Speaker 1: Episode five oh five, How to Save Money on Entertainment.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life.
Speaker 1: Here your hosts Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking about all things entertainment. You
Speaker 1: guys told us you will love to spend money without
Speaker 1: gil on entertainment, and we want to tell you how
Speaker 1: to get more of it with less of your dollars.
Speaker 3: I love to be entertained. I love to laugh, I
Speaker 3: love to have fun. Yeah, so this episode really is
Speaker 3: for us because if it's not fun, it's not Frugal Friends.
Speaker 1: And we are running the gamut on entertainment. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be just concerts and movies and you know,
Speaker 1: finding free events on Facebook Marketplace. We will see some
Speaker 1: of that. It will be some of it. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: not let's not diminish the greatest hits. But I think
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about some things that you have
Speaker 1: not heard talked about very frequently, if at all tantalizing.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to you by at
Speaker 1: Weekly Money Move On Instagram. This month, we started a
Speaker 1: new series where every week we are sharing a new
Speaker 1: money move you can do to organize or optimize your money.
Speaker 1: So whether you are just getting started or you have
Speaker 1: been doing this thing for years, you're financially independent, there
Speaker 1: is going to be something for you. We are sharing
Speaker 1: a new money move every Monday on Instagram at Weekly
Speaker 1: Money Move, but also in the Friend Letter. If you
Speaker 1: prefer a written format, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com and sign up. You're going to get that email
Speaker 1: every Monday that tells you basically what to do that week,
Speaker 1: and it's short, short things.
Speaker 3: And then we go in depth on how we implemented
Speaker 3: that money move during the Sunday Reset on YouTube. So
Speaker 3: we're just going to have at you bam, bam bam.
Speaker 3: You know, podcast, newsletter, Instagram, YouTube. We're building an enterprise.
Speaker 1: Yes, so this is very fun. I think our money
Speaker 1: move from this week is, let's see four twenty five.
Speaker 1: It was a cancel something, So we're in the middle
Speaker 1: of this week canceling something to save money.
Speaker 3: Canceling something, not someone, not someone.
Speaker 1: You're doing that, yes, and so On a Sunday's episode
Speaker 1: of The Sunday Reset, we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: what we canceled and how we did it. So head
Speaker 1: to Instagram at Weekly Money Move. Follow there to get
Speaker 1: all those videos organized in one place for you. We're
Speaker 1: post them on the Frugal Friends instead, but if you
Speaker 1: want to see them all lined up, that's where you're
Speaker 1: going to find it, and Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: to get the friend letter and get them in your
Speaker 1: inbox every Monday.
Speaker 3: If you want more episodes like this, you can cueue
Speaker 3: up after this our episode how to get free Books
Speaker 3: it's episode four sixty eight, or why It's so important
Speaker 3: to buy Local that's episode for eighty three. You can
Speaker 3: just search those titles or click on them in the links.
Speaker 3: They are going to help us to continue implementing this
Speaker 3: framework of getting something free, low cost, a deal, or
Speaker 3: guilt free. But stay here because we're just coming at
Speaker 3: you with all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: All right, So we're gonna dive right into the types
Speaker 1: of entertainment we're going to be covering. You know that
Speaker 1: we talk about how to get you entertainment for free,
Speaker 1: low cost deal, and guilt free. That's what we're covering.
Speaker 1: The categories are going to be very varied and they're
Speaker 1: going to very on each section as well, be covering
Speaker 1: every category in every section. So we've got watching TV
Speaker 1: because that's entertainment, right, So we're not excluding that gaming,
Speaker 1: stuff that's outdoors, whether that's hiking, camping, biking, live sports, concerts, festivals, theater,
Speaker 1: stuff like that, reading, weekend travel. We're not going to
Speaker 1: dive into like vacation travel, but more like staycation type travel, running, yoga,
Speaker 1: working out, indoor stuff. And then also crafts and hobbies
Speaker 1: so diy projects, home improvement, photography, painting, gardening, cooking, crafting,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So these are the types of entertainment,
Speaker 1: and we would also love to see you get inspired
Speaker 1: to expand your entertainment pursual So maybe you're mostly into
Speaker 1: watching Netflix and going to concerts sometimes taking a walk.
Speaker 1: We would love this episode to inspire you to try
Speaker 1: something new in one of these categories, so that that
Speaker 1: is our hope for you. But first we're going to
Speaker 1: start with free, and there's we're leaning heavily into one
Speaker 1: place for all things free, Entertainment Library. We love the library.
Speaker 3: You know, it's Gen's one voter issue, one vote one
Speaker 3: what I'm a.
Speaker 1: One issue voter and it is on the support and
Speaker 1: funding of libraries. It's all I care about. And you
Speaker 1: can cancel me for that, but I love libraries and
Speaker 1: you're about to be just as passionate as I am
Speaker 1: when we get through this section.
Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to go. We're going to go quick
Speaker 3: and fast. Here's all the things you can get at
Speaker 3: a library. I'm going to say some, Gen's going to
Speaker 3: say some, and we're all going to be blown away. Books,
Speaker 3: you know it. You know libraries have books, fiction on fiction, bestsellers, classics, textbooks, audiobooks, CDs,
Speaker 3: play aways via apps like Hoopla, Libby Overdrive.
Speaker 1: Even like actual like places where you can like like
Speaker 1: play aways like I don't. I don't know if they
Speaker 1: have like Tony's and things like t O N I
Speaker 1: E s not like Tony Awards, but they have things
Speaker 1: you can play music and audiobooks on too.
Speaker 3: The rent DVD's blu raising. I don't really need those anymore.
Speaker 3: But THO these TV shows, documentaries, I think that some
Speaker 3: of that is even available through libbyan Hoopla.
