Speaker 1: Episode fifty four, Frugal Hobbies. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and
Speaker 1: live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Hello, Welcome,
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen. Hello,
Speaker 1: this is Jill, and we are putting on fake accents
Speaker 1: because we just can't contain our excitement for today's episode. Obviously,
Speaker 1: do you expect anything else? If you did, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I don't know why it's actually happening. Yeah, it's excitement.
Speaker 1: I guess that's it. Yeah, I don't. I don't practice
Speaker 1: before I start these, So whenever, we definitely never talk
Speaker 1: about it. It just happens, and it's whatever comes out.
Speaker 1: And whether not Eric chooses to edit edited out, he
Speaker 1: normally doesn't. So you get us and our rob best
Speaker 1: and today it's sometimes offensive, right because I'm just sitting
Speaker 1: in a room by myself. I forget there's thousands of
Speaker 1: people listening to me and my intimate thoughts. Exactly. We're
Speaker 1: working on it because this is our hobby and we're
Speaker 1: not professional podcasters, and that is what we're talking about today.
Speaker 1: Frugal Hobbies and podcasting is a great frugal hobby. It's
Speaker 1: not super expensive, um, but you do have to know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. But as as with all hobbies, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's more fun if you know what you're doing. And
Speaker 1: we have a extensive list of hobbies that are people
Speaker 1: in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook do, so we're
Speaker 1: going to share those with you. We are going to
Speaker 1: look at some ways to do hobbies that could be
Speaker 1: expensive but do them without overspending, and then also to
Speaker 1: how to find a frugal hobby as an adult. So
Speaker 1: we're not just gonna we're not reading a list of
Speaker 1: hobbies at least not until the very end, and we're
Speaker 1: going to actually help you find out what your frugal
Speaker 1: hobby could be and how to keep it frugal. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what's in store today. But first a word from
Speaker 1: our sponsors, Sian Noah cry Late. That's right, folks, it's
Speaker 1: the chemical and our super glues and it's coming at
Speaker 1: you today. As a sponsor. Hobbyists everywhere know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about on this one. It's the cure all for
Speaker 1: your create it, fix it, build it needs cyan. Noah
Speaker 1: cry Late can even be used in a pinch to
Speaker 1: bind up that wound. I would know I've done it.
Speaker 1: See your episode on lowering your medical bills. It is
Speaker 1: no owned to stop bleeding and create less scarring than
Speaker 1: other methods of closing wounds, Sian Noah. Cry Late effective
Speaker 1: for some toy airplane action and in replacement of stitches.
Speaker 1: We are not medical professionals and we do not advocate.
Speaker 1: We're using superglue un cuts. Unless you are a doctor,
Speaker 1: you can do it yourself. Yeah, don't. Again, we said
Speaker 1: we're not professionals. We're doing this like from our bedrooms alone.
Speaker 1: Jen's eating a banana right now, so clearly like that
Speaker 1: is the worst idea of food choice when podcast chips
Speaker 1: much worse. I mean debatable, not that bad. Debatable, Okay,
Speaker 1: but I see where you're coming from. But it's still debatable.
Speaker 1: We'll just say in another episode, and this is round
Speaker 1: two for us. So I needed a snack, I said,
Speaker 1: port you. I'm just saying that. It's proof that we're
Speaker 1: not vesionals. So again, this is a hobbyist sponsor. This
Speaker 1: is not a medical professional sponsor. Cyanoa cry late for
Speaker 1: a replacement of stitches, that's what hobbyists do. But check
Speaker 1: with your physician first. YadA YadA. All right, now that
Speaker 1: I'm done with my banana, we can get started. You're
Speaker 1: not different still, hear it? And like the recesses of
Speaker 1: your cheeks. Eric will edit that out. I hope not. Um.
Speaker 1: I hope he does. And we're going to start up
Speaker 1: with this one from the Simple Dollar called how to
Speaker 1: Enjoy an expensive Hobby without over Spending. And I really
Speaker 1: liked this one because Trent was really transparent and saying
Speaker 1: like his hobby was golf, and that is a boriously
Speaker 1: expensive hobby, and that he actually when him and his
Speaker 1: wife decided to get their finances unlock, gave golfing up
Speaker 1: and so he sold a lot of his more expensive
Speaker 1: equipment and just kept kind of what he needed to
Speaker 1: do it occasionally with his father in law. And so
Speaker 1: he kind of meditated on how with this new frugal lifestyle,
Speaker 1: if golf could come back into it, if golf was
Speaker 1: a part could be a part of a frugal lifestyle,
Speaker 1: And so he came up with some really great rules
Speaker 1: of thumb that you can follow if you are really
Speaker 1: passionate about something that could be really expensive, on how
Speaker 1: to keep it frugal or to justify spending more on it,
Speaker 1: because there's nothing wrong if you're spending more on your
Speaker 1: hobby if you are okay sacrificing in other places and
Speaker 1: you are really invested in it. So and really love
Speaker 1: this one. Yeah, So I appreciated the narrative and background
Speaker 1: story that he gave, but then also some of these
Speaker 1: guidelines to consider. And so the first one that he
Speaker 1: mentions in here is that if you're not doing it
Speaker 1: already with cheap equipment, you're not going to do it
Speaker 1: with expensive equipment. And so basically what this means is,
Speaker 1: don't go and spend thousands of dollars on camping equipment
Speaker 1: if you haven't already tried it with just your sleeping
Speaker 1: bag on even a decently warm night, like do it first,
Speaker 1: practice doing it first, to even justify do I need this?
