Category: Kids

84

How I’ve Saved Thousands of Dollars on Clothes for My Kids

I started a clothing-focused mini-series over the summer wherein I managed to devote two ENTIRE posts to the topic of just me and my clothing alone: My Ever-Evolving Relationship With My Clothes The Clothes I Wear For Comfort and Confidence Riveting as that was, a number of you requested I write about the clothing of the other people in my house. In response, today I bring you a deep dive into the closets of my...

128

How We’re Establishing a Family Money Philosophy with Our Kids

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...

97

We’re Spending 1,000 Hours Outside in 2021 (maybe, we’ll see how it goes)

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...

117

Childcare: Controversial, Expensive, Complicated, Necessary

People ask me about childcare all the time. How to pay for it, how to find it, what I do with my kids. Other than what to eat for lunch, which credit cards to use, and how to buy used cars, I think childcare is the most asked question I get from readers. And it’s the one thing on that list I haven’t devoted a lot of time to writing about. Probably because I’m not...

62

Travel Rewards, Flying With Two Toddlers, And A Free Hotel Stay

This is the story of flying with two toddlers on a plane, a free hotel stay, and why credit card rewards are a good thing. Here’s a boring (but important) explanation of how Frugalwoods makes money. Air Travel With Two Toddlers: How Bad Can It Be? In November, we flew to North Carolina to celebrate Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Two kids, two adults, and 45 individual boxes of raisins. Being four years old, Kidwoods got a...

65

How We Use 529 Plans To Save For College

December, with all its merry festivity, is naturally the month we contribute to our daughters’ college funds. Ah yes, just what every four-year-old and 22-month-old want for Christmas: well-funded 529 savings plans. Don’t worry, in addition to putting $5k into each of their 529s, we did give them actual Christmas gifts (most of which were either hand-me-downs or purchased at garage sales last summer… ).   Save On What Doesn’t Matter: Spend On What Does...

215

Toxic Positivity and What I Thought Having Kids Would Be Like (versus what it’s actually like)

Before having kids, I knew a lot about parenting. I’d look at tantruming toddlers in grocery stores and scoff to my husband, “how can they LET their child scream like that? In public?” Now that I have kids, I don’t even notice when other people’s kids are ripping ears of corn off the produce section display like feral raccoons. I’m thankful it’s not my kids and I’m also in solidarity that it could be/has been/will...

92

My Friend Always Wanted To Be A Mom; Then She Got Prenatal Depression

From Mrs. Frugalwoods: I don’t publish posts written by other people, so today is an exception. When my friend Emma told me about her struggles with prenatal depression and anxiety, I begged her to write about it. Last year, I shared my raw experience of being diagnosed with postpartum depression and received hundreds–if not thousands–of responses saying a version of: “I went through the same thing” or “Reading this gave me the courage to call...

103

My Healthy Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars Recipe + How I Get My Kids To Eat Kale

Try not to faint. Today I bring you a RECIPE. That’s right. Your pleas, your emails, your notes, your requests have not gone (entirely) ignored. You all want frugal food. Specially, you want MY frugal food. The last time I shared a recipe was January 2015, which was, uh, over four years ago… So apparently I’m on the one-recipe-every-four-years schedule. I have good reason for this, people! I am not our household’s–nor anyone else’s household’s–cook....

129

How I Saved Tons Of Money During My Baby’s First Year

In honor of Littlewoods turning ONE YEAR OLD this month, I’m enshrining my ideas on how to be frugal with infants. ALL of my ideas. Seriously, I don’t think I left anything out. You’re welcome and/or I’m sorry. Waxing Nostalgic With Littlewoods’ first birthday, I finally understand the feeling “bittersweet.” As my second, and final, baby transitions out of baby-ness, I’m nostalgic. I can’t say I’m sad because I don’t love the newborn phase. Neither...