Building Stronger Families

Graduated from high school and ready to hit the road! Packed up and left my little Northern Oregon town, The Dalles, for bigger horizons. Achieved my lifelong dream of attending Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. My major was Recreation Management and Youth Leadership with a Recreational Therapy emphasis…but let's call it like it is; I basically graduated Summa Cum Laude in “Social Studies” (aka dating and friends).

I can still hear “the crash” ringing in my ears. When the real estate market crashed and burned before our eyes, we saw it as an opportunity to snag some affordable real estate. We spent all of 2008/2009 saving and building a home nearby. We planned to move into the new house and keep our townhome as an investment rental property. We dumped every dime from our savings and every penny earned into building this house. What could possibly go wrong? *Forehead palm slap.* 

During the building process, things started getting unsettled at Bubba’s job. We prayed hard, and both felt it was the right time for him to quit his job and follow his dream of starting his own company, Launch Leads. We felt led by God and excited for the new adventure. I had to quit my ministry job for a higher-paying sales job to support us, but we wanted to make it work. Long story short, due to the crash, the housing laws changed, and so the housing loan that we had been pre-qualified for and used to build the house...it was now off the table. We had to choose between our ENTIRE life savings that we dumped into building the house and Bubba's new business. We chose the business and lost everything we had worked toward up to that point. Defeated and penniless, we wondered why God would lead us to do something so devastating. We were embarrassed, confused, and straight-up broke."

Life got a little more complicated when we found out I was pregnant with our first baby (Hutch). We both felt the importance of my staying at home and so I began my lifelong dream of being a SAHM. Unfortunately, despite our frugal living, our credit cards (which paid our bills monthly) were piling up at an alarming rate. After sitting down one night, we realized we had $15,000 on credit cards and would barely make $31,000 in income that year. I searched for financial advice but found a bunch of uninspiring information that didn't help me with my questions like —what about groceries? Birthday parties for my kids? Eating out? Can I eat out? How much can I afford? What about the basics? Where are the lifestyle budgeting experts? I realized, “If no one is going to figure this out for me, I guess I’m going to have to figure it out myself.” And we spent the year working our tails off, and in 13 months, we had paid off ALL our debt. I still remember the day as if it were yesterday. The day we paid off the final balance on the last credit card. WE DID IT. WE DID IT! HOW THE HECK…WE DID IT!

I had been sharing some of the free or cheap activities I found on our family blogspot blog, hoping to find friends to adventure with me during the day while Bubba was working. I decided to make our family blog private; and started a public blog on a whim called FunCheapOrFree.com. I used it to share our progress, success, and tips with others. It was a little hobby blog with no hopes of grandeur. But as I started to share more personal details about not just the free or cheap things we were doing but also the nitty-gritty of budgeting and figuring out tricky finances…it took off. I began calling it “the new frugal” and became known as “The Fun Cheap or Free Queen.” We also added child #2 to the mix, our sweet little Priya Jean.

After paying off the debt, we continued to hustle to build our savings back up. We found a deal-of-a-lifetime on a gorgeous short sale in a multi-million dollar neighborhood in Draper, UT. The neighborhood was waaaaay out of our league, but we hustled and fought patiently for the house. It took 12 months (and lots of paperwork - it was a double bankruptcy, a messy divorce, and had over ten liens on the house that we had to settle) to secure and close on it. It was a deal worth being patient for. With investment help from my parents, we moved in and fixed it up. We couldn’t sell our townhome for a profit yet because of the 2008 crash, so we rented it for several years while we waited for the value to slowly climb back up.

We sold our short sale for a huge profit (after paying back my parent’s investment, which helped them retire early, woo hoo!), allowing us to move to our forever dream home nearby in Draper. It was another deal of a lifetime that had been on the market for years. What can we say — we love the ones with potential! Shortly after moving in, we added cute Mory, baby number 5 (in 6 years, yikes!), to our family.

With our savings goals being met, and after paying off our house, we continued living a frugal lifestyle (living off of tight budgets and making financial sacrifices) to work toward our next goal — buying a cabin we could use for work and play. We found a cabin that just SCREAMED, “Pages, buy me!” It was an abandoned dude ranch that had been on the market for 12 years. It had loads of potential (there’s that word again) and was extremely complicated. Perfect. We put in an offer and waited.

We added little McEwan Fisher to the family, evening us out with three boys and three girls. We also added my Productivity Boot Camp program and a line of productivity content and products to the Page Co mix, which took the world by storm and hasn’t slowed down since! My infamous Block Schedule System continues to go viral and has reshaped the productivity game for millions of mamas worldwide…which almost makes me as happy as cute little baby Mac’s thighs did back then.

After two years of ups, downs, frustrations, complications, scrimping, and saving, the cabin was finally ours! Aspen Hill Lodge was born, and (much-needed) renovations began. We have since used it for countless business retreats, family reunions, and weekends away in a country paradise. Follow our cabin journey with the Aspen Hill Lodge!

This was a BIG year! Not only were we surprised by a glorious global pandemic (sarcasm intended), but also surprised when our “last baby,” lucky number 7, actually became babies 7 AND 8! My dream of getting twins came to be as we welcomed Joss and Devereux to the world. They were healthy, adorable, and we were all instantly smitten.  

Also, in 2020, we aimed to help families across the globe pay off $1 million in debt with our million-dollar debt challenge. We felt the world could use some Freebs Nation encouragement in this time of financial worry and global unrest. And talk about blowing us out of the water! Not only did our community crush that $1 million goal within the first few days, but they ended up paying off over $102 million in debt in 2020. *CUE TEARS*

Shelf Cooking became an official household name as our Shelf Cooking Meal Plan Subscription and blog officially launched. Women everywhere started learning how to save money and cook better, making intentional meals to maximize their routines and resources. Meanwhile, Fun Cheap or Free Earned the 2021 Family Is Award for Best YouTube. Woohoo!

Bubba left Page Co in great hands with an amazing team as he moved on to start his next adventure. Keep an eye on his Instagram to see what he’s up to next!

We’re still shaking things up, changing and organizing the content to best serve our audience for the long haul. We’ve started a #RaisingCapableKids movement and have shared hundreds of free tips on the blog and videos, from genius ways to manage chores to lunch hacks for kids, DIY activities, and so much more! 

Bubba and I continue to live by the principles that started it all, even amidst financial success and (current, at least) stability. We are committed to proving that our budgeting, productivity, and shelf cooking principles work and are important to live by — whether you are in the “FD” or the abundant side of finances. We firmly attest that we are living the life of our dreams BECAUSE of our frugal living and budgeting techniques, not in spite of it. And you can too!

We’re still shaking things up, changing and organizing the content to best serve our audience for the long haul. We’ve started a #RaisingCapableKids movement and have shared hundreds of free tips on the blog and videos, from genius ways to manage chores to lunch hacks for kids, DIY activities, and so much more! 

Bubba and I continue to live by the principles that started it all, even amidst financial success and (current, at least) stability. We are committed to proving that our budgeting, productivity, and shelf cooking principles work and are important to live by — whether you are in the “FD” or the abundant side of finances. We firmly attest that we are living the life of our dreams BECAUSE of our frugal living and budgeting techniques, not in spite of it. And you can too!