Learning to Blog Again

 Originally Posted on May 11, 2018 in Free, Fun, Family

Getting back in the saddle.

Confession time: Although this blog is a bit under two months old, I am not new to blogging.  I began journaling online in college, and experimented with several platforms, without much success.  For several years (2007-2011) I maintained a personal blog using the Blogger platform called Going Places when I moved to South Korea to teach, lived there for three years, met and married my husband, and moved back to the U.S.  This site gained modest popularity within the expat blogging community living in Korea, and I made several real life friendships through blogging.  I enjoyed it immensely, but since I was mostly blogging about life in Korea, I had trouble continuing to blog at the same site when I moved back to the United States.

I stopped renewing my domain two years ago; the site is still there, but only because I haven’t bothered to properly archive it. I’ve tried several times to pick up blogging again (writing at my old blog, writing about marriage, writing about parenting, etc. etc.), since writing is an essential piece of my happiness, but my efforts have usually fizzled out within a few weeks.  Life got busy, I was taking graduate coursework, raising two young kids, holding down two jobs, and managing some health conditions.  Life isn’t necessarily less busy right now, but I’m making more of a commitment to all aspects of my health in 2018: physical, financial, spiritual, and psychological.  Blogging (writing) is part of that journey.

I’ve actually been thinking about starting a blog about family fun/frugality for years, but was finally inspired to take the plunge after spending some time on Shannon’s Affording Motherhood blog.  I appreciated her optimism, honesty, and can-do attitude towards blogging and saving money.  It made me brave enough to try again.  I still want to be a writer (published–I know I am a writer) when I grow up!

So far, I’m enjoying my writing journey at Free, Fun, Family.  Min shared my post about my amazing sister-in-law with her, and she appreciated it.  Several friends and family members have said kind words about my reboot.  I’ve started, cautiously, to take it public: to let people in my life know I’m writing, commenting on blogs, linking on social media, etc.  If you’ve happened upon my quiet corner of the internet, thank you for taking the time to read my work.  Please feel free to drop me a note in the comments, and let me know what you think.

Family Fun Tip: Festivals

Originally Posted on May 4, 2018 in Free, Fun, Family

Spring has finally sprung here in Maryland.  In our delightful small city, family-friendly festivals are held year-round.  However the pleasant-weather months of Spring, Summer, and Fall are the heaviest seasons for festivals, since they are usually outdoors.

Every year, our family attends between five and twenty-five festivals or similar events within close driving distance.  We’ve been to farm festivals, history festivals, nature festivals, children’s festivals, Asian/Korean/other culture festivals, holiday-themed festivals (think Fourth of July or Halloween), wine/cheese/maple syrup festivals, and more.  We spend time researching different events in our area and challenge ourselves to find new ones, even as we reprise visiting our favorites.

Such events can be quite expensive, with many opportunities to spend money on food, clothing/gift items, and activities, so it pays to do some work to keep costs down and maximize the fun without a lot of spending.  Here are my tips for maximizing your frugal enjoyment of these festivals:

1. Look for festivals with no or very low entry fees, and watch for hidden fees.  And watch out for “free” entry, but then everything associated with the event costs money (parking fees, tickets to purchase for activities, extra money for tastings, etc.).  Most of the festivals we frequent are free with free parking, but we’ll pay a bit if it offers a lot of entertainment value for our whole family.  I find that festivals sponsored by nonprofit entities (health agencies, parks and rec, churches, libraries, etc.) tend to be better about this than private organizations, but not always.  One of my favorite festivals for our young children is the spring/fall festival at a local commercial dairy farm (where the goat picture came from).  They are very generous with their samples, full of fun activities and performers, and free hayrides up a mountain.
2. Pack most of your food, but splurge on the “special treat.”  Most festivals have food vendors selling very overpriced, mediocre meals.  It’s easy to spend $20 (or more) for a family of four on crappy sandwiches and/or room temperature pizza.  We usually pack a decent picnic lunch, water bottles, and snacks, but plan to spend a little on something unique to the festival–like purchasing some maple candies at the maple syrup festival or ice cream from the aforementioned dairy farm.  That said, we still limit our portions and share (two single servings are usually more than enough for the four of us).
3. Beware impulse purchases.  You are having a great time.  The weather’s lovely!  Your children are happy and cooperative!  These nice artists are here talking about the local sources for their supplies–and suddenly $50 for a pair of earrings for Mom’s Christmas gift doesn’t sound unreasonable at all…  STOP!  Most vendors will have contact information and an online store.  You can still support them if you enjoyed their art and their story, but there is no need to make that decision RIGHT THERE.
4. Look for discounts. One of our favorite carnivals is the local firehouse carnival.  There are two or three nights they offer “Ride All Night” for one price specials.  But even better–if you buy these tickets a month or so in advance, they cost less than half what they do if you buy them at the door.  Some of the sponsors of festivals have deals through their websites or even through services like Groupon.  It doesn’t hurt to look around.
5. Beware crowds. Try to find less popular festivals.  Or go when the weather is less optimal (cold, windy days and light drizzle are still fine if you have proper outerwear and an enterprising attitude).  Or arrive really early.  Crowds usually mean long lines and whiny kids–NOT FUN.

Get out and learn about your community without much cost!  What was your favorite family festival experience?

Debt Elimination Progress: May 2018

 Originally Posted on May 1, 2018 in Free, Fun, Family

What a strange month–the weather here in Maryland was out of control, and while I felt like my spending was “crazy,” I can look at Mint and see that it was the least money we’ve spent in a single month in over two years.  This teaches me that my day to day feelings do not always reflect the reality I am living.  I’m still working on the pacing of my expectations and emotions while managing a long term goal.  Overall, this month was a great month for personal learning.

Progress from April:

• Significantly reduced food spending. This was a major win!  All the work I’ve been doing to modify our food spending, both in groceries and dining out, is paying off.  Our grocery bill has been hovering around $1,000 for several months, even as our dining out has been decreasing.  This month we spent less than $800 on groceries!  Hooray!
• I did even more math. I added up how much I’ve reduced my student loan and mortgage debt during this same period of loan payback (since the end of January).  I’ve also reduced these other non-targeted debts by $1,333.82.  That’s an impressive bolstering.
• Our debt payoff is slowing down, but we are still making progress every month.  I anticipate a modest raise in July, which will help, but our pace is going to slow down a bit for May and June as we prepare for a lengthy trip to Korea to spend time with family.  However, that means more work we do on controlling the spending, the more powerful the impact on debt reduction.  Here are the numbers for the end of April:
  • Home Improvement Loan: $4,000
  • Visa Card: $7,160.37
  • AmEx: $13,475.81
  • TOTAL: $24,636.18
  • Amount paid off this month: $727.18
  • Amount paid off TOTAL: $6,319.82

Add the reduction of non-consumer debt and we’ve torched $7,653.64 of debt in three months.  Unbelievable.  We are really making progress.  Sometimes it still just feels like a drop in the bucket, but these numbers show a 20% reduction of consumer debt in just three months.  That’s not a small achievement.

Goals for May:

1. Continue to target food costs for reduction.  Use it up!  Cheaper vegetables!  Bake bread!  Freezer cooking!
2. Save up a small cash cushion for Min to for Korean trip in June (may slow debt progress this month; acknowledge and embrace).
3. REALLY REALLY: No purchasing beverages for convenience/craving (BIG challenge).  I have to do this.  Did better in April, but did not abstain.