Speaker 1: Yes, you can find TV shows, documentaries, movies on Hoopla, libbyan.
Speaker 3: Overdrive, magazines, newspapers. If you're still subscribing to those. Check
Speaker 3: out if your library has them instead of you paying
Speaker 3: for them. H CD's vinyl because that has made a comeback.
Speaker 1: And record players. So not everywhere. Not everything we're saying
Speaker 1: is going to be available everywhere, but it is worth checking. Ask.
Speaker 1: So we've got board games and puzzles, maybe some classic
Speaker 1: ones that you've played before, maybe some you've never heard
Speaker 1: of and you don't know if you want to splurge
Speaker 1: on getting it. I love the library. First, toys and
Speaker 1: learning kits, especially for children, like stem and coding kits,
Speaker 1: all like robotics, circuit building, stuff like that, really good stuff.
Speaker 1: Sports and outdoor equipment, so some libraries will have bikes,
Speaker 1: fishing rods, telescopes, stuff like that, things that you can
Speaker 1: use outdoors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, our library by the beach has a metal detector
Speaker 3: that you could runt out. If that's just something you
Speaker 3: want to try while you're at the beach. See if
Speaker 3: the local library has that. Sports and outdoor You already
Speaker 3: said that. Streaming services, so movies, TV shows, music via
Speaker 3: Canopy or free gal online courses so like LinkedIn learning Coursera.
Speaker 3: You to me, we pronounced that language learning through things
Speaker 3: like Mango languages Rosetta Stone.
Speaker 1: The thing I like about the online courses in the
Speaker 1: language learning is that when we are looking to increase
Speaker 1: our income, we often think we have to pay to
Speaker 1: go back to school to get a new degree. It's
Speaker 1: typically only some soft skills and hard skills that we
Speaker 1: need to learn. We need to learn to negotiate better,
Speaker 1: close deals, better, expand our network better. There are we
Speaker 1: only think about the hard skills. We don't think about
Speaker 1: the soft skills. And a lot of these places like
Speaker 1: Corsera and you to Me and LinkedIn will have soft
Speaker 1: skill courses and these are available for free through your library.
Speaker 1: It can help you increase your income. Yeah, we've got
Speaker 1: three D printers and maker spaces, so there are I've
Speaker 1: seen like hoop crocheting kits, knitting kits, cool all of those,
Speaker 1: and like the three D printers, laptops and hotspots. So
Speaker 1: our library will rent out hotspots. So if you wanted
Speaker 1: to go stream Netflix in the park and there's no
Speaker 1: internet service, you get yourself a hotspot from the library
Speaker 1: and take it to the park, have yourself an outdoor
Speaker 1: movie night with friends on a tiny laptop wow or
Speaker 1: whenever you have probably something better, but you'll have access
Speaker 1: to internet via that hotspot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if I see it on here,
Speaker 3: so I'm going to add it to your point. A
Speaker 3: lot of times, they'll also have projector screens you can rent.
Speaker 1: I didn't put that on there.
Speaker 3: Could do an outdoor movie night, even at your own place,
Speaker 3: renting a projector. God.
Speaker 1: I want to rebrand myself to just be livebrariy Jbrary.
Speaker 3: That is all we do is library.
Speaker 1: Library.
Speaker 3: The only fun we have is library. But it's so
Speaker 3: much fun.
Speaker 1: It's so much fun.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, here we go. Book clubs you can participate
Speaker 3: in through the library.
Speaker 1: So many types of book clubs. Nonfiction, full fiction, partial fiction.
Speaker 1: That's cults, I think, and murder mystery. Uh you got
Speaker 1: you've got fantasy, non fantas. We got to get through this.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry an episode only about library. I wish
Speaker 3: it were doing that. You can attend author talks and
Speaker 3: readings hosted at libraries, crafting and DIY workshops hosted at libraries.
Speaker 3: I know one of our libraries hosted a how to
Speaker 3: garden in your area? Right. That's nice to be able
Speaker 3: to look up. But if you don't have somebody specifically
Speaker 3: in your area telling you how to plant. It could
Speaker 3: be misinformation because you had to know what zone you're
Speaker 3: in to know what types of things be planting. So
Speaker 3: check that out. They'll have yoga and meditation classes, music
Speaker 3: and film screaming screenings. Seed libraries literally free seeds for
Speaker 3: gardeners to grow. If you instead of spending four or
Speaker 3: five bucks on a packet of tomato seeds at loser
Speaker 3: home depot, check your library library.
Speaker 1: Tool library. You want to diy something, you want to
Speaker 1: build something. You just want to put a screw in
Speaker 1: a piece of wood for fun. You want to use
Speaker 1: a power tool for fun. Tool library, and.
Speaker 3: That might not be at your actual book library. There
Speaker 3: might be a separate library. Four tools you got to
Speaker 3: look up for your.
Speaker 1: Library is going to nowhere.
Speaker 3: To library, go to the library. Museum and attraction passes
Speaker 3: so free or discounted entry to local museums, parks, zoos,
Speaker 3: musical instruments. You can go to the library.
Speaker 1: I said, guitar the ukulele at my local library. You're
Speaker 1: just sitting there ready to be rented.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you could learn that. Genialogy re sources access to
Speaker 3: databases like ancestry dot com. So the library will have
Speaker 3: paid for a certain membership so you can go farther
Speaker 3: than you might be able to get on your own free.
Speaker 1: I had a patient when I was an acupuncturist, and
Speaker 1: this was what she did every day, went to the
Speaker 1: library and studied genealogy like at the library. She loved it,
Speaker 1: she loved looking at her Sonily she can do it
Speaker 1: with the people she knews family, and I don't know
Speaker 1: where she's at now, but God bless her. Yeah, and okay,
Speaker 1: so I added this one. I should have talked about
Speaker 1: this one at the when I was talking about career advancement.
