2022 Fall Home and Garden

2022 Fall Home & Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Sept. 23, 2022 Page 9 DO plan ahead for your meals perhaps a week at a time. DO make of list of what ingredients you need for each meal you have planned. DO check your freezer, pantry and spice rack and see what you have in stock, what you must have to complete your week’s menu plan, then DO add those specific items to your list. DON’T go shopping hungry Another good reason to not go grocery shopping after work is that you may be hungry. It is a proven fact that we tend to buy more, and do more impulse shopping when we are hungry. So DO go shopping after you’ve had a good meal. After lunch or after breakfast in the morning, grab your shopping list and head off to the store. DO NOT fall prey to impulse shopping It is so hard to do, but to stay on budget one must train him or herself to only buy what is on the list. There are enticements everywhere, from the feature items placed in the entrance of the store with big BUY NOW SAVE NOW signs. Stop and think. If you’ve not bought it before, and it isn’t on your list, are you really saving anything, or are you spending money you did not intend to spend. On the other hand, it might be something you are really interested in trying. There are a couple of DO’s for this instance. DO see how long the big promotion is going to last. DO note the price and how much you have to buy in order to get that price. Make a note of all this and later when you are not being influenced by that big colorful sign, think about whether or not you want or need to invest your money in that product. If it comes up YES, then add that item to your next shopping excursion. And of course, if the item is on your list, or something you use consistently and you have the money in the grocery budget to grab up a few extras, then do so. The point is, don’t be enticed into buying what you don’t need or don’t use. DON’T take people shopping with you that may push you to make impulse purchases Spending quality time with the children or spouse is not achieved in the grocery store. If the kids are going to see colorful boxes or enticements of “free toys inside” and push you to make an unplanned purchase, that is not quality time, it is stress time. If your spouse is a cookie monster that wants to try something new every time you go to the grocery, that is not quality time, that is stress time. CONTINUED u