Showcase: Sense to Save
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Kacie blogs at Sense to Save, where she shares common sense and not-so-common sense on ways you can save money.
Tell me a little about yourself: who are you?
My name is Kacie, and I’m a 22-year-old newlywed and homemaker living in Pittsburgh, PA. My husband, Shane, and I are originally from Indiana, and we moved here during the summer of 2007.
When did you start blogging? Why do you blog?
I started blogging near the end of September, 2007. I had discovered other frugal blogs over the summer, and enjoyed what they had to offer. My last out-of-the-house job ended at the end of August, so we were adjusting to a one-income household and wanted to make it work. It was then that I became a home economist, and it was then that my blog, Sense to Save, was created.
How did you come up with your blog title?
I hope that my blog title, “Sense to Save” makes enough sense to readers! I came up with it by shortening a phrase: “When you have the sense to save money, you’ll be left with cents to save.”
Why be frugal?
Being frugal doesn’t necessarily mean spending the least amount you can. It means getting the best value you can, at the lowest price possible. There’s no reason to throw away money on senseless purchases, or worse, paying extreme amounts of interest to credit card companies. When we’re frugal, that means we’re trying to be the best stewards we can be, using the resources we have. We’re able to make the paychecks stretch much further than we used to, and we’re much more content with what we already have. It’s an incredible lifestyle! Also, we’ve paid off all of our credit cards much faster than we thought possible, we’re putting together a six-month emergency fund that we hope will be finished by this summer, and then we’ll start saving to put a down payment on a house.
How important is frugality to you?
Casual interest, hobby, lifelong habit, or insane fanatical obsessive compulsion? For me, frugality is a journey. I started out in college semi-conscious of where my money was going, but it took awhile to really understand how to budget. I’m still learning. I’ve only been at the “let’s be frugal” stage for a few months now, and I’m not turning back to my old ways. I see frugality as a lifestyle choice, and I expect my husband and I will continue to stretch our dollars and resources, and cut down on our consumption.
Does frugal living come easily for you or is it a struggle?
When you’re struggling to be frugal, it’s important to step back and evaluate your situation. If you’re depriving yourself or your family, you’re no longer being frugal—you’re being miserly. Sometimes, that’s out of necessity, but if you’re being miserly just for its own sake, you’ll fall off track if you continue to struggle in that way. Instead, I try to keep focused on our reasons for being frugal. We’re saving for particular goals, and we won’t reach them unless we keep on top of things. Sometimes we have frugal failures, and rather than letting those experiences discourage us, we’re better off to treat it as a learning opportunity.
“The great and mighty oak was once a little nut that held its ground.”
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12 Responses to “Showcase: Sense to Save”
April 10th, 2008 at 7:05 am
How is not working being frugle when you don’t have children. Unless this girl has medical reason for not working, than everymonth she is losing thousands of dollars by being a “homemaker”. Don’t get that.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:18 am
[...] Kim was kind enough to interview me at Frugal Hacks! The post went live today, and you can read it here. [...]
April 10th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hi Emily-
I totally understand the logic that you’re using. This time last year, I probably would have come to the same conclusions as you have.
However, I’ve found the opposite to be true for my husband and I.
When I was in the workforce, we were living paycheck to paycheck, and weren’t making much progress paying down our debts or adding to savings.
We weren’t eating well, were exhausted, and generally miserable.
After considering taxes and wear and tear on my car (not to mention driving 15-60+ miles per day for work), oh, and those fast food lunches we ate since I didn’t have the energy to pack a lunch, those “thousands of dollars” I was supposedly bringing in didn’t amount to much at all.
Now that I have the time to cook from home and cut our expenses all around (and pursue some freelance writing opportunities), we’ve been amazed at how much MORE money we have now.
We’re making incredible progress paying off debts and adding to savings. It’s so substantial, that it’s looking like we’ll have a $30k turnaround in 18 months or so. Wow, right?
I don’t want to disclose how much money my husband earns, and while the salary and benefits are good, I bet it’s a lot less than you’d think.
