More Money Podcast - 062 This is What Extreme Frugality Looks Like - Mrs. Frugalwoods

Episode Date: October 5, 2016

Mrs. Frugalwoods is a testament to what extreme frugality can look like if you do it right. Extreme frugality, very different than minimalism so don't get them confused, is all about financial independence. When you let go of your need or obsession to buy and accumulate stuff, and focus on living simply, buying what you need (not just what you want), and spending your money on what really matters — well, maybe then you'll be able to live on 66 acres in the woods while working remotely too. Long description: Not long after I recorded this episode of the podcast with the lovely Mrs. Frugalwoods, I got to meet her in-person at FinCon 2016. In case you don't know, FinCon is a massive personal finance blogging conference, and this year there was over 1,200 attendees so it's a miracle I found Mrs. Frugalwoods amongst the crowd! Mrs. Frugalwoods did not disappoint in the flesh either. She was just as sweet, genuine and friendly as she came off during our interview together. She also has this calmness about her that I seriously want to just bottle up and store (or sell). The big reason I wanted her on my show is to find out just how she did it. How did she manage to escape the city and live in the woods with her husband and baby. How did she manage to get out of the rat race and world obsessed with materials, and live the simple life like so many of us dream about. Well, she spills all her secrets in this episode, so make sure to take some notes! A lot has to do with embracing extreme frugality, which she explains is very different than being a minimalist. Definitely something I hope to incorporate a tiny bit more into my life, and you may want to too. Mrs. Frugalwoods' Best Blog Posts A Day In The Life Of The Frugalwoods: Homestead Edition How Do You Convince Your Husband Or Wife To Be Frugal? Frugality Is Not Deferred Spending Follow Mrs. Frugalwoods on Social Follow Mrs. Frugalwoods on Twitter Like Mrs. Frugalwoods on Facebook Check out Mrs. Frugalwoods on Pinterest Follow Mrs. Frugalwoods on Instagram For more podcast episodes, check out the Podcast page. Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/62 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to Episode 62 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for listening to this episode with my guest who I actually got to finally meet in person a few weeks ago, I guess. That's when FinCon 2016 was. I'm talking about Mrs. Frugalwoods. Not her real name, obviously, or maybe it is. I don't know. Maybe she's changed it recently. But she is one half of the bloggers from frugalwoods.com. She blogs with her husband, Mr. Frugalwoods. And their whole concept behind the blog is all about simple living and frugality. And it's awesome. There's a lot of great stuff on there. And I've got to say, I was a super fan and I met her at FinCon and she was absolutely just what her brand

is. She is so genuine and so nice and friendly. And she even invited me to visit her on her homestead in Vermont, which I may take advantage of because I've always wanted to have a reason to go to Vermont. And it's not that far away from Toronto, so we'll see. So we've got a great episode ahead. And first, before we get to that interview, I want to thank Lowest Rates for sponsoring this episode where you can find the lowest rates in Canada on lowestrates.ca. Whether you're looking for rates for your mortgage, auto insurance, life insurance, or more. You can find it just like that and it's free. So lowestrates.ca guys, check it out. All right. And now on to my interview with Mrs. Frugalwoods. Thank you for joining me on the show today. I'm glad to be here. Yeah. I'm glad

to have you on the show. And I know you also podcast yourself, right? You've got a podcast you're a part of. Yes. Although I claim no real technical ability. I just get to talk on a podcast once a month. So I don't have to record it or plan it, which is great. Yeah. And what is that podcast called? So that is Martinis and Your Money. And that's, uh, Shannon over at financially blonde hosts that. And it's a, it's a great podcast. That sounds like a lot of fun. Martinis and money are my two favorite things. So, okay, well let's kind of, uh, I'd love to share your, the reason I reached out to you is you have such a great story that I think a lot of people can, well, either relate to or just dream of. I personally have dreamed about doing what you've done.

