Welcome to the NEW Family Friendly Frugality!

Hello and welcome to the brand new Family Friendly Frugality! I hope you love it as much as I do!

This re-design has been a long time coming.

Way Back in August 2010…

As I’ve said in the past, it was always important to me for this blog to be self-sustaining.  That means that I had to wait until the blog was bringing in enough income to afford a professional all over branding and design. I won my header from another blogger, and my buttons were made by me and one of my friends. I loved everything individually, but it just didn’t add up to the look I knew I ultimately wanted.

I started off on my tiny blogspot blog, and when I earned $10 I bought the custom domain.  A few months later I moved over to self-hosted WordPress. Finally in early 2011, I had the money together to start looking around at my options for a real website makeover.

Eureka!

I stumble a lot on Stumbleupon and one day I happened upon a blog that caught my eye. The design was quiet and clever, crisp and clean, but innovative. So I scrolled on down the page (as I did often in those days when I was hunting for a designer!), and saw the name JudithShakesDesigns as the designer. I clicked over to her site and knew pretty immediately that I wanted her to handle this huge rebranding of my blog.

Her previous work speaks for itself! The fact that she has a waiting list for her work also made me realize I wasn’t alone in seeing great potential in us working together. I filled out her questionnaire and we scheduled the redesign for early April.

Let me tell you, I was nervous. You see, because I didn’t have a clear and obvious vision, I wasn’t sure that Courtney (yep her name isn’t Judith!) would *get* me. When I got the email with the design mockup, I couldn’t even open it! I closed my eyes and clicked and my husband gasped. I opened my eyes, expecting the worst and I instantly fell in love.

She *got* me! She really did!

Happy to be Home!

I hope you love this new design as much as I do.

I hope you love the colors and the friendliness and the easier navigation. I hope you feel at home here like I do. I hope that you *get* me a bit better with this new representation of me and my “brand”. You see, for me my life is my family.

At the end of the day I live frugally so that my family can have more, and I hope that when you visit my blog you can see that. I hope when you visit my blog, you see the family behind the blog that is the driving force behind me.

I want to do the same for your family. I want to help your family save money. I want to help you live a frugal lifestyle so you can do more for your family from within the confines of your budget right now. I don’t want you or your spouse to have to run out and get another part time job so you can make ends meet.

Spend time with your family and let me help you save your money so you can spend your money and your time where you want. That’s the goal of this blog, to bring families closer together by relieving some of the financial burdens that we all carry with us nowadays.

To all my blogging friends…I’d be honored if you would grab my new button:

<div align="center"><a href="https://www.familyfriendlyfrugality.com" title="Family Friendly Frugality" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.familyfriendlyfrugality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/button.png" alt="Family Friendly Frugality" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

However, don’t think we’re getting rid of Miss Lizziebug THAT easily! My Lizziebug button will always have a place on this blog. It’s a great reminder to me that I started with one reader and a little DIY button, and what I did then is just as important as what I’m doing now. (She’s still hanging out in the footer!)

Thank you!

Finally I just want to say that not one pixel of this would be possible without my wonderful readers. Those of you who have been with me from day one and those that just stopped by today…thank you! I consider this blog a ministry of sorts, although I try my best to never get preachy! The fact that you are reading and that you care and that you trust…I don’t take that lightly. Please feel free to always email me or leave a comment with feedback. Think of this blog as YOUR blog, because you built it…I just wrote it!

Please tell me what you think! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this great new design!