Personal Finance Questions: Rising food costs change habits
We asked: Are rising food costs causing you to change your diet?
By Helen Huntley, Times Personal Finance Editor
Published March 9, 2008
We asked: Are rising food costs causing you to change your diet?
We are actually eating a little better because I'm buying less junk food and I am planning meals and shopping for what I need in those meals. I'm finding also that I'm not cooking large, multicourse meals and everyone is okay with the decrease.
Marcia Jones, Spring Hill
We are buying produce from neighborhood produce stands rather than supermarkets. The quality and variety are just as good and the prices are much better.
Bonnie Jessee, St. Petersburg
I shop much more carefully, waiting for sales and using coupons. I shop for different items at different stores based on the weekly fliers. I also stock up when the pricing shows especially significant savings.
Kevin Horan, New Port Richey
Not yet, but when we shop, we are very conscious of the increases in the prices of food and, of course, gasoline.
Mike Wildfeuer, Clearwater
You asked
I use one credit card exclusively, so I decided to close the account of a card that has the least benefits. This will leave me with only two cards, and no outstanding loans. The associate told me that since this card is 21 years old, it may affect my FICO score. Is this true? If so, I will reopen the account, but with a very low credit limit.
Closing your old card will hurt because the longer your credit history, the better your score. But setting a very low credit limit also would hurt you because one factor in your score is the percentage of your available credit you are using. It is better for your score to use $1,000 out of a $10,000 limit than it is to use $1,000 out of a $2,000 limit.
My mother has a small pension from Canada in addition to her Social Security. Should she add this in with her Social Security amount on the 1040 for the stimulus rebate?
Your mother and others whose income is too low to pay taxes have the option of partially filling out the 1040A or 1040. That means writing "stimulus rebate" at the top of the form, completing the top section with personal information, filling in her Social Security benefits and completing bank account information under "refund" if you want a direct deposit of the rebate, then signing and dating the form.
Or she call fill out the form completely, which would mean including her Canadian income, interest income, etc. She would not add her Canadian pension to her Social Security, but would report it on a separate line.
I recommend that people who are not accustomed to filling out tax forms get help. Check the AARP Web site (www.aarp.org or call toll-free 1-888-227-7669 to find a free tax help site near you.
Next week's question: How has tighter credit affected you?
To ask a question, make a comment or answer the Money Question of Week, e-mail hhuntley@sptimes.com or write Helen Huntley, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Visit her MoneyTalk blog (blogs.tampabay.com/money) for more money information.