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When it comes to self-care, you might imagine bubble baths, nice meals, and taking naps. While it may not be as glamorous as a day at the spa, financial self-care is an important part of your overall wellness. Special needs parents have some unique financial self-care considerations.
As caregivers, you have many responsibilities. You also have many stressors. Addressing financial self-care will allow you to take care of many of these responsibilities. It will also help reduce some stressors.
* Before we continue, I am not a financial planner or financial professional. The contents on this site are for informational and entertainment purposes only. This content does not constitute financial or legal advice. *
What Is Financial Self-Care?
Financial self-care is the active lowering of financial stress levels. This is done by developing positive money habits to take control of your finances.
Why is Financial Self-Care Important for Special Needs Parents
Special needs parents face very high levels of ongoing and situational stressors. Missing work due to doctor appointments, suspensions, school closures/holidays, or hospital stays can cause financial stress. Therapies, medications, and specialized equipment can also place financial pressures. Children with special emotional needs can often break items. This can lead to financial responsibilities to replace or repair items. Some children struggle with stealing, alcohol, smoking, drugs, and running away. Financial precautions can help keep them safe. They can also protect your financial well-being.
Further reading: Work-Life Balance for Special Needs Parent.
Special Financial Self-Care Considerations for Special Needs Parents
Today, I am focusing on protecting your financial health and well-being. There are many steps you can take with financial planners to provide for your child’s financial needs. When it comes to raising children with special emotional needs, there are many ways in which your financial well-being is vulnerable. Emotional outbursts, aggression, breaking items, stealing, problems with drugs, running away, medication, and hospital stays are just some causes of financial hardship. Let’s look at ways to limit access and prepare a safety net.
Three Ways to Protect Your Finances
Prevent Easy Access to Credit Cards
Children often do not fully understand the concept of money. With technology, it is easy for children to make purchases online. Some children also struggle with stealing. Precautions often need to be taken.
Action Step: When you make a purchase, especially within an app, do not store your credit card information. It is worth the extra step to re-enter information each time instead of working it out with the bank! Some sites will still store your information for a short period of time so monitor as needed.
Action Step: If older children are struggling with stealing or running away, lock up your wallet/purse as needed. Ask your bank if you can set a daily limit to prevent large, surprise charges. Have an easy way to turn off access to your cards.
Prevent Easy Access to Cash
Stealing may be an issue for your child. It feels horrible when you open your wallet and realize your child has taken money from you. It can also be unsafe for children with special emotional needs to have access to cash in larger sums. If your child struggles with alcohol, smoking, drugs, or running away, you do not want them to have easy access to cash. Impulsive children can also rip or destroy cash.
Action Step: Limit the amount of cash you keep on hand. Be aware of how much you have.
Action Step: Keep your wallet/purse in a secure location, lock it up if needed. You could also keep cash in a hidden/less obvious area.
Create a Financial Safety Net
Many special needs parents have heard of trusts to set up for their children. You also need a safety net for your own financial health and future.
Emergencies happen. While we cannot be fully prepared, having a financial safety net in place can ease the stress in an emergency. Financial strain can easily happen due to missed work, hospital visits, travel for services, when things get broken, and if your child faces fines or legal trouble.
If your child gets into fights at school or tends to destroy property, having some savings in the event you need to replace items can prevent immediate financial harm.
It can be very frustrating when you are faced with paying large fines due to a child or teenager’s behavior. You may feel as if you are the one being punished. These times require financial self-care and emotional self-care as well.
Action Step: Create a monthly budget. This helps you have an understanding of where your money is currently going. Find money to set aside each month in an emergency account. It is ok to start small.
Action Step: You may consider meeting with a financial professional. They can help you take further steps to protect your assets.
Financial Self-Care for Special Needs Parents: Summary
While financial self-care is not as popular as going out for coffee or going for a walk, it is an important component of your overall well-being. Financial self-care can help special needs parents reduce stressors. It also allows you to take control of responsibilities for both your child and yourself.
There are many resources to help you help your child financially. However, you need to protect your individual finances. It is also important to make preparations for yourself.
We discussed the importance of preventing easy access to credit cards and cash. We also discussed the importance of building up an emergency fund. Raising children can be a real financial challenge. I hope some of the action steps in this article help you towards improving your financial self-care.
A dedicated space for keeping track of your finances is very helpful. This budget planner helps with monitoring and planning your finances.
When you find your finances limited, you do not need to give up on self-care. I encourage you to try some of the 50 ideas found in the post: Fast and Free Self-Care Ideas for Special Needs Parents.
Holidays can add financial pressure. Learn some strategies to help in our article Better Holidays for the Special Needs Family.
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(This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a commission, if you purchase an item through a link, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Genuine recommendations only.)
