Ask Jenn from Frugal Upstate a question (Women of Personal Finance Spotlight)

[Lynn]

For this entire week 10/13 - 10/19, Jenn from Frugal Upstate will be answering questions in our forums about blogging, personal finance, and entrepreneurship!

Jenn is one fasinating and accomplished lady. Browse through her 100 Things About Me post and you'll find gems like "I’ve eaten a chicken heart while visiting Taiwan" and "I got my Masters of Business with a concentration in Logistics while in the Army." Now that's someone I would love to have a long conversation with.

What a gorgeous shot!


Hanging out with Jenn at Blog World Expo

[Lynn]

Jenn it was great meeting you at Blog World Expo.

You've been a good will ambassador for mommy bloggers lately. After meeting with so many corporate PR and executive people, what do you think is the number one thing they don't "get" about us mommy and frugal living bloggers?

[Lynnae]

Jenn, it was great meeting you last week. And I had no idea you were in the Army! Learn something new every day!

I love that you're a fellow frugal woman. Were you always frugal? What influenced you to manage your finances the way you do in a world where excess is the norm?

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by Lynn

You've been a good will ambassador for mommy bloggers lately. After meeting with so many corporate PR and executive people, what do you think is the number one thing they don't "get" about us mommy and frugal living bloggers?

Lynn, it was great to meet you too. I wish I had run into you earlier in the conference so we could have had longer to chat.

I've had a very positive experience with the corporate and PR folks that I've come into contact with so far. For those of you that don't know, I'm one of Walmart's increasingly inaccurately named "11 Moms" (did anyone catch the Douglas Adams reference? No?). This last weekend I (and my fellow 11Moms) had the opportunity to fly down to Walmart HQ in Bentonville AR and meet with not only several senior levels of Walmart executives but also with representatives from Campbell's, Coke, Kellogg's and more.

I think overall they were surprised at us. I think that sometimes the phrase "mommy blogger" conjures up images of frumpy women in Eeyore sweatsuits plunking away on the computer while kiddos scream in the background. Instead this group of intelligent, educated and opinionated women (with a combined weekly audience of about a million, not counting Twitter, which probably adds another 1/2 million or so) seems to have caught them a bit unawares. But they quickly recovered.

The biggest single impression I've gotten so far is that they are respectful of us. Not that I expected them to be rude, but in every single case they seemed to really and truly listen when we talked to them and to take our ability to influence their market very seriously. Whether it was the Kellogg's representative talking to us about their promise to stop targeting advertising for sugared cereals to children (only the reduced sugar cereals will have child centric advertising) or the gentleman in charge of sustainability asking us our opinion on what they could do better (make it easier and less embarrassing to use reusable bags in the stores, influence their suppliers to make more recyclable containers, etc).

As a matter of fact, apparently we created so much positive buzz in the Walmart HQ that Eduardo Castro-Wright, President and CEO, Walmart Stores Division, who we were not originally schedule to see, came to meet with us. This was not standard fare for visitors-our Walmart contacts seemed surprised and impressed that he was making the time. He asked us our opinion on how they as a corporation could be sensitive to the economic issues facing most families while marketing for Christmas (and the other holidays) this year. I found that to be a very thoughtful question.

All that being said, what I DON'T think they fully get is the idea of professional bloggers. Then again, 90% of my friends IRL don't get that. Many of the very upper echelons don't seem to read blogs*, and most of them had no idea what Twitter was. (I swear, we talked about 10 people into signing up on twitter last weekend.)

The line between what we are willing to do for free because it is mutually beneficial to all (be it for other than monetary compensation, publicity or even just the credibility that the association lends) and what we should be paid for is still very foggy.

There have been instances where I have refused to sign various releases because of the amount of control over my content it would have taken away. The initial video release for our Vlogs was written to give them rights to everything on our site during the duration of the project. Uh-NO! My content is mine-it is the only saleable product I have, and I am not giving away full rights to any of it without someone writing a really, really big check.

Let me be clear-in all of these cases things were quickly resolved to my satisfaction, with the offending portions removed or the release simply left unsigned with no negative repercussions. They are really trying to work with us on this, but it is a totally new situation both for them and for us! Most of these cases are a result of the lawyers drawing up a standard release based on their knowledge of print media, which does not really translate fully to dealing with blogging and social media related intellectual property. That's a learning curve that I would guess many corporations will have to overcome as these types of relationships grow.


Note: We did have 2 different individuals tell us that their wives wrote blogs, and apparently the Kellogg's guys were reading up on us before we met with them-they made a very relevant comment to something that had only been posted the previous night on one of our blogs. What they actually did was accuse one of the guys in their office of being the "drunk guy" that had tried to hit on us at the bar&grill we went to for dinner the previous night. It was pretty humorous.

