Making Ends Meet Archives – Michele Cagan, CPA

Help! The Credit Card Company Lowered My Limit

05/08/2020
Get Help When You Need It, Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Single Mom CPA, The Basics

What to do if your limit was lowered or your card was canceled When you’re stuck in a financial crisis situation, credit cards can give you some extra breathing room. That’s especially true if you’ve already burned through your emergency savings… slashed your budget to the bone… and done everything possible to bring in more money. Right now, millions of single moms are stuck in this impossible position. We don’t want to run up debt with so much uncertainty around, but we have to take care of our families. So we’ve been relying on credit cards more to buy the…

Crisis Budgeting: How to Survive Financial Catastrophe And Thrive on the Other Side

When you’re a single parent, it doesn’t take much to knock you into a financial crisis. Sudden job loss… flooded basement… a sick or injured child… dozens of things can make you dip into and use up your emergency savings. And those financial setbacks can leave you struggling to make ends meet. Lots of times, those events pile on top of each other. And like so many of you, I’ve lived with financial anxiety, and had months where I couldn’t pay all of my bills. When you’re stuck inside a financial crisis, the usual money advice doesn't work. You need…

You Can Stop Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck

01/28/2019
Building a Nest, Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Single Mom CPA

Worrying about whether you can cover all the bills this month is one of the worst feelings a single mom can have. And knowing that you definitely can’t feels even worse. When you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, almost anything can knock your finances off course. A bigger than expected electric bill … a smaller than expected tax refund … a sick kid … a birthday party. You have to turn to credit cards, and that only makes next month’s bills even worse. And no matter how much you’re earning, you can get stuck in this damaging financial cycle. It’s impossible to save…

Earn $50 – or More – Tonight While Sitting on Your Couch

08/10/2018
Building a Nest, Making Ends Meet, Protect Your Financial Future, Single Mom CPA

The situation feels impossible: You need more money to take care of your family than your day job supplies, but can’t afford any more childcare costs (and your kids are too young or immature to be home alone). So many of us single moms find ourselves in exactly this position, desperately needing a way to bring in some cash and not seeing a realistic way to make it happen. But thanks to the Internet, there are lots of ways to make extra cash – and not just pennies – without leaving your couch. The hours are flexible, so you can…

How to Escape the Single Mom Student Loan Debt Trap

12/22/2017
Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Protect Your Financial Future, Single Mom CPA

As single moms, we face the highest student loan burdens. Our loans are bigger…our salaries are lower…our monthly budgets are tighter. According to Deeper in Debt by the American Academy of University Women, student loan debt has become a women’s issue as more of us go to college. And it’s an especially tricky situation for single mom-students who often face childcare challenges as they struggle to achieve their education goals. Here are just a few of the ways the system is tilted against single moms… Women owe $800 billion, about 67% of the total student debt in the U.S. Women earn…