Meet a Reader | Megan from North Carolina
1. Tell us a little about yourself
I live near Raleigh, North Carolina with my husband, two kids (tween/teen), two dogs, and a cat. I’ve been a paralegal for twenty years and currently work in the aesthetic pharmaceutical industry.
In my limited free time, I love to cook, be outside, and read. I am originally from New England and first came to NC for college, so I spend quite a bit of time (and money) over the last 25 years travelling up and down the East Coast.
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
Since 2011, when our first was born. Back then my job was less stressful and more flexible, but did not pay as well. Daycare costs were a substantial burden. I needed help.
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
My parents were very frugal so that mindset has been ingrained in me since I was young.
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
Because I want to be a good steward of the resources for which I’m responsible.
Because I want to set a good example for my children.
Because I want to be prepared for hard times.
Because I care about waste and over-consumption.
Because there is always a golden goose to chase.
Because buying this/that won’t actually make you happy.
5. What single action or decision has saved you the most money over your life?
Eating at home.
It’s a chore, it’s a grind, but it is the most fiscally responsible choice I make every day. It also saves time and is healthier. We do eat out, don’t get me wrong, and our meals at home are sometimes boxed / frozen.
But 3 meals x 4 people x 7 days = 84 meals/week, and we try very hard to eat most of those from home.
Working lunches – black bean and quinoa bowl:
...and pizza with goat cheese, fig jam, and arugula.
6. What's an embarrassing money mistake you've made?
I have made a lot. Most recently, I bought an enormous expensive sectional that I’d had my eye on for years. We had a secondhand couch from the same company, so I thought I could trust the quality of the brand.
However, the company had been sold and the quality had plummeted – the back is uneven, the cushions are no longer upholstered on both sides, it’s nowhere near as heavy. So I learned an important lesson in KEEPING your research current.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
Groceries. It’s easier to eat at home when you’ve got good stuff there. Little things like goat cheese, olives, quality salsa, and ripe avocados can turn simple, frugal things like sweet potatoes or eggs into stellar home-cooked meals.
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
Ummmm, I am tempted to splurge on almost all the things… But I don’t care much about jewelry – either costume or fine. Also home décor -- I don’t like the clutter and I don’t have enough time/energy to keep up with the seasonal changes.
10. What's the easiest/hardest part of being frugal?
The hardest thing about being frugal is granting myself permission not to be.
I am raising my family in a different income bracket than the one I grew up in -- and even the one I was in 15 years ago. I struggle still with the inner voice that tells me, “you shouldn’t buy this” or “you should just do this yourself” or “you are being irresponsible” when I can actually afford it.
I’ve had to learn (and relearn and relearn again) that I do not need to do EVERYTHING myself at the least possible cost. This is a privilege, I know.
11. Is there anything unique about frugal living in your area?
North Carolina has a very mild climate, so you can spend time outside for most of the year. For us, this means our recreational time is spent at parks, pools, lakes, and the beach. We are two hours from the closest beach, making a day trip an option, albeit a long one.
We are three and a half hours from the mountains where mild temps allow for hiking (a free activity requiring little to no gear) for much of the year.
Another awesome frugal thing about central NC is the quality and availability of locally grown food. North Carolina turns out a significant amount of produce (watermelon, sweet potatoes, and peanuts), meat (pork and chicken), and even Christmas trees – these are some of the state’s biggest exports.
Fresh produce is available year round. Cotton and tobacco are also still grown here.
The NC State farmers market in Raleigh is open year-round and has abundant offerings at reasonable prices, especially if you want to buy in bulk. They also have seedlings and plants if you want to grow your own. When life was less chaotic for me, I canned tomatoes, salsa, cucumbers, and jam.
12. How has reading the Frugal Girl changed you?
The Frugal Girl has helped me exercise muscles that could have grown dormant, and are easy to drown out in the high-income-high-stress legal world.
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Megan, your lunches look so good, especially that pizza! I'd love for you to share how you make that.
I agree about the effectiveness of eating at home; there are just so many meals in a week and each one represents an opportunity to save money.
Also: I've seen plenty of hay bales, but I've never seen a bale of cotton before!
I've been to lots of beaches in NC and SC; I'm curious what your favorite one is. 🙂
Megan,
Thank you for sharing a slice of your life. It looks like a nice place to live. I spent time in Chapel Hill a few years ago and found it to be a very nice area. We witnessed as lot of new housing developments as well.
