18-06-2005 23:18									#31
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quote: Originally posted by DanS I don't think you have a good idea about their situation, dude. You live in San Diego, where things cost a lot of money.

Let's forget housing costs and just think about food. I'm guessing three meals a day for 15 kids and 2 adults is at least $3 per meal per person if they really shop around and save. That's $9 per person per day (with no extras for snacks) or $153 per day just for the bare amount of food. That's $55,845 per year just to feed people like a peasant and in order to survive on $3 per meal you'd likely have to farm much of your own food.

Clothes they can buy second hand and hand down to the younger kids but even so things will wear out and several thousand dollars will have to be paid per year to keep the kids out of rags. No considering housing costs, health care, school expenses, odd gifts (17 birthdays & 17 Xmas presents plus the extended family), utilities, and everything else it costs to live a normal life and we're easily into the $80k-$100k per year price range and we haven't even started to outfit the house with furniture or things like dishes.

Even if you scrimp and save and cut every corner I doubt he'll make enough living in a place where housing is dirt cheap to cover all of those expenses. They simply must be taking some form of welfare or charity. Either that or they're independently wealthy but that doesn't look likely given the clothes they were wearing in the family photo.

	18-06-2005 23:20									#32
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quote: is at least $3 per meal per person

	18-06-2005 23:21									#33
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Oerdin, are you in favor of cutting social programs and making the freeloaders work for themselves or go without?

	18-06-2005 23:22									#34
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Rice and beans, a dollar a day.

	18-06-2005 23:22									#35
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quote: Originally posted by Lancer For one thing white people don't have them much anymore and Oregon is white, and for another the parents are too scared to let them play outside because society is so screwed up.

Lots of my friends are breeders. Three kids seems to be the vogue thing with young couples now days with a few having another. My sister and her husband have three and he has one from his first marriage. Their block is filled with young families and the place is swarming with kids. It's a mixed race neighborhood since it's in southern California but still around 65%-70% white.

	18-06-2005 23:24									#36
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quote: Originally posted by Lancer Rice and beans, a dollar a day.

Kids are going to need some protein, fresh fruit, and fresh veggies. That adds up.

	18-06-2005 23:25									#37
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Hey Oerdin, you know why Canadian lumber mills can still make money even when they are given a tariff? What they do now, is crank out as much wood as possible, to lower their unit costs by increasing their volume.

This works the same way. You buy supplies in bulk and reduce your unit costs.

	18-06-2005 23:28									#38
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If you eat rice and beans your body will manufacture its own protien. I've met people in the Phils who survive on less than a dollar a day. One guy was working cleaning concrete chunks of a roadway being repaired, making P80 a day. Hard work! That's more than a buck, but he supported his wife also. Skinny as a rail...very little protein. Happy man though. Can't figure that.

	18-06-2005 23:29									#39
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From the picture, I see at least one set of twins. I can't imagine being able to have that many children in such a relatively short period of time without having a few multiple births.They are lucky she has not had any miscarriages.

As for the kids, I wonder what being #8 is like- nowhere near the oldest, nowhere near the youngest.

	18-06-2005 23:30									#40
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Uh, beans have protein Lancer.

	18-06-2005 23:35									#41
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Oerdin for breakfast I usually have a couple frozen pancakes and a couple glasses of milk. Altogether this probably cruises in at about $2 for the whole meal.

Let's say Mrs Duggars buys a box of pancake mix at Sav A Lot and the kids each get one glass of milk each (which altogether comes out to about 1 1/2 or 2 gallons). That's probably $9 or $10.

This is the kind of economy of scale that Ben's talking about. They multiplied my serving by 18 times for only $8 more. Sure you have to put a little more work into it than just buying frozen pancakes but it's far from impossible.

	18-06-2005 23:37									#42
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Yup, if you buy in bulk, the costs goes way down. Besides, this guy surely does not live in the middle of a city, so he can;t be toow far from getting stuff directly from the producers, without the retail middlemen. That should cut down on the cost of vegetables. Grains and legumes are very cheap, and I guess if you can buy a whole cow carcass just for your family, it cuts down the cost per lb. significantly.

