This week we travel to a farm in Kentucky for our Twitter Tuesday Profile. Katie Hostetter, also known as @FrugalFemina, is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom to her little munchkin Bradley. She lives in a little cabin on a Kentucky farm with her family which also includes two rescued pets– a black lab named Casey and Riley the cat. She owes her coupon addiction to Stephanie, the woman behind CouponMom.com. Stephanie’s appearance on Oprah a few years ago sparked Katie’s love of saving money. Besides keeping up her own blog, FrugalFemina.com, Katie is a contributor at Inexpensively.com. Katie explains how her faith is reflected in her frugal lifestyle and how we can all keep from overspending during the holidays.

OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?

@FrugalFemina: My husband was basically unemployed for the first two years of Bradley’s life. He was finishing up his Ph.D. and had the hardest time finding a job once he graduated. I laugh at all the things he tried just to earn a few bucks! He is a very academic kind of guy. He loves teaching, preaching, and counseling. But he sold insurance. He got his CDL. He applied to deliver pizzas. He was a bank teller. You name it.

I had subscribed to Coupon Mom’s list when we lived in Georgia, but I didn’t understand it. I got e-mail after e-mail about free Trident, free shampoo, etc., and I just said, “How?!!!” When we moved back to Kentucky and I saw that Stephanie (the Coupon Mom) was going to be on Oprah, I decided I needed to figure it out! I have been seriously couponing ever since.

I have always had the journalism itch in me. I love to write, so I got a degree in church music and media communication. I started blogging in 2005 just to share family stories and photos. In April of 2009, I decided to take my couponing addiction to the next level with Frugal Femina, and I love it!

Tweeting, on the other hand, is another story entirely. My friend Cherie at Queen of Free encouraged me to start tweeting. And by “encouraged,” I mean she pulled me kicking and screaming all the way there. I didn’t understand why people tweet about what they just ate for lunch. But I used it for about a week, and I realized it is a super-duper way to connect with other bloggers in my field, companies, moms, readers, and others. As we often say on Twitter, these are friends I’ve been looking for my whole life!

OODC: How is your faith as a Christian reflected in your frugal lifestyle?

@FrugalFemina:I love the reminder we have at church every week when we recite after the offering “for all things come from You, and of Your own gifts we have given to You.” I love seeing Bradley put our tithe in the offering plate. God has blessed us with a steady job, great health insurance, and so much more. I want to be responsible with all of it! I love to donate from my stockpile, and I love seeing the look I get when people realize I’m donating brand-new items. That is priceless. My friend Amy at The Finer Things in Life likes to say we can’t out-give God, and it is so true! I get back way more than I could ever give.

Also, it is easy to let your desire/need for saving money cloud your judgment when you’re couponing. There are ways to cheat the system. But there are plenty of deals to go around, and it’s ok if you miss some! Believe me, free toothpaste will come around again!

OODC: We are coming into the time of year when many of us overspend. What are your suggestions for keeping within our budgets over the holidays?

@FrugalFemina:Well, my family doesn’t usually give Christmas presents. We try to do activities together as a family instead. We also have a family picture taken together at this time of year. We do get little things for the kiddos because my sister and I think stockings are the best! My gifts for my niece and nephew cost under $10 each. I personally think my niece’s gift will rock her socks off. But I’m not biased or anything.

If I have other presents to buy, I try to shop throughout the year. Even if I can’t do the actual shopping, I at least set some money aside each month specifically for gifts. I estimated what I thought I would spend on gifts for a whole year, divided it by 12, and stick that amount in an envelope each month.

And let’s not forget how many great freebies there are at this time of year-especially on toys. There is no reason to pay full price!

OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?

@FrugalFemina:On Twitter, I just hope they have fun chatting with me and connecting with other like-minded people. I hope the information at Frugal Femina encourages my readers to keep learning and doing the best they can with what they have. I’m especially excited this week, because I just switched over to WordPress. I’m very thankful to Joy at Five J’s for helping me make the move!

OODC: Who are some of your favorite money tweeters?

@FrugalFemina:There is a large group of frugal bloggers that I interact with and love. A few of my favorites (other than those mentioned above) are: Andrea at MommySnacks, Marcy at StretchingaBuck, Alyssa at KingdomFirstMom.

Thanks again to Katie (@FrugalFemina) for being our Twitter Tuesday Profile this week! Want to be considered for an upcoming profile? Just tweet me!