But let's kind of start from the beginning because you have an awesome about page on your website that really goes into detail about who you and your husband are and kind of your values and why you have done what you've done. So it seems kind of like even from college, you were pretty frugal. Is that right? Yes. Yeah. So we have really both sort of been frugal by nature. We were frugal kids even. And so it's something that has just been kind of ingrained in us throughout our whole lives. And then meeting each other, I think we only reinforced it in one another. So it's, you know, we were frugal to a degree, but then when you couple with someone who is similarly frugal, I think it just really augments the, those values. And that's kind of always been

a cornerstone of our relationship and of our marriage is, um, being very mindful with our money. So it does come naturally. And so extreme frugality was kind of just another little step in the journey for us. Well, that's nice because I feel like a lot of people struggle when they meet someone, everything, you know, all the boxes are ticked. But then when you kind of talk about money, you can find out that they're the complete opposite. They're a big spender or they have a lot of debt or they just don't care to be involved in anything money related. So that's kind of, that sounds nice to have someone who's on the same page as you. Yes. Yeah. I think it's, I don't think that you necessarily have to be on the same page at the

outset with a partner, but, but getting there I think is paramount because it's, you know, how you spend your money is how your life will go. And so I really, I see, you know, the way that people manage their money, that's the way you're managing your life and your destiny is very closely tied to how you spend and save. And so if you have those similar goals, you know, if you, you and your partner are both interested in say sailing the world, um, you know, that's wonderful. You share that goal. And so then you also should be sharing your financial goals so that you're reaching that destination and it's a feasible thing for you. So, you know, I think people who don't find out, don't find a partner who's on the same page at the outset, I wouldn't fret because I think you can get there. And I think it's because

I think it's much more about what you want out of life. Absolutely. Which is something that, you know, maybe you don't bring up at the beginning of a relationship. But definitely when you're getting a bit more serious, that's when you've got to be like, so what do you want out of life? What do you see for yourself? I don't necessarily see myself retiring early. But I think me and my husband definitely have the same goals in that. We want to see how far we can go in both of our careers, even though they're very different careers. We're very career-oriented in this stage of our life.

And eventually, we do want to maybe retire earlier than we need. We have to and just kind of travel. I think for us, that's a big reason why we do save and also live fairly frugally is because we want to save as much money so we can afford to go on trips. Absolutely. And frugality, it's really not about retiring early because a lot of people say, oh, I don't want to retire early. And it's not really about that. It's about having freedom. It's about not being tied to a paycheck. It's about not being beholden to debt payments every month. It's about looking at your life and thinking, Oh, wow, you know, I kind of do whatever I want, because I'm not in a position where I have to keep a certain job, you know, and so for me,

I've already retired, but I continue to write because I love it, you know, and I don't make nearly as much money as I did in my career, but it doesn't matter. I'm doing something that I love, and I'm also staying home with my daughter. So it's very much about having the options and the flexibility that having savings can grant you. Absolutely. It's about having more choice. And like you mentioned, you're retired, but you still work because that's a choice and kind of a luxury. You can work if you want to, and you don't have to, but you want to, which is a, that sounds lovely. I think there's lots of people who, um,

I mean, I feel like my husband, he's an audio engineer and he loves music. That's his thing. And I don't, he always jokes. He's like, I'm never going to retire because he loves what he does. And maybe that's, I mean, maybe he's already found, he's already retired right now, but he's just doing what he loves. And I'm the one that's working the nine to five. Absolutely. I think if you're in a position where you're doing what you love and you happen to be getting paid for it, that is a great position to be in, and you should keep doing that. Yeah.

No, that's true. Once to blue moon, he'll kind of reflect and be like, I can't believe I get paid for this. That's the kind of wonder. That's how I feel about writing. I'm like, I can't believe he's paying me to do this. That's the kind of wonder. That's how I feel about writing. I'm like, I can't believe you're paying me to do this. You know, if you have that feeling, then I think you've got yourself in a in a good position. But, you know, that being said, I think jobs can disappear. You know, that's something that we saw shockingly here in the US in 2008, that, you know, careers that

people assumed were very secure, all of a sudden evaporated. And so that's kind of my, my other side of why I encourage frugality is, you know, you may love your job, and you may be doing wonderfully, but you're not necessarily in control of, you know, the broader economy. If you are, let me know, because that'd be great, you know. You know, and it's and we just we don't know what's going to happen. And so I, having that, that safety net is a real comfort to me. And it's a real cushion that you can give yourself. It's like giving your future self the best gift ever. Absolutely. And I think, especially when you do kind of embrace frugality and really know what to do to kind of live on a very, you know, fixed budget, you know, say, you know,

