How to Be a Great Parent on a Budget

Fun Doesn't Have to Cost a Lot of Money

First of all it doesn't take money to be a great parent. You will see many people who say that if you can not afford to have children then you should wait. Let's face it by the time we can afford children we are at retirement age and to old to even think of starting a family. While going to school full time and raising my children we had to revamp a lot of things in our life and re-budget a few times. I may not be able to afford to buy all the top name toys, or designer clothing but my girls are happy and adjusted.

Here are some tips of how to be a great parent on a budget.

Vacations

Vacation time is coming up soon, your children are not going to die with out a trip to Disney World despite what they might think or say. Here are some cheap or even free ideas to get away.

Camping: A little bit of searching will point you in the right direction of places you can camp for free. Pack a cooler, some fun games and pick an area were you can take your kids on nature walks, site seeing, bird watching even insect walking. To plan your vacation go to the local library and pick out books on, birds, insects or butterflies. While on the vacation teach your child about the things in the book. If you do not own a tent and can not find someone to borrow one off. E-bay has a multitude of tent very low cost. You can also check with a used sporting good stores to see if they have any for sale.

Fun Game Tip: Get a bag together with a ton of pennies to bring along. Then tell your child that for every insect, bird or butterfly they can spot that was in the book and state a fact about the insect they will be able to earn a penny. Then later have a small bag put together of little toys (These can be dollar store toys) and tell them they can then purchase an item from the bag.

The fun thing about camping is you do not have to eat a ton of expensive foods. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for lunch, hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner. A lot of times you can talk to land owners out in the country and they will even let you set up for a weekend camping trip on their land. So look for some land owners with wood landed that may have frontage to a creek or river for swimming.