Speaker 1: Episode four ninety two, Why minimalism is the key to
Speaker 1: financial wellness.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: minimalism and your finances.
Speaker 3: A lot of the articles on the internet about this
Speaker 3: topic have to do with how to be minimalist in
Speaker 3: your finances, and that's a topic too, and that's worth
Speaker 3: talking about. It's not entirely what we're talking about here though, today,
Speaker 3: more so how the practices of minimalism can also benefit
Speaker 3: our finances. So a really specific look at it, and
Speaker 3: we think we found some good content to explore together.
Speaker 3: But first, this episode is brought to you by Take
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Speaker 3: based spending course with everything you need to get good
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Speaker 3: time to your money, to your physical spaces, natural resources, food,
Speaker 3: all of the things that we spend on and impact
Speaker 3: our money. It's going to look at meal planning. Have
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Speaker 1: One word that won't even be where it lives forever.
Speaker 1: It's just where it lives for now. So all right,
Speaker 1: let's talk about minimalism, which would be a topic in
Speaker 1: the course, and so we'll kind of dive into a
Speaker 1: little overview of what that would be in today's episode.
Speaker 1: If this is something you're interested in, then episode four
Speaker 1: thirty four Minimalism for Families with Don Madson is a
Speaker 1: fantastic apt episode. Don is kind of like the picture
Speaker 1: of relatability when it comes to minimalism for moms. It's
Speaker 1: she is fantastic. We did a book club a few
Speaker 1: years ago with four Minimalism and Simple Living Books. That's
Speaker 1: episode three sixty six. And then episode two sixty six
Speaker 1: Sustainable Minimalism with Stephanie Sepirion, another really great interview. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about minimalism specifically as it relates to financial wellness.
Speaker 3: So this article comes from Jewles A Cree. It's titled
Speaker 3: how a minimalist mindset impacts My financial Wellness.
Speaker 4: And this is a little.
Speaker 3: Bit of a departure from some of our even typical
Speaker 3: types of articles that we explore a lot very holistic,
Speaker 3: which you know, we love to talk about that, but
Speaker 3: I really love the ways that she identifies how this
Speaker 3: minimalist mindset is impacting her financial life and wellness. She
Speaker 3: just lists five things, but I like them, so we're
Speaker 3: going to go through all five of them. The first
Speaker 3: one is in her words, I reclaimed my power.
Speaker 1: Yes, I like those words, and she.
Speaker 3: References how unlearning consumerism has really helped her in this process,
Speaker 3: that as she's gone towards a more minimalist approach, not
Speaker 3: needing as much, recognizing that she doesn't want to be
Speaker 3: purchasing everything that she sees or everything that she's been
Speaker 3: told to purchase, or even fueled by the words sale
Speaker 3: discount bogo, that she has increased her own confidence in
Speaker 3: what she actually wants and an ability to say no,
Speaker 3: I actually don't need that, recognizing that retail therapy is
Speaker 3: only a temporary fix and maybe even a little bit
Speaker 3: more of a distraction. And so she's describing how it's
Speaker 3: creating confidence to honor her own personal style, align her
Speaker 3: spending with her values. Does that sound familiar? Not just
Speaker 3: buying for the sake of buying, not finding identity and
Speaker 3: belongings and really being able to make conscious decisions about
Speaker 3: the clothes that she wears, the things that she's purchasing,
Speaker 3: being able to make better choices, And so I think
Speaker 3: as it relates to minimalism, it's not about never buying anything,
Speaker 3: but it is certainly the opposite of over consumption, which
Speaker 3: is the world in which we currently find ourselves in,
Speaker 3: and certainly a world that says you must spend money
Speaker 3: in order to solve your problems. And it's allowing us
Speaker 3: that space to slow down and actually look at what
Speaker 3: is important to me, what matters. Can I put some
Speaker 3: space in between me and pulling out my credit card
Speaker 3: and asking myself some of these questions and feeling more
Speaker 3: confident about the purchasing decisions that I end up making.
Speaker 3: That when we aren't so accustomed to collecting, buying, impulse spending,
Speaker 3: that then we can even have opportunities to get more
Speaker 3: and more connected to the things that matter to us,
Speaker 3: how we actually meet those needs. And in the end,
Speaker 3: we feel a lot more powerful in the midst of that.
