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| (Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!) |
The deeply personal story of how award-winning personal finance blogger Elizabeth Willard Thames abandoned a successful career in the city and embraced frugality to create a more meaningful, purpose-driven life, and retire to a homestead in the Vermont woods at age thirty-two with her husband and daughter.
In 2014, Elizabeth and Nate Thames were conventional 9-5 young urban professionals. But the couple had a dream to become modern-day homesteaders in rural Vermont. Determined to retire as early as possible in order to start living each day—as opposed to wishing time away working for the weekends—they enacted a plan to save an enormous amount of money: well over seventy percent of their joint take home pay. Dubbing themselves the Frugalwoods, Elizabeth began documenting their unconventional frugality and the resulting wholesale lifestyle transformation on their eponymous blog.
In less than three years, Elizabeth and Nate reached their goal. Today, they are financially independent and living out their dream on a sixty-six-acre homestead in the woods of rural Vermont with their young daughter. While frugality makes their lifestyle possible, it’s also what brings them peace and genuine happiness. They don’t stress out about impressing people with their material possessions, buying the latest gadgets, or keeping up with any Joneses. In the process, Elizabeth discovered the self-confidence and liberation that stems from disavowing our culture’s promise that we can buy our way to “the good life.” Elizabeth unlocked the freedom of a life no longer beholden to the clarion call to consume ever-more products at ever-higher sums.
Meet the Frugalwoods is the intriguing story of how Elizabeth and Nate realized that the mainstream path wasn’t for them, crafted a lifestyle of sustainable frugality, and reached financial independence at age thirty-two. While not everyone wants to live in the woods, or quit their jobs, many of us want to have more control over our time and money and lead more meaningful, simplified lives. Following their advice, you too can live your best life.
my thoughts:
Lately, all you ever seem to hear about is this concept of "simple living" - the idea that you give up the materialistic world in order to embrace what really matters: family, friends, and enjoying life. Basically, you have to pare down from all the excesses that you indulge in and start making your own clothes and grow a vegetable garden to live off of. Okay, so not that extreme, but you know what I mean. And you have to admit that you've thought of trying out "simple living" - getting a tiny home and living off the land somewhere, so that you can travel more and see the world. I mean, there are so many stories about it - couples selling their homes and moving to Costa Rica and living off their savings, because why work 24/7 if you are never going to be able to enjoy your money or your life, right? Or couples who have decided to live extremely frugally so that they can achieve financial independence and finally live out in the woods. That last one is the couple in this awesome book, Meet the Frugalwoods.
Elizabeth and Nate are tired of working in the city and not being able to enjoy the life they had always imagined for their family. So, they decide to embrace a frugal lifestyle in order to save a LOT of money (like 70% of their net pay) so they can quit their jobs and move out to rural Vermont and spend their days as a family. This book shares that journey with us, along with some useful financial tips and ideas on "simple living".
I absolutely enjoyed reading this book! I loved the engaging tone, humorous anecdotes, and no-nonsense attitude that Elizabeth employed throughout her story. She was honest about the struggles and successes, which made her so relatable. And, I really enjoyed reading about her journey - it was interesting and inspiring. She made her dream come true - how awesome is that?!
I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Frugalwoods (they have a blog!) and to anyone looking for their next great read - you will enjoy this book!
Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: Meet the Frugalwoods
6 comments:
The book sounds fun even though I'm not sure I could live that frugally.
Love that title! I probably couldn't go as extreme as them, but I still like reading about people who try. :)
Kathy, I know what you mean. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think I could live that way.
Lark, I know, right?! I love the title, too :) I'm with you - I feel the same :)
I dream often of a simple life. If I were on my own I would live this way but it's not all that possible living in a city. City living requires things. I know I overbook myself and that is my own doing but this lifestyle, where we live, it's seriously the norm and if we strayed from that, things would be weird. I am not a conformist but it would be weird.
Ti, I know what you mean. The idea of simple living is enticing, but in this day and age it seems impossible. Overbooking is the norm and that doesn't seem to be changing. Then I think about other countries and they seem to manage incorporating aspects of simple living into their routines and it works. I don't know, maybe its possible on a smaller scale? By the by, I know you aren't a conformist :)
I'm in the process of learning to be more minimalist so this book has come along at just the right time for me. I'm glad to see that you can recommend it.
Thanks for being a part of the tour.
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