WHO or WHAT is "The Thrifty Peanut"???

A very good question, and one that we get asked quite often, usually right after "Do you sell peanuts?" And the answer is "No, we do not sell peanuts", and this is how I got this quirky little name...

My real name is Jeanne McLaughlin, and my husband's name is Jason. Many years ago, my husband gave me the nickname "Peanut" as a term of endearment (at least I think it was). He tells me that the name is because of my small size, and because I can be a little nutty at times, that the name just fits me like an old comfortable boot. Or, as he puts it, "underneath that small shell, there ain't nothin' but a couple of loose nuts"... Whatever his reasons were, the name stuck.

My husband and I were married on Sept. 13, 1991, and strangely enough, it was a Friday. We have been blessed with six wonderful children, and two more waiting for us in heaven. We only have ONE girl in the mix, and yes, she has learned very quickly to take up for herself amongst all of these boys... Call it fate, destiny, or whatever, my husband and I are about as close as you can get to a "perfect match". I say that because, among many things that we compliment each other on, he is NOT known for being a very thrifty person, whereas I am by nature the "ultimate in thriftiness" as my husband likes to say. We are a close-knit, Christian family. We home schooled our children for 9 years, and as a result, being thrifty seems at times to be a necessity in today's world - especially with this many children!

My husband is an engineer, and believe me, it shows in the way he approaches almost every situation he encounters. I am a stay at home mom/wife, and in the fall of 2002, I started a little side business to earn a little extra money to help pay our bills and possibly afford to put a few of our boys on the local swim team. When I first began, my husband just rolled his eyes at me, but I was determined that, fail or succeed, I was going to at least try. My husband helped me learn some basic computer and internet skills (still rolling his eyes at the idea), and turned me loose on his computer. I started out by finding things I thought would sell on eBay - my first attempt was very successful, and even made my husband stop rolling his eyes at the idea. At first, he thought it was nothing more than a fluke, and challenged me to do it again. My second and subsequent third attempts were also successful, and even got his FULL attention! As time passed, and because I am a HUGE book lover at heart, I began to find and sell more and more books. Again, this is one of those areas where my husband and I compliment each other - I am absolutely horrible at getting and staying organized, and by the time I had an inventory of only 400 books, it was sometimes taking me hours to find a book I had sold. In stepped my knight in shining armor (my husband), and fixed up a system of shelving to keep my inventory organized...

It was during this start-up phase that both of us were trying to think of a catchy name we could call this growing little enterprise, and we had actually started out calling it "Peanut's Stuff" when I was selling on eBay. One day, I was in my kitchen putting a piece of tape on a small tear in a plastic Wal-Mart sack so that I could use it for something (see, I told you I was thrifty), when my husband walked in and saw what I was doing. After observing me for a minute, he asked me why in the world I would attempt to tape up a sack like this instead of just getting another one - it was just a Wal-Mart sack, after all. I told him I didn't know, that it was just in my nature to try and use something as much as possible. At that point, he grabbed the sack from my hands (inserted a joke about being nutty again) and threw it away! He looked at me with a bewildered look and made a simple statement, "THRIFTY LITTLE PEANUT". And that was it - my new little enterprise had a name...

In case you haven't noticed my logo art on the different pages of my website, the girl is actually a caricature of me, and the different squirrels represent our six children. If you like the art work, you can visit the artists' website HERE. His name is Curtis Tucker, and my husband hired him to draw all of the logo work you see on our site, and we both love the work he has done. If you have a job that requires an artists' touch, I highly recommend him!

If you're hungry for more 411 on The Thrifty Peanut, please take a moment to visit our Photo Gallery to see our online photo album of me, my husband, and all the kids... I'm Peanut, I LOVE hunting for bargains, and the best part of bargain finding is passing on the savings to my customer!