Showcase: Paid Twice
Paidtwice blogs at - you guessed it: Paidtwice.com. Her blog title and tag line say it all:
I've Paid For This Twice Already...
The Trials And Tribulations Of Getting Out Of Debt...And Someday Beyond.
Tell us a little about yourself, please.
I'm a 33 year old mom of two (my son is 3 and my daughter is 10 months) who is a WAHM as well as a taekwondo instructor. I love to talk, listen, and scrapbook in my "spare" time, whatever that it. 
I grew up in the northeast US but moved to the midwest US for graduate school and never left. I ponder a different career when my kids are older, anything from something in economics to business to being a lactation consultant. I'm fickle.
Why do you blog?
I started blogging to keep motivated about reducing our debt and spare my spouse some of my incessant ruminating about different ideas/topics/theories I had. This way he could just read it all at one time after I'd thought things through. I never really thought about the fact I'd have an audience beyond him! I rediscovered through blogging my love for the written word and how fun it is to take thoughts and create something with meaning out of them. I've always loved to write but the rest of life kind of got in the way of me realizing that until I became a blogger.
What does "frugal" mean to you? What do you think it means to other people?
I'm still trying to figure that out! I constantly struggle with the idea of what is "frugal" vs what is "cheap". I'm not skilled at determining "value" in possessions or belongings, and I don't always know when it is worth it to pay for quality, or when paying more *is* paying for quality vs paying for a "name". But I think being frugal is really considering what you are doing with your limited resources and using them as wisely as you can. To the average person, I think frugal might imply being stingy or denying oneself, which I totally do not think is true. There is inherent enjoyment in the act of frugality, in knowing that you are being the best steward of your resources that you can be.
Why be frugal?
Why use more than we need to? The world is so full of excess and overindulgence. It makes overdoing seem like the standard or the norm. Why not try to do what is enough and take ownership and pride in that? I've always had an interest in the environment and minimizing my footprint on the planet. Being frugal is just one way I can do that.
Did it take you a while to "find your voice," or do you feel you've always been the same as a blogger?
I think my voice hasn't changed but it took me a while to find a rhythm. A natural flow of posting and commenting and participating in the community as well as maintaining my own site and providing content that I think readers might find interesting. I want to say useful, but my blog isn't about useful yet. Unless people want to learn from our past mistakes, which there are plenty of to choose from! As I said in the beginning, I love to talk, so blogging is an extension of that. I write like I talk, mostly. And I talk a lot.
What was your worst or craziest frugal idea?
Picking up the dropped duck food under the feeders at the zoo for my son to feed the ducks with? I don't think my spouse has ever been so embarrassed in his life. But people drop tons of it and my son gets bored after throwing about 4 pieces! But I think I crossed a "cheap" line there, I heard all about how it was only a quarter to buy food from my spouse the whole ride home.
Thanks so much for inviting me to participate! I aspire every day to be just a little more conscious of what I can do to become more consciously frugal.
~paidtwice
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4 Responses to “Showcase: Paid Twice”
October 25th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
[...] while back Kim at Frugal Hacks contacted me about interviewing me, and today she published that interview on Frugal Hacks. I am a member of the Frugal Blogroll and have a Frugal Hacker badge on my blog, but today I [...]
October 25th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Great interview!
October 26th, 2007 at 4:53 am
You cracked me up with crossing the “cheap” line! LOL I swear, it sounds like something I might do, and my husband would be the same way…embarrassed! LOL Great info!
October 26th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Great interview- the duck story really made me smile
That sounds like something I would do and my husband also would think I was crazy!
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