Essentials · 55%
Rent, utilities, groceries, childcare, insurance, transit. The non-negotiables. If this is over 70% of your income, the budget can't fix it, only a structural change can.
Free calculator · 8 minutes · No email
Single Mom Budget Planner
Built for the math you actually have to do. Adjusts for unreliable child support, factors in SNAP and TANF, and gives soft-spending its own line, because deprivation budgets don't survive month two.
Step 01 · Your money in
Real take-home, not gross.
$
What actually lands in your account after taxes and deductions.
$
Enter the court-ordered or expected amount.
$
SNAP, TANF, housing voucher, WIC, daycare assistance.
$
Freelance, marketplace sales, gig work, count the average, not the best month.
Step 02 · Four buckets
Where the money goes.
Total · $3,200
Essentials55%
Rent, utilities, groceries, childcare, insurance, transit
$1,760
Buffer & savings15%
Emergency fund, irregular bills (car, medical copays, school fees)
$480
Big goals15%
Debt paydown, retirement, big savings (move, deposit, education)
$480
Soft-spending15%
Small joys, takeout, kid treats, your sanity, non-negotiable
$480
Adjust the split · Soft-spending auto-balances
Essentials %55%
Buffer %15%
Goals %15%
✻ Default split (55 / 15 / 15 / 15) is built for single-mom realities, heavier essentials, a standing buffer for the things that actually go wrong, and a non-negotiable soft-spending bucket because deprivation budgets don't survive month two.
The four-bucket system
Buffer · 15%
Emergency fund + irregular bills. Car repair, medical copay, school supplies, broken appliance. Single-mom budgets without a buffer line burn down the first time anything goes wrong.
Big goals · 15%
Debt paydown, retirement, big savings (move, car deposit, education). The slow-burn category that compounds. Auto-transfer the day after payday so you can't see it.
Soft-spending · 15%
Small joys, takeout, kid treats, your sanity. Explicitly planned. The single line that determines whether the budget lasts past March or gets abandoned.
Frequently asked questions
Why a 55 / 15 / 15 / 15 split instead of the famous 50 / 30 / 20?
The 50/30/20 rule was built for dual-income households with stable hours. Single-mom budgets need: (1) heavier essentials because rent + childcare + health insurance often eat 50%+ alone, (2) a standing buffer line because the things that go wrong (car, kid getting sick, broken phone) happen monthly, not annually, (3) explicit soft-spending so deprivation doesn't sabotage the whole plan in week three.
Why discount unreliable child support?
Budgets that assume 100% on-time child support and then don't get it generate consumer debt. Better to budget at 85% (or 50%, or 0%) and treat any extra as a windfall toward the buffer or goals bucket. The math is honest about the floor, not optimistic about the ceiling.
Should I include SNAP and TANF in my income?
Yes, but only the dollar value, not the program name. SNAP increases your effective grocery budget; TANF replaces income directly. If you receive a Section 8 voucher, count the rent it covers as 'benefits income' since it frees that amount of cash for other essentials.
What goes in the soft-spending bucket?
The unsexy answer: anything you'd cut first if a budgeting app were yelling at you. Coffee, takeout, kid activities beyond the basics, your one streaming service, the small thing that makes a Tuesday survivable. Research on financial behavior change is unanimous: budgets without an explicit fun line have a ~3-month lifespan. Plan for joy or plan to fail.
How is my data handled?
It isn't. Everything stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, no account, no email gate. Refresh the page and the numbers reset, by design, because we don't store anything.
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