INPUT ARTICLE: Article: with soap and water before you cook. Get in the habit of always washing your hands with hot water and soap (scrubbing for at least 20 seconds) before you start cooking or preparing a meal. You should take special care to wash your hands well if you have used the bathroom before you start cooking, as you do not want bacteria from the bathroom to get into your food.  If you have pets at home, such as birds, turtles, lizards, or fish, you should always wash your hands well after handling them. Make sure you wash your hands with soap and water after you have touched them so you do not get any of their bacteria in your food when you go to prepare a meal. If you have a new baby at home, always wash your hands well after changing their diaper, especially if you plan to cook. This will prevent any feces or bacteria from getting into your food. Do not wash meat or eggs once you have taken them out of their packaging and are getting ready to cook them. Washing them can cause Salmonella bacteria to splash around in your kitchen and contaminate other surfaces or foods. Instead, try to cook them as soon as they come out of the package so the risk of Salmonella spreading is low. You should also thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables under running water. Fruits and vegetables can contain Salmonella on their surface and should be cleaned as a precaution. When you are cooking food like meat and eggs at home, you should always make sure they are cooked to a safe temperature. Cooking these items properly will kill any Salmonella bacteria and ensure you do not get food poisoning from your food.  Whole poultry should be cooked until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). Ground beef and pork should be cooked until they reach 165°F (74°C). Steaks and pork chops should be cooked until they reach 145°F (63°C). Make sure your eggs are cooked until they reach 160°F (71°C) or until the yoke appears solid and the whites appear cooked. Check that all fish and shellfish you prepare, such as shrimp or crab, has been cooked to 145°F (63°C). The flesh of fish or shrimp should appear pearly and opaque to ensure it is cooked. You should adopt a no raw egg or meat policy in your kitchen to reduce your risk of Salmonella poisoning. This means not preparing items like homemade ice cream, homemade eggnog, and homemade mayonnaise. You should also only eat your meat cooked and never raw in your meals.  Never microwave raw food, such as raw meat or raw eggs, as the microwave is not hot enough to cook these items properly. Always cook your food on high heat on a stove top or a grill. If you have a habit of licking the spoon of cookie dough before it goes in the oven, try to avoid doing this in the future. Cookie dough contains raw eggs, which can lead to Salmonella poisoning if consumed. If you have any reptiles, amphibians, or birds at home, you should try to keep them out of your kitchen. Place their water bowls in their enclosure or cage, never in the kitchen. You should also make sure you always wash your hands after touching your pets to avoid contaminating your food. You should avoid going into the kitchen at all if you are ill, especially if you have diarrhea or you are vomiting. You do not want bacteria or feces from your hands to get into your food. Try to have someone else prepare food for you if you are ill to limit the risk of spreading Salmonella and other bad bacteria to your food.

SUMMARY: Wash your hands Prepare your food properly for cooking. Cook meat and eggs to a safe temperature. Do not make food that contains raw eggs or meat. Keep pets out of the kitchen. Never prepare or cook food if you are ill.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: To calculate your payment amount you will need to know the interest rate, the principal amount and how long you will be making payments.  Interest rate. The rate of your simple interest payment plan will most likely be communicated with a number in percentage form. This percentage reflects the amount of money extra you will be paying given a certain amount of time. Usually the rate is annual - for example if your rate is 15%, the extra amount will be 15% of the principal for every year that you have an outstanding balance. Principal amount. This amount reflects your outstanding balance. For instance, if you bought a computer that costs $2,000 and paid $1000 upfront, you would then have a principal amount of $1,000 left to pay. Time period of payment plan. This is the amount of time between your first and last payment. The longer the period is, the higher the total amount you paid for your purchase will be. . You need to find out much extra is going to be added to your outstanding balance.  Identify your your variables. What is the rate, the principal and time period of your payment plan? Be sure to convert your rate into a decimal amount. To do this you need to divide the number in the percentage by 100. For example, if your rate is 15%, divide 15 by 100 - you will get .15, the rate in decimal form. Consider the period of your payment plan versus the period specified by your interest rate. Does the period of your payment plan fit evenly into the period specified by the rate? If not, you will need to divide your interest rate before you do any further calculation with it. Imagine the case where you will only be making payments for 7 months but the rate is given per annum. You will probably need to divide the annual interest rate by 12 in order to generate a monthly interest rate. Multiply your rate in decimal form by the principal (rate x principal). This tells you how much interest will accrue per period. For example, if the principal is $1000 and the annual interest rate is 15% (.15), then you will be paying $150 per year in interest. If the principal is $1000 and your monthly rate is 3% (.03), then you will have to paying $30 per month in interest. Multiply the amount of interest per period by the number of time periods you expect it will take you to complete your payment (interest accrued per period x periods). This will give you your total accrued interest. Say you know that you'll be paying $150 per year in interest and you will be paying off your purchase for 3 years – by multiplying these numbers ($150 x 3) you would find that your total accrued interest is $450. Add your total accrued interest to your principal amount (interest + principle). If you found that your total accrued interest is $450 and the corresponding principal amount is $1000, by adding these two figures you'll find that the total cost of your purchase is $1450. Consider how often you will be making your payment compared with the period in which you are accruing interest. Say the period in which you accrue interest is 3 years - if you are making monthly payments, there will be 36 of them; if you are making semiannual payments you will be 6 payments. Divide the total cost of your purchase by the amount of payments you will make.

SUMMARY:
Understand the variables of your payment plan. Calculate your total accrued interest Calculate the total cost of your purchase. Calculate your average payment amount.