I too struggle with the it's okay to spend side of life sometimes. I am making strides but it is not always easy.
Hello Megan I too live in Raleigh. It was interesting to read about my home from your perspective. And I agree with everything you said. Especially number 4. I agree with all your points to be frugal.
I am from the north and moved down here after college a looooong time ago. Boy have I seen changes. This area has exploded and continues to explode. But that is because of where we are situated right between the mountains and the coast.
And if I can answer the frugal girls question. All the beaches in No. Carolina are great. Some are quieter than other but they are all lovely.
Again loved reading your answers. You represented this area well.
@karen, I agree about the NC beaches. When most of our friends talk about going to “the beach” they are referring to Myrtle. I have never understood why bc the NC beaches are so nice and way less crowded!
@karen, Thank you for the compliment! I am not a native so I'm happy to hear that I represented the area well. There have been SO many changes in the Raleigh area in the last 15 years. We moved out of Raleigh in 2018 into Southwestern Wake County and I've been very happy with the move.
@karen,
I'm also in Raleigh. Lived here all my life (60+ years!) and thought she did a good job talking about the area!
@Addy, having lived in SC for over 20 years before moving to GA....never understood the draw of Myrtle Beach. We even have a saying about touristy type areas as "myrtle beach tacky". Irreverent, I know.
I had no idea they made cotton bales like that! I live in an agricultural hub in Nova Scotia, so I see hay bales all the time but can confidently say I've never once seen cotton "in the wild" - fascinating.
@Elisabeth, the first time I saw a cotton field I was fascinated. When I saw baled cotton I really geeked out and made my husband stop so I could take that picture.
@Meeghan,
I would've geeked out, too! Much like Elisabeth, I live in an area with lots of farms (Ohio), and a lot of horse farms in my direct area, so you see a lot of hay bales, but not cotton bales. We even have a yak farm in my little town!
@Elisabeth, they do them in huge squares and rectangles also. I'm in GA, so the roads are littered like snow with cotton in the fall!
@Melissa,
We drive the back roads between Florida snd North Carolina to visit our kiddo(s). I was amazed the first time that I saw the "snow." It was so unexpected.
Hello Megan, from a fellow transplanted North Carolinian! I enjoyed reading about your life in the Raleigh area. We live across the state from you (near Charlotte) but a few days in Raleigh is on my bucket list. Our son used to live in Wake Forest and we enjoyed visiting that area. Our state does have many free outdoor places to explore. Thanks for the reminder!
@Addy, Hello that is a Jean-Michel Basquiat print, a 30th birthday gift from my mom. The title is "Fig. 6 Untitled 1981"
Hello Megan, I love North Carolina. My mom was from Asheville and several years ago my daughter and her family moved from Northern Virginia to Indian Trail and never looked back. I am curious about the artwork on the wall in your unhappy sofa photo. I agree with you on meal preparation being the bedrock of living well - frugally and nutritionally.
@Book Club Elaine, That is a Jean-Michel Basquiat print, a 30th birthday gift from my mom. The title is “Fig. 6 Untitled 1981”
Hello, Megan. I've spent a little time in various parts of NC, including the Raleigh/Chapel Hill area and the Outer Banks/east coast. Not only is the state lovely, but I can give hearty praise to the food, especially Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill (I'm sorry that it seems to have been a casualty of the pandemic) and eastern NC BBQ and seafood in general.
@A. Marie, I have eaten at Crook's and it was wonderful!
@A. Marie, I actually haven't eaten at Crook's Corner but have made their Atlantic Beach pie multiple times. I think the food here is fantastic, but great BBQ in Raleigh is hard to find. I prefer Western style to Eastern style so that's partly the problem. My current favorite places is Sam Jones BBQ, a spin off from Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC.
Hi Megan - your year-round farmers market sounds wonderful! And I'm totally with you on the frustration of product research going "bad" so fast. Between changes in company ownership, or location of manufacturing, or minute changes in design - not to mention dynamic pricing that can change each time you open a tab to look at a product - I never look forward to that process of researching and comparing items.
That's interesting artwork on the wall by your couch - are those planes and a cannon?
@Suz, Yes, it is an untitled print from Jean-Michel Basquiat.
