Single Mum Tales: Walking a tight financial rope

Natasha is lagging behind in paying her bills, and has rent arrears for wo months. She is contemplating moving to a cheaper house. How does she meet her financial obligations without a job? Her baby daddy, Tony, vanished with the loss of her job.

As I made my way to the front of the boardroom, I thanked my lucky stars as I had been attentive for most part of the presentation. Besides, I had earlier researched on the presentation and was able to give a powerful re-cap and closing statement. As the team dispersed, it had not dawned on me that this might be my last presentation as my contract would expire in about two weeks. And as I drove back home, I could not help but wonder when my next work engagement would show up. The last time I was retrenched, I suffered a work dry spell in most of the months during the two years of my job loss. Unfortunately, this had destabilised my finances and left me lagging behind in some of my bills. For starters, my rent was two months in arrears and I was contemplating moving from my current three-bedroom house to a more affordable one. Should I just downgrade to a one bed-roomed house? But where will the nanny sleep? I wondered. When I worked at Joe and Eric, my life was organised as I was able to meet all my financial obligations with ease. Now, here I was, wondering where I would take my household stuff if I moved into a smaller house. Hope was threatening to abandon me and the only reason I had for living was Liam.

My car was already overdue for service but I had to weigh my options as I no longer had disposable income. The work engagements that came my way were temporary and did not pay too well. I was already eating into my contingency fund and shuddered at the thought of what could befall my son   if I don’t get a permanent job or a well-paying consultancy engagement soon. For now, as long as the car could take me from home to work and back, I was fine. “There’s no need to fix it if it’s not broken,” I would console myself. I often said a silent prayer and hoped that it would never stall on me.

Tony had suddenly become so busy and had gradually started ignoring my calls.

I reminisced when Tony, Liam’s daddy, had promised to always be there for me and our son. We had broken up six months after I lost my job, and he seemed to have vanished from our lives. Tony had suddenly become so busy and had gradually started ignoring my calls. Our last conversation, three weeks ago, was sparked by Liam, who had insisted he wanted to see his dad. “I’m sorry, I can’t be available as I am out of town indefinitely on business but I will communicate when I get back,” Tony had assured me. Three weeks later, I was still waiting for him to call me.

Gas lady

Wait! I need to refill my gas before I get home. Not having a regular income had taught me how to rely on the credit network options available. A friend had introduced me to a lady who delivered gas to her clients’ houses with the option of paying later if one did not have cash at hand. I had also been introduced to the various mobile phone loan apps available and heavily relied on them, especially when I was broke. I called the ‘gas lady’ who faithfully delivered the gas and was glad to find the nanny preparing dinner by the time I got home.

“Mama! Mama!” Liam met me at the door as he hugged me. This was where my heart was. This was all that mattered to me. All the noise around me went quiet and my thoughts were silenced by the embrace of my son. He would be turning five in a couple of months. Maybe Tony would remember his son had requested to see him then… during his birthday.