what happens when the child support agency sends you to the judge

Millions of Americans depend on monthly child support checks to help cover the bills. In fact, for many single parents, those checks are a vital part of household income.

Information technology's non easy to properly manage the bills equally a single parent . You have groceries, credit carte du jour bills, a mortgage or rent — plus all those non-essential expenses. Information technology can seem almost impossible to consider saving even a portion of that check.

Being spread thin is tedious. So, how do y'all beat the vicious cycle of bills and no savings?

The best mode is to make a habit of allocating a portion of your household income to a savings business relationship every month. Don't worry, information technology's achievable.

Read: 5 Budgeting Strategies for Single Parents

What Child Support Covers

Before diving into how to save money, it's beneficial to review what your kid back up check is supposed to cover because, according to FindLaw, there is a growing misconception that child support should only embrace necessities, such every bit the following:

• Basic necessities, including food, clothing, mortgage, rent, utility bills and phone bills
• Pedagogy, including uniforms, books, and classroom or lab fees
• Transportation, including insurance, gas, and motorcar maintenance to get the children to their destinations safely
• Extracurricular activities, including camps, sports, and gym fees

The rules vary for medical coverage and whether kid care is covered, which typically depends on the work schedules of and understanding betwixt parents. "Medical coverage varies across America," said attorney Maxwell Hills, founder of Hills Police force Grouping in Newport Beach, Calif.

"In California, for example 1 party is credited with the medical care," he said. "So, if the father is supposed to pay $2,500 a month in child support merely has his child under his medical care program, then that amount volition get slashed to something like $2,250."

Related: 41 Ways to Improve Your Money Skills for Financial Literacy 1000 onth

How to Start Saving Some of Your Child Support Check

Figure out how much you spend. Yous accept to know where your coin goes before you tin create a budget. If yous like taking pen to paper, and so write downwardly your expenses over one calendar month. Author Gail Vaz-Oxlade offers a spreadsheet on her web log, listing variable and fixed expenses, as well discretionary cash that she calls "jar money." Or, you can download a finance app. Include everything: bills, essentials and not-essentials. Nothing is as well small.

Calculate expenditures for each child. It offers you peace of mind knowing exactly what you provide for your children, and this exercise has a tendency to become therapeutic. "This tin can be beneficial from a legal standpoint," said Hills. If your ex ever questions your spending habits, then yous will have a leg upward knowing the monthly expenditures.

Make a monthly budget. E'er use your net income (after-tax income) and non your gross income (before any deductions), so that results are accurate. For example, if you earn a $sixty,000 salary every year, that'due south your gross income; the $42,000 that you receive after taxes and deductions is your net income.

Read: 9 Tax Questions Every Single Parent Should Ask

With your income and your child back up cheque combined, ideally you want to allocate the post-obit percentages for each fixed expense:

• Housing: 35 percent
• Transportation: 15 percent
• Debt: xv pct
• Savings: ten percent
• Not-essentials: Remaining 25 pct

Yes, savings is a fixed, non-negotiable expense.

Budgeting Tips for Single Parents

Write downward what you spend each month for each category. If yous take money left over, that is considered your discretionary income or money for non-essentials. If your fixed expenses total more than your income, you need to lower your expenses or increment your income.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach with budgeting. These percentages are a general guideline that should requite you an thought of where you need to slash spending:

• Savings are crucial for everyone, but especially for unmarried parents who are responsible for all household expenses. That'southward why this savings portion will include emergency savings, retirement savings, or investments and money for your children'south future and education. If 10 percent is also high for yous, and so pick a pct of your income that you can absolutely salve every calendar month. If you lot're not currently saving annihilation, and so any number is better than zero.

• Stick to your budget. Most people have a tendency to stick to their budget for the get-go few months and then slowly revert back to old habits. The best mode to keep this in cheque is to track your spending and set time bated every month to review how much yous are allocating for various expenses.

• Be flexible. Life happens, and y'all're going to have to exist able to adjust your budget. Christine Benz, Morningstar's director of personal finance, points out that spending is rarely flat for anyone, so don't exist afraid to tighten your chugalug some months and allocate more than money for non-essential spending in other months. Christmas is a good example of a high-spending time for many people, so allocate appropriately.

What's the Payoff?

Benefits of putting some of your money toward savings each month include but are not limited to the following:

• "You teach your kids to budget," said Hills. If kids are old enough to understand budgeting, and then they tin can assist keep the family'south budget on rails. Many kids will savor this opportunity and assist set financial goals. Plus, it teaches children to view money realistically.
• You're prepared for your children's future. College is expensive. According to the College Board, for the 2014-15 academic year, the average cost for an in-state public school was $32,762; the average cost for a private college was $42,419. The goal isn't necessarily to pay for all of information technology. If you can contribute some coin toward their college education, it will assist them and leave you with a sense of pride.
• It's empowering. Y'all will exist in the driver'southward seat every month, and it's encouraging to be in control of your finances. This practice will not just benefit your financial wellness only also your overall well-being because you volition experience more than positive in others aspects of your life. According to a 2014 report past Northwestern Common, people who saved are happier overall. That's considering the more discipline people have with their financial planning, the more than financially secure they feel in the nowadays and the greater likelihood they'll be happy in the future.

Don't Cease Saving

Vaz-Oxlade likes to say that you're working hard for your money. Put that money to work for you so that it serves your needs and wants.

To exercise that, you must relieve every month. And don't be discouraged if you veer off course, because you probable will at some point. Information technology'due south all a office of the budgeting learning process. Whatever savings is meliorate than no savings.

Almost the Author

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Source: https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/family/first-thing-should-do-child-support-check/

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