Living on Less Than $28,000 A Year: How our family of six survives (and even thrives) on an income that is less than half the national median income, and what the government calls “below the poverty line” (less than $29,990 annually) for our family size. [Read other posts in this series here.]
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In my last post, I shared how we were motivated to get our finances in order because we made the connection between small every day decisions and the effect they have on our future. One of those small every day decisions we make differently now is choosing to drink only water.
If you read my post here then you already know our view on the difference between necessity food and entertainment food. We view drinks the same way: only water is necessary, all other drinks are optional (some would say a “luxury”).
That means we don’t drink alcohol or coffee (don’t scream at me please!), we use milk on cereal or in recipes only, and we reserve juice for frozen juice pops in the warmer months. I purchase soda occasionally if we are having a birthday party, and I have a box of tea bags for the occasional cup of hot tea my husband drinks in the colder months, but other than that we drink water. (I do also occasionally buy the kids “icees” for a treat.)
This choice reflects our primary Money Philosophy:
Consuming coffee, soda and juice is not a priority for us, and according to our pediatrician limiting juice and cow’s milk is a healthier alternative for children.
Before you discard this idea as too radical, consider the ways that making this daily “sacrifice” has benefitted our family:
Lower Grocery Bill
The first benefit of drinking water is that our weekly grocery bill is lower. Two liter bottles of soft drinks cost around $1.39 in our area, while juice averages $2.99 a bottle. There are no double coupon stores in my area, but by waiting for a sale and using a coupon, I can buy a 46 ounce bottle of juice for around $1.50.
Even with this savings, our family of six would spend $5.78 a week buying two bottles of soda and two bottles of juice. By drinking water instead we save a minimum of $300 on our annual grocery spending.
More Entertainment Value
Another way that drinking water benefits our family is by enabling us to get more “bang for our buck” with our entertainment spending, which means we get to have fun more often.
We normally go out to eat as a family only three or four times a year, but drinking water rather than a $2.50 soda during a restaurant visit saves $15 for our family of six. That $15 can pay for a drive thru run or one third of another meal out for the family. By drinking water we are able to enjoy more entertainment because we spend less on each event.
We also save money in this budget category by choosing to skip daily $5.00 specialty coffees. Not only do we skip the “Five Bucks” shops, we also avoid the fast food chain dollar coffee. Spending $1 a day, five days a week adds up to $260 a year. That $260 can be put into savings or used to pay for a special event like an amusement park visit or camping trip for our family.
While we try to spend less on entertainment, we don’t cut it out entirely. We have personally found that denying ourselves entertainment in order to save money eventually results in a huge splurge, which we justify by the lack of entertainment spending during the previous months. We have found it easier to stick to our budget and savings goals by having cheaper fun more often.
Fewer Medical Expenditures
A less obvious benefit from drinking water is lower doctor and dentist bills. You can do your own research, but I have read that excessively drinking coffee and soda rather than water can lead to dehydration which causes a multitude of health problems ranging from dry skin, fatigue and memory loss to more serious issues such as low blood pressure, depression and heart problems. According to the National Institutes of Health, the caffeine in coffee and energy drinks can cause:
- Rapid heart rate
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty sleeping
- Nausea
- Restlessness
- Tremors
Choosing juice might seem to be a better alternative than soda, but studies have shown that children who drink large amounts of juice have a higher incidence of tooth decay. Drinking juice also increases blood sugar rapidly, which can lead to insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes in adults. I have also read that cow’s milk has been linked to some health problems as well.
While I cannot prove a direct correlation, I believe that our elimination of caffeine, reduction of milk consumption and increase of water consumption have contributed to the fact that we rarely have doctor visits, nor do we have costly maintenance medications to deal with medical problems. If we avoid just one doctor visit (average $150 ) and one dental filling (average $135) per year, we save $285 per person or $1710 a year for our family of six.
Does this seem too extreme to you? You may not be ready to completely cut out all drinks except water, but if you have a truly important financial goal that you want to meet, maybe it’s worth cutting back on costly drinks for a short time so that you can use the money to fulfill your goal or dream. Instead of thinking of cutting back as deprivation, consider your choice to be a small sacrifice in order to bring about a positive result in your life.
What do you think about our strategy? Feel free to leave a comment, but please be kind and respectful. 🙂
Please note: I am sharing my opinion and our personal choice. Nothing in this post should be construed as medical or professional advice. Please do your own research and make the decisions that are best for your family.
next post: How Do You Afford Date Nights?
Click here to read other posts in this series.
drinking water also cuts a womans monthly cycle as well. that also saves money not having to buy all those extras
Interesting Patricia – I had not heard that. Thanks for the tip.
I have just recently found your blog and I am LOVING this series! Last summer I told my kids we were cutting out high fructose corn syrup which meant no more gatorade (my husband brought one home from work for dinner every day) and no more juice pouches (capri suns) not to mention all the other foods and juices that have high fructose corn syrup. My kids were dumbfounded and said, “what are we going to drink?” I smiled and said “Water!” There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. But I made it fun those first weeks and now they don’t complain and they don’t ask for juice. The first night I let them each choose a color from our food coloring drops and added one drop in each drink and then we pretended like we were drinking our favorite soda or juice. The kids got pretty creative. The next night I cut up some limes and lemons and we added those and the kids were in heaven. The next night I had frozen some fruit in ice cubes and we put that in our drinks. I got the “you’re the coolest mom!” for that one. For a treat I will buy sugar-free(and HFCS free) drink mixes and we’ll have that for dinner. My kids are healthier and they love having fun with water. They also check labels for HFCS which isn’t the result I wanted for my kids, but hey-their thinking about it. Making these small changes are hard on the kiddos but if you have fun doing it then they see they aren’t missing out on anything!
Really great ideas Cara! I love your creativity!
I have small children, so I do allow them one glass of milk per day in addition to any cooking or cereal.
I love juice, but I only use it for smoothies. TIP: To keep from drinking it or having it go bad, I make my smoothies with water and then simply add frozen juice concentrate (usually orange) to help the flavor. I never add as much as they say, and it really makes a smoothie good! I also use pineapple juice when I have it leftover from a recipe that calls for drained pineapple. Another idea is to add uncooked oatmeal to smoothies so it is an entire meal in one cup.
Great tips for smoothies Mary – thanks!
hello. I’m french so sorry for my english. I realy enjoy your vision of life and how to save money, I try it but not with drink ( but I can try…I drink only diet soda, and fresh orange juice for my breakfast).
I buy a thermomix, the new one few months ago and it’s cost 1139 euros ( don’t know how it is in dollars but I think it’s closed) we are two, and every two months we are for on holidays. Before thermomix, we spend something like 1000 euros per month, only for food and we put a lot in the trash. Now, we spend 200 euros per month ! we bought only fresh vegetable, fruits,egg, milk and flour less and less meat and fish, we never buy prepared food or junk food ever.I made my own bread, my own butter, my own pasta,my own yogourt. I buy a thermomix because I read advice of someone like you so…thank you so much to share your idea.
i’m not more rich, but I feel so much better because of you and people like you.And because now I eat more heatly,and in the futur I hope I can drink only water….actually I can stop drink for few days if the drink doesn’t have taste..excepted when I go for a run, than I realy want and need to drink water.
so thank you again !
Tres bien! I am so happy that you have been able to make those changes and I am so glad to hear that I could help. Merci!
