Speaker 1: Episode five Oho one is episode two ninety eight No
Speaker 1: Cost Ways to be More Eco Friendly.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and it's April and we love
Speaker 1: every April to do an episode on zero waste, sustainability
Speaker 1: and all the ways that you can be more sustainable
Speaker 1: and eco friendly minus the marketing greenwashing.
Speaker 3: We are hearing from so many of our listeners from
Speaker 3: a variety of different platforms saying that this is of
Speaker 3: interest to you. How can we be more sustainable with
Speaker 3: the purchases that we make the everyday decisions? And we
Speaker 3: did an episode on this, so we might as well
Speaker 3: pull it back out of the archives for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, this was one of your favorite episodes from a
Speaker 1: few years ago, so we're replaying it. But first, this
Speaker 1: episode is brought to you by your Emergency Fund. So
Speaker 1: this week on Monday, we started a new series on
Speaker 1: Instagram called Weekly Money Move. Every Monday, we're sharing a
Speaker 1: money move you can do this week to organize and
Speaker 1: optimize your Money. We even made a separate account on
Speaker 1: Instagram to keep all of the videos for this series organized,
Speaker 1: so you can follow that at Weekly Money Move. Also,
Speaker 1: if you get the friend Letter, every Monday's friend Letter
Speaker 1: is now going to be themed to the Weekly Money Move,
Speaker 1: so you're going to get it in text version in
Speaker 1: your inbox every Monday morning, so you know the one
Speaker 1: thing to be working on for the week. And on Instagram,
Speaker 1: you're going to see a completely unhinged video of and
Speaker 1: I because we're so tired of boring educational social media videos,
Speaker 1: so we have made a commitment that every Weekly Money
Speaker 1: Move video will be completely unhinged. It will make you
Speaker 1: question if we're okay.
Speaker 4: We are.
Speaker 1: We just want you to laugh so that you stick
Speaker 1: around and you hear the words that we're saying and
Speaker 1: you optimize your money. And this week's money move is
Speaker 1: do an emergency fund check, So we talk all about
Speaker 1: what an emergency fund check is over on at Weekly
Speaker 1: Money Move, on Instagram, and again subscribe to the Friend
Speaker 1: Letter Frugal Friends podcast dot com so you can get
Speaker 1: it in your inbox and we're excited to share that.
Speaker 1: We're also sharing it in the Sunday Reset, so it
Speaker 1: comes out on Sunday, and the Weekly Money Move comes
Speaker 1: out on Monday, so we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: what we did and review the Weekly Money Move we
Speaker 1: just did so you can kind of get an idea
Speaker 1: of how it goes for normal other people, normal people,
Speaker 1: I wanted to say normal people, but unhinged people.
Speaker 3: We've had so much fun recording these videos for our
Speaker 3: at Weekly Money Move Instagram account, and it is helpful
Speaker 3: information about finances. Everything that is coming out of our
Speaker 3: mouths is helpful, but everything our bodies are doing is
Speaker 3: quite distracting.
Speaker 4: But we think we we love it.
Speaker 3: We actually don't know if you're gonna love it, but
Speaker 3: we love it and we're doing it for us and
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 1: Market research and testing has shown that everyone thus far
Speaker 1: has loved them. We have actually recorded six videos so
Speaker 1: far and everyone has loved all of them, so we
Speaker 1: are excited to share them with you every Monday. So
Speaker 1: we also have more episodes on the podcast about sustainability.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 1: We do this every April and sometimes more often. Episode
Speaker 1: three ninety eight Frugal Zero Waste Living, Episode two sixty
Speaker 1: six where we talk with Stephanie Spherion from the Sustainable
Speaker 1: Minimalism podcast. We talk about how sustainability, minimalism, and frugality
Speaker 1: all work together and it's it's fantastic. So I hope
Speaker 1: that you enjoy this episode as much as everyone else
Speaker 1: did two years ago when we played it.
Speaker 4: Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about no cost ways to be more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: We're splitting this into two parts, as we normally do.
Speaker 1: The first is mindset shifts for sustainability because we haven't
Speaker 1: really talked about that aspect much, and then the second
Speaker 1: is some actual practical no cost tips.
Speaker 4: Love it this.
Speaker 3: So the first article comes from the Family Footprint Project
Speaker 3: and is talking about, like Jen said, the mindset shifts
Speaker 3: for sustainable living, another kind of area that is lesser
Speaker 3: talked about, of what needs to happen in our thoughts
Speaker 3: and our mind before we're going to see the behavioral
Speaker 3: actions that follow. It always will begin first in our thoughts,
Speaker 3: but yet we just love to jump straight to the behaviors.
Speaker 3: It rarely works. So here we are with some of
Speaker 3: the mindsets, and the first one that they mentioned is
Speaker 3: imperfect action being willing to embrace and accept actions that
Speaker 3: are imperfect, and I so appreciate even just starting with
Speaker 3: this tip because I think anytime we talk about issues
Speaker 3: that we are facing in the world where there might
Speaker 3: be injustice or difficulty or a demand for doing better
Speaker 3: that there can be then this really unforgiving nontrust surrounding
Speaker 3: it of you have to be doing all of the
Speaker 3: things and it needs to rise to the same level
Speaker 3: of importance as I'm feeling right now as I dedicate
Speaker 3: my life to this thing. And I mean, I love
Speaker 3: all the advocacy people out there, but sometimes and I'm
Speaker 3: mostly like also talking about myself because I've been in
Speaker 3: the injustice world for a long time. It can be
Speaker 3: all consuming and we can demand so much, and then
Speaker 3: that can lead to people just not doing anything because
Speaker 3: it feels so overwhelming. It's like I can't do that perfectly.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get yelled at. I don't even know if
Speaker 3: I want to touch it because it feels so volatile.
