Earn More Money

The best way to improve your circumstances is to earn more money. Invest in some further education or training to become qualified for a better-paying job. Or start looking at ways to earn extra income at home during the evening or on weekends, so you can spend time with your kids while you’re working.  The links below will help get you started:

US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA)

See the “Find Job and Career Info” section to assess your skills, decide on a career that fits those skills, and prepare for your career:

• http://www.doleta.gov/jobseekers

Workforce/One Stop Centers

The ETA (above) partially funds Workforce and One Stop centers, a valuable resource for the job seeker in every state. You can visit these centers in person and get help from staff.

• http://www.doleta.gov/regions/stateresources/Pages/eta_default.cfm?CFID=67434241&CFTOKEN=93021265

Grants And Scholarships

Financial aid is available through the government (see links above), but if you don’t find anything there, check out this website for another searchable database of grants and scholarships that might apply specifically to the single mother:

http://www.scholarships.com/financial-aid/college-scholarships/scholarships-by-type/college-scholarships-and-grants-for-single-mothers/

Government Assistance

If you need some help to get by while you’re trying to improve your job situation, it might be an appropriate step to apply for government assistance to buy food, pay for housing, or underwrite your child care costs. The links below will direct you to the websites of government agencies (Federal and State) you can contact to get started on this process.

Benefits.gov

Official benefits website of the U.S. government. You can search for benefits by state, category, agency, or use a checklist-style Benefits Finder to locate benefits that might apply to you.

• http://www.benefits.gov/

School Meals

There are many federally-funded programs for meals throughout the year. See the link below for a full description of what’s available, and how to get your children enrolled.

• http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Formerly known as the Food Stamp program, SNAP will help you cut down on food costs.

• http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/Default.htm

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

WIC provides federal grants to states to help low-income pregnant women, and low-income women who have children up to age five. WIC provides the following benefits: A free health screening is provided to applicants, because a mother or child is eligible only if they are found to be “at nutritional risk” (in addition to other program requirements such as income)

• http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

The housing choice voucher program (more commonly known as Section 8 housing) is the major federal government program for helping low-income families afford decent private market housing…

To find more information about the voucher program (Section 8), see the link below.

• HUD – Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet

The Information by State link below will get you closer to the actual office you’ll need to contact to inquire about this type of assistance in your area.

• Local HUD Information by State
• Homeownership Vouchers

USDA – Rural Development / Housing & Community Facilities Programs (HCFP)

For people who live in rural areas. To find a Service Center in your area (by State), follow this link:

• http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app

Housing Finance Agencies

Housing Finance Agencies offer a wide range of support and assistance to families in search of affordable housing.

• http://www.ncsha.org/housing-help

Save Money

It’s always possible to save money, even if you think you’re already cutting it to the bone. Most people don’t realize how much they actually spend, and on what—they just know they never have enough. Track your expenses for a month to see where your money actually goes, then try to get by on less in the categories that are not “fixed”—like food, entertainment (cable TV and the Internet are two easy ways to cut back), and clothes.

Many people realize, after cutting expenses to what seems like an extreme, that their lives become more peaceful and pleasurable. First, because they are not stressing about finances; and second, because there are benefits to a more simple life, like quality family time spent cooking or sewing together, or increased exercise when they walk or bike instead of drive.

So give it a try—instead of buying bread at the store, learn to bake. Join a community garden and can your own vegetables. Instead of shopping for clothes, make your own. You might even find that you excel in some category of “doing it yourself”, and be able to earn income from selling what you make with your own hands.

Also, lots of community education programs pay people who can teach their neighbors how to do just what you might be good at, whether it’s the activities mentioned above, or some other skill you possess (yoga, computer skills, household repair, decorating).

Here are a few more ways to save money as a single mother, especially through medical and childcare assistance.

Health Care Assistance Programs

Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Your child or teen may qualify for no-cost or low-cost health insurance coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

• http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/state/

Partnership for Prescription Assistance Program

This is a patient assistance program that may be able to lower your prescription drug costs, if you lack prescription coverage.