Speaker 1: Because of course, with any hobby camping just as an example,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a whole world to discover within that hobby,
Speaker 1: with all types of voices telling you what you need
Speaker 1: to have in order to do this thing well, when
Speaker 1: in reality you still have to decide those things for yourself.
Speaker 1: You may not want the coffee pot that you can
Speaker 1: put over the fire because maybe you don't need coughing
Speaker 1: in the morning. I don't know. I mean, that's ridiculous,
Speaker 1: but that could be your story. But even if you do,
Speaker 1: go deep into whatever hobby you choose, work your way
Speaker 1: up to it before investing a ton of money. So
Speaker 1: I agree with that tip. Yeah, and I would head
Speaker 1: back into the archives and listen to our episode about
Speaker 1: getting things for free, because you can definitely get free
Speaker 1: stuff from free cycle or your local buy nothing group
Speaker 1: or your time bank, and even from your buying nothing group,
Speaker 1: you can borrow things from the people in there. So
Speaker 1: if you're interested in starting a certain hobby but you
Speaker 1: don't want to invest in an even cheap equipment, just
Speaker 1: like go into the buy nothing group and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I really want to try this. Does anybody have this
Speaker 1: that I can borrow or you were thinking about getting
Speaker 1: rid of? So he says also starting off with low
Speaker 1: and inexpensive gear and used gear, So thrift store, yard
Speaker 1: sale also great ways to find hobby. What is it like,
Speaker 1: equipment of hobbies past or whatever? So I also like
Speaker 1: his tip. He talks about pairing an expensive hobby with
Speaker 1: a cheaper hobby, and at first I was like, well,
Speaker 1: why why why do you like, if you just found
Speaker 1: a hobby, do a hobby. But I think he's onto
Speaker 1: something here in that usually we can have time for
Speaker 1: more than one hobby, or if we only have one hobby,
Speaker 1: all of our time, energy resources goes to that one hobby.
Speaker 1: So in this way, if you spread yourself out a
Speaker 1: little bit, So he gives examples like if you're into photography,
Speaker 1: parrot was something which can be expensive, parrot was something
Speaker 1: that isn't as expensive of a hobby, like walking or
Speaker 1: low intensity hiking, so that all of your energy and
Speaker 1: resources doesn't get channeled into just photography. Some of your
Speaker 1: energy and resource gets taken up with the time that
Speaker 1: it takes to walk, but it can literally be paired
Speaker 1: that you can bring your camera along with you um
Speaker 1: these hikes or walks. He also talks about if you're
Speaker 1: into backpacking, pairing that or you know, mountain climbing, and
Speaker 1: compare that with something like reading books from the library.
Speaker 1: So again it's considering how all of your time, energy
Speaker 1: and finances are channeled and spreading it out a bit
Speaker 1: into things that aren't always going to pull all of
Speaker 1: your finances from you. Yeah, I know. So something like
Speaker 1: like quilting or or knitting can sometimes get expensive depending
Speaker 1: on the yarn you're using. So essentially, instead of like
Speaker 1: you know, knitting or quilting Saturday and Sunday, you quiote
Speaker 1: on Saturdays and you take walks on Sunday, So you're
Speaker 1: spreading out the amount of time you have to work
Speaker 1: on that project to use the resource as you paid for.
Speaker 1: And then pairing it with that cheap hobby that would
Speaker 1: be a fantastic thing to pair with if you do
Speaker 1: enjoy doing it a lot, to pair it with yard sailing,
Speaker 1: so that then you can probably find the materials that
Speaker 1: you need at way less expensive prices than if you
Speaker 1: were to go into like a Joeann's or a Michael's
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, I really liked this next one, which
Speaker 1: is regularly reflect on how high of a priority this
Speaker 1: hobby really is in your life. Reflected he was golfing
Speaker 1: multiple times a week, so this was a big part
Speaker 1: of his life. But when he decided something else was
Speaker 1: more important, it was very easy for him to stop
Speaker 1: doing it and just do it kind of in the
Speaker 1: instances when the occasion required it. Sometimes we take for
Speaker 1: granted the things that we're doing are just the things
Speaker 1: we're going to be doing forever. And so yeah, regularly
Speaker 1: reflecting on how passionate you actually are about something, and
Speaker 1: particularly when there's life change. So regularly reflect. But then
Speaker 1: I would even highlight and especially reflect when there's life change.
Speaker 1: So if you experience a job change, a move, marriage,
Speaker 1: having children, all of these things are worth than reflecting
Speaker 1: on what are the other areas of my life that
Speaker 1: I am investing in? Is it's still worth it? Do
Speaker 1: I still enjoy it? I know for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: hobbies can change or shift in the way that they
Speaker 1: look when they start having kids. You might not be
Speaker 1: able to hike as much, so you may not need
Speaker 1: to invest as much money in that gear. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that one. And along those lines of reflecting
Speaker 1: is also being planful and intentional, which he talks about
Speaker 1: applying a strict budget to your hobby from day one.