Speaker 3: But this new movement and new wave that is far
Speaker 3: less shaming and just recognizing small steps towards getting better,
Speaker 3: it is going to be imperfect. What's important to you
Speaker 3: is not necessarily going to be the most important thing
Speaker 3: to me, but in each of our own ways, finding
Speaker 3: what can we do to be actively moving towards greater
Speaker 3: levels of sustainability that will benefit our environment, the world
Speaker 3: around us, other people, ourselves. You don't have to do
Speaker 3: it perfectly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is unfortunate that we live in a culture
Speaker 1: that loves to point out imperfection, whether it be in
Speaker 1: the past or the present. It just loves to call
Speaker 1: out other's imperfection, usually as a deflection from our own imperfection.
Speaker 1: And so there's always going to be people out there
Speaker 1: that do that. But know that if you're taking small steps,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what other people are saying. You're going
Speaker 1: in the right direction, and you just have to have
Speaker 1: grace for people that might be judgmental and know that
Speaker 1: it comes out of they're insecurity, not your lack of
Speaker 1: trying and moving in.
Speaker 4: The right direction. Yes.
Speaker 1: The next is conscious consumption. This is the things that
Speaker 1: having no intention of moving off the grid and living
Speaker 1: solely off the land, which I'm sure would mean fostering
Speaker 1: out my children who would refuse to come with me.
Speaker 1: The author is definitely honest. She says, I'm faced with
Speaker 1: being a consumer, which we all are. We say this
Speaker 1: over and over again. Have you spend money, We spend money.
Speaker 1: We love spending money. Spending money is not the enemy,
Speaker 1: and very much in frugality, spending money is seen as
Speaker 1: the enemy. What really is the enemy is the mindless consumption.
Speaker 1: The I mean you are conscious if you're awake, but
Speaker 1: unconscious consumption I like it saying mindless habitual. That type
Speaker 1: of consumption that is the enemy. Actual consumption is not.
Speaker 1: So we want to move more towards intentional and conscious
Speaker 1: consumption of products. And so this article actually references the
Speaker 1: five rs that we talked about in last year's Zero
Speaker 1: Waste episode, which is refuse, reduce, reuse, rot, and recycle.
Speaker 1: And so we're very familiar with reduce, reuse, recycle, but
Speaker 1: in the zero waste world, first we refuse, and so
Speaker 1: that is refusing to bring things into your home that
Speaker 1: you do not need, refusing to bring things in that
Speaker 1: our impulse purchases are even free things from your by
Speaker 1: Nothing group that you probably don't need but are just
Speaker 1: taking for free. So that's the first one. And then
Speaker 1: it also adds rot before recycle, so if you have
Speaker 1: if you can compost, to try to do that first,
Speaker 1: and then recycle is last. So being very aware of
Speaker 1: the things that you're bringing into your home and being
Speaker 1: very aware of the things you are spending your money
Speaker 1: on and the journey that they took to get there.
Speaker 1: That alone, just having that mindset is that I'm conscious
Speaker 1: of the journey that my item took to my home
Speaker 1: can really change a lot about how you buy things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is a great concept for us just
Speaker 3: solely financially, but how much more so when we add
Speaker 3: on the layer of the benefit it has for the
Speaker 3: environment when we are more conscious consumers. So I love
Speaker 3: it when we could just like stacks on stacks on stacks,
Speaker 3: really solid reasons for being mindful and good stewards. So
Speaker 3: there's just another one. And I love the additional ours
Speaker 3: refusing and rotting. That's perfect for me. The next one
Speaker 3: on this list is having this mindset that is more
Speaker 3: and more headed towards valuing second hand. And I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people, if you do buy secondhand, might
Speaker 3: come at this concept for a variety of reasons. Some
Speaker 3: people enter into the second hand purchasing world purely to
Speaker 3: save some money, Others enter into it purely from a
Speaker 3: reducing waste perspective, But it can serve all the purposes
Speaker 3: and as we're able to add more value to that
Speaker 3: then it won't just be this, Oh, let me just
Speaker 3: see if I can do this to save money, because
Speaker 3: the second we're not as concerned about spending less, then
Speaker 3: we might be buying new. And that's what the author
Speaker 3: gave as an example in their own lives of Yeah,
Speaker 3: they used second hand and free, which is secondhand usually too.
Speaker 3: In their college days when they didn't have a lot
Speaker 3: of money, it was not only what's at the thrift store,
Speaker 3: but just what's on the side of the road, what's
Speaker 3: in someone's dumbst But then the second they got a job,
Speaker 3: that wasn't needed anymore for their lifestyle, and so they
Speaker 3: were buying new. And so to keep us on this
Speaker 3: track of second hand purchasing can come when we are
Speaker 3: then also concerned about reducing waste and consuming in a
Speaker 3: more kind of ethical, sustainable kind of way, so wherever
Speaker 3: we can, and that goes along with the rs of reusing, repurposing,
Speaker 3: buying something that's already using. I love how they say
Speaker 3: they realized that the second something is purchased or bought,
Speaker 3: it is now used. So even if you are the
Speaker 3: one who purchased it new, now that you've bought it,
Speaker 3: it's used. So that can be a helpful reframe in
Speaker 3: if there are any barriers to buying used items, there
Speaker 3: can be some really amazing deals to be found and
Speaker 3: also keeping things out of the landfill.
Speaker 4: So I'm all about and I'm here.
