The 2017 survey results
First: You guys are amazing. Over 1300 of you filled out my survey, and lots of you took the time to write thoughtful responses to the short-answer questions.
Thank you so, so much! Really, you all are fantastic.
Now, get comfy, because this is going to be kind of long.
Ok! First question:
You guys really, really like Five Frugal Things. And a lot of you like the What I Spent, What We Ate feature.
Which makes this next one a little bit funny:
So, What I Spent, What We Ate is the second most popular feature, but also the top in the Least Favorite category.
However, the percentage of votes FOR it are more than the percentage of votes AGAINST it.
Interestingly enough, one of the resounding results of my first survey was that readers really, really wanted me to bring grocery/menu posts back.
What's a blogger to do??
My inclination is to keep writing those posts because a lot of you do find them to be helpful.
And those of you who don't love 'em, if you have ideas about how I could make them more helpful to you, feel free to let me know!
(Some of you don't like the posts because your dietary needs are different than ours, and you said you hoped I'd post more gluten-free meals or vegan meals. But since the post is about what we ate...it's probably not gonna be gluten-free or vegan! There are lots of really great gluten-free and vegan food blogs out there, though, and they'll probably meet your food needs better than I ever can.)
What other types of posts would you like to see?
Since this is a short-answer question, I don't have a tidy graph to show you, but I did take extensive notes on your suggestions and I'll work on incorporating them into future posts.
The most common request was for more recipes, which I can completely understand. I'm always on the hunt for dependable recipes that help me eat at home, and I'll do my best to share more of those with you.
What's the biggest frugality challenge that you face?
Another short answer question here! The most common theme I'm seeing is that you guys feel like food spending is a big challenge, whether it's trying not to overspend at the grocery store, or trying to get dinner on the table so that you can avoid takeout.
A lot of you also said you struggled with food waste and with contentment, which is interesting because those were the two topics I'd considered making a course on!
What do you love about The Frugal Girl? What keeps you coming back?
So, so many of you said that what you love about my blog is...me!
Which warmed my heart so much. My blog is definitely of the practical sort, and to hear that my personality comes through and that that's what you love even over and above the advice, ideas, and recipes....well, that really made my month. Thank you!
Also, a lot of you said that you like my honest style and my realness. I am really encouraged to hear that that's coming through, because sometimes I feel a little limited in how much realness I can share while still being respectful to my family.
I do the best that I can to find a balance there, and I'm so happy that a down-to-earth, real feel is what's coming across to a lot of you.
Many of you said you feel like we could be friends in real life, and oh, I bet that's so true. If only it were possible!
Also, multiple people said that they appreciate that I offer a not-too-fanatical approach to frugality.
Sometimes I wonder if I should be more of a beans-and-rice, wear-the-same-clothes-for-15-years type of blogger, but this was a good reminder that there are lots of people out there who need something less hard-core, and I can fill that need.
Oh, and many readers mentioned how great the comments section is here compared the dumpster fire that most internet comment sections are.
So, thank you, dear readers, for making the comments a happy place to be.
What do you not love? What could I do better?
Another short-answer question. These results were sort of all over the map, so it's a little hard to summarize them.
And a lot of you left answers like this (which is so kind!)
Anyway, like internet reviews, some of the comments gave me opposite feedback (You should talk about your faith more! Why do you talk about your faith so much?)
And while a fair number of you aren't at all a fan of the Stitch Fix posts, a huge number of you said you love them and find them entertaining.
Several people said they don't find homeschooling posts helpful because they don't homeschool. It's interesting that this came up because I don't feel like I post a lot about homeschooling.
(3 posts this year, actually. I just checked!)
But somehow it must feel like more to you guys than it is. Hmm. I promise I'm not going to do a whole bunch of them, though.
Some of you said you hate it when there's a day I don't blog, which is very sweet of you. I do try to get a post up each weekday, but boy, my real life does sometimes get in the way of that.
A few readers said I'm sharing a too-perfect version of my life, and that this doesn't feel authentic. I get that, and I wish it was different, and I shared lots of thoughts about that in this post.
Interestingly, several people said I should include more photos in my posts. Which is funny because I always feel like I include a lot of photos. But maybe even more would be better?