@Suz, I too find the research part frustrating. It’s incredibly annoying that you can’t rely on a past good choice to be a reliable guide for the next time. Research takes up a lot of time.
Love driving through NC. I have seen tobacco fields and cotton fields. It is so cool to see. We have spent many summer vacations on the beach in OBX. One time, my husband convinced me to go to the mountain area and we had a lot of fun. It was gorgeous! Even though the New England area is nice, NC is really nice. Thanks for sharing.
It is nice to meet you! I have children in NC. Like you, they attended college there and never left. I do love the view from the Moses Cone Manor. I have stood in that exact spot and looked out over the mountains many times. It's just one of many beautiful stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm not sure any photo can do it justice. Thanks for sharing.
@Bee, parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway is still closed because of Hurricane Helene. Also Hwy 40 still has only 2 lanes open, one each way. This is a major highway for the country.
@karen,
Yes, it will take a long time for the area to recover from that disaster. Friends and family in the area have suffered greatly.
Hi, Megan, thanks for writing.
My husband worked in NC several times for weeks and even months at a stretch but he enjoyed the area very much so that was compensation for being away from home. The kids and I visited him in Greenville and he and I were in NC together a few times. It always reminded me some of my birth state, Kentucky.
I remember Amy D. saying something about one can only save so much on a rare or one time purchase such as a car or house but one can save day in and out on smaller things like groceries and eating out, and save substantial amounts over time. I’m right with you on that frugality.
And the change in quality of trusted brands has caught me a few times too, so don’t kick yourself on that one!
Thanks for the photos although the picnic one gave me the chills; I’m afraid of heights. 🙂
Thanks for sharing with us, Megan! My mom grew up in Winston-Salem (her sister still lives there) and I have lots of fond memories of spending Christmas break or a week of summer vacation in NC.
I have been thinking about eating at home vs eating out a lot lately as we're in a busy season. I spend a lot of time washing dishes that wouldn't be there if we ate out, but it really is often healthier and (sometimes) tastier to eat at home. We debated getting take out on Saturday for lunch in between things, but it was actually faster to just eat at home. I have to keep reminding myself of the cost savings, too! Feeding five outside of the house is not cheap!
@Ruth T, I went to college in Winston-Salem, which is where I met my husband (he is from there). It has a very fond place in my heart as well.
Hi Megan, it's nice to meet you. We moved to Raleigh for graduate school and our oldest was born there. We really enjoyed living there. The farmer's market was one of my favorites.
I also struggle with the feeling that it's okay to spend money. Sometimes it's hard for me to get out of the frugal mindset and just spend the money on things we want or need.
Per #10 ... are you me? I have a hard time letting myself not be frugal. I will spoil the ladies in my life but I rarely let myself be spoiled.
Also, that farmers market looks great. A few years back I visited one in SC and it was full of great stuff we can't get up here in Yankee land.
@Battra92,
Pre-Covid, I visited the Bluffton farmers market in SC while we were on vacation. I can truly say it was the best farmers market I've ever been to. I'm hoping to check it out again when we vacation in that area in June.
And I'm the same way.....it's hard for me to spend money on non-essential things for myself. My hubby has been a bad/good influence in that regard. 🙂
Hi Megan! I'd love to hear more about the "golden goose" that you mentioned, and how that shows up in your life. 🙂
@Andrea G / Midwest Andrea, ooof. I have struggled with feelings of inadequacy since I attended a very fancy Southern college as a working-class Yankee. I was not fancy. I didn't even realize how not fancy I was. I let that environment intimidate me and I felt not good enough and I chased this idea of financial success for many years. I was self conscious about my car and my shoes and my parents and my clothing and thought that "fixing" these things might "fix" that feeling in me. But it didn't. Because life doesn't work like that.
Megan, I relate so much to your answer that the hardest part of being frugal is granting yourself permission to not be so frugal!
What an excellent balanced approach to frugality—really good food at home.
Grandma grew up in Blowing Rock. I visited about 15 years ago, loved it, and it blew my mind that she was happy in Southern Calif. for her entire grown-up life. It really ticked her off that there was an entry fee to go onto Blowing Rock when she’d played there as a kid! Her brother managed the apple orchard at Moses Cone.
We visited when I was in high school and my great uncle proudly took us to Grandfather Mt. (I managed to refrain from telling him I had been hiking above 10,000 feet the previous month.)