Our entire family (except me) loves coffee. However, I only buy one large container about once every three months. We all like juice, especially orange juice, but I only buy it once a month or once every other month (depending on our income that month). They all love milk as well, so I try to buy at least 2 gallons per week (one for drinking and one for cooking). We are BIG tea drinkers! Thankfully tea is not too expensive. I can buy a big box of tea bags and it will last for about a month. We are like you, in that, we only buy sodas for special occasions!
I also buy Koolaid for the kids. I buy the cheapest kind (12 packs for 1.00). I usually make 2 1/2 gallons per week. My kids all like water as well.
Our entire family (except me) loves coffee. However, I only buy one large container about once every three months. We all like juice, especially orange juice, but I only buy it once a month or once every other month (depending on our income that month). They all love milk as well, so I try to buy at least 2 gallons per week (one for drinking and one for cooking). We are BIG tea drinkers! Thankfully tea is not too expensive. I can buy a big box of tea bags and it will last for about a month. We are like you, in that, we only buy sodas for special occasions!
I also buy Koolaid for the kids. I buy the cheapest kind (12 packs for 1.00). I usually make 2 1/2 gallons per week. My kids all like water as well.
Thankfully my kids are hooked on water, they drink nothing else except they do want milk at meals. I drink water, milk, and coffee. My husband drinks two cans of pepsi a day and one bottle of something else like ice tea one bottle of water. I don’t think I can make him give up his pepsi. It’s definitely a good plan, but you can’t always convince your spouse. Everybody seems to have their special thing they really want.
That is a very good point Julie. You definitely have to do what works for your family but maybe you can talk about it.
Reading your blog has reminded me of the thousand ways I am wasting money. I raised my daughter on 18000 a year. Now I make 3x that and I am not more comfortable. Luxury food and drinks. Thanks so much for putting yourself out here with me.
My pleasure Colleen. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
My Mom brought me up on drinking lots of water. My children were lactose intolerant, so they grew up on soy formula and soy milk. Now I hear that is a poor choice because of the natural estrogen in soy! As the kids got older, their lactose intolerance mostly subsided but their love of water as a refreshment has never gone away, (Thankfully!) For me though,the lactose issue has just gotten worse. Now I drink rice milk. Lots more expensive, but it’s only for me and only on my cereal.
Thanks for all the great tips and ideas. I’ve been busily reading your blog really appreciate your wealth of knowledge and good old common sense ideas.
You are welcome Charlene! 🙂
Charlene, have you ever looked into making your own rice (or nut) milk? It took me a while to finally do it, but it’s incredibly easy and you can avoid the “extra” ingredients. I just soak my grains/nuts overnight in filtered water (amounts vary, but I usually use more than the recipes say because I like a thicker milk), and then in the morning I rinse them and put them in the blender with fresh water. Blending times vary, but shouldn’t take too long at all. Finally, you pour the blender through some sort of filter (cheesecloth, large dish towel, pillow case) to separate the pulp from the “milk”. You can even dehydrate the pulp to use in other recipes.
I like the idea but it doesn’t quite work for us. Some of it is health reasons and some because we are young. We stick to water, which we filter and put in reusable bottles, low fat milk, chamomile tea- I stock up when it is on sale so I pay 5 cents a cup, low acid apple juice- again only buy it on sale, and then powdered lemonade for something sugary, and very watered down crystal light for when water gets boring. Buying juice in large quantities when it is on sale helps.
Thanks for all your great tips Kimberlee! I started my new ‘budget’ last month using my version of your spreadsheet and I love seeing my ‘Freedom Account’ stack up with $$ for all the bills I now don’t have to worry about!
As kids we rarely had soda (or ‘soft drink’ as we call it in Oz) so I never really had that habit. These days I drink loads of water and a daily cup of tea (sometimes 2 in cold weather). Luckily my workplace provides tea & coffee which means I can afford to occasionally buy fancy teas for my own use at home 🙂
I do occasionally have a cafe-made coffee, but it has to come out of my ‘pocket money’ budget for the week! And of course I always take my reusable coffeecup – I like to save the environment as well as money 😉
Good for you Laura for starting a Freedom Account! Doesn’t it feel great not having to worry?
Thanks for the tip about the reusable coffee cup, too. It really saves money to have a travel mug so you can bring your coffee or tea from home.
I have to have my morning coffee, but I haven’t been buying soda lately. We’ve been drinking more water too. I get bad headaches because I get dehydrated because I forget to drink anything :/ I have a Brita pitcher in the fridge so I have fresh water I just forget to drink it. I only like milk on cereal and I give extra to my son as a treat/snack sometimes. It’s all about balance. I’m working on that 🙂
I realize how quickly drinks can add up. However, we are fond of a beer or glass of wine with dinner, which on a tight budget is a decided luxury, even if it seems pretty basic, and traditional. My husband has tried to make homemade versions. However, I have definitely gotten in over my head financially, in part due to stocking our liquor cabinet so my husband can enjoy an occasional drink. It really has caught up with me. In the future I am going to have to save up first, instead of using the credit card. It’s been my downfall!
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional drink, but I think you are seeing the danger of putting something on credit when you can’t afford it. Good for you for taking control of your finances!
We are a family of 7, so a certain amount of expense is inevitable. We live on one income, so as a SAHM I struggle to make the money stretch. I also did just invest/spend a bunch of money getting supplies to make soap. I’m not sure yet whether it will end up being cost-effective, but we’ll see. My motto has to be “every little bit counts”. If there’s one thing I’ve found, it’s that purchases add up quickly!
oh wow, my kudos to you…we are not as disciplined as you, but you make a convincing finanacial argument… 🙂
I drink only water also. It’s also important to note that cow’s milk is specifically designed for baby cows to consume, not humans. The ethical decision of cutting out cows milk is huge. Even the infamous pediatrician, Dr. Spock said that in no way should kids consume cow’s milk. Dr.Spock revised his book in his later years of life and recommended that all children by age two be on a vegan diet. I’m currently a vegetarian and this saves me tons of money. Meat is a luxury not a necessity. There are millions of vegetarians in the world (mostly in Asia/India) and they are some of the most healthiest groups in the world. The ethical decisions for cutting out meat are endless as well.
We drink coffee (caffeine addiction! haha), but we make it at home. We rarely give juice to the kids, good for their teeth and our budget. I used to buy Coke a lot, but one thing hubby and I have done is only buy those types of drinks with our “splurge” money. We each get a little bit per month to spend on whatever we want. This helps our grocery budget and I don’t drink Coke nearly as much, so it’s healthier. He uses his $ for starbucks drinks. The milk is one thing I can’t justify not giving to my kids. But to each his own. You gotta do what works for you.
Thanks for the tips!
I like the idea of buying soda and coffee with your splurge money Mary. 🙂
I cut out soda in high school & have never missed it. During my engagement I cut out my 3-4x weekly coffee runs to save money. Now I only have coffee but once a week or when I have gift cards. What a great series! I’m learning a lot.
Thanks Amanda!
I have tried hard to do the just water thing, but can’t quite handle it. So, I buy the generic version of Mio. Its a water enhanser, and the generic version is only $3 at Meijer. I buy 2 a month (one with caffeine for mornings and one without for any other time). If you feel like you need some kind of flavor with your water, it can be a pretty affordable way to go.