[DealSeekingMom]

Jenn, I had a great time meeting you as well last week! Can't wait to do it again.

As you know I'm one of the ElevenMoms' resident "couponistas." I tend to find the most savings by buying name brand items and pairing sales and coupons, but you mentioned that you found that you could get the biggest savings in your area by shopping ALDI. I'd love to hear you talk more about this, as well as give some real life comparisons in pricing if at all possible.

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by Lynnae

Were you always frugal? What influenced you to manage your finances the way you do in a world where excess is the norm?

I was never a spendthrift, but I wouldn't have categorized myself as frugal growing up either.

I grew up in a family with 5 kids. Although we didn't want for anything my folks were always pretty careful about spending. We almost never ate out as kids, didn't get extraneous "non holiday" presents etc.

After college when I started my career as an Army Logistics Officer I made a decent paycheck. Although I didn't really save a lot of money, I didn't spend above my means either. Then in the fall of 1995 I deployed to Bosnia as part of IFOR from my homebase of Baumholder Germany.

Suddenly I didn't have ANYWHERE to spend my money. I got a promotion about half way through the 10 month deployment to 1st LT. At that point I decided to follow the often touted Army advice to keep living at my former paygrade and save my raise in salary. I started putting money in an IRA and a bit into mutual funds.

I have to say, that early start of being fiscally responsible really set me up well for the rest of my life.

I met my husband, Yankee Bill, and after a very long courtship and engagement we were married in 1999. Luckily for me, YB had the same sort of upbringing and wasn't in debt either.

We pretty much kept along like that until Princess was born in 2001. At that point I was introduced to "The Tightwad Gazette" by a family friend who knew how expensive it can be to add a child to the household. I read it pretty much straight through and started implementing ideas immediately. I've never turned back!

When I left the service after 11 years (and at the rank of Major) in 2004, we became a one income household so that I could stay home with the kids (Buddy having been born in 2003). That's when the frugal lifestyle really started paying dividends. We were able to make the adjustment with barely a ripple in our lifestyle!

Honestly, I don't even think most of my friends know how frugal I am. To the average eye we are a typical middle class family who's mother is, in the words I hear WAY to often, "Lucky to be able to stay at home".

[Myscha Theriault]

Hi Jenn!

Glad to have you hear with us. Looking forward to reading your advice and ideas.

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by DealSeekingMom

I'm one of the ElevenMoms' resident "couponistas." I tend to find the most savings by buying name brand items and pairing sales and coupons, but you mentioned that you found that you could get the biggest savings in your area by shopping ALDI. I'd love to hear you talk more about this, as well as give some real life comparisons in pricing if at all possible.

Ohh, this is hard because I don't have a lot of recent data to back me up.

#1-I don't get the paper so I don't have a ready source of coupons. I had to decided if buying the weekend paper for the inserts would be worth the money. In our area it would cost $1.50, so I'd have to save at least that much over what the cost of buying the same items at Aldis etc. would be. (not save $1.50 on my bill at that store-it had to be an overall savings compared to the same items at Aldi's or Save a Lot)

#2-I don't buy much of convenience food and am not brand loyal. You don't often get coupons for milk, eggs, flour, etc. Honestly, when I DO see the coupons insert from someone else, I don't often see products I would use that I can't get cheaper somewhere else (for example shampoos)

#3-I did a price book when I first moved here 4 years ago. Almost without exception Aldi's & Save-a-Lot's everyday price beat the sale prices of the big chains around here.

Of course all of this was before the rebate/coupon programs started at the drugstores. I will definitely re-look that.

Does that answer it adequately? Feel free to ask more questions on it.

[Mags Mom]

I'm a longtime follower of Being Frugal and WiseBread. I love it when you guys do projects together. Thanks for introducing me to Frugalupstate.

Jen your trip sounds wonderful. Have you experienced backlash from other mommy bloggers for checking out Walmart? I know there are some very strong feelings about that corporation. Are other bloggers generally very supportive of your success?

You mentioned problogging in your previous answer. Is it really possible for moms (and dads) who blog to become professionals at it? That would be a dream.

[FrugalNYC]

I took a look at several posts and overview of Frugal Upstate last night and thought it to be a great resource. It seems to be attracting more female readers though, and judging by the posts, I know why

I've started a blog that has a name that could be a sister site to yours, FrugalNYC. My aim with my blog is to provide a resource to live and enjoy NYC on a frugal mindset. I really like the layout of your site. Do you have any resources on customizing blogger sites? I'm a "techie" so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, though I don't like to do too much Coding. Please take a look at my site and let me know what you think. I've just started a series on Central Park, the first post on Belvedere Castle - I heard its a great place to see the foliage of central park. I will be submitting something to the new Open Write on Best Local Places to Eat very soon.

Both WiseBread and Frugal Upstate are great resources for the frugal Minded. I hope my blog will be too.