my kind of thing is, you know, no matter how much money you make, you should never really inflate your lifestyle if you can and kind of live as cheaply as possible. Because, yeah, you don't know what could happen. You could get laid off unexpectedly that, you know, just like you mentioned, like there's a lot of people that think that they, you know, have a secure job and then something happens and they don't have the cash because they thought they had another paycheck or several paychecks coming. So you can kind of create those habits early on. You'll be kind of fine if something like that happens. Absolutely. And it's something that's even more apparent to me now that we have a child because

it's, you know, we have to provide for her and care for her. And so, you know, in the past where, oh, it might have been inconvenient for my husband and I now, you know, we have to provide for her and care for her and so you know in the past where oh it might have been inconvenient for my husband and I now you know we have someone else we have to be thinking about so it's it's very important to us that we have um that reserve and that that cushion to fall back on and I think particularly in families where you do have one parent who's staying home uh you want to be saving as much as you possibly can of the salary that's coming in. Now, so after you were kind of lucky because you went to college and you were able to graduate debt-free, right? Yes, we did. So that's awesome. The way that we did it, it's a really boring answer. It's people ask like, oh, what did you do? We went to a cheap school. I mean,

honestly, at the end of the day, we went to a really inexpensive state school, the University of Kansas. And unfortunately their tuition is a lot higher now than it was when we went to school 10 years ago. But, but there, you know, there are inexpensive, really great state schools and, you know, you don't have to spend $60,000 a year on a private school education. And so that's kind of the first point is that we went to a cheap school. And then we did have scholarships, not a ton of scholarships were not brilliant, but we had a couple scholarships. And we also both worked. So we had jobs on campus throughout college. And, you know, we weren't really saving much money at that time, but we were breaking even every month.

And our parents also helped us out because the tuition was so inexpensive. So it kind of is it's kind of that origin point of, you know, pick a school that's not that expensive. And then you don't have to get into this cycle of taking out a lot of loans. Exactly. And, you know, similar to your situation, I went to the school I wanted to go to, but me and my two sisters, actually, we all went to the same university, Simon Fraser University. And one of the big reasons was because it was close to my parents' house and we both lived at home or we all lived at home when we were going to university. So we saved a ton of money because we didn't have to live away from home. Yes. Yeah. That's another great way to get money. Absolutely. So you were able to graduate

debt free and then you were able to get a pretty good job or kind of a job that you were able to kind of climb the corporate ladder, so to speak, right? Yes. So my first job out of college, I actually made $10,000 for the year. Oh. The whole year because I was doing AmeriCorps, which is the domestic peace corps in the United States. And the reason I did that was partially because I, you know, I'm really altruistic and I really wanted to help people, but also nobody else would hire me. So I had something, I had applied for something like 60 jobs. And, you know, the cycle that you get trapped in is that every employer wants experience. So how do you get experience to get your first job, you know, to have a resume, to prove that you should be hired?

So I was caught in this cycle of not being able to find a job. And a friend turned me on to AmeriCorps, and I thought, this is perfect. I can do something. I can give back, but I can also gain, uh, experience. And I was able to start a career in nonprofit fundraising. So, uh, my husband and I have actually both always worked for nonprofit organizations. And, um, so that, that first year of earning $10,000, um, I was able to save $2,000 of it. That's pretty good. So you lived off $8,000? I did in New York City. What?

Part of AmeriCorps is that they give you food stamps. Okay. So I ate exactly what the food stamps covered. And I lived very cheaply. Our rent was very, very cheap. Where did you live? Because it's like rent is crazy expensive there. We lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which at the time was a neighborhood in transition. And it was a very interesting experience. I'm very grateful that I have that experience in my life because it's, um, you know, it's not a place that it's not a neighborhood that I would

probably live in again. And it, it just gave me an opportunity to, uh, really broaden my horizons and kind of step outside of my comfort zone. Um, so it was, uh, it was a So it was a very interesting year. And from there, I was able to get other positions with nonprofits. I think my next job paid like maybe $40,000 a year. That's a big jump for $10,000. I was like, this is fantastic. So I was able to save even more. Um, and my husband had kind of a similar trajectory after college. So we sort of started with very low paying jobs, but we were able to save, you know, the key is that we started with no debt and we, we just never had debt. That's awesome. So when we got married, I think we had maybe $8,000 between us, between the two of us. And we just kept saving. You know,

