Solo Mother

The cost of living single

by christina on September 28th, 2007

When you separate from your partner, each of you then maintains one set of everything. Two homes, two sets of furnishings, two piles of clothes for the kids, two sets of toys… utility bills, car payments, etc. It adds up. All those expenses were things you used to divide right down the line.

I’m trying to figure out how much I’d need to make to make ends meet in my home town. It’s scary.

Average rent: two bedroom, one bath home/apartment: $2400 for under 100 sf.
Car: Let’s estimate $500/month for payment and insurance (it’s expensive to drive in DC)
Utilities: Gas, Electric, water, phone (only cell phone, no land line) $250
Groceries: $350

Basics = $3500/ month. That’s already $42,000/year in basic food and shelter, not including groceries.

I recently bought some professional clothes for fall. Everything was on sale–but, being petite, I have few choices in stores, unless I want to spend a fortune in tailoring. I bought some new shoes, since the ones I bought when I arrived in DC last year are falling apart. I bought some makeup. Total bill? Nearly $1000. These clothes will last me ten years, and the shoes? A year, at least. But still. I closed my eyes and paid the bill. Let’s say I have to do that two times a year… because all I bought was a suit, two trousers, one skirt and a shirt.

Now, let’s factor in things like child care and summer camp and kid clothes. Summer camp runs between $700-$1000/month for three months. His clothes? Even with handmedowns, he costs something to clothe and shoe. His shoes alone run around $300/year, because of his wonderful big, XX feet. School uniforms are around $300/year. And his other clothes are handmedowns. But still. I’m going to round up to $1000/year for the kid for clothes.

I probably spend $100/week in entertainment, meals out, and special things, not including books. Let’s say that comes to $450/month.

Are you still with me? Then there is health insurance. And I’m just going to round things up to a nice, even $56,000/year. Before taxes. Which means I need to make a minimum of $70,000 a year to make ends meet. Yes, I can give up my entertainment budget and the kid will never get another bottle of bubbles or go to the Renaissance Festival again, or pick a pumpkin in the pumkin patch, or go to the theater. These things are important to me, for him to have and experience. I could lessen my grocery bill by purchasing generic brands, but I’m concerned about what we’re putting into our foodstuffs, and have been reading frightening articles about what all the growth hormones and extra estrogen we’re putting into our cattle is doing to our children’s health and future fertility.

Please note, there is no column on my down and dirty list for school, babysitters, after school child care, haircuts for me and the kid, or any of the other expenses that will eat through your paycheck in a heartbeat.

So how am I making ends meet?

We live in a fixer upper that will never be fixed up, one that is complete with a downstairs so cold in the winter that you can’t stay for longer than ten minutes without your teeth chattering. A fixer upper where the only shower is in an unheated, unfinished bathroom, where the mice and ants compete for crumbs, and much of the plumbing is exposed. But it’s home, and it sounds worse than it is, I guess. At least the landlord screwed the stair treads down so we wouldn’t get pitched forwards on our way out the door in the morning. It’s nearly $1000 less a month than what we’d have to pay elsewhere, but it’s not in the best neighborhood. I also don’t have a car, and spend about $70 a month on public transportation, instead of $500 on car and insurance. We don’t eat out often, but my $125 a week mad money often goes to extras like toothpaste and cough medicine and yes, bubbles.

Cause without bubbles, life is a little less shiny and magical.

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