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and will have to relocate when you start school, make the move during the summer holiday so that your kids don't have to be uprooted during their school year. Get established in your new locale before you have to deal with the challenges of being in school all day.

(3)
Enroll in a parenting class. Free classes are offered by community service organizations and by health districts. If you're parenting on your own, you need all the information you can get, and you can learn as much from the mistakes others make as you can from making them yourself. Unless you're on the verge of having your children taken away for negligent or abusive parenting, you'll likely come away from each class feeling good about your abilities as a parent. If you go in with an open mind and honestly share your experiences, you'll also come away with practical and helpful pointers on improving your parenting skills.

(4) Set up a budget so that you know where your money is going. When you start school there will be additional expenses, and you have to know how you're going to handle those or they'll knock you right off track. If you have to spend grocery money on bus fare you won't last long in school. Look for programs like Community Kitchens, where several people pool their funds to buy groceries and then get together every week or two to cook in large quantities so that they can each take home several meals for their families.

(5)
Time is going to be in short supply once school starts. Shop garage sales and second-hand clothing stores now to build enough of a wardrobe to carry you through a whole year of school. Check the kids' clothes and make sure you have winter boots and parkas purchased at end-of-season sales and waiting for each child when the first snow falls. Buy big so kids can grow into them instead of out of them over the season. For the price of one new parka in October you can spend the same amount in April and buy a complete winter outfit.

Look into the possibility of buying a washer and dryer on an installment plan so that you don't have to spend time every week in the laundromat. DO NOT get suckered into an installment plan with high interest rates. You likely can't save for laundry equipment while taking your laundry out, but if you're not putting coins into a machine, you may be able to put dollars toward purchasing your own appliances. Record exactly what you're spending on laundry now - including getting to and from the laundromat (see #6 above) and compare that to the

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