Meet a Reader | Kaisa, from Finland
Hey everyone! We're going north this week to meet a reader from Finland.
(At least, I think it will be north for most of the readers of this blog; it's hard to live much further up than Finland. )
Here's Kaisa:
1. Tell us a little about yourself
Hi everyone! I'm Kaisa, in my mid 30s, and I live in Finland.
My partner and I live in a suburb near Helsinki, the capital. I work full time in the IT/tech industry, plus do some volunteering in local non-profits.
On a hiking trip in one of Finland's national parks
I grew up in another part of the country, and lately I've been thinking of moving away from the capital area.
Both my partner and I have more job opportunities here, though, so moving elsewhere would require some serious planning. We'll see!
Our neighbourhood
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
It feels like forever. Browsing through the archives, I would say since summer of 2009. Time flies!
I like Kristen's focus on kindness and contentment, plus her posts are practical but also generalizable. For example, ideas for avoiding food waste are useful for me even if I live in another country, whereas posts about sales in specific grocery stores would not be.
We have a semi-detached house with a small, mostly edible garden.
In addition to more traditional plants like apple trees and rhubarb, we also have some less common ones such as black berries and a small grapevine.
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
I think it already started when I was a kid.
There was a short but severe economic depression in Finland in the early 1990s. It didn't affect my family directly, but growing up during that period shaped my attitudes.
However, I didn't think about money too much until I went to university and started living on my own. At that point, frugality was a natural mindset for me.
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
It has changed over time. Being frugal helped me get through university without student loans.
(One note, though: it's significantly easier in Finland than in the US, because we don't have tuition fees.)
It has also enabled me to take more risks in my career.
Currently, frugal living helps me pay our mortgage aggressively. In the future, I hope to be able to help my parents financially if needed, as they are getting old.
Also, I'd like to retire early myself or at least switch to a part-time job later on.
Part of the "why" is also that I try to minimize my environmental impact. Many of my choices are good both for the environment and for saving money.
On holidays, we often go hiking or kayaking. Being offline and even off grid is such a relaxing experience for a tech professional.
5. What's your best frugal win?
Our house.
We live in a less popular area, so our house was 20-50% cheaper than similar houses in some other suburbs. We like the area, though, and love our house, so it's a win-win!
Also, being mindful about lifestyle creep is important. The creep accumulates over time, so I tend to think that resisting it yields increasing wins.
Foraging funnel chanterelles and bilberries. In Nordic countries, we have the freedom to roam, and there are several edible mushrooms and berries in the forests.
Bilberries, which are European blueberries
6. What's a dumb money mistake you've made?
In Finland, there's a special house-saving account with extra benefits available for young people. For various reasons, I didn't make use of it, which was a dumb mistake.
Another mistake was my first car. I did my best with research and comparing prices, but ended up buying a car that needed a couple of big renovations which I didn't realize beforehand.
Oh well, live and learn.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
Outdoor gear.
Mountain biking in the autumn: sometimes crisp air and sunshine, sometimes freezing rain in darkness.
I love outdoor sports and spending time outdoors in general.
With four very different seasons, it means several sets of clothing and gear, even if I try to minimize the amount and buy good-quality, multipurpose items.
Cross-country skiing tracks near our house. My favourite winter hobby!
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
Anything that feels like a show-off, whether that's a designer handbag (I LOL'ed when Bee and Emma mentioned this in their interviews - true for me too!), a fancy car, "McMansion" type of a house, etc.
9. If $1000 was dropped into your lap today, what would you do with it?
Make an extra payment to our mortgage.
10. Share a frugal tip with other Frugal Girl readers
The three big expenses in life are housing, transportation, and food. Housing and transportation choices are big but infrequent, whereas choices related to food may feel small but they are made on a daily basis so they build up quickly.
No matter what kind of diet you have or how much groceries cost in your area, it's (almost) always a good idea to cook at home, avoid food waste, plan a menu, compare prices, and stock-pile if you can.
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Kaisa, thanks so much for participating in this series! I have a gardening question for you: since you are up so far north, is it a challenge to find things that will grow during your summer season?
Hi Kaisa! Given your mention of a grape vine and apple trees--which are not common in U.S. suburbs--I'm wondering how big your lot is? It sounds more like a hybrid rural/suburban situation would be in the U.S.
Hi Kristin! Thanks for the question. Our garden is roughly 1,500 sq ft. The grape vine sounds fancier than it is, it's really just what's in the picture on top of the pergola 🙂 Also, I don't know if apple trees might be bigger in US due to the climate? We have two of them and they fit nicely in our garden.
@kristin @ going country, Hi, another US person here!
Fruit trees are actually pretty common in the suburb where I currently live (outside Chicago) - one of my neighbors has a mulberry tree we pick from on our daily walks (with permission!), another has a peach tree whose fruit he shares with everyone, several have apple trees, cherry trees, etc.
