Meet a Reader | Kelly from St. Louis
Today we're meeting a reader whose frugal fail matches with a lot of other readers (but with one addition!)
1. Tell us a little about yourself
I live with my husband and 2 kids in St. Louis.
My husband and I are both from here, met in college in the area, and moved around the country for a couple of years before settling back in St Louis when we had kids.
We're both CPAs, and we've each worked a variety of jobs in that field that have required us to work long hours, or travel across the country.
We've had multiple points in our careers where one of us has been the sole or main provider, and we've had to work to accommodate that within our budgeting.
As our job situations have changed over the years, we've had opportunities to be more or less frugal, but some habits that we built during the frugal years have come back to save us later!
We love to travel - all the photos in this post are from places we've gone.
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
I've been reading since late college/right after I graduated, so 2010 maybe?
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
Growing up, my parents were very into saving money and being mindful with what they spent. They both grew up in large families where their parents had to really stretch their resources, which made them hyper-conscious of what they were spending.
I remember cutting coupons with my dad every Sunday after he read the paper and then organizing them with my mom to make sure she had the ones she needed for her groceries that week.
They were also the people who stayed in their "starter" home when all their friends were moving up and taking on more debt.
Now, that saving/mindful spending has paid off. They both retired early and can enjoy their retirement and love taking multiple international trips each year.
When I graduated from grad school, my husband was still in school and while I had minimal student debt, his graduate degree was 50k+ and we knew we wanted to take as little out in student loans as possible and be able to pay them off as quickly as possible. We went pretty hard at budgeting and making sure we lived within our means.
At the time, it was hard to live in a small apartment with a leaky roof and poor heating and still have fun on a budget in a big city, but we prioritized our funds and were able to really enjoy our early 20s.
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
We like to be frugal in some areas so we don't have to be frugal in others. We would much prefer to eat lower cost food/avoid restaurants/etc. so that we don't have to do our own home repairs!
5. What's your best frugal win?
Living off less than we make.
It sounds simple, especially for this audience, but it's shocking how uncommon we've found that to be. My husband and I have been together since college, so there have always been 2 of us available to work, even if we haven't both worked at the same time.
We've always lived off of one of our salaries and put the other salary towards student loan debt, savings, etc. so that if one of us lost our job or chose to take a no/low-paying job we would be able to more easily make adjustments and still live within our means.
6. What's an embarrassing money mistake you've made?
Trying to fix things around the house or decorate anything ourselves.
We are pretty good at being CPAs, but pretty bad at home maintenance/repairs. We've had a couple things that we've tried to fix with terrible results - replacing a sink top, fixing a door, even minor things like painting seem to be outside our capabilities.
When we first bought our first house, I tried my hand at decorating our home, but I am not artistically inclined at all. Truly - people think I'm joking when I say that, but then they come into our house and they say, "Oh....I see what you mean."
The most recent time I wanted to decorate a room, I found an interior design student who did the design for me for $100 and I bought the items she suggested over time from a variety of locations (including thrifting! so I could spread out the cost.
I still love that room and plan to go down that road again in the future! We also have a home maintenance service with someone who comes in a couple times a year to check our house and repair anything that needs it. That has been one of the best investments in our home that we could make.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
Vacations. We love to vacation, and while we're not vacationing in the most extravagant manner, we really enjoy traveling as much as possible.
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
Makeup - a little goes a long way for me!
9. If $1000 was dropped into your lap today, what would you do with it?
Travel! We love to travel and with some recent job changes, it's been a while since we've traveled and we're in need of a vacation!
10. What's the easiest/hardest part of being frugal?
I find gifts to be the hardest thing about being frugal.
We have kids who go to a lot of birthday parties and I struggle with purchasing something thoughtful and useful while also not overly expensive or just something that will be given away in 6 months. As the kids have gotten older, we've moved towards gift cards, even just to an ice cream place or bowling alley we know they like.
