Sam Fatzinger prowls the aisles of an Aldi grocery store with an engineer’s precision. Workers greet her, mostly by name.
She puts several trays of chicken into a huge cart. Then it’s on to fresh blueberries for $1.79 a pint, in February. And she recalls the time the no-frills store had a sale on potatoes: 10 pounds for 99 cents. She bought 60 pounds. Her husband loves them.
To get these best buys, “it’s just watching and waiting and knowing,” Sam says.“Every cent counts.”
At the cashier, her groceries fill every inch of the conveyor belt. My silent guess: $250 in all. The bill: $127, half of my estimate.
Very impressive. But not as impressive as this:
Rob and Sam Fatzinger, lifelong residents of Bowie, Md., lead a single-income family in one of the country’s most expensive regions. Rob’s income never topped $50,000 until he was 40; he’s now 51 and earns just north of $100,000 as a software tester.
They have 13 children. Which means they require things like a seven-bedroom house and a 15-passenger van. Four children have graduated from college, three are undergrads and six are on the runway.
Yet they paid off their mortgage early four years ago. They have no debt — never have, besides mortgages. And Rob is on track to retire by 62.
This family gets the gold medal for being frugal. This family is the Einstein of economical.
These days, frugality is not about clipping coupons. It’s about rethinking your finances, and maybe your life.
Rob’s philosophy: “Spend money on what makes you truly happy and on what you enjoy. ... The thing that people need to understand is that we don’t feel deprived or poor. ... We pick and choose carefully.”
The Fatzingers are getting it done.
Could you?
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Publishers Notes: I happen to know this Family personally. They have ALWAYS been incredible people and especially parents.
This is an amazing example of frugality. It is all about the creed.
ReplyDeleteI doubt they waste money on cable TV.
ReplyDeleteYep. NEVER go into debt if you can ever help it for anything. Pay your mortgage off as fast as you can. Credit and debt are a lie, and will only help to keep the masses poor and enslaved.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a paper years ago for economics class "The benefits of a house wife or husband. It covered all of this. Powerful.
ReplyDeleteKudos to this fine family.
ReplyDeleteIf all Americans took this advice, the banking / organized crime empire that rules over us would collapse like a folding chair.
ReplyDeleteWithin a few weeks.