Budget Calculator for Single Parents
Monday December 4, 2006
I recently came across an interesting budget tool provided by America's Second Harvest. It's called a "Family Budget Calculator," and it is designed to demonstrate why so many families truly do not have enough money to buy groceries.
For example, here is the amount of money a typical working single parent with one child would have left for buying food after paying the rest of his or her monthly expenses:
When you empower yourself to be aware of where your money is going, you also put yourself in a position to make choices that reflect your long-term goals, such as creating an emergency fund, getting out of debt, or saving to buy a home. Achieving those goals is possible, and the first step is increasing your own awareness of where your money goes each month. Once you have a handle on what you're really dealing with, you can made sound decisions about whether you need to look for additional employment, cut back on spending, or set aside just a bit more each month.
For example, here is the amount of money a typical working single parent with one child would have left for buying food after paying the rest of his or her monthly expenses:
- In Hagerstown, Maryland: $146
- In Grand Junction, Colorado: $129
- In Kansas City, Missouri: -$36
- In Jacksonville, Florida: -$168
- In Madison, Wisconsin: -$281
When you empower yourself to be aware of where your money is going, you also put yourself in a position to make choices that reflect your long-term goals, such as creating an emergency fund, getting out of debt, or saving to buy a home. Achieving those goals is possible, and the first step is increasing your own awareness of where your money goes each month. Once you have a handle on what you're really dealing with, you can made sound decisions about whether you need to look for additional employment, cut back on spending, or set aside just a bit more each month.
Comments
This is great. It has categories I’ve not even begun to think about, like savings… Sigh. I don’t have much of a cushion yet for things like that. Think I can put it on my list of things to ask Santa for?
Definitely! LOL. My budget has lots of empty spaces (and negative numbers) too. I considered lumping all of the savings categories together, but I think it’s good to see the areas where we might one day down the road want to strive for. Gives me something to think about!
Best,
Jen