Making it on $250,000 a year (WaPo business section, front page, Sunday)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And where can you get takeout for a family of four for $25 per night, other than at McDonald's? We do takeout maybe 3 times a month, but it's at least $60 per time.

We get Pho for four for about $25.00.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$60 = two soups, one appetizer, four entrees from Tara Thai. We certainly spend more than $25 any way you slice it for takeout. Then again, I have two children with large appetites. When I cook, I know I have to make enough for 6 servings to feed the four of us.

Tara Thai is high-end takeout. Which is fine, but no wonder it costs "at least" $60. That's like saying a sweater costs "at least" $100, when the assumption is that you shop at Nordstrom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find Giant and SW very expensive. I'm lucky to have a Wegman's near by.

If you cool from scratch, I find that I can feed a family of 4 (kids under 5yrs old) on $100 in groceries, PLUS one night eating out.

This means the main fruit and veggies are apples, grapes, broccoli, green beans, winter squash, clementines, and sweet potato (this time of year, more opens up in the warm weather). We do a lot of lentil soup with anduille sausage (a $6 package of it goes in the whole soup that lasts 2 nights). We also grill chicken breast (we buy organic in bulk from Costco) on Sunday nights. 6 breasts last all week...they go on green salads, in quesadillas, in soups, in stirfry, and the leftovers get made into chicken salad.

Cooking/shopping on a $100 weekly budget takes A LOT of planning. I would love to offer classes of some sort, I think busy families on a budget would benefit from meal and grocery plans to get them on the right track. Though I think a family on a budget might not want to pay for such a class!

Are you sure you're not forgetting to count some items?

One week will have 21 different meals. I'll spot you 2 meals, since you're eating out one night, and perhaps eating the leftovers for lunch the next day. But you'd better have a lot of leftovers, because no one in your family can eat anything else for that meal. So $100/week for 19 meals means you're spending only $5.26 per meal for an entire family of 4. That's $1.32 per person per meal.

Your $6 package of andouille sausage better last 2 meals, because it exceeds your whole family's budget for 1 meal. Take a look at the flyer for Wegman's -- http://flyer.wegmans.com/wgm/Default.aspx?z=WM&s=Woodmore&n=40&ad=20101212erft6yujki9ocg&d=12/12/2010

I'm sure it can be done, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who do it. But truly spending only $100/week for 4 people is hard. Here is an article I found online where someone with a family your size tries to do it, and she doesn't quite make it -- http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/CanAFamilyEatOn100AWeek.aspx ... and that was from 2008, so prices are higher now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find Giant and SW very expensive. I'm lucky to have a Wegman's near by.

If you cool from scratch, I find that I can feed a family of 4 (kids under 5yrs old) on $100 in groceries, PLUS one night eating out.

This means the main fruit and veggies are apples, grapes, broccoli, green beans, winter squash, clementines, and sweet potato (this time of year, more opens up in the warm weather). We do a lot of lentil soup with anduille sausage (a $6 package of it goes in the whole soup that lasts 2 nights). We also grill chicken breast (we buy organic in bulk from Costco) on Sunday nights. 6 breasts last all week...they go on green salads, in quesadillas, in soups, in stirfry, and the leftovers get made into chicken salad.

Cooking/shopping on a $100 weekly budget takes A LOT of planning. I would love to offer classes of some sort, I think busy families on a budget would benefit from meal and grocery plans to get them on the right track. Though I think a family on a budget might not want to pay for such a class!

Are you sure you're not forgetting to count some items?

One week will have 21 different meals. I'll spot you 2 meals, since you're eating out one night, and perhaps eating the leftovers for lunch the next day. But you'd better have a lot of leftovers, because no one in your family can eat anything else for that meal. So $100/week for 19 meals means you're spending only $5.26 per meal for an entire family of 4. That's $1.32 per person per meal.

Your $6 package of andouille sausage better last 2 meals, because it exceeds your whole family's budget for 1 meal. Take a look at the flyer for Wegman's -- http://flyer.wegmans.com/wgm/Default.aspx?z=WM&s=Woodmore&n=40&ad=20101212erft6yujki9ocg&d=12/12/2010

I'm sure it can be done, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who do it. But truly spending only $100/week for 4 people is hard. Here is an article I found online where someone with a family your size tries to do it, and she doesn't quite make it -- http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/CanAFamilyEatOn100AWeek.aspx ... and that was from 2008, so prices are higher now.