11. Is there anything unique about frugal living in your area?
St. Louis is great for frugal living; that was one of the main reasons we opted to move back when having kids.
We have so many exceptional places in the area that are completely free. Our zoo, art museum, science center, and history museum are world-class and all completely free.
There are free seats available at the Muny (our outdoor summer theatre), the museum at the famous Gateway National Arch is free, we have smaller art galleries that are also free, we have multiple free sculpture parks, and plenty of local animal parks that are either free or low-cost.
The Federal Reserve is in St Louis, and they have a free museum with free bags of shredded money at the end. We have an electric car as well, and many of these facilities offer free EV charging - another frugal win!
To top off all that free stuff, there's typically free parking near all of those attractions. While you can pay to get the premium parking, if you plan well and arrive early, you can easily park and enter these attractions for absolutely nothing. You can also bring your own snacks!
While you can splurge for the special exhibits and attractions, St. Louis has so many attractions where you can easily have a wonderful, low-cost, memorable, day. Many of the area attractions also decorate for holidays and offer special fun during both the day and as a paid event with additional features after hours, so you can enjoy the decorations even if you don't pay for the special events.
We are big into supporting the arts in our area and once we were able to, we purchased memberships to the majority of those attractions. Since we like to go to these places often, the memberships are a great deal and we easily make our money back and then some.
12. What frugal tips have you tried and abandoned?
Homemade deodorant, completely ineffective😬
Also, homemade laundry detergent. I ended up clogging the sewer pipe and had to have a plumber come out and clean the entire pipe out. Most expensive frugal fail ever!
13. How has reading the Frugal Girl changed you?
I have picked up so many tips (like I didn't even think to look for silicone lids for my pyrex dishes!) and honestly just reading the entries regularly keeps me on track.
14. Which is your favorite type of post at the Frugal Girl and why?
The thankful posts because they are such a good reminder to be grateful for what we have.
15. Did you ever receive any financial education in school or from your parents?
So, we're both CPAs and while many people think that means we've been taught a lot about money and personal finance, that's unfortunately not true.
However, being CPAs, I think we're naturally more inclined to learn about it on our own (though I've met a number of CPAs with no budgeting skills to speak of!), but we have had to do a lot of research about retirement planning, home mortgages, and even, in the early years, basic budgeting.
Both of our parents were pretty frugal and we grew up with part-time working/stay-at-home moms that strictly budgeted groceries, used coupons, and repaired clothing rather than purchasing new.
Thankfully, my parents prioritized my financial education and started teaching me the basics from an early age (though my primary incentive to save money as a kid was the free lollipops and popcorn at the bank!).
We're trying to pass along these tips to our own kids and during this past school year, the teacher let us know that our first grader was teaching the other kids all about credit cards and how it's not just free money! So maybe our teaching is paying off?
16. Do you have any tips for frugal travel or vacations?
Some of these are pretty basic, but we have a couple of tricks that we use to try and save/offset costs when traveling:
- We go off-season. This has gotten harder as our kids have gotten older, but you can actually find true deals at DisneyWorld if you go in February!
We've done the Grand Canyon in winter and gotten Canyon-side lodging for a fraction of the standard price.
Hitting popular places a week or two before/after high season has easily saved us thousands of dollars in hotel/flight costs. This does come with a caveat:
- There's a reason places are popular a certain time of year. We got lucky going to the Grand Canyon in winter, but the day after we left there was a massive blizzard that we could have easily gotten stuck in!
- We travel with others. We go with my parents and/or siblings to offset the cost of an AirBnB/food/etc. I have siblings that don't live locally, and we even met up with them in a third location so we all got a vacation, time together, and shared costs!
- We are okay with less fancy things. People laugh when I say we stayed at a Holiday Inn in NYC, but it was $100ish a night in a great location with breakfast included and we had more money to explore the city.
- We find the free stuff. I like to scour the blogs for free activities/free days (lots of museums have a free or low cost day during a week/month) and we work to plan our trip to accommodate those things.
