I used to love Back-to-School shopping. When I was a kid, my mom would haul out the Sears catalog and let me pick out a few new dresses and a pair of new shoes. It was like Christmas in Autumn. These days, however, as a mom of two grade-school kids, I don't view the season with such delight. Why? Back-to-School shopping is often a budget-buster for those of us living on a shoe-string.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. Retailers around the country are bracing for what they think will be the worst Back-to-School shopping season of the decade. A recent survey by Deloitte shows that 70% of households surveyed indicated that they would be spending much less this season, and nearly half said they'd try to cut back on the back-to-school budget by at least $100.

The good news is, retailers are bending over backwards for the parent dollar, running promotions, two-for-one deals and sales at certain times of the day.

T-Mobile is rolling out a new feature in the next few weeks called "Family Allowances" which lets parents control just about every aspect of phone usage. The plan starts out at $2 a month and covers up to 5 lines on your account. The new feature comes on the heels of feedback from 30% of parents who identified their primary concern was getting a surprise bill.

The Family Allowances program will let parents set the number of texts, downloads and minutes on their children's phones using an online tool, as well as limiting the times of the day that the phone will work. Parents can put their minds at ease with the ability to set up always-allowed numbers which will permit their children to reach them at any time.

While the "Family Allowances" feature is aimed at helping parents curb kid's desires and their inability to follow the phone usage limits imposed at the dinner table, there is also a cool way that "adults" with less self control can use the feature to manage their own usage as well. We've all heard of freezing your own credit card to ward off the temptation of overspending. Well, if you can't stop your urge to download ringtones or curb your text messaging, you can set up an allowance for yourself so that you don't go over your plan amounts. Since you'll have to wait until you're in front of a computer to bump up your limit, you'll have likely overcome the urge to purchase the new "I Kissed a Girl" ringtone you thought was sooo sweet last night.

When it came time to quit smoking, I enlisted my wife's help. I knew that, no matter how much Zyban I ingested, how many rubber bands I put on my wrist or gum I put in my mouth, nothing would be as helpful as my wife's nose. Although she always possessed a keen sense of smell, pregnancy heightened her senses to near-Spider Man level, and if I so much as walked through a bar, she could detect the smoke clinging to my clothes. Now that I had decided to quit, I realized that her super-nose would be my best defense against the demon cancer sticks: if she smelled it on me, I was going to hear about it.

When it comes to a serious life change, like quitting smoking, losing weight, or cutting down spending, I find that there are few things more helpful than having a buddy or two to watch over my shoulder. I wouldn't call myself weak-willed, but it's a lot easier to cave in when the only person that I'm going to disappoint is myself. On the other hand, when a bunch of friends and family are also rooting for me to succeed, I'm a lot less likely to give in to temptation.

With that in mind, I found stickK.com to be a particularly interesting site. While things like smoking or dieting are easy for your friends to police, goals like cutting 10% of discretionary spending, packing lunches, or otherwise cutting down on personal expenditures don't really lend themselves to community involvement. In cases like this, while a buddy might be useful, a reward is almost a necessity.

That's where stickK comes in. Before you begin your life-changing routine, you put money in your StickK account and appoint a referee to sign off on your progress. Over the period of your bet, you track your progress on the site and ask your friends to encourage you. At the end of your bet, one of two things happens: either you win and keep the money that you put up, or you lose and the money goes to a friend that you designated or a charity of your choice. Regardless, stickK doesn't keep any of your funds.

If you're looking for something to keep you on track for changing your life and realizing your goals, this might just be the way to go!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. Although his wife has lost her sense of super smell, he's pretty sure she could sniff a cigarette at twenty yards. He has no intention of testing that theory.

Every year in July, my bank account suddenly goes wonky as a few annual fees hit it. (One, for hosting a web site, and the other for Amazon Prime membership.) I'm barely able to recover before I'm charged my water bill (about $250 every three months) and have to pony up my portion of the Hood-to-Coast costs (my team of mamas and papas and I run a race, and vacation at the beach afterwards, every August). What a great way to spend my summer, juggling bills.

Next summer I have a better way thanks to the brilliant concept of the "personal escrow account." Much like a mortgage escrow account -- in which the bank collects a few hundred dollars a month in order to pay the annual costs of property insurance and taxes -- to run a personal escrow account, you'd estimate the annual or semi-annual bills you pay, divide them into a monthly amount, which you'd then set aside each month. Charlotte, who wrote to the excellent personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, keeps her money in a separate bank account in order to keep it "safe" from her other expenses.

The Journal of Consumer Research recently released a study which looked into the accuracy of budgeting for different periods of time. They found that consumers budget better when tasked with planning for a year rather than on a monthly schedule. For the study they used college students and had them predict their spending over a month or year and then tracked the real world results. The study showed that long term budgeters were more accurate in estimating expenditures, almost 25% better on average. This accuracy was attributed to the subjects taking unknowns into account better when dealing with a longer period of time.

