Meet a Reader | Brandi from Montana

Hey there, everyone! We have a fresh meet-a-reader submission to enjoy today. 🙂 Brandi’s ranch life is wonderfully different than mine in many ways, but we do have some similarities (she’s a current college student too!)

Here’s Brandi:

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Hey! I’m Brandi, I am 42, I am married and we have two kids. My husband and I have been together for over 20 years, which blows my mind, darn near half of my life! It’s been a trip full of really high highs and really low lows, which makes the middle feel just right.

We live in central Montana, where my husband is a surveyor and works construction for the State of MT, but only until next spring, and I am a stay-at-home mom/rancher/student.

We manage my family’s ranch, where we run black angus cow/calf pairs and yearlings. We also sell, direct to consumer, grass fed & grass finished beef.

We do not have a website and can not ship, but if you’re local let me know if you’re interested!!

I attended Montana State University after HS and got my Masters of Architecture in 2005. I worked professionally at a firm in Billings, which is the largest city in the state, and the firm was one of the largest in the western US. I designed educational facilities: schools and libraries. It was the BEST job – designing for kids is so fun! However, I ‘retired’ from that career in late 2009, when I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter, Gracie.

I became a stay-at-home mom, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done was to leave such a defining career, but as life and maturity has shown, being a SAHM was the best and most amazing move.

My son Gunner, our rainbow baby, was born in 2012.

I am the rancher as my husband works a full-time job, that simply means that I do the day-to-day work. Day-to-day work on the ranch includes: feeding cows in the winter (snowy months, generally November through April), calving heifers (aiding the 1st time mothers) and the older cows in the spring; irrigating our hay fields and pivot, branding calves and trailing cows to summer grass in the late spring, haying – this is a huge job and the whole family works hard at this.

In the summer, the work involves checking cows and water and hauling hay as well as preparing for and bringing cows home in the fall, then shipping the calves (the ranch’s main income) in the late fall.

That is a very simplified list of tasks, but if you’d like more detail I can fill you in.

I need a creative outlet fairly often, so I also do a little freelance design work – generally private residences or small remodels. I also like to do little DIY projects, but sometimes I get stuck and then they sit… I really need to finish painting my kitchen cabinets! They are halfway done and it’s been 4 years.

The kids work alongside us on the ranch (in their pockets of free time). We feel that there are so many benefits to this type of lifestyle, namely: being connected to the land and knowing where your food comes from and the value of hard work.

This lifestyle also offers understanding, in a very real way, life and death – the death of a baby calf can be gut-wrenching because while it is a lost adorable little sweet baby, it’s also lost income; hard work – they have worked long 14+ hour days with us and they share in the profits.

Last but not least, this lifestyle teaches life skills – changing flat tires, adding/changing oil in pickups, driving tractors, backing up trailers, saving kittens, and so many more extraordinary opportunities. This type of lifestyle certainly isn’t for everyone but we love it.

My husband will retire from his job in the spring of 2025, so I entered the collegial game in January of 2023 and am pursuing my second masters, MATES – Masters of Arts in Teaching, English Secondary. Student teaching starts in just a few weeks, and I’m hoping it will lead to a job locally. I do trust that God has put me here on this path and that He will provide when the time comes.

Other things to know about me… I share your (Kristen’s) disgust for the purity movement from the 90s. I still have my ‘True Love Waits’ card in my Bible, and it’s basically a trigger for uncertainty & fear. I have faced and attempted to work through that purity culture ideal many times and it has affected how I have addressed sex with my own children.

My two favorite people: Gracie, who is now 14.5, LOVES volleyball, and Gunner,12, is a huge NFL/NBA fan, he likes to play basketball. We spend an inordinate amount of time engaged in sports; driving to and from practice & games, and watching.

2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?

I have been reading TFG for at least 14 years.

Right before I had Gracie I quit my job, and within a month the state legislature voted to cut overtime pay for state workers. So we went from a double income plus OT, to a single income in about 6 weeks. It was eye-opening to say the least.

I did manage to keep a fair standard of living and save up about $45,000 over 5-ish years to make a significant downpayment on a house when we moved to the ranch. My in-laws helped us out tremendously by allowing us to live in their rental property for $100 per month during those early years. That was the most significant assist to saving that much money.

