Out of curiosity (ok and maybe I was a little bored too!) I decided to work out how my monthly earnings were being divided up:
- 25% goes to rent
- 21% to daycare
- 13% utilities
- 17% goes to car-related expenses (car payment, insurance, gas)
- 16% is for food
- less than 1% clothes the kiddo & I
- less than 1% to debts
- pharmacy-stuff, coffee money, entertainment, insurance (life & renter's) and charitable donatrions make up the last 6% - I didn't bother breaking them each down
Notice anything missing? Yep, I have NOTHING going to savings. Or RRSP's. Or an RESP. And that's with tweaking and re-working the darn thing a bazillion-and-one times. Something is just very very wrong there!
I just can't fathom how other single parents DO it! In fact, I can't fathom how any single-income family manages to do more than get by! I'm better off than some, I know, but my kid isn't doing any sports, our entertainment consists of an outing to the Children's Museum or the library, maybe the video store, we shop mainly at consignment stores & sales, my car is nothing special - our life is not at all luxurious.
It's a mystery to me how some folk seem to have so much more. I suppose though the key word is seem - I guess I have no way of *knowing* the truth ....
Yet I still feel like a failure when it comes to money. I feel like I'm letting my son down by not providing the nest, by not being able to save for his future or mine! The only good thing I can say is I've paid off a staggering amount of debt since separating and if I can manage to keep it up, it should be all gone by the end of this year (other than the car payments). Depressing though that will only free up 1% of my monthly salary! *sigh*
1 comment:
Tell me about it. Prior to separation, I was the sole provider to a family of four. With a partner who comes from money and is used to not thinking anything at all about money. Needless to say, thriftiness wasn't a strong suit from that half of the relationship. Me, I've always hated unnecessary debt -- and now...
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