Thanks for that idea Kristi. 🙂
I used to be absolutely addicted to soda. After the diagnosis of ulcers I had to quit the stuff, but I must say the silver lining to that really dark cloud is that it does save me a lot of money on groceries every month. Soda is now up to $2.19 a 2 liter where I am. That’s just too much. I do drink sweet tea (I hate water. It bores me), but I can get a box that provides me with multiple gallons for about 4 dollars, and sugar is something that’s considered a staple in our pantry anyway (I do love to bake).
LOVE that you only drink water. Soda and juice are also just empty calories! There’s no need for calories that aren’t used for the greater good of staying alive!
I’ve been reading your posts for the past 15 minutes, and you’ve given me such great tips!
THX!!
Welcome Katie! I’m so glad you have found some helpful info. 🙂
We roast our own coffee. It’s half the price of a one-pound bag to buy the beans green from a local store.
I only drink tap water filtered through my Brita and re-fill my water bottles with, or hot tea. I bought a hot water kettle to keep in my office instead of going to Starbucks for tea. The kettle was $12.00+ but it will quickly pay for itself now that I don’t pay $2.11 for a cup of tea (which has to be like an 80% markup! crazy). Wine is my treat beverage and I buy it when there is a deal at World Market. My other rare treat is lemon Perrier. It’s funny when I have people over I forget I have nothing for them to drink besides tap water!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
I can’t tell you how many arguments I have had with my parents that juice and milk are not a necessity!!!!
My son has always asked for water before anything else (until he had pop for the first time!!) I have been carrying a Rubbermaid water bottle for over 2 years now and previous to that I always had some sort of bottle that I filled every time I passed a fountain. My husband and son were always raiding my purse when we were out for said bottle and now I have them carrying their own!
I have been a stay at home mom for 3 years now (my son is 7) and we have had to make some major changes, I take kids in for daycare and this has been my saving grace. We sadly own 2 vehicles (both paid for) currently and are trying to justify the sale of our truck. (we use it only to go to our cottage which is another story about frugal living with luxuries!)
Thank you for all your wisdom!!!
You are very welcome Robyn!
I had figured out when our daughter was small that if we continued to buy all the soft drinks she wanted from the gas station type stores and get her expensive drinks every time we ate at a restaurant, that by the time she graduated high school we would have spent enough to pay form her first year of college.
I have cut myself down to only water as well, but I have found ways of having those extra little treats on a zero dollar budget. I am hair dresser, so I “exchange services” I can get my nails done when I please because the girl who does them gets her hair done by me and she will do it for free in exchange for a haircut. Thats a blessing. My treats for coffee, my boyfriends sister works at Starbucks, so I get free drinks whenever (who would say no to that) as well If I give them hair cuts I get a free pound of coffee or tea that goes in the freezer ground up and pulled out on special occasions or for guests an such. Also and inexpensive yummy drink for mom/dad/kids is home made iced tea. boil water pour over tea bags of choice and refrigerate or poor into popsicle holders. to naturally sweeten the tea add honey. I am loving this blog and I am making my way through it all. I may not have children yet or a husband for that matter but I want to start while I can and get myself in order so I can stay debt free and pay for the things that matter most to me with out credit cards. Thank you
Chantelle
Hi Chantelle–that is a GREAT idea to barter! Good for you for committing now to stay out of debt. You’ll be much better off down the road. 🙂
I really appreciate people who try so hard to live within their means and try to be frugal. Good for you! My husband and I are in debt about $14,000 because of past medical, vehicle, and just plain old living expenses that we had to put on credit cards in order to survive when we were first married. My husband has his own business and so do I, but even though he has his owb business we make about $35,000 a year, and we have no kids, the cost if living has sky rocketed! Gas, groceries and mortgage about eat us up and then there are the bills. We try so hard to be frugal because my husband works so hard just to pay our bills and taxes just about eat us up! I also have many food allergies that I have to buy special allergy free foods because of, and the prices are just outrageous. We rarely go out to eat and are very balanced when it comes to sodas and other drinks. But coffee is something we both live to drink in the mornings. Otherwise we would have no motivation throughout the day. Having a treat to get you through us essential…even if its off the dollar menu at McDonald’s. 🙂 We are not able to have a true “budget” because we never are sure when my husband will get paid from
People, so we just try our best every day. I am always Looking for smart, balanced ideas on how to save money because it all adds up! 🙂
Kaley, here is a tip you may already do. Get a calender and keep track of what you make every day. Put that money in an envelope and at the end of the week decide where the money needs to go. When I was self employeed I knew how much I needed to make per day for my expenses, I put that money in the envelope and put the rest in my extras envelope. If I didnt make enough I made up for it the next day.
Ok, it’s going to sound odd….but….I love you:) Radical? No. You just don’t keep up with those Jones’
Haha Shannon–you made my day! 🙂
We don’t drink coffee, my husband doesn’t like drinking soda, I don’t like drinking milk… Just drinking water is exactly what we do! It’s amazing how much soft drinks cost to buy, when each bottle only costs a few cents to make! It makes it easier for me to avoid soda when I know the huge profit companies like coke and pepsi make by selling a dirt cheap product for more than it’s worth.
My husband likes to have soda with his lunch. I save money by making sure I buy cans of soda at the grocery store (he’ll even drink generic) and then he avoids buying it at vending machines or restaraunts.
We have to purchase drinking water, as we live in a rural area and our well… while it has been tested as “safe” has some harshness to it that I won’t gamble on. I do boil it to use it in tea and coffee though, which probably evens out that the cost of buying the coffee rather than buying the drinking water I suppose. We buy about 5 gallons of water each week, which is about 5 dollars. I’d love to be able to cut that from the budget but we’re just not comfortable with it. I don’t often envy people who live in town but the water thing used to get me.. and then someone brought up the fact that at least we don’t pay a water bill on our well water. So I have learned to count my blessings.
Oh, and we don’t buy juices or soft drinks, never have. A box of tea bags lasts us a long time and we use them along with mint and other herbs from my garden to make iced teas in the summer. Coffee is just one of those comfort foods/drinks for me so I have always made the decision to cut costs elsewhere. The smell of a pot of coffee on a stressful day is enough to make me relax and growing up my father offered every guest that walked through the door a cup of coffee. In NY winters I guess that’s how we show hospitality is anything that will warm you up. We don’t drink milk either unless it’s on oatmeal, etc. but my kids do drink it here and there since I still have a baby who loves milk. Fortunately milk only costs $1.89gal here.. I know in some places it can cost twice that.
We too drink mostly water unless someone gives us other drinks. My husband drinks lots of coffee, but we buy the cheapest brand possible. We live in California where the fruit is always falling off the trees, so lots of people give us lemons. My husband slices and freezes them, and we add them to our water to give it a little flavor. He also uses all the other fruits people give us to make smoothies for everyone.
I love all of your tips! I am also a stay-at-home mom, with a part-time job waitressing on the weekends. I gave up soda as my New Year’s resolution this year, and I’m still going strong. I have lost 12 pounds since the begining of the year! You have inspired me to change many things for the better of my family! Keep the encouragment coming!!
Way to go Laura!