Speaker 1: Plan out how you're going to use that budget to
Speaker 1: maximize your hobby fun um. But don't assume that, oh,
Speaker 1: just because I got the sewing machine for super cheap,
Speaker 1: that's it. That's my only investment. I mean, actually, consider
Speaker 1: if I purchase this sewing machine, what kind of investment
Speaker 1: am I willing to make, and how will I budget
Speaker 1: for materials that I need, the type of projects I
Speaker 1: want to do, Consider the entire thing, and how much
Speaker 1: do you want to invest, probably even before buying even
Speaker 1: the biggest expense of the hobby. And I like what
Speaker 1: he has to say about upgrades as well, So that
Speaker 1: includes doing plenty of research when you decide to upgrade
Speaker 1: things um or purchase them in the first place. When
Speaker 1: you're done borrowing them. UM. When you do upgrade, choose
Speaker 1: the higher quality items that match what you need and
Speaker 1: you can get those. You can get higher quality items
Speaker 1: more affordable like on Facebook marketplace. And then to maximize
Speaker 1: the resale value of the items that you i when
Speaker 1: you're upgrading, so you are far better off buying something
Speaker 1: for two hundred that you can resell for a hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty, and that goes into the quality and name
Speaker 1: name brand aspect of it. Then if you just bought
Speaker 1: something for eighty, that no one will will want to
Speaker 1: buy later. So consider re sailing because eventually, if you're
Speaker 1: doing it enough that you want to upgrade once, you
Speaker 1: could potentially want to upgrade again and so at that
Speaker 1: point you can resell. And it also helps you kind
Speaker 1: of take better care of the things that you have
Speaker 1: because you know in the back of your head, like,
Speaker 1: eventually I'm going to resell this, so maybe if like
Speaker 1: I break something, I want to repair it. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: been a fantastic rule of thumb for Eric and I
Speaker 1: in the hobbies that we do. Primarily him with his
Speaker 1: music equipment because there's so much of it that's involved
Speaker 1: in recording and playing music. But he has such a
Speaker 1: collection now and I'm sure he would not you with
Speaker 1: this way. There's so much more to be had, I
Speaker 1: get it. But when he wants to buy something, he
Speaker 1: considers what he has to sell that he can put
Speaker 1: towards that um, and any jobs that he has related
Speaker 1: to music, he can put that into a fund. So
Speaker 1: if in your hobby you're able to make any money
Speaker 1: off of it, that can go then right back into
Speaker 1: supporting the hobby itself. If you don't need it to
Speaker 1: be a side gig um, but it can be then
Speaker 1: fantastic to then have that money that you can invest
Speaker 1: back into it. But yeah, consider if you're going to
Speaker 1: buy something new or an upgrade of something, it can
Speaker 1: really offset the cost if you have something else to sell.
Speaker 1: Or like maybe the lower grade equivalent of that piece,
Speaker 1: to sell it rather than just keeping it in your closet.
Speaker 1: It can help offset costs if you're able to do that.
Speaker 1: Also doing plenty of research. We this is again one
Speaker 1: of those frugal themes that is woven throughout all of
Speaker 1: our episodes. But this research component, knowing what you're buying,
Speaker 1: doing the legwork of what's the best bang for your buck,
Speaker 1: the reviews on it, all of that prior to purchasing,
Speaker 1: prior to purchasing, before even getting into it, and then
Speaker 1: even when you're upgrading, making sure that you're getting um
Speaker 1: what you want at a good price, and again considering
Speaker 1: resale value with it. And so, if your hobby involves
Speaker 1: routine paid experiences, and make the regular he's quote unquote
Speaker 1: regular experience as low end as possible and spread out
Speaker 1: the high end events. So I found this when we
Speaker 1: went skiing for our baby moon. That is an experience.
Speaker 1: It's not even expensive to get the equipment. The equipment
Speaker 1: can be found for very cheap. It's the lift passes
Speaker 1: and all of those they wings to actually go use
Speaker 1: the equipment, and so kind of what they're saying is
Speaker 1: and he relates it to golf courses, but make the
Speaker 1: regular experiences as low end as possible, and it also
Speaker 1: keeps the higher end experiences more special. Mm hmm, just
Speaker 1: like your your cheap day when you're on your diet,
Speaker 1: and cookies more special, cookies more special. I like it.
Speaker 1: And last but not least, on this article, talking about
Speaker 1: getting involved in local groups who enjoy the same hobby
Speaker 1: or um experiences. So this can provide so much. I mean,
Speaker 1: number one, community, right, we're all about that. So engaging
Speaker 1: and connecting with other people is a win across the board.
Speaker 1: But also it allows opportunity to learn more about what
Speaker 1: it is that you're doing, which can help you avoid
Speaker 1: financial pitfalls within your hot bait that you not need
Speaker 1: to spend money on something that you thought you needed
Speaker 1: to spend money on because so and so who's been
Speaker 1: doing it for ten years says no, you just do
Speaker 1: this thing and it's the equivalent to that, or actually
Speaker 1: it seems really awesome to do that, but it's not
Speaker 1: as cool as people think. So there can be so
Speaker 1: much to glean from that shared knowledge. But also it's
Speaker 1: possible that people might swap equipment within a community group
Speaker 1: like that, so it's possible that somebody else might be
Speaker 1: upgrading and you would be their first pick to pass
Speaker 1: down to you the very same thing that you might
Speaker 1: be looking for to purchase, and you know, at a
Speaker 1: discounted rate because it's used, and possibly at an even
Speaker 1: more discounted rate because now you're friends. So so many
Speaker 1: things to consider there and getting involved in a local group.
Speaker 1: I think that's a major one here. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: be careful with this one because it's a double edged sword.
Speaker 1: You can find great deals and like maybe free events
Speaker 1: regarding your hobby or or all that, but it can
Speaker 1: also encourage your spending the hobby. So if people don't
Speaker 1: have the same values as you in keeping it frugal,
Speaker 1: it can also kind of make you jealous or encourage
Speaker 1: you to buy the next best thing. So just be
Speaker 1: aware of that, and you know, take the frugal for
Speaker 1: what it's worth and leave the rest. Jill, what if
Speaker 1: I don't have a hobby? What if I'm still looking
Speaker 1: for one? Yeah, and as an adult even that can
Speaker 1: have to find a hobby as an adult. Well, thank
Speaker 1: goodness for the Internet and this next article which is
Speaker 1: written exactly for you if you are that person, and
Speaker 1: it is from Bustle, literally titled how to find a
Speaker 1: hobby as an adult. So we we've got info for you.
