October 25, 2019
Low-mileage, relatively young used cars are often a bad deal. Today we’ll explore why and what you can do to save yourself and your money. The Frugalwoods Fleet-O-Vehicles Let me start with a quick rundown of what my husband and I drive our two kids around in: 2010 Toyota Prius: purchased in April 2016 for…
October 23, 2019
“You know you’ve made it when someone sends you a free vacuum.” -said no one ever. Until now. Now, I’m saying it, you guys. Because by this calculation, I’ve made it. I am someone in this world. I am someone who receives free vacuums (well, one free vacuum to be precise). The Dyson V7 Motorhead…
October 18, 2019
September to December = my favorite time of year. I’m a holiday hound. A festivity fox. A Halloween hugger. What can I say? This trifecta: Halloween Thanksgiving Christmas IS MY JAM. People are sometimes surprised at how robustly I celebrate holidays because celebrating is not inherently frugal or minimalist or simple. It’d be cheaper, easier,…
October 16, 2019
September 2019 As you saw in our expense report, September turned us away from summer, pushed us into fall, and forced us to reckon with the inevitability of winter. We started the month with monochromatic green and ended in a riot of leaf colors. September makes us hustle. Dropping temperatures rob us of our languid…
October 9, 2019
Winter is coming and every year, we spend a boatload (an actual, entire boat) of money in preparation. It might cost us less to just burn dollar bills to keep warm. This September was particularly expensive because quite a few non-annual expenses all hit at once. Expenses we incur every two years, every three years, every…
October 7, 2019
Helen and Earl want to move to Japan! They currently live in Portland, Oregon with their two daughters and are planning to make the leap overseas in the spring of 2021. Helen would like our help thinking through the process of moving and wants to check her financial projections with us. Read my disclosures here. Case Studies…
October 4, 2019
I’m a known thrifter. Unlike known grifters, this is a good thing. Since becoming Mrs. Frugalwoods, I’ve tried to buy everything second-hand. This doesn’t always work out and sometimes I choose to buy things new (such as my mattress), but on the whole, my household is awash in used goods. Today, I want to talk about three…
October 2, 2019
My Quinoa Lunch has been described as rice-n-beans 2.0. And for good reason. Four years ago, I brought you our epically frugal rice-n-beans recipe, which is what we used to eat for lunch. Over time, Mr. Frugalwoods and I grew tired of the rice-n-beans routine and craved something novel. We’ve eaten many a thing for…
September 27, 2019
Before having kids, I knew a lot about parenting. I’d look at tantruming toddlers in grocery stores and scoff to my husband, “how can they LET their child scream like that? In public?” Now that I have kids, I don’t even notice when other people’s kids are ripping ears of corn off the produce section…
September 25, 2019
October 29, 2021 update: It’s been NINE years and we still love this mattress. We bought this thing in September 2012 and it’s still going strong! Note: this post contains affiliate links. And now, please enjoy my original 2019 post: Oh yes, it’s Internet Mattress time. I bought this king-sized mattress from Amazon for $279 back in…
September 20, 2019
August 2019 This series has been on hiatus the last few months because I’ve struggled with what to write. I am not a real homesteader. At least, not in the sense that folks expect when they hear the word “homesteader.” It evokes an antebellum existence of no electricity or running water, of growing and raising all…
September 18, 2019
Oh yes, we’re going there today. The “pink tax” refers to the fact that women often pay more for goods and services marketed to them. A 2018 study found that, “…women pay as much as 13 percent more for some categories of products (source: NPR).” Not cool, ladies, not cool at all. This insidious increase…