I have a kid old enough to start learning about money! Of all the parenting milestones we’ve marked over the years, I think I’m the most excited about this one. You all have been asking me for advice on teaching kids about money for eight years and I’ve demurred because I didn’t know how I was going to teach my own kids about money. Until today! Our oldest child, six-year-old Kidwoods, started asking about money...
Jane and her husband Kurt live in Munich, Germany with their six-month-old son, Oskar. Jane works as a software engineer and Kurt is a screenwriter for a popular German television series. The couple love living in Munich, save one fact: Jane is American and her family all live across the pond. Thus, they’re contemplating a move to the Northeastern United States in order to be closer to Jane’s family, in particular, her parents with whom...
We’re building a garage! Well, we’re planning on building a garage. Longtime readers know that one of the downsides of our Vermont homestead is its lack of a garage. Why this place has no garage is a mystery for the ages. My family in California all have garages. My family in North Carolina all have garages. People in Florida have garages! But people in Vermont? Nope. It’s more common to NOT have a garage than...
The Uber Frugal Month is BACK! Sign-up now to join me—and thousands of other frugal folks—for my free, month-long money makeover/bootcamp/analysis/party. Starting January 1st, I’ll send you an email a day with specific steps to improve your finances. There’ll be motivational mantras thrown in, but the primary purpose of the UFM is to give you detailed, straightforward, easy-to-follow financial action items. Woohoo! A lot of people (me included!) take the UFM every single year as...
Two sizable pieces of Frugalwoods-relevant news occurred this past spring: We paid off the mortgage on our primary residence in Vermont! Mr. Frugalwoods retired! These both happened amidst the flurry of the pandemic, our stint as unintentional homeschoolers and, of course, maple sugaring season. I promised to share the details once the sap stopped flowing, we got vaccinated and the kids went to in-person school (PRAISE BE). These two events are correlated since we didn’t...
One of the easiest and best ways to save money is to switch your cell phone provider to an MVNO. Cell phone service is one of those things most of us skip over when we’re trying to reduce our spending. We figure it’s a fixed amount, the same no matter what provider we use. Today we dispel that myth with the wonderful world of MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators). MVNOs are re-sellers of name brand...
Content warning: I am talking about some EXPLICIT credit card rewards today. There will be actual numbers, real percentages and even specific cards discussed. If you’re a person who doesn’t do well with credit cards, if cards encourage you to spend more than you can afford and go into debt, I want you to stop reading this article and instead go look at this panda who traded her baby for an apple… I mean, maybe...
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...
January 2021 We are in the season of snow every day. Maybe a lot, maybe a trace. There’s no forecast to tell us what’ll happen: we look outside, we bring in more fire wood. It dips into single digits every night and still, we go outside every day. We hike, we sled, we cry (mostly the kids; sometimes me), and we love the cascade of monochrome. There is no beauty more distilled than fresh glitter...
Kate is 30 and lives in LA with her kitten Cashew. She works in payroll at a university, which is a stable job with great benefits and low stress. As she approaches the five-year mark in her current position, she’d like to examine her options for moving to a lower cost of living area and a smaller town. Kate also hopes to have children one day and she’d like our help with determining a financial...
