It’s rare to be a beginner as an adult. As kids, “beginner” described our lives. Everything a kid does is new. They’re inexperienced and unafraid of grabbing a sweet potato and peeler for the first time ever and skimming the blade over the peel without hesitation. But as adults, we almost never put ourselves in the position of not knowing how to do something. We drive our cars via muscle memory, we do the laundry...
I don’t think I’ve ever kept a New Year’s resolution. Ever. In my frittered youth, I made impossible, vague and numerous resolutions. I’d resolve to “lose weight, achieve inner peace and volunteer more,” all in the same year, with no specifics, no action plan and no accountability. I think we can all see why this approach failed. And it didn’t fail just once. It failed every single one of my resolution-making years, which was probably...
You: walking around town wearing hand-me-downs, sipping coffee from a thermos you brought from home, running a debt-free hand through your home haircut, wondering if there are others like you in this world of seemingly endless consumption. Me: other frugal person, catching your eye, noting your home-sourced thermos, digging your not-off-the-rack outfit, wondering if you’re a kindred spirit. The dilemma: how to spot a fellow frugal in the wild without being horrifically awkward? How to...
What’s not to love about a potluck? You make food, other people make food, you bring that food together and then you eat! Potlucks are a bedrock of frugal living, of community-centered living, of family-oriented living, of social living, and of living for people who like to eat. How could something so inherently frugal–so inherently about food–not be talked about on Frugalwoods until now? We cite the oversight and seek to remedy. To all you...
Welcome to my monthly Reader Suggestions feature! Every month I post a question to our Frugalwoods Facebook group and share the best responses here. The questions are topics I’ve received multiple queries on and my hope is that by leveraging the braintrust of Frugalwoods nation, you’ll find helpful advice and insight. Join the Frugalwoods Facebook group to participate in next month’s Reader Suggestions! Here in Vermont we are finally and firmly entrenched in a lovely, snowy, cold winter season. Living out here...
When people ask why we moved to Vermont, I always answer “the woods!” And it’s true, we love our woods. We love looking at them, thinking about them, discussing them, photographing them and, most of all, being in them. However, as you might’ve noticed from my recent photos on Facebook and Instagram, we are currently in the depths of a typical Vermont winter–in other words, we won’t see our grass again until sometime in late...
My fabulous, and fairly frugal, parents visited us here on the homestead last month and, while they were here, I put them to work brainstorming ideas to share on Frugalwoods. A few topics that did not make the cut: Why you should/should not water down your hand-soap. Very polarizing. Possibly marriage-ending. People have wildly divergent views about whether or not this leads to more soap use/more water use. For the sake of family unity, best to leave this...
Last year I wrote a post for my friends, The Frugalwoods, called Frugal Friends and Where to Find Them. Today’s post is the sequel. A couple months ago, a new neighbor came over to chat. He had noticed that Mrs. 1500 and I were out of town and asked us where we’d been. I told him that we were at a financial blogging conference (FinCon). I explained that we write articles about money and that one...
The first hesitant tendrils of fall are filtering through the air. Frugal Hound is sniffing the cool breeze expectantly and thus far, one leaf hath crunched underfoot–it was either premature in its falling or just a dead leaf, but I’ll take it! Autumn is, without contest, the most favored of seasons for the Frugalwoods. It’s a time rife with frugal opportunity and its natural beauty is unparalleled. Fall, though an unassuming calendar event at first blush–nestled as...
Everybody likes hanging out with their friends! This is true for human beings aged toddler to grandparent (and hounds too!). We all enjoy carousing, playing, and fraternizing with our buddies. But what happens when you’re a devout frugal weirdo (à la moi) and you still want to spend quality time with your chums? Brace yourselves because the answer is pretty simple: you still do. I’ve caught wind of a common misconception in our consumption-focused culture that socializing always...
