October 30, 2015
Reader Suggestions On: How To Convince Your Husband Or Wife To Be Frugal
I recently put out the query “how do you convince your husband or wife to be frugal?” It’s a question Mr. Frugalwoods and I receive with regularity and it’s one that we’re woefully inept at answering having never done it ourselves. Since we came to the decision to pursue extreme frugality together, we haven’t had the…
October 26, 2015
Frugal Homestead Series Part 7: On Visiting Properties (And Getting Lost)
Greetings fellow frugal weirdos! Welcome to Part 7 of our Frugal Homestead Series, which explores the finer points of how we’re going to reach our version of financial independence and move to a homestead in the woods in 2017 at age 33. Mr. Frugalwoods and I plan to buy 20+ acres of wooded land, likely with an existing home and…
October 21, 2015
Finding Peace In The Present Moment
No one wants to be in an airport. It’s a place of transition and flux and it’s not a final destination. Being in an airport means you’re in process towards something. You haven’t arrived anywhere yet. Mr. Frugalwoods and I spent almost 8 hours at Chicago O’Hare airport last Thursday waiting for my parents’ flight to…
October 19, 2015
A Day In The Life Of A Frugal Weirdo
So just what does a frugal weirdo do on a daily basis? People ask us all the time–no really, how do you and Mr. Frugalwoods make it through each month on only $1,000 or less? Are we holed up in a hovel weaving dog fur into sweaters to keep warm? Sitting in the dark to save electricity eating cold…
October 16, 2015
How Do You Convince Your Husband Or Wife To Be Frugal?
“Frugality is so awesome! Now, how do I convince my spouse/partner to get on board with it?” Mr. Frugalwoods and I are asked this question almost daily and I was all set to write some windbaggy mellifluous literary masterpiece in response. The only hitch is that I have to confess my honest answer is “I have no idea.” Mr….
October 13, 2015
Beware These Special Occasion Spending Triggers
Having a baby? Getting married? 10th anniversary? Adopting your first iguana? We’re led to believe that each of these milestone events is a requirement to spend money. In fact, there’s an entire cultural phenomenon built around the idea that in order to properly fete an occasion, we should buy stuff–and often, a whole lot of stuff. The…
October 8, 2015
Why LASIK Surgery Is The Best $4,225 I’ve Ever Spent
As I lay on the operating table with a laser moving towards my eyeball, I knew I’d made the right decision. Ok, maybe I didn’t know it in that precise moment of mingled excitement and low grade terror, but I certainly knew it about an hour later when I could see without glasses or contacts for the…
October 5, 2015
Time vs. Money: How We Choose
There exists out there in the world a misconception that extreme frugality dooms you to a life of intense labor that could otherwise be provided for you through an expenditure of money. But in our experience, that’s simply not true. Mr. Frugalwoods and I don’t live like indentured servants (except perhaps to wait on Frugal Hound)–quite the contrary!…
October 2, 2015
September 2015 Expenditures
September was markedly more expensive than the past several months due to a panoply of miscellaneous occurrences. Most notably, we booked flights to Chicago for my cousin’s wedding, which takes place in a few short weeks. Time with family is something we value tremendously and so spending money on these plane tickets was an easy decision to…