Speaker 1: Episode two sixty six, Sustainable, Minimalism and Frugality with Stephanie Superian.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill m mmmmmm, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are chatting with someone who I feels
Speaker 1: like a kindred spirit. It's like the trinity of frugality, sustainability, minimals.
Speaker 1: It's our, it's our, it's our podcast trinity. Almost. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's like sacrilegious, that's blasphemous. I yeah,
Speaker 1: it's okay. I will, I will suffer the consequences. But
Speaker 1: I really do feel like these three things are just
Speaker 1: like it. And so we talk about frugality mostly and
Speaker 1: Stephanie talks about sustainability and minimalism, and the conversation is dynamic. Well,
Speaker 1: frugality can intersect with so many it does intersect with
Speaker 1: so many things. It's partly why we're able to do
Speaker 1: on a podcast on it for over four years. Everyone
Speaker 1: always asks us, you're gonna run out of content. Nope, nope,
Speaker 1: because there's plenty to talk about, including sustainability and minimalism,
Speaker 1: and this is These are two things that I think
Speaker 1: the convergence is really beautiful. Sometimes, you know, they cross
Speaker 1: paths for gality, crosses paths with something else. But there's
Speaker 1: just a really good like you're saying, merriment and partnership,
Speaker 1: clasping of hands together. I'm not gonna go so far
Speaker 1: as call it the trinity. I'm so sorry. Send hate mail.
Speaker 1: Send it to Jen at Jennet for their Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: I'll read it too, though, where I mean, I'll be
Speaker 1: here for it. I'll have it forward into you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we're excited to get into the content with Stephanie,
Speaker 1: but before that, this episode is sponsored by Managing. Sounds
Speaker 1: cool when it's part of your job title, but a
Speaker 1: little desperate when it's a response to, hey, how's it
Speaker 1: going wherever you find yourself, whether being a boss and
Speaker 1: managing all the things or just managing to get by.
Speaker 1: We're glad you're here. And if managing is something you're into,
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Speaker 1: that cash into a high yeld savings account like the
Speaker 1: one at C I T Bank. They are currently offering
Speaker 1: three point to five a p y. Honestly, it keeps climbing.
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Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash c I t
Speaker 1: open that high yield savings account and and manage, start managing,
Speaker 1: start managing. I'm definitely managing. I'm not sure if it's
Speaker 1: the business or my life. Probably both. Glad you're here,
Speaker 1: thank you. So if you are as interested in sustainability
Speaker 1: and minimalism as we are, we have a ton of
Speaker 1: episodes for you to listen to. Um. Probably the two
Speaker 1: most recent ones are episode one, How Minimalism can Change
Speaker 1: your life and finances, and then we've got episode one
Speaker 1: oh nine how to Maintain a Minimalist lifestyle. And then
Speaker 1: like every April, we try to do something on sustainability,
Speaker 1: So check back to our April archives, whatever numbers those are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we have such a love We did a zero
Speaker 1: waste challenge in the Frugal Friends club back in April. Oh,
Speaker 1: that one was so good. And uh, we've done several
Speaker 1: kind of like minimalism, decluttering, simplifying challenges in there and
Speaker 1: they're just always a huge hit because these things are
Speaker 1: so essential to managing money, Like their money can feel
Speaker 1: so overwhelming, especially when you're spending on like a lot
Speaker 1: of little transactions. So being able to simplify a lot
Speaker 1: of other places can allow you to hone in on
Speaker 1: this one seemingly big, overwhelming, scary place so that it
Speaker 1: is all aligned well. And it's fun too when it
Speaker 1: can align with a lifestyle that's really appealing. I think
Speaker 1: that's what this is is We're not just talking about
Speaker 1: how to manage money, it's what kind of lifestyle could
Speaker 1: we aim at we aspire towards. That is a really
Speaker 1: great combination of all of these things that sounds pleasant
Speaker 1: to a lot of us. I think that's why there's
Speaker 1: such an interest in these types of topics, as it
Speaker 1: just sounds really pleasant and peaceful and a great lifestyle
Speaker 1: to find how it works in our own d visualized way.
Speaker 1: But there's so many beautiful parts to what we're about
Speaker 1: to talk about with Stephanie, absolutely so. Stephanie is a
Speaker 1: former teacher turned full time podcast host Teachers Make the
Speaker 1: Best Podcast host Um, and her podcast is called The
Speaker 1: Sustainable Minimalists Podcast. She's the author of sustainable minimalism and
Speaker 1: loves running fiction, has bees. She's just like the icon.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, let's share Stephanie with you. Stephanie,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. This is just a
Speaker 1: This is amazing, beautiful synergy between our shows, and I'm
Speaker 1: so happy. It feels it feels like welcoming just an
Speaker 1: old friend to the show. Well, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for having me. I am absolutely so thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it for days. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to chat with you both. We were just chatting before
Speaker 1: we hit record that our audience loves to talk about
Speaker 1: the intersection of frugality and sustainability and minimalism, and I
Speaker 1: think there's there's no exact one right formula, so getting
Speaker 1: a variety of perspectives on that is so important. So
Speaker 1: I'm also glad to have you here and learn from
Speaker 1: you today. Thank you, Thank you again for having me.
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, So let's dive in. So what led
Speaker 1: you to choose both to prioritize both like a minimalist
Speaker 1: and sustainable lifestyle, Because it's so it feels really rare.
