The latest in the saga of the Duggar Family is that they are seeking public or government assistance and Jim Bob Duggar has his sights set on a new reality show, with the hopes that it will keep the family from asking for or needing any kind of assistance. But do they really need government assistance, or could they make it just fine if they would live middle-class, or working class people? To answer that, lets look at the Duggars net worth. It is rumored somewhere around $3.5 Million. Now, this is not all money, most of it is assets, like property, vehicles, etc. Now you would think that the Duggars raising all their children and supporting such a large family, that it would be rather expensive. The truth is that before their reality show, they were living debt-free, and could still continue to do so. It started years ago, when Jim Bob Duggar was working at a local grocery store to make ends meet. He attended a “financial freedom” seminar by a man named Jim Sammons.

After attending the seminar, Jim Bob bought some commercial real estate properties, which became the families main source of income. He owns a chicken hatchery that has been converted to ten rental units that he rents out, and makes very good money renting out a cell phone tower he owns to mobile phone carriers. Their home is paid for.

Here are a few ways they cut costs:

They wash an average of 35 loads of laundry per week, which became very expensive, so they have a homemade recipe for laundry detergent that cost just $1 per month.

They have all of their bills itemized, and call just about all the companies and have them remove any extra charges every month.

They cut their own hair, which saves them probably thousands of dollars.

They have a strict entertainment budget of $100 per month. So no cable TV.

They have never purchased a new vehicle in their lives, but own five suburban’s, two sedans, one van, and a 45-foot tour bus.

Their home is completely outfitted with energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, bringing their total monthly utilities to about $695 (that’s phone, electricity, and water).

Michelle has educated all of the children at home, and the kids are not encouraged to attend college. (Six of the children have enrolled anyway, but in on-line schools where they don’t have to leave home).

Now, to read all this, it seems that they have no more bills or debt than the average middle class person. So why is it that every time we turn on the news, we see them asking for money, whether it’s on their website, or the gofundme pages that have since been taken down? The sad truth is that this family wants to be in the spotlight and still tries to pass themselves off as a wholesome, Christian family, when time has shown us otherwise. You have the parents, who covered up for their son who was molesting his own sisters, all while attending City Council and other Community meetings and telling citizens not to vote to give equal rights to homosexuals or transgendered people because they will “molest your children”. There was never any counseling for the poor girls who were molested, only secrets and cover-ups. Then there is Josh Duggar, who not only molested his sisters, but cheated on his wife with multiple women through the Ashley Madison website.

They can continue to hope or pray for a new show, but at some point you have to accept the fact that the phone is not ringing. Even the high paying speaking/endorsement deals are gone. It’s time they joined the rest of working America, let’s just hope that the same people they stepped on getting to the top are nicer now that they are coming back down. You can only hold your hand out and cry “poor me” for so long, eventually they have to work for what they want and stop waiting for handouts.