We have also timed certain trips to make sure our kids get in for free/lower cost. Additionally, many of our local zoo and botanical garden memberships have reciprocal arrangements with other zoos/gardens and we have been to world class museums for free!
- Groupon! It's still around and they can offer some surprisingly good deals. We've done so many vacations almost entirely on Groupon, especially for local attractions, and had exceptional experiences for half the price. My favorite is when we went to Southern California and stayed the night on the Queen Mary and also did a Sand Castle building class in San Diego. I never would have thought to look for those experiences if it hadn't been for Groupon.
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Kelly, your story about showing people a room you've decorated made me laugh out loud. And now I am morbidly curious to know what that room looks like (though I understand not wanting to send in a pic of it! Ha.)
I love that you and your husband have figured out what your strengths and weaknesses are, and have made the wise decision to hire out what doesn't fit in your skills. Good for you guys!
Thanks for the idea to use Groupon for travels; I will keep that in mind for my future adventures. 🙂 Since I was a homeschooled kid and I also homeschooled my kids, I've done lots of off-season traveling like you.
Right now, I'm tied to a traditional school-year schedule because of nursing school, but since my future schedule as a nurse will be pretty flexible, I'm gonna aim for off-season trips whenever possible in the future.
Nice to meet you, Kelly! My husband's cousin just moved to St. Louis, and I'm seeing so many posts from her about all the fun things she's enjoying in the area with her children. And I'm completely with you on decorating. It's just not something I am good at, and I find myself not even caring about it. If there are books in the room, it feels comfortable to me. 🙂
@Jody S, I completely agree! Books make a house feel like a home!
No mention of baseball lol? My dad tried to see the Cardinals at least once a year- we were Iowans so it was a fun weekend for him. Just wondering- college funds for the 2 kids? Where would you like to travel next?
Nice to meet you Kelly! Your vacation photos are beautiful!
@Beverly, thank you!
Hi Kelly!
I just told my 18-year-old daughter that it's less important to make a lot of money and more important to manage your money well. Top on my list was living below your financial means--I must have been absorbing vibes from you! 😉
I enjoyed your travel pictures. We had the opportunity to spend an overnight in St. Louis several years ago when our children were small, and while we hit some of the big attractions, there wasn't time to go as many places as we wanted. Such a fun area! We especially enjoyed Grant's Farm and seeing the Clydesdale horses.
I am puzzled about people raising their eyebrows at your choice to stay at a Holiday Inn in NYC. I would have done the same thing--maybe we frugalistas are a different breed?
Thanks for sharing!
@Kris, we must be cut from the same cloth!
I enjoyed reading your post, especially about the travel. My daughter (36 y.o.) and I have planned to go to NYC several times and we have had to cancel our trip twice due to family emergencies. Hopefully third time's the charm this fall, so I would like to ask more about the Holiday Inn you stayed in while you were there. My hubby doesn't like to travel, so my daughter is always my travel buddy. I am looking for a good location where we feel comfortable getting around by ourselves. Like you, we try to plan our trips in the off season. Sounds like St. Louis is a great place to visit....maybe we should put that on our bucket list.
@Barbara, There are actually several Holiday Inns in Manhattan--one in the garment district and one way downtown in the financial center. The garment district one is more central.
I would shop around and look for deals in any chain, though.
@Barbara, I hope your trip pans out this time! We've stayed at the one in the financial district and the one near Times Square. I'd do the Times Square one again - the walk to the subway was easy, there was plenty to see and do in the area, and the hotel itself was basic, but nice. The one in the financial district had better accommodations, and is closer to the WTC if that's your main focus, but it was just slightly harder yo navigate to the places we wanted to go from that location. I hope you get to enjoy your trip!
@Barbara, you can also stay in jersey city and travel by path train to nyc. there is a courtyard marriott which used to have good rates. i hope you get to go this time.