My family has loved your pizza crust and chocolate pudding recipes for ages. There was a time when I had the pudding recipe memorized.

3. How did you get interested in saving money?

I have always been frugal – maybe a better word is cheap, I don’t know. Even when I was a kid I would put things back and always want but would never ask for things and certainly not buy them! I have a fairly twisted relationship with money and I’m not entirely sure why. My family was quite comfortable when I was a kid, and I have never really ‘wanted’.

But I have to be careful to not martyr myself when it comes to purchasing necessities and extras. I have worked quite hard to not pass that part of my personality on to my kids.

4. What’s the “why” behind your money-saving efforts?

My ‘why’ has always been that I do not like debt.

Currently, the only debt that we have are our house and my new student loans, which I have worked to keep minimal.

Fortunately, we have very generous local scholarships for college students, even the very non-traditional ones. All of our vehicles were purchased with cash, they are all at least 12 years old but run great! We wouldn’t have student loans but the economy is crushing our dollar and we can’t cash flow as much as I’d like.

I also LOVE to be generous. Being able to give makes my heart so happy.

5. What’s your best frugal win?

My best frugal win is probably just my family’s lifestyle. We are quite rural, 80 miles to the nearest shopping options. Sure, Amazon still gets me sometimes, but just being away from impulse purchases is so good for saving money.

Also, we have to eat at home… there aren’t any take-out places even remotely available.

Also, we do eat our own beef. I truly don’t know how people make their food budgets work when they have to purchase meat at a grocery store, it is so expensive! But, I look at how much Kristin cooks, and I understand it’s for her and her daughter (sometimes) and I think that my daughter could eat all of both of those helpings… so maybe my people just eat a lot!!

My husband is my other win – I can not imagine the daily strain of having to try to manage finances with someone who was completely counter or unwilling to communicate about money.

We don’t communicate as much as we probably should because he truly trusts me when it comes to any financial decisions. He is more of a natural spender and I am a natural saver, so he does pull me out of my shell and encourage me to have more fun.

6. What’s an embarrassing money mistake you’ve made?

Oh gosh, this is old.

When I was in college AOL would send out cds for internet service. You had to download the program off of the cd, then put in your debit card info and then you plugged into your phone jack and had internet.

Apparently, I did not fully understand the ramifications of putting my debit card info in because I ended up overdrafting my account and not even being able to use the internet because it was so slow.

I didn’t know that it had overdrafted until I went to the ATM where I had a negative balance because it had been auto-drafting for a couple of months. I had to open an investigation and ended up getting all of the fees and such recouped. Such an embarrassing situation!

7. What’s one thing you splurge on?

Fuel.

Our kids are in sports 6 days a week and we live 25 miles, one way, from the school. We drive a minimum of 50 miles per day, M – Thu, and Friday and Saturday are variable, could be practice, could be a home game, could be an away game, could be both of us driving different directions. Some of our away games are 3 hours away.

But, this is a short-term thing, we only have a little bit of time with our kids so we will do our best to make it amazing.

8. What’s one thing you aren’t remotely tempted to splurge on?

Anything aesthetic.

This is so contrary to where I was 20 years ago as a new designer (former architect). But now, nope. My house is a total mishmash of hand-me-down furniture and my clothes are very much geared towards my work.

I know the value in a dollar and it’s not worth it to buy decor or items that are only going to be beautiful for a few seasons. Find the things that you love and speak to you. Curating that collection that represents YOU is hard and takes time and looks crazy when you’re mid-process but when you look back – each item is special.

9. If $1000 was dropped into your lap today, what would you do with it?

I would put it on my school loans.

10. What’s the easiest/hardest part of being frugal?

Sometimes I just want to go shopping. I just want to leave the money stress behind. I want to be irresponsible and crazy and make my (and my kids) wildest dreams come true.

11. Is there anything unique about frugal living in your area?

The rural nature of it.

12. What frugal tips have you tried and abandoned?

Ugghhh… like so many others, couponing. I used to print coupons and try to keep them organized, but then my printer got old, and it wouldn’t print the barcode clearly enough to scan it.