Speaker 1: Jen have no fear. In all seriousness, it is important
Speaker 1: to find a hobby when you're paying off debt or
Speaker 1: spend less or something or something if you're trying to
Speaker 1: pay off down or spend less, because it can it
Speaker 1: can become this isolating thing where you're maybe not going
Speaker 1: out with friends as much and you're trying to stop
Speaker 1: doing things that spend money. And so it's really important
Speaker 1: to fill your time with things that don't cost money. So,
Speaker 1: and if you don't already have a hobby, it can
Speaker 1: be kind of weird to find one. Not to mention
Speaker 1: it's good because it helps to be more well rounded.
Speaker 1: It will grow a skill of some sort or satisfy
Speaker 1: the creativity urges that might not be happening for you
Speaker 1: within your work. It does. It makes me sad. I
Speaker 1: have probably far too many hobbies, but it makes me
Speaker 1: sad when I meet people who don't have hobbies. It
Speaker 1: almost has been a thing of I didn't realize that
Speaker 1: was possible, that like there are people who just work
Speaker 1: and then eat and go to sleep, Like wait, what, um?
Speaker 1: That's not a shaming thing. Like I I get it.
Speaker 1: There are people who you just haven't identified it. So
Speaker 1: there's no shame in this. But find one like that
Speaker 1: no matter how old you are, it's important. It helps
Speaker 1: you be well rounded, and it can help you, say,
Speaker 1: save money again if you can find a frugal hobby. Yes,
Speaker 1: So how can people do this? How can they identify
Speaker 1: a hobby? Well, we have a couple of tips for
Speaker 1: you from this article, and the first one is to
Speaker 1: kind of look back to your childhood. So think about
Speaker 1: the things that you did when you were younger, the
Speaker 1: things that people said you were good at, or the
Speaker 1: things that you were drawn to. If you can't remember,
Speaker 1: ask your mom or dad, because that can be a
Speaker 1: really good indicator of maybe where your natural tendencies or
Speaker 1: uninhibited desires lie. Yeah, and this doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: have to pile on seesaws every weekend, if that's all
Speaker 1: you remember doing as a child. I don't even think
Speaker 1: seesaws are legal anymore. They're they're not present in these
Speaker 1: playgrounds anymore. That did take up a lot of my childhood,
Speaker 1: and it's amazing once you start opening your eyes to
Speaker 1: this world of hobbies how many niches there are that
Speaker 1: you could potentially get into, like from stargazing, two toy
Speaker 1: trains to baking. I mean, there are all kinds of
Speaker 1: things in here. But yeah, if you enjoy being outside,
Speaker 1: all right, maybe hiking is something to consider. Or oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, there's so many things anyhow, Yeah, think back
Speaker 1: to your childhood. I'm not going to listen off for you,
Speaker 1: but there's so many um but next, once you've done that,
Speaker 1: once you've thought through your childhood and things that you
Speaker 1: might have been interested in that could translate into a hobby,
Speaker 1: try on a couple of ideas for size, so it
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be that you say, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: going head first into kayaking, Like who knows, it might
Speaker 1: not be exactly what you want to do. Try on
Speaker 1: a couple of these things. Try out a few different options.
Speaker 1: Try out or a gommi for a few days by
Speaker 1: looking up YouTube videos and cutting out your own paper
Speaker 1: before you purchase books and the correct paper. Um rent
Speaker 1: a kayak first before you go buy one, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: try out a couple of different things before investing, and
Speaker 1: then choose something that will make you forget about your day.
Speaker 1: So if you have to really wrap your brain um
Speaker 1: and research and go really like deep dive into this.
Speaker 1: Like it might not be a hobby for you right now,
Speaker 1: like you might need to wait until your life is
Speaker 1: a little less hectic. You definitely want to do a
Speaker 1: hobby that allows you to escape. It's not just about
Speaker 1: occupying your downtime, but really giving you that um, that
Speaker 1: room to gain mental clarity and to just re center
Speaker 1: and regroup. It's like a meditation. I like what they're
Speaker 1: getting at here. I don't know that I would agree
Speaker 1: with like forget about your day, like because we're definitely
Speaker 1: not encouraging you to just I mean some people might
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, then my new hobby is drinking. That's
Speaker 1: not what we're talking. Yeah, I would say something more
Speaker 1: so that can put life back into you, That it
Speaker 1: is something enjoyable, that it is something that is a
Speaker 1: break from your regular routine life that you enjoy and
Speaker 1: can be life giving and could leave room for reflection.
Speaker 1: So again, that doesn't it's not necessarily the same thing
Speaker 1: as forgetting your day and leaving it all behind, but
Speaker 1: something that can pour life back into and allow time
Speaker 1: for that important reflection pieces. So yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: the reason that people enjoy drawing or knitting or sewing
Speaker 1: as far as these more tactile things is because they
Speaker 1: can provide that there can be some repetition to it,
Speaker 1: particularly with knitting or crocheting. It can provide something in
Speaker 1: that mundane action that helps our brain then to like
Speaker 1: catch up with what's happening in our lives. It can
Speaker 1: be a complete break from what usually happens for us.