we didn't start with very much money. We didn't have gifts from family or trust funds or anything like that. It was really just kind of, okay, we're basically starting at zero. Let's just save and go upwards from here. And there is that kind of old saying, it's not how much you make, it's how much you save. And I think lots of people kind of get hung up on, well, I don't make enough to save. It's like, well, you know, I didn't make $10,000 my first year after college or anything like that. But I did my, I think I took home like 30,000. But again, I was living in an expensive city and I had like $200 when I moved out. I'm like, oh, I need to start saving

as much as possible. I do not want to move back in with my parents. And so, you know, it was a tough year and I definitely lived as frugally as I ever have, but I mean, it was possible. It wasn't impossible. Like it was fine. And I had a great, you know, time living on my own that year. So it's, you know, it's, it's kind of like willpower is a big component, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I, you know, I, it's funny, because I really, I'm the frugality champion. Also, I actually really do come back to, okay, so you need to make more, you know, if you're, if you're finding that you're not able to save at the rate you want to, how can you make more, you know, should you change careers? Can you advance in the

career you're in? Or can you take up work on the side that will bring your income up? Because it is true, there is a cap, you know, at a certain point, you really are limited by how much you make. And that's what I hear from people who are really embracing extreme frugality, you know, who want to save something like 70 or 80% of of their income. That's not possible unless you're making enough to support yourself. You have to eat. You have to live. And so I do think there is kind of that misconception sometimes that frugality is anti-earnings.

I get that a lot, like, oh, you're against people making money. No, no, I'm not against you. It's about saving the money that you have made. And I think there's a lot you can do to manage your career with an eye towards augmenting your earnings in whatever profession and whatever field you're in. Well, exactly. And I think even having that mindset of, oh, maybe I should get a side job to help me earn a little bit extra. That might actually even help your career. I know it has for me in terms of like I work in digital marketing, but I started off working more in advertising sales. And, you know, one of my side hustles was my blog and that helped me in my career.

So you never kind of know where that little, you know, side job that is just some extra income might come into play later on. Absolutely. So, okay, so you and your husband eventually, you know, got kind of better paying jobs. At what point did you decide to kind of change everything and ditch those jobs and move to the woods? So we, let's see, we got married in 2008. and we lived in this little basement apartment outside of Boston for years while we saved for a down payment on a house. We knew that we wanted to buy a house in Cambridge, both to live in, but also because we saw it as a great real estate investment. The real estate market there is just white hot. And it's something like 64% of all units in Cambridge are rented. So yeah, so there's just a really robust market

because Harvard is there, MIT is there, as well as a number of other universities. So you constantly have graduate students, postdocs, PhD students coming through who need short-term housing. And so they rent. And so you have kind of a very highly qualified, very transient rental population. And so we thought, okay, if we can buy a place that we could live in and then eventually rent out, that would kind of be a way for us to have another revenue stream. And we didn't quite have the homestead dream in mind. But we just kind of thought, okay, you know, this would be this would be a good idea if we can save enough for a down payment. And so we started saving and saving. And as you can guess, housing prices are pretty high. Yeah. So it felt this felt ridiculous at the beginning. I mean, we have like

$8,000. You know, these houses are a studio apartment is like $350,000. Right. So there's no low end of this market. You know, you're not buying anything for $150,000. There's nothing. I feel you. I feel you. The market in Toronto is ridiculous. Like houses are actually a million dollars. Oh, yes. Yes. Single family homes are. Yes. Yes. It's obscene. So we thought, okay, this is ridiculous. What are we even doing? We're never going to be able to save that much. But we just kept going. We just kind of kept socking away our money every month and watching the little graph in Fidelity. they have this nice little graph of your net worth. I mean, and it just inched up, you know, it was like $10,000. Then we had $10,500. I mean, it was really quite incremental, but we kept at it. Um, and we moved to Washington DC in the middle of that time period. And I decided to do my master's and work at the university where I

was getting my degree so that it was paid for. I wanted to do a master's and work at the university where I was getting my degree so that it was paid for. I wanted to do a master's, did not want to pay for it. We were still renting a pretty inexpensive place in D.C. Then when we decided to move back to Cambridge, we were then able to buy a house. We had finally scraped together enough for our down payment and we bought a house. We moved in. And then we thought, oh my gosh, what do we do next? Because this had been, you know, kind of, it was 2012 at this point, this had been kind of the defining goal for us for a very long time.

