$24,000 a year

So my husband dumped me and left me with 3 kids and child support income that adds up to $24,000 a year. This blog is going to be about how I stretch that income to support my family while I'm in school and also how I'm coping with being a single mom. So far I can say it's both harder and easier now that he's gone. It's easier, because he's not around constantly criticising me and making me feel like a huge burden. It's harder, because my kids are sad and I'm having to do everything myself and I have about 1/2 the money I used to have. Here is a list of my fixed expenses:
Mortgage: $878 per month
Electric: $131 per month (budget billing plan)
Gas: Between $30-$75 per month, depending how cold it is
Phone/Internet: $61 per month
Cable: $31 per month
Garbage: $30 per month
Car insurance: $22 per month
Childcare: $225 per month (Actually, I'm going to do before and after school care for my neighbor and she's going to pay me $200 per month, so this expense kind of evens out!)

After I pay all of my fixed bills, I have $193 per week to cover food, gas and anything else that might come up. So far, I've divided my unfixed expenses up like this:
Food: $50 per week
Gas: $40 per week
Miscellaneous expenses: $40 per week.

This leaves me $252 to cover anything else that might come up during the month, like a car repair, or whatever. I have to say that so far, this money goes FAST and I have to really make an effort to stretch those dollars to the max. I'm going to try to do a blog as often as I can about ways I learn to make the most of what money I have.