Speaker 3: For secondhand, and that's your thrift stores, that's your buy nothing,
Speaker 3: that's your Facebook marketplace, that's your hand me down from friends,
Speaker 3: wherever you can get second hand dug.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's a radical middle to be found here too.
Speaker 1: I talk to a mom once who was like, I
Speaker 1: can't buy my kid's closed secondhand because they go through
Speaker 1: them so fast. They're just so rough on their jeans.
Speaker 1: And that is very like, that's an extreme thought, is
Speaker 1: that I can't buy any of my kids clothes second
Speaker 1: hand because they are so rough on them. I have
Speaker 1: to buy them firsthand. But there is a there is
Speaker 1: a radical middle. So maybe your kid has ten pairs
Speaker 1: of jeans, five of them are new, five of them
Speaker 1: are thrifted. They go through those five maybe faster than
Speaker 1: the new ones, but then maybe they can pass those
Speaker 1: new five down those ones that were newer, pass those
Speaker 1: down to the next kid, and then they get five
Speaker 1: more new ones, or they just use out the thrifted
Speaker 1: ones faster, and by the time they're ready to move
Speaker 1: up in size, they are left with five pairs of genes.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: Alternatively, there's someone at the other end of that spectrum
Speaker 3: who has bought stuff that their kids never wore. So
Speaker 3: it's not as if you can't find things the thrift
Speaker 3: store that aren't already tattered. There are plenty of things
Speaker 3: that you can buy pre owned, but that doesn't always
Speaker 3: mean pre used.
Speaker 1: That's so true. Yeah, So there is a radical middle
Speaker 1: to be had in second hand. You do not have
Speaker 1: to be all second hand or all new in anything.
Speaker 1: And I would just challenge you to explore how secondhand
Speaker 1: you can get in a reasonable way that fits your lifestyle.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: For me, I always buy my undies new.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're a full support of new underwear, full support.
Speaker 1: If that was something is that's a question you had
Speaker 1: for the frugal friends. We just want to we just
Speaker 1: want to put that out there.
Speaker 4: We are all your own.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely So. The next one is reevaluate assumptions, which
Speaker 1: is kind of what I was just talking about. With
Speaker 1: the mindset of having to be all in secondhand or
Speaker 1: all out, really reevaluate what you assume about your your footprint.
Speaker 1: So the author says, I've discovered assumptions that I held
Speaker 1: which prevented me from taking certain actions. I touched on
Speaker 1: an assumption about buying new above, so it was a
Speaker 1: similar thing that I said, and it was just what
Speaker 1: I did. I didn't think about it. I just assumed
Speaker 1: that was what people, including me did. So even if
Speaker 1: the people around you are doing things one way, we're
Speaker 1: here to tell you that there are people surely doing
Speaker 1: it another way, and maybe they're doing it all the way.
Speaker 4: But you don't have to do that either.
Speaker 1: So it is difficult to uncover your underlying assumptions. The
Speaker 1: author does acknowledge that because you don't know what you
Speaker 1: don't know, and that's kind of one of the reasons
Speaker 1: we do this podcast is just to open up mindsets
Speaker 1: to like reveal things that you may not know. But
Speaker 1: go in baby steps, go at a pace and change
Speaker 1: at a pace that is no pun intended, sustainable and
Speaker 1: doable for you.
Speaker 4: And always if you have.
Speaker 1: A like in your mind, something that you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I can only do this because and you've rationalized it
Speaker 1: out if it's an absolute challenge, that challenge that mindset
Speaker 1: in yourself if you have any absolute mindsets or thoughts,
Speaker 1: take a moment and just be like, Okay, I assume
Speaker 1: this is one hundred percent. Let me just live for
Speaker 1: a second if this wasn't one hundred percent, what would
Speaker 1: it look like for that, for this one hundred percent
Speaker 1: mindset to be untrue, and just think about how what
Speaker 1: that would look like.
Speaker 4: It's such a good exercise.
Speaker 3: It may not change everything entirely, but it's a good
Speaker 3: thing to know that not everything has to be boxed
Speaker 3: in and it might lead you to a really creative solution.
Speaker 4: So this is great for multiple reasons.
Speaker 3: The next article we want to go through now gives
Speaker 3: some actual tips of things that we can be implementing
Speaker 3: to aim at greater levels of sustainability in some no
Speaker 3: cost ways, and it comes from Real Simple.
Speaker 4: The article is titled.
Speaker 3: Ten low cost and no cost ways.
Speaker 4: To help the planet.
Speaker 3: This was in twenty twenty two, but we're just going
Speaker 3: to move that over to also twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: Three as well. Date it we will eat.
Speaker 3: We're not going to go through all ten. Both Jen
Speaker 3: and I are going to pick some of our favorites,
Speaker 3: and I will kick it off with one of my favorites,
Speaker 3: which is number one, reduce food waste. And again we
Speaker 3: reference that we did do an entire episode on this
Speaker 3: episode one seventy six if you want to take an
Speaker 3: even deeper dive into what this could look like. But
Speaker 3: the article references that globally we waste close to forty
Speaker 3: percent of all the food that's produced, which is.
Speaker 4: Really wah wah.