Speaker 1: Um So think about those types of things that can
Speaker 1: provide that tactile piece, maybe even something that's mundane. If
Speaker 1: your work is very stressful, overwhelming, consider something that is
Speaker 1: a complete break from that. Yeah, it's great. The next
Speaker 1: one is to see if you have any past hobbies
Speaker 1: that maybe you forgot about it. Sometimes we get into
Speaker 1: these things and then we love them for a few
Speaker 1: months and then just stop doing them. But we forget
Speaker 1: about all the time we put into learning that stuff,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's time to try and pick it back
Speaker 1: up and see if you love it more with fresh eyes,
Speaker 1: especially because most of the times you'll already have the
Speaker 1: equipment lying around. I tried that with crocheting, and but
Speaker 1: then I realized I lived in Florida, so there's no reason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't. There's no reason to crochet here, So I
Speaker 1: kind of gave that hobby up. But I would also
Speaker 1: say give yourself the freedom. Don't let that hold you
Speaker 1: back from trying something different. Even if there was some
Speaker 1: level of monetary investment in a previous hobby, if you
Speaker 1: learn through trying it that you didn't enjoy it, there's
Speaker 1: no pressure. Again. You can implement the Kunmari method here
Speaker 1: and say thank you for the teaching that you provided
Speaker 1: me for that time, and I now have the freedom
Speaker 1: to move into whatever else it is that you want
Speaker 1: to try. So there is there's freedom there if you
Speaker 1: don't want to, like continue making friendship bracelets for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. They are fun, but you don't
Speaker 1: have to do that. And then also in here they
Speaker 1: list that notice what you love to buy as guilty pleasures,
Speaker 1: so this can also be an indicator of a possible
Speaker 1: hobby for you. So if you notice that I really
Speaker 1: love buying dishes or paintings of this type or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, that might be a guilty pleasure purchase, kind
Speaker 1: of identify what some of the themes are in there
Speaker 1: or the roots of that, and if that could translate
Speaker 1: into a hobby whether that is maybe I'm interested in
Speaker 1: creating my own dishwar and and maybe it's pottery, or
Speaker 1: maybe I want to try my hand at drawing or
Speaker 1: watercolor or collages with nature or whatever. I mean, you
Speaker 1: you fill in the blank. But the tip here and
Speaker 1: the takeaway here is what is it that you that
Speaker 1: you find yourself drawn to, not as a necessity, but
Speaker 1: something that you find beautiful at the store or when
Speaker 1: you're out and about is like a guilty pleasure. And
Speaker 1: then the last one will talk about on this article
Speaker 1: is see what you want to change about yourself. So
Speaker 1: I mean, if that is you're spending, then obviously don't
Speaker 1: go out and buy a bunch of stuff. But so
Speaker 1: some people might have a hard time doing idle work
Speaker 1: that serves no purpose other than being fun. Raise his hand.
Speaker 1: I really feel that way. So that's why a lot
Speaker 1: of my side hustles involved making money. But then if
Speaker 1: that's not your thing, like self improvement can be a
Speaker 1: really great hobby or doing things that sharpen your mind
Speaker 1: or what have you. So anything that gives your life
Speaker 1: a little self improvement that you can feel productive after
Speaker 1: you've done it is a great way to form a hobby. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this can include reading, writing, journaling, taking pictures. You
Speaker 1: don't have to post it for everybody. They don't have
Speaker 1: to be fantastic pictures. But if it's fun for you,
Speaker 1: then do it. So yeah, there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: options in here, and you don't have to box yourself
Speaker 1: in on what what it means to have a hobby
Speaker 1: or what it means to have something that's life giving,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to be just a hobby that
Speaker 1: doesn't serve a purpose. Like you said, Jen, I mean,
Speaker 1: for me, this podcasting is a hobby. It feels purposeful
Speaker 1: to me, which is important, but I also it's life
Speaker 1: giving to me. I enjoy it. It's a break from
Speaker 1: my normal routine. Along with other things refurbishing furniture. I
Speaker 1: will often sell it so I get to make a
Speaker 1: little bit of money off of it. But I enjoyed
Speaker 1: that and then it felt like it served a purpose.
Speaker 1: So this doesn't mean that you're doing some cheap craft
Speaker 1: that you're just going to throw out tomorrow just so
Speaker 1: you could have spent time doing something. If you are
Speaker 1: a person who it's important that that you see the
Speaker 1: fruit of your labor and that the thing that you
Speaker 1: did has a reason for it, then fine, find a
Speaker 1: hobby that provides that good word. Good word. You know
Speaker 1: what else is a good word? Jill? The best time
Speaker 1: of the week has some good words in it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's time for the bill of the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's bill Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi, this is jents Noce again, the
Speaker 1: one that has a duckbill. I just listened to one
Speaker 1: of your podcast and I just died laughing at Jill's
Speaker 1: laughter for the wrong nufferent color. Who said who did that?
Speaker 1: Was hilarious. But anyways, I just wanted to put my
Speaker 1: favorite bill of the week. One way I like to
Speaker 1: reduce my dental bills is brush your teeth. Now very important.
Speaker 1: You get a electric toothbrush. It does not have to
Speaker 1: be a super expensive one, but it should have this
Speaker 1: the thinny head and don't use the manual one. You
Speaker 1: really need to spend that extra It doesn't have a
Speaker 1: big sense of what five t for one, and that's good,
Speaker 1: But do it every every single night. A lot of
Speaker 1: people brush just in the morning because as they wake
Speaker 1: up and they had bad breath. Do it at night
Speaker 1: because if you don't do it before you go to sleep,
Speaker 1: you have eight plus hours that that steria is sitting
Speaker 1: on your teeth and just eating away at the teeth.