Speaker 1: But they have test prep too, so maybe I am thinking, Oh,
Speaker 1: I wonder, I wonder if I could make it as
Speaker 1: a lawyer. I wonder if I could make going back
Speaker 1: for that. You know, test it out, it's got. Your
Speaker 1: library has test prep for the LSAT so you can
Speaker 1: study and then see if you pass it, and then
Speaker 1: you could have a whole.
Speaker 3: Career, change career.
Speaker 1: And this is a lot of different and a lot
Speaker 1: of different tests. Not sure if you can cut it.
Speaker 1: The library prep at the library and see, you don't
Speaker 1: know till you try, You don't know till.
Speaker 3: You ask, and you know what librarians need a master's degree,
Speaker 3: and I've always wanted why librarians need a master's degree.
Speaker 3: They literally are taking the little buzzer, scanning the barcode,
Speaker 3: no servary. That's not all they do. Because look at
Speaker 3: how many minutes we've talked about library and we're just
Speaker 3: scratching the surface. They've got to know so much, and
Speaker 3: they've got to know so much about how to resource
Speaker 3: you for the things you want to do.
Speaker 1: Their education is in changing your life. Okay, I want
Speaker 1: you to know that, and I want you to go
Speaker 1: to your library and do something.
Speaker 3: This has gotten so rammed up out of hand for it,
Speaker 3: like I am matching it. My level of elevated excitement
Speaker 3: for library is through the roof.
Speaker 1: If anything, please just go to the library and do
Speaker 1: something new, to take out something new and let us
Speaker 1: know in the comments what you did. I want to
Speaker 1: know that.
Speaker 3: Tell us how live I entertained you. Yes, okay, there review.
Speaker 1: There are oh yeah, in a review too, that's yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be good.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: There are a few other ways to get free entertainment
Speaker 1: besides the library, not many, but a few. So watching
Speaker 1: TV the average, while the average American spends over three
Speaker 1: hours a day watching TV, but we're not really concerned
Speaker 1: with that. You do you? But they spend over fifty
Speaker 1: dollars a month on streaming services on average, so we
Speaker 1: don't want that to be you. I have heard a
Speaker 1: stat that gen Z is getting more into free entertainment
Speaker 1: because they're getting so much of their entertainment from social media.
Speaker 1: Then they're just transferring that to free on like TV.
Speaker 1: So obviously we've got YouTube, but we've got Pluto TV two, Crackle,
Speaker 1: Peacock has a free tier. And I tell you these
Speaker 1: these streaming services, they have some bangers. Okay, if you're
Speaker 1: not watching seasons one and two of It Takes a Church,
Speaker 1: a dating show brought to you by Christian Mingle, hosted
Speaker 1: by the Natalie Grant free on Pluto, then I don't
Speaker 1: know what you're doing still paying for Hulu when you've
Speaker 1: got this on Pluto.
Speaker 3: I do need this. This is something I've warned for
Speaker 3: seasons two, whole seasons. If you know what years they
Speaker 3: took place in, not long enough ago.
Speaker 1: When you watch a man play a game in the
Speaker 1: church back lot trying to unlock a woman from a cage,
Speaker 1: why you know, not long enough ago to.
Speaker 3: Free entertainment is what that is. Okay. If you're also
Speaker 3: looking for more free entertainment that is apart from library,
Speaker 3: I don't know why you would want that. But you
Speaker 3: can also check your cities websites. They will often list
Speaker 3: upcoming events. You can check local businesses. A lot of
Speaker 3: times businesses will sponsor free events locally. Check Facebook events.
Speaker 3: They will give you all kinds of stuff that is
Speaker 3: happening in whatever date you're searching for. You can search
Speaker 3: tonight or this weekend or this month, and even event
Speaker 3: right will have tickets to free concerts, free activities, free events, festivals,
Speaker 3: outdoor movie nights. So that's just a ton of local
Speaker 3: fun with zero price tag attached.
Speaker 1: And lastly, borrowing, let's borrow more things. Let's tell our
Speaker 1: friends what we have, and they will tell us what
Speaker 1: they have, and let's just borrow. We're borrowing kayaks, we're
Speaker 1: borrowing paddle boards, we're borrowing roller skates. We're borrowing everything
Speaker 1: that we can to share our resources and have fun
Speaker 1: for less money.
Speaker 3: I did do that, furrowed roller blades and did a
Speaker 3: little staycation with a friend and we roller bladed downtown,
Speaker 3: got all kinds of free stuff.
Speaker 1: Oh what kind of free stuff because you had the
Speaker 1: roller blades or just it was just.
Speaker 3: Free starting, just free stuff. I think we would have
Speaker 3: gotten it whether or not we had the roller blades.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna I mean, it might have helped. I'll
Speaker 3: talk about that in our post show.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, all right, let's talk about low cost and
Speaker 1: so we're going into different categories here. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: first about gaming, because so many people game. If you
Speaker 1: don't game, your partner probably games. And if neither of
Speaker 1: you game, you kids probably game. And if none of
Speaker 1: that is in your life, then I don't know what
Speaker 1: to tell.
Speaker 3: You're talking about this for a minute, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then don't listen. Skip thirty seconds. So there are free
Speaker 1: to play games. So we've got Fortnite, apex, Leagual Legends,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Obviously, keep an eye on your children.
