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Posted on August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 14 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (Summer Camping Edition)

We went camping last weekend for the first time in a few months (and glamping on Orcas Island back in May hardly counts). It is one of our favorite ways to travel frugally, and we actually tend to go more often over the winter. The weather isn't as nice, but off-season travel means lower costs…

Posted on July 12, 2019July 12, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 14 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 27)

Last weekend felt loooong since the 4th of July fell on Thursday this year and we ended up with a four day weekend. We usually take advantage of extra days off to go somewhere, but we stayed local this time instead, and it was great. After our ferry experience on Memorial Day, we really felt…

Posted on June 28, 2019June 28, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 18 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 25)

We had plans fall through at the last minute last week, so we decided to go to Leavenworth again for just Saturday night. We haven't been for a little while, but it's one of our favorite places to visit for a weekend. There's always something fun to do, be it the Accordion Festival like last…

Posted on June 21, 2019June 21, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 18 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 24)

Father's Day was last weekend, and my husband decided he wanted a pretty low key couple of days, so that's what we did. Saturday we ran a couple of errands including finally submitting our passport applications (first for the kiddo and renewals for both of us) and then a picnic at the park before heading…

Posted on May 31, 2019June 1, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 33 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (Orcas Island Edition)

We spent last weekend (ie Memorial Day weekend) out on Orcas Island, which was our first overnight trip to the San Juan Islands in much too long, though we did spend a day on San Juan Island just last month. We don't typically venture out that way during the summer months because it's the busy…

Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 21 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (Neighbor Edition)

Our neighbors moved away this week. Not just out of our neighborhood, but out of state and halfway across the country. They've been our neighbors for well over half the time we've been in our home, which will be eight years on the first of next month. Our son has known them to be our…

Posted on May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 16 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (Arizona Edition)

We got back from a long weekend visit to Arizona on Tuesday morning, and it's completely thrown my week off because of it after I returned to work on Wednesday. Hopefully I'm actually posting this on a Friday because I haven't known what day it was all week long. Even so, I do like splitting…

Posted on April 12, 2019April 17, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 16 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 14)

We went out to San Juan Island for the day on Saturday for the first time in far too long. While Lopez Island is our favorite of the islands, we very much enjoy spending time on Orcas Island and San Juan Island as well. The major upside of heading to San Juan is that Friday…

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 32 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 13)

So, one of our very favorite neighbor couples is moving out of state come next month. They are having their first child and are moving to be closer to family, so I completely understand why they are making that choice, but we are seriously going to miss them around here. Remember when I wrote about…

Posted on March 29, 2019April 4, 2019 by Tread Lightly, Retire Early · 32 Comments

Friday’s Frugal Five (2019 – Week 12)

Last Friday the kiddo and I took the train down to Portland for Uriah's third birthday party. It was an absolutely lovely trip and I'm so glad that the two of them got to hang in real life instead of just by FaceTime, and seeing and hugging his mama just fed my soul. Love you…

