Penny Pinching to Survive.

[Shell]

http://www.viewnews.com/2005/VIEW-No...t/4331611.html

I liked the article but she used to spend $1,000 a month for food??!!! :nerv: You have got to be kidding me!

[Sari]

For 4-5 people, I'd believe it. It's not that hard, especially if you're not trying to be frugal, and growing kids eat a lot!

[Telephus44]

For 4-5 people, especially if you eat out a lot... not that hard to imagine. DH and I regularly spend $25 for two people, and if we ate out twice a week - that's $200 right there.

[AmyBoz]

Great article! Thanks!

[pecunierrant]

Thats a great article, good for her for taking on the challenge of being frugal.
Food is a lot higher here where I live so theres no way we could feed our family of 5 on $300 monthly, I wish her luck on that.

Thanks for sharing it, very interesting

[frugalnana]

Thats alot of money for food. But she is right, sometimes you can spend and not realize where it all went. I know when my son was younger he was lactose intolerant and we had to buy products with soy in it at that time they came out with soy milk and it was $2.89 for half a gallon.

[many houseapes]

i think that she can cut her food budget to $300 for 5 people...we have 11 and at most, we spent $450 (when dh was working)..now its $250-350 a month. its rough, but its not impossible

[Cele]

http://www.viewnews.com/2005/VIEW-No...t/4331611.html

I liked the article but she used to spend $1,000 a month for food??!!! :nerv: You have got to be kidding me!

I think you misunderstood...she references a year of fast food:

"Twenty dollars a week is over $1,000 a year for fast food," she said.

I'm amazed at how much lower grocery prices are in some parts of the country. We don't have that advantage here. We're happy if we can get out of the grocery for $100/week.

[pecunierrant]

Ditto what Cele said. Food is so much cheaper on the mainland than here, its only in my dreams that we could get by on $300 a mo for 5.

[miss_thrifty]

Well its very high here for groceries too. The banana's alone went up to 89c/lb. Dear lord, way too much. The meat is ridiculous at times, I find that the lean ground meat is usually $2.99/lb but lately it's over $3. I can spend $6-700 in a month no problem, and thats with alot of dry goods to feed me, hubby and 2 kids. Meat, and veggies and fruit the most exspensive I ever saw.

[danni]

We were spending $900/mth for a family of 7. I've got it down to between $400 and $500 each month. I'm still looking for ways to lower it without sacrificing nutrition.