HOME ECONOMISER Frugal couple share their tips in newsletter

Here's a couple as tight as can be -- and proud of it.
EAST VALLEY (ARIZONA) TRIBUNE
Steve and Annette Economides go to the grocery store once a month and it's a four-hour trip to two locations -- one for sale items, the other for staples. Annette already has worked out 30 days' worth of meals, according to how many family members will be home each night.
Once inside, Annette takes the aisles -- canned goods, frozen foods, pasta -- while Steve works the perimeter for meats, dairy and produce. They keep in touch using walkie-talkies in case one runs into a special deal not on the list.
Sound excessive? They don't care: They spend just $350 a month to feed a family of seven -- and that includes paper goods, cleaning supplies and personal care items.
They don't eat out a lot.
"As a thrifty person, you're somewhat of an outcast," said Steve, who packed his lunch to work as a graphic artist (estimated savings: $1,500 a year) until he left to pursue his new career: CEO (that's cheap economizing officer).
National newsletter
The Economideses are the authors and distributors of the Home Economiser, a new, national newsletter dedicated to helping people save money. A similar publication, the well-known Tightwad Gazette, folded in 1996 after the founder decided it was too much work for one woman to handle; Steve said he and Annette (the chief frugality officer) are the right people to fill the void.
The couple paid off their first house in nine years on an average annual income of $33,000.
Their current, five-bedroom house is on a three-quarter-acre lot with a citrus orchard in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- and their mortgage is less than the typical rent on a studio apartment. They have a piano, stereo equipment, nice furniture, five kids and two dogs.
They have never owned a credit card.
"It takes more work and effort to be thrifty, but the benefits outweigh it," Steve said.
Working toward goals
The couple have helped right dozens of foundering families through their financial counseling ministry at church, but Steve said the Home Economiser lays down general principles that anyone can use to save money and, more important, get hold of their finances so they can reach their goals.
"We don't skimp just for the sake of skimping," Annette said.
Living within your means is rare and isn't always easy in today's "You want it? Buy it now!" lifestyle. It can even be trying: The sample issue of the Home Economiser recalls when a neighbor got beautiful new Danish furniture and Annette "just sat on our $25 orange-and-brown plaid missionary-purchased couches and cried."
The couple instill money-saving principles in their children, who receive money each Sunday for work done around the house. The Economideses don't believe in allowances: "Why should you be paid just for being born into a family?"
Requirements evolve
Younger kids divide their earned money into three categories: give (10 percent), save (20 percent) and spend (70 percent).
At age 11 they begin buying their own clothes and, not coincidentally, become fans of thrift and bargain stores -- "Hand-me-downs rock!" said teenage daughter Becky. They learn that even hand-me-downs have value; younger siblings often are charged for clothing that's usually given away. After all, why should the older kids be solely responsible for paying for clothes that the other children will wear, too?
Steve said the newsletter reflects the family's values, both financial and moral.
"This is exactly who we are," he said. "I'm not selling cheese or semiconductors -- we love to write, we love to help people."
"And we have a lot of experience being cheap," Annette said.
An annual subscription (10 issues) of the Home Economiser newsletter costs $15. For a free sample issue, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 12603, Scottsdale Ariz. 85267-2603 or visit www.homeeconomiser.com.