Category: Featured

57

Featured / Monthly Expense Reports

9 Dec, 2020

Christmas Lights, Lightbulbs, a Headlamp and other November 2020 Expenses

Let there be LIGHT!!!! I’ve surrendered all restraint and decorum with regard to Christmas decorations. This year, we are lit. It’s dark, it’s cold, there’s nowhere to go and so I transformed the interior of our house into a beacon of light/some might call it tacky. Up to this point, we’ve used hand-me-down and garage-sale-purchased strands of Christmas lights which, while cheap at the outset, were not cheap from an energy use perspective. This year,...

43

Featured / This Month On The Homestead

4 Dec, 2020

These Two Months On The Homestead: Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course, Wood Stacking

October AND November 2020 Oh yes, you get a double dose of homesteading because I neglected/forgot to write this up last month. But who even noticed?! It’s a pandemic! We had an election! This Month On The Homestead‘s timeliness does not rate. Fall in Vermont blows in with intention. No balmy leaf-crunchers here, fall is a rapid descent to winter. In a year that’s felt like a decade, November alone spanned several years. Wood Stacking:...

143

Featured / Frugal Homestead Series

6 Jul, 2020

Want To Move To The Country? 15 Things To Consider

Moving to the sticks is all the rage right now. At least, that’s what I gather from the number of questions I’m getting about septic systems. Or, you all are just really interested in becoming rural waste management engineers. Assuming it’s the former, let’s talk about what it’s really like to live rurally. I’m no expert, I’ve only been here for four years, and I’ve only lived in Vermont, but I’ve devoted a lot of...

86

Featured / Monthly Expense Reports

18 Jun, 2020

Dirt And Other May 2020 Expenditures

Boatloads of Dirt May was the month of the raised bed. Mr. Frugalwoods designed, built, and installed four enormous raised beds to serve as our kitchen garden. I’ll give the full rundown in my next This Month On The Homestead installment, but for today’s purposes, know that these beds required dirt. A lot of dirt. 5.5 yards of dirt, to be precise. And as I learned, dirt is not just dirt. At least, not when...

84

Coronavirus Pandemic / Featured / Uber Frugal Week Series

9 Apr, 2020

Uber Frugal Week Day 1: Know What You Spend and Where You Can Save

Welcome to Day 1 of my pandemic-inspired, 8-day, what-do-I-do with my money, Uber Frugal Week series. For more about this series, including an overview of what I’ll cover each day, check out this. Uber Frugal Week: Day 1 We’re in a weird, uncertain time and when things get weird and uncertain, it’s time to save more money. I’m going to skip the goal-setting and discernment exercises we do during the Uber Frugal Month and assume...

98

Coronavirus Pandemic / Featured / Uber Frugal Week Series

7 Apr, 2020

Introducing the Uber Frugal Week: How to Manage Your Money in the Time Of Pandemic and Recession

The economic impact of the coronavirus is not good. Many businesses are shuttered for the foreseeable future. Last month a record-breaking number of people filed for unemployment in the United States. We’re barreling into a recession and I don’t think it’s going to be a short one either. I won’t sugarcoat this: the economy is bad and likely to get worse as isolation slows both the spread of the virus and the economy. With that...

88

Coronavirus Pandemic / Featured

25 Mar, 2020

Our Pandemic Routine: Parenting and Working From Home In The Time Of Coronavirus

It’s all pandemic all the time around here. Try as we might to be normal right now, this is not normal. There are semblances of normal, such as our family breakfasts. There are unexpectedly wonderful things, such as my sister and her kids reading my kids a story over Skype. And there are weird things, such as not seeing the friends and neighbors I rely on, count on, depend on seeing every day. We’re in...

82

Coronavirus Pandemic / Featured

20 Mar, 2020

How We Can Help Out During A Global Pandemic: Resources, Ideas, and Encouragement

I hadn’t planned on writing about the Coronavius again, but when I sat down to write what I’d previously planned on my editorial calendar (don’t be impressed, it’s just my regular calendar, but “editorial” sounds so, well, editorial), I realized I had no enthusiasm or energy for “regular” topics. We’re all feeling the impact of the Coronavirus in some way, or we will soon, and we should all be preparing for what’s almost certain to...

121

Coronavirus Pandemic / Featured

18 Mar, 2020

How We’re Managing Our Money During the Coronavirus Pandemic

As COVID-19–the disease caused by the novel Coronavirus–ravages the world, I feel fear and helplessness. My children’s school–and every school in our state–is closed until April 6th (or later). Bars and restaurants are closed. In neighboring states, everything save grocery stores and pharmacies is shuttered. The NBA, NHL, MLS and MLB all cancelled their seasons. Broadway is closed. Disneyland shut its doors. The stock market is spiraling down. Things are not looking good, folks. So...

134

Featured / Frugalwoods Philosophy

26 Feb, 2020

Environmentalism, Frugality, and Minimalism: The Triumvirate That’ll Save You Money and Simplify Your Life

Environmentalism, frugality, and minimalism are intertwined. They form a complementary, interconnected system that goes something like this: Need less, buy less, use less, consume less, spend less, deplete less…. and finally, want less. Today, I want to discuss how these three values can work in concert to save money, reduce stress, and inform choices. Much of frugality, environmentalism, and minimalism is encapsulated by doing less. It’s more compelling to buy into expensive “solutions” engineered to...

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