Speaker 3: That's so so so much food waste, which then leads
Speaker 3: to all sorts of greenhouse gas emissions. And it's just
Speaker 3: it's not great. It's a waste of money, it's a
Speaker 3: waste of food that could be sustaining us, and so
Speaker 3: wherever we can do our part. And I love the
Speaker 3: breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps. This is
Speaker 3: definitely something that every household can be implementing. It's not
Speaker 3: this big, massive overhaul of lifestyle. It's tweaking things here
Speaker 3: and there to make sure that we are only buying
Speaker 3: what we need, consuming what we've bought, being really wise
Speaker 3: and intentional with like even anything that's left over. And
Speaker 3: they I love the tips that they give of some
Speaker 3: simple steps to be moving towards less food waste, of
Speaker 3: taking that extra time to plan out your meals before
Speaker 3: you find yourself at the grocery store. I am definitely
Speaker 3: one who can think this is going to take way
Speaker 3: longer than it actually does. But it truly only needs
Speaker 3: to take ten minutes to sit down, look at your
Speaker 3: week and identify, Okay, when will I be out this,
Speaker 3: when will I be sharing a meal with friends, when
Speaker 3: will I be home? And what can the plan be. Then,
Speaker 3: because you're at home, you can compare what you plan
Speaker 3: on making to what you already have in the fridge
Speaker 3: and pantry and really only buy what you need. Also
Speaker 3: making good use of your freezer.
Speaker 4: So if you've.
Speaker 3: Cooked extra and you know, if I put this in
Speaker 3: a container in the fridge, it probably won't get eaten
Speaker 3: because we're going to be gone most of the rest
Speaker 3: of the week, then throw it in the freezer. I
Speaker 3: think that earlier on in my reducing food waste journey,
Speaker 3: this was one of my biggest downfalls of thinking, Okay,
Speaker 3: we'll just put it in the fridge, and then a
Speaker 3: week would go by and there we go, we got
Speaker 3: to throw it out. And so realizing how better to
Speaker 3: utilize my freezer, which also plays into that earlier step
Speaker 3: of meal planning planning stuff that is very freezable knowing
Speaker 3: I'm going to have leftover, and that's just like a
Speaker 3: double whammy because then you've got food already prepared for
Speaker 3: your busy nights. And also recognizing the difference between expiration
Speaker 3: dates and best before dates. I think sometimes we can
Speaker 3: be overly cautious. I'm like treading very carefully here, but
Speaker 3: best before is not the same thing as expired. I'm
Speaker 3: not trying to tell you to eat moldy or rancid things,
Speaker 3: but recognize that if something, yeah, that you just opened recently,
Speaker 3: but the best before date is passed, it could still
Speaker 3: very well be that you can eat that thing. And
Speaker 3: to not let your desire to just purge and have
Speaker 3: a very clean looking fridge overtake the necessity of reducing
Speaker 3: food waste, and if it is about to go bad,
Speaker 3: is there a way that you could cook that into
Speaker 3: a meal that quickly goes into the freezer or something
Speaker 3: before it goes bad.
Speaker 1: Number two is to recycle smarter, not harder. And I
Speaker 1: am reminded of this one. I think back to our
Speaker 1: episode with Ron Gonan on The Circular Economy about like
Speaker 1: dream cycling. So don't throw something in the recycling bin
Speaker 1: just because you want it to be recyclable, to actually
Speaker 1: know what is recyclable, and it's different in many cities,
Speaker 1: even like communities within cities for some reason, so you
Speaker 1: should please, please please. It takes no extra cost. It
Speaker 1: is absolutely free to do a Google search on how
Speaker 1: to recycle. So just making sure things are clean, and
Speaker 1: if you, in all honesty, if you don't feel like
Speaker 1: cleaning it, if you don't have the time to throw
Speaker 1: it away, because if you put something into the recycling
Speaker 1: that will not be accepted, it could contaminate the entire bin,
Speaker 1: and which in which case nothing, even recycle couple items,
Speaker 1: nothing will get recycled in that bin. So please just
Speaker 1: be on the cautious side. Don't or wish, don't wish cycle.
Speaker 1: Please educate yourself on recycling, how clean certain things need
Speaker 1: to be, YadA, YadA, so that the things in your
Speaker 1: bin do actually get recycled.
Speaker 3: The next on here happens to be number three that
Speaker 3: I also love reduce, reduce, reduced, reduice reduce reduce. So yes,
Speaker 3: recycling is good, but reducing our waste is even better.
Speaker 3: And a lot of times in this article too is
Speaker 3: specifically talking about those single use plastics. Oh, there are
Speaker 3: such a culprit and that just leads to an overwhelming
Speaker 3: amount of waste when we are only using something one time,
Speaker 3: just like the toll that that takes on all aspects
Speaker 3: of the production and then the post production following the use.
Speaker 3: There's so much that can be said for just decreasing
Speaker 3: the amount of single use plastics that we're relying upon
Speaker 3: in our daily lives. And usually that too just means
Speaker 3: a small, some small tweaks in various areas of life
Speaker 3: to identify where am I consuming the most plastics, Where
Speaker 3: am I utilizing these kind of single use conveniences that
Speaker 3: with one small shift really could make a big impact
Speaker 3: at least for my footprint. And again, love the examples
Speaker 3: that they're given here, which apply to most of us.
Speaker 3: We're talking about the plastic bags, and so a simple
Speaker 3: switch to taking your own bags with you to the
Speaker 3: grocery store and not relying upon the plastic bags that
Speaker 3: are just given and then who knows what to do
Speaker 3: with all of them afterwards. This is talking about eliminating
Speaker 3: those plastic bottle use. Just take your own reusable water
Speaker 3: bottle everywhere you go. If you're afraid of running out
Speaker 3: of water, get a bigger water bottle, or take two
Speaker 3: medium sized water bottles or three small water bottles. You
Speaker 3: get the point. And also considering those utensils. Another really
Speaker 3: common one is you know, get getting the plastic utensils
Speaker 3: wherever you're going. Usually it's your fast food restaurants, but yeah,
Speaker 3: plenty of places just use utilizing plastic utensils.