Speaker 3: Saying no is so powerful. When we can feel confident
Speaker 3: about those no's, we can feel so emboldened in those decisions.
Speaker 1: I love the way she said this because in capitalism,
Speaker 1: the way that you interact your money is your power,
Speaker 1: and the amount of money you have is essentially the
Speaker 1: amount of power you have. And when you can and
Speaker 1: make informed knows to consumerism, to buying things that corporations
Speaker 1: want you to buy, you practice power and you retain power.
Speaker 1: And so it can in a world where you can
Speaker 1: feel helpless and there is so much out of your control,
Speaker 1: minimalism and frugality it truly helps you feel like you
Speaker 1: have some semblance of control. It is a small way
Speaker 1: to have control, and it's an empowering way, I think.
Speaker 1: So the next one is she says, I'm in tune
Speaker 1: with my core values, and you know, we love this one.
Speaker 1: She says, being trendy isn't my priority, but feeling good
Speaker 1: is when you're feeling good on the inside, the outside
Speaker 1: will follow. I value and prioritize inner nourishment instead anything
Speaker 1: over anything by investing in high quality real food. I
Speaker 1: think that may be a typo, but she prioritizes high
Speaker 1: quality real food and non toxic cleaning and skincare products.
Speaker 1: So when you are and we say a lot that
Speaker 1: frugality isn't about wanting less, but wanting different. And I
Speaker 1: think as women were marketed to as we should make
Speaker 1: ourselves as small as possible. We should spend as little
Speaker 1: as possible, and then we're looking for ways to find
Speaker 1: identity and to find purpose. So that has evolved into
Speaker 1: how can I get as much as possible for as
Speaker 1: little as possible, And that's why we have this over
Speaker 1: consumption of cheap stuff without truly knowing our identity, without
Speaker 1: truly knowing what we value. And when you take away
Speaker 1: the stuff, when your identity and your power is no
Speaker 1: longer in how much stuff can I get for as
Speaker 1: little as possible, we stop chasing the deal. It's not
Speaker 1: about getting the best deal or getting the most cupons
Speaker 1: or whatever. We stop being proud of that, and we
Speaker 1: start being proud of knowing who we are and what
Speaker 1: we value and getting as much of that as possible
Speaker 1: because most of the time it's not going to cost money.
Speaker 3: It really is amazing. How I mean, for me, I
Speaker 3: would consider myself minimalist. We know that there's a spectrum
Speaker 3: to that, there's no one exact definition, but in having
Speaker 3: less not purchasing as often, there really is a correlation,
Speaker 3: sometimes not even with a ton of effort on my part,
Speaker 3: where I am better able to know what's actually important
Speaker 3: and prioritize those things like what do I I actually
Speaker 3: want to be spending my money on. Because I'm not
Speaker 3: as distracted by all of the things I currently have
Speaker 3: or all of the things that I could have. I'm
Speaker 3: so much more aware of, well, how good are my
Speaker 3: knives working for me? Their work and just fine because
Speaker 3: I put a lot of research into that and got
Speaker 3: good quality and spend time sharpening them occasionally. So the
Speaker 3: fact that I have quality over quantity and I feel
Speaker 3: really good about the things that I already have, it
Speaker 3: makes me less likely to purchase more and more in
Speaker 3: tune with the things that I know are really mattering
Speaker 3: to me, so that that correlation can't be understated. I
Speaker 3: think between whatever minimalism looks like for us, this kind
Speaker 3: of aim at under consumption, the way that that intersects
Speaker 3: with deeper identification of core values is so strong. The
Speaker 3: next thing that they list on here is that it
Speaker 3: creates opportunity to invest in our futures. So for her specifically,
Speaker 3: she's talking about how minimalism has given her space and
Speaker 3: even the funds to be able to fully fund an
Speaker 3: emergency fund, have some fun money, have savings and retirement
Speaker 3: and other investing accounts, but also what she can do
Speaker 3: with some of the time that she has as a
Speaker 3: result of not spending so much time buying or maintaining
Speaker 3: or cleaning or fixing all of the things that she
Speaker 3: already owns, but being able to now invest in new
Speaker 3: learning opportunities, connecting with other women. For her, it's specifically
Speaker 3: about finances learning more about investing strategies, but I think
Speaker 3: I would extrapolate that out further to say that it
Speaker 3: can create more time to invest in community and relationships
Speaker 3: and groups and volunteer efforts that and hobbies that are
Speaker 3: meaningful to you. That could mean a run club, It
Speaker 3: could mean a group that enjoys nature walks. It could
Speaker 3: mean a book club or a trivia night that you
Speaker 3: can now engage in and maybe even look for more
Speaker 3: of these opportunities because again, our stuff isn't taking up
Speaker 3: as much time. But then also being able to really
Speaker 3: identify what are the ways that I can put this
Speaker 3: money towards both things that I enjoy now as well
Speaker 3: as in the future. Is it travel with family, is
Speaker 3: it really wanting to make sure that retirement looks great
Speaker 3: for you? Is it investing in your kids' college funds?