• http://www.pparx.org
• http://www.kids.pparx.org

RxAssist

Another patient assistance program.

• http://www.rxassist.org

Drug Discount Cards

Drug discount cards are like coupons—you just present them when you make your prescription drug purchase. The following are links to a variety of these cards (which should be free):

• http://www.needymeds.org/index.htm
• http://www.sunassociation.org
• http://freedrugcard.us/
• http://www.pscard.com/
• http://www.yourrxcard.com

Child Care Assistance Programs

Dependent Care Account

Offered through your employer (if they participate), this is a way to save money on medical costs. Contact your Human Resources department (or whoever handles payroll for your place of business) for advice about how much you can save using this account.

Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit

This is a non-refundable tax credit, meaning that if you do not earn enough income to pay federal taxes, you do not benefit from the credit (the government will not send you money—they will only reduce the amount you owe by the amount of the credit).

Many states offer a version of this credit (or in some cases a tax deduction). See what your state provides by accessing the state government website from the link below, and searching for “Child Care Tax Credit”:

• http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=100236,00.html

State Child Care Assistance Programs

The website of the Child Care and Development Fund has many helpful links, including a Frequently Asked Questions page that is very manageable and informative:

• http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/ccdf/index.htm

Information by state:

• http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/Statedata/dirs/display.cfm?title=ccdf

Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies

Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) Agencies exist in many communities, forming a network of information to help you explore the most affordable child-care options in your area.

The easiest way to access the CCR&R closest to you is to visit the website of Child Care Aware (http://www.childcareaware.org). Simply enter your zip code to bring up a list of agencies in your area.

Early Head Start/Head Start

• http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/HeadStartOffices
• http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc

YMCA Programs for Child Care

Find your local YMCA and ask about child care programs by following this link:

• http://www.ymca.net/youth-development

If you are a single mother, you need to decide what sort of help you are looking for. Do you need some quick finanical help to pay off some emergency bills? Are you aiming to go to college or start a business but find yourself unable to because you simply don’t have the money to do so? Or maybe you simply are unable to pay your bills and are living from month to month without knowing how you are going to keep a roof over your head and food on the table for your children.

There are some things you can do to get some single mother aid. Keep in mind that there is NO sure-fire solution out there for you, but you can get some help that might make life easier or make it possible for you to accomplish something to help get you out of your finanical problems.
If you need to get some quick money, consider getting some sort of loan for single moms. Single mother loans are basically payday loans that you can give you some quick money. These are useful to pay some quick bills — maybe fix a car that just broke or cover some emergency bills. However, remember that loans much be repaid. Never take out a loan if you won’t be able to repay it and certainly don’t take out a payday loan if you can’t repay it within a month!

If you want to accomplish something that could change your life — say going to college or starting  business, consider looking at getting some sort of single mother grant. You can get grants for college, grants for business, etc. Grants are offered by the government or by non-profit organizations. You can spend some time looking online for single mother grants — check out any offer you see. It may take a while before you find grants you qualify for, but there certainly may be some out there for you.

You can look at getting some federal welfare aid as well. Welfare can help you make ends meet, if you don’t have enough money to pay some of the bills. Keep in mind there are specific sets of criteria that you will have to meet if you want welfare assistance. Welfare is only temporary help as well, so don’t bank on it as being a long term solution to your finanical woes.

There may also be some charity programs you can look at. Charities may offer single mothers in need things like toys, food, clothing, and even shelter in some cases. It can be difficult to swallow your pride and seek help from a charity, but that’s what these programs are for. It’s more important that you give your children comfort and clothing than keep pride.

You might want to consider getting some part time job. There are different job opportunities out there. While you may already be working full time, you can look at getting into some sort of work at home job opportunities. The internet does have jobs for moms that you might be able to find, if you do some searching online. Remember, if you feel like there is no single mother assistance available, don’t give up!
Single mom assistance is there for moms in need, you just have to search. Whatever you do, don’t ever give up!

