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?”
My husband and I are committed to learning new things. It’s a goal of ours to consistently make ourselves beginners in different capacities. Putting ourselves in a beginner mindset enables us to keep our brains limber, opens us up to creativity and new experiences, keeps us humble and models lifelong learning for our kids. It has been the catalyst for a number of conversations with our girls around the facts that you don’t get things...
The kids had the last week of February/first week of March off school, so we went on a few local family day trips! First up: Skiing at Burke Mountain We’d never been to this ski area before and figured vacation week was the perfect time to try it out. The mountain has a “Wicked Wednesdays” special where it’s $45 for three day passes!!!! This is a phenomenal deal and one we plan to take advantage...
I promise I will talk about what we spent last month in a moment, but first I want to tell you that you can now… Schedule a Free 15-Minute Call with Me! If you’ve been thinking about hiring me to do a financial plan for you, if you’re curious about how my consultation process works or whether or not I can answer your questions… you can now grab 15 minutes on my calendar for free!...
My $5 yard sale bread machine got upgraded to a $40.91 yard sale bread machine with the replacement of its dough blades. Who doesn’t love starting the new year with new dough blades?! These small, blade-like objects snap into the base of the bread machine’s basket to perform the crucial kneading step in the bread making process. I am thrilled to outsource kneading to these blades and they tirelessly execute their task without so much...
Ahhh decadent December! Filled with food, wine, life-sized penguin stuffies and dog booties. December always promises to be a high-spend month, but that doesn’t have to spell crisis. If you plan for expensive months, if you calculate what you spend on something like Christmas and save up over the course of a year, you can conclude a month like December with satisfaction as opposed to regret. The goal in all of this–all of this money...
November is always a month of celebrations in our family! We hosted Thanksgiving for what we think is the 10th year–although there were a few years off for Covid–and Kidwoods turned seven! Our expenses are always higher in November on account of these festivities and I don’t mind at all. Having the ability to spend on things that matter deeply to me is why I’m frugal. It’s why I track my spending. It’s why I...
We Adopted A Dog! I’m thrilled to introduce Genevieve the dog (aka Gigi)!! Frugal Hound 2.0, Gigiwoods, G-dog McHound Face! She’s a rescue so we’re not sure of her exact age or breed, but our vet estimates she’s 6 months old and likely to be 60-70lbs (she’s currently 40lbs). We think she’s a Plott Hound/Black & Tan Coonhound cross, but again, can’t be certain. She has snuggled right into our pack and the girls are...
Last month we took the kids on their very first vacation! To the beach! We didn’t travel during Covid and, pre-Covid, the only trips they went on were to visit family (which is also a vacation, but you know what I mean). Our dear friends have a family beach house on the New Jersey shore in Mantoloking and we drove down with them for a five-day, four-night stay. It was glorious. Magical. Perfect. Are We...
Birthday Brewery Bash! Mr. FW celebrated his 39th birthday in August and my in-laws graciously kept our children for three days (and two nights!!!!)! We decided against traveling this year–last year we went kid-free to Cambridge, MA–and instead stay-cationed it up. When I asked my husband what kind of cake he wanted me to bake, he replied, “beer.” Excellent. We made a reservation at Hill Farmstead (ranked the best brewery in the world) and spent...
After nine years of pandemic isolation, we decided this would be the summer of family day trips! Our kids hadn’t been to any of the area museums or towns or restaurants or libraries due to: a) pandemic; b) being babies before the pandemic. We’ve made up for that dearth of activity in force. Swimming, beaches, paddle boarding, museums, hiking, breweries, ice cream shops, mini summer camps–we’ve done it all! And paid for it all. Remember...
