Hi, I'm Rachel. Thrifty Hearth started as a spreadsheet on my kitchen table, opened one January evening to answer a question I could not answer: where does our money actually go?
We are an ordinary household. Two adults, two kids aged five and nine, one dog, and a house built in 1962 that leaks air like a screen door. Our income is ordinary too — the kind where nobody feels sorry for you and it still feels tight by the twentieth of the month. Most of the money advice I found online was written either for people with four thousand dollars left over each month or for people in genuine crisis. For the large group in between, which is where we live, there was very little that was specific.
So I started writing it down myself. First in a notebook, then in the spreadsheet, which now has fourteen tabs and a chart I am unreasonably proud of.
How I work
Everything on this site has been tried in this house first, with the numbers written down. When I quote a saving, it is our own figure from our own bill, and I say so plainly when something did not work — those are the pieces I find most useful to write. Where an article says "we", that is my husband and me, and usually one child asking what we are doing.
I am not a financial advisor, an insurance agent or a tax professional, and nothing here is personal advice. My house, my utility rates and my insurance renewal are not yours. Read it, check it against your own situation, and talk to a licensed professional before any decision that matters.
How the site is paid for
Some articles contain affiliate links. If you click one and sign up for something, this site may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what I recommend and it never decides what gets written; the disclosure page explains exactly how it works.
What you will not find here
Get-rich schemes, investment tips, and anything I have not actually done. There are no photos of my family on this site and there will not be — the numbers are real, the stock photos are not us.
Questions, corrections, or something you think I should test? Write to info@thriftyhearth.com. I read everything myself.