Sunday, December 8, 2013

No More Ramen! Healthy Food on a Budget




The phrase “starving college student” is often thrown around as a joke, but with the cost of living these days being a starving college student has become a reality for many.  It’s easy to use a limited budget as an excuse to eat unhealthy foods because they are cheaper, but there are many alternatives and avenues one can take in order to eat healthy food on a budget.  Here are some tips!

Buy one or two extra canned or dry food items every time you shop.  This will help to build your pantry, and will prove to be helpful when money becomes extra tight.  It’s a safe way to plan for the future, and will allow you slightly more freedom to buy quality foods when your pantry is stocked.

Be aware of the dirty dozen.  Buying organic fruits and vegetables can be a huge drain on your wallet, but should be balanced with the understanding that the pesticides that reside on fruits and vegetables we eat can be harmful!  Here is a link to a website that lets you know which fruits and vegetables to only buy organic (the dirty dozen), and which ones don’t matter as much.



Grow some of your own. Seeds are cheap and easy to buy, and growing lettuce or basil on a windowsill takes little skill and a lot of patience.  It’s worth it to save the few extra dollars that you will once your small garden takes root.  In addition to this, check out the local farmers markets.  There is the student led Organic Vegetable Project that has a station on the Chico State campus every Wednesday afternoon, and the Chico farmer’s market is every Saturday morning. 


Pack a lunch!  Carrying snacks around with you all day helps to keep you accountable to buying meals, drinks, or snacks while on the go.  Plan on having at least one smaller meal per day, as this will help save you money as well.

Bad health is more expensive than good food in the long run.  Do what you can with the resources you have, and stick with it!



Friday, December 6, 2013

Get Involved this Holiday Season



The arrival of the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to give back to your community and the people you are surrounded by daily.  There are many opportunities that are available, from donating food to local food drives to supporting the organization of Toys for Tots.  To help you get started, I've listed some sites below to make it easy to get involved!

Opportunities at Chico State:
The Annual Giving Tree Program has kicked off for 2013!  The Giving Tree program has been a part of the Chico community for more than 20 years and is designed to promote the spirit of giving, community service and gratitude at CSU Chico during the winter season and throughout the year.  Everyone in the campus community is encouraged to participate!  And it's easy!

HOW TO JOIN IN: 
1)  Simply take a Gift Tag with a Child's Name and Age off of one of the Giving Trees located on campus.

2)  Purchase an appropriate gift for that child*

3)  Return the gift, UNwrapped with the original Gift Tag attached to it to one of the Drop boxes located on campus or to the CADEC office in SSC 180.

*The Giving Tree (CADEC) will donate your gift to the child at Stepping Stones or Northern Valley Teen Parent Program that you selected!
*Trees are Located:  BMU Lobby, SSC Lobby, CCLC, Sutter Dining, Student Health Center and CADEC
*Gift Drop Boxes Located:  BMU Lobby, SSC Lobby and Sutter Dining

Donate clothes, food, or toiletries to The Jesus Center:

Donate food to The Esplanade House:

Donate food to North State Food Bank:

Donate blood through Blood Source:

Donate toys through Toys for Tots:


The holiday season is a time of joy and giving, but it’s easy to get caught up in the materialistic aspect of this season.  I challenge you to get out and give back, and I know you will be glad you did.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The Student Learning Center is your friend


It’s that time of the semester where finals are right around the corner. We are all stressing and we have to admit, we might need some help studying. A good way to prepare for a test would be group study sessions with friends or people in the same class as you. Being able to go over the material with others can help you prepare for a test. A good tip would be by quizzing each other or making flashcards. Another great way to study would be the student-learning center on campus. The Student Learning Center provides group study sessions and tutoring in subjects you know you are having difficulties in. This can be located in SSC 340 and anybody there at the front desk will be willing to help. They can work around your schedule and make sure you have time to get your studies in. You don’t have to feel like you can’t do it. One other great thing is that students like yourself tutor you. You don’t have to feel intimidated or scared because they are people just like you and understand your difficulties because they had the same problem as you at one point.    

We know that studying is a hard thing to do. Sometimes we aren’t really dedicated to it or just tend to procrastinate. By attending these group sessions or tutoring it can boost your confidence about the class and test. It always feels good going into a test you know you prepared for and studied hard for, but we also know how it feel to sit there and feel absolutely hopeless and have no clue what you are doing. So, the student-learning center is just another one of our resources that we may or may not be aware of and need to be put to use. We are paying for it.

By: Erick

Monday, December 2, 2013

Hey, I'm broke!


The Envelope System-A Creative and Practical Way to Manage Money

College is a difficult season for the piggy bank.  Not only are we as students figuring out how to live well on our own, but suddenly there are all sorts of expenses and bills to be paid that we never knew about before, and this isn’t even stepping into the realm of the large sum of money that goes towards paying for college itself.  It’s easy to take the credit card and swipe away when making purchases, but that isn’t financially healthy in the long run, and will eventually cause a great deal of hardship and stress.  The envelope system is a simple and flexible money-managing technique developed by Dr. Dave Ramsey that, when properly applied, proves to successfully ease one’s financial difficulties. 
The main premise of the envelope system is to work within one’s earnings.  Each envelope represents a certain amount of money each month that you want to put towards a certain category.  You can have as many categories as you want, and any amount can be put towards each separate category, but you must never budget over your earned income for each month.  For example, one simple envelope system could have the categories of Food, Rent, Gas, Bills, Spending Money, and Savings.  Each of these categories is one envelope.  If I make $500 a month, $100 could go in the envelope category of Food, $250 could go in the envelope category of Rent, $50 could go in the envelope category of Gas, $50 could go in the envelope category of Bills, $25 could go in the envelope category of Spending Money, and $25 could go in the envelope category of Savings.  The amounts, of course, could be changed to fit any budget, and would depend on the rent and average bills each month. You are only allowed that amount of money to spend on the certain category, and once that money is gone you cannot “borrow” money from elsewhere but rather must be frugal and wait until the next paycheck. It is also important to make sure that one envelope category is Savings, and a great amount to start saving each month is at least 10% of your earned income.  Make sure that when implementing the envelope system that you keep a record of all transactions, purchases, bills paid, and paychecks earned.  Keeping receipts helps with the maintenance of this record, and not only will you most likely be surprised by where your money is going, but keeping a solid record helps to provide a perspective of how each paycheck is being spent, and can help you understand what to cut out of your budget if need be.
It’s true, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all system for managing money, and one system will work for one person while another system will work for another person.  Do find what works for you, and give it time.  Getting used to any new system, especially one that deals with something as heavy and important as finances, can be difficult and time-consuming at first.  I want to challenge you to try it, and give it a few months before quitting in order to grasp a full understanding of how the system works and if it will work well for you. 
For further information and tips on the envelope system, visit “Dave Ramsey’s Envelope System” at  http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dave-ramseys-envelope-system/lifeandmoney_budgeting/.

By: Tiana