Book Review: Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames

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Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living 

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:  

I enjoyed reading Meet the Frugalwoods and reading about the circumstances they went through in their young lives. I love  that they both looked for ways to save money every chance they got. They made some mistakes along the way but quickly picked up tricks to help them save more.  

This book did read like an auto biography and not like a typical frugal tip book. The tips are there if you pay attention though. The greatest frugal tip to me was that they didn't get into debt that equaled their pay like some do.  This tip is very smart for whatever class you consider yourself to be in.     

A good interesting read that did keep me turning the pages throughout the first of the book but I have to admit that I did quit reading towards the end.   

Wanting this book but scared of the price I checked this out at the library.

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