When I was little my mom would always mix powdered milk with cow’s milk. She would do about 75% powdered to 25% milk. She would get the powdered milk by bulk and at a good price. My mom is a super food storage woman. Could we tell the difference on the milk? No. It tasted the same. We would never drink juice, coffee, tea, alcohol or soda. She would also NEVER keep junk food in the house. After I earned my own money did I splurge? Oh yes. Did I like it? Not in the long run. Teach your kids healthy eating habits now and it will stick for life. These things might seem like a necessity but if you were to cut them out of your diet, you would be surprised at how good you’d feel.
I agree, this is doable. In reality sugary drinks should be an occasional treat instead of our drink of choice. I am almost 40 years old and a reformed Coke drinker. I loved Coke, the full sugar version, for as long as I can remember.
In January I gave up soft drinks because I am trying to lose weight without really dieting (meaning I just want to eat healthier in order to be healthier). I now only drink water or brewed tea. I used to need a ton of sugar in my tea (I loved McDonalds sweet tea) but after about a month I grew to prefer unsweetened tea. The only think I put sugar in is my coffee and only one teaspoon (I was a double/double coffee drinker).
It has saved me calories, I’ve lost weight, and I’ve saved money. Now instead of buying 2 liters of soda I buy a package of tea bags for the same price as one two liter and I can make tea for myself for a month or more!
Good for you!
Just found your blog today & it’s great!
I love your values, thanks for sharing
Quick tip – when my kids were young i saved $$ by using powdered milk for cooking purposes & that helped stretch the regular store bought gallons of milk for cereal
Thanks Juli! I used powdered milk in the past as well, but in recent years the price has really increased and it doesn’t make as much sense.
I formerly drank 1 cup of hot tea every AM followed by 1 20 oz bottle of pepsi and MAYBE another 12 oz can or part of one all day, that was it! (At some point I added about 3 lattes a week) I would’ve said you are a lunatic to suggest this water only thing!! In January I decided I had to shed some gut pounds. I completely eliminated sugar for a month and drank 8 glasses of water daily. Now I have a level teaspoon of sugar in my tea and I may drink 4 cups of hot tea a day, and I am still drinking a lot of water. I drink my lattes with skim milk and sugar free flavoring. It’s June and I haven’t added back soda- at all. Now i’m thinking why on earth didn’t I go this route years ago? It’s very doable for the other pepsi addicts out there I promise!
Thanks for the encouragement Heather!
I have a question. How do you make sure everyone gets enough calcium without milk? I have often thought about reducing the amount of it we drink but the fear of calcium depletion keeps me coming back.
Hi Melanie- We eat yogurt and cheese weekly. You can do research online, but basically there are lots of other sources of calcium like leafy greens, broccoli and I believe oranges. You can also take supplements. Hope that helps.
Love the blog. We have saved so much on just drinking water, and lost a lot of weight, too, compared to drinking all soda. I can’t imagine what my 3x daily sonic run was costing me every month!! Even when we occasionally eat out, we order water with lemon. The lemon cuts down on the nasty local tap water taste that we have here 🙂
I can’t cut out things like drinks, but one way we have learned to save money is to buy frozen concentraite juice to make into popcicles, buy walmart brand juice in the bottle, no juice boxes. We buy coffee in bulk from costco (Kirkland coffee is very good) and don’t spend money on starbucks or coffee bean. I think my biggest thing is soda… can’t seem to live without it HAHAHA
Oh, to convince my husband of this! We don’t buy juices, but he is always getting soda when he’s out and drinking huge glasses of milk at home! I wonder if showing him this post could convince him to start packing water when he goes out. . . .
Just don’t make my name a dirty word around your house–LOL!
Hahaha! No, I’ll take the blame. I’m pretty good at it. lol.
Water is a GREAT way to save and something that I didn’t really think about. One down side, for us, is that we are ver concious of treated water – that means – we won’t buy bottled water (which would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole saving $$ thing!) and we won’t drink city water (resturants = rarely eating out). We also won’t drink water out of plastic (BPA) or aluminum (poisioning) containers. For us this mean using glasses at home, and everyone having their own color coded stainless steel water bottle for on the road or ball games or whatever. While these cost more – they were definately worth it for health reasons – and they have held up VERY well – we have had them about 2 years and no replacements!
WE recently received some stainless steel water bottles through my husband’s employer. Love them!
P.S. Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this out! I can’t use all of it (transportation, for instance — my husband works 25 miles from our house, there is no public transportation here for me to do my errands around here while he is at work) I thoroughly enjoy getting the ideas and SO appreciate your commitment and all of the ideas I’m getting. LOVE what you said about praying about where to shop when you needed jeans. Why don’t I do that more often. God knows. God cares. Just thank you so much for your guidance — truly a gift to us.
Thanks so much for your encouragement Sarah! I’m so glad you are enjoying the series.
I think this is extreme — not as in “WHOA, lady, that is just TOO much!!” but as in, “I don’t know if I could DO that!!” But when you break down the COST of it — it KILLS me. I’ve been whining (and we make about double what you do) that “we just can’t make our budget any tighter!!” but, yeah, we definitely splurge at Sonic happy hour WAY too often, I let the kids have sodas when we eat out once a week (I don’t bring them into the house), and I occasionally buy juice and/ or I buy Capri Suns to pack for lunches (talk about an expense!) And, yes, I think their are so many health benefits to drinking water (my kids are teenagers — basically full grown). This is one of those ideas that is SO radical I simply had never considered it — and not sure I could get my family on board for it! But I can definitely head that direction. Maybe present it that we can skip one drink when we eat out for the hope of something fun later.
Baby steps, right Sarah? 🙂
I grew up only really drinking water. For a couple years, mom would make homemade herbal iced tea. We were allowed 1 cup of soda each week, and that happened when we visited our grandparents on Saturdays. I still stick with only water, with the addition of coffee. I have a big bag of ground coffee that was bought at Sam’s Club for $13. This bag lasts me about 9 months! I used flavored cream which is $3 a bottle, but each bottle lasts me two weeks. If you’re going to be a coffee drinker, this is the cheapest way…and the coffee from SC is fair trade so you have the whole social justice issue thrown in there too 🙂 Think of sugary drinks the same way you would think about money–why spend your daily calories on a sugary drink that has no nutritional value and won’t even fill your belly?
We aren’t completely water-only, but mostly. My children are smaller, and milk has a lot of health benefits for them, so they drink milk. We also get juice on WIC, but I water it down at a ratio of 1:2 or so (1 part juice to 2 parts water). I get tea bags (hopefully at a great deal) for hubby…I’m stocked up for a while right now. Otherwise, it’s water. We do not buy pop at all, except for a treat every once in a while for mommy and daddy.
The bottom line is that our cutback areas may be different, but in order to save money, live within your means, the cutback has to happen somewhere. We’ve chosen to cut out most of the “empty calorie” drinks and snacks, because it’s just a waste of food dollars that could be better spent on real nutritious food that is a necessity to our family.
What fats do/did you use for young children? My husband is a research scientist, mainly neurological, and he’s fairly adament about the kids getting whole milk for their brain development.
We always use whole milk products, olive oil, coconut oil (good for their skin too) and avocados. We also eat the skin on our chicken. It is definitely not politically correct, but more and more research is pointing to the need for good fats in our diet.
I don’t think it’s extreme at all. I think it’s completely commendable. We hardly ever buy soda or juice as a grocery item, and try to limit getting it when eating out. And we don’t drink coffee or alcohol anyway. I think it’s a completely commendable decision, and it sounds like it’s working well for your family.
