Frugal Families

Last night, I watched an episode of 17 Kids and Counting (the TLC show that follows the Duggar family).  They were having a job exchange day, where the girls learned to change the oil in a car and how to change a tire, and the boys learned to cook and clean.  All gender stereotypes aside, I always find it interesting to learn about how the Duggars cook and how they can afford to feed so many people.

Their main tactic seems to be buying in bulk, which is a great option if you have the space.  The Duggars have a pantry that resembles a grocery store with all the shelves, and a number of chest freezers.  The average family wouldn’t need that much space, but I don’t even have a pantry, just a few cabinets, and I don’t think that a chest freezer would do well in my apartment.

What amazes me the most about the Duggar family is that they have no debt.  Sure, I’m sure they’re getting a nice income from their TLC deal, but that’s not the point.  They make do with what they have.  And that’s how they have always lived their life.  They were all crammed into a tiny home while working to build their new giant home, and that was just how they had to live, because they couldn’t afford more.

While I can’t imagine paying cash for a house, I’m very impressed with the Duggar family for not going into debt to support their family.  I know that there’s a lot of talk about them being irresponsible for having so many children, but the kids are loved, well cared for, have a roof over their head and food on the table.  I think that shows a great deal of responsibility.  It made me wonder how much I can save by not spending so much on unnecessaries.

(Then I decided to watch an episode of “Girls Next Door.”  Talk about a contrast in lifestyles!)

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.