In Seattle they even have a special online map where you can indicate a fruit tree, and whether you're ok with people just harvesting whenever, asking permission to harvest, or to please leave it alone.
You don't actually need that much space to have a fruit tree, especially if you do an espaliered tree (a tree trained to grow a certain way, and trimmed regularly to keep it that shape). What matters is the regular trimming to keep it a manageable size/shape.
@kristin @ going country,
I have a grape vine, blackberries, blueberries here on my measly quarter acre. No fruit trees--yet anyway. (I also grow tomatoes, herbs, eggplant, roses and hydrangeas.) A friend of mine has a tenth of an acre in my town and grows even more than I do.
So nice to meet you!!
Thanks Stephanie!
Thanks for sharing @ your frugal life in Finland Kaisa! It's neat to hear that foraging is widely allowed and supported. I'm curious what your commute is like - your outdoor pics are so beautiful, so I'm wondering if that is area near your house (or maybe from trips), and/or if you have to get far away from the city to have all that great access.
Thank you Suz! Some of the pictures are from trips (the hiking and kayaking ones) but most are near our place. We live ca 45 min (by public transportation, maybe 30 min by car) from Helsinki downtown. You can find forest areas even closer to the city center, too.
Hi Kaisa,
Thanks for a little insight into your life!
Your country is beautiful!
Thank you MaryAnne for your kind words!
It’s nice to meet you — a like-minded frugal friend. Finland looks like a beautiful country and a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors. I think it’s interesting that you brought up the link between frugality and environmentalism. So many of the frugal choices that we make have benefits beyond just saving money.
Hi Bee, I like how you phrased the idea in your last sentence. Many times the most rewarding frugal choices are those which are not just about saving money. (In addition to environment, I'm thinking of choices which are also good for our health, like drinking water instead of soda, etc.)
Hi Kaisa, I really enjoyed reading about your life in Finland. I have many relatives in western Finland, near Kokkola, and have visited several times. You have a beautiful country, with so many beautiful lakes. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Beth, nice to hear about your connection to Finland 🙂 That part of Finland is really beautiful, with the flat landscape and sea!
Kaisa thank you. Very interesting. I hope you get to move to a different part of the country soon. I don't have a car as I live in NYC. And my rent is reasonable because I have lived here a long time. Never realized that those two things are the most expensive parts of living. My hubby lost a lot of potential dates because he didn't have a car and then he met me. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Thank you Anita! Such a fun story about your hubby and you 🙂
What a wonderful post this morning. So refreshing to see those pictures, I hope they are near your home. And it's nice to know we all have the same dreams. I wonder if you have read Amy Dacyzyn's "The Tightwad Gazette"? Back in the '90s she mentioned the overlap between frugality and environmentalism and I never forgot it.
Hi Anne, thank you for the kind words! I have heard a lot about The Tightwad Gazette, but haven't read it myself. (If only it would be available in the our library...)
@Kaisa,
Borrow from The Open Library!
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1961788W/The_Tightwad_gazette?edition=tightwadgazettep00dacy
Wow, thanks Rose for that link! I didn't know that kind of web library exists.
Hi, Kaisa,
The photos are beautiful, and just what I needed on this hot, muggy Monday morning. My aunt and uncle's exchange student from Finland always said that his country was beautiful, and I see that it is truly gorgeous. My daughter is supposed to be traveling to Finland for business within the next year or so. As a Florida girl, she doesn't know whether to hope she goes in winter or not! She'd love to see all that snow, but she is not used to deep cold.
I like that you have edible landscaping, too. I'm really pushing my yard (garden) that direction. And thank you for the pictures of the bilberries. I always wondered what they were, but never looked them up. Now I know!
Hi JD! Nice to hear that the pics made your Monday morning better 🙂 Hopefully the covid situation gets better and your daughter will be able to travel. Some of my colleagues from California have had hard time visiting here during winter but many of them have loved it! For snow, the best time would be February or early March.
Yay for edible landscaping, hope you'll get your yard set up the way you like!
Hi Kaisa!
Your English is wonderful and hearing about your activities is a delight. Great photos, too, that give us a glimpse into your landscape.
Thanks to Kristen for this super idea! It feels as though our community is worldwide, and spans all ages and cultures.
Thanks Erika! And I second you thanking Kristen, it's been so fun to read other people's stories. Great initiative!
Thank you Kristen for the opportunity to share my frugal experiences! About gardening: there are certainly fewer plants which grow here than in warmer places. (No mandarin trees like Emma has in Australia!) However, I don't think it's a challenge, because I have always lived in this kind of climate. Thus, I (mostly) know what can be grown and I'm not dreaming of having mandarin trees 🙂
For many (most?) plants, there are specific species/breeds (not sure what's the correct word) for colder climates. Helsinki is in the southern part of the country, so any plant you can get in Finland is suitable for growing here. In northern Finland you'd need to be more careful. Also, southern Finland has similar enough climate than Baltic countries, Netherlands, northern Germany, etc. that there is actually quite a lot of variety available.
