She posts her receipts and menu ideas in the article, too.
She did a great job and proves that it can be done and fairly easily. All you need is a little bit of ingenuity and persistence. If you put your mind to it, you can achieve almost anything.
Seeing what she and her husband did makes me want to take on the challenge, too. Pretty sure we could do it!
If they can buy seeds and plants for gardening with food stamps, they can damn sure buy them on minimum wage. Learning some simple skills like canning and dehydrating also help stretch every buck.
Of course the headline implies they were trying to live on 77 bucks rather than feed themselves on 77 bucks.
A few other tips.
She could probably have saved 30% or more by shopping at Aldi’s.
The public library has movies for free.
I haven’t bought any shirts or pants from a retail store for five years. I hit the Salvation Army once a week on the 50% off day and see what they’ve got in my size that’s any good. I have a very extensive wardrobe now of business casual shirts, most of which would cost $50 to $100 retail. I paid $2 to $3 each. Also found amazing buys on linens, cutlery, cookware, etc. The key is to hit the store regularly.
Admittedly the SA bit isn’t for everybody, as what I’ve done is trade time for money.
When I was a broke college student, I had the following very short grocery list:
bread
eggs
jarred tomato sauce
cheese food “singles”
canned tuna
optional:
Carnival hot dogs (59 cents a pound)
Cheapo bologna (99 cents a pound)
With just those ingredients and a toaster oven and a hot plate, I was able to have a surprisingly varied menu for not much money, without having to spend a lot of prep time cooking.
I just realized, I ALREADY do this. I go shopping about once a month for my family of 4 and I spend about $300
I buy actual ingredients- not pre-made and boxed foods
3 dozen eggs, some peanut butter, milk, cheese, hamburger or ground turkey, onions, green peppers, canned tomatoes, a couple of chickens... heck I even get some steaks some times.
when you blow more than $77 a day on restaurants it seems like a tiny little amount of money. They should be forced to live on it for a month or two. for just a little more ($500) I would even get the occasional lobster
The interesting part is $77/week AFTER housing. If you make minimum wage, you don’t get to live by yourself - you live with a spouse, parents, roommate.
At $290/week full time, that’s 1200/month. We’ll say 1000 after Social Security and Fica. They are assuming you’re spending $700 a month on housing, which is insane if you have 1000 take home.
Take that $700/month apartment and share it with one or two roommates or move in with a relative in a 800/month house for $400/month rent and utility share.
Their mistake is assuming a person making minimum wage has a non-efficiency apartment to themselves.
And not getting EITC, SNAP and other benefits many of them get.
Perhaps what this challenge really proves is that too many politicians have no clue how to plan and live within a budget.
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Bingo. Most of us who live in the real world could make it work.
Who earns $77 in a 40 hour work week?