This post is featured in the Festival of Frugality.

One of my hobbies over the years has been genealogy. I did quite a bit of research and compilation on my family tree from 1990 to 1999.

I had an easy time working on family heritage books when I picked up on scrapbooking in 2000 because the family names, dates, stories and a lot of photos were already in my paper and computer archives.

My daughter also has been tasked with, in almost all of her foreign language classes, to give a report on her family. Because the family tree database is in my computer, she’ll ask me for stories, photos and other details when those projects come up. One such homework presentation for a college class was due today. A couple of weeks ago, I sent her a bunch of database charts and downloads via email; and I answered follow-up questions and sent two more photos last night once she had decided which family branch to focus on.

A family tree assignment is a practical way for language students to practice everyday words such as sister, brother, grandma, aunt, cousin; how to say what someone’s occupation is; and how to say where your family is from. And because we had the information easily accessible, she didn’t have to stumble around on those homework projects.

So how does genealogy and frugal living relate to each other?

Genealogy fits the description of a hobby that takes a lot of time, but not a lot of money.

I started building up my family tree during my single parent days. You start by filling out the charts or the computer database with the information that you already know, then ask your immediate relatives what else they can fill in. I was also lucky in that we had family tree reports available from previous researchers that took the lines back several generations on some of my great-grandparents’ branches. All I had to do was fill in the blanks.

Your early research takes a good bit of time and not a lot of money besides getting a binder and some forms; or, I highly recommend getting some genealogy software to keep the records. I was given my first family tree software as a Christmas present in 1992. I didn’t have a home computer at the time, but my mother did.

During the late 1990s, I used some of my vacation days to spend time at the research and local history libraries in northwest Ohio and also the Fort Wayne Public Library in Fort Wayne, Ind. Yes, an overnight trip for research can cost some money. But I would always have a checklist of items to look up when I was on the out-of-town trips. I made those visits worth my time.

A lot of genealogy and historic records information can be easily found on the Internet now. But you have to pay for access to some of those databases. Don’t sign up for the subscriptions unless you have the time to poke through the resources, and have maxed out the information you already have accessible.

I don’t have enough free time these days to make a genealogy subscription worth the expense. That’s OK. Genealogy is a project that can easily be put aside for awhile, and then picked back up whenever you want. That’s another reason it’s a frugal hobby.

There’s another reason to consider genealogy as a frugal hobby, and it has to do with learning about ethnic foods and cultural traditions.

A lot of foods that our ancestors ate were based on whatever was cheap and easily accessible on their farms or from hunting. Some of those menus are expensive or difficult to replicate now, but not all of them are. If you learn how to make some of those foods, you’ve added some frugal dishes to your own family’s diet.

And cultural or historical traditions for holidays and birthdays can be frugal replacements for the more commercial celebrations that are commonly observed today. You don’t have to stop celebrating Christmas and Easter. You can, however, revive long-ago holiday traditions from your family’s ethnic heritage, and therefore divert the attention away from piles of toys and spendy entertainment.

P.S. for my Michigan and Ohio readers: The Genealogical Society of Monroe County is holding its annual spring seminar March 27 at Monroe County Community College in Monroe, Mich. The vendor room usually features a lot of supplies and resource books for both beginners and advanced researchers. This year’s workshop topics include “Major Midwestern Archives and their Records”.