Funny story: I didn't know one could grow grapes in Finland (without a green house) before we bought this house and found the vine in the garden. I grew up in more northern part of the country, so gardening here in south has been a positive surprise!
Hi Kaisa - this was so much fun to read! Um, I think I'm adding Finland to the list of countries I want to visit someday. Your pictures are gorgeous!
Thanks BJS! And welcome, if you ever get the chance to visit here 🙂
Yes to this--"Also, being mindful about lifestyle creep is important. The creep accumulates over time, so I tend to think that resisting it yields increasing wins." Excellent point.
Your pictures remind me quite a bit of Michigan, where I live. Four seasons, woods and water. Love it.
Same here! I like that we have four seasons here in the Mid-Atlantic. And there's a good mix of woods and water here too.
Based on stories and pictures I have read/seen from Michigan and other nearby states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.), we have very similar surroundings!
Kaisa: I really enjoyed your post and pictures. You make a lot of great points. Thank you for sharing your life here!
Thank you MB!
Thank you for sharing Kaisa! This was so interesting. First off, I LOVE the photo of the path in the forest. It looks so serene and peaceful.
I used to follow a Fashion blogger from Finland when I was a teenager, and that's when I first read the language. It is like no other! I'm from Germany originally and we also don't have tuition fees, so I know a lot of people try to learn German to move there for university. I wonder if this is the same in Finland, or if it is too difficult to learn Finnish?
I love that so many of the readers cite environmental as well as economic reasons for frugality. This is such a great little community.
As you said, Finnish language is very different from most other languages. (Finnish is part of Uralic language family where all the languages are really small, biggest ones being Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian.) The language is not difficult, per se, but the difference makes it pretty hard to learn for many people.
Thus, there are very few foreigners who move to Finland to do their bachelor's degree as those are mostly done in Finnish (or Swedish which is also an official language in Finland). However, nowadays there are quite a lot of people who come here to do their master's degree because many master's degree programs here are in English.
Hi Kaisa,
What a beautiful place!
My Finnish friend here makes the most delicious mustikkakeitto (sorry if that’s not right) out of blueberries, would bilberries be used too? So tasty!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Emma! Yup, mustikkakeitto is done using bilberries here. How fun that you have had the chance to taste it! I agree, it's really delicious 🙂
This is so great- to get to know you a little it, Kaisa! How can you write such great English? Did you live in an English-speaking country? I never knew anyone from Finland, although in my nearby city, Waukegan, Illinois, USA, there were many Finnish people at one time, probably the 1940s and 1950s. They had their own social clubs, restaurants, and many worked at local mills then. People wore buttons that said SISU! Now it's all different. I feel so happy to learn about your country and your life! What's your favorite food?
Thank you Jenny for sharing the story about your nearby city! I knew that there have been Finnish communities in Michigan and Minnesota, but hadn't heard about Illinois.
Many people in Finland speak and write fluent English, for multiple reasons. First of all, all foreign TV shows and movies are translated using subtitles and not by dubbing so we hear a lot of English already as kids. Second, everyone studies at least one foreign language at school, starting on second or third grade. Usually the first foreign language is English. On my part, I have also worked in international companies for several years, using English as the primary work language.
Oh, food! I like to cook foods inspired by Mediterranean (e.g. different kinds of lentil and bean soups) or South-East Asian cuisine (e.g. noodle salads), but also many Finnish classics. A traditional everyday food is pea soup, really nice especially in the winter! For a fancy meal, for example whitefish with mushroom sauce is really tasty.
Hei Kaisa!
It is such fun to read about you. I was fortunate enough to make three short visits to Helsinki for my job in past years. There is no way I could understand the Finnish signposts, although the Swedish signs were partly legible to me. Several of my colleagues speak both.
My impression from my colleagues, is that people in Finland are quite outdoorsy. The countryside as I saw it from the air is breathtaking with all those lakes. But living with a relatively small number of people is a vast country poses some challenges in maintaining good Healthcare etc.
Hei J! I hope you enjoyed your visits here 🙂 The Swedish labels certainly have the extra benefit of being useful for many foreigners (at least compared to the Finnish ones)! And yup, being so sparsely-populated country as Finland is has its pros and cons. Providing services in the more rural areas is not an easy feat.
Wow, I just love that picture of the Autumn road and beautiful trees -- would love to visit your beautiful country someday! Enjoyed reading this and meeting you!
Thank you priskill! The autumn colours are really beautiful and even more so in northern parts of Finland 🙂
Lovely photos of your life in Finland. Thank you for sharing. They actually remind me a lot of growing up in Alberta, in Canada, except your trees are taller! The four seasons are similar too. Now I live on Vancouver Island, Canada, and the terrain and climate are very different.