Could you live on $20 a week?

Think you could live on just $20 a week?  It's an intriguing idea for sure.  Kim, blogger behind The Money Pit (do you remember the movie with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long?), gave it a try last January.  You can read her followup post here.  She has a weekly post about what she spent and where she spent it and posts about the foods she prepared.  My house if full of picky eaters so our menu has absolutely no variety!

Hands down, I do not think I could do it.  Twenty bucks wouldn't cover my weekly gas expenses!  Of course, Kim may live in an area where gas is cheaper (San Fran?) and be located closer to all the places you need to go in a week.  But, even if I were to consider only food items, I don't think we'd be able to do it under $20 a week. 

I am curious about what we actually spend each week on food, though.  If I give this a try, I'll have to sit and ponder a few things.  Like.....Would you have to factor in the cost of "stock up" items you buy each week?  Or just the basic cost of your meals?  Gosh, one little trip to McDonald's would be a budget wrecker for sure!  Plus, we're meat eaters, so I think the meat budget alone would be more than twenty bucks.  Heck, milk and apple juice would probably kill a weekly budget of $20.  I wonder if fifty would be more attainable?  Can we spend $50 or less on groceries and/or take out each week?  What do you think?  Think it's possible?

Speaking of "stock up" items.  I spent quite a bit of time yesterday emptying expired stuff out of my cabinets.  I'm a recovered couponer, if you didn't know.  I definitely bought into the whole extreme couponing fad.  Couponing is good, but I have evolved to believe that couponing is only good in moderation.  As in, use a coupon on the stuff you're buying for this week because no household needs a drawer full of dental floss!