Not the PP you quoted but I can feed my family for $100. A huge savings comes from not purchasing bread and avoiding processed foods. Foods like oatmeal and cream of wheat are cheap and filling and make a great breakfast. I pack sandwiches for the kids on home baked bread, a piece of fruit, and water or milk to drink. Two lunches cost less than $2.00 vs. the school lunches that cost $2.50 each. Home cooked dinners are a little more expensive but and DH and I will eat the left overs for breakfast and lunch the next day or two.

[Anonymous]

The grocery prices in the WaPo article were derived from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan. Believe me *A LOT* of research goes into developed the Thrifty Food Plan. First, meals must meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the prices for foods come from Consumer Price Index developed at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (part of the Dept of Labor). It includes very few convenience foods. My point being that those costs were not created out of no where. If your cost of eating is significantly less, you are either not following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (and you can still be healthy and not follow these guidelines), you are getting incredibly good deals, or you are forgetting to calculate in ingredients that add up over time (a 1/4 cup oil here, cup of sugar there, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find Giant and SW very expensive. I'm lucky to have a Wegman's near by.

If you cool from scratch, I find that I can feed a family of 4 (kids under 5yrs old) on $100 in groceries, PLUS one night eating out.

This means the main fruit and veggies are apples, grapes, broccoli, green beans, winter squash, clementines, and sweet potato (this time of year, more opens up in the warm weather). We do a lot of lentil soup with anduille sausage (a $6 package of it goes in the whole soup that lasts 2 nights). We also grill chicken breast (we buy organic in bulk from Costco) on Sunday nights. 6 breasts last all week...they go on green salads, in quesadillas, in soups, in stirfry, and the leftovers get made into chicken salad.

Cooking/shopping on a $100 weekly budget takes A LOT of planning. I would love to offer classes of some sort, I think busy families on a budget would benefit from meal and grocery plans to get them on the right track. Though I think a family on a budget might not want to pay for such a class!

Are you sure you're not forgetting to count some items?

One week will have 21 different meals. I'll spot you 2 meals, since you're eating out one night, and perhaps eating the leftovers for lunch the next day. But you'd better have a lot of leftovers, because no one in your family can eat anything else for that meal. So $100/week for 19 meals means you're spending only $5.26 per meal for an entire family of 4. That's $1.32 per person per meal.

Your $6 package of andouille sausage better last 2 meals, because it exceeds your whole family's budget for 1 meal. Take a look at the flyer for Wegman's -- http://flyer.wegmans.com/wgm/Default.aspx?z=WM&s=Woodmore&n=40&ad=20101212erft6yujki9ocg&d=12/12/2010

I'm sure it can be done, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who do it. But truly spending only $100/week for 4 people is hard. Here is an article I found online where someone with a family your size tries to do it, and she doesn't quite make it -- http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/CanAFamilyEatOn100AWeek.aspx ... and that was from 2008, so prices are higher now.

Not the PP you quoted but I can feed my family for $100. A huge savings comes from not purchasing bread and avoiding processed foods. Foods like oatmeal and cream of wheat are cheap and filling and make a great breakfast. I pack sandwiches for the kids on home baked bread, a piece of fruit, and water or milk to drink. Two lunches cost less than $2.00 vs. the school lunches that cost $2.50 each. Home cooked dinners are a little more expensive but and DH and I will eat the left overs for breakfast and lunch the next day or two.

This might work if you pretty much make a job out of frugally feeding your family, as PP obviously does. It's a great thing to do and very healthy, but for those of us who have other jobs it's just not realistic. In the hour a day I have with my kids and on weekends I'd rather be spending time with them than baking bread and packing lunches. But of course, the flip side is I make a comfortable living that enables me to buy high-quality pre-made food. It is expensive, though, and my income doesn't go nearly as far as it would if I also had the time to shop around for ingredients and make every meal from scratch.

[Anonymous]

I don't think $100/week is that crazy. We are close to that and I never make bread. The kids are still young and don't eat much, and we don't eat much meat, which definitely keeps the price of groceries down. I shop for staples at Trader Joe's which I find cheaper than the more mainstream grocery stores. I don't buy cereal because my family will eat a box in a day. We eat oatmeal or eggs for breakfast, pancakes if we have a lot of time. I eat yogurt and some fruit for lunch, and the kids eat peanut butter. I'm not making a huge effort to be super frugal, we just find that we don't go through that much food. If we buy packaged food, we tend to overeat, but when it's not there I don't miss it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. We are moving to Bethesda (2 kids in public), with less than half of that income. We have computed we will do quite well.