Speaker 4: I it sounds.
Speaker 3: Crazy, but I will carry you around like I will
Speaker 3: have my own utensils in my vehicle that I can reuse,
Speaker 3: so I don't need if I am happening to find
Speaker 3: myself in a drive through or getting takeout, I don't
Speaker 3: need to take the plastic utensils from them. So keeping
Speaker 3: these types of things in mind, keeping your car stocked
Speaker 3: so you're prepared so there's less opportunity for going for
Speaker 3: that convenience one time use plastics, and then just these
Speaker 3: other shifts. Again, I would say, we're not in perfect action,
Speaker 3: So don't focus on the things that only you're intersecting
Speaker 3: with like once a month. We want to look at
Speaker 3: how like the things you're using more regularly. Are there
Speaker 3: single use plastic items that you're using every single day?
Speaker 4: Start there.
Speaker 3: We want to look for like the high impact items
Speaker 3: not necessarily like the one time low impact this only happened.
Speaker 4: I hope it happens once a month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the next one for me, I'm going to
Speaker 1: skip down to six and I'm just gonna say it
Speaker 1: again because it's on the list, so I can opt
Speaker 1: for used items. So the amount of waste finding its
Speaker 1: way into landfills is a growing problem. And spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: you pay for landfills, so you may know. There are
Speaker 1: some communities that do make you pay for waste removal,
Speaker 1: which I love. Even if you are living in a
Speaker 1: community where that's just standard, you don't have the option
Speaker 1: to pay or no pay, you still you pay for it.
Speaker 1: And as the need for landfills increases, that cost will
Speaker 1: go up and you you will pay for it, your
Speaker 1: children will pay for it, your gran your grandchildren will
Speaker 1: pay for it. So we really need to be opting
Speaker 1: for used items when it is possible. The average American
Speaker 1: produces about one thousand, seven hundred and four pounds of
Speaker 1: garbage every year, which is three times the global affrige.
Speaker 1: It is insane, so we need to start reducing our waste. Reduce, reduce, refuse,
Speaker 1: but also opting for use and so yes, to buy
Speaker 1: a through store that costs a little bit of money,
Speaker 1: which goes against the title of the article. But there
Speaker 1: are ways to get used things for free too. Obviously
Speaker 1: we talk about buy nothing groups a lot, but if
Speaker 1: you are not on Facebook or don't want to babysit
Speaker 1: the buy nothing group, just in your like look at
Speaker 1: your community and what are the things that you collectively
Speaker 1: own or individually own that you could collectively use. I
Speaker 1: think we've talked about our friend Joseph who has a.
Speaker 4: Pressure washer that he loves.
Speaker 1: He loves his pressure washer and he loves when people
Speaker 1: ask him to use it because he doesn't get.
Speaker 4: To use it. Yeah twice a year yea.
Speaker 1: So so think about stuff like that. Get together with
Speaker 1: your friends and talk about that kind of stuff. Things
Speaker 1: that you can borrow. You don't have to own something
Speaker 1: to utilize it. What are the things that I can lend?
Speaker 1: What are the things that I can borrow so that
Speaker 1: we can lower our consumption rate and lower our waste
Speaker 1: and hopefully peter out the need the growing need for
Speaker 1: land fitills.
Speaker 3: Yes, number eight, I'm going to go with this even
Speaker 3: though we're talking about no cost, but we all do
Speaker 3: spend money. So rehighlighting this idea of spending with purpose,
Speaker 3: being a conscious consumer, making sure that the money we
Speaker 3: do spend has been thought about as intentional. Is going
Speaker 3: to keep things out of the landfill rather than add
Speaker 3: to it. That again also just helps our wallet. But
Speaker 3: I also like how they are advocating for some of
Speaker 3: these new credit cards that are popping up on the
Speaker 3: market that are focused on funding causes. They reference that
Speaker 3: there's this aspiration zero cars.
Speaker 1: These are debit cards. They're not even credit cards. So
Speaker 1: if you don't want a credit card, these are debits.
Speaker 3: It plants a tree for every single purchase you make,
Speaker 3: which seems insane.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 3: There's your no cost if you're just already spending money,
Speaker 3: and then this is just like no cost to you
Speaker 3: to actually be doing good with your purchases, and the
Speaker 3: card gives you one percent cash back for your purchases.
Speaker 4: We're not there's no sponsorship here. I'm just breading this
Speaker 4: art out.
Speaker 1: I might have a credit card too, but they also
Speaker 1: have a debit card that does pretty much the same thing.
Speaker 3: That's a really cool additional way of spending with purpose,
Speaker 3: not just conscious consumerism, but figuring out how my spending
Speaker 3: can go further in utilizing resources like these debit and
Speaker 3: credit cards that are also on team sustainability.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this Climate First Bank, I'm going to pig
Speaker 1: you back. My third is also going to be number
Speaker 1: eight because I love this Climate First Bank, which is
Speaker 1: another eco driven debit card that recently announced a one
Speaker 1: of a kind regeneration checking account which for every qualifying
Speaker 1: regeneration account open Climate First makes a one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: donation to Project Regeneration Regeneration. So it's a nonprofit focused
Speaker 1: on ending the climate crisis. So there are a ton
Speaker 1: of ways where you can go further. I really believe
Speaker 1: that credit unions, using credit unions for most of your
Speaker 1: banking really reinvests in the community that in itself is sustainable.
