$15-a-week for food?

Wow, how time flies...I realize it has been a few weeks since I've posted something.

Here's a great article from one of my favorite blogs -- Get Rich Slowly. I like the motto, and I definitely like the advice.

This article reminded me of my last semester in college. I lost one of my three jobs (yes, three!) and it was the job that provided room and board, so I found myself trying to live on a fixed income of $615 a month. My rent was $290 a month for a tiny studio in a very bad part of town, and I had to pay for gas for my car (about $45) and for my telephone ($25). That left a scant $255 for everything else. Like the author of this article, I found that I could not eat out -- period. Not a soda, not a latte, nothing at all. I made everything from scratch, mainly living on whatever produce I could get cheap (10 pound bags of potatoes for $2.99 at the time). I had no packaged foods, no sweets, and the only drinks I could have were coffee, tea and water. I hardly had money for milk. I also went the oatmeal route for cheapness.

I don't know how I survived on so little those days, but I will say it was stressful. I want to save money, but I don't want to go back to the time when finding out the dollar movie was actually full-price would reduce me to tears (very embarrassing when with friends, I might add). Nevertheless, I will be thinking about how to curb our very bloated food budget, and add some more to our savings or towards our debt in the meantime.

From Get Rich Slowly:
1. Never allow leftovers to go bad.
2. Supplement with inexpensive foods.
3. Shop in the produce aisle.
4. Never eat out.
6. Avoid junk food.
7. Avoid pre-cooked foods.
8. Buy a basic paperback cookbook.
9. Don’t buy beverages.