When my husband and I were still working, I never thought of cutting back on groceries or eating out. I just get stuff at the groceries and throw things stuff when they just rot inside the fridge. With him working alone and me working part time, I realized the excessive spending that we have been having. Now, I make sure that the blinds are open to let the light into the house to save up on electricity. We don't turn on the heater when it's not too cold; and just make up by having thick blankets and bundling up. When we do groceries, I ask myself if we really need the stuff we are buying and what food are we really going to eat. I make sure to limit the eating out to a minimum and just opt to cook at home. It's true that when you are in a situation where you are hard up financially, you tend to make some life realizations. It has been a difficult time for us but, we are hanging on. Cutting back on food doesn't mean that we are putting our health at risk. It just means that we just need to buy the food that we really want to eat.

I am daring to live without my only credit card. While my family has never had credit card debt, I did make purchases that were not essential because there was "space" on the credit card. It might not sound that radical, but it has been integral in stopping the inflow of miscellaneous and random things into the house.

Everytime my family moves, we donate boxes and bags of "stuff" to charity. A conservative estimate of the retail price of those donations is well into the tens of thousands of dollars. What a waste... The New Earth has really helped me to see that stuff does not define me. And with that, I will continue to fore go the little things that add up to a lot.

Well, one thing I couldn't live without is my TIVO.....I mean, how else am I gonna watch Oprah at night after the kids are in bed?

I thik that the families in this feature are a bunch of spoiled brats living in excess! they are raising a new generation of spoiled brats. We all waste it is sad but true fact of human nature. But they are nothing more then a bunch of spolied brats who have probably never for day in there life known what it is like to live with out. They have no one to blame for their financial problems but themselves. there selfish ways are putting there familes into bankrupsty.

My next project is to live without using my car for trips under 5 miles. I have a very nice bicycle, and since it's spring, I should be able to bike to most of the places that I need to go. This weekend I need to visit my parents in NJ (I live in PA). It's about 7 miles. I think that I will go by bicycle. My dad is 75 and he does bike rides of at least 30 miles every weekend, so I should be able to do this.

Oprah, just to give the paper coffee cup situation at Harpo some perspective: My annual salary is less than Harpo spends yearly on those paper cups. The last person who commented, the one who says that the only thing left to live without is food (as she is on social security), will more than understand this absurdity of excess.

Because my husband is allergic to sulfites (a preservative in many, many foods), we eat out about once a month, although I will buy the occasional chocolate bar or latte once or twice a week. The food we buy, we use and usually only toss out one bowl of leftovers every two weeks, if they've gone beyond the edible stage. Because of his sensitivity, we buy a lot of organics, which are expensive, but we don't waste. And we benefit from his mom's garden and baking, which is all organic.

I read somewhere the best way to save money is to use the food you have, and even we have a lot of food in our cold room and freezer that we could get more creative with. I sorted through the deep freeze a month ago just to refresh my memory of what is in there and I think I need to do that on a monthly basis because I forget what's at the bottom. I know dried lentils and beans are inexpensive (even canned ones are cheap) but I need to be more creative with finding and trying new recipes.

As for clothes, I dont' feel guilty about buying new clothes too much because I buy probably half my wardrobe from second hand stores and give back what I don't wear anymore. I don't shop designer and this past winter I made a long, beautiful, WARM winter coat (because you cannot buy such a thing for -35F days), for $250 - a fraction of what it would cost to buy such an item, if it existed in a store.

I get $13 haircuts which I get lots of compliments on, and once a year get highlights, maybe. I don't get fake nails, because it's a waste of money and time. Plus they're tacky - you don't see Oprah wearing them! Or a lot of other stars!

Our house is kept at 60F in the winter overnight and during the day when we're not home - and that's even when it gets down to -35F. The thermostat is timed to come up to 68F before we get up in the a.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. when we get home. If I get cold, I put on a sweater and slippers. It's not a big deal.

My husband and I commute together most days because we both have full size SUVs (which are second hand and paid off). Saves gas money and we get to spend that 30-45 minutes at the beginning and end of each day (depending on traffic) together. Now before anyone gets their knickers in a knot about carbon footprint, see the prior sentence. Many people have smaller vehicles that take half the gas and they only drive them alone.We always make vehicle errand trips worthwhile - planning the route or delaying trips if it's just to one place in town, because of the price of gas and the time savings. Part of the time, I use public transport and during the summer I use my bike a lot more. I applaud those cyclists who go year round, but there's no way I would unless a) gasoline was outlawed; b) we moved somewhere warmer; c) everyone biked which would make the roads safer or d) there was technology to keep my hands and feet from freezing.

Of course, we recycle, but our municipality makes it easy, with curbside recycling where you put everything recyclable in a bluebag and there's a green bin program in the summer for garden waste and compostables.

My husband is the energy cop, so lights and electronics get turned out if we're not in a room, but we could switch off power bars to the computer more often when they're shut off. And because we both have a rural background, we subscribe to the 'if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down' theory for the toilet, unless guests are over.

So aside from a few things, I think we live pretty frugally. I do like the idea of not buying any more clothes AT ALL for the next year, so I think that's my new goal.

Interesting topic. The second family, the one from Indiana, really seemed to follow through and make some real changes. Good for them to make the changes while the kids are still little. I would love to see an update on them in the future. Seems like the entire family has a good attitude about it. I would like to see if they keep with it. Hope they do.