Times are tough, money is scarce, and the economy is predicted to remain bad for years to come. Single mothers are some of the most vulnerable people to a bad economy. Why? Single moms typically don’t have good jobs and are burdened with the responsibility of children. For most mothers who are making their own way in life, the future can be bleak indeed. But, it doesn’t have to be this case. Single mother assistance is out there for moms who just need a bit of a helping hand.

Single mother assistance can come in the form of peer help, financial help, or just simple advice, such as this website offers. The one thing we have to stress to mothers looking for help is that YOU are going to have to take responsibility for your life. If you are waiting for handouts or someone to save you, you are going to wait a long time.

The best way to get assistance as a single mother is to find it yourself. If you are a struggling mother, you probably know this better than anyone else. Just because you need help, doesn’t mean the government or anyone else is going to bang down your door to offer you the help you need. You are going to have to get out there and seek out that help yourself.

Fortunately, for those mothers who are willing to spend time seeking the help they need, there is help. Many single moms have often been abused and are in need of emotional help. There are all sorts of programs that can help you – battered women shelters, religious groups offering aid for single mothers in need, and government-sponsored peer support. The best way to find these centers are to look online and search out what sort of single mother help is offered in your area.

If you are looking for single mother financial assistance, there is plenty to be had if you spend the time looking around for it. One of the best sources for single mother assistance is that actual government. You can get health insurance, grants, financial aid for school, and even housing assistance in some cases.

Let’s look at some of the options for single mother help.

Health Insurance for Single Mothers

No doubt as a single mother, the health of both you and your children is pretty important. If your kids get sick and you don’t have the money, it can be absolutely terrifying. The good news is there are some government health insurance programs that can give your children basic health care. There are also some cheap health insurance options offered by private companies  that can save you money off regular insurance.

For single mother health insurance programs, there are basically two government options:

• State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – This government program gives funds to states that have approved programs that provide health insurance to uninsured children. Children (who are not insured) up to the age of 19 may be covered with this program. For families that don’t meet Medicaid’s income requirements may qualify for SCHIP.

• Medicaid — The main government health-insurance for low-income families. To qualify you may have one of the following: high medical bills, you recieve Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you are considered a low income and meet the government-qualifications.

Government Grant Assistance for Single Mothers

Grants are actually a much misunderstood form of government support. Some people assume that grants are just freely given out by the government. This is partially untrue. Grants are free, yes, but you have to qualify for them first and then you have to apply for them. Even then, there is no guarantee that you get grant approval.

Grants are really designed for a single purpose – to help someone accomplish something specific. This is why you see many business grants, school grants, or home improvement grants. The government’s reasoning is that grants can be used to improve a person’s productivity in some way, or allow a person to accomplish something that will help improve their life in some way (and reduce the chance of needing future government help).

Now there are actually very few government grants for individuals outside of education. But there are a whole wack of state grants and financial assistance programs that a single mother, being a low income individual in most cases, may qualify for.

The best way to find government grants for single mothers is to look to see what sort of state assistance you can find. You can also do your own search online and check out any grant offers you discover on your own from private sources. It’s important that you look at as many grant offers you spot online as possible. The more grants you look at, the more of a chance you will find a grant that you actually qualify for, and the more grants you can apply for. Basically, the more grants you send out, the higher the chance you have of getting grant funding you need.

Here are a few well known state assistance programs single moms can take advantage of.

Families First/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — A government program that hands out cash (usually small sums) to needy families. To qualify, you must work at least 30 hours a week or participate in some kind of job training program.

Free or Reduced Meals Program — The government believes that every child should have the nutrition they need to grow up healthy. Surveys show that for some children, the only proper nutrition they get in their diet is at school. The Free or Reduced Meals program provides low income families free or reduced school lunch meals.

WIC Program– For this program, the government gives out coupons each month to needy families. The coupons change each month and aim to deliver items that pregnant women or young children need.

Food Stamps–One of the oldest federal assistance programs and one of the most popular. Food stamps provide needy families with a means to supplement their food through government assistance.