Speaker 1: Not everything has like not all sustainability has to do
Speaker 1: with with the climate, but it can also be you know,
Speaker 1: sustainability and keeping money local. But these banks also are
Speaker 1: very climate driven, and there's all kinds of ESG funds
Speaker 1: coming in, you know, to your IRA or your four
Speaker 1: oh one K. There are definitely ways to not spend extra,
Speaker 1: but spend money you were already going to spend, whether
Speaker 1: that's you know, on regular stuff or investments, whatever they
Speaker 1: can have like an added you can go a little
Speaker 1: bit further.
Speaker 4: Yes, I love that.
Speaker 3: That automating generosity too, it could be awesome. They also
Speaker 3: reference ways to be engaged in advocacy efforts and volunteerism.
Speaker 3: So these are obviously free ways, but then they also
Speaker 3: become activities and they get us involved in the community
Speaker 3: and meeting other like minded people. So there's so much
Speaker 3: that can be done here that doesn't involve us spending
Speaker 3: more money just to become more eco friendly and sustainable,
Speaker 3: Like most of the efforts are not spending money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've said this from day one. You cannot buy
Speaker 1: your way to green, and many climate activists will say
Speaker 1: the same thing. You cannot buy your way to green.
Speaker 1: It's a marketing tool. So and when you know that,
Speaker 1: then you can take this more radical middle approach of
Speaker 1: not having to be perfect but just desiring to be better.
Speaker 3: Do you know what else can't be purchased, but is
Speaker 3: just get better and better, always automatically organically.
Speaker 1: I would never say do better, but it's always becoming better.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 6: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 6: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 6: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 6: car died, and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 6: that bill anymore.
Speaker 2: That bills bffalo bills, Bill Clion.
Speaker 6: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hey, Jen and Jill.
Speaker 5: My bill of the week was my phone bill. I
Speaker 5: messaged our carrier, our data carrier, about getting a lower
Speaker 5: rate because they were advertising a lower rate to new
Speaker 5: customers and we've been with them for almost nine years.
Speaker 5: So I negotiated with them and got twenty dollars off
Speaker 5: every month as a loyalty discount. So now we're gonna
Speaker 5: be saving two hundred and forty dollars every year just
Speaker 5: by negotiating and talking with them. So yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4: Nice. I love this.
Speaker 3: I love these examples of a simple phone call negotiation
Speaker 3: station and getting a lower monthly payment. This we're not
Speaker 3: talking a one time discount, which I'm also here for
Speaker 3: those aren't great, But when we can reduce monthly expenses
Speaker 3: because you made one phone call, that's amazing.
Speaker 4: Kyla, Well done.
Speaker 1: Yes, congratulations, Kayla. The phone bill. We found phone and
Speaker 1: internet if you have complete competing internet providers, but always
Speaker 1: the phone bill easiest one to lower honestly easiest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, gosh, give them a call or switch providers.
Speaker 3: I mean there's enough providers.
Speaker 4: Kyla did it? So can you?
Speaker 3: Oh well, if you all are listening and you also
Speaker 3: lowered a bill regularly, or you got to discount one
Speaker 3: time on something, or you know anything else just vaguely
Speaker 3: related to being bill, visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash bill,
Speaker 3: leave us your bill be a bill, all about them bills.
Speaker 4: And now it's time for.
Speaker 1: The lightning around all right, So we know you guys
Speaker 1: love hacks. So today's question, what is your favorite free,
Speaker 1: eco friendly hack? Jill, I love yours? Can you go first?
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's a hack. I mean there's
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure that goes along with the word
Speaker 3: a hack.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I love.
Speaker 3: Composting, you do, look honestly, I guess now that I
Speaker 3: say it, it does feel like a hack. And the
Speaker 3: more that I've gotten into composting, it feels like a
Speaker 3: hack to reducing waste because I am getting rid of
Speaker 3: stuff I'm consuming and like throwing away, but instead of
Speaker 3: throwing it into the trash that goes to the landfill,
Speaker 3: I am throwing it into a compost bin that gets
Speaker 3: turned into gold gardener's goal that helps my veggies.
Speaker 1: Thus saving money on taxes and landfills in the future.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and saving money on needing to buy like the
Speaker 3: expensive soil that's full of all the nutrients. I'm making
Speaker 3: it myself. And the deeper I've gotten into the world
Speaker 3: deeper composting he is in deep.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean I'm not that deep.
Speaker 3: Like, don't don't try and like dm me with like
Speaker 3: the dark web of composting, because I'm.
Speaker 4: Not there yet.
Speaker 3: I'm just like I'm I'm at one o two dirt web.
Speaker 3: There's one oh one and I'm at one o two.
Speaker 3: But I'm learning how much can be composted. I think
Speaker 3: before I did this, I had no clue. And now
Speaker 3: it's dryer linn, it's some cardboard, it's certain types of
Speaker 3: paper products, it's my coffee filters.
Speaker 4: Like ev so much.
Speaker 3: And so I am now at the point where I
Speaker 3: confuse my guests because my recycling bin is larger than
Speaker 3: my trash can. I literally have one of those very
Speaker 3: tiny like goes in the bathroom types of trash cans
Speaker 3: for all of my trash. She does, which I then
Speaker 3: had to label because all of my guests was throwing
Speaker 3: things out into the recycling bin. I'm like, ashduse identify
Speaker 3: that soon enough for people, and they're like, this is weird.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm on a low waste journey and they like,
Speaker 3: learn more about me than they bargained for. But I'm
Speaker 3: able to do that because I compost and again I'm
Speaker 3: getting rid of stuff. It just is in like the
Speaker 3: best way where it rots and it turns into great material.
