Comments on: How We Accomplish a $50 Grocery Budget

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 14:02:11 +0000

Yup, the Dollar Tree and the Dollar General are also great places to shop!!

By: Charity

Charity — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:46:01 +0000

I am curious when you say “dollar store” which dollar store you shop at. We have dollar tree here. Maybe I should check them out!

By: BlondeMomBlog (Jamie)

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:57:00 +0000

I really want to try to get down to $100 a week.

We use cloth napkins, too, and I try to buy a lot of our cleaning products at Dollar General. I need to clean our dishwasher! Yikes!

My 5 year old is a super picky eater and there are a few very specific brand type snacks she MUST have. Sigh… She loves those Ritz Bitz cheese crackers. We buy them in bulk at Sam’s. My 3 year old will eat anything.

My goal is to really get better at this. We have a lot less going out budget wise this year with my oldest now in kindergarten and not daycare and my youngest no longer in diapers. Yee haw!

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:54:00 +0000

I think you are doing a great job! There are 10 people in my household, and the lowest we’ve gone so far is about $250 for a month a couple of times, but that is just for food. (And it is does not offer a lot of variety.) With non-food items we are probably closer to $300/month.

By: amelia

amelia — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:38:00 +0000

Thanks so much for this post! Can't wait to see the exciting new things and search on Mom Advice!

Am I understanding you to say that you will run orange drink through an empty dishwasher to clean it?

I'm also wondering if you can give us a breakdown on your cleaners - your cleaner "recipe" and maybe room by room what you use to clean (bathrooms, hard floors, windows, etc). I love the ideas here because not only are the frugal, but you are throwing less away and not using chemicals.

Thanks as always!!

By: mama k

mama k — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:12:00 +0000

We do $75 a week, but I'm usually under. You have inspired me to cut back even more.

I need to cut back on the paper towels. I've already switched to cloth napkins, diapers and cleaning cloths. But "family cloth" is something I'll never do.
Another tip is using 1/4-1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar instead of fabric softener. There are lots of chemicals in commercial fabric softener that work by coating the fibers. Vinegar makes the clothes soft by helping to strip away all residue. (And no your clothes don't smell like vinegar.) I sometimes add several drops of Lavendar essential oil too.

Oh and would Crystal Light work in the dishwasher as well?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:13:00 +0000

Our budget is slightly higher, of course we have six. I do a lot of the same things.

Just want to second the Aldi dishwasher soap. I get the powdered which I assume is what you use also. I prefer it to any other brand.

Didn't know that about cleaning the dishwasher though. Thanks for the tip!

By: Kai

Kai — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:18:00 +0000

Wow Amy! You always have the BEST tips!

My husband’s Grandma just told me a few weeks ago to use Tang in my dishwasher….. I thought she was off her rocker! (I figured it would stain) But if I’ve read it here, it must be true

And we’re just as glamorous – TP is our Kleenex too!

By: Indie

Indie — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:17:00 +0000

I’m always curious about what kind of eaters those with low budgets have in their families. Three of the four in our family are skinny yet bottomless eating machines. I’ve pretty much given up on keeping up with the frugal Joneses.

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:39:00 +0000

Hi, Amy!

Great site. Great blogs. Love, love, love.

Long time lurker, first time commenter.

I'll be back for more!!