I think the hypothetical family they were talking about had 2 kids in daycare. If you don't have daycare expenses (or private school tuition) that is where you will see signiifcant savings... although perhaps you have aftercare expenses?

[Anonymous]

Also PP -- seriously? You are moving to Bethesda with a HHI of less than $125K? How on earth are you able to afford a house there on that salary? That's quite low by dcum standards. Our family has a HHI of just $110K and we are living in Prince George's County because of it. (And loveing it here -- but I never thought we could afford to live in Bethesda.) Do you have a significant downpayment from equity in your house or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And where can you get takeout for a family of four for $25 per night, other than at McDonald's? We do takeout maybe 3 times a month, but it's at least $60 per time.

We get Peruvian chicken takeout once/month or so, from a little place down the street in Silver Spring. We spend about $18 for a roasted chicken and three sides. It feeds the four of us (two adults, one teenage boy, one tween boy) and sometimes we have leftover chicken.


$60 for takeout is absurd.

I'm guessing you have young children who do not each much? Have you tried to feed a family with two teenage boys on $25 takeout?

A family of 4 at Chipotle can easily cost $40--even without fountain drinks. Add a bag of chips and a couple of guacs, you're past $45. And I'd hardly call Chipotle "high end" take out.

I have a 3 year old, 18 month old, and 15 year old. Last night we ordered chinese take out. The two youngest two ate a chicken fried rice and garlic broccoli by themselves. My 15 year old ate an orange chicken, fried dumplings and his own fried rice. This is already $30 w/out adding in my food. Then add in DH and there you go - $65.

[Anonymous]

This might work if you pretty much make a job out of frugally feeding your family, as PP obviously does. It's a great thing to do and very healthy, but for those of us who have other jobs it's just not realistic. In the hour a day I have with my kids and on weekends I'd rather be spending time with them than baking bread and packing lunches. But of course, the flip side is I make a comfortable living that enables me to buy high-quality pre-made food. It is expensive, though, and my income doesn't go nearly as far as it would if I also had the time to shop around for ingredients and make every meal from scratch

My job is not frugally feeding my family and I do indeed work. It takes me five minutes to throw all the ingredients in a breadmaker and press a couple of buttons. It took me a little bit more time to throw a corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot. I spend the little time I have with the kids, with the kids, not being a slave to scratch meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And where can you get takeout for a family of four for $25 per night, other than at McDonald's? We do takeout maybe 3 times a month, but it's at least $60 per time.

We get Peruvian chicken takeout once/month or so, from a little place down the street in Silver Spring. We spend about $18 for a roasted chicken and three sides. It feeds the four of us (two adults, one teenage boy, one tween boy) and sometimes we have leftover chicken.


$60 for takeout is absurd.

I'm guessing you have young children who do not each much? Have you tried to feed a family with two teenage boys on $25 takeout?

A family of 4 at Chipotle can easily cost $40--even without fountain drinks. Add a bag of chips and a couple of guacs, you're past $45. And I'd hardly call Chipotle "high end" take out.

I have a 3 year old, 18 month old, and 15 year old. Last night we ordered chinese take out. The two youngest two ate a chicken fried rice and garlic broccoli by themselves. My 15 year old ate an orange chicken, fried dumplings and his own fried rice. This is already $30 w/out adding in my food. Then add in DH and there you go - $65.

Where are you ordering this from? That's pretty pricey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. We are moving to Bethesda (2 kids in public), with less than half of that income. We have computed we will do quite well.

I think the hypothetical family they were talking about had 2 kids in daycare. If you don't have daycare expenses (or private school tuition) that is where you will see signiifcant savings... although perhaps you have aftercare expenses?

I am the one you quoted. Sorry, I realized my family status is not quite equivalent to the WaPo hypothesis: DH makes 105K, DC1 will got to public next year (currently private K), while I stay home to look after DC2. No debt. Biggest game -changer is that we do have investments which paid our downpayment and will be used towards our mortgage.

So I recant.

[Anonymous]

What I'm curious about is whether anyone on DCUM actually pays only $19,000 annually for daycare/camp/after-school care for 2 kids, as budgeted in this article. Last year, we paid around $30k for our two kids (both then in daycare). Unfortunately, our child-care costs have not decreased since our oldest started school, just shifted from daycare to babysitting costs + preschool tuition. We're now expecting our third and next year our child care costs will exceed our mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Graphic makes no sense to me: "in these high cost communities would have to cut back"?

against what standard? we live on $250k, live within our means, and seem to have money for whatever we need/want to do. It really isn't so hard.