So, now I use Ibotta. That’s it, it’s pretty easy. I ‘save’ at least $200 per year that I use towards Christmas gifts.

13. What single action or decision has saved you the most money over your life?

While it was not a decision that I knew I was making or consciously thought through… Not having to take out massive student loans the first time I went to college. I went to Montana State – go Bobcats! – where I spent 5 years and received my Masters of Architecture.

I received a full tuition waiver the first year, which was non-renewable (sadly), but I also received a few Pell grants and local scholarships in the preceding years.

The biggest key to my financial success during college was that my dad cash flowed 50% of my undergrad. I worked all through college as a hostess and waitress and paid for my lifestyle bills in undergrad, but he paid for my rent, books, and tuition.

I cash flowed a semester in Europe and laptop purchase including drafting software (which in the early 2000’s, laptops were $$$) through selling some stock that my grandparents had set aside for me for the purpose of college expenses. I did have to pay my way through grad school and did take out a small $4,000 loan for that, which was one year.

I only remember calling my mom one time to ask for money. Otherwise, I went without or worked an extra shift. My mom did help me pay off that grad school student loan when I was just out of school. I was very fortunate that my parents were in a position to help me so much.

14. What is something you wish more people knew?

I wish more people knew where their food came from. We sell beef to locals and it is the best meat you can buy and it is cheap! It’s a big financial commitment at the time and does require saving up, but on the whole it’s cheaper to buy from a rancher/farmer than the store.

We sell whole, half or quarters of beef, all grass-fed and finished. Free range, cage-free (lol), sustainably raised, and no antibiotics. We welcome all of the people who purchase from us to come out to the ranch, see the calves, and spend some time seeing what we do and how we do it. I have even sent videos and pictures to purchasers saying ‘Here’s your steer, he’s being turned out on green grass!’

Knowing where your food comes from, and the people who produce it is so powerful.

It may be difficult to find a local producer but I encourage you to do it. They are happy to meet you and answer questions. Facebook and Instagram are full of producers who will ship.

However, those small boxes are expensive. If you can try to save up some money and buy a quarter of a beef or half of a pig. You will be surprised at how much better the meat quality is, except for maybe bacon. IMHO, store-bought bacon is always better.

But seriously, try to find someone local, or a co-op that sells local products, you will not regret it!

15. How has reading the Frugal Girl changed you?

Like many others, I keep coming back for Kristen!!

Your willingness to be content has helped me to stay in that mindset as well. I recently, about 12 months ago, entered the world of Instagram, and man it is easy to want when that is what you’re looking at.

But knowing that there are other like-minded people out there who know that things do not make you happy, helps me to tamp down those feelings of FOMO.

16. Which is your favorite type of post at the Frugal Girl and why?

Oh my gosh, I LOVED the StitchFix posts. Those were a bit ago, but I’ll never forget the squirrel sweater.

I appreciate the ‘day in the life’ posts. It’s interesting to see how time is spent, and hard to track my own terrible time management habits!

17. Did you ever receive any financial education in school or from your parents?

Not really. In 5th grade my teacher taught us about checkbooks, rent and such by creating little checkbooks for us and charging us rent for our desks. Now we hardly write checks!

My husband introduced me to Dave Ramsey, I still subscribe to many of those ideas. But I hardly listen to him anymore.

18. Do you have any tips for frugal travel or vacations?

We don’t travel. My husband doesn’t like to leave Central MT, and honestly, we can’t afford it. We are a single-income family, my husband’s income. The ranch income that we receive is minimal and quite sporadic – not monthly or even annual.

Well, there’s a snapshot into Central Montana. This summer it’s been quite dry and we’ve had terrible grasshoppers. Praying for a great fall and heavy calves. Thank you Kristen!

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Brandi, I really enjoyed reading about your Montana life. The skies you have out there are so beautiful! I love that your kids are learning such practical skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

I chuckled at your AOL disc story; I remember those days. And I smiled at your coupon answer too; so many of us here are used-to-be couponers!

I assume once you are working as a teacher, you’ll have fewer hours to put in on the ranch, but your husband will have more. Will you guys sorta swap working roles at that point?

Lastly: you have such lovely eyes!

Readers, the floor is yours.