Probably the most common response was that some people really dislike sponsored posts/campaigns. I do try to keep those to a minimum, but the truth is that it does cost me actual money to "keep the lights on" around here.
One reader suggested that I use free blogging services, but the problem is, those aren't really meant for large-ish blogs.
Also, running a blog requires a lot of time, and to keep it free for people to read, I have to run ads/sponsored posts if I want to earn any money for the time I put into it.
(I wrote many more words about that topic here, in case you're interested.)
I do hear you, I understand you don't love a bunch of promotional stuff, and I promise that I will not overrun my blog with ads or start running sponsored content each week.
(Personal growth milestone for me: I read some of the more crabby responses to this question, which I am not sharing here, and I was not devastated by them. I was able to read them, consider them, and then let them roll off my back. And I was able to remember that it's ok if my personality and writing style aren't everyone's cup of tea. That's why there are lots of blogs out there...there's a blog for everyone!)
(Edited to add: A critique is not a crabby response. I asked for critique! It's helpful and much appreciated. When I mentioned a "crabby response", I'm referring to survey responses that are more like personal attacks than anything helpful or productive. )
Which social media platform is your fave?
Facebook is definitely your favorite, as it was last survey. But Instagram gained some traction this time compared to two years ago.
Which makes me happy because Instagram is so totally my favorite. More of you should come over there...really! It's a happy, picture-filled place, and it's rarely filled with drama. Very fabulous.
I'll do my best not to neglect Facebook, though, as I do want to be where you are.
I'm not surprised at the small Twitter results. I do use Twitter here and there, and honestly, it's probably the social media platform where I get the most off-topic from frugality.
So, for the few of you who wished I said more about current events and such, Twitter is the place to get that from me.
(My username is thefrugalgirl on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I'm super easy to find!)
Some of you have said you'd like me to do more video content (Instagram stories, Facebook live, etc.) What kind of stuff would you like me to do videos about?
A lot of you said you hate videos, which I COMPLETELY understand. I hardly ever watch internet videos, because I'd rather read than watch. Also, I'd rather write than talk to a camera.
So, don't fear...I will not be doing video content instead of blogging. Writing will always be my main thing.
But I do plan to add more video content to my social media feeds on Instagram and Facebook, and your topic suggestions were very helpful. Thank you!
How old are you?
I mentioned before that several of my readers let me know they're 90+, which is so great. I love having a wide range of ages in my readership.
Most of you all are between 31 and 50, which is the age range I fall smack dab into the middle of.
Video Course Questions
These results are pretty conclusive. 😉
To clarify a few things: a course would never be put out instead of regular blog posts. The blog is always going to be free and open to the public!
The idea is that the course would provide a way to do some deeper digging into a particular topic, with daily challenges, tips and accountability.
(A month-long delve into food waste on the blog would get boring for people who aren't that interested in food waste. But people who buy a course on it would all be interested.)
Also, I want to provide some ways for people taking the course to interact with each other and me, possibly through a course-specific Facebook group.
Anyway, I still need to think on that and figure out how it all would work, but your feedback was very helpful.
The last question was a miscellaneous one, and your answers were very miscellaneous as well. Many of you left encouraging comments for me, and I want you to know I read every single one.
I am so inspired by your encouragement and feedback, and I cannot thank you enough.
Aaaaand 1700 words later, this post has finally ended. Gold stars if you made it all the way through!
Wow...over 1300 responses! I'm sure that took quite a while to read through. Thanks for the survey. As always, your caring for your readers and wanting to best serve them is what comes through so strongly from you. 🙂
So interesting! Thanks for sharing.
I was one of the people where what I spent / what we ate was a less-favorite. Just wanted to clarify that I don't hate it with a red hot passion and often I do find it interesting. I think I just have a harder time applying those posts so if I'm behind reading and have to skip something, that is what I skip. Hope that helps! It was a very relative answer 🙂
Wow this is such a thorough reports of the survey results. Thank you for putting all the info together!
I am so inspired to do a similar survey on my blog. I'm really curious to know who my readers are and what they think about my site. 🙂
Yes, you should! I just did it through Google Forms, which is free to use, and super easy.
The feedback from readers is SO helpful and enlightening. I highly recommend it.
