Showcase: You! week 3
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Last week's question revealed that a lot of us suffer from the same frustrations - that frugal living simply takes more time, more work, more planning, and more self control.
But Erin had a slightly different perspective, one that really struck home for me:
The biggest downfall to being frugal, at least for me, is that at times I get so caught up in saving money that I don’t think about my family’s needs. All the time and energy I put into finding good deals, simplifying our life, and trying to be as frugal as possible is pointless if my family is not happy. Sometimes it’s ok to spend that extra dollar (or 20) if it is going to please your husband or make whatever you are doing more special. I need to remember that even though I am to be a good steward of what God has given to me it doesn’t mean that I need to go overboard in my quest for frugality. He gives us everything we have and really, I can’t take it with me when I leave this earth.
This is one area I've often gone wrong, and then frugality becomes my own agenda rather than a tool for serving God and my family. It can even become a point of pride.
Here's the question of the week:
Do you feel your blog has a special niche of its own? Did it happen by design or by accident?
So tell us: what's special about your blog? Give us your best pitch!
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10 Responses to “Showcase: You! week 3”
June 5th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I think that my blog’s niche is that I’m saying we don’t have to sacrifice health in order to save a buck. Because I talk so much about natural living and nutrition, it’s important for me to show people how living this way is not only affordable and possible, but sometimes even more frugal and simple than doing what is more conventional.
Not only that, but that sometimes other things are more important than frugality and trying to find that very careful balance between what’s important and what’s cheap, and ultimately, bringing it all back to our trust in a God who is sovereign over every detail.
I started out somewhat in the same vein as a lot of Christian mommy/homemaker blogs, and then my husband helped me to move towards my niche. He encouraged me that although I love frugality and homemaking and womanhood, I am better at communicating my passion for honoring God through good stewardship of our bodies, the earth, and more thoughtful investments of our money, time and energy. He’s right- I love what I write about now!
And that is a great comment above- about sometimes not focusing enough on our family’s needs. I can get so wrapped up in my healthy and within-my-cheap-budget meal plan that I forget to make meals that please my husband, or buy an extra treat for him that is more expensive than I would like.
I’m trying to get into a habit of asking him every week or two if there are meals that he would particularly enjoy and then make sure to add those in to my meal planning. It feels good to serve him in that way, and I know that he appreciates it.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I’m still searching for my blog’s niche! I started it with the intent to write mainly on Christian family living, but it seems like it is being taken over by book reviews. Perhaps because I’m a bibliophile and that is my natural inclination – read, read, read, write, write, write.
I am actually contemplating starting a separate blog just for the reviews so that they don’t entirely overwhelm my one and only existing blog.
For now, it just seems to be a big dump-all blog! I look forward to reading about how others HAVE succeeded in finding niches!
June 5th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I don’t really think of it as a niche, but I guess it qualifies.
I always have a giveaway going. My blog is fairly new, I first posted on March 31 of this year. So, as a fun kick off activity I had a giveaway every week for the month of May. Now I’m having one giveaway per month, all month long.
This month’s giveaway is a set of the Reclaiming the Culture DVDs from Vision Forum. I hope you’ll pop in and enter. Have a look around while you’re there. I’m very diverse. The topics are all over the place. But I do tend to talk about homeschooling and parenting boys alot.
Here’s the URL for this month’s giveaway.
http://shipfullofpirates.com/?p=204
I look forward to meeting y’all.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:30 am
What makes my blog stand out in the crowd is it is written and marketed as a local blog. That was the intention from the start.
At first, I was muddling through this topic with my own ideas of what someone with a tight budget might find interesting or useful. But I had a lot of resources to pull from: I work at a newspaper and therefore see a lot of the press releases that promote community events, services and projects.
Eventually, I started to find other frugal money bloggers and blog networks. I read a lot of blogs and news articles throughout the week. As I pick up ideas, I focus on “will that work for people in my community?”
And I’ve put some of those ideas to work in my own home!
June 5th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I definitely agree, and over the years I’ve had to adapt my frugality to fit where my family feels comfortable. When you push it past the limit, they definitely tell you. But my site is really focused on what families can do from a frugality standpoint even if they have a limited amount of time.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
We have a resident squirrel who posts occasionally, and assorted other rodents. http://tinyurl.com/3egrtb And we post whenever we find a good recipe or something interesting at a yard sale.
What more can I say?
June 5th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I think I’m still finding my exact niche. I mean, given the name Coupon Cravings, I’m definitely into coupons so I think my place in this world may be sharing with readers the grocery coupons they thought they’d never find. I get excited for sure when I find coupons, especially printable coupons, for products I buy every week and I think other people do too.
I’ve only had my blog for about three weeks. I work in PR by day and am lucky enough to work for a company in the couponing business! So it’s fun to talk to reporters during the day about coupons and how to save money which is what I love to talk about anyway! While I’m working I’m doing double-duty since I’m also thinking about the same money-saving topics and what to post that night.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:04 am
The best thing about my blog is you can sign up for Zork’s blog. Zork is an alien who sees us exponentially trashing our planet. He (she?) fears for our very lives. Its blog will be instrumental in saving our planet.
I fear for our lives, too, so I write about the environment and politics. I also write about personal finance and frugality. I don’t plan on losing my shirt while saving the planet.
Come on over and get your two cents in.
Lisa
June 7th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Absolutely, and by design.
Like most people with a bit of wanderlust, I like to read travel articles and fantasize about all the places I’d like to visit . . . someday, when I have the money. I am able to travel more than the average person because I have honed my frugal skills over the past six years and applied them to travel. Sadly, most armchair travelers will put down their papers thinking that certain destinations are far outside of their price range, as newspaper and magazine articles recommend 100 euro/night hotels and 45-euro dinners. This is sold as the essence of travel.
Thankfully, travel is in fact about so much more than overtouted sites and overpriced drinks!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe I am the only totally travel-oriented blog on the Frugal Hacks blogroll. And while most of my readers come from the travel side of things, the truth of the matter is that Frugal Hackers — those already applying stringent financial rules in their daily lives — are the ones most likely to follow my prescription for “no-budget” travel easily and painlessly.
So get reading and get inspired! Travel is truly for everyone!
June 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I guess I don’t really have much of a niche. I pretty much started the blog to have a place to get all the thoughts and emotions and other random stuff in my head straight. My blog is the place (other than home) that I can be myself, 100% and just let loose with my opinions, thoughts, ideas, etc. There really isn’t one main focus.
And my other blog is just to help keep our family and friends around the world up-to-date with what is happening in our lives.
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