Besides government grants, there are private grants to be had too – so don’t just limit yourself to looking at the government websites. Private grants are typically harder to qualify for – at least the popular ones are – but its well worth your time checking some of them out and sending in an application. If you really spend some time looking around for private grants for mothers, you can sometimes turn up grants few other people know about. These hard to find grants can really be golden because you stand a very good chance of getting the money. Grants, when used for the right purpose like getting an education, can be a great source for single mother assistance.

Education Assistance for Single Mothers

For single mothers wanting to get an education, there are a whole wack of programs out there to take advantage of. The government loves funding education because it’s one of the best paths to improving an individual’s economic situation while reducing reliance on government help programs. If you are a single mother in need of school financial aid, here area couple programs to take advantage of.

• Stafford Student Loans — The backbone Federal Student Loan program
• Perkins Student Loans — Another federal student loan
• Pell Grant — Free grant money for low income students

To qualify for government financial aid, you MUST fill out the FAFSA application.

There are also a whole range of private financial aid programs low-income students can take advantage of. For example, single mothers may look at applying for the ScholarshipZone 10k Scholarship program which offers a $10,000 draw every month.

Housing Assistance for Single Mothers

The government also provides housing assistance programs. These may be in the form of housing vouchers, grants for buying a new home, or even low-income housing options. For more information you should check out the government’s HUD webpage.

Final Word on Single Mother Assistance

As a single mother looking for help, you don’t need to be afraid that there are no resources to help you out. There are plenty of resources. Your best bet is to use the internet to aid your search for single mother help. Look for grants, scholarships, and other financial aid  sources. Make sure you visit website dedicated to giving free advice for single mothers. Join a community of like-minded mothers. You can find a lot of help out there if you just look. Single mother assistance is possible — you just need to look.

One of the biggest issues a single mother faces is the issue of money. As single mother, money is scarce – I know it was for me. The reason is that us single moms tent to be working jobs that pay minimum wage. Raising a family on minimum wage and by yourself is tough – very tough. Nickels and dimes mean a big deal if you are in this situation.

The temptation here is to look for some easy solution; some quick wade of cash that will solve your problem. However, most moms fail to look at the long term solution – how to fix your financial problems for good. It all comes down to having a better job.

If you can get a career job as a single mother, many of your financial problems will disappear. However, getting such a job can be all but impossible unless you go back to school or get some sort of job training program.

You may wonder how you can pay for this type of program. The answer is by seeking out single mother college scholarships and single mother college grants. I was able to attend school without paying a cent of my own money, just from the variety of scholarships and grants I found. I want to spend this article talking about how to pay for college as a single mother. Getting a college education is tough, but it’s also one of the best ways to ensure that you actually get a good paying job.

Basically, you have three financial aid for single mother options out there: student loans for single mothers, grants for single mothers, and scholarships for single mothers. Many people opt to take out student loans. The government, through it’s federal student loan program, offers some very good student loans. The Stafford loan and the perkin loans are very generous in terms of the interest rates. However, as a struggling mother, paying back a huge loan is not the ideal situation. An alternative is to look at getting both private government grants and scholarships. Some of these financial aid packages will be for single mothers and some will be general ones.

However, you need to apply for as many of these as possible to ensure you get as much funding as possible. I found the government grants for single moms particularly easy to apply for. You can visit the official government website to look for these. Private grants and scholarships are often offered by the college you wish to attend, or by some 3rd party – usually a non profit organization. I managed to receive quite a lot of grant and scholarship funding by doing a search online and checking out every single scholarship and grant offer I found, then applying for it. Most of the time, I did not get the grant or scholarship, but once in a while, I would. These “once in a whiles” really started to add up.

My advice for you all mothers looking for single mother assistance is to be proactive in your search for help. Don’t just sit around and wait for help to fall in your lap. Think about the long term solution to your problems and actively work for it. In my case, college proved to be what I needed to ensure a financial future for myself and my two children. Your situation may be different, but at the end of the day, you will need to take some decisive action – go back to college, look for a better job, actively hunt down grants and scholarships, etc. Don’t give up though – you can improve your situation!

If you are looking specifically for housing assistance for single mothers, we suggest you read our housing resources for single moms article — there is a huge list of links and phone numbers of organizations that can help you.