plan.

Learn more about this on one of our podcasts: All Things New: Finding Financial Peace with Rachel Cruze

4) Know Your Break-Even Point

Your break-even is what it takes to run your life each month. Get clarity by sorting expenses into four boxes: recurring and non-recurring, discretionary and non-discretionary. Most of what you control is small, which is why clarity matters.

Try this: Write one sentence you can say out loud. “My monthly break-even is about $____.” When you know the number, decisions get easier.

Learn more about this on one of our podcasts: Growing Your Finances as a Single Parent with Steve Coughran

5) Set Aside Your Own Savings First, Even If It Is 5 Percent

If you wait to save what is “left over,” there will rarely be anything left. Automate a small transfer on payday to savings or a retirement account. It builds the habit and the hope.

Try this: Start with 5 percent for 60 days. If that is too much, try 3 percent. Automation beats willpower.

6) Give Big Decisions Time

In your first year after a divorce or major transition, delay large purchases and long commitments. Emotions like grief and guilt can masquerade as wisdom. Let the dust settle. Choose from clarity, not chaos.

Try this: Use a 30-day “cool-off” rule for houses, cars, moves, and school changes. If it is wise now, it will be wise in a month.

7) Shine a Light on Debt

Debt is like a dark basement. Lights on first. Pull a current credit report. List balances, rates, and minimums. If you cannot pay everyone, do not hide. Call creditors, explain your plan, and do not make a promise that you cannot keep.

Try this: Schedule one 30-minute block this week to pull your report and list the facts. Relief often starts with seeing everything laid out clearly.

Related episode to link: Simple Steps to Financial Stability with Ron Rauch, CPA

8) Trim the “Small Leaks” Without Shame

The goal is not zero joy. It is fewer leaks. Identify your money tendencies. Emotional buyer. Discount chaser. Convenience clicker. Impulse cart-adder. Awareness creates pause, and pause creates choice.

Try this: Pick one practice for 30 days. A 24-hour cool-off before buying online. A spending freeze on takeout. Moving items to “Save for later” for a week.

Learn more about this on one of our podcasts: Unnecessary Things: Wasteful Spending

9) Find a Trusted Accountability Partner

Money is harder alone. Find one or two safe, like-minded friends and meet monthly. Share goals, compare plans, celebrate progress, and tell the truth. Call it Breakfast and Bank Accounts. Keep it simple and consistent.

Try this: Text two friends today. “Want to try a 60-minute money check-in at the end of the month over coffee?” Put a date on the calendar.

10) Build Your Top Line Over Time

Cutting costs helps only so much. Growth often comes from skills. If you can, invest in skills that raise your earning power in the long run. Ask for a raise with value in hand. Consider a realistic side hustle during hours that work for your life.

Try this: Choose one skill to grow for 8 weeks. Bookkeeping basics, Canva design, podcast editing, Excel. Put an hour on your weekly calendar.

11) Teach Kids With Real Life, Not Big Lectures

Invite kids into age-appropriate money choices. Little ones can do small paid chores. Tweens can use a simple jar system for give, save, spend. Teens can help fund their car and pay for insurance. Share, do not scare. More is caught than taught.

Try this: Hold a short family money chat this weekend. Share one goal and one limit for the month. Ask kids to help choose two dinners at home to save toward a fun outing.

12) Keep Giving and Gratitude in the Picture

Generosity is not about amounts. It is about a posture that fights fear and scarcity. If cash is tight, give time or attention. Gratitude reduces the urge to overspend to feel better for a moment.

Try this: List three things you already have that meet real needs. Thank God for them out loud with your kids.

13) Have Grace for Yourself

You are not bad with money. You are a human under pressure doing your best. Shame never balanced a budget. Grace gives you enough calm to make one good decision today and another tomorrow.

Try this: When you catch yourself spiraling, say, “I am learning. I can try again next month.” Then choose one small action from this list.

Quick Start Checklist

Cover the Four Walls first
Draft a one-month spending plan
Add Rachel Cruze’s wisdom: Budget = Freedom
Automate a small transfer on payday
Write your break-even number
Make one debt call you have been avoiding
Pick one leak to plug this month
Put an accountability coffee on the calendar
Do one simple money moment with your kids this week

Helpful Resources and Episodes

You don’t need to do everything to be a good parent. Covering the essentials with courage and showing up with love is more than enough.You can do this one step at a time. If you want community and ongoing support, join or start a Solo Parent Group near you. Stability grows in good soil, and you do not have to do this alone.