@Anita Isaac, I second this! There are a lot of places just outside of Manhattan that will have lower rates and the public transportation is everywhere. We live about 30 minutes from Manhattan and once did some house sitting on the upper East side and I didn’t find a huge difference in convenience. It’s such a huge city.
@Barbara,
Thanks to everyone for the tips on hotels in NYC. I am definitely doing more research while planning this trip since prices have gone way up since we first started talking about going several years ago. I welcome any and all suggestions from folks who have visited/lived there to maximize our adventure (including attractions and restaurants) on a Frugal Girl budget!
Hi Kelly, what a delightful life you and your husband have made for yourselves!
And look at it this way re decorating: I love it and am really good at it, which means I am always thinking of new, possibly expensive things to do. (Right now: getting my handyman to cut me a piece of wood to exactly cover the stone living room mantel, which I will then cover with shell designs. Sigh.) If you just stick to what your interior design student says, you'll save money!
I may be the only person here who's never tried to make laundry detergent. Heh.
Isn't it funny how many of us here have had homemade laundry soap failures?? It's such a consistent response to this interview question.
@Kristen, with this group it's not likely to be the time we splurged on a diamond necklace.
Hehe, yes, that is true.
@Rose,
No, I'm perfectly content to buy bargain brands of liquid laundry detergent. They clean well enough for me. My washing machine manufacturer does not recommend powders. So I haven't attempted DIY detergent.
@Fru-gal Lisa, lots of the recipes are for liquid detergent. Last thing I feel like is melting a whole buncha stuff on my stove, transferring a the big sloppy mess to somewhere else and then moving it downstairs.
I'm comfortable with Tide pods. Besides, they keep A. Marie wealthy, heh.
@Rose, sadly, no member of my family owns stock in Procter & Gamble any longer. But Tide and other P&G products did help pay for my college education, as noted earlier.
@A. Marie, I know, just joking. I feel very brand loyal about a lot of things that make little sense, like preferring SOS pads to Brillo because my mom bought SOS.
@Rose, i bought 4 shares of pg in 1991 with the dividends reinvested and my $200 is now over $4000. Of course there is inflation. i used to buy charmin and bounty but have saved a ton buying that stuff from home depot. and hd has free delivery.
@Anita Isaac, I hate Charmin so much. The only TP I accept is Scott. It didn't occur to me for quite a while that Scott is considered cheap, sigh. Now I buy Charmin for the rental cottage and my kids buy whatever overpriced crap they want. I'm sorry the rest of you like Overly Soft TP for Wimps. Hrmph.
@Rose, lol, rotf.
@Rose,
Nope, you're not the only one who's never made homemade laundry detergent. I was very tempted at one time, but was too lazy to buy all the stuff needed. I do have a big box of washing soda that's probably all clumpy by now. Lol.
I live in P & G country, but I have to admit (whispers while looking side to side)....I'm not particularly brand loyal to them. I do use Tide, because the cheaper detergents just weren't doing the job. They are a big employer in my area, though.
@Rose,
Scott's is considered cheap?!? I always thought it was the "posh" brand. Hubby insists on either Cottonelle or Quilted Northern.
Are you thinking of the same thin TP the rest of us are? I thought Scott's even branded themselves as the long-lasting, budget version.
@Liz B., I'm not brand loyal to much except toothpaste (Crest) and toilet paper (Quilted Northern soft and strong). My dad isn't loyal to any brand for anything, but after he visited recently...a few days later he sent me a text asking which toilet paper was in my guest bath haha! Guess he likes Quilted Northern also.
@Rose,
I grew up on Scott tissue. It has 1,000 sheets per roll.
Well now I want to visit St. Louis! ( I tend to avoid big cities. Don't think I've ever been to one with free parking 🙂 )
@Bobi, it has a lot of perks!
Hi, Kelly. Along with everyone else, I enjoyed your travel photos. I also agree with Kristen that a knowledge of one's strong and weak skill sets is a great frugal tool in and of itself. And your first grader instructing classmates about credit cards sounds to me like a future "financial ed" teacher!