Thanks Angela. 🙂
I don’t think this is an extreme idea. We have a family of 3 kids and we do buy 1 gallon (minimum) of milk and 2 large containers of apple juice per week, but even with those expenditures, the kids generally only get 1 serving of juice and 1 of milk each day. I look forward to an afternoon caffeine re-charge, so I buy one or two 2-liters of soda for myself a week, but I find that buying the 2-liter is much more economical than buying a six-pack or, worse, going to a convenience store or drink machine.
Juice is a treat around this house and only if it’s watered down. We don’t drink coffee as neither one of us likes the burned taste of the stuff. It’s been eight years since I drank pop with any regularity and it took me two weeks to get over the cravings. I made the mistake of drinking one about three years ago and I felt crummy for three days afterward. My 4yo daughter gets very upset when we are at family functions and I won’t let her have what the other girls drink (pop and Gatorade), but long term it’s been worth it, because she is far healthier and alert than the other kids. I do, on occasion, make some herbal iced tea for her without sweetener. I’m an herbal tea fanatic and so I have a stash that my family has given me for Christmas/birthdays, etc. That might be an answer for others when your family asks what you want for Mother’s day. Thanks for the penny idea! I started using that today 🙂
I’m still worried about the calcium. Broccoli and greens don’t provide nearly as much calcium as milk, yogurt and cheese. I don’t buy soda but I do buy milk and I also buy over-the-counter supplements for my daughter since the pediatrician says she doesn’t drink enough milk.
good sources of calcium can include:
low fat plain yogurt: 300-450mg per serving (1 cup)
american cheese: 350mg per serving (2 oz)
cow’s milk (either whole milk or low fat milk): 300mg per serving (1 cup)
calcium fortified soy milk, rice milk, or goat’s milk: 300mg per serving (1 cup)
calcium fortified orange juice: 300mg per serving (1 cup)
cheddar cheese: 300mg per serving (1.5 oz)
cooked dried white beans: 161mg per serving (1 oz)
dried figs: 169mg per serving (10 figs)
spinach: 120mg per serving (1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked)
soft serve ice cream: 118mg per serving (1/2 cup)
oranges: 50mg per serving (1 medium orange)
instant oatmeal: 100mg (1 packet)
sweet potatoes: 44mg per serving (1/2 cup mashed)
broccoli: 35mg per serving (1 1/2 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked)
I somewhat use this method to help with weight loss too! Since there are no calories so it’s a great way to keep my weight down while saving money! On Weight Watchers a glass of orange juice in 3 points and I only get 26 points for the day! Excessive juice drinking could really eat up my points! So doing this method is helpful all the way around.
About soda… my father strongly believed that too much soda had caused his brother’s tooth decay trouble, so he didn’t want it in the house when I was growing up. Not even for birthday parties. So I never developed a taste for it, actually don’t like it at all. I raised my kids without soda in the house and they feel the same way about it now as adults. I’m sure it was a money-saver for my parents and for me, not just because of not buying soda, but less money spent on filling cavities! Trust me, your kids won’t miss it if it’s just not on the menu.
For all the soda drinkers out there….I am one for sure!! Try the SodaStream at home soda maker! It’s awesome & saves you an average of 70% off brand soda! Sparkling water drinkers (just carbonated water!!) can save like 90%! Super easy to use and, if soda can be healthy, this is a WAY healthier option. No high fructose corn syrup or aspartame is used in their soda mixes, and they are lower in calories, carbs, sugar, and sodium. I love ours & feel WAY less guilty when I make a bottle of fuzzy tasty goodness to drink =)
Thanks for the idea Marcy. 🙂
I think that’s a great way to save money. We need to drink more water at our house and I think the penny tip just might help me do it. I think my family would toss me out of the house if we cut back on milk. Most days we drink almost 2 gallons, but we rarely buy juice or soda.
I would do this in a heartbeat were it not for my husband, who’s addicted to Coke Zero. We buy that, hands down, budget or not. It’s very difficult for me to do (I’m the one who pays bills and juggles the budget), as I hate to spend our limited resources on something that is not good for him at all and costs so much. But it’s his money and responsibilities just as much as mine, and I’d rather be out a little money than have us frustrated with each other. Count the cost…and not only the financial cost!
We all have our vices. Two of mine are chocolate and ice cream–I just try to buy them on sale. 🙂 I think you are wise to keep your husband happy and keep your relationship a priority. Maybe you can pray for him that he will be able to make better choices. Coke Zero is probably not the best thing for you, but I can think of several things he could be addicted to that are more unhealthy.
Juice is one of the most expensive items on my grocery budget, but it’s not a luxury item for my husband with Type 1 Diabetes who uses it as a “prescribed” nightly sugar dose before bed.
Fortunately he is the only one who needs or drinks it. We’ve also learned by trial and error that frozen concentrates and juice from concentrates lead to unstable blood sugar spikes. Pure, not-from-concentrate juices that haven’t had their fructose altered by the concentration and reconstitution process are healthier (at least by his experience with his glucose meter and sense of well-being).
My 4-year-old never did like juice as a baby, so we quickly dropped buying it with WIC. She is the only one who still drinks milk and that’s only because I am concerned about her small size; I still limit her intake.
Tea is a bit surprising, since plain back tea in a store brand can be so inexpensive in 100-bag boxes.
I don’t find any of it extreme, really. I have been trying to cut back on coffee, not because of price but because of health (although now that I’ve read this article I have additional motivation). Tea is a healthier drink for me (and I make it so weak, I can get 2 cups from a bag).
I should have mentioned that due to startle response (can’t handle noise), it took me six years to get back into the dentist ( he made me an appt during lunch hour.) I had ZERO cavities. I really believe this is due to using Sucanat in baked goods and no juice, rarely soda,etc. It really does make a difference medically. With my health issues(genetic), every expense we don’t have to have is a BIG positive. I have only had to take my daughter to the doc once. She has water, occasional home made apple cider, and herbal tea. She has soymilk for cereal as she can’t handle regular milk. That is it—no store bought juice,no soda, no Kool-aide. I really do think it makes a great positive for health!
I love this post! My husband married me when I was a young widow with two small kids. He was laid off from his six figure job the day he went back to work after our honeymoon ended and we were living on my kid’s survivor benefits for those early years while my husband went back to school. He instituted “WATER DAY” to save us money and he’d put the sign on the refrigerator and that meant water only. I confess I did not like this idea, thinking the kids needed the juice and milk (I thought, “What does he know? He’s never had kids before), but I regret bucking against him now. And guess what? My kids all made it to adulthood, healthy!, and we saved loads of money not buying all those others unnecessary drinks. Those early years of not having very much money (we were considered poverty level) were some of the happiest and best years of my life!
I love this idea! That way we can start just drinking water on one day and then be able to build on that. I don’t think just going cold turkey will work for us. We need to break some bad soda habits, plus the caffeine withdrawl would be really bad.
Definitely take baby steps Deb! 🙂
I would love to go down to just water, milk and coffee. For some reason I feel like I have to have juice in the house. Maybe just a bad habit to break? I know I need to quit my soda habit too.
