Top 10 Articles on Frugal Asian Finance in 2021

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Another year is coming to an end. Sometimes I feel like we just celebrated Christmas and New Year not too long ago. And now there’s a new round of celebration.

The thought of starting a new year, however, to me is both exciting and sad. It’s exciting because we will have a new beginning. And it’s sad because there will no longer be holiday festivity and paid time off in a couple of weeks.

As 2021 is coming to an end, I would like to take this time to put together a list of the top 10 most frequently read articiles on Frugal Asian Finance in 2021.

The results might surprise you since a lot of the articles have little or nothing to do with finance. The most popular posts are about living and dealing with relationships and family dynamics in an Asian household.

1. The Pros & Cons Of Living With In-laws

My in-laws came all the way from China to help us take care of both of our kids. I lived with them for two years. And at the time of writing this article, my in-laws just arrived from China two months ago and will be staying with us for another 10 months.

In the article, I describe the benefits and challenges of living with the in-laws, which seems to be common among Asian households. Over the years, I have learned important lessons about how to live with the in-laws, which I hope to share in a future post.

2. The Pros & Cons Of Our Dual-Income Family

Both Mr. FAF and I work full-time. That comes with both benefits and challenges for us as a married couple and parents of two kids.

3. The Pros & Cons Of Our Intercultural Marriage

I am Vietnamese, and my husband is Chinese. Although we are both Asian, we have had multiple episodes of culcutural, language, and personality clash.

4. How We Manage Our Rental Property Out of State

This is a guest post from Julie at Millennial Boss. In the article, Julie talkes about the art of being an out-of-state landlord.

5. 6 Financial Expectations In Asian Families

In the early posts where I discussed the expectation of the husband’s family to buy a home for the newlyweds, a lot of readers were taken aback. I decided to write this post to describe the different expectations that we have for sons, daughters, parents, and grandparents in an Asian family.

6. 10 Expensive Things Worth Buying

I like making, saving, and investing money. It’s almost like an obsession sometimes. But one thing I don’t really like is spending money. I always want to look for a good deal and inexpensive items that won’t leave a hole in my budget. However, sometimes an expensive item is totally worth buying given the long-term benefits.

7. 3 Reasons Why I Love Instant Noodles

Growing up, I ate a lot of instant noodles. It could be because our family was poor, and instant noodles were the one quick, yummy, and cheap food we always had at home. But even know when we make more money, Mr. FAF and I still eat instant noodles every once in a while. It’s also a quick meal when we don’t want to cook anything and just want to have something yummy to fill our stomach.

8. What To Do When Your Spouse Wants To Travel Alone

One time Mr. FAF wanted to travel by himself and didn’t ask me to join him. I was so upset at the time. But as we grew as a couple, I realized that it’s important for us to have alone time to reflect on ourselves and just to take a break from each other.

9. How To Deal with Roommates Who Have Mental Illness

Mental health issues are challenging to discuss. But I wanted to describe my experience of living with a roommate who had schizophrenia in case someone might find it helpful.

I was so lost as to what to do at the time and was too timid to bring it up with friends and family. Fortunately, the situation got resolved. But it got me thinking about how I should address and deal with others who have mental health issues.

10. We Just Put $15,000 Towards Our Mortgage Principal. And This Is What Happened.

Mr. FAF and I have paid off our mortage. This is one of the biggest financial goals we have accomplished after we got married. After Mr. FAF got his first job, we put his sign-on bonus and our disposable income that month to work, and we observed some interesting outcomes.

Conclusion

That is a wrap-up of our top 10 most popular articles on the blog. A lot of the articles above are about family and were written a couple of years ago. But I think they are still often read these days since the topics are evergreen and the lessons learned are still relevant to a lot of folks.

I wish you all a happy holiday season. Off to a new year in 2022!

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