A Woman's Guide to Surviving a Divorce Financially

Getting a divorce doesn't only hurt the heart, it can hurt your budget and finances as well. With a divorce comes not only personal changes in life and lifestyle, but also changes in finances and the budget. Since the husband is usually the main breadwinner of the family, it can leave a woman wondering how she is going to pay her bills when she is left to fend for herself.

The first thing to do is to sit down and figure all of your expenses. Write down everything that you normally spend money on and the amounts. Prioritize your expenses. You know that you need a place to live, food, utilities, transportation, and medicines if you take any on a regular basis. These are the most important expenses for your budget. From here, determine what you need to pay and the order that you need to pay it.

Figure out exactly how much income you expect each week or month. If your bills far outweigh the income expected, then you will need to consider two options. Consider working extra time or an extra part time job to make some extra money or consider paying for only what you need and letting the other things go. Letting bills go however will no doubt ruin your credit, so that's something to take into consideration before letting bills go. However at the same time, you can only do what you can do, and you need to remember the main things you need to live, a home, food, utilities, transportation, and necessary medications. All else can be let go or done without if you simply are unable to pay the bills.

Cutting back on expenses is a good way to save money when faced with having to make a new budget to accommodate living life as a divorced woman. There a many ways a newly divorced woman can save money and help her financial situation improve. One main way to simply to not spend money on things that are not necessary. Some examples are: Switch to a lower plan for your cell phone. Fewer minutes will cost less. Switch to a lower plan for your high speed internet, if possible. You might even cut out the high speed for a while and go back to dialup until you are able to afford high speed again. Buy food that you have to prepare rather than eating out or buying prepared foods. Turn off the cable TV for a time or extras like movie channels that cause the price to soar.

If you have previously eaten out 15 times a month, cut out all but maybe two of those times eating out. Eating out is enjoyable but also quite expensive, and preparing your own food at home will save a bundle of money. If you are accustomed to shopping just to be shopping, it's time to rethink your shopping strategy. Shop for items you need, and look for sales and bargains. While you might have previously spent money without having to think about how much you spent or what you spent it on, as a divorced woman trying to survive on a budget, you must shop for and buy only what you need and leave the frills there.

While you want to allow yourself some entertainment and enjoyment, you don't want to spend money that you simply don't have. So leave the credit cards at home, don't use them to shop frivolously. Credit cards should only be used if necessary and as little as possible. Don't get into the trap of thinking it's a low monthly payment. That low monthly payment could stretch out for 20 years! Remember that you are on a budget, and stick to that budget. If you are financially able to allow yourself to go to a movie or eat out occasionally, that's great. But don't spend money frivolously that you need to live on.

If you were a homemaker before your divorce and have little job skills, there are still options available to you. Depending on your situation, you can go to night school to learn a new trade, take online classes, sell home crafted items online, write and get paid to do so, run a daycare, start a pet grooming service, etc. The possibilities are endless. The point is that you can do something to make money to help yourself start over.

Divorce can leave a woman feeling helpless as to how she will survive. Granted, it can be frightening facing a new life alone and with little financial resources available. But with careful planning and budgeting, you can not only survive divorce, you can live a happy and enjoyable life as you get back on your feet again.