About us
Yes! Us!
I’m Luis, and my wife is Natalia. Together, we are Frugalchu! Well, she’s actually Frugalchu, but we’re both very frugal. We started this blog site to put all of our thoughts together, and make a difference in someone’s life by sharing great bits of financial knowledge learned through the years. Natalia originally started this by coaching friends and family with financial situations around 15 years ago. And recently she created a chat group on WhatsApp to share financial tips with family and friends. Things like – what are the best savings accounts out there, investing in I-bonds, brokerage accounts for their kids, real estate, discounts, coupons, etc. Shortly after, I brought up the idea, “why don’t we start a blog on this?” Enter, Frugalchu.com! And while she is the queen of Frugalchu because of all the knowledge in finances, my passion lies with building things, like this blogsite for instance! I wanted to create a space where she (we) could share our knowledge with our friends, family, and anyone who will find it useful.
Why Frugalchu?
We are a blended family. We have three boys, Kevin, the oldest, and Alex and Justin, the twins. And we also have a baby girl looking down at us from Heaven, Baby Gloria. Before I met them, the kids had always been big fans of a certain anime with little furry animals that has taken the world by storm for about two decades. My wife has always been frugal, and inspired by one of these furry little creatures, she was dubbed Frugalchu. The name has stuck to this day, and she is still proud to be frugal.
What about Luis?
Well, I wasn’t always frugal. At one point in my life, I was an impulsive buyer. If I saw it, and liked it, I had to figure out a way to get it, even if I didn’t need it, or couldn’t afford it. Dave Ramsey says, in a relationship there’s “nerds,” and “free spirits.” At the beginning of our relationship, I was definitely the free spirit. I wasn’t really too concerned about saving, and though I knew I wanted money, I just wanted it so I could spend it. Natalia was the complete opposite. When I met her, she was a single mom, and lived in a modest, but comfortable house as the homeowner. She didn’t (doesn’t) care about flashy things, expensive gadgets, and cared much less for the luxuries of life like cable or Netflix.
Fast forward to today, and I am almost as frugal as her! Almost. Our goal now is to achieve the ultimate luxury – Financial Independence. The plan is to achieve this within the next 10 years. We’re doing this for several reasons: We want to spend more time with our family, especially our kids; we want to go on long vacations to visit all the places on our bucket list; and the most important – we want the freedom to work on things that make us feel fulfilled! This blog is one of those things! I absolutely believe our calling is to serve others, and to use our gifts and knowledge to lend a helping hand to those in need.
We hope you find the articles on this blog as useful as we intend them to be. Please feel free to provide feedback so we can learn how to serve you and this online community better. Also, if you have any questions, or experiences that you’d like to share, make sure to contact us! We’d love for nothing more than to use this blog as a vehicle to expand our reach, and have others be part of our journey. We thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about us, but make sure you keep an eye out for new posts, because our story is much bigger than these few paragraphs. Life has provided us with many peaks and valleys, and through each experience, God has taught us a valuable lesson that has carried us to where we are today. We’re confident that we can use all the knowledge we’ve picked up to help you too.
