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Tag: Budget

Are You Throwing Away Food (and Money and Time)?

Posted on by djbechard

Families living in the U.S. throw out about 15% of the food and 10% of the beverages they buy! This means that if your family spends $100/week on groceries you could be throwing away up to $25/week, or $100/month in discarded food! Imagine what you could do with that extra money – and with the extra time needed to shop for the food that gets wasted. Below are ways you can reduce waste in you your home to cash in on saving.

Organize. Save money at the grocery store by what you do before leaving the house. Check our food supplies and plan meals around what you already have. Use the oldest foods in your cupboard and freezer first. Make a grocery list for items you need to buy. Avoid buying perishables that aren’t in your menu plan. Or, adjust your meal plan if you buy perishables that you didn’t originally plan to get.

Buy fewer perishable foods in each shopping trip. Buy only the amount of fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, and other perishables that you can eat in a few days. Stuffing a refrigerator full of food makes it harder to know what is inside. Forgotten food is more likely to spoil. Buy canned, frozen, or dried foods to use until you shop again.

Serve small portions first. Rather than risk wasting part of a large served meal, plan to offer a second portions if you or a family member are still hungry.

Plan for “planned-overs.” You may have more product than a recipe calls for, such as the extra half package of some food. Or you may have more food than your family can eat at one meal. Make a plan to eat these foods later. Could you serve it for lunch tomorrow? Use it in a dinner salad? Freeze extras for later use?

Food patrol. Check in your refrigerator daily for foods that need to be eaten soon. If they are raw, cook seafood, poultry, and meats in the first day or two. Be creative, or find a recipe to use up certain foods. For instance, us a too-ripe banana in a smoothie. Chop rubbery carrots or other vegetables and cook them in a soup or in spaghetti sauce.

By: Jamie Rathbun

Back to School Budgeting

Posted on by djbechard

The excitement of a new school year also brings financial stress for parents as they work through the budget to pay for enrollment fees, school supplies, lunches and in some cases new clothes.

The earlier you can start looking at the prices of school supplies, the faster you will recognize a good price and be able to get that item at a good value.  Comparison shopping will allow families to price name brands versus generics and shop around for sales.

Back to school is a good time to talk about the cost of things with your children as well as how you make decisions about spending money.  This will help them learn and give them an understanding about finances that they can carry forward in their lives.

Spread out your purchases. Buy what you need now, and postpone some for later. When kids return to school at the end of summer, they could probably keep wearing their appropriate summer clothes and get the new clothes, shoes and coat when the weather turns cooler.

Keep saving in mind to start budgeting for extracurricular activities.  Have a conversation with your children about how many extracurricular activities they will participate in and what is most appropriate for their age. Include those costs in the family budget.

By: Brenda Langdon

Reducing Your Grocery Bill

Posted on by djbechard

We’ve all noticed that prices at the grocery store have been going up, but there are things that we can do to help reduce our costs. Below are tips to help you and your family continue to eat healthfully while not bursting your grocery budget.

  • Only purchase what you need. Oftentimes, the “wants” add unnecessary costs to your cart.
  • Shop store brands when possible. You may find your family will not even notice any difference. Brand name foods are often selected because of advertising or packaging.
  • Check unit pricing. The larger quantity size may not be a bargain. Check the unit pricing located on the tag on the shelf.
  • Watch for sales on fresh, canned, or frozen fruits and vegetables and purchase those.
  • Properly store fruits and vegetables. Make the most of what you buy and use it in a timely manner. See our guide Safe Food Storage: The Refrigerator and Freezerand Safe Food Storage: The Cupboard for more information.
  • Use ripe fruit in other ways such as a smoothie, quick bread, cobblers or crisps. This helps reduce food waste.

By: Ashley Svaty

Make A Spending Plan Now to Handle Emergency Expenses

Posted on by mjsaxton@ksu.edu

In 2019, nearly a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the U.S. Federal Reserve estimated that about 4 in 10 American adults could not cover a $400 unexpected expense.

The pandemic heightened those struggles for many.  The best way to weather tough times is to plan for them in better times. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ you’re going to need emergency money, It’s ‘when’ you are going to need it.