Speaker 1: There's also free promotions and weekend trials on platforms like Steam,
Speaker 1: PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass. And you can also
Speaker 1: obviously used games, so look for used in pre owned
Speaker 1: games at game Stop to the Moon or on platforms
Speaker 1: like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. I prefer Facebook Marketplace, but eBay.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm apprehensive about eBay. I've got
Speaker 1: a ton of stuff on eBay, but I also don't game.
Speaker 3: I don't game either. Okay, so we're moving on walking, biking, hiking.
Speaker 3: This is where we can be taking advantage of public
Speaker 3: trails and parks. Most of your local or even state
Speaker 3: parks and nature preserves are free to access, So check
Speaker 3: your local resources for some of those hidden gems. I
Speaker 3: would say even chat ept it because you might find
Speaker 3: that there is a parker preserve near you that you
Speaker 3: had no idea about. For instance, the preserve I live on,
Speaker 3: nobody knows about it.
Speaker 1: I've lived here my whole life, and I didn't know
Speaker 1: it was there until you lived nerved there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're not.
Speaker 1: Going to find it on a top ten list of
Speaker 1: preserves in Saint Pete, like you're not going to find
Speaker 1: it just googling little parks. But you are more likely
Speaker 1: to find it if you ask chat GPT what are
Speaker 1: the part you know good parks that aren't on the
Speaker 1: top twenty list.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this park has beautiful, climbable live oak trees, a
Speaker 3: pretty well manicured walking trail through the tropical foliage, a
Speaker 3: dock on the water, a mulberry tree that blooms in
Speaker 3: April and May you can pick mulberries from for free
Speaker 3: because it's in the nature preserve. It's just amazing and
Speaker 3: nobody knows about it, and you wouldn't unless you really
Speaker 3: took a deep dive. So don't assume that you know
Speaker 3: everything your area has to offer.
Speaker 1: And especially if you've been there for a long time,
Speaker 1: because new things come up and if you're not abreast
Speaker 1: to the situation, Yeah, then you'll miss it like I
Speaker 1: often do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So free and low cost fitness groups. Sometimes the city
Speaker 1: will host free classes. So there's weekly classes here in
Speaker 1: Partnership Healthy Saint Pete. It's a city funded program. They
Speaker 1: have free yoga, free walking, free fitness classes on those
Speaker 1: little those little workout places next to playgrounds. Yea, so
Speaker 1: those are free. But then they also have low cost
Speaker 1: ones through private companies in the community. And then when
Speaker 1: you are going to buy gear, look for it second hand,
Speaker 1: so you are going to get like look for the
Speaker 1: ski and snowboard consignments, the bike, the used bikes at
Speaker 1: the bike store that also sells new all of so
Speaker 1: gear trade is really good for online buying used outdoor gear.
Speaker 1: Relay Goods dot Com has running shoes that are basically
Speaker 1: people ran in it, tried it, didn't like it, returned
Speaker 1: to the shoe, and those are the shoes that relay
Speaker 1: goods dot com seal. So if you're looking for a
Speaker 1: good quality walking or running shoe you want to save
Speaker 1: some money on it, then that is a good place.
Speaker 1: And then also local bike shares if you don't want
Speaker 1: to own a bike. Some communities have bike share programs
Speaker 1: and they typically are a small fee, but it's a
Speaker 1: very affordable fee.
Speaker 3: And if you want to go camping, of course, camping
Speaker 3: at state or national parks can offer you camp sites
Speaker 3: at lower rates compared to your private campgrounds, and they
Speaker 3: are often super beautiful, super well maintained. Of course, because
Speaker 3: their prices are so affordable, a lot of times you
Speaker 3: do have to book in advance, so think ahead for
Speaker 3: what you want to be doing this summer or in
Speaker 3: the fall and start to book those places now. You
Speaker 3: can also check Airbnb for camping options. So while I
Speaker 3: just said it might be less expensive to go your
Speaker 3: state park for more affordable options, there are times where
Speaker 3: people who live in more wooded areas or close to
Speaker 3: a national park might be renting out their property for
Speaker 3: you just to be able to camp on their farm
Speaker 3: or their acreage or whatever for very inexpensive. So that's
Speaker 3: also an option to be checking out. Of course going
Speaker 3: off season camping during spring and fall. I mean fall
Speaker 3: is a pretty heavy camping time too, but maybe a
Speaker 3: little bit later in the fall if the.
Speaker 1: Air I think once the kid's stay in school.
Speaker 3: That like park yep and then free camp sites like
Speaker 3: free campsites dot net will list free camping options, especially
Speaker 3: in national forests. Yeah, lots of opportunities to just sleep
Speaker 3: outside if that's what you're in.
Speaker 1: It's one of those staycation sort of things. I don't
Speaker 1: love it, but it is a thing that people like.
Speaker 1: Live sports. So this is where I would challenge you
Speaker 1: to attend more local games. I would challenge you to
Speaker 1: attend more female led sporting games. They are still professional
Speaker 1: sports and they are still high quality, and for some
Speaker 1: reason they happen to be cheaper. I don't know why
Speaker 1: that would be, but they are, so we should take
Speaker 1: advantage of that.
Speaker 3: It's not like females are often paid less females.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, but a way to save money. So attending
Speaker 1: professional women's sports games also instead of Major league if
Speaker 1: you don't have a professional women's sports team local to you,
Speaker 1: local college like maybe high school, but that might be
Speaker 1: a little different. Do not attend children's sports games unless
Speaker 1: you know the child, unless you know well, no, unless
Speaker 1: it's your child.
Speaker 3: What I attend? No pushing back on this, Okay.
Speaker 1: If you just attend, you're like, Okay, I know the kid,
Speaker 1: and I want to go to a sports game, and
Speaker 1: you just show up at that kid's game, like.
