{"id":273628,"date":"2025-11-10T06:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273628\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T06:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:11:14","slug":"single-mom-with-special-needs-child-finds-it-hard-to-stay-out-of-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273628\/","title":{"rendered":"Single mom with special-needs child finds it hard to stay out of debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Charleen, 53<\/p>\n

Annual income: $115,000 from job, $3,600 from Canada Child Benefit, $5,080 from Employment Insurance (while unemployed)<\/p>\n

Debt: $58,586 line of credit, $457,401 mortgage, $16,000 car loan<\/p>\n

Savings: $190,000 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $40,000 in registered education savings plan (RESP), $9,000 in registered disability savings plan (RDSP)<\/p>\n

What she does: Business analyst<\/p>\n

Where she lives: Mississauga<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cMy son and his wellbeing. I\u2019m just worried about having a safety net for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charleen, 53, was unemployed from June until late October after her former employer \u2013 a major bank \u2013 laid off 2,000 people after costly legal troubles related to its operations in the United States. She\u2019d worked there for 13 years and thought it would be her lifelong employer, so she was crushed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m bipolar and I went into a bit of depression,\u201d said Charlene, who lives in a townhouse in Mississauga with her teenage son, who has special needs. <\/p>\n

She got severance pay for a couple months and also qualified for Employment Insurance, so she still had money coming in before starting her new job, at another bank, in late October. Her new salary is lower than before, $115,000 compared to $150,000 at the last job, and she is no longer a manager. <\/p>\n

Charlene owes nearly $60,000 on a line of credit, but says that is not atypical. She\u2019s used to debt and says she vacillates between paying it all off, racking up more and then paying it all off again.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I budget, I don\u2019t stick to it,\u201d she says. Her son, who has autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, receives expensive tutoring and is a picky eater, so she often orders takeout for him. She also says she likely overspends on vacations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always made a good living,\u201d says Charlene, who studied mathematics and computer science before starting her career. \u201cI\u2019ve always been able to pay it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlene is a single mother by choice, after deciding in her late thirties that time was running out for her to conceive. She got pregnant in 2009, and immediately began feeling the financial impacts of having a second person to care for. Her job at the time didn\u2019t top up her parental leave pay, and she went into debt during her leave.<\/p>\n

When she returned to work, she soon found that \u201cdaycare costs were almost double my mortgage. It was a really hard time financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her son is now 15. Charlene worries about his future, a fear that is pronounced because her own mother died at age 44.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how well he\u2019s going to cope with getting a job,\u201d she says, noting she\u2019s focused her resources on things that will help her son if anything happens, such as life insurance. <\/p>\n

She also recently opened a registered disability savings plan<\/a>, allowing her to access federal government grants. \u201cI\u2019m just worried about having a safety net for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her typical monthly expenses:<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $3,500<\/p>\n

$350 to line of credit. \u201cMy debt has always been around $50,000. I pay it off, it goes back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

$3,150 to mortgage. \u201cA variable mortgage. The rates went way up and I wasn\u2019t even paying the interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $2,716<\/p>\n

$137 on property insurance<\/p>\n

$470 on property tax<\/p>\n

$300 on utilities<\/p>\n

$70 to gasoline<\/p>\n

$225 on car insurance<\/p>\n

$543 to car payment. \u201cWill be paid off in January.\u201d<\/p>\n

$400 on car repairs. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is about me and cars, they always cost me a fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

$75 on transit. \u201cI work two days a week in downtown Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

$96 on Uber and toll highway<\/p>\n

$400 on cellphones, cable and internet<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $1,345<\/p>\n

$520 on groceries<\/p>\n

$575 at restaurants. \u201cTakeout three to four times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

$250 on drinks. \u201cMostly nonalcoholic beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $3,753<\/p>\n

$500 on entertainment. \u201cConcerts, sporting events, streaming services.\u201d<\/p>\n

$40 on apps. \u201cGoogle Music and Audible.\u201d<\/p>\n

$570 on electronics. \u201cTwo computers replaced this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

$70 on clothing<\/p>\n

$385 on dog. <\/p>\n

$410 on child\u2019s tutoring. \u201cIt\u2019s been really tough to keep him engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

$115 on photo books. \u201cDigital scrapbooking. I put photos in and get them printed out.\u201d<\/p>\n

$50 on haircuts<\/p>\n

$50 on cosmetics<\/p>\n

$80 on personal services<\/p>\n

$100 on dentist and $150 on prescriptions (while unemployed)<\/p>\n

$25 on glasses<\/p>\n

$458 on vacations. \u201cOne major vacation a year. Boarding for the dog. Summer vacations are staycations.\u201d<\/p>\n

$20 on donations<\/p>\n

$50 on gifts<\/p>\n

$180 on life insurance<\/p>\n

$500 on home services. \u201cA cleaner. Lightbulbs. Yard maintenance twice a year. Snow removal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial who would like to participate in a paycheque profile? Send us an e-mail.<\/a><\/p>\n

Participate in the Paycheque Project<\/p>\n

\nWelcome to Paycheque Project, a regular series in The Globe and Mail that looks at how much young Canadians are earning \u2013 and where that money is going. We’d like to hear from young adults from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographic locations, and earnings ranges.<\/p>\n

If you’re a millennial or Gen Z and would like to participate, fill out the form below or send an email to Roma Luciw at rluciw@globeandmail.com. Please include your name, age, where you live, occupation, your biggest financial concern and your email. And remember, Paycheque Project is a judgement-free zone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Charleen,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,10526,1008],"class_list":{"0":"post-273628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-paychequeproject","13":"tag-pleasemod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}