Speaker 4: It feels like a hack. I love it.
Speaker 1: I do love composting. We are not composting right now,
Speaker 1: but it is such a satisfying feeling to turn garbage
Speaker 1: into dirt.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I also love the ritual of walking out to
Speaker 3: my compost bin. Like I don't love it if it's
Speaker 3: like ten pm and my compost bin is full and
Speaker 3: it's raining outside. But most days, when I take my
Speaker 3: compost bin from the kitchen and I dump it into
Speaker 3: you know, my like actual actual compost bin outside, it's
Speaker 3: a really nice ritual. It draws me out to my
Speaker 3: garden regularly, and that's great.
Speaker 4: It's great for the soul. That's beautiful. Thanks Shin.
Speaker 3: What about you?
Speaker 4: What's your hack hack.
Speaker 1: So I have gotten away from Facebook, but I do
Speaker 1: I can still go to Facebook Marketplace, and so there
Speaker 1: are people that will post things for free on Facebook Marketplace,
Speaker 1: and so that is the hack that we have been
Speaker 1: using most recently. I don't have to babysit it. I
Speaker 1: can maybe get a notification if it's something I need. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm not the one doing it. It's mostly Travis. He's
Speaker 1: the one that does it. But I do love some
Speaker 1: of the stuff that we have been able to acquire,
Speaker 1: some of the needs we've been able to meet for
Speaker 1: free because of Facebook Marketplace, and not a lot of
Speaker 1: people are there for the free part of it, so
Speaker 1: it feels like a hack. So yeah, that is that's
Speaker 1: mine right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've done so well. You were just we love
Speaker 3: when when I visit Gen's house, I get updates on
Speaker 3: her renovation progress, and when she visits my house she
Speaker 3: indors my updates. And You've always got something really great
Speaker 3: that coincides with your aesthetic. I think sometimes there can
Speaker 3: be this idea that if I'm getting it for free
Speaker 3: for my home, then my home is just going to
Speaker 3: be this hodgepodge of items that are kind of dented
Speaker 3: and bruised and broken and nothing matches. But reality is
Speaker 3: people are giving away, they're gently used, very beautiful items
Speaker 3: for a variety of reasons, and you can benefit from that.
Speaker 3: Like your your things are not a hodgepodge. They all
Speaker 3: and that comes with you know, the practice and curating
Speaker 3: and being patient and keeping an eye out. But you've
Speaker 3: found some really great stuff that has reduced the cost
Speaker 3: of your innovations and has reduced ways. Well that was
Speaker 3: that was That was one of the faves for a reason.
Speaker 1: I still love the five rs, the refuse, reduce, reuse, rot, recycle.
Speaker 1: I still think about that and try to The refuse
Speaker 1: gets me, like when somebody offers me something for free.
Speaker 1: It still gets me. But I am getting better at
Speaker 1: politely declining. Travis still has a long way to go
Speaker 1: to politely decline.
Speaker 3: But I've actually gotten I'm so ingrained to refuse that. Recently,
Speaker 3: somebody offered me a lanyard and a luggage tag and no,
Speaker 3: it was just the luggage tag actually, and I at
Speaker 3: first was like, no, no, thank you. I know what
Speaker 3: my luggage looks like. I don't need that. And then
Speaker 3: I remembered as they were walking away that you and
Speaker 3: I have key cards for our new office space that
Speaker 3: I've been wanting to put onto a lanyard, and I
Speaker 3: realized that would actually be perfect. I could put it
Speaker 3: into this luggage tag and that could kind of be
Speaker 3: my thing that I can then.
Speaker 4: Put on like a ribbon or a rope or something
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 3: So I called her back, like, actually, I will take
Speaker 3: that luggage tag because I realized I actually had a
Speaker 3: use for it, so I was able to get it
Speaker 3: for free.
Speaker 1: That's so funny. My key card is on a lanyard
Speaker 1: that I'm reusing from a cruise that I took last year,
Speaker 1: so I also get to think about that cruise whenever,
Speaker 1: like I see the lanyard, So it's really nice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, see what you already have. That's the reuse.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, And we're doing the challenge in the monthly
Speaker 1: Money membership right now. Is the second hand challenge. And
Speaker 1: what I love you made the challenge, and what I
Speaker 1: love is that it doesn't just talk about secondhand, because
Speaker 1: we can create as much clutter with secondhand as we
Speaker 1: do with first hand buying. But the first couple parts
Speaker 1: of the challenge are this kind of like refuse and
Speaker 1: reduce ideology, so I love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a fun challenge to create, and as
Speaker 3: with all of the content that we're creating, I learned
Speaker 3: so much along the way, how helpful AI can be
Speaker 3: and finding various resources. So definitely that's something to get
Speaker 3: in on. So if you want access to that monthly challenge,
Speaker 3: go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Yes, well, thank
Speaker 3: you all so much for being here for listening. We
Speaker 3: love reading your kind reviews, both about the podcast and
Speaker 3: about our book that we wrote by what you Love
Speaker 3: without Going Broke. This review is for our book comes
Speaker 3: from Sherry A five stars, says a modern take on
Speaker 3: wealth building. I've been following Jen and Jill for over
Speaker 3: two years and love their model approach to finances. What
Speaker 3: if your financial decisions were guided by your values? What
Speaker 3: if you stop to use those values when you had
Speaker 3: the urge to impulse spend. That's what was different for
Speaker 3: me when I read their new book. It brought my
Speaker 3: personal life and personality to the topic of my finances
Speaker 3: and wealth building strategies in a new way. Made me
Speaker 3: stop and really search my soul for why it spent
Speaker 3: my hard earned money on purchases that would only give
Speaker 3: me a nanosecond of thrill and happiness. I crafted a
Speaker 3: new why followed their how to set up long term
Speaker 3: plan for wealth building, not just short term feel good stuff.