@A. Marie, I'm sure she'd love that!
Thanks for sharing with us, Kelly! Count me among the ones not gifted at decorating! Whenever my husband gets me something to hang on the wall, part of the gift is that he has to decide where it goes. Do we have one side of an exterior door that has remained unpainted for years? Yes. It's just not my gifting at all. That was so smart of you to hire a student to help you. Such a great tip to share!
I've only been to St. Louis once - we lived in Indiana at the time and were going to a friend's wedding. But maybe we'll have to go back now that we have kids! That is, if we ever get around to vacationing outside of our beloved Michigan. 😉
@Ruth T, I love Michigan! Definitely a good state to visit again and again!
@Ruth T, we traveled in Michigan when our kids were younger (camping=inexpensive vacations) but one of our biggest joys has been traveling to different locations when our children got old enough to appreciate it. I'd say that roughly at age 8 is a good time to start. My friends who traveled extensively with young children have told me that their kids don't remember the trips, for whatever that's worth (probably depends both on the trip as well as the child). Smoky Mountain National Park is driveable in a day from your location, has a lot to offer, and there are things to do year-round.
Meanwhile, we are going to Pictured Rocks in a couple of weeks and I'm excited. Our son in the Soo can join us for part of our trip. Funny how we are cycling back to vacationing in Michigan during this chapter of our lives.
@Ruth T, It has always baffled my husband that I took many, many art classes and minored in art in high school, and like to do many artistic things like drawing and painting...and yet I fail at choosing wall colors for rooms. Every. Single. Time. They end up either too bright or too weirdly cool or warm for the room in question. My mom didn't have an original artistic bone in her body, couldn't draw to save her life, but she was great at choosing interior colors, furniture, etc. I think my brain only works 2 dimensionally! So we don't do a lot of interior decorating, ha. Which is good since we rent and can always assure the landlords we have absolutely no desire to paint any walls! We just live with the colors we get.
@Karen A., Our first house ended up with some interesting colors of walls for the same struggle you have - they ended up being more of "something" than we intended. Some paint samples would have been a good idea for us! Since then, we try to go slightly lighter/more boring than we think we want when looking at the store and that helps. But that's so interesting how the skills you and your mom have translated to decorating! It totally breaks with how I'd think it would work.
@Kris, That makes sense. My oldest is 10 and likes history, so she can appreciate things like that. For now, we mostly stick with in-state camping.
Your upcoming trip is super exciting!!! Pictured Rocks is definitely a bucket list item for me, but not one that I anticipate crossing off for a long time. We are going to Champion (west of Marquette) in August, which is almost 8 hours away for us! That'll be the farthest we've ever gone into the U.P. I hope you have an amazing time and I hope to read about it here somewhere when you're back!!
@Ruth T, I think I take after my aunt (my mom's sister). She is good at drawing and cooking, but decorating and having an immaculate, put-together home is something I never sensed she was interested in. So her house was always more cozy and homey, to me, rather than a showplace like my mom wanted for hers. Also, my mom was great at needlepoint kits, which tell you exactly what to put where, but my aunt and I found those boring! Lol.
The school calendar when our boys were young always had a teacher in service day along with a second day for something on a random Monday in late Feb or first week of March. We always used that weekend to go to Disney or another park when they were young. For probably 3 years we went and there were no lines anywhere, traffic was easy, hotels were cheaper, etc. Dh was active duty military at the time so our tickets were very affordable anytime, but the off season made the rest of it doable.
DH and I went to Ireland the first week of March (took our chances with the weather). No crowds, airfare was cheaper, hotels are relatively affordable there. I always try to travel then or October just because I hate crowds and that seems to make it much more manageable.
@Marlena, agreed! It makes such a difference!
@Marlena, et al,
Off-peak times -- the way to go!
I once had a splendid 4th of July at a swimming pool.
It was near Daytona Beach, and I had just moved there 2 days ago and I was tired. Had no idea how to get to the actual beach, either, since I was brand new to the area.
