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The best budget tip for a single parent is learning to say, no, to your child.

You're constantly aware that one parent is missing from the picture, so you try to compensate by giving in to requests for "stuff." With today's economy, this may be "stuff" you really can't afford.

1. Include the children in budget planning.

This is the best way to curtail all those requests for things your kids believe all the other kids have. Get together for regular family meetings where you can be open about where to cut corners. For instance, after figuring out what bills need to be paid this week, you can meet and discuss how to best spend the leftover money.

You will be able to teach your child how to start with top priorities and work their way down to non-necessities. You might ask, who needs shoes this week? Or, if all of you need winter coats, explore the least expensive way to go about it.

These discussions can be targeted with the child's age in mind. Kids are exceptionally creative and will surprise you at how willing they are to pitch in and be part of the solution if given a chance.

2. Saving money at the grocery store.

Take the weekly grocery ads, give them to the kids and let them circle the foods they like. Then go over their choices. Help them to see which ones are the best bargain. You might be surprised what foods your child is willing to try when he gets to find it on sale by himself! Then go shopping together. You'll find your kids love being included in solving the how-to-save-money mystery.

3. A Note About Garage sales and thrift stores.

If your child understands that buying second hand clothing will allow money for other things, he probably will have a great attitude toward buying used items. Among high school students the trend is to see how great you can dress for as cheap as possible.

Your kids will look for clothes they like at prices you can afford.

4. Entertainment: Free Fun

Get them outside and away from the house which means you will have to go with them. Free fun outside is a sneaky way of saving money on electricity that the TV or computer games ordinarily would be consuming.

Go to the park for a picnic. Make it a weekly event they can look forward to. Every Sunday afternoon can be picnic day! Take them fishing. Go to the animal shelter and take one of the dogs out for a run. Go on nature hikes or search for wild foods. My kids loved searching for wild food, but it took a lot of reading up on my part to make sure we found edible plants. (leave the wild mushrooms to the experts. Don't ever take a chance on these.)

Then you can have a "wild party." Fixing a few edible wild things you've discovered in nature. Foraging books such as Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons, is a good field guide to wild edibles.

If the kids are bike riding age, you can take them grocery shopping via bike and backpack. This is a newly growing trend in the Pacific Northwest. More and more adults are parking their cars in the garage and have taken up biking as their main mode of transportation.

Using these tips goes way farther than just plain budgeting. You have created family time together and family bonding by including the children in the planning process. And a healthy lifestyle away from the TV and electronic games. Maybe everybody should go on a budget!

Learn more about this author, Lana Stockton.
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