Speaker 4: Whatever? That means I think we.
Speaker 3: Can find a bit of margin in our money when
Speaker 3: minimalism is present.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love how Jules is not a personal finance influencer,
Speaker 1: but this, like, this skill that she's gained in minimalism
Speaker 1: has helped a free up financial capital for her to
Speaker 1: save and invest, but also encouraged her and inspired her
Speaker 1: to master a different skill because of her capabilities with
Speaker 1: this first one. So like good habits stack on top
Speaker 1: of each other, when we try to get really good
Speaker 1: at a lot of things at once, we get good
Speaker 1: at nothing. But when we are working on one thing
Speaker 1: at a time, or very few things at a time,
Speaker 1: which is essentially goal minimalism, when we create this mentality
Speaker 1: of minimalism, then we can see more growth in a
Speaker 1: shorter amount of time, and that seeps in over time.
Speaker 1: So I think that's really encouraging. And yeah, and then
Speaker 1: also just the obvious, like when you are buying less stuff,
Speaker 1: you have more money to invest, which is why we
Speaker 1: did not write a book about investing, even though we
Speaker 1: are super passionate about it and believe that all women
Speaker 1: should be investing, no matter if your partner is investing
Speaker 1: or you know you've got kids, married, single whatever. Every
Speaker 1: woman should have their own at minimum roth ira and
Speaker 1: be investing in that, have money in that. But we
Speaker 1: realize that you can't do that without margin. You can't
Speaker 1: do that if you're spending everything you make, or if
Speaker 1: you're not creating a plan to invest. And so I
Speaker 1: just believe that, at least for me, when fewer things
Speaker 1: are important, the things that are truly important can shine through,
Speaker 1: like saving and investing. Next, she says, I up leveled
Speaker 1: my efficiency. Minimalism has taught me to spend my time
Speaker 1: where it matters and do what I can to streamline
Speaker 1: the rest. So this is such a touchy topic in
Speaker 1: frugality because a lot of the times this involves hiring
Speaker 1: out things. So whether it be cleaning or laundry or
Speaker 1: what have you. And so she says, repetitive time sucking
Speaker 1: task can be outsourced or delegated. So maybe that's you, like,
Speaker 1: maybe that is something you're doing, or maybe it's something small,
Speaker 1: like you are paying for a meal planning service, and
Speaker 1: that's obviously like fourteen dollars a month versus one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars a month for like cleaning. Right, you're
Speaker 1: still getting a task off your plate, and you are
Speaker 1: saving that time at a much lower price point. So
Speaker 1: that's just one of the things we get so caught
Speaker 1: up in frugality that we think doing it for the
Speaker 1: cheapest possible and doing everything yourself is the best way
Speaker 1: to do things. When that is inaccurate. When we take
Speaker 1: a more minimalist approach, then we value our time more
Speaker 1: and we want to do less. And so I would
Speaker 1: just challenge you to think of the places in your
Speaker 1: life that you really hate doing these repetitive tasks. They
Speaker 1: take a lot from you, and think of ways that
Speaker 1: you can get some of that time back, even maybe
Speaker 1: it's cleaning. Maybe it's not hiring, Maybe hiring cleaner is
Speaker 1: not the answer, but maybe it's something in between.
Speaker 4: That's the thing.