Our apt. complex had a pool so I enjoyed it with one other person, a neighbor, and we became good friends that day. Very nice and relaxing!
The next day at work, my sunburned coworkers complained about the horrific crowds and traffic jams and high costs of getting cold drinks and snacks.
My holiday was much better and everything was free!
@Fru-gal Lisa, our friends that live in a neighborhood with a pool (in the Charleston, SC area) always invite us over for a pool day on the 4th because nobody else is there. We have a whole group, cook out, and love it!
@Fru-gal Lisa, You have a seemingly endless supply of interesting stories and I’m here for them. Great object lesson in this one, too.
@Erika JS,
Thank you very much! You made my day!
I love your travel tips! Thank you!
I also give an ice cream shop gift card for most gifts. All ages seem happy with this, even adults!
@Stephanie, good point - I would also love ice cream as a gift!
@Stephanie, I usually gave books as birthday party gifts (and as favors because I cannot stand little bags of cheap plastic things). Dover Books always has inexpensive kids' classics, coloring books, and so on. Maybe nobody read them but I felt good about giving them.
@Rose, I used to buy my nieces and nephews books for presents all the time. Then many years later, my adult niece confessed she had just read her first novel all of the way through. She hadn't read a single book I bought for her. LOL. I tried.
@Jody S, Same here. I carefully curated books that my sister and I loved when young and gave them to my niece: the Tasha Tudor versions of A Little Princess and The Secret Garden; D'Aulaire's Greek Myths; Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti; The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde (don't tell anyone but I burst into tears when reading it to my son's kindergarten class), The War of the Worlds illustrated by Warwick Goble, A Child's Garden of Verses. She never read a single one, even the Alfred Hitchcock's Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries which took a while for me to find which I loved as a kid. Sigh. She still doesn't read.
@Rose, Brilliant idea!
Kids need to read more!!!!!!!!!! Anything we can do to encourage this is right on!
@Rose and Jody S.,
So sorry to hear that your efforts to help your nieces and nephews were in vain. (But I still love the books as birthday favors idea!)
@Rose,
D'Aulaire's Greek Myths!!! I absolutely fell in love with that book when one of my grade school teachers read to the class from it (and showed us the illustrations). I never forgot about it, and many years later - I was probably in my 20s or 30s - I bought a copy for myself. (This was in the pre-internet days). I still have it and treasure it.
I enjoyed reading about you, Kelly! I’m also from St. Louis, and living a frugal life! I recognized the Big Cedar photo—one of our family’s favorite places to visit within driving distance. We also park at the zoo for free!
@EDR, hello to a fellow StL native! That free zoo parking is a game changer!
Loved the travel photos! Thanks for sharing. I definitely should put St. Louis on my travel plans for maybe next-year places. (Off-season, of course, and here's hoping the airline computers don't go down!)
I think your first-grader financial advisors are amazing! So darling! Dave Ramsey would be proud of them!
Your idea to bring in a home repair guy 2x a year is a good one. My handyman has gotten older and sicker and no longer does a quality job so I've quit calling him every time I have an oh-oh. I think maybe I will try your method with a real pro.
As for gifts, try hitting the stores (and thrift stores) after Christmas for big mark downs on such items. Even as late as February should yield some good toy/gift set buys, and when someone gets a new ________, they donate the old one to Goodwill or Salvation Army or some other charitable secondhand place. Often, the donated items are perfectly good, if not for gifts, then just for your household use. Oh, and did I mention white elephant/unwanted gifts are often donated, too, instead of being re-gifted by the donor? (You might say they re-gifted it to the thrift shop! It's safer that way...) Perhaps you can pick up some kid gifts this way, although the gift card idea is also a good one.
@Fru-gal Lisa, excellent gifting ideas, thank you!! I love the tip to go thrifting after Christmas for new toys, brilliant!
Delightful interview, Kelly, thanks for the glimpse into a truly fun family life.
