Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living

Written by Elizabeth Willard Thames

Narrated by Ann Marie Gideon

The deeply personal story of why award-winning personal finance blogger Elizabeth Willard Thames abandoned a successful career in the city and embraced extreme frugality in order to create a more meaningful, purpose-driven life and retire to a homestead in the 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780062800800

Elizabeth Willard Thames

Elizabeth Willard Thames is the personal finance blogger behind the award-winning Frugalwoods.com. At thirty-two she abandoned a successful career in the city and embraced extreme frugality to create a more meaningful, purpose-driven life and retire to a sixty-six-acre homestead in the woods of Vermont with her husband and young daughter. Started in April 2014, Frugalwoods is a respected voice in the personal finance, early retirement, and lifestyle blogging sector and empowers readers to take charge of their finances and create fulfilling lives. Thames holds BAs in political science and creative writing from the University of Kansas and an MA in public administration from American University. Prior to following her calling as a writer and homesteader, she worked for ten years in the nonprofit sector as a fund-raiser and communications manager.

Reviews for Meet the Frugalwoods

[celiafrances · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a great and pretty inspiring read, although I will never be able to do the same as this family. Their definition of financial independence is different than what I grew up with (basically to me it means that I'm not reliant on another person for my money, whereas theirs is to not be reliant on any job for money), but it's a pretty amazing dream and kudos to their achievement.

[heather · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

So boring. The first few chapters the author just spends time more or less winning about how she was upper middle class and white. Also repeatedly underlines this as a way to say “this won’t work for everyone who isn’t. Like listening to a disenchanted whinny recent college grade throughout

[Rodion Mark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truly such a fantastic book and great to follow. I would so much recommend it to anyone. It shows you that even the average person can achieve financial independence, and you don’t have to come from a wealthy family.

[Kyle Mechling · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The back half of the book is filled with gems.

[Tacitus Lector · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well written and inspiring. And I'm not someone who enjoys reading financial advice books.

[Louise · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the book. I am just from re reading it. My husband and i have decided we are going to get on the path of extreme frugality and get to financial freedom

[davisfamily-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Well, that was a painfully boring slog..

[Scott · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

She starts the book talking about white privilege. The author is clearly caught up in the extreme left-wing ideologies. Saying that white people are privileged is first of all condescending towards people who suffer immensely and happen to be white. Furthermore, stating that there is a "white privilege" is really generalizing. NOT all white people come from good backgrounds and NOT all colored people come from bad backgrounds. STOP defining people by their group identity! People are just people no matter their race. No one is more privileged due to merely their skin color.

[Royneil Espiritu · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not a fan. Shouldn't have started with political viewpoints. There are other books out there.

[twinkley_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, this was interesting. According to this book, I'm already a little frugal. This author basically summarized why she and her husband didn't want the traditional 9-5 jobs, wanted financial independence, and how they achieved that. The problem is that their ideal life is living in rural Vermont and working from home. Now, my ideal life of living with financial freedom would be living in a tropical area that is not prone to hurricanes, earthquakes, etc, and working online. I do not see that happening anytime soon even if I follow their frugal ways.I've been to Vermont several times and even worked there for a whole summer when I was in high school and loved it there. And I still love it there now for the week that we're there for every time as an adult. Then we come back home and am happy to be where we don't have to drive too far to get stuff. Unfortunately, I also enjoy a lot of the things they eschewed in their life of frugality: occasionally going out to eat, getting your nails/hair done, going on nice vacations, etc (when not in a pandemic). Clearly I am not the right audience for this don't be such a consumer message. I also enjoy my job most of the time. I wonder if the author and her husband hadn't hated their jobs so much if things would have been different for them. When I was reading this, I thought their method of how they got to their current life sounded so stressful and joyless. But that is what made them happy. Each to their own.

[lara335 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

By extreme frugality Elizabeth & her husband Nate, freed themselves from their office jobs in their early 30’s to buy a rural home in 66 acres, to spend their days doing what they want: hiking & writing and being present parents.An inspirational, unpreachy read, by a woman discovering what makes her happy, & planning, meticulously researching with her soul-mate to make it happen. And she found that stepping-off the consumer rat race wasn’t a denial at all but a huge liberation, leading to a profound sense of well-being.

[bemislibrary · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Author Thames puts her creative writing degree to work after her family stripped down their possessions to save enough her to quit their jobs and move from Boston to Vermont. By her own admission, they are a middle class couple that spends less than they used to. Thames begins with a review of the financial struggles through and post college graduation. The couple may have been frugal, but they seemed to have enough for their 401(k) s, index fund investments, Cambridge house, donor advised fund, and cash. The take away from the book is you can retire if you have money to start with and your spouse is able to keep working.

[wrightja2000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I understand that many people don't start off with the head start that the author was born with and the high salaries they had to save from as young adults, I think that her message is relevant to everyone, at least in our country. So many people feel entitled to non-necessities that they are willing to go into debt for them and end up with no reserves for true needs and emergencies.

As a college student, I worked part time at the dining hall (free food), walked miles to classes and the grocery store, and budgeted so that I could live off of what I made during my summer job for the rest of the year. I didn't have a tv, a vehicle, I didn't buy new clothes (in total I bought one pair of pants for a job interview), I didn't eat out or go to movies, wore extra layers of clothes instead of turning in the heat, etc. I continued my frugal lifestyle so that within a few years of my first job (only $32,000 a year- teacher salary) I had paid off my college loans.

I enjoyed reading about the authors experiences because it reminded me of the feeling of freedom and independence I had during my frugal years. I still don't waste my money on a lot of things people think they have to have but reading Frugalwoods made me realize that there are things I am spending time and money on that I don't really want. Whether or not you think she is realistic, I think everyone would benefit from evaluating their life and making some goals of what they really want from like, what truly makes them happy and what else is just resource-wasting filler.

I also like that she spends some time one the waste of money baby things are. My kids love looking on OfferUp and Craigslist when there is a special toy they want. We buy all their clothes at consignment sales or trade with friends. Books come at a fraction of the cost from ThriftBooks or check out from the library. I wish she had included cloth diapers as that has saved me $1000's of dollars.

[grumpydan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I learned about this book from another blogger and it seemed to be something I would enjoy. I started reading the Frugalwood’s blog and even more wanted to read the book. Although the blog shows a lot of money saving tips, the book does not. The book is more of her journey of privileged college graduate to her financial independence to living on a homestead in Vermont. Although when the book was written, I think they have only lived there one year. What will the next decade take them?I thought it was well written, although not helpful. I have always been cheap, I mean frugal, but unless one works at six-figure job and makes a killing in real estate, you won’t reach financial independence in a short period of time.Don’t get me wrong, financial independence is possible and every one should strive for it. But be realistic in your journey which may or may not be the same as the Frugalwoods.

[spinsterrevival · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a great and pretty inspiring read, although I will never be able to do the same as this family. Their definition of financial independence is different than what I grew up with (basically to me it means that I'm not reliant on another person for my money, whereas theirs is to not be reliant on any job for money), but it's a pretty amazing dream and kudos to their achievement.

[libraryhead · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Engaging voice; could have been smug but is mostly not. Very little actionable info.