Speaker 3: My niece and nephews. I'm going to show up at
Speaker 3: kai soccer game. I showed up at other friends kids games.
Speaker 3: Don't think it's very fun.
Speaker 1: Don't show up unless you're invited.
Speaker 3: Can I ask to be invited?
Speaker 1: You can.
Speaker 3: Why We're gonna have to talk about this later.
Speaker 1: Okay. So next is concerts festivals, so smaller shows are
Speaker 1: still really good. There is a guy T L. Gentiens
Speaker 1: in Saint Pete. He is not I don't know how
Speaker 1: well he is known like nationally, but my god, is
Speaker 1: he a good drummer. He is such a good showman
Speaker 1: and he plays here all the time, and he is
Speaker 1: leaps and bounds less expensive than a national act, but
Speaker 1: still such a good time every time he see hi.
Speaker 1: Because he's a drummer and he's a show drummer, so
Speaker 1: he is. It's visually stimulating and such good quality. So
Speaker 1: seeing somebody who may just because they have chosen not
Speaker 1: to tour nationally does not mean they are not talented.
Speaker 1: So even paying a little to see local acts, if
Speaker 1: you are a concert lover, then it is fantastic. Also
Speaker 1: local live music, local like the events, and yeah, at
Speaker 1: that point, universities that maybe you could go to a
Speaker 1: children's theater.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you could go to a high
Speaker 3: school performance of you know, some sort of musical certainly universe.
Speaker 3: If you've got a university near you, then they're going
Speaker 3: to be putting on some really great concerts.
Speaker 1: I like American Stage. It's like not a university, but
Speaker 1: it is acting classes and just people in the community
Speaker 1: who love theater and have been doing it for a
Speaker 1: long time. But I would say between that and the university,
Speaker 1: like good You're going to get some good quality there.
Speaker 3: If running, yoga, working out is your a form of
Speaker 3: entertainment for you, you can definitely take advantage of free
Speaker 3: fitness classes at many local parks, community centers, online platforms,
Speaker 3: or free workout classes that just might be offered. I mean,
Speaker 3: I know a lot of gyms will even offer a
Speaker 3: couple of free passes to gyms I just recently heard of,
Speaker 3: and I don't see it on here. But since we're
Speaker 3: just talking like low cost, class pass could be an option.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking about that. It might be under
Speaker 1: the deal category, but I didn't put it there either. Okay,
Speaker 1: well I'm here now. So so class pass is something
Speaker 1: that you can purchase I believe they call it like
Speaker 1: points or something, or credits that you can purchase through
Speaker 1: class pass and then redeem them for various types of
Speaker 1: classes that are happening in your area. That could be
Speaker 1: like a cooking class in your area, but it also
Speaker 1: could be local gyms. So different gyms will have different
Speaker 1: levels of redemption. So maybe one gym that's a little
Speaker 1: more bougie, it might be like five credits to attend
Speaker 1: a class, but another gym that doesn't have as many
Speaker 1: frills might be two credits. But you can decide kind
Speaker 1: of how you want to use the credits and get
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a Yeah, I guess maybe
Speaker 1: a deal or it at a bit more low costs.
Speaker 1: I was using class Pass back in twenty two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight when it was a punch card.
Speaker 3: WHOA, I know that's old school.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 3: You can also use apps like my fitness Pal, Nike
Speaker 3: Training Club, Yoga with Adrians, she's on YouTube. They all
Speaker 3: provide free workouts for a variety of fitness levels.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so finally have crafts and hobbies. So look
Speaker 1: for a secondhand craft supply store near you. There are
Speaker 1: several near us. They exist. People, you know, they buy
Speaker 1: craft stuff because they love it, they never use it,
Speaker 1: so they can kind of sell it to the secondhand
Speaker 1: craft supply store, get store credit, and you accumulate different
Speaker 1: craft supplies for new crafts that they may or may
Speaker 1: not do. It is a fantastic thing for you know,
Speaker 1: if you want to do crafts, you're not too picky
Speaker 1: about colors, fabric, stuff like that. You want to be
Speaker 1: more sustainable. And then events, so sometimes these are free,
Speaker 1: but sometimes there are a small fee. Workshops at local
Speaker 1: libraries are usually free, but craft stores and community centers
Speaker 1: will have them. There is a sewing store that just
Speaker 1: recently started doing sewing classes and I think that could
Speaker 1: provide a return on investment. And I want to learn
Speaker 1: how to mend clothing, not alter. That seems hard, but
Speaker 1: mend Well, all.
Speaker 3: Right, let's talk about how to get deals on these
Speaker 3: different things. So specifically, for concerts and shows, you could
Speaker 3: set a price tracker on stub Hub.
Speaker 1: I didn't know about this. This is how.
Speaker 3: Interesting to notify you if a price drops into your
Speaker 3: ideal price point. I actually think this is true for
Speaker 3: flights as well. You can set like even just Google
Speaker 3: notifications if a price drops, and I think that there's
Speaker 3: other sites that will do that so that you can
Speaker 3: know when a good time is. You can watch ticket Masters.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they'll release additional tickets twenty four hours before a show,
Speaker 3: so it's going to be if you're willing to do
Speaker 3: something just more last minute, then you could get a
Speaker 3: deal on that. You could also snag discounted event tickets
Speaker 3: through sites like Groupon. I love Groupon.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about Groupon.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, city pass or last minute rush deals, so
Speaker 3: be on the lookout for all.
Speaker 1: That Groupon has is notorious for, like great local deals
Speaker 1: on stuff like this. So yes, it is a great deal.
Speaker 1: But you have used it for international travel. I have,
Speaker 1: and I just had a friend come back from Italy
Speaker 1: use Groupon for their international travel deal. Great experiences. Let's
Speaker 1: not sleep on Groupon.
