I was so excited to start my frugal living posts that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Traci and I have been blogging for Families.com for the past three months in the home business topic. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to blog about frugal living because I am just as passionate about making money at home as I am saving money.
I was taught how to be frugal at an early age. My mother was a home-daycare provider and my father was a diesel mechanic. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers. My parents and grandparents lived comfortably (most of the time) but modestly. Frankly, I think frugality is in my genes.
At this point in my life, frugality isn’t as much a necessity as it is a challenge. My husband has a good job in law enforcement and I’ve been able to pay the bills with my blogging, writing and designing. We don’t have the money for a lot of “extras” so the challenge for me is to reduce the amount of money we spend on things like food, clothing, and utilities so we can afford to splurge a bit on family vacations, camping trips, fishing trips, and hobbies.
I view frugality as a sport. I get as much of an adrenaline rush finding a great pair of designer jeans at a thrift-store now as I did shooting a lay-up in high-school basketball. As I said earlier, I am a writer, blogger and designer. Frugality also feeds my creative spirit. I constantly catch myself thinking, “how can I create this myself?” when it comes to things like jewelry, home décor items, clothing and even cleaning products. While it isn’t always practical, it is always a fun challenge to try!
I have been an avid reader of the wonderful blogs of my fellow frugal friends and am anxious to join them and share some of my own tips with you. In the meantime, check out a few of my favorite frugal posts . ..
Save Money by Starting a Meal Making Co-Op
Don’t Try This at Home: When Frugality Goes Wrong