Just an idea for those who have a hard time w/water only. I need certain herbs in my diet as well as my hubby and daughter with allergies . Herbal tea is the best, cheapest and most convenient way to do this. Two pounds of peppermint tea leaves is less than $12 on Amazon. That lasts us for a minimum of one year–same goes for Nettle which I am suppose to have. So those are a couple of cheap options. We just planted three peppermint plants, and I have seeds to plant Mullein and Nettle–so we will soon pay nothing for tea leaves. We drink water between meals-thats a rule for me and our child. My hubby,however, requires Powerade at times. I drink Ginger Ale for nausea–but like you said soda is just plain expensive-$1.70 in town for a 2 liter- over $1.30 in the neighboring town. It adds up fast. We don’t buy juice–it isn’t as healthy as people think. We have apple trees and an apple press so we make Apple Cider for our daughter and can it. It has certain vitamins and minerals that she needs-and the apples don’t keep very long so it is a good way to use them. We don’t add sugar-so it just costs the electricity as we already have the jars. Juice is incredibly expensive–we have no stores that double coupons either-plus they have found it has high levels of arsenic and lead. We have well water–so water is FREE!! 🙂 PS. To Leann, my hubby doesn’t always stick to this–he likes his Kool-aide and Coke too. BUT, I always have the herbal tea cold and ready in the fridge–SO if I don’t have cold Kool-aide made-he does like the Peppermint tea–AND it helps him when he is congested so now he goes for it to help that. I also use local honey to sweeten it so that helps w/ his allergies as well as mine and my daughter’s. I do wish we could stop the Kool-aide–but we have reduced it-and that makes me happy! 🙂 My daughter calls it “Daddy’s Kool-aide” as she knows she isn’t allowed to have it! LOL
I truly enjoy your site and respect you for sharing your family choice with the world. I think that drink only water is a wonder ideal and it will help your health as well and save money. I will be honest and tell you that one thing you did say bothered me was , “Drinking juice also increases blood sugar rapidly, which can lead to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes.” My daughter has Type 1 diabetes and she did not get this autimmune disease by drinking juice. Her pancreas no longer produices insulin. I’m sure you ment Type 2 diabetes, but we have been told by other people that “if she would just stop eating sugar, she must have had a lot of juice and sugar when she was little, she should just eat better she would not have diabetes” I don’t mean to sound upset or be rude but blanket statements like the one above, without stating Type 2 can be very hurtful to someone with Type 1 or the parent of a child with Type 1 diabetes.
Once again I love your site and have learned a great deal. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us.
Thanks for clarifying that Sara. I definitely did mean Type 2 diabetes and should have said so. I will correct that now.
I’m glad you pointed out this distinction. My husband has Type 1 also, has had it for 31 years now, and people give make the same comments. I know they’re trying to be helpful and that their comments come from being ignorant of the differences between types one and two.
i proposed this to our family tonight at dinner. (family of 7- who went thru almost 2- yes, TWO! gallons of milk yesterday) and you would have thought i said i was never feeding you again! my 11 year old CRIED- she LOVES milk. actually is her security blanket! my husband flat out said no! and i told them- TOO BAD! i was a HUGE soda addict- literally 6-8 a day, and i gave that up a few months ago. i’m over weight. my husband is overweight. my oldest son WAS overweight- he just lost 65# 🙂 and two of our other daughters are overweight- i told the family that not only is this a cost effective measure- it’s a HEALTH measure…. i don’t know how i will get my husband on board- i copied this post and emailed it to his office and told him to GET ON BOARD!!! to spend his lunch hour reading ALL the posts of 28k a year- and he could learn something! oh, and to STOP bringing juice and pop in this house!! that’s the problem i have- he brings it in. and won’t stop!!! anyone have any advice on how to deal with that!??! aaagh!!! thank you for all your open and honest posts! i love them! while we may make a little more than you, we are so far in debt that it feels like we are making 15k a year- one step forward- two steps back….. story of our lives!
Oh no! Now he’s going to HATE me–LOL!
he’ll get over it! lol. i really do appreciate your posts though! 🙂
Confiscate the receipts and return it! (I haven’t had to do this – but it seems like a “mommy’s gone scary crazy” maneuver might be necessary to get them to take you seriously!) gathering receipts might be a good idea in any case – point out what you could’ve gotten with that money instead. I hope your family pulls together and makes it through debt and weight soon – sounds like their innate stubbornness could be so useful if pointed in the right direction 🙂
I feel like we spend a ton of money on drinks, but we don’t drink that many things, if that makes sense. I get frozen OJ concentrate with added calcium for my dd who is allergic to dairy. Except the other kids drink it some too. We all drink milk and I won’t stop that. We usually just have it with dinner – for 6 of us we use 2 gallons a week tops. Dh drinks coffee and I have iced tea. That sums it up at our house. It could be so much worse when I think of all the other drinks out there. Flavored water, juice boxes, soda, etc.
It makes sense to me, but I can’t imagine telling my husband that I wanted to stop buying soda and koolaid. I’m fairly certain that he’d give me this “you’ve got to be kidding me look” and then tell me “no way”. How do I make it work for us … well soda here is $1.25. I stock up on our favorites (pepsi & Dr. Pepper) when the bottles are on sale for .99 cents. I’ll come home w/ as many as I could push in my buggy from wal-mart (making them price match). I’ll probably go back again before the sale ends. I make sure to always stock up on more than enough to last us till the next sale. Frankly he works outside of the home, if he wants soda I’m gonna find a way to make that happen and cut down on something else. We do drink a LOT of koolaid for just 2 ppl, and I often add just a little less powder than it calls for because you honestly can’t tell the difference. I’m a big juice person, but I always water it down with water making a 50/50 mix for Cranberry juice and maybe a 30/70 for orange juice. I love what you’re doing and it makes sense, but I know there is no way I could do that here w/o a scene from the hubs (even though he gets the 64ozs of water you’re supposed to a day). But I still find ways to make things last longer and get the most bang for my buck. 😉
I think you are a wise woman to keep your husband happy! My point is to save where you can so you can spend where you want. Sounds like that’s exactly what you’re doing.
I’m glad to see someone finally addressed the issue of calcium, both for children and adults. I’m seeing the results of limited milk intake due to lactose issues as a middle-aged adult and our daughter is dairy-free due to other issues, so this is an area I’m very familiar with. Be careful that everyone is getting enough so they don’t end up with various deficiency problems.
We drink water and occasionally have a special drink (milk, kool-aid, or soda). When trying to cut back on the extras we do the following. Every time I make an effort to say, “No! I’m not going to by that treat/rent that movie/go out to eat just because/etc” I reward my self by placing the money I would have wasted in a “reward jar”. Some times its a $1 for a soda I almost bought or $1 for packing a lunch for my child rather then letting her eat the schools $2.50 lunch. The dollars add up!
Also when I do give in to those impulses I have to pay a fee to the jar. For example if we eat out for no good reason (such as, I don’t feel like making dinner) I have to pay a $5 fee. Not only does the cost of eating out mess up my budget, but the extra $5 fee doesn’t help either!!
We then use the money the jar to either reward our family in some small way (if most of it was rewards) OR make an extra debt payment (if most of it was fees).
What a fun and practical idea Lara!