It just occurred to me that one of the reasons I like your blog so well is the layout. I generally don't like blogs that, when you go to the blog, you have to click on a box to go to another blogpost. . . I like that the most recent post is at the top and that I don't have to click on something else to actually read it.
I agree! It's nice to immediately be "in" a post when you visit a site.
I do have it designed to have older posts below show up as snippets...that helps with site load times and provides an easier way to skim through previous posts, especially when you're visiting the archives.
I love your homeschooling posts. I have gone back and read all of them (that I could find) several times. 🙂
Kristen, I just hopped over to your Twitter that I was unaware existed and read through all of your tweets from the last few months. Wow. I don't know what to say or how to say it because I feel so strongly aligned with your thoughts and reflections on that platform. Like you said, many of us regular readers feel like you are a friend, hopefully that is not creepy for you! But, I just wanted to say that no only does your blog add value to my every day life; what you shared on Twitter hits my heart with a huge impact. Thank you for sharing your life, your thoughts, your value, and your family with us. I'm not sure you'll ever understand how much light it adds to some of our lives each day.
Not Kristen, but I just wanted to say how lovely your comment is.
Thank you, Savannah. I'm so glad my tweets were encouraging to you. And I appreciate YOU taking the time to encourage me. 🙂
Good for you for letting go of the negativity of others. You're doing a great job. Period! 🙂
I'm a little stunned that people left "crabby" feedback for the What do You Not Love/What Could I Do Better question. I mean, I know you asked for our opinion, but come on people. Be kind, even with criticism!
It'll be interesting to see where this information takes you!
Happily, there were only a few who got a little personal with the crabby responses. Most people who had critiques for me were very kind and polite about it, and I'm so appreciative of that!
If you're looking for a way to do a quick analysis of the text box answers, I highly recommend using a "word cloud" application like Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/ (some other options include https://www.wordclouds.com/ and http://www.tagxedo.com/ ). In my job, I conduct a lot of surveys and word clouds can be a quick way of identifying trends or overwhelming themes. They're also pretty 🙂
My one tip, if you do this, is to dump all the words from a text response into a Word document (or whatever) and delete all of the connector words like a, in, the, etc. I use "search and replace" for this.
To be clear, I don't think word clouds are a scientific method of analyzing qualitative data, but they can point you in the right direction.
This was fun, because I know what I think of this blog, but I was truly interested to see what others think. Also, the demographic was interesting -- it was pretty much what I expected, but I saw more in my age group (ahem, slightly older) than I expected. The survey made me really think about what it is I get from the blog, and that was good for me. Good job!
If you decide to work on that course, I'm an instructional designer (day job-->help faculty create engaging online courses in online graduate programs) and I've long wanted to start a side hustle help bloggers create great courses. If you'd be interested in some professional help, let me know!
As one who may have been thought of as giving a crabby/negative response I just want to say that my intention was not to be negative or crabby. I love this blog...absolutely love it. I can love it without liking everything. I tried to answer the questions honestly and thoughtfully. I thought a survey like this was meant to offer an opportunity for just that. We live in a time when that’s hard to do without seeming overly critical. I love it when my girlfriends tell me how wonderful I am. They are looking at with me with eyes of love...that’s a good thing but sometimes I need them to be completely real. Tell me when there’s something I can’t see because I’m too close to see it. Thanks for sharing yourself with us, Kristin. And really I will be forever grateful for the spatchcock chicken recipe.
Oh, I completely agree. When I mentioned crabby responses, they were critical words that were framed in an unkind manner. Every survey response is anonymous, but the answers come as a set...so if someone responds to the survey and only says rude things for every answer, well, I can kind of take that with a grain of salt. I'm probably just not the blogger for that person, and someone else will serve them better.
There were plenty of responses that offered helpful feedback/critique, and I am very grateful for those (I'm sure yours was among them, and I appreciate your feedback!)
As someone who loves data, this was very interesting to read.
Can I just say that I am really jealous of how clean and organized your refrigerator looks?
I know you admonish people not to make comparisons, but if you look at your blog vs. some other food/frugality blogs, yours far and away has 1) many much more photos, and 2) fewer ads. These are two things I often don't think much about, but they are what drew me to your blog in the first place. The main reason I come back is your positive, cheerful, not too "extra" tone and advice! Keep up the good work!