Speaker 3: I am totally here for paying for efficiency. I think
Speaker 3: that there is something to be said for that, and
Speaker 3: there are certainly seasons of life where that is something
Speaker 3: we really should have an eye on. But I can
Speaker 3: also attest to the fact that minimalism can create greater
Speaker 3: levels of efficiency in our finances and the rest of
Speaker 3: our lives, just as is, even without needing to buy
Speaker 3: ourselves efficiency. I mean, for me, I think the fact
Speaker 3: that my minimalism means I'm not collecting home decor or
Speaker 3: clothing or kind of any of these like ancillary things
Speaker 3: that I have been able to identify what is enough
Speaker 3: for me. Means that my budgeting is a lot more efficient.
Speaker 3: I'm not having as many spending categories. Looking out over
Speaker 3: my budget week to week doesn't take me as long.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: Also, just not owning as much makes my cleaning far
Speaker 3: more efficient. I'm not spending as much time cleaning, fixing things,
Speaker 3: maintaining things because I just don't have as much. So
Speaker 3: there are ways that minimalism just creates room for efficiency
Speaker 3: even if we aren't spending money towards it. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: there's also room for that. It's hilarious.
Speaker 1: I am still decluttering every six months different like toys, pantry, whatever,
Speaker 1: even though I am not consciously bringing a surplus in.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not buying toys for my kids every month.
Speaker 1: They just somehow come home with stuff all the time.
Speaker 1: I'm not over buying groceries, but sometimes a meal here
Speaker 1: and a meal there doesn't get made, and I have
Speaker 1: extra pantry stuff that I'm not accounting for, you know,
Speaker 1: like this stuff just happens. And so when you are
Speaker 1: focused on minimalism and having only what you truly value.
Speaker 1: You have to do that stuff less instead of like,
Speaker 1: you know, every couple months like they're doing on YouTube,
Speaker 1: organizing channels, like I'm only doing it, you know, twice
Speaker 1: a year, sometimes once if it's a very busy season.
Speaker 3: This last point is another one that is not often
Speaker 3: talked about, it certainly in the frugal space, but it
Speaker 3: is giving back this concept of generosity. And Jules mentions
Speaker 3: here that she's been able to reevaluate spending categories that
Speaker 3: not over consuming and being really aware and confident in
Speaker 3: what she is spending on is opening up opportunities to
Speaker 3: spend more in other areas that matter to her, whether
Speaker 3: that's contributing time or money. And I think that's a
Speaker 3: really important point to make, is that we can give
Speaker 3: back and we can be generous with all of our resources,
Speaker 3: not just our money, but sometimes money is the most
Speaker 3: helpful beneficial thing to other people and organizations. So being
Speaker 3: able to nourish another area of financial well being is
Speaker 3: making room for opportunities to be generous and give back.
Speaker 3: And that can mean being able to give to certain
Speaker 3: causes or individuals, but it can also mean I mean
Speaker 3: the ways in which we are conscious about how we're
Speaker 3: spending whether or not we're buying local, and the ways
Speaker 3: in which we're investing our money. She's even giving an
Speaker 3: example of like picking up trash when you see it,
Speaker 3: supporting a local farmers market in small business, donating time
Speaker 3: to help others in the organization, or your community, your friends,
Speaker 3: your family. And this really connects, i think, to really
Speaker 3: all of the four fs that we've talked about, and
Speaker 3: is deeply connected with values based spending of family, friends, faith,
Speaker 3: and fulfilling work. That really, generosity intersects with all of
Speaker 3: those categories where we are able to give back to
Speaker 3: family and friends or at least experience reciprocity. But even
Speaker 3: then that involves a giving an exchange of some sort,
Speaker 3: whether it's time or other resources. And of course it
Speaker 3: connects with our faith and fulfilling work if we are
Speaker 3: giving of our time to volunteer fiverts, or you know,
Speaker 3: our faith practices. Generosity can also be connected to various
Speaker 3: faith practices as well. So this is something that again
Speaker 3: really connected to minimalism when we are much more aware
Speaker 3: of how we can spend our time and money on
Speaker 3: the things that actually matter collecting less stuff or spending
Speaker 3: on things that just don't actually get us closer to
Speaker 3: our generous efforts, or time with family and friends. When
Speaker 3: we can kind of clear out all the different types
Speaker 3: of clutter, we can experience these benefits that are deeply
Speaker 3: rewarding on many levels in our lives and personhood. And
Speaker 3: you know what else is deeply beneficial to this podcast,
Speaker 3: to us in our week, you.
