Meet a Frugal Girl reader | Kristin from Going Country
This year, I wanted to add in a feature that I think will be fun for all of you.
You all hear from me a LOT, since, uh, I'm the only one who writes here, officially.
But I am most certainly not the only frugal soul who hangs out around here.
And since there's a lively comments section on my blog, there actually are some other people who faithfully write here. So, I thought it would be delightful for you all to have the opportunity to get to know your fellow readers a little bit better.
To get things going, I sent emails to some people who are super faithful commenters because I thought they'd be good people to go first.
The very first person I emailed was Kristin from Going Country, and happily, she agreed to answer my questions.
Kristin and I share a name, but our personalities are also so similar, we sometimes say that she's the country version of me.
Our answers to the Kristen Prompted questions are often nearly identical...I'm Suburb Kristen and she's Country Kristin!
Anyway, I hope you have fun getting to know Kristin a bit better.
1. Tell us a little about yourself
I have four children, one husband, two dogs, a horse, 9 chickens, and an ever-expanding number of meat rabbits and sheep.
We live waaaay out in the country in New Mexico, in one of the least-populated counties in the United States.
I grew up mostly in suburbs, but thanks to the man I married, I've lived rural for many years now. I can't imagine living any other way anymore.
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
I'm not actually sure. Many years. Maybe nine? I know I found the site by searching for recipes for homemade yogurt. I still use Kristen's yogurt method, incidentally.
(Note from Kristen: Here's the yogurt method!)
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
I've always been a naturally frugal person. Being otherwise is actually hard for me, so I think it's hardwired.
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
I answered this in the comments here once, and I think I said it all there, so here it is again: We live the way we do so we don’t have to work so much to earn money. I guess that’s the simplest answer.
We moved to where we are and live the way we do so that we–most especially my husband, who has been the main earner since we started having children a decade ago–have more time for our family and can enjoy life more.
For us, all the frugal choices are a good trade-off for a life in which my husband and I are home most days, and we don’t have any significant work-related stress that impacts our family life.
5. What's your best frugal win?
Probably helping our neighbor butcher a fatally injured bull. We got 200 pounds of beef for free out of that effort.
6. What's a dumb money mistake you've made?
I literally can't think of one. That's not say there isn't one, just that my memory is leaky as a sieve.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
Winter coats and boots for my children. Cold-weather gear for kids is not the place to cheap out.
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
Uh, anything else? Regular clothes particularly, I guess. Our family is very hard on clothes.
9. If $1000 was dropped into your lap today, what would you do with it?
Put it towards our (almost paid off!) mortgage.
10. Share a frugal tip with other Frugal Girl readers.
Being willing to do work that other people don't want to bother with can save a lot. We're kind of known for being willing to butcher animals. We have gotten countless roosters this way (do you know how much organic, free-range chickens costs to buy? A LOT).
Also sheep, rabbits, and the aforementioned bull. Same idea applies to finding furniture that needs to be repaired or just painted (Kristen has many, many tutorials about this :-), clothing that needs mending, forageable foods that the owners don't want to bother picking, etc.
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Thank you, thank you Kristin, for being the first one to participate in this series!
If you'd like to follow along with Kristin, she blogs at Going Country.
And Kristin did a guest post for me about how to grocery shop less frequently.
What a cool new section! Such fun to learn more about other readers.
I agree! It was so much fun to read about Kristen and get a glimpse into her life! I am looking forward to "meeting" more loyal readers.
Sorry, it should read Kristin:-)
Yay! I'm always in favor of more Kristin ... and Kristen. 😉
Yes, this is a great idea!
A fun addition to your blog. I love that it is ever evolving.
It is fun to know more about Country Kristin. I love learning about other frugal people, even when their lives are quite different than my own.
I agree - I enjoy hearing about someone's life whose setup is different than mine (I've never had to wonder how to come up with new elk recipes!). Love hearing from such intentional people!
Love this post!
I live a similar life as Kristin--small farm, raising our own food sources, working less "away" from home to be more "at home." We work the land, we grow about 35-40% of our own food and our kids are busy, active and learning outdoors.
I too, have been following Kristen's blog for nearly as long as Kristin. I love that the changes I made following Kristen's blog meant that I had the courage to begin homeschooling my children nearly 7 years ago. Thank you for providing that inspiration.
I remember Kristin's guest post--reading it, nodding, and loving the vibe because it resonated with me.
This will be a fun addition to the blog. Thank you!
I love this! I read all the comments and wonder about where the commenters live, how they got started on their frugal journeys, etc. Maybe I'll find out there's a frugalista who lives close to me. How fun would that be?
Just for kicks I should throw in here that my husband's niece is Kristyn and I know a Krysten and my niece is Kiersten (and people always think it's Kristen).
Yes, it's fun to know more about the commenters too, especially ones who are practiced at being frugal. This is such a kind-hearted group, I feel like I know some of you already.
We have raised chickens and somehow we kept having more and more and more.... turns out, my husband got too fond of them to kill any, and they just kept producing more. We finally gave them to several other friends with chickens and had to quit keeping chickens. Clearly, the man is a chicken addict.
There are SO MANY WAYS to spell my name. And you haven't even added in Christen or Christyn or Chrystin.
The r s, t, and n are non-negotiable, but that leaves a lot of wiggle room still!
Ugh, I didn't even think about the Ch version!
Two married couples I know are Chris and Christin and Kris and Kristina.