Speaker 3: Highly recommend this book and Jen and Jill's amazing podcast
Speaker 3: for Good Friends. Change your approach, change your net or
Speaker 3: thank you Sherry A.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you Sherry for listening and reading the book.
Speaker 1: If you listening enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating
Speaker 1: and review on Spotify. We would appreciate that so much,
Speaker 1: or on YouTube leave a comment under the video and
Speaker 1: if you read the book, would appreciate if you left
Speaker 1: a rating and review on Amazon. Even when I know,
Speaker 1: I know, when I go to get a book from
Speaker 1: the library, I go straight to Amazon to see the
Speaker 1: reviews to see if it's worth my time getting it.
Speaker 1: So even if you didn't buy it on Amazon, if
Speaker 1: you got from the library, please leave a rating and review.
Speaker 1: It helps us spread this message farther and wider.
Speaker 4: Thanks everyone, see you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: So yesterday I did a good thing and the semi
Speaker 3: semi bad thing.
Speaker 4: Tell me about it.
Speaker 3: So I have a bag of clothing from both Eric
Speaker 3: and I. One day we both felt the urge to
Speaker 3: clean out our closets, and so I had a trash
Speaker 3: bag full of clothing, which is shocking because we our
Speaker 3: closets are not large.
Speaker 4: We have pretty minimal amount of clothing. But still we
Speaker 4: were able to fill a trash bag.
Speaker 3: And I have been thinking that I'm going to try
Speaker 3: and post these clothes on like thread up or Poshmark,
Speaker 3: but I just can't seem to find the time. And
Speaker 3: I also feel a bit of a barrier too. Okay,
Speaker 3: if I sell this thing for five bucks, then I'm
Speaker 3: going to have to put it in packaging. Then I'm
Speaker 3: going to have to take it to the USPS. And
Speaker 3: I still might end up doing that, but I thought,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm tired of this bag sitting in
Speaker 3: my car. I'm going to take it to Plato's closet
Speaker 3: see if I can get any money for it.
Speaker 4: So they did take seven.
Speaker 3: Items, which is actually more than I've had them take
Speaker 3: in the past. I swear they've got a policy that
Speaker 3: they can't take more than a couple of things.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Probably, but we got paid.
Speaker 3: I got paid like twenty one dollars in change, which
Speaker 3: was great, but I still walked away with a trash
Speaker 3: bag full of clothes, and I'm like, I wonder if
Speaker 3: somebody else would give me some money for this too.
Speaker 3: So on my way home, I stopped at another clothing
Speaker 3: exchange place near US called Revolve, and took the bag
Speaker 3: in there as well.
Speaker 4: They took two things.
Speaker 3: They were only going to offer me three dollars cash
Speaker 3: or seven dollars credit. And at first I'm like, I'm
Speaker 3: just taking the cash. I'm not shopping. I'm not falling
Speaker 3: victim to that. So like the good thing that I
Speaker 3: did was at Plato's closet, I just took the cash,
Speaker 3: I walked out. I didn't even shop there, went across
Speaker 3: the street to Publics and got the groceries that I needed.
Speaker 4: But then I go to Revolve and.
Speaker 3: I'm shopping around, shopping around, They're taking forever, and turns
Speaker 3: out I try on some shorts. Now, granted I do
Speaker 3: need Geene shorts. My ones from last.
Speaker 4: Year don't fit me anymore. Don't talk about it.
Speaker 3: No, I've been one of those glutes girly yeah, so
Speaker 3: my pants so anymore.
Speaker 1: That's a good thing.
Speaker 3: It's part of why, it's part of why I have
Speaker 3: got a clothing It's.
Speaker 4: A good thing.
Speaker 1: You've been working those glutes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess so I didn't. This is like a
Speaker 4: thing I didn't think about. It's like you're.
Speaker 1: Getting your peach footy, you're getting it working working for it.
Speaker 3: So I do need new shorts. And they did find
Speaker 3: a pair of shorts that like actually fit me, look
Speaker 3: real decent, and I'm like, you know what, No, I'm
Speaker 3: just going to take the cash. But then I had
Speaker 3: the thought, hold on a second, if they're going to
Speaker 3: offer me so that the pants were eight bucks, they
Speaker 3: were going to offer me seven dollars store credit. I'm like,
Speaker 3: when could I ever really walk away with a pair
Speaker 3: of shorts that fit me I feel good in for
Speaker 3: a dollar? Like, I might as well do that, like
Speaker 3: take the trade and give them a dollar from my wallet.
Speaker 3: So that's what I decided, even though I did have
Speaker 3: the resolve going in that I'm only taking cash, I'm
Speaker 3: not buying new clothing.
Speaker 1: Funny enough, these jeans that I am currently wearing are
Speaker 1: from Revolve.
Speaker 4: Oh no way, Yeah, I love Revolve.
Speaker 1: I love these uh like not consignment, but they're like local,
Speaker 1: kind of like Plato's closets.
Speaker 4: We have a ton of them in the area. They're
Speaker 4: so great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they'll give you money for your stuff, not you know,
Speaker 3: not what you paid for it, but still it's something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so semi successful. I think you were.
Speaker 1: How you look at it, I like, I'm in support.
Speaker 4: I gave myself permission to change my mind.