Annette and Steve Economides don’t just clip coupons to save on groceries; instead, their monthly trip to the store is as meticulously planned as a mission of the armed forces.
“I go in as if I’m going in for a military strike,” Annette says of her monthly grocery run, in a phone interview from her suburban Arizona home. “[The] planning and executing takes less time than the four times a week that most families spend at the grocery in the one time.”
Annette reminds parents to keep their kids back at home or enroll older siblings to take care of the young ones, and then pay them for their time, which not only avoids the “gimmees,” but also teaches work ethic.
“Kids will destroy your food budget if they come to the store. I shop; [the] kids eat. This isn’t a majority rules. I don’t need to know what they like, [because] I pick the food.”
The Economides raised five kids on a salary that most singles would scoff at—$35,000 to be exact—all without incurring any debt and while teaching their kids plenty of lessons about frugality. Their lifestyle warranted them the nickname of “America’s Cheapest Family.” They launched a newsletter, and later a book entitled, America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On the Money. The book, which features quotes from their kids, is meant to help other American families get back on a financially-sound track.
Annette takes one day to plan her dinners for the month, then executes one day of shopping armed with her husband and walkie-talkies (so they can discuss sale items across the aisles). Finally, she takes a third day to cook fifteen dinners, which she then freezes, supplementing the barbeque in the summer and crock-pot in the winter.
“We get running so fast, we just give it a little bit of think,” says Annette. She doesn’t advise that all families take on the Economides cooking model, but sees where the typical family system has broken down.
“Families don’t sit down and have dinner every night, but we do.”