When people aren’t saving money for future uses, they often have to find other means to pay for unexpected bills, sometimes turning to high interest loans.

When we talk about health, a lot of times we are talking about your (physical) well-being, but your financial health is just as important.  Doing a financial checkup will help identify problems and chart progress then outlines some steps to achieve your financial goals.

People are emotionally tied to money and it may be because of the way they were brought up, such as their own family financial situation as kids. We are all to some extent tied emotionally to money, the spending of and saving of, how we spend it and what we do with it.

Spending plan is a fancy term for a budget. You say ‘budget’ and people think you have to tighten down and you can’t spend money. But if you say ‘spending plan,’ then people think, ‘oh I get to spend money.’  The term spending plan is used to indicate that you get to tell your money where it goes rather than coming up short at the end of the month.

By: Brenda Langdon

Balancing Your Family’s Finances

Posted on by mjsaxton@ksu.edu

Much of life carries some sort of risk, from natural disasters to vehicle accidents and global pandemics. Most risk also carries with it an impact on financial health.

When the consumer thinks about their finances and risk management, there are four ways to think about it.  Each involves taking stock in your own financial comfort level.

Avoid the risk – In some cases you may decide not to own items or participate in activities that could expose you to financial loss.

Retain the risk – It’s impossible to avoid all risks, so in some cases you may decide to cover any financial loss yourself. For example, if you own an older vehicle and decide not to maintain collision insurance, you retain the risk that you will have to pay to have the vehicle fixed if you are in an accident.

Reduce the risk – Taking steps to control or reduce the size or frequency of a financial loss is a way to reduce risk.  For example, by locking the doors of your house, you reduce the risk of theft in your home.

Transfer the risk – When you pay someone else to cover a financial loss you are transferring or sharing the risk. For example, buying insurance to cover losses.

Having at least some cash set aside for an emergency is good.  Depending on your situation that might be a relatively small amount or it might be more. Every dollar that you have in your emergency fund is a dollar that you don’t have to borrow from friends or family members or put on a credit card when something unexpected happens.

By: Brenda Langdon

Spending Plans for the Holidays

Posted on by mjsaxton@ksu.edu

Many families have experienced income loss this year and they may also be wondering how they are going to celebrate the holidays.

This year, the holidays may not be exactly like they have been in the past, but families can still get the essence of what’s important to them without spending as much money. You might think about what you might gain from these changes or adjustments.  It may even lead to some new traditions.

Set a dollar amount limit of what you are spending. Think about how many people are involved and how much to spend on each person. Start early so you can spread out the cost.

Thanksgiving, is a food-heavy holiday, you should plan now to take advantage of sales. Try to eat out of your cupboards in late October and early November to clear out space and help you cut grocery spending in those weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

For Christmas, keep a list of who you are buying for and what you are spending. Also, be sure to track the shipping information and make sure that you are getting all your purchases.  If shipping directly to the home of someone on your list, be sure to track that the package arrives.

One way to save money is to start scouting prices for gifts you plan to buy. The earlier you start, the more you are aware of prices, and you don’t feel pressured to make purchases at the last minute. Last minute purchases may lead to spending more on the item or having to pay for expediated shipping costs. Be careful when doing online shopping and using credit. By going into the store and shopping you can pay with cash and have a better chance of sticking to your budget.

By: Brenda Langdon

Medicare Open Enrollment

Posted on by mjsaxton@ksu.edu

The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is from October 15th to December 7th.  This is a once a year opportunity to review your prescription drug coverage for the coming year.  If you take this time to shop and compare plans, you may be able to lower your co-pays and out-of-pocket costs for 2021 by switching to a different plan.

Free, honest and confidential assistance is available through the Post Rock District Extension Office, to shop and compare prescription drug plans.

Even if you aren’t changing plans, make sure your pharmacy is still in your plans network next year.  Plans may change their network pharmacies each year.

Call the Post Rock District Extension Office to set up an appointment.  Meetings can be scheduled in the county in the Post Rock District that is most convenient for you.

By: Brenda Langdon