Speaker 1: Only catch one per episode because we've found that that
Speaker 1: is the perfect ratio of episode set meant the bill
Speaker 1: of the week.
Speaker 5: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 5: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 5: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 5: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 5: that bill anymore. That's bill Buffalo Bills, bill claim. This
Speaker 5: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 6: Hi, Jenny Jail. This name is Michelle from Leads in England.
Speaker 6: I just wanted to let you know about a bill
Speaker 6: of the week that I had, so it is my
Speaker 6: car payment. I have been listening to you for a
Speaker 6: few years now and I met up with the goal
Speaker 6: to pay off my car by the end of this year,
Speaker 6: which I have done. I have been back to finish
Speaker 6: that goal a little bit early, so I paid that
Speaker 6: final in October. So I'm just enjoying the extra money
Speaker 6: now in time of Christmas. So thank you very much
Speaker 6: for everything that you do and keep up the good work.
Speaker 1: Wow, so great, Michelle.
Speaker 3: Oh Michelle, it's so fun listening to your voice.
Speaker 4: Thanks for calling in from England. That's so fun.
Speaker 3: It's such a cool reminder that we've got listeners world wide.
Speaker 3: And how exciting that you paid off your car. You
Speaker 3: can tell we're a little bit behind on our Bill
Speaker 3: of the week because we're all so excited about the
Speaker 3: Bill of the week.
Speaker 4: We will get to your bill.
Speaker 3: It just can take us some time, but we'll still
Speaker 3: be equally as excited. First of all, I love that
Speaker 3: you achieved this goal. It's super exciting that you did
Speaker 3: it earlier than expected.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 3: And I also really appreciate how you're saying some of
Speaker 3: that extra money that you're now saving, like what you
Speaker 3: were putting towards this car can now go to other
Speaker 3: places and for you, that was more towards Christmas. And
Speaker 3: I'm just celebrating this because I think a lot of
Speaker 3: times once we pay off a debt or alone. We
Speaker 3: can think, Okay, well, now what's the best most efficient thing.
Speaker 1: I can now do with this money? Don't get another car?
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, but I do like the permission to spend
Speaker 3: it on something just fun as well as you know,
Speaker 3: whatever else you ended up doing now that Christmas is overus.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like a one time, once a year
Speaker 3: type of thing. But well done, having permission to spend
Speaker 3: more in an area that is super exciting to you,
Speaker 3: and congratulations.
Speaker 1: I also think this is a really good, like maybe
Speaker 1: inspiration for other people to pay off their car sooner,
Speaker 1: because maybe you're like, oh, no, if I pay off
Speaker 1: my car, I'm going to keep that as long as possible.
Speaker 1: And while you still have a car payment, it's easier
Speaker 1: to say, oh I can get another car. I just
Speaker 1: I'll always have a car payment, so I'll just get
Speaker 1: another car. But if you pay that car off and
Speaker 1: you stop having that car payment, maybe you're less likely
Speaker 1: to go get another car as quickly.
Speaker 3: And your overall transportation costs are going to be much
Speaker 3: lower throughout life. Really, the longer that you can stay
Speaker 3: in that paid off car, Well done, Michelle, Thanks for
Speaker 3: calling in.
Speaker 4: If you all listening.
Speaker 3: Have a bill that you want to submit, if it's
Speaker 3: a bill from another country other than the US, if
Speaker 3: it's about paying off a vehicle, if it's about paying
Speaker 3: off a debt, if it's about finding money somehow, some
Speaker 3: way that you're putting towards a luxury. If your name
Speaker 3: is Bill Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill, leave it
Speaker 3: for us, and now it's time for the lightning round.
Speaker 1: What's an area you struggle to maintain minimalism or identify
Speaker 1: you're enough or maybe where are you too minimalist? So
Speaker 1: my biggest struggle to maintain minimalism is in toys, which
Speaker 1: is hard because they're not my toys. I once made
Speaker 1: the mistake of giving away some toys did the thrift store.
Speaker 1: Wal Kai was in the car with me, and he
Speaker 1: broke down sobbing. He was like, I was gonna play
Speaker 1: with those toys, and I was like, well, you haven't
Speaker 1: for like six months. I've been hiding them and you
Speaker 1: haven't even noticed they were gone. I didn't tell them
Speaker 1: all that, But it's hard. It's a fine line to
Speaker 1: declutter toys, but it still has to be done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because if you can't have a ton of control
Speaker 3: of what comes into your house, who at least can
Speaker 3: have control.