Speaker 1: So every single night, and my recommendation to do it
Speaker 1: in this order to floss the teeth, to get out
Speaker 1: any bits in between, brush the teeth and for two
Speaker 1: or more minutes, but definitely two minutes, and then rinse
Speaker 1: or use mouth wash. Either way, if you get out
Speaker 1: the particles that the flossing and the brushing not loose,
Speaker 1: but it might still be in your mouth, you know,
Speaker 1: rinse and spit. A lot of people don't brush in
Speaker 1: between meals. It's it's hard, you're you're busier to go.
Speaker 1: But one thing you can do to stop too to
Speaker 1: stacy and between meals is just swishing your mouth with water.
Speaker 1: That helps cut down a lot of the bacteria. That's
Speaker 1: all you do is um. You can rinse then spit,
Speaker 1: or you can rinse the name and swallow if you
Speaker 1: pendal worth spit, it doesn't matter um, as long as
Speaker 1: you get you know, get it rinsed. Um. This alone
Speaker 1: can stay you thousands upon thousands of dollars on dental
Speaker 1: work and needless pain. UM. So that's my goal of
Speaker 1: the week. Thanks guys, girls. Yes, Jen, are you adentist?
Speaker 1: And Jen is a dentist. I don't call you Dr
Speaker 1: Jen on that one. Oh my word, you are so
Speaker 1: serious about brushing teeth A mound me and education. The
Speaker 1: amount of detail in that Bill of the week and
Speaker 1: specific detail too. I never in a million years would
Speaker 1: have said on our Bill of the Week segment, we're
Speaker 1: going to get some good detail on how to brush
Speaker 1: your teeth, But Jen, you brought it. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love that. That was very specific to saving money
Speaker 1: on dental hygiene because most of the time it is
Speaker 1: not covered in your health insurance. You have to pay extra.
Speaker 1: But you don't have to pay that extra if you
Speaker 1: just pay the extra for electric toothbrush and brush your
Speaker 1: teeth twice a day, it's worth the detail with the
Speaker 1: money you can save. Jen. That fantastic and you have breath. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. So this is really good for money saving
Speaker 1: and for friends saving. So if you want to submit
Speaker 1: a bill of the week that is going to educate
Speaker 1: us and rust worlds, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill and leave us a speak pipe or a
Speaker 1: Google voicemail and golly, we'll play it and everybody says
Speaker 1: that they love your laugh. Jill Jen is not the
Speaker 1: first one. You're welcome. I mean you're getting genuine laugh
Speaker 1: like I've got nothing else to give foods. We still
Speaker 1: get a kid the occasional robo call on our Google voicemail,
Speaker 1: so we don't play those. We should do a montage
Speaker 1: of those. At some point you're like, all the same,
Speaker 1: I delete them. But anyways, it's time for the lightning
Speaker 1: round pure ping ping ding ding ding. So if you
Speaker 1: need a list of hot frugal hobbies to inspire you, gosh,
Speaker 1: we asked this question in our Frugal Friends community on Facebook,
Speaker 1: and we were not disappointed with how many ideas there were.
Speaker 1: Like you've got your normal ones that will you'll be like,
Speaker 1: uh huh okay, and then you've got your ones where
Speaker 1: you're like, what, We've got some creative people, yes, and
Speaker 1: we are. We are sharing almost all of them except
Speaker 1: for the doubles, but these will hopefully help you in
Speaker 1: inspiring you to create a new hobby or maybe pick
Speaker 1: one backup or something. So um Eileen said reading library books.
Speaker 1: Katie loves walks in nature. Rebecca runs. I also love
Speaker 1: running when I'm not thirty two weeks pregnant. UM and
Speaker 1: then and they're free running groups, So there's your community
Speaker 1: right there too. Melinda sings in her community choir UM.
Speaker 1: As long as they don't make you buy those like
Speaker 1: expensive choir robes, then that is great. Tracy likes puzzles
Speaker 1: and Cupawn ng Akey likes podcasts, specifically travel podcasts, and
Speaker 1: I was recently on an episode of a great travel
Speaker 1: podcast called We Travel There, and it highlights the best
Speaker 1: things to do in a different city every episode. So
Speaker 1: if you, yeah, if you like travel podcasts, We Travel
Speaker 1: There is a good one. And then um and Jennifer volunteers.
Speaker 1: And she even gets because she volunteers. She gets like
Speaker 1: free memberships and into events for free because she volunteers
Speaker 1: with the organization. So that's a great thing if you
Speaker 1: if you find an event you want to go to
Speaker 1: find out if they need volunteers or the organization that
Speaker 1: supplies their volunteers, and that will often provide community as well.
Speaker 1: If you are an extrovert and you desire for your
Speaker 1: hobby to also be paired with human connection. My goodness,
Speaker 1: what a better I mean that checks off more than
Speaker 1: three things because you're also giving back, so there's a
Speaker 1: lot of good things there all. Also Emerald in our
Speaker 1: community group. She's also a personal friend of mine, so
Speaker 1: I love this for so many reasons. But she had
Speaker 1: some amazing ideas, so here we go. She's one of
Speaker 1: the more creative ones on this thread. Dreaming like literally dreaming,
Speaker 1: you could just sit and dream. Has a hobby that's free.
Speaker 1: Thanks Emerald singing playing the piano. This is also another favorite,
Speaker 1: again still from Emerald, screaming just screaming and you just
Speaker 1: want to go the Emerald scream scream. Why do you
Speaker 1: like it? So? Why not Jen, because it's a hobby.
