With Black Friday only a day away, the holiday season is an easy time for people to find themselves in debt and experiencing financial stress.
That’s according to Carol Ehlers with ISU Extension and Outreach.
“The joy of being able to find something that's special for a friend or a family member that's very important too. But how important it is to be mindful of what we are spending,” she said.
Ehlers recommends consumers spend no more than 1.5 percent of their income.
She says shoppers should create a budget, a detailed gift list, and use cash instead of credit.
TransUnion’s Holiday Shopping Report shows more than half of Americans plan on spending the same amount as last year, with about 40 percent spending less.
Kaylee Koontz spoke about her shopping plans while watching Sioux City’s Holiday Lighted Parade on Monday.
Koontz plans to spend $600 on gifts, food and transportation.
*In other news, the holiday season can be a stressful time of year for people struggling with their monthly budgets.
This includes the higher number of people facing food insecurity, according to the CEO of the Food Bank of Iowa, Michelle Book.
“As I go out and visit our pantry partners, what I'm hearing from them is that the increase in the lines for food pantry service is made up of two demographics; one, it's young families with children who are working, or two, it's folks living on fixed income, people living on Social Security and disability,” Book said.
Book says about 40 percent of households don’t have enough money to cover basic needs, including food. She urges people faced with making tough choices to turn to food banks to help ease the financial pressure.
*A Cedar Rapids brewing company has released a new line of T - H - C - infused beverages — with five milligrams of hemp-derived T - H - C per can.
Iowa set new potency limits for consumable hemp products over the summer. Lion Bridge Brewing’s MoonDream drink is the first approved by the state to offer more than four milligrams of T - H - C per can since then.
The state’s limit for drinks is set at four milligrams per 12 - ounce serving, but Lion Bridge owner Quinton McClain says his drink is able to have more T - H - C by increasing the size of the cans.
“I started posing the question about, you know, can you do multiple servings at a smaller potency? And the response from the state was that, yes, you could do this,” McClain said.
MoonDream offers two, 2.5 milligram servings of T - H - C in each of its 16 - ounce cans.
