Grocery Saving Tips

Don't let rising grocery prices get you down. There are several ways you can reduce your food bills; it just takes a little more effort.

Tips
1. Clip Coupons
2. Look for Sales
3. Compare Prices and Sales
4. Buy Cheaper Brands (i.e. President's Choice, No Name)
5. Cook Your Meals rather than Buying Frozen Premade Meals
6. Don't Eat Out
7. Make Your Own Coffee
8. Bring Lunches to Work/School
9. Don't Waste Food (save leftovers)
10. Write a Complete Grocery List and Stick to It (do not impulse buy)

These steps will require you to sacrifice conveinence and time for savings. But it may be worth it since our economy is currently facing a recession.

Resources
Visit these (Canadian) websites for more useful saving tips:

1. Free Grocery Saving Tips - saving tips, coupon tips, flyers from hundreds of stores, frugal recipes
2. Grocery Savings - create a grocery list and compare flyer prices
3. Simple Debt Free Living - not a Canadian site yet still very helpful
4. Frugal Shopper - finds coupons in your area

Health Check
Do not sacrifice your health for savings. Often junk food and frozen dinners can be cheaper than fresh foods. Your a college student, it's okay to eat a frozen dinner every now and then. Just keep in mind that you need to get your proper servings and nutrition for the day. Keeping a healthy diet will help you to ward of winter viruses and keep you focused on school work.

Discussion: Are clipping coupons really worth it?

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Grocery Prices are Going to Increase

I found an interesting article from cbc.com that says grocery prices, in Canada, are going to go way up in the near future. Higher grocery costs will surely be a problem for college students living away from home. While we probably will not cut back on the amount of food we are buying, we may find ourselves cutting back on munchies.

"Brace yourself, Canada, for higher grocery bills

Thursday, June 12, 2008, CBC News, Tom McFeat

Any outsider looking at Canada's most recent consumer price index would be forgiven for concluding that we have somehow managed to dodge the food inflation bullet currently ricocheting around the world.

People in most countries are struggling with unprecedented price hikes in the most widely used foods. But a recent look at the cost of living in this country finds that the typical Canadian food basket in April 2008 was just 1.2 per cent more expensive than it was a year earlier.

A little more than one per cent in a whole year! Well done, Canada, we're apparently immune from the laws of supply and demand that dictate food prices everywhere else.
Well, it's time to put away the streamers, the experts say. The warning bells are already sounding. Analysts, farmers and grocery chains all agree that those checkout bills are about to get noticeably bigger.

A look inside the monthly price data from Statistics Canada quickly reveals some of the reasons why. Beneath the broad-stroke appearance of benign food prices lie some important anomalies."

READ MORE

Now it is more important than ever to compare prices, use coupons and generally be a smart shopper. My next posting will offer some tips and resources about saving money at the grocery store.

Discussion: What are your thoughts about the article? Was it interesting or informative?

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Don’t Wait to Write Study Notes

Complicated Exam Schedule: This semester I had an unusual exam schedule. I had an exam on Thursday from 2pm to 5pm and another than night from 6pm to 9pm. The next morning I had an exam at 8am to 11am. Because the exams were so close together, and my work schedule wasn’t too flexible, I had only two days to study for all three exams.

Study Recommendations:

* I recommend at least 8 hours of studying per class for final exams.
* Focus on areas that the professor had highlighted during lectures/review and omit material that is not included on the exam. When you can, do self-test questions via the Web, your text book, past tests and assignments.
* I find it helpful to write study notes that highlight areas of difficulty. Or if it is a complex class, I will write summary notes on every chapter/lecture.

The Challenge: I did not have enough time to study as I would have liked.

The Solution: I prepared for this challenge by writing most of my notes near the end of the semester (before exams began). I am going to follow this tactic next year by writing study notes each week to avoid the panic and distress of trying to scramble down notes. This will also result in better quality notes because they are written as the material is learned and more time is available to write them. At the end of semester you can go over the notes and make changes (ie crossing out unnecessary info, or adding more detail).

Discussion: Do you recommend any quick study tips?

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8 Exam Preparation Tips

EXAMS ARE HERE! I hate this time of year. But there are some ways to reduce the stress. These tips/hints are some strategies that I use when preparing for college exams.

Conflicts: As soon as you know your exam schedule make sure there are no conflicts (i.e. exams overlapping or more than two in one day). Do not panic if this happens to you. It is usually very easy to change an exam date due to conflict. Contact either your professors or program coordinator immediately.

Create a Study Schedule: I find this to be the most crucial part. It is important, especially during high stress times, to have a structured plan of attack. Determine how many hours of studying you will need each day until the exam. And for every day write down specific study goals.

Example: Monday December 3rd: 2 hrs to finish writing notes for Organizational Behaviour, 4 hrs studying for Organizational Behaviour – Chapters 1- 7

Try to leave some flexibility in your schedule in case you underestimated your needed study time or something unexpected comes up. I try to leave one day a week open for an opportunity to catch up if necessary.

Writing Study Notes: It is always helpful to write concise study notes for each class. They can be really short (fitting the whole course on one page). You may only need to write keywords or phrases so you can go over as a refresher or to test yourself. But it is also a good idea to write a little more detail about things you have trouble remembering.

Remove Distractions: This is very important. While studying, do not listen to music, watch TV, play games, talk to friends, or think about anything but studying.

Study Groups: This is something I do not usually do because I prefer to study alone. But you may find it very effective to test one another after you have done some studying, or swap study notes.

Other Responsibilities: Don’t neglect your other responsibilities like your job or cleaning your apartment/dorm. Plan your study schedule around these duties.

Take a Break: Be aware of info overload. Studying for too long of a time can make your brain become numb so that you cannot possibly pack any more knowledge into your head. Plan to give yourself short, interval, and frequent breaks so you can refresh your mind.

Personalize: Use the study strategies and techniques that work for you. Everyone studies differently and that’s okay as long as your idea of studying isn’t drinking beer and gambling online.

Making a plan will allow you to put your studying needs in perspective so you will reduce the likelihood of running into problems. These techniques should help you to study without the panic attacks or pulling out your hair.

Good Luck on Your Exams!

Discussion: What studying tips do you recommend?

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Tuition Increases to Help Canada Out of Recession

The financial crisis in the US economy is inevitably affecting us here in Canada. McGuinty wants to increase tuition fees for Canadian students to create more funds for the government. But according to an article from Canadian Business Online this is not the best way to help the economy. This article outlines some of the challenges we (the students) arefacing because of the recession.

McGuinty tuition fee increases no way to pull province out of recession and into knowledge economy

Nov 5, 2008 - 14:25 EST
TORONTO, Nov. 5 /CNW Telbec/

By allowing university tuition fee hikes of 4 to 8 per cent every year, the McGuinty Liberals are going in the wrong direction to pull the province out of recession, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. Instead, the province needs to graduate more students in order to build a strong, knowledge-based economy that will take it out of its new "have-not" status within Canada, according to CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Fred Hahn.

"Every year that this government raises tuition fees means that less and less young people are entering the workforce with the skills needed to fuel the success of knowledge-based industries," Hahn told thousands of students gathered at Queen's Park today to stop tuition fee increases. "And with every tuition fee increase, more working families lose the opportunity to send their kids to university."
The McGuinty government . . . read more

Discussion: What do you think? Should tuition fees increase to better serve the economy in a time of crisis? Or is it more important to educate future graduates?

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