Tips for Single Households
Many of my incoming calls tend to be women who are transitioning from a joint household to a single household. This is a massvie transition, and things must change in order to stay a float. We get accustomed to a certain way of life, but that's all changing and your money has to change too.
Some things to keep in mind:
This process often takes longer than you'd like.
It's expensive. An average single persons' expenses are only 37% less than a couple.
You can't afford to ignore your finances.
Be brave, you are making BIG changes.
What's prompted this blog was that I was reading this article and really liked the authors' message.
These are the types of coversations I have all the time. The author writes "The key is to be honest with yourself; no one else needs to know.". Oh, we all know exactly what she's saying, are you being honest about your spending? And none of this honesty has anything to do with determining how bad to feel about your lifestyle and everything to do about making sure you can maintain it.
Steps on how to be honest about your spending:
Look historically: Historical spending is an indicator of future spending.
-Review 6 months of bank statements from all bank and credit card accounts.
2. Really consider what type of spending makes you feel good, we're all so different!
-Spend some time prioritizing where you'd like to spend your fun money, make a list. For me, I like to spend on experiences, I keep a list of upcoming experiences and make sure there's room in my budget.
3. The more you have, the more likely there will be an unexpected expense.
-Common liabilities: cars, houses, pets, recreational property or vehicles.
-Make sure you tuck some money away for these.
The article also has some neat budgeting worksheets too, you wouldn't use these sheets to determine your budget but more so to create one based on the above steps and follow it along. She goes on to all of the positives about chosing to live alone, despite it being a bit more expensive, it can be worth it to have your persoanl space.
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