Speaker 3: Now I check Groupon first really for any of my
Speaker 3: travel plans. You could do all inclusive like well like
Speaker 3: with air air inclusive, I should say, you can find
Speaker 3: and all inclusives on there for steep discounts or just hotels.
Speaker 3: There's all sorts of deals.
Speaker 1: Do not sleep on Groupon in twenty twenty five, and
Speaker 1: you can also so some more like commonly used ones
Speaker 1: bundle deals on attractions, so you can bundle multiple attractions
Speaker 1: if you're buying a ticket to one, include some others
Speaker 1: and make sure you can use them at a later date.
Speaker 1: You can split memberships and subscriptions between friends if it's
Speaker 1: allowed in the terms conditions. And then a little bit
Speaker 1: back on travel, use travel rewards points to travel on
Speaker 1: a budget, what we have been doing recently since flying
Speaker 1: isn't really an option for us with our youngest. By choice,
Speaker 1: we use a lot of hotel points, so we'll just
Speaker 1: go for a little staycation within two hours of our home,
Speaker 1: either with our kids or without them, and literally it's
Speaker 1: just one night or maybe two nights, usually one night,
Speaker 1: and we always use points for that so we get
Speaker 1: to maybe do something entertainment wise that we don't get
Speaker 1: to do at home because it's maybe two hours away,
Speaker 1: and we get a free hotel, and it just kind
Speaker 1: of broadens the scope of the location of the entertainment
Speaker 1: we are partaking in. Especially we try to get some
Speaker 1: free entertainment stacked on top of our free hotel and hallelujah.
Speaker 3: Well that's great. One of the reasons I think to
Speaker 3: reassess our season and make sure that if we are
Speaker 3: a credit card user, that our credit card is aligning
Speaker 3: with that not just the credit card you've always used
Speaker 3: or the one that you have liked the most in
Speaker 3: the past. If now you're in a season where it's
Speaker 3: primarily hotel stays, then it could be worth having a
Speaker 3: hotel credit card. If you're in a season where you're
Speaker 3: primarily flying, but you're primarily flying one or two places,
Speaker 3: and there's even a specific airline that you're primarily taking,
Speaker 3: it could be worth that, or it could just be
Speaker 3: worth a typical just travel rewards credit card. But be
Speaker 3: sure that you're looking into making making the most out
Speaker 3: of whatever credit card you currently have. And finally, how
Speaker 3: to spend guilt free on entertainment. Again, where we are
Speaker 3: prioritizing keeping it local, keeping it sustainable, and aligning it
Speaker 3: with our values. So we are continuously talking about the
Speaker 3: waiting thirty days before you impulse, suspend right, because then
Speaker 3: it's not impulsive anymore. So before you're starting a new
Speaker 3: hobby or a new commitment. That's where we want to
Speaker 3: circle back to that free let me try it for
Speaker 3: free to know whether or not it's going to be
Speaker 3: worth me spending money library.
Speaker 1: Library is not the definitive end answer, but it is
Speaker 1: always the first answer to everything you give me a question.
Speaker 1: The library is not an answer to I'll wait. Also,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure it's attached to or gets
Speaker 1: you more of what you value. So hopefully whatever entertainment
Speaker 1: you are choosing, more time with family, more time with friends,
Speaker 1: a deeper feeling of faith, or fulfilling work, you may
Speaker 1: not hit all of those, but hopefully you hit at
Speaker 1: least one and then spend the extra money to buy
Speaker 1: higher quality used items. This is specifically to outdoor gear,
Speaker 1: but it can be with everything. Spend the money you
Speaker 1: buy us so that you can buy better quality. You
Speaker 1: want it to be more durable and can be repaired,
Speaker 1: so that is why it is totally worth spending the
Speaker 1: extra money to buy something higher quality if you're going
Speaker 1: used and just.
Speaker 3: Not going to break your body, like a good pair
Speaker 3: of hiking shoes is going to be worth its weight
Speaker 3: at the end of ye hike, you're gonna be glad. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So just do the things that you love to do.
Speaker 3: Figure out what that is, what brings you joy. Know
Speaker 3: that you are worth being able to spend that money on.
Speaker 1: You are worth being entertained, truly entertained. Yes, so live
Speaker 1: in that. Yes, we hope that we are entertaining you too.
Speaker 1: You know, listen to podcasts, be entertained by podcast you know,
Speaker 1: it's always entertaining. At weekly money move, that's entertaining. We
Speaker 1: always are going to entertain with this. This one is
Speaker 1: always for you. It's always free. The bill of the.
Speaker 2: Week, that's right, it's time for the best minute of
Speaker 2: your entire week.
Speaker 4: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 4: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 4: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 4: That bill, but blow bills, bill clean. This is the
Speaker 4: bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hey ladies, my name is Sabrina and I've been listening
Speaker 5: to your show for oh I don't know. A couple
Speaker 5: of years now, and my bill of the week. Starting
Speaker 5: in the beginning of December, I started to just use
Speaker 5: everything that I had on hand. I think you did
Speaker 5: a podcast about this a while ago. All of the lotions,
Speaker 5: all of the cleaning supplies, all of the odd things
Speaker 5: that have been under my sink that haven't gotten used
Speaker 5: because oh they were travel sized and I didn't want
Speaker 5: to use them until I was traveling, or different cleaning
Speaker 5: products that I didn't really think did a good job.
Speaker 5: I've just gathered all of those things up and I
Speaker 5: am using every single drop until it is all gone.
Speaker 5: And I'm not buying a single thing until I absolutely
Speaker 5: have to. So even if it was an I cream
Speaker 5: that I didn't like for my eyes, there's no reason
Speaker 5: why I can't use it on my hands, or my
Speaker 5: arms or any other part of me that has skin.
