Welcome to Sunday Conversation #5! If you would like to participate in next week’s Sunday Conversation, simply ask your question in the comments section of today’s post and I will respond next Sunday. Remember, any subject is on the table (but keep it family-friendly).

David asks, “Wow your site is doing really well for only having this blog for 6 months. I got a question for you, How much do you make/month from this blog? How much have you made cumulatively? When did it start to take off (if it has yet)? “

I’d rather not get into specific numbers, for a variety of reasons. Advertisers tend to frown on such disclosure, so I’ll just answer in general terms. The first two months Frugal Dad was live it made enough to cover hosting fees, the domain registration fee and maybe a dinner or two at McDonalds (value menu only!). It wasn’t until the third full month that I began to make enough money to really feel an impact. This probably makes sense considering the average blog folds within 90 days. In some ways, success is a matter of attrition – you have to outlast those who give up too early. It’s a shame though; many excellent blogs probably quit only a few weeks before they were set to really take off.

Sherry asks, “Hi, may I ask where do you get the images for your site? They are very clear and beautiful.”

Thanks for the compliments on the photos here at Frugal Dad, but unfortunately I have very little to do with it! I use photos from flickr.com. A word about using photos from Flickr – I recommend sticking to those under the Creative Commons license and including an attribute with link back to the flickr page where you found the photo. Other photos may have rights reserved and prevent you from using them anywhere.

Katy asks, “Have you had advertisers contact you, or are your ads affiliates?”

Yes, I usually receive several advertising requests per week. Most deals work out, but a few fall through. When advertising is thin I supplement with affiliate ads via my membership through LinkShare. <–Here’s a link if you are interested in signing up.

Kelly asks, “How do you deal with anonymity issues? You are anon. on this blog, am I correct, yet you mentioned putting your blog address on business cards etc for traffic reasons. Do you feel a conflict, or has the amount of exposure through this route been small enough so that you don’t worry about it?”

Early on every personal finance blogger has to make a tough decision – to remain anonymous or not. I started out blogging anonymously, but had a few media interviews that wanted to use my real name. Fortunately, I had decided not to include any “real” numbers such as my salary earnings, networth, etc. so I really had nothing to hide. Interestingly, the business cards don’t have my name listed, but my next set probably will. My first order just had my site name, URL and a few taglines to describe the blog. I typically drop these off in fish-bowl drawings at restaurants, leave a few around the grocery store aisles, or include them in the envelope with a paper bill, etc.  On the rare occasion anyone asks me about the blog I give them a card so they can look it up later.

Luke asks, “In the years leading up to having kids, what is your advice for a family to prepare?”

Despite what people will tell you, kids are not that expensive. One of the biggest mistakes I hear people make is to put off having kids for financial reasons, as if they are waiting for the perfect time to have kids. My advice to couples is if you are with your soulmate, you both want to have kids, and you are reasonably established (have a secure job, insurance, etc.) then by all means start trying to have children. If you wait for everything to be perfect you may wait forever. Having said that, there are a few things you should consider before having kids:

• Try to pile up at least a three-month emergency fund in case there are complications with delivery and both parents are required to take an extended leave from work. This is more important than debt repayment, so for eight or nine months make this your priority and continue to make minimum payments on debt.
• If you have debt, and your emergency fund is already in place, try to eliminate as much debt as possible before your baby arrives. During those first couple years you and your spouse will be preoccupied with taking care of baby, and don’t need the added burden of a pile of debt.
• Try to settle into your job and your home before kids arrive. Psychologists say that the most stressful events in a lifetime are typically around child birth, moving, changing jobs, death and divorce. We relocated a couple months before our second child was born, and changing jobs, buying a new home, and having a baby made for a very stressful few months.
• Consider adding to your current life insurance. Many times two-income couples carry only a minimal amount of life insurance, usually provided by their employer. With a baby entering the picture it is a good time to add term-life policies outside of your employer’s plan.

Gretchen asks, “Who does the cooking in your house? Or are you more of a go-out-to-eat type of household?”

My wife does the majority of the cooking in our house, but I am the “Grill Master,” so I handle any required grilling. I am an able cook, but my wife is better, so unless she is not home or out of town she handles most of the cooking duties (and my kids are thankful!). We do eat out occasionally – at least once a week. However, even then we try to look for restaurants where the kids eat free on certain nights, or there are two-for-one deals or similar. The $5 foot long sandwich promotion at Subway has been a popular one in our household!

Marci asks, “Does this blogging feel more like fun or like work? Enjoying your blog!”