I enjoyed this post a lot! I totally agree that it’s a terrific idea to save money on beverages and spend on your goals and dreams. I prefer to drink mostly filtered ice water and hot herbal tea. I met a lady at a Home and Garden party several years ago that said, “I prefer to eat my calories instead of drink them.” This has stuck with me when I make decisions regarding beverages. I believe that water is essential to life and strive to drink it most of the time. I stopped drinking coffee each morning several months ago and was surprised that I feel even better not drinking it. I thought I needed the extra caffeine boost, but my body just prefers plain water. I recommend trying to eliminate at least one specific beverage from your diet and see if it makes any difference in how you feel. It will also make a difference in your budget. I’ve put my extra savings towards more fruits and vegetables.
I’m all for it, I do make a fruit smoothie for breakfast some mornings and so I have juice for that but it’s my meal with a slice of whole grain toast.
Here’s my usual recipe:
1 handful of raw almonds
1/2 avocado
1 whole apple or pear
pour in juice until it brings everything up to the 4-4.5 cup mark
The avocado makes it creamier and healthier than adding yogurt, the almonds add great protein and also creaminess and with the juice there is no need to add additional sugar most of the time but if it does need a little boost I only add about 1/2 tsp pf agave nectar and then it’s plenty sweet. This makes enough for me and two preschoolers and they LOVE it and love helping to make it as well.
Do you supplement your calcium?
I do not use over the counter supplements. You can also get calcium from broccoli, leafy greens like cabbage and kale, oranges and almonds. We do eat yogurt about once a week and use cheese several times in addition to the above mentioned sources.
We primarly only drink water…maybe twice a month my oldest two children ask for a glass of milk with dinner and we allow that. We’re military and live overseas and do qualify for WIC, and although we could get juice, we rarely get it, since it’s not good for us. Many people are fooled into thinking that little “100% Juice” means it’s healthy and it’s not. It’s just empty calories. Most juice sits in the factories for a year, has added food coloring and other little “extras” as well.
My grocery bill is also cheaper because I make out a menu and make my grocery list from that. I do breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in that menu. For a family of 7 I can easily buy a months worth of groceries for aprox $250.00. I just bought 2 weeks worth of groceries for $99.00 this last time. We get a certain amount of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grain breads (I also make bread from scratch too), organic, hormone-free milk, cheese, Peanut Butter, Beans, and Tuna on WIC (I’m nursing so I get the tuna) and that definitely helps our budget. I also go through my cabinets and freezer before making my grocery list, there’s no reason to buy an item for a meal that I already have (you’d be amazed at how many people do add things and never think to look and see if they have items first. Once I make my grocery list, I go through my coupons (I’m not a crazy couponer, just use what I NEED) and look for instore sales on things I am getting.
We don’t bring in much more than you guys and we can do it and am thankful that the Lord has provided for us, over and over!
Water is our drink of choice as well, though the kids do love herbal tea when it is cold outside. And I buy chocolate milk as a treat a few times a year. I agree with your whys and reasons 100%!
This has been the most difficult area of our grocery budget to change. In fact, it is the most expensive part of our grocery budget! You are right on.
Boy, that’s true grit! Hubby and I do not buy OJ. There is plenty of vitamin C in fresh fruits and veggies. I do drink a couple glasses of milk each day. What can I say? I grew up in Wisconsin! Hubby brings a thermos of coffee to work each day. He could never give that up! But we still save over buying it at a drive-through or at his workplace. I brew 3 tea bags at a time in a pitcher and drink iced tea. Very rarely, I will have a can of Diet Pepsi, my only vice. As for water, hubby drinks a lot, but I have to force myself. One tip I learned years ago was to place 8 pennies on the kitchen window sill each AM and remove them as you drink your daily 8 glasses of water. That helps keep me on track!
Oh Kiki–I love that penny idea. My daughter was just looking for a way to make sure she drinks enough. 🙂
Why not apply for food assistance? Surly a family of six on that income is eligible.
Kandy, we did apply many years ago but didn’t qualify because we have retirement savings and own our car. At this time, even if we qualified, I don’t know if we would take it. I will not judge anyone else for making the choice if they need it, but we would like to see government spending decrease and I feel like a hypocrite taking assistance when we can manage without it. If it came down to not eating or taking assistance we would get the help, but we aren’t at that point and even if we had more money, we would still drink water. 🙂
I understand not going on food assistance, my family didn’t do it growing up either and our income was similar when you factor in inflation.
We’re the same way. My kids have never even tried soda (pretty amazing since they are almost 13 and 8). We did give it to them as kids and now that they are older, neither one is interested. I had a hardcore caffeine habit (only with soda – I don’t care for coffee or tea) that I decided I didn’t want my kids to have to go through. We drink water almost exclusively. When my son is training hard for soccer (2 hours), he gets some juice drinks. So when we do get juice, it’s a real treat.
My daughter is the one who has a hard time remembering to hydrate. She likes to taste things, so water isn’t much of a draw for her. But we’re consistent about it and always have it ready for her to grab (she has fun cups and water bottles to encourage her).
I see my sister’s family for example and my sister complains about her kids’ cavities, how much soda they drink, how much it costs, and I am that much more confident in my choice. It’s probably easier not starting on something that isn’t good for them then it is to break a habit. Plus the savings is a bonus.
We have used a modified version of this plan for some 20+ years. Only water at restaurants unless a drink comes with the meal for no extra cost. The problem would be my husband who wanted the soda, so I had to calculate “meal deals”. But it became a habit for the kids and worked since they weren’t used to other choices.
We can’t eat hot Indian food without a Mango Lassi chaser so that is considered a part of the meal. I agree too that tea can be so inexpensive, that removing that from a home menu seems financially inconsequential. Milk and tea were the only beverage choices when I was growing up.
I just came across your site for the first time today. I might be stopping by more often. I love this post. I’ve never been able to so eloquently explain why we drink almost nothing but water. My husband is a soda-holic, but the rest of us drink water. Once in a great while, as a treat, the kids or I drink a glass of juice or milk. That’s about once a month instead of the several glasses per day many of my friends do. Most think I’m depriving my family, but water is really the only necessary thing. As a child, I’d only drink milk. As a young married woman I had repeated urinary tract infections and it’s a complete miracle that I was able to nurse my son. I drank almost no water. Once I forced myself to start drinking water throughout the day, I can’t skip it. I haven’t had a UTI in many years and I could probably nurse a family if I had a baby now. 🙂
Welcome Lisa! I hope you do come back. 🙂
Coffee prices really went up in the last year. I drink hot tea in the morning and buying loose tea in bulk and using a tea ball is affordable for my family. But you’re right, it’s cheaper to just drink water and water is of course great for you. I prefer ice cubes in mine most of the time but still, pretty cheap. I completely agree with not using much of your food budget on drinks.
My family has done this in spurts for years. No, you aren’t the only one out there! We do allow one glass of milk a day, max, but I have not bought juice (except for canning purposes) or kool-aid in many years. Wait, I take that back. If I’m sick, a tall glass of OJ makes me feel tons better, but since beginning to homeschool, we have rarely been sick with even a cold.
DH and I used to drink diet soda every day. I begrudged the cost of buying 3-12 packs of pop a week, but wasn’t willing to stop drinking it. Back in November my DH decided he wanted to stop the consumption of all artificial sweeteners for health reasons, so we both went cold turkey. My budget has definitely appreciated the change.
We all basically drink water only. DH does drink coffee in the morning, and the occasional pot of tea, but that’s about it.
