I was pretty amazed that the Economides were able to succeed with all of their financial accomplishments (especially that of sending all of their kids to college without a single loan) with not one, not two, but five children. That's a big family! When I asked them how they did it, Annette said that they really didn't have to alter their spending too significantly with the arrival of each new child.
"We've always focused on developing systems," Steve says. "Annette developed a hand-me-down system. She had boxes in the garage where the kids would put their outgrown clothes, so that when the next kid came along, we knew right where to get them. That saved us a ton of money on clothes."
While the US Department of Agriculture reports that it costs an average of $260,000 to raise a child from birth to age 17, the Economides refused to spend that much. "We would slowly give our kids money to manage when they were able," Steve says. "They got part-time jobs at 16, managed their own expenses, bought their own clothes, paid for auto insurance, and saved for college. Our goal was to raise them to be financially independent."