And now that it had happened, we realized we need to kind of create something new to work towards. We need kind of a higher purpose for what we're doing. And so we thought, okay, well, we're pretty happy in these jobs. Let's just kind of keep going. Let's sort of see where this takes us. And we realized after a while that, you know, we like cities, we've lived in cities for a long time, but we were leaving the city every weekend to go hiking. And we'd had this sort of love of hiking spurred in us and we thought okay we're living in the city but we're leaving all the time to go to the woods and we keep saying oh if only we lived in the woods and then we started to say yeah if only we lived in the woods and realized that we could actually make that happen um so in i now now i'm to get confused on my dates. I think it was 2014 that we made the

decision to leave Cambridge and move out here to Vermont, which happened last month. So we're newly in our homestead here. And it was kind of a long decision-making process for us to realize that we were just not fulfilled by doing the nine to five routine and by being in the city where it is kind of this focus on consumerism. And it is really a focus on more, more, more. And, um, we thought, you know, our goal really isn't to like buy a bigger house or buy more cars or, you know, have more things. It's just, that's not really where we see fulfillment coming in. And I also just wasn't, we were not feeling passionate necessarily about the work that we were doing. We wanted freedom to do more, to explore and to really kind of figure out what it is that we are good at and what it is that we are passionate

about. And so that's, that's really what led us to come out here. Why'd you choose a Vermont? So we did this really long and boring vetting process that involved a spreadsheet. Everything we do involves a spreadsheet. I love spreadsheets. So I think that's a great idea. Even choosing our daughter's name, we had a spreadsheet. That's awesome. I don't know. It's the only way I can make decisions. So we thought about many different areas in the country, you know, and we looked at things like land prices, home prices, the prevailing ethos of the state, you know, the financial health of the area, the school systems, the access to arts and culture and Vermont just kind of surfaced to the top for us. We love the climate. We love,

um, the people of Vermont. We really enjoy sort of the progressive, um, focus on culture that does exist even in these small towns. And even in the small town that we live in, there's a real focus on community and a real focus on local artisans and local craftspeople who are doing work here in the woods. And it's pretty amazing. We're blown away by the things that our neighbors do. They're just incredibly industrious, inventive people. And I think there's just a spirit of sort of creativity out here that doesn't necessarily, that we haven't found in a lot of other places. And Vermont also has the great benefit of being pretty close driving distance to New York City and Boston. So you do have kind of that halo effect of culture and you also have the opportunity to go and visit those places. We didn't want to be so far removed from big cities you know that we could never access them

so it was kind of the perfect balance of rural but not remote yeah exactly you don't want to feel isolated so you seemed like you found a good balance yes so what one question i'm wondering so why did, because I almost feel like, huh, I could totally see you being a tiny house person. Because it's like the perfect kind of minimalist and frugal thing. But you, instead you have a house and you have like acres and acres of land, right? Yes. Yeah, we have 66 acres of land. That's a lot. It's a lot. Most of it right? Yes. Yeah. We have 66 acres of land. That's a lot.

Most of it is forested. You know, we sustainably manage the forest, but we don't have to like do anything to it. It's so funny. My mom was like, how are you going to take care of 66 acres? It's like, well, we don't, we don't actually have to do anything. Most of it is is just it's just a forest um we have about two cleared acres around the house that we do maintain and we have uh flower beds and fruit trees and berry bushes and a vegetable garden and a barn um and that's like about enough two acres is like that's about enough to manage for us um and the rest of it is just this wonderful woods but yeah we're actually not tiny house people. And we're not really minimalists either, which is why I'm talking to people.

