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By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
llewellyn.stephen@dailygleaner.com

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Count your pennies - literally.

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The Daily Gleaner/James West Pho

TOUGH TIMES: Jane Buckley, a consumer financial counsellor, sits at her desk Friday with a pile of cut credit cards and paperwork.

It may seem obvious, but experts say the best way to control your household budget in these times of wildly fluctuating energy and food prices and stock market chaos is to track all income and spending.

"When I was a poor student, I had another student who was quite wise ... who said the best thing to do when money is tight is keep a monthly account book," said University of New Brunswick economics Prof. David Murrell on Friday.

"You keep track of wasted money. If you do waste money, you know where the waste is."

He also said it's important to save money regularly. If you don't have the discipline to leave your savings alone, he suggests locking the money up in a 90-day GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificate).

Jane Buckley, a consumer financial counsellor with Family Enrichment and said the first thing she does when helping a family with money problems is look at income and debt and talk about ways to save money.

With the cost of gasoline up 26.3 per cent this August compared to August 2007, according to Statistics Canada, that means talking about the family car, she said.

"We talk about car pooling," said Buckley. "We talk about buses."

She said people are parking their cars, but they aren't giving them up entirely.

The price of food is up 4.5 per cent between August 2007 and August 2008 and that's another financial stress factor for families, according to Statistics Canada.

Families are being bombarded with messages to eat healthy food to avoid obesity, said Buckley. But costs for fresh vegetables are up 9.2 per cent and costs for baked goods are up a whopping 14.9 per cent, she said.

One good tip to save money on buying groceries is to only go to the store once a week, said Buckley.

Checkout lanes are festooned with temptations and the more often you shop, the more often you will succumb, she said.

"Our society is made up of impulse shoppers and our checkouts are designed for impulse shoppers," said Buckley.

Self-serve checkouts are great because there's nothing there to buy when you're waiting in line, she said.

She also recommended using flyers that advertise special prices for regular food purchases.

But sometimes the food budget can't stretch any further.

"A lot of people are using the food banks and the community kitchen who have never used them before," she said.

Although there's a lot of talk about the credit crunch in the United States, Buckley said it's still too easy to get a credit card.

She said it's not unusual to see people with credit card debt exceeding $40,000 walk into her office.

"People are living on their credit cards," she said.

Buckley said debt counselling is available to people who get in over their heads.

Finance Minister Victor Boudreau is used to dealing with a $6-billion annual budget and he has some advice for families.

"You look at your monthly budget and say, 'Is there something here we can do without?' " he said. "I do that on a routine basis."

Boudreau said one of the best ways he has found to deal with fluctuating costs of oil and home heating is to use NB Power's equalized billing feature.

"I know every month the bill is going to be the same," he said. "Others prefer to have the cheaper bills in the summer months and more expensive ones in the winter. I like to have a little certainty."