Club Thrifty blogger talks budgets, groceries and ‘Game of Thrones’
On the hunt for a terrific, totally down-to-earth personal finance blog that’s easy to read and inspiring? Check out Club Thrifty, a site run by Holly Johnson with her husband, Greg. The couple is so cool we only wish they lived closer so we could invite them over for dinner to chat budgets (no, really!). Instead, grab a coffee and check out what Holly has to say …
Where we’re based: The middle of nowhere: Indiana.
How long we’ve been blogging: We talked about starting our blog for several months before finally launching it in May of 2012. In some ways, I can’t believe that it’s only been a year since we started!
Blog basics: Club Thrifty mainly focuses on the frugality side of personal finance. We also use our blog to keep ourselves accountable to our own financial goals. It’s easier to keep ourselves on track when we are constantly reporting our financial well-being to our readers.
Other blogs we love: I am staff writer at Get Rich Slowly and that is definitely my favorite personal finance blog of all time. I also love I Heart Budgets and Making Sense of Cents.
Guilty pleasure: My guilty pleasure is definitely high quality food. Our grocery spending is one category that I allow to fluctuate (within reason). I still use coupons and shop for sale items, but I am willing to pay what I need to pay in order to get good food for my family. Sometimes eating well can be expensive.
Last thing I bought: I recently bought season two of Game of Thrones since I don’t have HBO or cable television. Best show ever!
What are your favorite places to shop? I absolutely hate shopping so I mostly shop online. I am not loyal to one online store in particular. I shop anywhere that I can get the best deal.
Do you ever splurge? Yes. We spend a ridiculous amount of money on travel. That is our only splurge and what we enjoy doing most.
When did you come to the realization that you had to budget and stop spending frivolously? When we got pregnant with our second daughter, we suddenly realized that we needed to get our act together. My second pregnancy also coincided with us entering our 30s, and we had a huge reality check. We realized that we needed to start getting serious about our finances if we ever really wanted to get ahead.
What are your favorite budgeting tactics? The most important thing about budgeting is to make sure your budget is all-inclusive. We budget for anything we think we might spend on in any given month — birthday presents, oil changes, etc. Including everything in your budget makes it more likely that you won’t get off track.
Why is saving so important? Saving is important to different people for different reasons. For me, saving is the way I plan on making my dreams come true. I want to retire early. I want to pay for my kids’ college. I want to travel around the world. A reasonable amount of saving and planning can make all of that possible.
What is the best part about having your blog? Having a blog has made so many things possible. First of all, we belong to a great online community of bloggers who help each other out and give each other advice. I have also gotten many paid writing opportunities and sponsorships from my blog. When you put yourself out there, new opportunities tend to present themselves.