These findings weren't too surprising to me, I have tried to budget before on a monthly basis and usually fall off the wagon around the third month when a random expense turns up. The last time I did a real month to month budget I didn't have an emergency fund of any kind which can really do a number on your monthly plans. My guess is that the college students who took part in this study also didn't have an emergency fund, well an emergency fund that wasn't tied to six packs and Doritos anyway.

Given that the inaccuracy of monthly budgeting is often attributed to unforeseen expenses the usefulness of a monthly budget may hang on whether or not you have an emergency fund. My wife and I need to start a budget pretty soon and I am planning on doing a best of both world's approach. I want to institute a monthly budget and a budget for the year. In order to accomplish this I hope to include a portion to go towards our emergency fund and other savings, rather than allotting the leftover to video games and scrap booking.

Readers, have you had better luck with either short or long term budgeting? What are your favorite budget tips or methods of staying on track?

E-tickets, e-cards, e-gift certificates, and plastic currency. We're used to spending paperless; now how about paperless savings?

Last month I wrote about the Grocery Game, an online subscription service that can enhance coupon savings by matching grocery store specials with coupons. Grocery Game, and a similar (free) coupon tracker, Coupon Mom, both feature printable coupons on their sites. But our own AOL takes couponing to the next stage of digital evolution with Shortcuts, paperless coupons that you store to your grocery store membership/discount card.

Now we're talking.

Just the other day, I came home from a grocery run (where I realized nearly 50% savings, thanks to coupon/sales matching), and realized I'd left about $5 worth of additional savings on the table. Literally. My kitchen table. Grocery Game or not, it's hard to keep track of all those flimsy bits of paper, let alone clipping and sorting them. I love the idea of having them stored on my Kroger card. No coupon left behind!

Unfortunately, the Shortcuts selection at this time is woefully limited. A measly eight coupons. And while my regional chain, Kroger, is a partner store, the full list is quite limited. But I have high hopes that my cutting and sorting days will soon go the way of the 8-track, so I'll be checking back.

Shortcuts is free to anyone with an AOL or AIM account.

Kyran Pittman blogs about life at Notes To Self, where her musings on culture, soul and laundry have been picked up and published three times by Good Housekeeping magazine.

Baps. Spotted Dick. Bubble 'n' Squeak. A nice fry-up.

One doesn't normally associate good food with Britain, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson notwithstanding. That's why this latest British invasion is such a delicious shock.

Fresh & Easy, the new grocery chain opening stores all over Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, is an all-out attempt by British giant Tesco to conquer the American shopper, and by default, their tastebuds. Judging from the way people are buzzing about the stores, it might just be onto something.

Are you ready to confess your money stories? The good and the bad? You can tell the whole world about how you're ruining your credit history or climbing your way out of debt at sites like Geezeo.com.

The site gives consumers tools to manage and track their accounts and budgets. Its web-based applications give you secure access to your checking accounts. But even more attractive to many of the members is the chance to talk with others about your financial exploits. The tales shared by user range from the minor ("I overpaid my credit card by $500) to the serious ("I'm in $30k of debt and my husband doesn't know.")

Experts say that sites like Geezeo are fueled by the "MySpace generation"... younger adults who are willing to share intimate details about their lives with the rest of the world. Users should be careful though: You don't know who's really giving the advice you seek on the site. Do you really want to take advice from a money dummy? Are the suggestions they're making sound? Could you really be worse off if you follow their guidance?

A site like Geezeo can be a fun way to help get your spending in check and create a stronger financial future for you and your family. As with anything you find on the internet, use it with caution.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Raising children can be a challenge. It can be an even bigger challenge in a single income household. But perhaps the biggest challenge to successfully raising children is when one parent is required to do it alone. Aside from all the regular chores and details of child rearing there is one important question which must always be considered by families and single parents alike; Where is the money going to come from?

I'm very lucky in the fact that while my wife is a stay at home mom, something I consider a personal luxury for me, she's a very industrious woman and has never lacked personal drive. She has always been able to contribute to our financial health while at home wearing the badge of mom. However, she has me around for backup and she has found various income opportunities which haven't required her to meet an employer's arbitrary schedule. The situation is quite different when there is just one parent in the home. What exactly can single parents do to provide financial stability for their household? How do they cope? Where can they go?

A recent article by Forbes provides some employment suggestions for single parents. It highlighted some flexible career options, including sales, real estate, and health care. I'd like to expand on some of those suggestions and add a few of my own. Please don't consider any of these ideas to be gender specific. I believe that these ideas apply to single dads as well as single moms. After all, we all have to buy groceries to buy.

