As a single mom getting financial help can be a difficult task to say the least. But the sooner you start planning your future and how any financial help will play into that the better. Below are some tips on how to plan, get ahead and find some help for your financial matters if you need to.

One of the biggest things for taking hold of your financial future is to pay off all or most all of you credit card and unsecured debt. This will help alleviate monthly payments that get in the way of you saving. Once you pay off any financial debt you have then with the extra money you can invest it into things like a 401k or IRA or CD account at your local bank. This investing will help you save for the future and give you something to look forward to. I can help you in a time of crisis or fund your children's education or even allow you to purchase a home if you don't already have one.

To help pay off debt and get into a better financial position for you and your children and their future then you need to spend less. If you hold off on buying things now it will help pay down any unsecured debt you might have. When you are out at the store ask yourself if you really need the thing you are about to purchase. If you think for a minute and don't just impulse buy something you will most likely be rational and put it off until later.

And latest make sure and create a budget for you and your family. This will help with your financial future the most. As it will allow you to see where the money is going and how much is going there

One of the hardest things about being a single mom is finding enough money to pay the bills. Debt is a reality for many Americans, but for single moms financial problems can be even worse. Having enough money to pay rent or mortgage, buy groceries, and take care of the kids is a lot for one person to handle. Thankfully, there's help available. You just need to know where to look.

A good place to start would be talking to non-profits in your area that offer Government financial help for single moms. These wonderful organizations offer housing assistance, employment assistance, and even tuition assistance. Check the phonebook, local non-profit listings, and the internet for opportunities in your community.

Federal and state governments also offer programs to help single mothers in need. Look up the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program in your state and contact them for help with food stamps, job training and placement assistance, and financial aid. For help paying your energy bill, contact your utility company first to see if they can offer any assistance. You can also contact the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to request assistance with your heating bill.

Another option is to apply for grants set aside for single moms. To find available grant money, simply search the internet for "grants for single mothers" and a long list will appear. You have to apply and be accepted for grants and different programs will have different expectations. Apply for the ones best suited to your particular situation.

There are also many ways you can earn extra money without sacrificing time with your children. You could watch other children during the day or in the evenings while you take care of your kids. You could watch other people's pets while they are away, clean a house or two a week, or look for freelancing jobs you can do from home. If you have a special talent or hobby, consider turning it into a business. There are many things you can make, bake, write, craft, or create that you could also sell.

Paying the bills as a single mom can be tough, but you don't have to go it alone. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. There are programs out there that have been specifically designed to help single moms who are having trouble making ends meet.

Challenges for a Single Mother

Divorce creates a financial imbalance between the parents. Most often mothers gain the custody of the child after a divorce and it is very difficult to meet both ends even with the child support payments.

Daily Endurance

Job is a necessity today and for working single moms it is tough to balance both domestic and professional fronts. With having to get the homework done, cooking, feeding the children and making them go to bed on time and so on, these jobs are hard enough for a two-parent family. Imagine the plight of the single mother handling all this alone.

But by proper planning this can be solved to some extent. Divide the housework among the kids and make each one responsible for his share of work. This way the kids will learn to take up responsibilities which will help them in future.

Taking Appropriate Decisions

It is the tendency of single parent to give in to their kid’s undue demands due to the inherent guilt feeling of divorce. Saying yes to whatever the kids ask is not always right, since the kids might capitalise on them. It is necessary for single mothers to decide what is good and what is not for their children. It is critical to learn to say a firm ‘NO’ if required.

Don’t Try to Become a Super Mom

Get involved with the children as much as you can and try and spend quality time with them. Allow them to share their feelings with you. Play games with them and transform yourself to their mental level when discussing their likes and dislikes.

Maintaining Authority

One of the toughest challenges that single mothers face is to maintain an authority over the kids. Often mothers are taken for granted since they are soft and her authority can be challenged easily. It is important that you make the children realise that they have to pay heed to your instructions. Don’t force things on them or try to be a disciplinarian and yell at them. Instead make them realise your importance.

Balancing Career and Home

With most women taking the career path, maintaining a right balance between home and office has become a tough job for single mothers. She needs to have enough time for kids, her career and at the same time have community involvement too. All this can be achieved by prioritisation, time management and delegation of work.

Once you achieve the balance, it does not mean that you have won the battle. This work-life balance is dynamic and varies along with changes in life. The process to achieve this is motivation and patience.

Firstly, believe that there is a way out of this. Be flexible and open to new solutions. Allow your colleagues to take charge of some tasks that eat up your valuable time. Stop thinking that if someone else does the job he or she will not do it right. With time and practice tasks will be better performed.

