The Frugal Girl Survey Results
First off, a big, huge thank you to those of you who took the time to fill out the survey! I really, really appreciate the feedback you gave me, both positive and negative. It's super helpful to hear from you guys what you love and what you don't love, because in some cases, my gut feeling was wrong.
(More on that in a sec.)
Of course, I loooove to hear positive feedback (Who doesn't??), but many of you were also kind enough to tell me what you don't like about my blog or what I could improve, and I'm grateful for that.
I'm going to share a few items where there was a clear consensus, and then I'll share some changes I'm going to make as a result of the survey.
You want menu/grocery posts.
I stopped doing these a few years back, in part because they seemed to be a little un-popular. People didn't seem to be reading them or commenting, and so I thought, "Eh, why keep writing something that's not serving people?"
(Clearly, I should have done a survey. Ha.)
Also, to be honest, another reason is that food is a little bit controversial, and I'm sort of not into controversy.
BUT.
Many, many of you said that this type of post would serve you, so I'm gonna put my big girl pants on and give this a go.
You like authenticity.
When I asked what you all like about my blog, a great proportion of you mentioned something about authenticity/realness. You like imperfection and messes and things that aren't perfectly staged.
Yay! Because it's way too much work to pretend I have it all together. 😉
(Thing To Remember: NONE of us have it all together. Everyone is a mess, literally or figuratively, in some way or another.)
You aren't interested in guest posts.
I pretty much knew this, but thought I'd ask just in case.
And I totally get it, because when I read a blog, I want to hear from the person behind the blog. Guest posts will continue to be a rare, rare item here.
You mostly use Facebook and Instagram.
I tend to be most active on Instagram, but this survey seems to indicate that I should share more stuff on Facebook too.
The problem with Facebook, though, is that it is SUPER unpredictable when it comes to what you will actually see from me in your feed.
Facebook does seem to show you more of what you like and interact with, though, so if you'd like to see more of what I post there, make sure to click the like button when you see something from me.
Your family status is really varied.
I asked about the kid situation at your house, and things are pretty evenly spread out.
I love that a lot of you don't have kids, but still enjoy reading my blog. I'm always so glad to see that I'm not just attracting people who are just like me or who are just in the same stage of life as me.
You don't mind infrequent sponsored posts.
I try hard to only do sponsored posts when they're a good fit for my blog, so I don't do them very often, and I'm glad to hear that that's good for most of you.
(Some people felt like I'd done a whole bunch of sponsored posts recently, which was interesting, because I've actually done very few over the summer. Maybe it just feels like a lot of posts if you're very sensitive to them.)
You are pretty mixed when it comes to the photo posts.
A number of you said you wished that I would write a regular blog post on those days, but sadly, I haven't got the time to do that.
(Ideas? Yes! SO MANY. Time, not so much.)
So, at least at this point, it's a choice between a a quiet blog or a simple post.
And given that choice, almost none of you chose the, "Just don't post on Tuesdays and Thursdays at all." option.
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I mentioned a few changes in this post (Menu plan posts are coming back!), but I've got a few more tweaks in mind as well. I started adding them to this post, but then it got to be an unbearably long read.
Soooo, come back tomorrow to read about my plan to fit in menu posts, and make Tuesdays and Thursdays less boring. 😉
Food does tend to be controversial. Isn't that sad? Such a first-world problem.
Missed the survey -- love the blog, though -- including "controversial" food stuff!
LOL!
bwsmith
Thank you for taking the time to do this! I enjoy your blog because your family is similar to ours. 4 kids (although, we are opposite with 3 boys and 1 girl), homeschooling, Jesus loving, Aldi enthusiasts....
I look forward to the menu plans and maybe even shopping trips again. They always gave me ideas about changing things up to new meals. And at- home- date- night?!?!? Love this idea!!
Thanks again!
Sorry I didn't take your survey. FWIW: I like your photo posts. Even though you want to serve a "greater good" with your blog, in the end it is YOUR blog! Doubtful you will lose readers by doing the photo posts. Keep up the good work. Plus, I turned my little sister onto your blog a few years back and I know she loves the authenticity of your blog, especially when you post before or messy pictures. We all have such high expectations of ourselves and nice to see when others share our foibles.
Yes. Such a good reminder that we are all regular people, with foibles and quirks and issues. I know I always appreciate seeing that kind of thing from other people!
Yay for bringing back menu posts. I thought I was going to be the only one who asked for that. I'm happy for your Tues/Thurs posts...love to hear about the little things and also that your family is a higher priority than your blog.
You SO were not the only one! Hundreds of readers asked for that. 😉
"Because it’s way too much work to pretend I have it all together."
This is the money quote of the week. I may adopt it as a motto.
Even if I don't comment very much anymore (life changed, I now subscribe by email), I do so enjoy your blog. I really enjoy the Tues/Thurs photo posts, too.
I should've added to the sponsored post question - I think they're fine in moderation. I know your ting posts weren't sponsored, even though it almost felt like they could have been because they were so positive!, but MAN I'm still thankful you did that research because ting is saving us money every month. THANKS!
(Off to walk our 4 year old dog now... who thinks he's a puppy... who is part of those life changes...)
I agree! Ting saved us a ton of money too and I never would have known about it if it wasn't for your blog.
Yeah...Ting had no idea who I was when I first blogged about them! I was just a happy customer. But they read my blog post and then emailed to ask if I'd be interested in signing up as an affiliate.
That is a perfect kind of blogger/company relationship: I tried a service all on my own, loved it, wrote about it, and now I'm able to earn money from the posts I've written, at no cost to you.
Hope you are safe where you are., with all the flooding.
Yup! We're high and dry. But I do feel terrible for all the people who are dealing with the floods.
I love reading your blog even though we are super different in many ways (I'm not religious, am married but currently have no children, and have an MBA and work in a "fancy" office job in Manhattan, am vegetarian). Because we have lots of things in common (for example, wanting to appreciate what we have) I find all kinds of inspiration here and love reading about your ideas, your family, and other goings on in your life. I especially love the posts showing the inside of your fridge! Also, I may be painting my kitchen cabinets soon and will certainly be referencing your posts on that topic.
That just makes me so happy! It's great to have a serious mix of ages/stages/lifestyles here.
Love your blog x
Yay! I tried to answer the survey twice - once at work but I got distracted and was unable to finish and once at home when the computer froze and I had restart and lost everything. So I am happy to read I was right in line with most the majority. In my unsubmitted survey, I said I missed the grocery/menu posts, commented on authenticity and how much I enjoyed reading your blog (even though I not much like you at all!) Keep up the good work and thanks for soliciting our input.
Thank you for letting us know! It's nice to get feedback on the feedback 🙂
Thanks for sharing your survey! It was super interesting!!
I can't help but wonder if you turned the compiling of results into a homeschooling math project.
Haha, no, I used Google forms to make my survey and they automatically compile all of the results into graphs even while the survey results are still coming in! So handy. And free.
I have always liked your blog....But my favorite post ever was the "ancient turkey in the freezer" post!! Nobody has it all together and that was a great reminder.
Yep, yep. No one has it all figured out!
Ah - interesting - I read on weekends and don't have kids. I was into reading Simply Jo as I got into blogging with minimalism blogs.
I like your recipes - just yesterday I wanted a banana recipe, so I went straight to your site and searched. And I look forward to using my canned pumpkin I bought in the US in January as i see all the fall recipes on blogs (though it's Spring here in Australia).