Speaker 1: Screaming up by cleaning looking at houses. I enjoyed this
Speaker 1: one too. I mean, we're just she's more so just
Speaker 1: listing off like free things that you can do. I
Speaker 1: don't know if like looking at houses as a hobby,
Speaker 1: but maybe uh, looking at houses that could be online,
Speaker 1: that could be in person. It is fun to go
Speaker 1: to open houses, even if it's not in the housing market.
Speaker 1: You get some of those free cookies. Anyhow, Also thinking
Speaker 1: about what she would do with a million dollars, was
Speaker 1: just thinking about it playing Facebook games with her sister,
Speaker 1: video chat cooking with her brother, which was awesome. That
Speaker 1: is awesome. I actually have watched her. She's done a
Speaker 1: couple of Facebook live videos of her cooking, and that
Speaker 1: has been a fun frugal activity for me to just
Speaker 1: sit and watch her cook because I feel like I
Speaker 1: get to hang out with her. But then I also
Speaker 1: might learn something new and then and then I also
Speaker 1: get hungry, and I'm like, oh, maybe I should go
Speaker 1: cook for myself. And that's a great idea that if
Speaker 1: you like to cook. Yeah. Um. Staring at her baby,
Speaker 1: my favorite, is enjoyable. I got to see Mr doing
Speaker 1: beauty recently. Yeah, that's good. That's going to be my
Speaker 1: hobby this summer is just staring at my baby. That
Speaker 1: is a hobby. Staring at it. Oh Um. Okay, So
Speaker 1: that's all the treasures Emerald has. Thanks Emerald. Also, Christina
Speaker 1: likes hiking local reservations. Angela makes quilts out of old clothes,
Speaker 1: which is an awesome idea because quilting can get expensive,
Speaker 1: so uh. And I've even seen people do this with
Speaker 1: old sweatshirts or old T shirts. And it's also a
Speaker 1: good way of keeping memories, Like if you keep a
Speaker 1: lot of T shirts just because of the memories that
Speaker 1: they're associated to, making them into a fun blanket is
Speaker 1: a great way of preserving that, but also not cluttering
Speaker 1: up your drawers. Yeah, and keeping clothes out of landfills,
Speaker 1: because not every time you donate something does it go
Speaker 1: to someone else. Sometimes you can go to a landfill
Speaker 1: or something, So doing with old clothes is awesome idea.
Speaker 1: Leah also had a whole list. She does rock painting,
Speaker 1: which there's actually an organization in St. Petersburg that does that,
Speaker 1: and they leave them all around the city so people
Speaker 1: will take pictures with them or move them, like replace
Speaker 1: them with their own rock and move the other one
Speaker 1: to different places. It's kind of cool. Language learning, lots
Speaker 1: of free apps and YouTube bids for that. Baking, crocheting
Speaker 1: with recycled plastic bags. I don't know how you do that,
Speaker 1: but that sounds very cool. I think we talked about
Speaker 1: oh in one of our episodes. I'm not can remember
Speaker 1: which one. But plastic bags was one of our fake sponsors,
Speaker 1: I mean real sponsors, and I talked about how people
Speaker 1: will weave them together to be matts for the homeless.
Speaker 1: So this is another one that can be combined. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as like a volunteer give back thing and a hobby
Speaker 1: because they actually offer some pretty decent insulation and a
Speaker 1: bit of padding. I mean, blankets are great too, but
Speaker 1: you can actually weave these into mats, and especially for
Speaker 1: the homeless community up north, they can be a fantastic
Speaker 1: thing to lay down on the ground underneath blankets to
Speaker 1: offer a bit of like cushion and insulation. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And because those bags are not recyclable, so they end
Speaker 1: up in landfill, so if you can find a better
Speaker 1: place for them, that is ideal. Um. She also likes
Speaker 1: walking her dog and making maple syrup because she's Canadian
Speaker 1: and she can do that. I don't. I can't do that,
Speaker 1: but I know you can do it, like Vermont and
Speaker 1: New Hampshire and stuff. We even have some in p
Speaker 1: I some trees. Yeah, I'm jealous of you all for that,
Speaker 1: but it's it's fine. I'll just buy my maple syrup
Speaker 1: at the grocery store like every other Floridian and enjoy
Speaker 1: the sunshine and enjoy the sun. I'll take the sun.
Speaker 1: Alex makes art and she started a business out of it,
Speaker 1: so her hobby can pay for itself, so that's really cool. Um.
Speaker 1: And then Mary Kate loves writing. Writing is one of
Speaker 1: my I mean writing started as a hobby for me
Speaker 1: and it became my full time job, so that's great.
Speaker 1: And Brooke is like, do budgeting and paying off my
Speaker 1: debt count? I love that one. I laughed so hard.
Speaker 1: It does become its own thing that it can take
Speaker 1: up I mean it does. It takes up time. When
Speaker 1: I have free time, I do I sit down and
Speaker 1: look at my budget. I do. Yeah, And I'll make
Speaker 1: plans for like savings and stuff. So yes, Brooke, that
Speaker 1: does count. You are a super nerd. But you were
Speaker 1: in good company. And Catherine walks and jogs with her
Speaker 1: dog and she's also a gigging musician and voice teacher,
Speaker 1: so that's fun on the side. And another Katherine in
Speaker 1: the group loves working out, gardening, cooking. She's in a
Speaker 1: blue grass band and wouldn't you know it, marn also
Speaker 1: says playing bluegrass music is her hobby man, we're surrounded
Speaker 1: by some musicians blue grass musician grass specifically, frugality and
Speaker 1: blue grass gotta be correlation. I know you're gonna explore
Speaker 1: that one a little deeper. It's probably yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hypothesize on that one. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Emily crochets and she sells that on her Etsy shop.
