I am not usually a Valentine’s Day type of person. It’s a commercialized, chintzy, kinda made-up holiday. I even once wrote a screed on why it’s dumb: A Frugal Weirdo’s Anti-Valentine’s Day Manifesto.

But let me tell you, this year, I am ON BOARD. Sign me up for ALL the tacky holidays.

Frugalwoods reader Barbara summed it up perfectly:

Mostly, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. But with the pandemic, I feel the need to celebrate every milestone just for the sense that time is passing.

Yes, Barbara, preach it! My thoughts exactly. Maybe it’s the yearlong pandemic, maybe it’s the excessive snow, maybe it’s being home with a five-year-old and a three-year-old EVERY SINGLE DAY. Whatever the reason, I’m celebrating everything I can possibly think of/contrive to celebrate.

I still can’t quite get myself to view V-Day as a romantic holiday, but I’m digging the kid angle.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions for a Wallet and COVID-safe Valentine’s Day at Frugalwoods.

Merry Pandemic Holidays!!!! We’re ready to celebrate how much we love our families by…. not seeing them!!! This holiday season will be different, but no less merry and jolly. Primarily I will achieve this by making as many desserts as I’d make if we were hosting 15 people. Since there are four of us x 1 pandemic x no childcare for 9 months, I feel the math is going to work out well.

Also, going to put this up front: some content in this post will not be suitable for kiddos who believe in The Magic. Just in case anyone is reading over your shoulder….

Since this is a year like no other–and one we will hopefully not repeat in our lifetimes–I asked the readers of Frugalwoods to wrap us in festive tidings with tales of how they’re celebrating in 2020. We’ll talk gifts, we’ll talk traditions, we’ll talk food.

Continue reading Merry Pandemic Holidays! How We’re Celebrating, How Readers are Celebrating at Frugalwoods.

Cooking at home is not new for the frugal crew, but cooking at home during a pandemic is a slightly different proposal. Many of us aren’t going to the grocery store as often as we did in the Before Times, some ingredients can’t be found on the shelves, and many folks are looking to decrease their grocery expenses as we watch the economy do a weird and unpredictable downward spiral (check out my Uber Frugal Week: How to Manage Your Money in the Time Of Pandemic and Recession for money-focused thoughts).

Furthermore, restaurants have been (or still are) closed and take-out options are limited. If you used to cook at home 7 nights out of 10? You’re now cooking at home 10 nights out of 10. Plus breakfasts, lunches, and snack time, snack time, also snack time, and then there’s snack time. My kids eat all day long, no matter what I feed them.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions: What to Cook During a Pandemic at Frugalwoods.

Wondering how to earn money from home during the pandemic? Today we hear from Frugalwoods readers who are making it happen: from a circus act owner to a veterinarian, you all are working it from home. Join me to find out how.

Earlier this week, I discussed strategies for saving more money in (almost) every category of your budget. Today, I want to tackle the other end of the equation: earning more money. As we navigate this strange new world of life in a pandemic, a record number of people in the United States have filed for unemployment and still more are at risk of being laid off. Day 2 of the Uber Frugal Week series addresses the benefits available in light of the coronavirus; please go there to see a full list of relief and forbearance programs.

Since most of us are sheltered in place and under orders not to leave our homes, folks are getting creative with how to earn money from home.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions on How To Earn Money From Home During the Pandemic at Frugalwoods.

As we settle into our new routine of isolation, I’m trying to find ways to make this experience sustainable for my family. Our school district is closed for the rest of the school year and our state issued a stay at home order last Wednesday. Many of you are in similar positions and no one knows exactly when (or how) we’ll return to “normal.”

To cope with this uncertainty and disruption, I bring you a compilation of suggestions from Frugalwoods readers. We all have different family structures–some live alone, some in multi-generational households, some with five kids, some with a dog–and we live all across the globe. But the common thread we share right now is that our routines are changed.

This is the fourth post in my new (and very much unplanned) series on life in the time of a global pandemic. My first post addressed immediate financial and health concerns, my second post discusses ways to help others, the third covers my family’s isolation schedule, and today we’ll see how others are coping.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions For Maintaining Health, Sanity, and Fun During Isolation at Frugalwoods.

I’ve been called a frugal weirdo. I’ve been called an extreme saver. But let me tell you what, the readers of Frugalwoods make me look like the tamest frugalista that ever walked around in a coat she found in a trash heap.

I mean, I do have an entire section of Frugalwoods devoted to the amazing stuff I’ve picked out of the trash… But I must say, per usual, I am humbled by the intense frugality on display by Frugalwoods readers. If you think you’ve done weird things in the name of frugality? Read on, my friends.

