Comments on: Family of 5 Lives On Under $1,000 A Month

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:26:18 +0000

She was too extreme for me, personally. Very defensive as well. I agree wholeheartedly on setting priorities and that everyone's are different. I also completely agree with setting budgets, living within your means, and making the best of your life. I just found her blog extremely defensive if someone didn't agree with her position on whatever she happened to be blogging about. If people made alternate suggestions, she was not a happy camper.

I also agree that she's too much of a zealot for me. I don't give religion a second thought – everyone believes in something, to a different degree, or even nothing at all. To each his own. It seemed like to me (and certainly several others) that she is stifling her children, not letting them be free as they get older, a goal of 10 children and buying a 250 square foot movable home? Living in one room? Home schooling because in her words "no one knows more than she does in teaching her children." It's just not realistic for me.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:34:28 +0000

If you think of it as only 1% of her montly budget, it may not seem bad. But you could put it other perspectives–it is half a tank of gas or if she saved it in a saving account with interest, she would accumulate over $150/year. To each his/her own. Overall, I think she is doing well. I just found it to be an odd thing to waste money on.

By: retireby35

retireby35 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:40:42 +0000

Very interesting blog, I agree with the concerns about health insurance and retirement savings. Doesn’t seem like it is possible for her to survive without the government help she is also getting in the form of tax credits, low income utilities, etc… But overall, spending much less than we earn can be something to aspire to from reading her posts.

Another very interesting blog I read that also deals with spending much much less is http://earlyretirementextreme.com I believe the author there goes through how to live on 6,000 per year. Crazy stuff. Hah to me minimized expenses is 2,000 per month (assuming health insurance costs 600 to buy).
.-= retireby35´s last blog ..My First Cynic =-.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:45:59 +0000

$12.95 is 1% of her $1,000 budget, it's not really a huge deal.

By: Tina

Tina — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:18:57 +0000

Families of four in Argentina live on just about that…. and have to deal with hyperinflation. Necessity breeds creativy though, and people manage.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:17:59 +0000

@Miss M: In Maine, you grow glorious gardens in the winter and can and/or freeze the veggies for winter. My mom buys literally NO groceries in the summer (with the exception of things like cereal, milk, and butter, stuff like that). She goes to her garden in the morning and picks fresh veggies for her lunch and dinner. So delicious!!!

By: paranoidasteroid

paranoidasteroid — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:02:02 +0000

That's amazing, especially since Chad and I spend more than her leftover $282 just on food each month (for 2 of us!), and more than her total budget just on rent!

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:33:15 +0000

Emily did say that she and her husband don't plan to retire… I'd just be afraid of health issues that comes up. Especially with no health insurance. As for the kids, this might be unfair or .. I don't know (biased?), but like you, I think they are setting their kids up at a disadvantage. Money isn't it everything, until you don't have it.

By: Miss M

Miss M — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:19:49 +0000

I haven't checked out the blog yet, do they have any savings whatsoever? What about when that car breaks down, it doesn't sound like they could afford to fix it or to handle any other emergencies. I think it is possible to have a tiny food budget and still eat healthy, but it means growing a lot of your own produce. While that is feasible here in LA, I imagine Maine winters aren't very condusive to growing vegetables!

By: Heidi

Heidi — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:18:23 +0000

too bad she's a crazy religious NUT! Anyway, I hail from Maine (thankfully I moved far far away for college), and I have to say that living in Maine is really cheap if you don't own a home, and auto insurance is very inexpensive because it's so rural (read boring). I simply cannot imagine however, choosing to live in poverty and never having any desire to better my kids futures. And they do not have A PENNY of retirement savings! Can you imagine? They think god is going to take care of them in retirement. Somebody should really smack them for that attitude! I really do feel sorry for those kids.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:04:15 +0000

The $1,000.00 a month is somewhat disingenuous. They pay no income tax but due to the EITC and the child tax credit most likely get a very large tax return. That is probably what sees them through any shortfalls or emergencies. Not having insurance for 3 small children is scary to me. I am very accident prone and was a sickly child if not for insurance it would have cost my parents an ungodly amount of money to keep me healthy and in good repair. Reading some of her older posts I think she is vastly underestimating the cost of the size family she wants as well as the costs of homeschooling. If they can make it work good for them but I would never want to live my life or raise children that way.

By: jj1

jj1 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:23:48 +0000

I also think that she is able to live on so little because she gets government help in the form of reduced phone (landline) bills and probably electrical as well. Plus low income qualifies the children for low cost medical programs. You just have to be very poor to get these "benefits" and this family probably qualifies.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:57:06 +0000

I think her blog definitely gives me food for thought, but I agree that her life isn't one that I want to live. I think one can stay true to one's faith or personal philosophies and still achieve a financially comfortable life.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:55:27 +0000

I love food too! But I think that just as good food, or expensive hobbies, or extensive travels are priorities for people (who have willingly made tradeoffs in other areas of their lives for them), having a large family is a priority for Emily. And so she's making some *really drastic* cuts in her life to "afford" her kids.

Emily also seem to have a different philosophy that I don't necessarily agree with. I just really hope she gets insurance.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:52:26 +0000

That sounds very interesting! Here's what I wonder – is a couple who makes $250K but lives above their means and has $500K in debt any more "responsible" than a couple who lives within their means at $10K income? Would society frown more upon the former couple with, say, 5 kids, than the latter? Or the other way around?

I think the kids of the first couple would have a higher standard of living, but that might be a different debate all together.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:48:52 +0000

I think she mentioned somewhere that only satelite radio has a program that her husband likes to listen to (Fox News?), and that's the only luxury he asks for so they decided to make room for it.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:47:11 +0000

I can definitely see how homeschooling and childcare costs can be saved because Emily stays home with her boys (especially because all 3 of them are so young).

By: Investing Newbie

Investing Newbie — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:38:23 +0000

That is exactly what I thought. It just seems like the odd ball expense that could definitely be cut.