Each month we tally up how much we spent and discuss where we spent it. We hope it provides an answer to the question “what do the Frugalwoods spend money on?”
We’re getting chickens. When we moved to our homestead in May 2016 with a six-month-old Kidwoods, we made a pact to not get farm animals until our human animals were more self-sufficient. Littlewoods was born in February 2018, which restarted the human baby self-sufficiency clock. Now that our human babies are three and five, we’re ready (“ready” might be too strong a word… ) to tend some animal babies. I’m still on the fence about...
Evidently February is a short and boring month. We didn’t buy anything interesting or story-worthy or unusual. So instead of talking about what we DID buy, I’ll talk about what we didn’t buy. Advertiser Disclosure: Frugalwoods partners with CardRatings for coverage of credit card products. Frugalwoods and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers at no extra cost to you. Here’s a boring (but important) explanation of how Frugalwoods makes money. The credit card links in this...
We’re planting a pear, peach, apple and elderberry orchard this spring! Because why not. In a year (two years?) of unrest and insanity, why not plant an entire fruit orchard. We have a long-standing goal of expanding the perennial foods we grow and this’ll be our latest and largest undertaking. In years past, we planted perennial blueberries, strawberries, currants, cherries and did major remediation work on our existing apple and plum trees. This’ll be our...
The FINAL month of 2020 was one of gift-buying, food-buying, and tractor repair parts-buying. Also dryer parts. Plus liquor. And some beer. According to our expenses, we were either: a) giving gifts; b) eating and drinking; and/or c) repairing stuff. Sounds about right. A Festive At-Home Christmas We celebrated a quiet, lovely little Christmas at home with just us four. It was sweet, inexpensive and un-stressful. We might do this every year. Our church held...
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,...
The pandemic, the election, rising Covid cases and deaths, intonations of entering a dark winter… shall we talk about that today? Nah. In a world that’s (potentially) spiraling out of control, let’s focus on the things we can control. I can’t control politics, I can’t control the coronavirus, I can’t control what other people do or don’t do. All I can control is myself (and my success rate there is only about 60%). I’ve known...
I’m convinced that large appliances are in league against humans. This month we had to replace our dishwasher and our TV and this is not the first time we’ve had a confluence of such events. Revenge of the Appliances hit back in 2016 when our oven, refrigerator and closet door all broke in the same month. Are these coincidences? Or are they evidence of the tenuous hold we have on our modern world? Whatever the...
I dub August “leaning into the pandemic.” No longer in denial, no longer hoping for a swift conclusion, no longer deluding myself that school and daycare will resume anytime soon, I am leaning in baby. Leaning In Actually Looks Really Boring. Sorry About That. Me leaning in primarily manifests as really, really boring expenses, but since you’re already reading this, I’ll do my best: 1) Educational Posters. In acknowledgment of our new role as “homeschoolers,”...
Buying Household Supplies In The Time Of A Pandemic We’ve started ordering all of our household supplies online to limit our exposure to stores. Unfortunately, this seems to be more expensive due to the lack of generic options online. In non-pandemic times, we buy the generic Walmart brand of almost all household supplies, but the generics aren’t always (or ever) available online, so we’ve had to buy name brand laundry detergent, baby wash, floss, hand...
I can feel the pandemic vibes coming through in last month’s spending. Notable is the line item “Beer, marshmallows, graham crackers, and Cheetos.” I regret nothing. The Truck This month’s “more expensive than our mortgage” award goes to our 2010 Toyota Tundra truck. A dubious honor, to be sure. The truck needed a lot of mechanic-related intervention, including: new rotors, calipers, a state inspection, an oil change and an ABS diagnosis. Cool. The upside is...