Yeah. I don't know. I respect both minimalism and the concept of tiny house living. I will say with a child and with a large dog, it's just not going to happen. There's just no way. Our daughter needs her own bedroom. We need our own bedroom. What would you say is kind of the difference between minimalism and extreme frugality? Cause I feel like, yeah, there is like, uh, some people might find those, uh, kind of the same,

but, um, I, you know, I think, I guess the way that I think about minimalism is a real focus on owning very few things. And for me, frugality is really a focus on spending only on what matters. So, you know, I certainly do not go out and buy a ton of things. And I don't, you know, encourage people to do that. But at the same time, I, you know, if there's a free desk by the side of the road, I'll probably take it and figure out what I might be able to do with it later. You know, I'm actually sitting at a free desk right now. That's that very thing. You know, so it's.

That makes a lot of sense, actually, now that you're like, oh, yeah, obviously. I don't, you know, because there are people who sort of they have one dinner plate and one towel and, you know, one fork. And I know, I think that's a, that must be a freeing way to live, you know, to not be owned by your possessions. And I very much appreciate that element of minimalism. I think, for me, I just, in a lot of ways, I think it's easier for me not to be a minimalist, especially with a baby, because I don't always it on your own terms. So what do you kind of see going forward? The one thing that always kind of almost like is, you know, when you have the idea of like, oh, if I won the lottery, I'd quit my job and then retire early and do whatever I want. And I almost always afraid of like, what if I get bored? Like, what are your kind of, where do you see your, your kind of life now that you've kind of fulfilled again, this big goal? What next? Yes.

Well, you know, it's people have asked about that and I'd say, well, if you want to make sure that you'll never be bored, move to a homestead because the list of projects, I mean, it is so long that it's not even written down. I started to write it down and it just was obscene. Like it was like two lined pages long. And I said, okay, we just have to stop. We just need to start doing stuff and we'll figure it out. And it's wonderful.

We really enjoy living with the seasons and sort of figuring out what it is that we need to do with each season. I'm actually, I'm looking out. My husband is out splitting wood right now, which is in preparation for the winter. And so it's kind of, it's a very holistic way of living because you're thinking about what you're going to need months down the road. And you're also trying to really decrease your environmental impact. So we're trying very much to live as sustainably as we can. So taking trees out of our forest that need to come out because our forest needs to be thinned and then using that for firewood. So finding these, these systems that we can become a part of is I think, a lifelong vocation for us. And it's kind of, there's so much to do out here,

that it would be hard to be bored. And it's, you know, the way that our days go now, we kind of have a balance of working on our computers for part of the time and then being outside in the woods for part of the time, which for me is a really nice balance. I like having the work of the mind and the work of the body and balancing those out in our days. So yeah, I think that our goal right now is really just to be here and to enjoy it and to learn as much as we can. It's a very steep learning curve, which is fantastic. Absolutely. Do you ever think you'll move back to an urban area? Or do you think this is kind of this is it? I don't know. Yeah, I you know, I never say never because, you know, life is unexpected and things could change. You know, I would imagine that we will be here for quite some time. It's a really, it's a place where we're really looking forward to raising our daughter. We really love the community and the schools and all the people here. So I hopefully will be here to raise her. But you know, when we're older, I don't know, maybe we'll retire to like a penthouse in New York City. I have no idea. You know, I'm not closed to anything because I enjoy so many different aspects of life. And I also love to travel. We traveled quite a bit before we had our daughter before we moved out

here. And so traveling internationally is definitely something I'd like to do again in the future. And you know, what, what I really loved about your story is I actually, there are so many articles that keep coming out about lots of young people that kind of live in the city, work a little bit, and then they realize they're just not fulfilled and they are moving at like lots of people our age are moving out of cities to more, you know, farm areas or just, just kind of more spacious places. So I don't know, it's definitely kind of one of those dreams I always have, like, huh, maybe I'd be way happier if we lived on the, you know, island somewhere. I don't know, it's kind of nice. Well, it's nice to know that it's not necessarily a dream because,

you know, people like you have actually successfully done it and it's, it's possible if you really actually want to do it. So. Yeah. I think with location independent work, you know, it's people are able to do this because the town that we live in, you know, there are no jobs here, but there are quite a few people who work remotely, you know, and it's, um, which is what my husband and I are doing. It's when you have Internet access, you know, you really it's making geography almost irrelevant that if you don't need to be in an office with your employer, I think people are saying, oh, you know, I could I could really be in a place that I would enjoy living in a lot more and still do the same work. Exactly, exactly, which is becoming, I think, a little bit more easier for people. And, you know, if this is something that sounds like you want to try out, maybe try finding a job where you can work remotely.