With all the potential variety of spellings, how did that even happen?!
I know a married couple named Eric and Erica!
And that might be even more unusual if they were Erik and Erika.
Had to come back to say I knew a married couple (he's passed on, sadly) named Loye and Lloy. No one ever could remember which spelling was the wife and which was the husband.
Oooh, I love this! Great new addition to the blog. (And I'm pretty sure I found my way here via that yogurt tutorial, too.)
One of my favorite things is getting an inside look at how people live their lives and I'm heading over to Going Country now.
Love the new feature! And well written, Kristen and Kristin! I'm amazed at free meat win (amazing score!) and would love to know more about butchering animals. However, I live in town where that skill isn't readily needed. And during my years as a child on the farm, my parents hired out any slaughtering.
This was fun to read. I love seeing the pictures of “way out there country”. It reminds me of my own family. Gonna have to check out Going Country.
This is such a nice community. I always come back a few times to read the comments because I enjoy the other readers' opinions, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this new feature.
I must admit I've always wondered why Kristin and her family chose to live so far out in the boonies; what a terrific reason: family first! I totally enjoy her comments (and eclectic menus!)
Hello Kristen, I so enjoyed reading this post. Would enjoy seeing more of this in the 2021. I too have been a 10yrs. follower. We think alike. ha HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You will be happy to know that I have a bunch more reader interviews already lined up!
Love this new feature!!
I love this new feature! Hi Kristin!
I like this feature. Will be a nice feature to look forward to like your others. Thanks
Such a great addition! Thank you.
Love this new feature! Hi Kristin!
Very cool! What a neat feature idea!
I believe this would be Kristin of the Fun Comments. Being the nosy person that I am ... what does winter weather look like where you are? And I fully agree with you that winter gear is not the place to go cheap. I'm trying to picture in my mind what your weather patterns would be. Call me a weather geek.
Typical winter weather here involves a high between 40-60 degrees and a low in the 20s. We intermittently have true northern winter weather with snow and temperatures in the single digits. We also have fairly constant wind, which can make the temperatures feel colder than the thermometer would indicate. However, it is sunny and dry the great majority of the time in the winter, and we have never seen snow stay on the ground more than 2 or 3 days where it's exposed to the sun. Summers are usually moderately hot; 80-90 degrees as a high, though last summer was more 90+, but nighttime temperatures are almost always in the 50s or 60s. It's not quite arid here, but pretty dry--average rainfall about 16 inches per year.
I was wondering this too, because I don't associate New Mexico with cold weather!
As with all of the mountain West, it's all about the elevation. We're at a high one.
I grew up in the high desert of New Mexico (@ 6000 feet elevation) and one of my favorite things to do is tell about the snow. It trips people up!
I grew up in Albuquerque and have this conversation all the time! Everyone thinks of Denver when they hear mile high but NM has some nice elevation too and that means lower temps. Thanks for being willing to share a piece of your life with us - it's so different from where I live (15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles) and so interesting to hear about!
Thanks for answering my question. We are from the midwest but have been vacationing in the west and southwest the past few years and it's been interesting to learn about how variable the weather can be at different elevations. It takes some getting used to for those of us from a flatter area! 🙂
Love this new feature! I've been reading Kristen ever since she Shared her shopping post. Looking forward to hearing about other Frugal friends.
Nice to get to know you better, Kristin.
Hiya, Kristen & Kristin! This was fun to read.
To Kristin: Is that a rough collie in your profile pic, the dog wearing bunny ears? I have a boy, my third collie, although have only had one at a time. He is named for an ancient high king of Ireland. Love the breed.
Molly: She was a smooth collie. That was my dog, Mia, who died a few years ago. My mother-in-law used to breed collies. I don't know about all collies, but that line produced some great dogs, Mia among them.
I love this idea! Thanks for adding it to your rotation and keep ‘em coming 🙂
Aw, it is awesome to meet the person whose house I always want to eat in -- seriously the most WDWE entries --thank you, suburban K and country K!
most interesting WDWE entries, it should say
Loved this!
So neat of an idea, love the new perspective on frugal life! And good tip on investing in good kid's outerwear.
Nice to meet you, County Kristin! Thank you for sharing your story.
I too use Frugal Girls yogurt method regularly. I do add some powdered milk and gelatin to make it thicker and let it sit at least 8 hours. I like some tang in my yogurt.
Great new series!
I always love when the commenter let's us know where they live.
Frugal is frugal anywhere but for some reason I like knowing we are all over the US and some international commenters as well.
I especially like when they talk about their area. Some examples Lindsay in Alaska or Katie in Africa.
I love Kristin's comment about being willing to do what other people don't want to bother with! I just think that's such a great way to put it. It's so true and it can be anything. For me it's social media. Businesses don't have the time/effort/energy/desire to do it themselves but they know they need it... It's been a great way to work from home with flexible hours.
Love this new series!
This is a lovely idea! Hi Kristin :-). I love that photo of your kids riding into the big blue sky.
PS: I'm adding some words as I get a "duplicate comment detected" error when submitting this one
Ah, that's because somehow it DID duplicate! I deleted your first one that was identical to this one.
Thanks for sharing, Kristin! I’m very late to the party reading this, but I remember you in particular out of Kristen’s commenting community after cracking up at how “sweetmeats” got their name at your place. Having had two little boys I could well imagine the scene if the truth came out, and it gave me a good laugh.