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?”
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 five years–somehow they all aligned in September 2019. So let’s get to it! Winter Preparations = $$$$$$$ and also $...
August 2019 Every August, the tax gender neutral person cometh. We paid our annual property tax bill in full last month, which accounts for $8,634.29 of our August spending. This covers our 66 acre property, including the house and barn. And I have to say, while it’s a lot of money, it’s money I’m happy to spend because property taxes fund crucial public services such as schools. Vermont has high taxes, a fact many folks pointed out when...
July 2019 Summer, apparently, is expensive. I think we set a record high for spending in a single month. On the upside? We had a lot of fun. July continued our summer-of-visitors and my in-laws, who were here all month, were generous with their offers of childcare. We took them up on those offers. Every single time. I’m so thankful that our girls have involved, loving, healthy, vibrant grandparents. And I’m so thankful my husband...
June 2019 A time of idyl and pleasures, summers in Vermont are hedonistic romps through finally-thawed ground. For two months, maybe three, we denizens of the Northeast are made ecstatic by green grass and ripening gardens. Then we get hot, retreat to the porch, and complain that it’s only 10am and already 75 degrees. We sweat and wonder aloud when fall will start. Vermont is comprised of folks who pretend to love all four seasons,...
May 2019 I’ve decided we are digital homesteaders. Pretty sure that’s not a real thing, but I think it’s what we are. My husband and I both work from home via the internet. When we’re not doing computer work, we’re doing homestead work: fruit tree pruning, wood harvesting, vegetable garden planting. The backbone of both? The internet. As a freelancer, everything I do is over the internet. As a remote worker, everything my husband does...
I do not like wearing shorts. Even in the smolder of summer, I detest short pants. Do you know what I do like to wear when it’s hot? Dresses. I like to wear loose, breezy, dresses. Dresses with pockets are a particular favorite. Cotton is also good. I do not like sleeveless, or backless, or tank-topped dresses. I like short-sleeved dresses so that I can wear a normal, comfortable bra and so that I don’t...
March 2019 Our emergence from winter crystallized in March with the purchase of lots of stuff for our vegetable garden! Don’t worry, we were still covered in snow alllllllllll month long, but we at least started buying things for our eventual, supposed, promised, ephemeral springtime. I’m not sure I can emphasize just how much snow we had in March. I’ve included several photos, which do a far more descriptive job than my cabin-fevered ramblings. You’d...
February’s spending reflects the endless wintertime we find ourselves mired in. Nearly everything we bought is in some way seasonal, which is a lovely way of reminding myself that this snow, this winter, this cold is temporal. It’ll melt, it’ll move on, and spring will rush in, making us question if there ever really was snow piled so high that it partially covered our first floor windows? How could that be? Well, it could be...
Our kitchen faucet joined the ranks of the no longer living. As you might recall, Mr. Frugalwoods put in a herculean effort back in October to keep this faucet among that which is operational in our home. His plumbing fix worked. Until it didn’t. The valve in the faucet broke again–yielding a mind numbing drip, drip, driiiiiiiiiippppp–and this time it was beyond repair. We found a delightful “swan neck” (actual name) faucet at Home Depot...
It’s appropriate that I spent $34.25 on a 20lb tank of C02 because quite a few of you are participating in my bi-annual Uber Frugal Month Group Challenge (UFM) this month. And this tank of C02 is the perfect illustration of an overarching theme of the UFM: Frugality isn’t about depriving yourself, it’s about being strategic with your resources. I am not into hardship or deprivation. Not my thing. What I am into is saving...
