Reader Case Study: At Age 57, It’s Not Over Yet!
I am delighted that this month’s Reader Case Study features a subject who is older than me! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to bring you the story of Lucy, an active 57-year-old nurse with questions on her retirement and next career. Much as I love all the younguns’ I’ve featured in Case…
Reader Case Study: Londoners Wonder About Buying A Property
We’re headed across the pond for this month’s Reader Case Study as we delve into university lecturers Betty and David’s query on whether or not to buy a home in an expensive area near London, England. Case Studies are financial and life dilemmas that a reader of Frugalwoods sends to me requesting that Frugalwoods nation weigh in. Then,…
Shelves And Other July 2017 Expenditures
Our basement, as previously disclosed, is undergoing a vast improvement plan. Our Cambridge, MA home (the one that’s now a rental) has a delightful panoply of built-in shelves in its basement, which suited our needs just fine. Here in our Vermont home, however, the basement is a huge, empty, concrete-floored cavern. A cavern I’m very thankful…
The Best And Worst Moments Of Our First Year On The Homestead
We celebrated our first full year of life on our homestead in May! We left urban Cambridge, MA to chart a wholly different life out here on 66 acres in rural Vermont and the change this represents for us is nothing short of transformational, radical, and miraculous. Neither Mr. Frugalwoods nor I grew up–or ever lived–in a rural…
How We Bought Inexpensive, Awesome Glasses Online
Mr. Frugalwoods needed glasses. After years of competing over who could discern distant signs on roadtrips first, age finally caught up with my mountain/computer man. Both of his vocations–software engineering and forestry management/homesteading–require the ability to see clearly. As does, you know, life in general. Last year he started getting headaches and complained of blurry vision…
Deprivation Or Abundance? Turns Out, It’s Your Choice
Seven years ago, Mr. Frugalwoods and I moved to Washington, DC so that I could go to grad school (while working full-time) and Mr. FW could advance in his career. For the previous three years, we’d lived below ground in a sunlight-challenged basement apartment in Cambridge, MA. We were ready to upgrade. Our underground existence made us…
Moving? Wait Before You Renovate
Moving into a new house is surrounded by as much consumer fanfare as a new baby. There’s a temptation–and a goading by the likes of HGTV–to buy all new furniture, renovate immediately, and deck every wall in a trendy palette. But this urgent wish for everything to be precisely perfect is detrimental to both budgets and longterm…
Our Amazon Mattress: A Five Year Update
October 29, 2021 update: It’s been NINE years and we still love this mattress (affiliate link). We bought this thing in September 2012 and it’s still going strong! Check out my seven year update here: How My $279 Amazon Mattress Is Holding Up After Seven Years Note: this post contains affiliate links. And now, please…
This Month On The Homestead: Sunrises, Community, and Ice
If you’re just tuning in, this is a recurring series in which I document each month of our lives out here on our 66-acre Vermont homestead. After leaving urban Cambridge, MA in May 2016 to chart this wholly different life, we’re experiencing a constant learning curve of exploration (and plenty of stupid novice moments). Check out…
Crowdsourced Ideas For A Unique And Thrifty Valentine’s Day
The intersection of money and romantic relationships represents one of the most volatile combinations. Furthermore, disagreements over money are a leading cause of divorce in the United States. Clearly, we have unresolved issues over not just our money, but how we spend our money in service of our relationships. And into this fray enters Valentine’s Day, the ultimate…
Our Low Cost, No Fuss, DIY Money Management System
So exactly how do frugal weirdos manage their money? I get this question a lot and it makes me realize that, despite the fact that this is ostensibly a “personal finance” blog, I don’t discuss the precise machinations of my personal money management system very often. And the reason for that is quite straightforward: Mr….
How Planning Ahead Saves Us Serious Money
Perhaps the single greatest tactic a frugal weirdo can employ in the campaign to save money is… drum roll… planning ahead. Yep, planning. Not fancy apps or bizarre investing schemes or diets consisting solely of tuna fish. Planning ahead. There are different categories of planning ahead and different ways to apply this deceptively simple strategy to your own…