How to Work as a Single Parent

As a single parent of three wonderful children, I've felt the strain of financial burden, as well as the stress of working multiple jobs to pay the bills causing you to have limited time for raising your children. The economy has us dependent of multiple incomes to get anywhere above the lower middle class line. With the need to work more creates the issue of ever-more expensive childcare. Diapers and child support are not cheap either. So, here are some tips for single parents with jobs that keep them paying a healthy daycare bill at the end of the week, literally paying to go to work sometimes.

Daycare Ring: Find a group of other parents and trade off babysitting duties. This is free. The bad news is that you will have to give up work time to do your shift. Works best for part time employees and work at home parents.

Sitter Sharing: Share a sitter with a friend. You can have the sitter watch both kids and split the expense. Make sure that you have a written agreement on what you will be paying to avoid any unseen complications. Works if you work the same hours as a coworker with children.

Part time work at home: Take surveys or do data entry for extra part time cash. This won't be as much as an hourly job, but you will save childcare and transportation expense which makes up for alot of lost wages that occur when you work out of the home. There are many oppertunites online to make money, and it may be a wise investment in time to check some of them out.