Headlines scream that gas prices have hit an eight-month high at $3.137. I can hear the moaning now. Poor consumers! However will they manage???? Higher gas prices are no fun for anyone, and they're especially painful for the individuals and businesses who must log a lot of miles to get their work done. But for the average American, these higher gas prices can easily be weathered.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There's plenty of fat to be trimmed from most American household budgets. When gas prices go up, the first place you should look to trim.... is your consumption of gas. Focus on running all your errands at once, carpooling when you can, walking to your destinations, and maybe even (gasp) staying home a little more. For the last few months I've been focusing on not making unnecessary trips in my car, and I've been amazed at how much gas I've saved with just this small change.

If that's not enough to rescue your household budget, start looking toward entertainment expenses and optional spending like dining out, smoking, alcohol, and junk food. Consider being more frugal at the grocery store and even clipping a few coupons to save a few bucks here and there. I'm not saying we're all going to be millionaires by shaving a few dollars out of our budgets each week, but I think most people would agree with me that they could shave some money off their budgets if they really wanted to.

And hey... walking is good exercise, so maybe we should all consider doing it a little more in light of the rising gas prices.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

When I was 16 I drove my parents' used '85 Subaru station wagon (a.k.a. The Silver Bullet). I was just thrilled to be behind the wheel of something with four moving tires. I could pack at least five friends in it legally and a few more if we avoided driving by the Dairy Queen in our small Texas Town. That was where you cops drank coffee.

The Bullet was great on gas mileage and 100% paid off. In fact my parents never took a loan out on a car. They bought used vehicles in good condition with whatever they had in their bank account. Now, we didn't live under a rock, our family had two credit cards, but they either always had low or no balances on them. This lack of debt wasn't because they had a lot of money to pay off cards off each month; it was because they never spent a lot on things that they "wanted." They only made purchases they needed.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:

You deposit your paycheck into your account. The check is drawn on a major bank; however, for some reason, your bank doesn't feel like cashing it for a week or so. When they finally do credit your account, your rent check (which was presented a week after your paycheck) appears to bounce because your paycheck still hasn't been credited to your account. Your bank covers the rent check, but hits you with a $25 (or $35 or $50) fine for insufficient funds, even though they've basically been holding onto your money for a week.

Maybe this has never happened to you. Perhaps you have direct deposit or bank at the same company that handles your paycheck. Still, chances are that you've been hit with a questionable or extravagant fine from time to time. If nothing else, you may have simply withdrawn money from an ATM that isn't owned by your bank, leaving you with a $2-3 fee from the ATM and another buck or two from your bank. A few moments later, and $3-5 lighter, you find yourself wondering why, exactly, the bank needs to charge you so much for a measly $20.

What would you do if you got an unexpected windfall of $100,000? Would you run right out and spend it as fast as you could? Would you save it for a rainy day? Would you do a little bit of both? Would you give it away?

Unfortunately, I've seen many people squander their windfalls. They feel like they owe it to themselves to "treat" themselves to some nice things, and before they know it, their money is gone.

What does $100,000 get you these days? Well suppose it's an inheritance on which you don't have to pay taxes. Stop and figure out how long $100,000 would last you if you weren't working and you were fairly conservative with your money. That helps put things into perspective.

My best advice is to sit down and figure out a strategy for the money before you start spending. It's a little hard to un-spend the money, so you want to take into account any savings goals and debt pay down that you're working on.

People frequently tell me they'd love to pay down debt using the snowball effect or the round robin strategy, but they just don't have the extra funds needed to pay off their cards. If you're having trouble finding the extra cash to pay down credit cards, it's time to do some soul searching and put yourself on a cash diet.

The best way to find your extra funds is to keep a journal of every penny you spend for a month. And, yes, I literally mean every penny. Carry a small notebook with you and write down even that cup of coffee you buy in the morning on your way to work. Don't grumble. Yes this is a tedious process, but if you take the time to do it for a month, what you will learn about your spending will be eye opening.

At the end of the month, it's time to analyze your spending. As you look through your spending journal, put a numeral one next to all the must pays. This would include your mortgage or rent, your utilities, your food and any other bills that must be paid. Put a numeral five next to all items that you didn't need and you could easily do without. Put a numeral two next to items you believe you need but are not an absolute necessity. Put a four next to items you didn't need and could probably do without. Put a three next to items that you don't feel strongly about and don't need, but do want.

I don't know anyone who enjoys living on a budget. I do know some that believe this necessary evil is what helped them get out of debt and is keeping them debt free. Yes, putting yourself on a budget does sound like a grim thing to do, but if you want to get a handle on your spending it's an absolute necessity.

In the post, "Finding the cash to pay down debt," I talk about the importance of keeping a spending journal for the month and how you can use that exercise to find the extra cash you need to pay down debt. After you get that debt pay-down started, you can solidify your decision to get your finances under control by developing a budget based on what you find in the analysis of your spending. List all the 1s and 2s. They will become the core of your budget. Decide which 3s you want to leave in as part of spending.