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Flashback to a garden harvest six years ago today. It’s hard to believe I’ve been gardening in earnest for the better part of a decade now, ever since we moved into our home over eight years ago. Not pictured: nine years ago, when almost nothing grew. Or ten years ago, when everything molded and died. I’ve learned a LOT over the years: Only grow what my family will eat (which means very few green beans, because I’m the only one who likes them). 🥒 Save seeds from everything (it is SO much cheaper than buying new seed packets every year, and it reduces packaging waste + transportation costs). 🌶 Start everything from seed you can / trade with your neighbors. Again, so much cheaper than buying from nurseries. 🍅 The ROI on new raised beds is there, just not in the first year. Or two. They are darn expensive to put in. 🌸 Plant flowers specifically for the bees (thanks, kiddo, for your love of wildflowers). 🐝 🐝 🐝 Nothing tastes as good as what comes out of your own ground. Swipe 👉 to see photos from this week’s harvest! #frontyardgarden #pnwgardening #zone8b #frugalliving #urbanhomestead #zerowasteliving #hyperlocal #growyourownfood #financialindependenceretireearly #fire #earlyretirement #savethebees #frugal The kiddo and his neighbor best friend adore these two trikes. They race them up and down the street and spend hours most days playing outside together. I purchased ours for $7.99 from Goodwill, and it still has a ton of life left in it. Likely theirs is a hand me down as well. And not once has it mattered that the bikes are pink. #momlife #boymom #boyslikepink #pinkisnotagirlcolor #reducereuserecycle #reducewaste #thriftstorefinds #thrifting #frugalliving #frugal #neighborhoodfriends #neighborhoodfamily #boyswillbegoodhumans So... we harvested a bunch of carrots this week. And by that, I mean the kiddo and his neighborhood friends pulled almost all the carrots of any (tiny) size, all at once. I walked out to a carrot massacre in the front yard and I almost cried. They’ve been loving pulling up and munching on the carrots this summer, but this time they pulled wayyyy more than they would eat in one go. I usually love that he’s so into the garden and about eating fresh produce, but this was SO frustrating. We have a few more that will be ready this summer, but best case scenario we won’t have any more until fall. Tonight, I chopped up a good handful of the carrots they pulled plus some potatoes we harvested previously and cooked a sausage and cheese bake with them. The carrots might be much smaller than I would have liked, but we’re still eating them. And I keep reminding myself that part of growing this garden is to have the kids involved, in the planting, the watering, and the harvesting. So if the worst they happens is that we end up with way too many too-small carrots because they love pulling and eating them, I think we’re doing okay. At least that’s how I’m now able to frame it a few days later. Don’t ask my opinion from five minutes after. #pnwgardening #gardeningwithkids #urbanhomestead #zerowasteliving #zerowaste #homegrowncarrots #homegrownpotatoes #zone8b #frontyardgarden #gardenfail #boymom #momlife #urbanhomesteading #frugalliving #whenlifegivesyoulemonsmakelemonade Let’s just say that this has been an expensive summer. Between vet bills, backyard fence replacement, and spending for future vacations, we have spent significantly more money than is average for us. That said, for July in specific, we knew it was going to be expensive because of our dog’s surgery, so we spent accordingly on discretionary items. We still spent more than a bare bones budget, but we definitely tightened our belts a little bit beyond a typical month. We knew this summer was an expensive one, so we wanted to be ready. All told, this expensive summer feels very different from 2017, when cash flowing didn’t happen unless we drained our emergency fund. To be honest, months like this are the biggest reason in my opinion to chase a high savings rate regardless of what your ultimate financial goals may be. By having quite a bit of space between our base expenses and our income every month, we are able to cash flow the big stuff as it arises without having to worry overly much. July’s monthly financial update is up on the blog today with the rundown of how much we spent (and saved!) while cash flowing a surgery for our dog. #emergencyfund #debtfreecommunity #debtfree #financialindependenceretireearly #choosefi #financialfreedom #affordanything #fire #whyoffi #frugalliving #emergencyfunds #savingmoney #personalfinance #budgeting #budget I graduated college in 2009 with $24,000 of student loan debt. Looking for a job during the Great Recession - especially as a newly minted college grad living in a small town in South Carolina - wasn’t a pretty endeavor. My first post college job was making $750 a month as a naturalist, and I soon picked up a part time job at Petsmart making $8.50 an hour to supplement that income. When I finally landed my real “career” job fourteen months later, I was making $30,000 a year. I scrimped and saved and hustled (and worked my park ranger second job), and paid off those loans less than three years later. It never occurred to me to defer them or make excuses when I was making almost no money - I was going to pay them off as quickly as possible. While I sometimes look back and wonder where we could be now if I hadn’t had to pay off those loans, but that payoff journey is what brought me to the debt free and then financial independence community, and our finances - and my life - is so much better for it. Looking back today, six years later, and I can still remember the complete joy and feelings of success when I made that last payment. And outside of our mortgage, I haven’t paid a cent of interest since. If you’re curious about the steps I took to at least hold my debt to $24,000 even while attending a private school, I wrote a post a while back about the steps I took to get there - I could have easily owed double or more, as many of my classmates did (and still do). Link to throwback post in bio, because it seems appropriate today! #debtfreecommunity #studentloans #studentloandebt #studentloanssuck #debtfree #debtfreejourney #financialindependenceretireearly #financialfreedom #whyoffi #choosefi #moneyblogger #financialindependence #studentloan We headed to Jetty Island for the first time last weekend. Just a half hour drive and a (very) short passenger ferry away, it feels like a secluded nature preserve resort type island (without any buildings beyond the bathrooms). The ferry is free, and we packed a picnic lunch, so the day just cost the gas to get there and a $3 parking fee. A “vacation” doesn’t have to be very far away, it doesn’t have to cost money, and it doesn’t have to be overnight. Our day on Jetty absolutely felt like a vacation, and one we definitely plan to repeat. I write a bit more about Jetty Island and the rest of our week in today’s Friday’s Frugal Five post - link in bio. #jettyisland #everettwashington #frugalliving #fridaysfrugalfive #frugalfriday #frugaltravel #debtfreecommunity #financialindependenceretireearly #choosefi #travelwithkids #upperleftusa #pnw #pnwsummer #beachtime #beachday #islandtime

Tread Lightly, Retire Early

Tread Lightly, Retire Early

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