Speaker 4: Of what goes out of it. But even then, once
Speaker 4: they've set.
Speaker 3: Eyes on what could be, it's hard to imagine life
Speaker 3: with less. Yeah, and isn't that just less than We
Speaker 3: all need to learn better to monitor what's coming in.
Speaker 3: But I understand as I think that's not always possible.
Speaker 1: If I was going to say an area i'm too minimalist,
Speaker 1: it might be kitchen gadgets, because I am a kitchen minimalist.
Speaker 1: But there are some things that I don't have, and
Speaker 1: I think cooking would be easier if I did have them,
Speaker 1: but I just refuse to get them because I don't
Speaker 1: want to cook.
Speaker 3: And I that was like when Eric, through the pandemic,
Speaker 3: was trying to get me like a legit desk setup,
Speaker 3: Like I know that this is not the most efficient
Speaker 3: way of having an office at home, but I want
Speaker 3: to be retired, so I don't want to invest in
Speaker 3: a better stuff like for you. I don't want to cook,
Speaker 3: so I don't want to invest in more efficient cooking.
Speaker 1: We didn't get an office for so long, or have
Speaker 1: like an actual studios, like we just didn't want too
Speaker 1: and it wasn't want to world. So there is such
Speaker 1: things too minimalist and you there's probably something in your life.
Speaker 1: Were you too minimalist?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I struggle to get control of mugs and.
Speaker 4: Travel bought water bottles.
Speaker 1: Really yes, yeah, and most of it I would not
Speaker 1: say that. I would not have guessed those.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to show you my my cup. I
Speaker 3: have two cabinets for cups. What Yeah, it's too much.
Speaker 3: I know you hid you hide them. The other one
Speaker 3: is in the laundry room.
Speaker 4: There's a whole cabinet.
Speaker 3: I know you wanted vulnerability and you're getting vulnerability. There's
Speaker 3: a cabinet in the kitchen, and there is a cabinet
Speaker 3: in the laundry room with mugs and to go like
Speaker 3: travel water.
Speaker 1: Are they all a wala?
Speaker 4: They are not all a wala.
Speaker 1: Because that's all you use. Like I've seen you have
Speaker 1: different cups, like different water bottles.
Speaker 3: I will I'll lose them or I'll break them. But
Speaker 3: like then I only use like one. But here's here's
Speaker 3: where some of the problem is as it relates to
Speaker 3: reusable water bottles. We have we have guests. If you
Speaker 3: ever hear me come back to a pain point it's
Speaker 3: I do love having guests, but you're gonna hear like
Speaker 3: a smidgeon of the like the things I'd have to
Speaker 3: have on hand in the way it RUPs against my minimalism.
Speaker 3: But when everybody, whenever somebody comes to visit, I of
Speaker 3: course am not buying.
Speaker 4: Plastic water bottles. We go to the beach a ton like.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of things that we do with people,
Speaker 3: so I have extra water bottles on hand that I
Speaker 3: will fill up for people. So we've just got quite
Speaker 3: the collection in that way. Another piece of this is
Speaker 3: that my lovely spouse will he is on a mission
Speaker 3: to always make things as like efficient as possible for himself.
Speaker 3: So he will try out a water bottle, not really
Speaker 3: like it, understand how he wants to refine it and
Speaker 3: search for that water bottle and get that water bottle.
Speaker 3: But then my problem is I won't get rid of
Speaker 3: the previous one. Then I'm like, well, now we can
Speaker 3: just use this for guests. And now it's gotten out
Speaker 3: of hand. Where why don't your guests bring their own
Speaker 3: water bottle? Sometimes they do, but you'd be surprised a
Speaker 3: good amount of people are not traveling with their own
Speaker 3: water bottle.
Speaker 1: And what do they expect to happen when they get
Speaker 1: to a place. They just expect somebody is going to
Speaker 1: give them a water bottle.
Speaker 3: They just expect to drink water whenever they get Like
Speaker 3: I don't I think that there are some people who
Speaker 3: are not like attached at the hip to their travel
Speaker 3: water bottle.
Speaker 4: It is not me.
Speaker 1: That sounds like their problem, not yours.
