Meet Crystal of Money Saving Mom!

[silvia]

Apparently Crystal is heading to Harrisburg, PA for the Relevant conference and is hosting a reader meetup on Oct. 28: moneysavingmom.com/2011/10/money-saving-mom%C2%AE-reader-meet-up-in-harrisburg-pa-october-28-2011.html

I have to be honest, I'd consider going if I were anywhere near Harrisburg. As a former blog-stalker of Crystal's from her Biblical Womanhood days, I was fascinated by how she managed to fit herself so seamlessly into the patriarchy framework -- all while doing things no submissive wife would ordinarily be able to do, like running a six-figure (?) blogging business from home. Crystal was a dyed-in-the-wool Christian extremist the likes of which I had never seen. Still, her natural smarts and savvy were always evident, and it was obvious that if she could find a way to channel them, she would do great things.

I'm also curious how much, if at all, her QF/P religious views have evolved since the Biblical Womanhood era. Crystal did stop by FJ at one point and graciously apologized for having acted religiously judgmental in the past (this is the old thread where she piped in: http://freejinger.yuku.com/topic/2392/B ... o_ch0_-Lhc , page 12), but she did so in sort of a vague way that left me wondering to what extent she has actually escaped fundamentalism. If she truly has journeyed far away from legalism, she could influence a lot of people for the better by telling her story. If someone goes to the meetup, try to bring up the topic over some Starbucks. :)

And this is completely superficial, but I really wish Crystal would go back to her natural brunette hair color, or at least closer to it. Homegirl has such pale skin (I can identify, trust me) that those light blond highlights wash her right out, making her look peaked and older than her true age. She needs the dark(er) hair to give her face some contrast. She is really quite pretty naturally, she just needs to leave the hair and eyebrows well enough alone.

ETA before and after hair pics:

Before: http://www.ufollow.com/authors/crystal.paine/ Just lovely.

After: 2.bp.blogspot.com/_EPfOZnwoB28/TMXBR1yIOMI/AAAAAAAABqE/cfGujtBInmw/s1600/relevant10.jpg Eeeeek. Put away the peroxide!

[persuaded]

I'm actually going to be there too! I'll have to make a point of saying hello to her.... Silvia, shall I tell her you loved her as a brunette? :D

[starfish]

Wow. I'm jealous. And I expect a full report back of everything! No detail is too small!!!

P.S. Ask her about the Botkins.

[silvia]

Yes, definitely say hi to her! (Also, do we know what Crystal's fundamentalist lineage was -- Gothard, ATI, or something else? Her family obviously came from a legalistic tradition, but I could never figure out exactly which one.)

[Oddeverything]

Interesting. I just read a few of her posts and she was not the utter disappointment I expected. This post especially was good: moneysavingmom.com/2010/10/qa-tuesday-is-it-possible-to-save-money-when-were-barely-keeping-our-head-above-water.html

That was some good, compassionate advice that offered genuine help while not engaging in blame or over Jesus-ing everything. Additionally, she didn't include any sniveling to the headship. Rather, she told the woman exactly what she could do aside from praying and playing the girlie helpmeet. I may have to read her some more just to see if my initial good impression is borne out.

[silvia]

Oddeverything, I agree -- I think Crystal has come a long way from her overly-judgmental Biblical Womanhood days, at least in the way she expresses herself online. What I'm not sure of is whether she's genuinely become less judgmental or whether she just wants to appear so in order not to alienate MSM readers. I hope it's the former, of course.

[hoipolloi]

The religion has definitely been toned down in the MSM website, compared to Crystal's original blog, Biblical Womanhood.

On the other hand, she & Jesse seem to make regular pilgrimages to VF events, like the film festival. Wonder how that all stacks up.

[starfish]

Perhaps it's a "Tale of Two Crystals".

Her husband did graduate from a real college and attend law school. Now he's practicing law around all kinds of unsavory individuals. Maybe they are ok with mingling with the real world. And they went on a cruise! Definetly not Doug Phillips-approved.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Actually it's perfectly fine for her to run a business from home as long as her husband approves of it!

[sillysally314]

crap, i live minutes for harrisburg. tell me more about her. :lol:

[silvia]

sillysally, there's some good background on Crystal on a couple of threads on the old board: check out http://freejinger.yuku.com/topic/5376/C ... pM8k3G5g7A and http://freejinger.yuku.com/topic/2392/B ... pM9CHG5g7A.

Basically, Crystal is a homeschooler from an uber-fundamentalist Kansas family who married young to Jesse Paine, a former Patrick Henry College attendee and currently a lawyer in private practice, I believe. Crystal used to write a blog called Biblical Womanhood that was sort of the apotheosis of all stay-at-home wife blogs, complete with plenty of legalism and preachy "this is how you should behave in order to be a virtuous Proverbs 31 woman"-type advice. A couple of years ago, she shuttered the Biblical Womanhood blog without much explanation and has now turned her energies to moneysavingmom.com, which has since become one of the most popular deal blogs on the Internet. Since becoming a more mainstream blogger (with a frugal-living book in the works), she has seemingly tried to avoid discussing the specifics of her religious beliefs and has stated (on Free Jinger, of all places) that she regrets much of what she wrote on Biblical Womanhood.