Allow neighbours and friends to pitch in when there’s a problem. Take help of support groups and organisations set up exclusively for this. Try to maintain the stress level and do not try to become super human by multitasking. Learn to close your eyes and say ‘No’ to things that can be done later. Have fun whenever you can to have a balanced life.

Raising a Son

It is a mere myth that single mothers cannot do the job of raising sons successfully. In fact, the intimacy that sons get from their mothers builds strong foundations for their future. Moms can be a mother and father at the same time since she knows how to construct a strong boundary for her adolescent boy, be attentive enough to sense when something is going wrong, and make wise decisions.

3 out of 10 boys live with single mothers. A teenage boy requires a role model to develop a sense of identity which can be fulfilled by a male teacher, coach, friends etc. But, research shows that many mothers intentionally or unintentionally try to poison their son’s mind against his father. Once these thoughts are planted in their minds they tend to lose faith in themselves to become an honourable man.

Another concern with single moms raising sons is that it may lead to feminising them. Taking them along when you go for shopping of women’s items, taking them to women salon, buying them feminine toys like dolls, involving them in feminine activities, constantly pampering them and telling them that they are cute etc. may be avoided as far as possible.

Is a Father Essential?

Due to the above facts, many people believe that it is essential to have the presence of a male in raising a boy. But it is not so. There have been mothers who have brought up their sons excellently well without the support of their ex. The key factor behind is to treat the son as a child and not as a ‘man of the house’, accompanied by giving him the independence. A boy 's masculinity and morality can be encouraged without a live-in father. It is the mother’s attitude and her way of thinking that transform a boy into a man or a feminine male.

The Last Word

A confident single mother is quite capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of a good parent without the help of her male counterpart. The sole intention of a mother is to cater to all the needs of her child. The combination of a single mother and a modern woman is proving to be a boon for the children. They are emotionally powerful, mentally strong and are driven by the instinct to give the best to their children.

Lone Peak Business Solutions has found that more and more of their clients who are mothers are entering the workforce. Lone Peak Business Solutions' estimates that in 2006 90% of their clients that are mothers are working.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the percentage of working mothers (between 15-44 years old) went from 53% in 1994 to 55% in 2002. Out of the 82.5 million mothers in the U.S., that is a1.65 million jump of mothers in the workforce. In 2002, mothers with children age 1 and older were in the labor force at a higher rate (72 Percent) than mothers with infants (55 percent). Among mothers with infants, 61% of those 30 and older were in the labor force compared with 39% of those ages 15 to 19.

This rise in working mothers could be attributed to many factors. One of the largest reasons is families that feel they need the additional income. With inflation, rising oil prices and increased cost of living, many families feel that they can't survive without the additional income from a working mother.

In addition, there are a lot of single mothers who are the only source of income for a family. Along with the increasing reality of two parents working and single parents working, there is also the increasing need for quality child care. There are roughly 687,000 daycare providers of which roughly 618,000 are self employed persons. Many mothers prefer the atmosphere of the self employed day care providers because they often work out of their homes which provide a homey atmosphere that a large facility can't produce.

One of the major problems with mothers working is the cost of these Day Care facilities. Christopher Anderson, Vice President of Lone Peak Business Solution, Inc. said, "One of my clients is a family where the mother started working in 2006. She made roughly $12,000 but she had to pay out $9000 in day care expense. Her day care took 75% of her income. After taxes were taken out of her paycheck she made almost nothing."

"One way working mothers have found to solve the working away from home and daycare expense is to become a self employed Day Care Provider," says Anderson. By becoming a daycare provider they have created an optimal position for themselves for three main reasons.

1. The self employed Day Care Provider is now able to stay home with her/his own children instead of relying on others to take care of them. They now have the freedom to raise there own children. In this way, they can ensure there children and getting taught the values they want, not hoping that someone else is teaching them the right things.

2. While able to stay home, the self employed Day Care Provider is still able to provide the much needed second income. Many of Lone Peak Business Solutions' clients that have day care businesses often make more money than that of there spouse.

3. When set up properly, the income a self employed Day Care Provider makes can be received in many tax free ways. Through tax deductions for business and deductions specifically for Day Care Providers, much of the income that a self employed Day Care Provider earns can be written off.

Kathy Anderson, President of Lone Peak Business Solutions, says, "I have worked with many Day Care providers in my 26 years in business. Those who have taken the time to get the proper licenses and set up the proper safety rules, are successful, work with happy parents and children, and often continue even after their own children go to school." These child care providers have created an income while there children are at home and income for years to come as they continue to enjoy the freedom of business ownership.