Thanks Marci! For the most part I enjoy it, too. I do have to confess that it is more work than I imagined it would be before I started. Many people have the incorrect perception that bloggers just write up a post and publish it in a matter of a few minutes. Not so. I usually spend half an hour or so planning, researching, brainstorming for new posts, and another half hour or so writing them. Then I have to locate graphics, include any relevant links, etc. and then schedule it for posting. Since I write at more than one location I have to repeat this process to produce articles for multiple sites, and work on any freelance writing projects I’ve taken on. I’m also in the very early planning stages of putting together a book manuscript to shop around, so any free time (you know, between 1:00am – 2:00am) is spent on organizing my thoughts around a book idea. All this, in addition to my full time job and family time keeps me pretty busy, but I wouldn’t quit now if someone paid me to. Well, unless they paid me A LOT!

Do you have a question you would like to see answered here next week? Simply post a comment to this article below and I’ll include your question in next week’s Sunday Conversation.

photo by OiMax

Welcome to Sunday Conversation #4! If you would like to participate in next week’s Sunday Conversation, simply ask your question in the comments section of today’s post and I will respond next Sunday. Remember, any subject is on the table (but keep it family-friendly).

Luke, from Money and Fitness Blog asks, “When did you “officially” start Frugal Dad?”

FrugalDad.com officially launched on December 28, 2007. Looking back, it would have been easier to wait a couple days and officially launch on January 1, 2008, but I had a couple days off of work around the holidays and I was eager to get the site up and running.

Beth and Kelly were interested in my logo. Beth asks, “I’m curious about your logo, which is nice, by the way. You mentioned it cost you $9.99. Where’d you have it done”

My logo and Entrecard artwork was done by Pete at Blog-Logos. He does great work, and is a pleasure to do businesss with. If you are interested in a logo, or redesigning your current logo, I encourage you to contact him.

Do you have a question you would like to see answered here next week? Simply post a comment to this article below and I’ll include your question in next week’s Sunday Conversation.

photo by OiMax

Welcome to Sunday Conversation #3! If you would like to participate in next week’s Sunday Conversation, simply ask your question in the comments section of today’s post and I will respond next Sunday. Remember, any subject is on the table (but keep it family-friendly).

Luke, from Money and Fitness Blog asks, “I was going through the site the other day and I believe you actually have not been writing on the blog for all that long. My question basically is if you have any advice for someone like myself who is trying to spread the word of their site?”

Early on, I took advantage of free advertising mediums such as Entrecard, Yahoo Answers (answer questions on your subject matter and include a link to your site – don’t spam them or you’ll be booted), and a few others. To this day the only costs associated with running Frugal Dad have been my original template purchase ($5), logo creation ($9.99), and of course regular hosting fees. I have done zero paid advertising for Frugal Dad.

Another great way to spread the word of your site is to leave thoughtful comments on other blogs in your niche. Be sure to leave your website’s address in the URL section if given the opportunity, but it isn’t necessary to include your URL in the text of the comment. Most bloggers consider this spam and it isn’t exactly welcomed. Take some time to read the post before commenting and add value, or add some of your personal experience, to the article. “This was great-thanks!” doesn’t cut it. You should also consider a similar approach to engaging in forums related to your niche. Just include a link in your forum signature and jump into the conversation by adding value to the discussions.

Take your message offline. A mistake many bloggers make is they fail to mention their site in offline communications, and even emails. Early on, I made up some inexpensive business cards with my site name, URL, and a few short phrases describing the content. I drop these off at doctor’s offices, post them on bulletin boards, leave in tip trays at restaurants, and on set a few on top of gas pumps. I also include them in any paper bills I pay, and gave a few out to family and friends so they can pass them around as well. When sending email be sure to create a signature with your site URL and include a link to your subscription page or email subscription link.

Offer to write a guest post. Guest posts are a great way to share your content with other audiences. Most blog owners will accept guest posts, but be patient if you don’t see it up and running in a couple days. Many times bloggers bank several days worth of posts and schedule a few days in advance. Your guest post may do better sandwiched between related posts, or at the end of a series of posts, so sit tight.

Finally, use weekly roundups or a similar format to highlight other blog posts you enjoyed during the past week. Bloggers enjoy seeing their content discussed and highlighted on other blogs, and will frequently reciprocate with a link to your content down the line.

