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Cheap. I'm not exactly what you would call a frugal person, but living on a tight budget for most of my adult life has made a bargain shopper out of me. I love thrift stores, coupons, sales on things I was planning to buy anyway, free gift cards for transferring a prescription to Target pharmacy, you name it. I am not ashamed to get something for nothing.
I mentioned I've been on a tight budget as an adult, but actually, I've never really had that much money. A little background: I was born and raised in smalltown Arkansas with my two brothers by the most incredible parents you could ever imagine. The first 10 years of my life were when we probably had the most money. My dad worked for Frito-Lay and my mom was a stay-at-home-mom, and we lived in a house designed and built by my parents, their dream house. I clearly remember one day when I was about six or seven, walking into my kitchen to get an after-school snack, feeling very secure and saying to my dad, "Dad, are we rich?" I think I recognized the concept of contentment, because our house wasn't huge and we didn't have ALL the toys we wanted, but the love and security I felt on top of what we DID have, gave me such a sense of well-being and feeling of richness. When I was 10, we moved to Virginia for my dad to attend Regent University to get his master's. And obviously, a lot changed. Our family of five, used to running wild in the country, had to squeeze into a town house in the suburbs of Virginia Beach, my dad became a full-time student, and us kids started at a new school. My mom went to work for the first time ever to help pay our school tuition. Well, instead of boring you with all the details, all these factors - grad school for my dad, three private school tuitions all the way through high school for me and my brothers, and the various things that life throws at you - ensured we were always on a tight budget. When I was 13, I started babysitting to earn money to buy my own clothes. After babysitting it was a newspaper route, and then McDonald's. Big money. Then I went to college, and no one is poorer than a college student, right? And then I got married at age 20. My husband and I were not the kind of people to wait and establish our careers and save money. No, we got married as soon as humanly possible, even though we had to eat Velveeta Shells & Cheese for dinner and do our laundry at my parents' house. So now, nine years and two kids later, we are quite a bit better off. We live in a house instead of an apartment, we have two cars instead of trying to share one, we eat relatively balanced meals, etc. But we are still working on getting our paychecks to last a wee bit longer...
The wonderful thing is, though, even though I've never had a lot of money, I've never been poor. I've never not had the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, transportation. I've never been jobless, homeless, or starving. And better yet, all my life I've been surrounded by love, within and without. My faith, my family, and my friends: these make me a rich woman indeed.
So...the purpose of this blog is to share my excitement for all things cheap or free. It’s going to be all about my hunt for the best bargain, where to shop, how to get free stuff online, the best cheap dates (hello Barnes & Noble!), the best places to take your kids for free, etc. But most of all, I hope to get across how being "rich" is a state of mind (and heart).
I mentioned I've been on a tight budget as an adult, but actually, I've never really had that much money. A little background: I was born and raised in smalltown Arkansas with my two brothers by the most incredible parents you could ever imagine. The first 10 years of my life were when we probably had the most money. My dad worked for Frito-Lay and my mom was a stay-at-home-mom, and we lived in a house designed and built by my parents, their dream house. I clearly remember one day when I was about six or seven, walking into my kitchen to get an after-school snack, feeling very secure and saying to my dad, "Dad, are we rich?" I think I recognized the concept of contentment, because our house wasn't huge and we didn't have ALL the toys we wanted, but the love and security I felt on top of what we DID have, gave me such a sense of well-being and feeling of richness. When I was 10, we moved to Virginia for my dad to attend Regent University to get his master's. And obviously, a lot changed. Our family of five, used to running wild in the country, had to squeeze into a town house in the suburbs of Virginia Beach, my dad became a full-time student, and us kids started at a new school. My mom went to work for the first time ever to help pay our school tuition. Well, instead of boring you with all the details, all these factors - grad school for my dad, three private school tuitions all the way through high school for me and my brothers, and the various things that life throws at you - ensured we were always on a tight budget. When I was 13, I started babysitting to earn money to buy my own clothes. After babysitting it was a newspaper route, and then McDonald's. Big money. Then I went to college, and no one is poorer than a college student, right? And then I got married at age 20. My husband and I were not the kind of people to wait and establish our careers and save money. No, we got married as soon as humanly possible, even though we had to eat Velveeta Shells & Cheese for dinner and do our laundry at my parents' house. So now, nine years and two kids later, we are quite a bit better off. We live in a house instead of an apartment, we have two cars instead of trying to share one, we eat relatively balanced meals, etc. But we are still working on getting our paychecks to last a wee bit longer...
The wonderful thing is, though, even though I've never had a lot of money, I've never been poor. I've never not had the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, transportation. I've never been jobless, homeless, or starving. And better yet, all my life I've been surrounded by love, within and without. My faith, my family, and my friends: these make me a rich woman indeed.
So...the purpose of this blog is to share my excitement for all things cheap or free. It’s going to be all about my hunt for the best bargain, where to shop, how to get free stuff online, the best cheap dates (hello Barnes & Noble!), the best places to take your kids for free, etc. But most of all, I hope to get across how being "rich" is a state of mind (and heart).
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