Speaker 1: Aaron is a birth duelah, which brings in a little
Speaker 1: bit of that money on the side, but she spends
Speaker 1: a lot of time researching and learning new things for that.
Speaker 1: So clearly, the sky's the limit on identifying hobbies and
Speaker 1: even how they're used. Whether like a hobby can also
Speaker 1: be paired with giving back, a hobby can be paired
Speaker 1: with side gigs, a hobby can be paired with learning
Speaker 1: something new, like do like it can be paired with
Speaker 1: connecting with other people. So there's so many good reasons
Speaker 1: for this. And if it can be paired with a purpose, man,
Speaker 1: that's amazing, go get it. Yes, yes, you know what else?
Speaker 1: I mean? Reading? Reading is the best frugal hobby. And
Speaker 1: that's my transition into our outro because we it's May
Speaker 1: and so we're starting a new book for book club,
Speaker 1: and so if you're looking for a frugal hobby, we're
Speaker 1: reading The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist and you
Speaker 1: can go get it from your library and it's free
Speaker 1: and just take some time and read with us. And
Speaker 1: if you don't get it from your library, there is
Speaker 1: an opportunity to get yourself a free copy from us,
Speaker 1: your Frugal Friends. All you have to do is leave
Speaker 1: us a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Then you take
Speaker 1: a screenshot of that review and email it to us
Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com. We will
Speaker 1: pick one winner for every five reviews that are submitted
Speaker 1: to us. So your chances are pretty high of getting
Speaker 1: yourself a free book. Pretty good, pretty good. And if
Speaker 1: you need to hear an example of a really great review,
Speaker 1: then I'm going to read one for you. And this
Speaker 1: one's from Brandy. It's called love this Podcast. It's five
Speaker 1: stars and it says I came across this podcast while
Speaker 1: searching for ways to save money and budgets and I'm
Speaker 1: glad I did. I feel like Jen and Jill are
Speaker 1: might be f f and we're so all about being
Speaker 1: your bfs are, especially from our the comfort of our homes,
Speaker 1: so Jen can just sit there and lean back with
Speaker 1: her pregnant belly and b r BFF. Yes, and I'm
Speaker 1: literally resting my microphone on my belly. This is such
Speaker 1: a good look. It's what I'm doing. And I'm just
Speaker 1: reading these reviews and loving them and loving spending time
Speaker 1: with you. So if the audio goes in and out
Speaker 1: for Jen, it's because the microphone is on her pregnant belly.
Speaker 1: It's pretty stable. I think. Oh, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: that great review, and for showing other people how they
Speaker 1: can review us with their five star action and words
Speaker 1: that help us keep going and help others to find us,
Speaker 1: help our community to grow, help us to get more BFFs.
Speaker 1: And if you like what you're hearing and you want
Speaker 1: more of it because you're so bummed that this episode
Speaker 1: is about to end, you can head on over and
Speaker 1: join us in the conversation and give sharing back and forth.
Speaker 1: That's g I F sharing back and forth on our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Facebook community. There's always action going on there.
Speaker 1: It's also where we discuss these books, so there's always
Speaker 1: something to do that could be your hobby, even just
Speaker 1: posting to the Frugal Friends Facebook community group and seeing
Speaker 1: what kind of responses you get like relevant. All right, y'all,
Speaker 1: we'll see you next week. Have a good week. Next
Speaker 1: Week by Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by
Speaker 1: Eric Seria. Um. What are you afraid people are going
Speaker 1: to post in our Frugal Friends Facebook community Jen, I
Speaker 1: don't know, and that's the fear. I hope that they
Speaker 1: post pictures of them playing in their bluegrass band. I
Speaker 1: hope that too. I hope they post all kinds of
Speaker 1: things about their hobbies. And you know, I can't they
Speaker 1: love a bad post other than someone just coming on
Speaker 1: and straight being rude. I think that I am open
Speaker 1: to whatever anybody wants to share. I mean, clearly, look
Speaker 1: at our bills of the week. We we get tips
Speaker 1: on how to care for your teeth. I'm open to
Speaker 1: all of it. So true, Jill Well, I mean, if
Speaker 1: somebody wants to post something bizarre in the group tag, Jill,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna be into it, Like whatever it is,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be straight into it. Yeah, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: trying to reach for my phone so it'll take me
Speaker 1: a while to see it. Unless of it's like hard,
Speaker 1: offensive or rude. I'm sure I'll be into it. Well.
Speaker 1: Rule number two for joining the group is stay chill
Speaker 1: in the chat. That's right. I do like that, So
Speaker 1: we stay chill in the chat. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: stay chill or you campion. Have we had to kick
Speaker 1: anybody out? No? I didn't think so. I haven't. I
Speaker 1: mean to take some posts down, but haven't kicked anybody
Speaker 1: out nobody. It hasn't seemed like anybody's been testy. Have
Speaker 1: you had to take offensive or well because they are
Speaker 1: self serving? Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's why you're
Speaker 1: so open to this, because you know I monitored the group.
Speaker 1: You're welcome do it for my entertainment and Jen's monitoring.
Speaker 1: That's it. I get it. Now. Well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: We will see what happens. Better to beg forgiveness then
Speaker 1: ask permission. You know what I mean? Life motto. Put
Speaker 1: that on a bumper sticker.