If you would like to get my thoughts on a topic of interest, simply post a comment to this article below and I’ll include your question in next week’s Sunday Conversation.

photo by OiMax

Welcome to Sunday Conversation #2! This is the first of many conversations between readers and yours truly. Any subject is on the table (remember, keep it family friendly). Simply ask your question in the comments section of today’s post and I will respond next Sunday.

Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee and let’s get started

Kelly from My Small Cents asks, “Would you recommend changing your blog’s name after it’s been up and running for a few months? I have a blog with a (very) modest following- I chose the name rather haphazardly and now I’m not at all happy with it because I don’t feel that it represents me well.”

Kelly, I would recommend against changing a blog’s name once you have started branding it in a similar fashion you would a business. In other words, do visitors come to visit “Kelly,” or do they come to visit “My Small Cents?” In my case, the “Frugal Dad” name has become somewhat popular in the personal finance blogging circuit (at least I hope it has), and it wouldn’t make sense for me to change now.

Having said all that, if you are not happy with some aspect of your product and still have an opportunity to change it, I say go for it. Communicate the change to your readers and ask them to follow you as you start a new project as XYZ.com, or whatever your new name will be. If you have reservations about your name, your image, etc. it will eventually show in your level of passion and enthusiasm about your brand. Create something you can be proud of and spread your message to anyone who will listen! Good luck, and let us know what you decide to do.

Kacper of Kacper Wrzesniewski asks, “What is your greatest success as a Frugal Dad so far?”

Kacper, this was an interesting question, and one that caused me to really stop and think about the answer. Because I now attempt to compartmentalize various areas of my life (writing, family and full time career) I have a couple different answers.

As a Frugal “Dad” I would say that my greatest success is sharing in raising two wonderful children. My wife and I have worked hard to instill values in them at an early age that will carry them through the remainder of their lives.

From a frugal perspective my greatest success has been breaking the cycle of credit card usage my wife and I began to rely on to compensate for living on one income. The elimination of this lifestyle debt, and the credit cards than went along with it, has been a “freeing” experience, financially. Dave Ramsey wasn’t kidding about experiencing Financial Peace.

As a blogger, my greatest success has been convincing 900 strangers (and a few friends) to follow my writing in just four short months. I never dreamed so many of you would subscribe and I am humbled by your numbers. When the subscriber count reached 500 or so I began feeling pressure to put out top-notch content – after all, FIVE HUNDRED people were reading everything I wrote! That was a growing pain that went away after I realized what people really wanted was the same thing I want from a blog – just an informal conversation about money, living frugally, raising kids, being a better employee, etc. Sometimes the fear of performing can be lessened by the realization that none of us are perfect. Some days I’m more “in the groove” than others, and sometimes life happens and I’m just not particularly in the mood to be overly inspiring. One of the great things about interacting with so many of you is that just about the time I start to feel that way I’ll get a nice email or comment with some encouraging words to lift my spirits.

Camila at camilajovob asks, “Where do you mark the line between being frugal and being cheap?

I wrote a long post on this very subject a while back, but I really think it can be summed up in a couple key ideas. Frugal people appreciate the value in things, and are willing to pay a bit more upfront for quality goods and services. Cheap people ALWAYS look for the lower bottom line, regardless of the risk of receiving an inferior product or service. For instance, there are some things I refuse to be cheap on. I am adamant that my wife’s car be reliable, safe and properly maintained. Sure, I could stretch the life out of the tires a little longer, or go further between oil changes, or use a cheaper mechanic, but I appreciate quality and demand it when it comes to the safety of my wife and kids. After all, she is hauling precious cargo in that vehicle! Now, for my own vehicle…well, that’s a different story!

Dawn asked the following set of questions, “I would be interested in learning a few things to do with kids over summer vacation that doesn’t involve big bucks for camp. Kids 13, 9 and 2.”

Dawn, many of the same spring break activities I recommended are good candidates for summer vacation entertainment. Some of the best times I had as a kid were spending time with my grandparents. My grandfather taught me how to place chess, and we spent many days in the backyard creating sawdust to build various contraptions around the house. I helped my grandmother shell peas, roll coins and work a variety of puzzles. None of these activities are overly expensive, and a few of them can instill the value of hard work, self-sufficiency, etc. in your young children.

A couple roundups ago I shared an idea sponsored by Sunkist whereby kids may receive a lemonade stand kit and donate proceeds to charity. We are thinking of doing this during the summer so our kids can raise money to donate to their favorite charities. Help them learn about charities in your local area, and be sure they get to experience the transfer of money from their hands to the charitable organization. This exchange of money and labor in the name of a good cause will do more to create a spirit of giving than you could imagine.

