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Living Frugal is a Powerful FI Tool
- Liz from Frugalwoods coaches us through the ultimate guide to frugal living
- The benefits of minimalism and living frugal
- Frugalwoods family saving 70%+ of their income
- Their conscious decision in March 2014 to pursue financial independence
- Entirely possible to pursue living frugal anywhere including large metro cities. In fact these cities may have built in advantages like transportation
- What is the difference between someone who saves 70%+ and everyone else?
- First ask ‘where you want to be’
- Not a sacrifice but a reorientation of how you spend and your priorities
- The benefits of living frugal: happiness & joy
- How they actually moved forward in March 2014 with their newly ultra-frugal lifestyle
- How the Frugalwoods family saves on food & groceries
- Does it make sense to pay off your mortgage?
- How they spend nearly $0 on entertainment
- Bring your own food to work every day and save $20+ per day
- No car payments & buying used cars
- Buying nearly everything used
- No impulse buying – wait 72 hours after you want to make a purchase
- Embracing imperfection: why & how they cut each other’s hair
- living frugal can simplify and streamline life
- The Frugalwoods homestead in Vermont
- Educating yourself when making a major purchase
- You don’t need to spend money to be happy: frugal substitutions
Listen to Brad and Jonathan's thoughts about this episode here.
Hot Seat Questions
- Favorite Life Hack
- Hacking the soda stream
Links from the show:
- Frugalwoods
- Uber Frugal Month Challenge – sign up today
- How We Save 65% Annually by the Frugalwoods
- Craigslist
- 1500 Days
- Cait Flanders
- The Joy that Comes When Less is Enough by the Frugalwoods
- The Frugalwoods Sodastream Hack
- Frugalwoods on Twitter
- Frugalwoods on Facebook
- Frugalwoods on Instagram
- Choose FI Travel Rewards Podcast
We are building this in front of you. Give us your feedback and ideas. What are we missing? How can we do it better? We want your feedback. Leave us a comment below
Thanks
Jonathan & Brad
7 thoughts on “012 | Living Frugal Frugalwoods | Save 75% Of Your Take Home Pay”
Loved the podcast! We also saved in the 80+% savings range for a while before backing down to the mid 70s, which was more comfortable. It was great hearing about the different stages of frugality, and how the key is to realize it isn’t actually a sacrifice. Looking forward to future podcast guests.
Joel, you and your wife have a fantastic story! thanks for stopping by and glad your enjoying the show
Your guest was articulate, and wise beyond her years. I’m eager to dive into her blog.
I hesitate to say it, but despite enjoying the exchange, there was nothing new in it. In fact, everything was more than obvious. That is a reflection of the problems in our culture and not a criticism of you or your guest.
For example, in one of the Little House on the Prairie books, the Wilders received a Sears catalogue for the first time. Everyone read through it excitedly, and they made a long order list. Laura totaled it up, was shocked at the dollar amount, and told everyone they would leave the list on the mantel for a few days. Needless to say, they never placed the order.
If you want to live frugally, read the Little House on the Prairie books.
Love it, sometimes the best ideas are forgotten until they are repackaged for a new generation. My mom read little house on the prairie to us as kids
Speaking of borrowing tools…. I have recently started a peer to peer tool rental company called NeighborTools to allow neighbors to rent tools from one another. This will hopefully one day generate some passive income for me, it helps others save money by renting an item instead of buying an item for a one time project and also helps create micro-entrepreneurs in our community who may own tools that just sit around their house collecting dust.
Just heard Frugalwoods episode, liked and commented.
I recently set up my daughter with a Roth when she got her first paycheck, and it’s catching. My 12-yo said, “why don’t I have a retirement account?”
I teach Accounting and will be showing your show to my class after midterms.
Would love to discuss other financial stuff with you as a guest if you have the time.
Chris Pascale
Do you want to be paying to work? Good point.