With a last name like Economide, you would certainly hope that this family knew something about personal finances. The family of 7 is known as America’s cheapest family. They get by on under $44,000 a year, which seems almost impossible for a family with 5 children. living in Phoenix Arizona.

Despite being almost impossibly frugal, the family still buys name brand clothes, they eat healthy food, and live in a very nice area of Phoenix. Their trick is to plan well in advance on spending habits, as well as look for bargains. They recently published a book called, “Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America’s Cheapest Family,” in which they describe everything from how to shop, to everyday living. An excerpt titled “Shopping to Win,” from the book goes as follows:

Grocery stores are not set up as charitable organizations designed to help harried shoppers get what they need at the lowest price and then get home. If you think that they are, you’ve been lulled into a sense of complacency by spending too much time listening to that carefully orchestrated, canned music in the stores. Grocery stores are strategically designed to encourage you to buy the products on which the grocer makes the greatest profit. If you are going to win at the grocery game, you’ve got to know how to take your plan and stick to it. Just as a marathon runner has to navigate through a maze of other runners as well as up and down hills and valleys to get to the goal of the finish line, you’ve got to be prepared to navigate through various distractions and detours at the grocery store to reach your goal of feeding your family for less.

The family has received a ton of attention recently, now that the economy is in the dumps, and thousands of families around the country are looking for advice. They have appeared on the Today show, as well as Good Morning America. The Economides certainly seem to live a nice lifestyle on a small amount of money. If American’s were all as knowledgeable as this family, many of the financial problems we see in the country would never have erupted to begin with.