Speaker 3: Well, but I like being able to provide water bottles
Speaker 3: to people. And if they were to solve it, I
Speaker 3: think they'd go and buy plastic water bottles, And so
Speaker 3: I don't want that in my home. So I have
Speaker 3: extra water bottles. And even just when we go to
Speaker 3: the beach, we need to bring more than one water
Speaker 3: bottle if we're going to be there for a while,
Speaker 3: So it is good to have more than just the one.
Speaker 3: It's just not out of hand.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then mugs, like what.
Speaker 3: You know, frugal Friends has mugs, and people get love
Speaker 3: to give mugs as gifts, and they can do a
Speaker 3: decent job of like limiting that, but we still have
Speaker 3: We've got too much and now I need to refine it.
Speaker 3: But what where I am too minimalist is on decor.
Speaker 1: I don't have. I would say that.
Speaker 3: A single piece of artwork on most of my walls. Okay,
Speaker 3: you did put up a piece of art, right, there's
Speaker 3: artwork on the wall in the guest bedroom. Yeah, that
Speaker 3: is it. And I think part of it has helped
Speaker 3: me to really refine when I do buy, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: feel really confident about it, Like I'm not just going
Speaker 3: to the store and picking out whatever and then changing
Speaker 3: my mind. I'm coming upon a really clear vision of
Speaker 3: what I want it to look like. But it does
Speaker 3: need to happen soon. I think I think the house
Speaker 3: is a little bit too sterile looking with nothing on
Speaker 3: the walls, no chotchkeys anywhere.
Speaker 1: It is very minimalist.
Speaker 3: It makes cleaning very easy. But yeah, I want to
Speaker 3: put some shelves and some plants around.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Good stuff, Yeah, good stuff. Well, thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for listening. We hope this helped you, reinspired,
Speaker 1: re encouraged you to embrace minimalism for all the things
Speaker 1: that can do for your financial wellness. And if you
Speaker 1: liked this episode, or if you read our book by
Speaker 1: What you Love Without Going Broken and you liked it,
Speaker 1: we would greatly appreciate a rating and review. This one
Speaker 1: is for the book. It's from JH. It's five stars,
Speaker 1: says get this book, It'll change your life. This is
Speaker 1: such an amazing book. I only have great things to
Speaker 1: say about it. Where do I start? Not only does
Speaker 1: it feel like you're with friends, but they give great ideas,
Speaker 1: life knowledge and tips that I can actually apply to
Speaker 1: my life on a daily basis. I listen to these
Speaker 1: gals for over four years on the podcast and they
Speaker 1: have definitely changed my life for the better. It is
Speaker 1: well worth the money, and it's sure what and it's
Speaker 1: true what they say that you get what you pay for.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have added this book to my
Speaker 1: library and I will use it as a resource for
Speaker 1: years and years to come. I've also bought it as
Speaker 1: a gift because I know it works. Get the book.
Speaker 1: You'll be so glad you did. And it's a fun
Speaker 1: read too.
Speaker 3: Oh JH. That's a beautiful review, and thanks for recommending
Speaker 3: it to others. So so glad when we hear that
Speaker 3: our message is is really helping people, both on the
Speaker 3: podcast and through the book.
Speaker 4: So thanks for listening, Thanks for reading.
Speaker 3: If you have read the book and you haven't reviewed
Speaker 3: it yet, please do so wherever you bought it. If
Speaker 3: you're listening to this podcast now and you're thinking, hey,
Speaker 3: I never left a review for this podcast either, wherever
Speaker 3: you're listening, that'd be super helpful as well. We want
Speaker 3: to keep helping more people and that's one of the
Speaker 3: ways you can help us do that.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 3: Okay, so for more vulnerability. This was so this is
Speaker 3: something that kind of the bill of the week feels
Speaker 3: related to maybe maybe not, oh yeah, the possibility of
Speaker 3: being able to pay off a car. So for the
Speaker 3: first time ever, Eric and I got a tax refund.