Right, right. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me. It was so awesome and interesting getting to know kind of all the in-depth things with your big, you know, from city to country life. Well, thank you for having me. It was fun. And that was episode 62 of the Mo Money podcast. Yay. So make sure to dive in to Mrs. Frugalwood's awesome website at frugalwoods.com.

You're going to love it. So many great stuff in there. And also, she's just awesome. So I want to help promote and share the wisdom of another awesome personal finance blogger out there. And make sure to check out the show notes. I'm going to put some more details about her, some interesting links in there at jessicamorehouse.com slash 62.

And of course, thanks again to today's podcast episode sponsor, Lowest Rates. Make sure to go to lowestrates.ca to find the lowest rates in Canada for your upcoming mortgage or auto insurance, life insurance, whatever you're looking for. It's super simple, super easy, lowestrates.ca. Check them out. And before I wrap up, a big thank you to the people who've been giving me iTunes reviews. I've been kind of being like, hey guys, give me some reviews every episode. And people actually have, and I really, really appreciate it. So guess what? I'm going to do this episode. Some shout outs. Yeah, y'all are getting some shout outs right now. First shout out is to Miss Fifi. And she says, this is my favorite podcast.

Jessica has amazing guests on the show and she's a great host. They talk about a wide variety of money topics in a natural conversation, conversational way. But this podcast isn't just for personal finance nerds. No, it is not. Jessica covers a wide variety of topics in a way that is entertaining and easy to understand. but uh this podcast isn't just for personal finance nerds no it is not uh jessica covers a wide variety of topics in a way that is entertaining and easy to understand as a millennial i relate to a lot of topics on the show but i think anyone would enjoy this podcast

well freaking thank you miss phoebe that was the nicest thing ever um next up i've got gizmo let's go oh oh i get it um they say i stumbled on your podcast by searching for Gail Vazoxide. Well, duh, she's the best. I really enjoy when you let people tell their success stories about how they are getting away from debt and look forward to the next story. Thank you for doing a great job. I find it very encouraging in a debt-filled world. Thank you. I'm glad you say that because I was always like, should I do more debt stuff? Should should i not do so i'm glad it's really resonating with you that that means a lot to me thank you so much gizmo let's go uh next up eyes wide open with a three as an e clever um they say i was never bored to death binging from episode 1 to 55 you might actually die from joy instead oh my gosh stop i'm blushing jessica is always excitable i

mean just listen to the intros she will let you know how excited she is it's true i do have tendency to say i'm always excited uh her personality makes this finance podcast very fun to listen to if you love finance and stories this is it oh her guests are good too i guess first person to make me do a review here eyes wide wide open with a threesome. You're the best. And I like that your title was This Is Life because, yeah, this is a big part of my life, too. All right. Last one from Martin J. O'Connor. This awesome personal finance podcast has just been made even more awesome with real life listener stories and interviews. Well worth listening to. Yay. I'm so glad you're enjoying the L listener series. I really freaking love them. So I'm glad you love them too.

And I've been getting a lot more emails from people who want to be on my show. So if you listening right now, this second, I have a story that you'd like to share, whether it's about you paying off debt or doing something great with money or anything to do with personal finance? And you want to share it with other listeners, shoot me an email. Jessica at jessicamorehouse.com. It's that easy. I will email you back, and hopefully we can get you on the show if it makes sense. All right.

Well, thanks again, everybody. And make sure to send me an iTunes review if you haven't already. Sorry to keep on harping, but I love reading them out. I mean, come on. It's a lot of fun. So yeah, to wrap up, I guess I have another listener series episode not tomorrow. Psych! I actually have a solo episode that I want to do because it with my first episode of this season all about me buying a house. I didn't really get into the nitty gritty. So a lot has happened since me and my husband bought our townhouse and I wanted to do a special solo episode all about all that fun stuff because it's super fun to own a house. So much fun. Okay. See you back here tomorrow. this podcast is distributed by the women in media podcast network