There’s no doubt that today’s families can use some help in balancing the household finances, and the Economides family, headed by a former ad sales exec and his homemaker wife, deliver the goods here. To an extreme.
As founders of the HomeEconomiser newsletter, the couple offers plenty of helpful tips on shopping and menu planning, saving, reducing debt, and cutting back on utilities. Most of Middle America, however, will probably find their habits overly harsh. Take, for instance, their shopping routine: they make one monthly trip to the grocery store, which takes up to five hours but costs them only $350. By freezing such items as milk, bread, and cheese for later in the month and using the more perishable fruits and veggies early in the month (saving such things as apples and carrots for the latter weeks), the Economideses feed themselves and their five children based on this one trip.
Even though some tips advocate what others might consider garbage picking and mooching, any family with money issues will find useful information here. Especially helpful are their household budgeting techniques, adaptable to any home.
I actually have been known to garbage pick and mooch.It’s not even too heinous, if you make a joke of it and let others mooch in return.
I appreciate your taking the time to read my blog and comment. I thought I would return the favor, and I’m so glad I did. I will check this book out, although I don’t know if I’m disciplined enough to follow some of the tips advocated, such as shopping just once a month. We are in lean times at my house and I’m open to just about anything. I’ll bet I can find it on amazon.com, used, for cheap. The Economides would approve!
Thanks Shari, I too have major doubts about being able to shop only once a month. In my house we do groceries at least once a week! I am getting better at making weekly meal plans, though, which has helped.