Anyway, thank you for allowing me to address your point. I think this would be a great topic for me to further discuss on my blog, and I hope that readers can also add to the discussion here.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
This is Kacie’s husband. I understand Emily’s comment and perspective, but I feel a little defensive. Kacie *does* have a freelance writing job. She gets paid per article she writes, and she tries to earn $1,000/month. She has also earned around $500/month on her blog the last two months through affiliate referrals with Ebates (which she fully discloses to readers).
Comparably, a reporting job at a newspaper would give her around $2,125/month after taxes. Sure, this is $625 higher pay, but there’s more to the story..
Even though I am a new hire accountant, Kacie has become the personal finance expert in our family. She has cut our expenses to barebones which *easily* makes up the $625 difference. Further, she is tracking our long-term savings, which we are doing very aggresively.
Kacie’s loving help around the home – even if it was not equally profitable – is reducing my stress tremendously and allows me to pursue my career without limits. Similarly, we have taken a strong interest in Dave Ramsey’s philosophies about living debt-free. Certain decisions we make will be less profitable financially – such as paying our car loan and (future) mortgage early – but the reduction of risk from debt helps add flexibility to my career.
I want to thank Emily, sincerely, because this is a very worthwhile topic I want to discuss on Kacie’s blog.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Nice to see you both thinking so pragmatically about your future! One note to you, Shane. You sound like a great guy, but, hey, it’s not all about you! Everyone would like someone to stay at home and do all those menial houseworky type jobs. Anyone can do those. But not everyone can write successfully, as your wife has proved she can. If she wants to pursue that, rather than be a housekeeper, shouldn’t she be able to?
Thanks,
Lisa
April 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Hi Lisa–
I certainly appreciate where you’re coming from. I’m certainly able to pursue whatever I want, and writing is an easy career to pursue from home, if I chose that to be my main focus. My husband fully supports me in everything I do and he’s certainly my biggest fan.
I want to be a homemaker, as I find it a thousand times more fulfilling than working for an unappreciative boss with little to no job satisfaction. It might be hard to understand that (because it was hard for me to understand at first–I used to be a semi-radical feminist who thought housewives were wasting their talents).
I’m sure you’ll respect that it’s our family’s decision to make. What works for one family might not work for another’s. Our situation is best for us, and it’s allowed our marriage to grow.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Those in bygone eras used to recognize “the economic value of a woman.” That is, they recognized how much a woman could contribute to the savings and production of a household (in a time when they rarely worked outside the home). A full-time homemaker has the time to do many things that an outside-the-home worker could simply not find time for, to contribute to the financial situation of her family. Cooking from scratch, finding coupons and matching them to sales, making and/or mending clothing, etc. are all money-saving tasks that take time. Those who work outside the home are forced to pick and choose from tasks like these much more so than someone who has plenty of time at home to do (many more of) them.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I think this little mini-debates comes down to a difference in perspective. More money does not always equal “more” of what you want in life; one key point in considering frugality is to be frugal with your time as well as your money.
If you can earn at home through freelance work, blogging, and through reducing your budget what you would have earned outside of the home, you’re being frugal with your time. And you’re saving money on the typical “costs” of working: wardrobe, transportation, and a long list of impulse/convenience purchases made because you don’t have the time to search for the best deal.
Congrats on your hard work at home in so many roles!
April 21st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Wow I was reading the response posts and I am hurt to see woman think that my job as a homemaker is menial. I take great pride in my work and do an excellent job at it too. There is no paycheck for me but I have the time and energy to run my household at prime efficiency. I could not do that when I worked even without children.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
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April 14th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I’m sure you’ll respect that it’s our family’s decision to make. What works for one family might not work for another’s. Our situation is best for us, and it’s allowed our marriage to grow
Yes!
September 7th, 2009 at 3:50 am
I’m a frugal-obsessed type too! We just spent the weekend foraging for wild food, and making jam from all the blackberries.
A good money-saving tip is to use a cap-full of white vinegar instead of washing conditioner in your laundry. a few drops of lavender oil is good too.
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