The local hospital wellness coordinator reached out to the Daviess County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent to do a Basic Budgeting program. It was a need she noticed from the employees that wanted a very basic budgeting program, not information on investments and IRA etc.… so after discussing the needs for the program, the Daviess County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent taught Basic Budgeting, including a Money Habitudes activity, to twenty-eight employees during two sessions.

Before the program the participants level of understanding of the difference between the terms attitude and habit as they relate to financial topics was low but after the program 80% of the participants had gained an excellent understanding of the terms in this area and 20% gained a good understanding.

100% of the participants plan to consider the advantages of their money habitude when planning their financial plan or budget. All but two plan to discuss what they learned from the Money Habitude lesson and information gathered from the Basic Budgeting lesson with a family member or friend. All participants agreed that the information was timely, easy to understand and practical. The participants received basic budgeting information including but not limited to, a Basic Budget Builder worksheet, menu planning information, low cost recipes, and resources on the Plane Eat Move website for recipes and the grocery budget calculator. 

One participant, after completing the program, said “it made me realize why I spend money like I do and I see patterns I need to break about my spending.”

This program will be taught via Zoom in the near future for more hospital employees who could not attend either in person sessions.