We are working to that end we drink a lot of water but do have one glass go juice watered down half. And out toddler gets two cups organic lactose free milk a day. But teas are a treat for we guess are over or summer months after working on the farm all day:)
we also pretty much just drink water. we do change it up some though, since the hubby is a dairy farmer we get milk for free so the kids do drink that alot. (I know I will probably get some slack for that but thats the way it is & when you’re used too it . its not as big of a deal! we very rarely ever go to the dr. either.) we make our coffee @ home & only a certain amount a day. I do totally agree sodas are a nono except on special occcasions & very expencive we don’t drink alot of other juices & drinks either. just love your openness.:)
Karen, I hope you don’t get flack for it…RAW milk is the best as far as health wise…all the goodness is still in it vs pasteurized out! When my mom was pregnant with me (many, many years ago! LOL) she CRAVED fresh milk and our neighbor was a dairy farmer/good and dear friend as well…so my mom just went and bought a couple bottles a day from him, she loved the cream on the top in particular!
We are also on WIC, and if it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t buy juice at all. When we use up all of our juice bottles for the month, I don’t buy any more. I’m amazed at the difference it makes in my 2 year old son. He LOVES juice and when he wants some, he goes to the cabinet where we store the unopened bottles and starts demanding it. There was a two or three week period where we just did not have any juice, and surprisingly, he started demanding water instead. I was shocked. I do try to limit their juice and soda intake. I wouldn’t buy soda if it weren’t for my husband, but even he goes through periods where he says “Don’t buy me any soda for a while.” Milk is non-negotiable in our house, which I am fine with. Again, if we weren’t receiving it through wic, I would buy raw milk from a local farmer and that alone would change our drinking habits just because of price. We already don’t drink coffee or tea. I have an herbal tea occassionally but I agree, they are rather inexpensive and without sweeteners are fairly healthy too.
We have always looked to our drink consumption as ways to save money. We went several years without purchasing soda, except to get our “saturday treat” fountain soda at the gas station, when we were working on a project around the house.
We’re kind of in between… no juice here (though I will juice my own, much more health benefits!) but we let our children have milk (hubby and I don’t really drink it though). But no way I’m getting rid of coffee… I love myself a cuppa! But we make it at home and it doesn’t make a huge dent in our budget because I buy coffee and filters at sams- so the money is worth it to us.
But it goes with my ultimate frugal goal- you have to decide what is worth it to you and your family!
Exactly my point Jerilyn. 🙂
Great points! We only offer milk to the kids with one meal a day (my husband is another story; he drinks a lot of milk and I’ve tried to get him to cut back for health and financial reasons, but no luck) and juice rarely – I got some the other day to make ice pops, so they have been having a rare treat of juice water. Where does your water come from? We have a filter on the refrigerator that I get water from, but we also buy water bottles to keep in the outside refrigerator for the kids. I haven’t figured out a good alternative for this – I know it’s not the best solution economically or financially, but it prevents good (expensive) cups from being left outside. Any ideas?
Each family member has their own color coded plastic drinking cup as well as a water bottle for when we leave the house. I wash the water bottles when we return from a trip and we wash the other cups in the dishwasher every other day. Everyone knows which cup is his or hers, and it prevents having glasses everywhere in the house.
We purchased a 2 gallon container from Wal-Mart that we fill with water and keep in the refrigerator. I think we paid $6 or $7 for it. The kids fill their designated cups as needed. It cuts out the cost of the individual water bottles.
Not sure why you are worried about expensive cups being left outside. Collect some inexpensive ones or buy a few with lids from the dollar store and make your own bottled water, refilling them once or twice a week, or have each kid pick a color, buy them a couple days supply of each and they can refill and refrigerate their own. Unless it is free with a coupon, bottled water is really like throwing your money away.
When we are busy with farm work and I don’t want dirty boots in the kitchen, I fill a 2 gallon cooler with water and put labeled cups within reach of the back door.
We are big water drinkers and usually have sliced lemon to add to it. We do like our tea, but it’s not a daily beverage-mostly brewed on the weekends or when company is coming over. I don’t care for Kool-aid, but my hubby does-so I leave that purchase up to him. I grow various mints and lemon balm (plus others) so we have a nice variety of herbal teas as well. It is doable 🙂
I do the same as Judi – only we limit our drinks with meals to milk, water in between.
I do buy some juice when on sale but a 64oz bottle has been known to last months in my house 🙂 Usually a splurge when the expiration date gets close and we have to drink it now. The only exception is OJ for breakfast, but again, we can have a gallon of it for a month.
In the summer, I do make ice tea or lemonade sometimes…2 quarts per week at the most.
And we cut out soda years ago…I found that if I buy it for the house, we go thru it too quickly. If we have to make the decision to go purchase it (including the kids and the use of their allowance) we drink far less of it. The only exception to this is when we go to the movies – a soda is our treat there:) Soda and popcorn – no candy.
Thanks for this site.
I think this is fabulous. I feel like there are so many unhealthy (and expensive!) habits that get passed down from one generation to another that are so harmful.
I never liked water (as in, at ALL) until I started FORCING myself to drink the eight glasses a day. Now it’s my favorite drink and I’m barely tempted by juice and not by soda at all.
Sharing this 🙂 I don’t think people realize how much they spend on junk and it’s effects. I have been toying with the idea of getting healthier (and saving money in the process) and this is a very good start. We get 100% juice and milk on WIC so we would continue those, but I would be perfectly fine by not buying soda and koolaid/sugared juice drinks and I would even be okay with no coffee so long as I could keep my hot tea!
Jessica, don’t be fooled by those “100%” juices..still FULL of sugar and provides NO nutrional value at all for your children or you, fresh fruits are loaded with vitamins, but juice is over-processed and gives nothing good. If you are making your OWN juice from fresh fruit, that’s a totally different story. We get WIC too, we just opt out of things we don’t use *(like juice…other than OJ from time to time because I use it to make banana bread).
We only drink water in our house, maybe two or 3 times a month my older 2 kids will ask to have a glass of milk with dinner, otherwise we just use it say in a bowl of cereal or in cooking or baking, and then it’s only hormone free milk.
I dilute the juice we get from WIC. my daughter sees a pediatric urologist who told us that even 100% juice has so much sugar that once it hits the bladder its just something else to help the bacteria grow.
The only part that would be extreme would be not drinking tea/coffee in the morning and ice tea in the afternoons. Soda and juice….no we could do that. I think tea is so inexpensive to make (I don’t use sugar or any other type of sweetner) and sometimes I need that little pick me up in the afternoons. But, I have to say this sort of blows my mind……but I totally respect it and get it.
We modify this a bit and only allow non-water drinks with meals. They may have 1 glass of juice a day (this is cut with water for the younger ones) with their choice of meals. They are allowed a glass of milk or something else with the other 2 meals. I buy kool aid in the packets and we use 3/4 cup sugar instead of a full cup when mixing it. This is allowed 1-2 times a week with a meal (again, cut with water for the younger ones). In between meals they are only allowed to have water. Some of your readers might want to start with my approach before taking the bigger step you’ve made. 🙂
Definitely Judi! True change is best implemented step by step. 🙂
Milk sometimes replaces food for my kids, so that ends up being a wash as far as saving money, since they eat less food. This is also why I would do the reverse and serve only water with meals, but other stuff as a “snack” in itself later in the day. But my kids aren’t big drinkers either.