They must have a lot of food sotrage space though, and a really BIG freezer.

	18-06-2005 23:46									#43
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Rice and beans is a really boring diet. Also, it lacks the small sugars which give you an energy burst after a meal, so takes away hunger without satisfying the desire for food. Vegetables are pretty important for the sugars and vitamins.

	18-06-2005 23:46									#44
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Powdered milk will bring that cost down some too. So would making pancakes with fine flour instead of mix.

	18-06-2005 23:48									#45
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Grow your own! The Irish supported families on potatoes raised in lots smaller than most yards.

	18-06-2005 23:49									#46
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Why grow your own? Potatoes are almost free in bulk. 15 - 20 cents per pound for a 50 lb bag. Much cheaper for higher quantity (like 5 cents per lb by the truckload).

Last edited by DanS on 19-06-2005 at 00:11

	18-06-2005 23:54									#47
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I suppose it would be cheaper then I thought if you bought in bulk and never eat any where but at home. Still have to be expensive to feed all those people though. Since they are in Arkansas they can own a big plot of land and farm I guess. They could raise chickens and livestock for food and profit and they might not even need welfare given the massive farm subsidies the Republicans have been doling out in recent years.

	18-06-2005 23:57									#48
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You don't even need to farm, dude. No chickens or livestock. If they don't buy anything that's pre-packaged, they can eat cheap cheap. A small garden might help, but wouldn't be necessary.

They can all eat well without gov't assistance.

	19-06-2005 00:05									#49
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Hell, I can feed myself on less than 100$ a month if I put my mind to it.

If I was feeding 18 people that would go down to about 40$ a month per person.

720$ a month times twelve months = 8640$ a year in food

	19-06-2005 00:06									#50
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I spend closer to 200 a month on food for myself right now because I eat a lot of steak and seafood...

	19-06-2005 00:10									#51
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The problem would be if they were all teenagers, at which point they would eat more than adults, but since the age spread is so wide, the smaller kids are not eating that much, and I assume the teenagers will be moving out before their final siblings are teenage themselves.

I think if might be worst for one of these couples that has sextuplets or so, because you then get 6 teenagers at the same time, and then the same burden immdiatly going into college.

	19-06-2005 00:14									#52
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Black beans seem to go for around $1.10 per pound in a $25 pound bag.

25lbs Onions $13
60lbs Russet Potatoes $12
12 ears Corn $3
20 lbs of beets $12
25 lbs Carrots $12.50
25 lbs rice $20

Meat will cost much more but I suppose if they could stock a pond on their property, raise chickens, maybe some cows & goats then they might be alright. That will take a lot of manpower to do though and it will be hard to raise all those kids, work a job for income, and farm. I could be done though.

	19-06-2005 00:16									#53
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Why do you have them on a farm? Again, not necessary. Too much work.

	19-06-2005 00:26									#54
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quote: Hell, I'm sure the government still has land in Alaska or New Mexico or something which it will give away to anyone crazy enough to settle on it.

	19-06-2005 00:30									#55
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Alaska yes, New Mexico, no.

	19-06-2005 00:31									#56
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There's too god damn many people as it is. Can't go anywhere without bumping in to people. Even in the wilderness, you're never alone. And everything's geting torn down to make new houses. :grrr:

STOP BREEDING!!!!!

	19-06-2005 00:39									#57
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quote: Originally posted by DanS Why do you have them on a farm? Again, not necessary. Too much work.

To save cost on meat, cheese, and eggs. We already have concluded they wouldn't be living in a city since that's to expensive and if you're in the countryside then why not just use some of that spare land?

	19-06-2005 00:52									#58
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nm

	19-06-2005 01:55									#59
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin To save cost on meat, cheese, and eggs. We already have concluded they wouldn't be living in a city since that's to expensive and if you're in the countryside then why not just use some of that spare land?

You'd be saving only a little. A couple thousand maybe.

	19-06-2005 02:00									#60
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What's all the fuzz about? Just an ordinary Catholic family, nothing special...