I loved everything about your state and think I could live there in spite of living my entire life in Central Calif. (except for some misguided college years in SoCal.)
Hmmm, “Megan” or “Meeghan”?
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Haha, I was trying to be incognito but I failed.
North Carolina is a beautiful state. I once tried a case in Greenville, South Carolina, with a lawyer who was born and raised in Greenville, North Carolina. Someone asked him how far Greenville SC was from Greenville NC. "About 50 years," he said.
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments. I was nervous to share 🙂
My two favorite beaches are Ocean Isle/Sunset Beach in Brunwick County because the beach is HUGE at low tide. I like Salvo on the Outer Banks because it's remote and feels like you're at the edge of the world. We've been going to Emerald Isle with friends recently and I like it there, too.
The pizza photographed starts with olive oil, salt, and pepper on a crust. If I have proscuitto or carmelized onions I drop that in, then dot with goat cheese and fig jam. Fill in empty spots with shredded mozz and bake. Remove from oven, top with baby arugula, drizzle some good balsamic or lemon juice on the greens, and hit with crunchy sea salt. The crust pictured is a Caulipower gluten free crust which makes lunch time pizza possible time-wise and not nap-inducing.
@Meeghan, OMG my family loves Ocean Isle!
@Meeghan, I have JASNA friends who have a cottage on Emerald Isle, and they give it rave reviews too. But my fondest memories center around Bear Island in the Hammocks Beach State Park, where a long-ago (and I mean **half a century** ago, folks) boyfriend and I spent a night and a day getting sand into inappropriate portions of our anatomies. 😛
@Meeghan, I grew up going to ocean isle till I was about 15!! It truly is one of my happiest places on earth!! So many lovely memories. I’m so glad you mentioned it:) it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for filling out the survey 🙂
@Andrea G / Midwest Andrea, such a great little island! 🙂
Love your home and all the scenery photos and market photos! Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed reading this! We live just south of Charlotte about 5 minutes over the state line in SC, but we were just in Raleigh this past weekend to visit our daughter and SIL and find out that they are expecting our first grandbaby--A BOY! We LOVE NC/SC, but I am not a fan of the mustard-based BBQ sauce or Myrtle Beach! There are so many lovely beaches that are less commercialized and less crowded! Definitely going to put the Farmer's Market on our list for next visit to Raleigh.
Great post! Megan, thank you for sharing a peek into what sounds like a really lovely life. 🙂
Megan/Meeghan, thanks for giving us a peek into your life. That is a beautiful sectional despite its shortcomings, and I can understand why you wanted it. I share some of your whys, especially "Because I want to be a good steward of the resources for which I’m responsible." and "Because I care about waste and over-consumption." North Carolina looks like a gorgeous state. I loved all your photos, especially the bale of cotton as I've never seen one before.
Hi Megan! Thanks for sharing. I have a friend who is moving to North Carolina soon and has invited me to visit. I've driven through there before, and spent a little time in the North Carolina side of the Smoky Mountains, but am looking forward to seeing more of it. You have some great pictures.
I envy your ability to buy fresh produce all year round! Thank you for sharing your life.
Hi Megan! I'm a home-grown North Carolinian, so it's fun to see our little corner represented here.
I agree that the State Farmers' Market is the best hidden gem in central NC. Having grown up just around the corner, I thought all farmers' markets were like that. Imagine my shock when I first saw a little dinky one set up in a parking lot!
nice to meet you, thanks for sharing. great photos.
Some of my favorite posts are meet the reader. I love this community of kind and frugal people and I learn so much from Kristen and all of you! I came to say I too have to be reminded by my husband that it’s ok to spend differently now that we have more money. I am still very wise and frugal, but food out and at home is a favorite way to enjoy our higher income.
I am fascinated by the bale of cotton! I live about two hours from Raleigh, I used to in what feels like a previous life often drive down on a Saturday to visit the Farmer's Market, and shop (retail! I don't do that much anymore!) and eat somewhere yummy. I was inspired to get a nice juicer/press to make the orangeades that were sold at the market. So, so good. I had never thought of anything other than lemonade or limeade before seeing that vendor.
Loved our 12 years in NC, but no longer there.
Favs:
Daytrip from RTP: Topsail Beach
Weeklong: Holden Beach