A little bit of background

Hey there! I'm Erica. I just wanted to give a proper introduction and background, so that there's something here while I set up and format the rest of this page.

First of all, I'm a 23 year old single mother. I currently live at home with my parents. I have full custody of my 2 year old son, and I'm currently working part-time at a fast food restaurant.

Sounds like I'm a free loader, right?

Wrong. I've never really learned how to manage money though. I'm realizing more and more how uneducated I am when it comes to financial matters. So I'm taking matters into my own hands.

This is going to be a personal finance and single parenting blog. These are two things that are important to me, and that I'm learning more about every day. I'm going to be writing about how to establish, balance, and follow a budget for a family on a single income, as well as stories about all the crazy things that happen with me and my son at any given time.

I'm new to money management, so I'll probably make a lot of bad decisions at first, but hopefully I'll learn from them, and also be able to help others to learn from them.

Here are some of my personal goals:

1) Increase income to minimum $20,000/yr (currently less than half of that)
2) Save enough money to purchase my own vehicle without financing
3) Begin paying off all my defaulted loans and debt
4) Move out with enough money in savings for at least 2 months of bills.
5) Finish paying off all my defaulted loans and debt

My first two goals have a "due date" of December 31st, 2013. Obviously I cannot actually make 20,000 between now and then as I lack a bachelor's degree, but I can find a job that gives me the ability to make that much in a 12 month period. If I find that job, since I live with my parents, I can very easily save enough money to buy my own vehicle, which would open up my work availability so that I can make MORE money and start paying off my debt and saving money.