“Also if you use a filter like Brita or Pur with kids in the house and do you find it’s as good as getting the gallon refills @ 49 cents each. Our water here in Chicago is horrid.”

We are fortunate to have pretty good water right out of the tap. Our water-through-the-door on the refrigerator passes through a filter and has a clean taste. One thing to consider – bottled waters by default do not typically add fluoride, which is added to tap water by most municipalities water treatment facilities. The jury is still out on whether or not this lack of fluoride has affected kid’s teeth assuming they were never given good, old-fashioned tap water.

“Any suggestions for those of us with kids who rent & can’t do much in the way of fixes to the house other than CFL’s?”

If you are a renter, you can still perform a summer energy audit to check for areas where your home or apartment is operating inefficiently. Of course, it may be up to the landlord to perform the improvements, but it’s worth bringing it up. For instance, weatherstripping around doors has a way of wearing out over the years allowing air to escape around the door. Replacing the strip is an easy job, but you may want to run it by your landlord to see if they would be willing to perform the updates. If not, ask if you can do it yourself. The time, money, and effort could be well worth it in reduced utility bills during the summer months.

“What are your grocery bills looking like these days with inflation (a question possibly for your wife) and how are you combating them. Going to Aldi vs big name store only shopping sales etc?”

Believe it or not we’ve actually had success keeping our costs down by shopping at Walmart. We were Kroger shoppers for a long time, but have noticed their prices trending up at a faster pace than that of Walmart’s, particularly in the produce and dairy sections. My experience may be unique, as Kroger recently built a giant new store in our area and I suspect the price increases are aimed at paying for the new-store!

“If you were bequeathed 20K with the note that it was either to be used as a partial down payment or for kids college funds & you were still trying to pay down debt & property taxes in the area start at 6-8K would you keep for college funds (currently non existent) or save for a house. We are happy renting at the current time.”

This is a tough one, and illustrates why I don’t like the idea of giving money with strings attached. If I was still in debt and received 20K my first inclination would be to pay down debt, particularly if I could become debt free by using the entire windfall. However, in the name of honoring the request of the person who left this money perhaps a compromise is in order. Would it be possible to establish college funds for your children with a third of the money, save another third for a future house down payment fund, and use the remaining third to pay down your debts?

Bottom line – you know what’s best for your situation, and I would advise you not to allow someone else’s wishes to increase a burden on your finances. If you are happy renting, and are not financially prepared to take on a mortgage, then do not do it. Down the road, when you are financially ready, this money will be set aside to assist with a down payment on your home – making it a true blessing.

“On that same vein how do you get family & friends to stop telling you to buy a home when you don’t have a down payment & don’t want to have two incomes currently just to pay for a house. A flip of keeping up with the Joneses I guess.”

I would refer you to my newlywed article where I remind young people there is no shame in renting. Familial peer pressure is real, and the only way to work through it is to create healthy boundaries, especially when it comes to finances. Keep the conversations light and explain that you are working to become debt free and save up a sizable down payment to keep your mortgage payment low. If that doesn’t work, ask them to contribute to your down payment fund – that usually keeps them quiet for a while!

Lee asks the following questions, “I’m curious whether you are in the midst of all this tornado weather and storms? (in other words, where do you and your family live? (if you mentioned it already, sorry, I missed it.)

We live in the southeast United States, and yes, we have recently been affected by recent storms. Fortunately, we were not personally affected, but our neighbors to the north were struck by two tornadoes in the early morning hours on Mother’s Day. A couple people I work with sustained major damage, but fortunately escaped injury.

We’re also waiting for our rebate check, and thought it would be here the 9th. I’m curious if there’s a lot of us out there who haven’t received their rebates when supposed to.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on the stimulus checks. It seems the “received by” date is the date most people are receiving their checks via direct deposit, but not any earlier. We did not receive a tax refund this year so I did not provide my banking information – looks like we’ll be waiting on snail mail to receive our stimulus check.

Also, what role does your faith play in your life? Just curious, as a Christian myself. Do you have favorite charities or organizations that you donate to? We sponsor children with Compassion and give to “Right to Life” and “Feed the Children”, as well as other ministries that we feel we’re supposed to. Again, you can answer as you feel comfortable. Some people don’t want to get too personal.