I visited St. Louis through my job, at a national museum conference. (Each year a different city is chosen and you have five days to explore the sights. I went all over the US in my 25 years at my fine arts museum.) Loved this perk and my time in St. Louis.
I heartily endorse your tip of meeting up with far-flung family at a shared Airbnb to combine vacations with time together. We do this with our grown kids/their families.
And, yes to off-season! When the boys were in elementary school, we took them out of school for travel. We got the schoolwork they'd be missing from the teachers, cleared it with the principal, all of whom felt that travel is itself educational. All schoolwork was handed in completed when we returned.
@Erika JS, what a wonderful job perk to visit so many museums!
I grew up in STL and spent a good portion of my adult life there. We had to move away about 10 years ago, but I still consider it home. I loved seeing so many photos of the botanical gardens and Forest Park!
@JenRR, St. Louis is so lucky to have such beautiful places that are easily accessible!
I love St Louis! I grew up a few hours from there, and we went there on many family and school trips. Later my brother worked for the Federal Reserve and lived there for several years. Such a fun city! Also, my dad is a retired CPA. Your post brought back so many memories!
@Carla G, amazing! I love all the local connections!
Gifts are absolutely difficult. Being a parent myself you see things like presents getting discarded or outgrown six months after they are given or just tossed in a drawer never to be looked at again.
For boys, Matchbox/Hot Wheels are always a safe gift. Same with Lego for both genders.
I don't do digital item giftcards (e.g. for buying apps, Roblox etc.) but that's a personal thing I have against "buying" digital items. I also don't buy stuff that I don't allow my own child to have either, because that'd just be cruel and hypocritical.
The ice cream gift card would be awesome for my child except that her birthday is during a time when no one is eating ice cream. She generally prefers books (or gift cards for books) anyway.
@Battra92, glad to have company in the gift buying department - it brings so many challenges!
Kelly, I'm in love with that pool in your photo and now really, really want to go there. May I ask where it is?
@Anne, it's in Costa Rica - it was a dream of a pool!
Hi Kelly,
I am originally from the St. Louis area. We had to move due to my husband’s job. We do miss all the fun free/low cost things. I always took advantage when we lived there.
@Andra, it's amazing how many things are free. I hope you're finding just as many wonderful things about your new home!
Hi, Kelly,
I enjoyed your post. My uncle and aunt lived in Alton IL for most of their lives, and we always included a trip to St. Louis when we visited them. The zoo, the arch, the baseball, theater, and of course, the stores, where we just looked a lot more than we bought. I always enjoyed those trips, so thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Living below your means is the simplest, most effective frugality ever. Congrats for getting it right!
Hi, Kelly! It's fun to see someone from my neck of the woods. I spent about 15 years in St. Louis and moved to the metro east a few years ago where I now live with my husband and toddler. I agree that the St. Louis area has so much to offer, and we love taking advantage of it. We also travel as much as we can, and I loved seeing your pictures!
Nice to meet you, Kelly! I love the fact that you and your husband, both professionals with very high-income potential, prioritize the quality of your family life above making the maximum amount of money possible. I know people who have maximum salary as their priority period, and they miss out on a lot life has to offer. Your photos are beautiful too!
What a brilliant idea to hire a design student!!
Kelly- thanks for sharing this post.
The vacation photos you posted look lovely. I also enjoy hearing about all of the options you have for free things to do! My hubby and I were passing through St Louis about 5 years ago, and we splurged and went up in the arch. What a view! It was just after some pretty severe flooding, and the Mississippi was quite high then.
Your first grader teaching his or her classmates about credit cards...that's amazing how at such a young age, our kids are learning so much-I love it!
I hope you can enjoy going many more fun places. Those memories will last forever!
kelly thanks for posting. you are so wise and your photos are beautiful. am with you on makeup. hardly ever use it. when my apt key card was lost i slapped on some makeup for the new photo. the old phot was 15 years old and showed a young me without makeup. i grew up in a home with horrible decorations but i like things coordinated. great idea to use a student.