Speaker 3: And if you listen, if you listen to the book,
Speaker 3: you can listen the book. If you read the book,
Speaker 3: you know my tax story and how awful taxes were
Speaker 3: for me last year. So this is a welcomed kind
Speaker 3: of good news experience. We've never ever experienced getting a refund,
Speaker 3: and so now it's putting me in this place of Okay,
Speaker 3: what to do with some of this unexpected money. And
Speaker 3: we did record a while ago like what to do
Speaker 3: with a windfall blah blah blah. But I'm realizing if
Speaker 3: given an extra bit of cash that you weren't anticipating,
Speaker 3: I immediately have like ten different things I could do
Speaker 3: with it. And I am definitely struggling to kind of
Speaker 3: I'm feeling a little bit paralyzed by Okay, but what
Speaker 3: is the best option for me? Because it is not
Speaker 3: enough to do all of the things. It never is,
Speaker 3: but it is an to like make a bit of
Speaker 3: a dent in like one of these areas. So the
Speaker 3: things that come up for me are should I pay
Speaker 3: down the car more? Should I put more towards my
Speaker 3: travel sinking fund because that's not fully paid for yet.
Speaker 3: We also have some renovations goals on the house. Lowest
Speaker 3: hanging fruit is the roof on the garage that's still
Speaker 3: destroyed from the hurricane and possible foundation damage stuck going
Speaker 3: the house, which in some ways is a bit of
Speaker 3: a like flood prevention plan, so like definitely has a
Speaker 3: degree of urgency to it because that can help to
Speaker 3: really seal up the house if we do experience a
Speaker 3: hurricane this year that's as bad or hopefully not worse
Speaker 3: as what just happened. Yeah, I think those are the
Speaker 3: different things that are going Oh oh, increase because we
Speaker 3: did not max out our iras this past year. It's
Speaker 3: just like all these okay, so obviously okay, not travel.
Speaker 1: We can just automatically go to Europe and you have
Speaker 1: a trip to Puerto Rico on deck. You're not putting.
Speaker 3: Automatically fun automatically X that because that's not pressing, but
Speaker 3: like all of these other pressing things.
Speaker 4: But it is.
Speaker 3: But Devil's advocate, because we do say when you come
Speaker 3: across a windfall, not that this is a windfall, but
Speaker 3: that you can't that. Some people might say put like
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen percent towards something fun. I am definitely
Speaker 3: tempted to just put it all towards very smart things.
Speaker 3: That is definitely my bent. But even then, it's like
Speaker 3: the pull in all of these different directions. What is
Speaker 3: the interest rate on the car four percent? I wouldn't
Speaker 3: pay off the car early. I wouldn't put it towards
Speaker 3: the car. That's a good interest rate.
Speaker 1: I would maybe put it a little bit more towards retirement.
Speaker 1: I think you can maybe play around with some numbers
Speaker 1: and just see that. I do think your roof repair
Speaker 1: is pressing. Honestly, Yeah, I'm going to just put that
Speaker 1: one out there and give my two cents is that's
Speaker 1: probably where I would.
Speaker 4: Lean forward retirement and roof repair.
Speaker 3: It's just like it's so exciting, you know, when you
Speaker 3: think about the possibilities of what this money could do
Speaker 3: and then to realize, okay, but it really can only
Speaker 3: do one thing, and so what is that one thing
Speaker 3: you want to do with it?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: This year, you were going to have to repair that roof. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so do you do it with this money or do
Speaker 1: you save up other money to do it?
Speaker 4: Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And you know like, yeah, what's the choice?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, we did already know this, didn't we Yeah.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to talk about all the other things
Speaker 3: that could be done, of.
Speaker 1: Course, and that dream a little that is your right
Speaker 1: as a podcast host home talk about. I know it's
Speaker 1: not the American dream, but it is one way to
Speaker 1: survive capitalism.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know. That's the thing.
Speaker 3: It's like, there's a part of me that condo living
Speaker 3: looks so alluring to me. But I'm like, that's what
Speaker 3: they want.
Speaker 1: That's what they want to kill. The condo Association is just.
Speaker 3: They want to placate me by thinking that like, oh,
Speaker 3: I can have a life just by being able to
Speaker 3: have access to a public pool.
Speaker 1: No, it's not right.
Speaker 3: And then I don't have to own and then they
Speaker 3: can buy up all of the single family homes and
Speaker 3: now we're all just stacked on top of each other.
Speaker 1: You got to fight back, and this is your way
Speaker 1: to fight. Is repairing your roof? How you fight back?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, you're right. Prioritization is key. Wow. Okay, you
Speaker 4: gotten this and go fix my roof now bye, keep bye.