Lee, you’ve highlighted some worthy charities and I am reluctant to add any to your list because I believe charity giving is a personal decision, both in the amount you give (if any) and where you direct those funds. I’d hate to influence one way or another. I will say that I believe charity starts at home, so I lean towards helping organizations at the community level, and even enjoy face-to-face giving when possible (Secret Santa style!). That said, there are some wonderful opportunities to help those abroad who need it most and the organizations you mentioned are great examples in this mission.

Katy, from Adventures in Parenting asks, “Congrats on the freelance writing gig. I don’t know if it’s a secret, but my question is how you did it: how do you submit for freelance jobs, and who do you submit to?

Thanks, Katy! I’m eager to share the details with readers, but it was a confidential assignment and I will continue to honor that request until the work is published. Oddly enough, this particular assignment came to me as a publisher took an interest in one of my posts and asked that I create a product around the ideas. For seeking out freelance writing/blogging jobs, I would highly recommend the sites Freelance Writing Jobs and the ProBlogger Job Board. Both sites are updated daily (usually) with new opportunities and advice on how to score jobs. You might also check out Craig’s List as they appear as the source on many of these job listings. If you go that route, be sure to thoroughly investigate the offer as stories of scammers abound in the “work from home” genre.

Budgets are Sexy asks, “George Bush offers to give you $2 Million in exactly 3 years from now (signed contract and all), BUT in order for you to get it, you have to give up EVERY PENNY you have right now – all savings, retirement, etc. Would you do it?”

Creative question! Well, you didn’t mention my income – would I have to give that up, too? If not, I suppose we could continue to live on my income and put off saving and investing for the future windfall. However, if I had to completely give up all forms of money and income, then my answer would be no deal. Maybe if I was a single guy I could just float though life for the next three years, but as a husband and father with mouths to feed I need to maintain a certain quality of life for my children. No amount of promised money in the future could cause me to sacrifice their well-being, even temporarily.

Thanks to everyone for their questions! I’ve enjoyed responding to you and plan to make this regularly scheduled programming going forward. If you would like to get my thoughts on a topic of interest, simply post a comment to this article below and I’ll include your question in next week’s Sunday Conversation.

photo by OiMax

I hereby declare Sundays a day for random ramblings from Frugal Dad. I’ll share a bit about what’s going on personally and professionally, but I can’t promise any of it to be ground-breaking news. It will likely be entertaining, and occasionally I’ll throw in a bit about a few frugal living ideas. Let’s even make it interactive – read on to find out how.

Homemade Birthday Cake

This is an especially tough time for us guys, financially. It’s even worse when your anniversary, wife’s birthday and Mother’s Day all fall within two weeks of each other! I’ve learned over the years to take it one financial hit at a time. In the spirit of frugality the kids and I baked Mom a birthday cake. I handled the mixing and the baking, and the kids handled the decorating. Not bad, if I say so myself. Mommy was awfully proud of her kids, and her husband, for managing to operate a mixer and an oven on the same day without causing structural damage! And yes, honey, that is a big 3-0 on the cake. I told you that you would catch up with me eventually.

The Square Foot Garden Graduates

Our popular square foot garden project has been very successful. So successful in fact that we had to find new homes for several of the vegetable crops because they were crowding out the adjacent squares. We decided to dedicate a little plot of backyard to in-ground gardening, and spent much of this afternoon digging and preparing a soil bed. We transplanted two large tomato plants and two rows of squash and cucumbers. I added a few tomato and cucumber seeds back to the square foot garden box to grow additional starter plants. We also dropped in a salsa pepper mix seed pack to start a few pepper plants for some homemade salsa. No pictures yet as I wanted to wait until it is more presentable. A threatening thunderstorm had us moving fast just to get the plants in the ground!

Frugal Freelancing

I had my first freelance writing proposal accepted by a major publisher this week, and I’m now off to complete the manuscript. More details to follow, but this will make a significant dent in the debt snowball! Hopefully, I can land a few more of these over the next couple months and knock out my remaining debt while building up our emergency fund.

Still No Economic Stimulus Check

Still no sign of the economic stimulus check. We plan to spread it out over our accounts at ING Direct, and put some on debt, so it it not like I’m waiting for it to make a big purchase. However, I would like to see that balance increased soon.

Your Turn

For next week’s Sunday Conversation I would love to answer a few of your questions, sort of in a mailbag format, but less formal. Just leave your questions in the comments and I’ll respond to them during next week’s conversation. If you would rather email me that’s fine, too.  If you do email me, indicate if you would like to remain anonymous, otherwise I’ll mention your first name and/or your website if provided. Any topic is open for discussion (well, almost any topic – this is a family-friendly environment!). I look forward to hearing from you.