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.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions: What’s The Weirdest Thing You’ve Done To Save Money? at Frugalwoods.

Frugality is not deprivation. At least, not in my opinion. Frugality should be liberating, not restrictive. Frugality should give you options and breathing room and remove the yoke of debt or the stress of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Frugality isn’t meant to punish or induce guilt when you spend money. It’s meant to free you from constant worry about money.

Frugality is a mindset that encourages us to evaluate our money based on the following:

• Am I spending in alignment with my goals?
• Am I using my money towards my highest and best priorities?
• Am I creating a financially stable life that I enjoy living?
• Do I have longterm goals outlined and a financial plan to support and enable these goals?

This month, thousands of you are participating in the January 2020 Uber Frugal Month Group Challenge and a recurrent topic in our private Facebook group is the feeling of guilt when you spend money.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions: How To Make Frugality Luxurious and Longterm at Frugalwoods.

I know, I know, you were probably hoping for a cookie recipe-laden, holiday happiness-filled, jingly, bell-y Reader Suggestions this month; but alas, we must look ahead to 2020 and its attendant goal-setting imperatives. Plus, we did a really festive rundown of excellent frugal holiday gift ideas last month. So, hey, we are in the holiday spirit around here!

How To Actually Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

I’m less interested in what my (or your) New Year’s Resolutions are and much more interested in how I’m going to stick with them and maybe even, you know, accomplish some of them.

I’m a pro at goal setting. I can goal set with the best of them. I can type up a list like nobody’s business. I can make spreadsheets of goals WITH projections. I might even start doing some of it. Or, I might get so caught up in formatting the spreadsheet that I never actually do anything on my perfectly-formatted list.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions: How To Make (and Keep) Your New Year’s Resolutions! at Frugalwoods.

There you are, frugaling through the year, with your money on your mind and your mind on your money when, BAM, it’s the holidays and all the cash you saved and scraped is siphoned off into an endless swirl of gift buying, wrapping paper, holiday party hosting, and Christmas tree be-decking.

Ahh well, better luck next year, you think as you start January broke, deflated, and feeling ever-more Grinch-like.

BUT NOT THIS YEAR! The Frugalwoods gang (law enforcement take note: we are not actually a gang) is coming to your rescue today!!! We celebrate the holidays, we give gifts, we party it up, but we don’t lose our frugal cool.

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.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions Of A Frugal Holiday Gift Guide (aka Staying on Budget the Non-Grinchy Way) at Frugalwoods.

September to December = my favorite time of year. I’m a holiday hound. A festivity fox. A Halloween hugger. What can I say? This trifecta:

1. Halloween
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas

IS MY JAM. People are sometimes surprised at how robustly I celebrate holidays because celebrating is not inherently frugal or minimalist or simple. It’d be cheaper, easier, and require less stuff if I let October 31st, some Thursday in November (I always forget which), and December 25th roll on by.

But I protest. I say that the point of being frugal–and managing your money well–is to enable you to spend on stuff you care about. And I care about these holidays. As does my husband, as do our daughters. Well, the baby does not care yet, but she will.

Welcome to my monthly Reader Suggestions feature! Every month I post a question to our Frugalwoods Facebook group and share the best responses here.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions for Celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving On A Budget at Frugalwoods.

Oh yes, we’re going there today. The “pink tax” refers to the fact that women often pay more for goods and services marketed to them. A 2018 study found that, “…women pay as much as 13 percent more for some categories of products (source: NPR).” Not cool, ladies, not cool at all. This insidious increase in price has been documented in everything from women’s razors to women’s clothing. In some instances, we can just buy men’s stuff instead (such as the men’s overalls I recently purchased), but there are plenty of products created for–and needed by–women alone.

While a number of states are working to repeal taxes on menstrual products, many states still have such taxes in place. Since I can’t change this sexist public policy (yet), I can convene you brilliant folks to share how you combat it. Today, thanks to the insightful readers of Frugalwoods, I’ve compiled a massive list of how to save money on the sometimes taboo, sometimes annoying, always necessary aspects of being a woman/woman-identified person.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions On How To Fight the Pink Tax from Birth Control to Bras at Frugalwoods.

It’s summer vacation time!!! Or at least, it’s summertime. I’ve traveled frugally and not-so frugally. I’ve vacationed with my kids and without them. Although with them, it’s more of a trip and less of a vacation…

I polled the Frugalwoods braintrust to see how you all travel and what you advise. Per usual, I learned new things, I made notes, and I was amazed at your resourcefulness. In today’s Reader Suggestions, we explore all things travel!!

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!

Hack It Till You Make It

Three words for you: credit card points.

Continue reading Reader Suggestions For Frugal Vacation Ideas, Hacks, and Savings! at Frugalwoods.