Speaker 5: So and cleaning supplies, you know, anything can clean a toilet,
Speaker 5: it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: But that's my bill of the week.
Speaker 5: I'm using everything that I absolutely have in my house
Speaker 5: before I allow myself to buy anything new.
Speaker 1: Hope you guys have a great holiday. Keep up the
Speaker 1: good work. Yay, Sabrina. Yeah, we hope you have a
Speaker 1: good holiday.
Speaker 3: As well.
Speaker 1: This holiday on April twenty fifth, coming up Mother's Day.
Speaker 1: I hope you also have a great Mother's Day, Sabrina.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what you're talking about. I know. Wow. I
Speaker 3: love this. I love it when I when we hear
Speaker 3: a callback bill to a previous episode tip that we've given,
Speaker 3: and so actually follows through and says how they're implementing this.
Speaker 3: Your examples of implementation are amazing, and your examples of
Speaker 3: the types of stuff you still have on hand relatable. Yes,
Speaker 3: we are all keeping travel sized items in our drawers
Speaker 3: for travel someday, and we don't need to be. We
Speaker 3: don't need to be.
Speaker 1: We don't need to and you're right.
Speaker 3: Also, anything can clean a toilet, except for my bar hands.
Speaker 1: That's not well, they could, but they just because you
Speaker 1: can doesn't mean you should.
Speaker 3: I love this. I love this so much, for you,
Speaker 3: for me, for our listeners, Sabrina, You're amazing. We hope
Speaker 3: you had a great holiday. If you all are listening
Speaker 3: and you want to submit a bill, if it is
Speaker 3: about a tip that we gave to save money that
Speaker 3: you've implemented and you want to say how you've implemented it,
Speaker 3: or your name is Bill, and you've got a tip
Speaker 3: for us for cool Friends podcast dot com slash bill
Speaker 3: leave it for us. And now it's time for the.
Speaker 1: Light being round. Okay, what's your personal guilt free entertainment?
Speaker 3: Comedy shows? I love going to comedy shows. I love
Speaker 3: them so much too.
Speaker 1: You get to sit down and laugh.
Speaker 3: Sitting ella laughing.
Speaker 1: Both of those.
Speaker 3: Things is for me. When I'm not sitting and talking.
Speaker 1: I want to be sitting in last and nobody wants
Speaker 1: you to stand up, Nope, they want you to sit
Speaker 1: down right, Yeah, And I love that. Yes we Eric
Speaker 1: and I just went this last weekend to a Fred
Speaker 1: Armison show and I spent less than forty dollars on
Speaker 1: the ticket, staying true to our YouTube episode during our
Speaker 1: Sunday reset about fifty things we no longer buy because
Speaker 1: we're because we're frugal, I said that I don't buy
Speaker 1: tickets that are more than forty dollars and this one
Speaker 1: wasn't And I really enjoy Fred Armison and he delivered
Speaker 1: it was so good. I'm so glad.
Speaker 3: And also the beach. The beach will cost me some
Speaker 3: money for parking, but we don't have like beach tags
Speaker 3: here in Florida. Which is so great because that's what
Speaker 3: I'm accustomed to. Although the parking is getting wild.
Speaker 1: It is getting and as a Saint Pete native, that
Speaker 1: really keeps me from the beach. Yeah, because I remember
Speaker 1: when there was a lot of free parking, like secret
Speaker 1: free parking. Yeah, it's gone, it's all gone.
Speaker 3: But the beach. There's a state park that is a
Speaker 3: beach and they have very affordable park.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing that parking price has not changed
Speaker 1: in thirty years. It actually did, I know, it just did,
Speaker 1: but it it's still still less expensive than all the
Speaker 1: other places. But like when I was a kid, we
Speaker 1: were like, why would you spend five dollars to go
Speaker 1: down to Fort de Soto and park and pay to
Speaker 1: get into a beach? Like why? And that was the nineties,
Speaker 1: early two thousands, and now it's twenty twenty five and
Speaker 1: you're like, who Fort Tosto is steel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll drive all dight.
Speaker 1: Around at six Yeah, they just literally changed it. But
Speaker 1: I was there like maybe a month or two ago,
Speaker 1: and I was like, dang, like yeah, they have not
Speaker 1: changed this in thirty years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, parking is absurd, but six bucks at Fort
Speaker 3: de Soto for all.
Speaker 1: Day, you get you some. If you're in the area
Speaker 1: Fort de Soto, you get you some.
Speaker 3: What about you, Jen?
Speaker 1: Okay, So mine is running And I know, I know
Speaker 1: you say running is free, Jen, But if you are
Speaker 1: a runner, you say, I get it, Gen. So I
Speaker 1: buy run Disney races guilt free. But I only do
Speaker 1: one a year. Some people do them all I do
Speaker 1: one per year, and I don't buy races that are
Speaker 1: less than six miles. If I do a run Disney race,
Speaker 1: it's ten or thirteen miles, so then I so I
Speaker 1: do that. And then I have been doing a track
Speaker 1: practice that's fifteen dollars a session and that's on Wednesdays,
Speaker 1: and that has been helping me improve speed because I'm
Speaker 1: a very slow runner, and I would like to improve
Speaker 1: my speed, not just like I can go. I can
Speaker 1: run for a long time, but I don't want to
Speaker 1: be running for a long time. I'd like to run
Speaker 1: less time. And so yeah, I feel really good about
Speaker 1: doing the and I take Kai with me, and Kai
Speaker 1: will do some labs and he loves it. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's money. I am happy, happy, happy to spend
Speaker 1: but most of the time, like I'm just running three
Speaker 1: miles with my dog, and you know, for I'm not
Speaker 1: paying any money for it. Yeah, that's what I do
Speaker 1: most of the time, so once a year and then
Speaker 1: track is only like thirteen weeks, so a couple times
Speaker 1: a year. Paying for it is chef's kiss for me.
