{"id":28711,"date":"2010-06-09T13:00:43","date_gmt":"2010-06-09T20:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=28711"},"modified":"2023-09-28T12:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T18:58:20","slug":"extreme-personal-finance-eating-well-on-one-dollar-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/extreme-personal-finance-eating-well-on-one-dollar-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme personal finance: Eating well on one dollar a day"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last Thursday, Ron Lieber (who writes the “Your Money”<\/a> column for The New York Times<\/i>) posted an innocuous little tweet<\/a>:<\/p>\n This person will have book deal & Today show slot in 5 minutes. RT @marypilon Personal finance blogger eats on $1\/day. http:\/\/www.grocerycouponguide.com\/articles\/eating-well-on-1-a-day\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n To translate into plain English, Jeffrey from the Grocery Coupon Guide<\/a> blog undertook a little experiment last month. In response to a challenge from his sister he “ate well” on just a buck a day, thanks largely to his awesome shopping skills and couponing prowess.<\/p>\n Because I love stories of extreme personal finance, and because I haven’t highlighted one in a long time, I decided to take a closer look; I spent an hour reading about his project. Holy cats! This fellow’s shopping abilities are insane.<\/p>\n <\/a>If you don’t have time to read the entire series, at least check out day one<\/a>, in which Jeffrey documents the things he bought to get the project started. He photographed everything<\/i> he purchased and every<\/i> receipt, and describes exactly how you might be able to find similar discounts. It’s great stuff. (Near the end of his introductory post, he gives a sort of table of contents for the project<\/a> so that you can jump to the day you want.)<\/p>\n On that first day, he picks up two boxes of instant oatmeal, some cream cheese and some sour cream, ten apples, four boxes of wheat thins, a jar of peanut butter, two cans of pork and beans, a bag of rice, and two packages of tortillas. And he spent just $4.49 for all of this.<\/p>\n Here’s Jeffrey’s list of the ten things he learned while eating on $1 a day<\/a> for a month:<\/p>\n On the final day of his project<\/a>, Jeffrey summarized his purchases. During the month of May, he spent $27.08 to purchase $597.96 worth of food.<\/b> And because of the goofy rules he agreed to with his sister, he ended up donating a bunch of stuff to his local food bank. (The last post is entertaining because of the mistake he makes and then corrects; it had me laughing out loud.)<\/p>\n I like that Jeffrey has a realistic attitude about this project. While he thinks that anyone can do the same thing he’s doing, he also recognizes that living on a tight food budget puts you in a precarious position: “The problem with eating on a limited budget, when the unexpected happens…is that you can’t just stop into a fast food joint and grab a bite.”<\/p>\n Jeffrey was so pleased with the challenge that he decided to continue it. For the past week, he’s been chronicling his continued efforts to eat well for less<\/a>. (Though he’s loosened some of the arbitrary restrictions he agreed to when he was trying to prove a point to his sister.) I think it’s fun that his readers have started to give him tips and suggestions for finding other great bargains, which helps him keep his costs even lower!<\/p>\n Note:<\/b> Here are some past GRS stories about extreme personal finance: One month as a freegan, How to pay off your mortgage in three years, The man without money<\/a>, and the king of extremism, Don Schrader, who lives on $10 a day. Also welcome Lifehacker<\/a> readers!<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Thursday, Ron Lieber (who writes the “Your Money”<\/a> column for The New York Times<\/i>) posted an innocuous little tweet<\/a>:<\/p>\n This person will have book deal & Today show slot in 5 minutes. RT @marypilon Personal finance blogger eats on $1\/day. http:\/\/www.grocerycouponguide.com\/articles\/eating-well-on-1-a-day\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\n