Kelly, a Sand Castle Building class sounds like SO much fun!
I love your photos, especially of the waterfalls!
Traveling is something my husband and I would love to do but so far we haven’t had the time nor money for what we have in mind. Your tips on using Groupon may help us.
I really enjoyed reading your stories and experiences. Thanks for taking time to share!
Hi Kelly,
Nice to meet you. You did a great job of describing all the free things to do in St. Louis. I grew up and now live in St. Louis and my husband is a CPA! Our kids are in college now but we still went to the zoo this summer and were sure to go early to get a free parking spot and I made everyone bring a water bottle. My favorite part about where we live is that it is near Laumeier Sculpture park and since it's free, my husband and I can just go for a walk anytime.
I am the same about decorating but now that cottage core is a thing my house full of family heirlooms is considered "cozy" by my daughter's friends.
Thanks for sharing all those photos and your travel tips. Makes me want to go to St. Louis.
I, too, am dreadful at decorating, so much so that my kids gave me a consultation with a designer for my last birthday. I can't even pick out which white paint to use. I actually had convinced myself that she'd come in and say oh, everything here is great, you don't need to do a thing. So not the case. Oh well.
That is totally me, I cannot decorate! Also learned my lesson about weather/travel. Didn't think much about it but a few years ago I planned a trip to Florida in October. Big hurricane came through and that was the end of my trip!
Kelly, do you have any advice on how to find a home maintenance company? That is exactly what I need since I can't do my own any more.
@CS, I will be interested to hear thoughts on this too! If you don't have a good small business around but have an Ace Hardware - many now offer a Handyman Service where you can hire someone for 2, 4, or 8 hours for a variety of jobs. Our neighbor has been using the service a lot recently for a variety of jobs (carpentry, electric, fence) and has been really happy with them.
I really enjoyed your interview! I remember getting cardboard sheets with little slots that held quarters from the bank when I was a kid. When I filled in the slots, I took it to then bank and deposited ($10, I think). I was also amazed that the teller typed in the deposits and withdrawals by inserting the savings book in an actual typewriter! That was back when the bank paid 5% interest!
I’ve never been to St. Louis, but now I want to visit! We’ve been interested in seeing the penguins at the zoo (we follow the zoo’s IG), so hopefully there’s a visit in our future!
@Susan_SFl, 5% went away with raygun. Our local small town bank had a similar machine for posting saving transactions (lovely purple ink).
It's so great to hear about a place that has so many frugal activities - I can't remember the last time I went somewhere with free parking. Sounds fantastic; I can see why you moved back!
I'm with you on the lollipop memories at banks - although the even bigger draw for me was when we would go in the drive-through and get to see the pneumatic tube system in action. The only thing better than a lollipop is one that shoots at you in a capsule...
So nice to meet you, Kelly!
My family and I spent about 36 hours in St. Louis last year, at the tail end of a two week vacation out West. We stayed right by the Arch, and took the trip up inside the Arch, too! It was marvelous. I had no idea it's a National Park. We had no time to go to the zoo, or the many attractions St. Louis has to offer, but we all agreed, we will be back!
I share your love of travel - so many great tips you shared for frugal travel - as well as lacking the Interior Decorating gene. It doesn't help that a lot of our household things are hand me downs, and I just don't have the "eye" to make them look charming together. Hubby and I thought it was a huge deal when we bought bedroom curtains at Target....and they coordinate with our bed's comforter. Ha. 🙂
We've stayed at the Holiday Inn in NYC. I had no idea it is considered somehow lacking. My contrary self will now have to start bragging about staying there, just to horrify people.
Thank you for your lovely photos.
Kelly,
I loved your post! Thank you for the tips on traveling.
A laundry detergent comment: I switched to laundry detergent sheets and am beyond pleased. No jugs in the dump forever. Very clean fresh clothes with no sickening scent and inexpensive. I encourage frugalitistas to try this! This is not an ad so I won't mention brand names.