Broke-Ass Mom Survives a Travelling Partner

With my husband travelling quite a bit lately, it’s got me thinking how does a Broke-Ass Mom survive without her Broke-Ass partner? (I also think about all you single parents out there, and every day I have a new found respect for you, really, you should all be proud of yourselves.) The answer to this question is: you grab your used stroller, a diaper change or two, your baby’s hand and spend as much time outside of the house as you can stand.

That’s the answer to survival as a single parent, I’ve decided. Never go home. Home is where you’ll watch the clock, and just when you think an hour’s gone by it’s actually only been seven minutes. Other single parents out there may feel differently, but that’s how I’ve survived the past few days. In fact, we were even at the playground at 5pm the other day, a record by all standards. To date the latest we had even been there was 4pm. But when you have no where to go, no dinner you have to cook, and bedtime is still a few hours away, why not?

The other thing I’ve realized is it would be very easy to blow an entire month’s rent in a few short days just to entertain ourselves while my husband is away. But we must resist, especially considering that money, to my surprise, still isn’t growing on trees. Instead, we tried to do FREE things, and go places we don’t normally go.

We went to the library twice – thank God my kid loves books! We currently have twelve books checked out; I just couldn’t resist. Luckily we had to take a train to get there and back, so that of course took up some time. The weather here has been beautiful, so we found ourselves at the playground twice, and once was for an hour and a half. To take up some more time, we walked home from the playground, which took us about thirty minutes. Typically, it takes about ten.

I made sure to do a few things for myself as well, after all it can’t always be about them, right? I ran twice so far this week, and I finally tried on those new boots I’ve been eyeballing down the street. Of course, in Broke-Ass form, I didn’t buy them on the spot because Zappos or Amazon might sell them for less. Lo and behold, I saved myself forty dollars (free shipping) by buying them through Amazon. (Coincidentally, I prefer to support our local shops, but what can I do, forty bucks is a full on dinner for God’s sake!) The last trick up my sleeves was to wear him out so that I could have him begging for bedtime, and I did.

Thankfully, my husband was only gone for a few days, and we survived no problem, actually. I find the reality is always worse than what I conjure up in my head. I think if I were truly a single parent, I would HAVE to have a lot more friends, and hopefully some family near by to rescue me when I need it.

photo by: IStockphoto boggy22