You can't be all things to all people. I think you're pretty great though. 😉
Thanks for letting us in on the results. They were very interesting. It is nice that so many took the time to respond.
This is so neat! I think you're doing a great job with everything. 🙂 And ads/sponsors keep blogs running, y'all! If you're not a fan, you can always install an ad blocker or opt not to read sponsored content. And that is so funny that people want more photos! *Your* photo-heavy photos inspired me to be more visual!
Good for you for not taking the crabby responses to heart! That's a hard challenge for me (and probably most women!).
I kinda don't get why people have such strong negative responses to your survey. If I'm not inspired by a particular post on yours or any other blog, I just skip reading it for the day and find something that's more pertinent to me. 0% of the blogs I read meet my needs/interests with every.single.post. And that's ok. What a boring world this would be if we all thought the same thing and had all the same interests.
I like the sponsored posts. But my favorite posts are the ask Kristen (letters from the readers) posts. I hope you start running more of those again.
I also like recipes, but for uncomplicated things.
I really look forward to reading your blog!!!! I check it every day for new posts.
Fun to read the results. Part of putting oneself out there is realizing you will never be all things to all people. And some people will take the fact that you haven't crafted your blog SPECIFICALLY for them as an insult. Fortunately, those people are rare!
For what it's worth, I love the Five Frugal Things posts!
Yes, and there's a sense of relief in that. It's not necessarily that there's some lack in you as a blogger, it's just that you are not the right kind of person for that reader. Some other writer will be a better match, and that's ok.
I think what's helped me is to focus on percentages of feedback from readers. If 90% of people say you're serving them well, then it's wise to take the other 10% with a grain of salt. Better to focus on serving that 90% than changing to please the 10%.
OH that makes me sad- I said MORE homeschooling/ parenting...now if anything you'll probably do less 🙁 I know that's not the purpose of your blog and that majority of your readers are past the stages of parenting littles/ grade schools but those are my favorite posts since that's where I'm at 🙂 please include some every now and then <3
I really appreciate and enjoy that you share from your own experience and what works for you and your family. My life situation is very different from yours but I have found your posts and the many comments inspirational at times and really motivating to adapt ideas to my routines and tastes and to get more creative with my own better living. Thank you.
Me too! I am 37. 10 year old, 7 year old, 5 month old.....I will be homeschooling for a long time! 🙂 I like her input!
Thanks for the recap. I did find it interesting (even though I skimmed some portions!). You are still my favorite blogger. 🙂 I actually used to read quite a few and then I re-evaluated my time and what I was reading online and you came out on top...as in you are the only blogger I currently read! I really enjoy the actual lay out of the blog, your to the point posts, how easy it is to go back and catch up with you if I have missed a day or two, and if it isn't something I am interested in reading I just come back another day. So keep up the good blogging and I'll see or read you tomorrow!
I will echo the others and say thanks for sharing the results! I have been reading for 9 years and suspect you will always have something to say to interest me.
Long time reader here, follower on Instagram too. I appreciate the upbeat posts and peeps who comment tend to be so kind & helpful.
Keep it up!
I was right. Fun wrapup of the survey. See, you can make even the survey result tabulation process interesting, lol.
I love your compilation of the survey results data. Very interesting.
I was one of ones that responded that I'm not interesting in home schooling posts. That just don't apply to my life. However, I do still read those posts because I find it interesting to hear about other perspectives.
I couldn't think of what posts I would like to see more of at the time of the survey. But after reading this post, I realize that reducing food waste is one area that I am very interested in learning more about.
As a longtime reader- Thank you!!! It's harder than it looks to remain relevant and provide new content over an extended period of time.
Like some of the other commenters, I keep coming back because your posts are thoughtful and contain insights to a frugal family life while respecting the family boundries. I am fortunate that I don't need extreme frugality, but I do want a like-minded approach.
I missed the survey but wanted to share my appreciation for you and your blog! I always consider buying whatever you're sponsoring because you have gained my trust as a reader and I'm honestly shocked you don't do more considering how expensive this platform is. Your sense of humor and kindness shine through in your writing. Thank you! (also, I'm in my twenties and don't cook much or run a household so it really must be your style I love!)