Enhance your palate, protect your wallet

Ruwanthi Abeyakoon

LIFE: With the rising food prices, you must be wondering how to give the best to your family. Sometimes it may be hard for you to spend a lot of money on food. "Am I wasting money on food?"

This question must have come many times to your mind or may be your husband asks you, "why do you need such a lot of money to do marketing?" Here are some tips that would help you cut down the money spent on food.

Tips like substitute eggs for meat, will not work. You have to take a new look at your family meals and develop long-range planning. This planning should be done before you stand in front of the shelves in the supermarket. First assume that you are running a small business - a family restaurant.

You are manager and your objective is to manage the amount of money you have and at the same time provide your family balanced, nutritious and pleasing meals. For this you have to study the eating habits of your husband and children.

First step: Make notes of what is bought, who eats, what, how much and when.

After two weeks you will have an idea of your family's eating patterns.

Sometimes the most expensive food you buy is the food you end up giving to your dog or throwing away.

Your research will reveal this costly waste and help you plan out better before buying food.

Sometimes you will notice that your children eat lots of snacks such as cookies and potato chips which cost a lot of money.

By the time they sit down for dinner they are not really hungry thus the food go waste.

When they come after school hungry don't take the easy way of giving them snacks till dinner. Instead you can prepare some sandwiches or a soup which is inexpensive for them. Knowing that they have had a nutritious meal in between you can prepare less food for dinner.

Another way that you waste money is assuming that the whole family is going to eat the same thing.

Adults and children may have different meal preferences. For example if your children like chicken and your husband prefers fish be flexible and buy the amount sufficient for them, wrap separately and freeze.

You also have to remember that it's not just about cutting down the cost but serving your family healthy meals too.

You should know the four main food groups - meat, fruit-vegetable, milk and bread-cereal and how much your family needs to stay healthy.

When you notice their eating habits you will come up with more ideas to lower the cost of meals without sacrificing nutrition.

Meanwhile, you can also start a backyard garden and grow spices and a few vegetables.

Keeping a notepad in the kitchen also comes in handy. During the week jot down the items that you need to replenish.

This way you can avoid frequent runs to your neighbourhood store.

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Make your Dream Home 2

Planning the design

You need to determine exactly what you need and want in your new home. Consider the major elements you would like in your new home, the style, the number of floors, the total area, the number of bedrooms and baths, size of the sitting room, car porch, kitchen etc. You probably have a design in your mind. Discuss with your family and ask for their opinion.

You can discuss with the friends/ relatives who have recently build a house about their experience and the cost they incurred. From that you could get an idea whether your plan will fit your budget. It is a good idea to analyze the positive and negative features of the house you lived in before. You will also want to choose a plan that suits the area in which you're planning to build.

Selecting Architect /Engineers

A good architect can build your dream home within your budget. It is important to find a good architect when you start planning seriously to build a house. A good architect doesn't mean, a busy person who have lots of offices and built so many houses nearby your area.

Instead of that you have to find out the one who is able to and has the time to, listen to your dreams and wishes about your home, make you understand the errors in your design, consider your needs and create a cost affective aesthetic design based on specific needs.

He should be able to handle layout problems or budget problems by suggesting good alternatives and that is also within your budget and then overall he must be a person who is able to understand you well. Ask your friends/relatives who have recently built their own homes about the architects/engineers they engaged. If they were reliable in terms of time as well as expense they estimated and the overall construction was satisfactory, you could make a choice among them.

One you have decided on the architect, give the details of your budget and also about your plan about the floorings, bathrooms, bed rooms etc. Fix the rate and terms of the payment before work starts. If you have any future plans like extension, partitioning, renting out etc. discuss them with the architect. It is better to ask for 2-3 plans of your idea and choose the best from that.

Choosing contractors

After selecting the architect and finalizing the design, then comes the most important part of your house building. That is choosing a good contractor and starting the work. When each brick is laid with cement and mortar, you can see your dream taking shape in front of your eyes.

Choosing a contractor is as important as choosing an architect. When you choose a contractor it is important to know about his previous work, his responsibilities, materials supplied by him etc. Compare the rates and terms quoted to you with at least three other contractors. It is advisable to check the contractors registration. Visit the contractors present work sites and get satisfied with his work.

Fix the rate and terms of the payment before work starts. Usually most of the building contractors could get all your paperwork done - like plan approvals, approvals for power connection, water connection etc. Once the construction work starts, you have to ensure that you make timely payments and visit the site daily to make sure that no unpleasant surprises are in store for you later.

The architects and contractors should have a real understanding between them. That is important for the smooth functioning of the construction work. There are some architectural firms who have all the facilities to handle the construction also. In such cases, one does not need to look out for a separate contractor.

Courtesy: Webindia