Speaker 3: So fun. We hope that you find something, like you
Speaker 3: said Jen at the beginning, try something new, figure out
Speaker 3: what you can be entertained by and Librairie thank you
Speaker 3: all for listening. We are so appreciative of your kind reviews,
Speaker 3: specifically of the book, like this one from Annaalie. She
Speaker 3: wrote five stars. I have been reading and listening to
Speaker 3: numerous personal finance books and podcasts over the years, and
Speaker 3: I've been deep in my own personal finance journey of
Speaker 3: debt payoff, among other things. One podcast I stumbled upon
Speaker 3: during the time was the Frugal Friends podcast, where Jenn
Speaker 3: and Jill tackle many finance topics in a fun and
Speaker 3: engaging way. When I heard that they were going to
Speaker 3: be publishing a book on values based spending, I was intrigued.
Speaker 3: I was delighted to find that their book offers something
Speaker 3: different from what many other books in the personal finance
Speaker 3: space offer these days, a real look into what value
Speaker 3: and values can mean beyond simple numbers and figures. I
Speaker 3: found this holistic approach helpful because that addresses underlying issues
Speaker 3: that can keep personal finance challenges coming back even if
Speaker 3: you try to implement whatever new system the other books
Speaker 3: are offering. This book offers many practical tools in addition
Speaker 3: to its invitation to seek greater self knowledge. I highly
Speaker 3: recommend this book to anyone looking for a new approach
Speaker 3: to personal finance. Yeah bet a full review.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. We so appreciate hearing that. It
Speaker 1: makes us feel really warm and fuzzy. So if you've
Speaker 1: read the book and you would like to share your experience,
Speaker 1: we'd love if you leave a review on Amazon, that's
Speaker 1: where most people go to vet a book, even if
Speaker 1: they don't buy it from there. If you want to
Speaker 1: buy it, buy what you Love book dot com and
Speaker 1: we've got all the links, including bookshop dot org, which
Speaker 1: is our preferred vendor. And if you have not but
Speaker 1: you do want to help us out, leave a review
Speaker 1: of the show on Spotify. That would be very helpful
Speaker 1: for us and lets other people know what the show
Speaker 1: is about.
Speaker 3: Next time Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay. I had talked about this probably a while ago,
Speaker 3: but it's worth maybe revisiting. But this happened over a
Speaker 3: year ago that I went away with a friend just
Speaker 3: to Tampa. So we live in St.
Speaker 1: Pete.
Speaker 3: It's across the bridge, but tried to keep it like
Speaker 3: as inexpensive as possible, and that actually made it so
Speaker 3: fun to try and figure out, like what all we
Speaker 3: could do. So we took the faerry over so we
Speaker 3: didn't have a car, we didn't have to worry about
Speaker 3: parking or kind of driving around, So took a fairy
Speaker 3: over walked used her points for the hotel because she
Speaker 3: had something from her previous work, this status with the hotel.
Speaker 3: It also came with like arrival snacks and tree breakfast.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: So then I had borrowed roller blades. She already owned
Speaker 3: roller blades. We rollerbladed I don't know, like a mile
Speaker 3: away to the hockey arena. So the Lightning is the
Speaker 3: Tampa Bay Like ice hockey team and they were playing
Speaker 3: that night. We hadn't purchased tickets because they're usually super expensive,
Speaker 3: but they are so fun. I love watching hockey live.
Speaker 3: It's so fun entertaining, but we're like, you know what,
Speaker 3: let's just pop in and see if there's any kind
Speaker 3: of like standing room only tickets. Sure enough, Jennifer, I
Speaker 3: think we paid twenty bucks each for a game that
Speaker 3: usually based tickets are like sixty to eighty dollars twenty
Speaker 3: bucks for standing room only, and there's sections throughout the arena,
Speaker 3: and most that offer standing room only tickets will have
Speaker 3: sections and it's like great viewing. And then outside before
Speaker 3: the game, there were a bunch of different vendors offering
Speaker 3: taste taste tests, taste tests of off different tastes alcoholic, beverages, food,
Speaker 3: And this is something that you could almost do even
Speaker 3: if you aren't going to the game, because it's not
Speaker 3: in any of the gated area. It's just outside of
Speaker 3: the courtyards. And at most games that I've been to,
Speaker 3: whether it is football, hockey, baseball, soccer, this is true
Speaker 3: of sometimes the vendors are inside the gates, sometimes outside.
Speaker 3: But anyways, before we even had the tickets, we were
Speaker 3: rollerblading around getting wet little free SIPs, free tastes of things,
Speaker 3: free SIPs on wheels. It did, it did make us
Speaker 3: a little dangerous. Yeah, got our free breakfasts. I want
Speaker 3: to say that there was free boat there's a boat
Speaker 3: taxi that goes around and oh yeah, we got free
Speaker 3: boat taxi tickets with the hotel as well. That wasn't
Speaker 3: even because of her hook up. That was just something
Speaker 3: that the hotel office. Yeah, so that came with free
Speaker 3: boat taxi. So that was some of our transportation in
Speaker 3: and about town. We went to this one tea shop.
Speaker 3: They also had tea samples, like you could get practically
Speaker 3: a full cup of tea for free. It was awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we had a good time.
Speaker 1: Okay, so there you go, having fun on borrowed roller
Speaker 1: blades on borrowed budget roller blades.