Each week Out of Debt Christian will profile a Twitter user who focuses on personal finance, budgeting, investing or any money topic. This week our profile is on Karen, aka @FrugalRImama. Karen tweets about saving money, using coupons and budgeting. She also writes about these topics on her blog, Frugal Rhode Island Mama.
OODC: How did you get started blogging?
FrugalRImama: I started a family blog in 2005 after my first daughter was born. It was a great way to keep all our friends and family up to day with her development and I could post lots of pictures of her. I started my frugal blog to showcase the deals I was finding for my friends and family. Since I already knew how to blog, it was the easiest thing to do!
OODC: Does your blog have a focus on Rhode Island?
FrugalRImama: Yes and No. I try to post about things that are happening in RI but a lot of the deals I find can also be found world wide.
OODC: How long have you been using coupons to save money?
FrugalRImama: I’ve always used coupons, but I became more serious about using them in 2007. After my 2nd daughter was born in 2007 and all the home and car repairs started rolling in, I began using coupons more and more to save as much as I could. My friends and family kept asking me how I got such great deals so I began www.frugalrimama.com to showcase my deals and the next thing I knew I had lots of followers.
OODC: Why is saving money so important to you?
FrugalRImama: Right now with the way the economy is, saving money on everyday items helps us to do all those extra things we wouldn’t be able to do right now with our children. And it gives us some fun money to enjoy when needed. I don’t feel guilty buying a new craft product when I know I saved enough during the month to make up for it.
OODC: You post your earnings from online surveys on your blog. Would you suggest this as an extra source of income for people?
FrugalRImama: Yes and No. You can definitely make some extra money doing surveys, no doubt about that, but you won’t get rich and it may not even amount to what a part time job would bring in. However, with that being said, it’s a great way to earn some cash for something extra or perhaps to put towards holiday spending or a vacation. You could build up your survey accounts until the end of the year and cash out just in time for when you need the money.
OODC: What kind of feedback do you get from readers?
FrugalRImama: I receive comments and email from readers all the time thanking me for what I do. Telling me how they’ve learned so much about saving money shopping. After I was featured on a local news channel, one lady wrote and told me how happy she was to have found me because her family of six lived on such a small budget and she was happy to find different ways to make her money stretch from reading my blog. Hearing that made all my (sometimes) hard work totally worth it.
OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?
FrugalRImama: I hope that they can find ways to cut their weekly budgets even by just a little bit, to free up the money for something else.
OODC: Who are some of your favorite Twitter users?
FrugalRImama: @mommysnacks, @moomettes, and @cdziuba.
OODC: What’s your best advice when it comes to using coupons?
FrugalRImama: Using coupons can seem overwhelming at first. I always tell people in my workshops to start small and take baby steps. Even if you save $5.00 the first time you go shopping, that’s $5 more than you would of had before you walked in the door. That $5 can turn into $50 or more after a few months. But don’t try to jump into it too fast or it may not seem worth it. Baby Steps!
Thanks to Karen for teaching us about coupons in this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile, just send me a Tweet.