Speaker 1: People kind of find their camp and they sit in it. Um,
Speaker 1: so what led you to choose both? Yes, this is
Speaker 1: always the first question I tend to get. It's very
Speaker 1: confusing for some people, but for me, it was really
Speaker 1: just an aha moment. I didn't care about sustainability. I
Speaker 1: wasn't a minimalist. And then I became a mom and
Speaker 1: everything changed really darn quick. My husband and I and
Speaker 1: our three pets and our infant. We're living in a
Speaker 1: d and fifty square foot apartment and we were being
Speaker 1: squeezed out by all my babies new things. She was gifted,
Speaker 1: you know, toys up the wazoo. I would guess maybe dozens,
Speaker 1: if not a hundred, freely beautiful infant dresses, have loving
Speaker 1: family and friends, but the stuff was just crowding us out.
Speaker 1: So I decided, you know, what's this minimalist thing, Let's
Speaker 1: let's try that. Let's try decluttering. And I decluttered her stuff,
Speaker 1: of course, because it's way easier to decluttering baby stuff
Speaker 1: than your own stuff. But there was just a moment
Speaker 1: in which I was quite literally looming over a pile
Speaker 1: of items that were great, they were perfectly fine, but
Speaker 1: we didn't need them, we didn't use them, we didn't
Speaker 1: love them. Somebody in my life spent their hard earned
Speaker 1: money on these items, and I just had a moment of, Oh,
Speaker 1: my goodness, where is this stuff going to go? I
Speaker 1: could give it away, I could donate it, I could
Speaker 1: try and sell stuff, but ultimately all this excess is
Speaker 1: going to a landfill at the end of its life.
Speaker 1: And that was just a moment for me that opened
Speaker 1: the door to, well, what is the true cost of
Speaker 1: over consumption? I mean, the true cost, in my view,
Speaker 1: is more than the price tag. It's also you know
Speaker 1: what resources we're taking from the planet to create the item.
Speaker 1: It's in the afterlife concerns as to what happens to
Speaker 1: these things when they do go to their final resting place,
Speaker 1: which is almost always the landfill. And so for me,
Speaker 1: sustainability and minimalism and frugality all complement each other. There
Speaker 1: their sisters almost because they're all rooted in reduction, reducing
Speaker 1: the amount you bring home so that you can live
Speaker 1: better with less. It sounds like there was such a
Speaker 1: convergence for you in that in that one kind of
Speaker 1: aha moment that you're describing, where it wasn't just one
Speaker 1: thing which I think we can all resonate with. It's
Speaker 1: not just this one thing that leads us to say,
Speaker 1: let's change something, but multiple layers of it between how
Speaker 1: can we live well within the space that we have
Speaker 1: with this new human being in our home, with the
Speaker 1: lifestyle that we want in a way that feels good
Speaker 1: to us, and what's going to happen down the road
Speaker 1: to all of these things, Like, there's so many pieces
Speaker 1: coming together that are pointing to, hey, there could be
Speaker 1: a better way. That isn't mean just buying more storage
Speaker 1: bins so I can look more organized. Yeah, we always
Speaker 1: tend to think that the solution lies in a thing,
Speaker 1: something that a corporation, you know, markets and sells to us.
Speaker 1: And if we just had this organizational bin or oh,
Speaker 1: if we only had this new outfit, all our lives
Speaker 1: would be better, our problems would be solved. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you and your listeners know, and I learned
Speaker 1: as well. Through the process of decluttering and really sitting
Speaker 1: with what is a want versus what is a need?
Speaker 1: I've learned that there's nothing a corporation can sell me
Speaker 1: that I can buy that's um going to be the
Speaker 1: magic pill. Right. It starts, it starts within, it doesn't
Speaker 1: start externally. Yeah, that is mass. That headshift is massive.
Speaker 1: There is nothing anyone can sell you that you can buy.
Speaker 1: There's no thing that's going to solve the bigger problem.
Speaker 1: And that is literally that's all we're being sold every
Speaker 1: day on social media, on TV, on YouTube, like it's
Speaker 1: always you've tried this and you've bought this and it
Speaker 1: hasn't worked. So this other thing you can and buy
Speaker 1: will be the solution, and it's it never is, it
Speaker 1: never is. And on the flip side of that, I
Speaker 1: think sometimes we can look at these concepts of minimalism
Speaker 1: and sustainability and the way they've been marketed to us
Speaker 1: and kind of sold to us and think, well, that's
Speaker 1: an expensive lifestyle. Sometimes the the individual product costs of
Speaker 1: those things can seem like more money, like this is
Speaker 1: gonna be more expensive to live this way to buy
Speaker 1: the products that are touting sustainability, being eco friendly, all
Speaker 1: of those things. And I do love how you're describing
Speaker 1: the true cost of consumerism, But what would you say,
Speaker 1: Stephanie to this idea of just on a more micro
Speaker 1: level within my home. Okay, yeah, I don't want as
Speaker 1: much stuff, and I want to push back on consumerism,
Speaker 1: But some of the individual product costs seem really high.
Speaker 1: Minimalism and sist inability seem to be expensive to me.
Speaker 1: How have you seen in your own lifestyle this save
Speaker 1: you money? So awesome question, and I will say that
Speaker 1: absolutely eco friendly living does have an elitist reputation, and
Speaker 1: that is largely due in part to the fact that
Speaker 1: the quote unquote eco friendly options on the market are
Speaker 1: more expensive. Eco friendly as a marketing term these days,
Speaker 1: because corporations know that there is a subset of consumers
Speaker 1: that will spend more for the eco friendly product. I
Speaker 1: think about cars, right, maybe you need a new car
Speaker 1: and you're looking at the hybrid option or the electric
Speaker 1: vehicle over the conventional gas guzzler. Well, you know, a
Speaker 1: hybrid car is about forty hundred dollars on average more
Speaker 1: expensive than the conventional car. And so while yes, in
Speaker 1: the long run you will likely save an awful lot
Speaker 1: of money depending on gas price fluctuations, that on the
Speaker 1: outset prices a lot of people out And it's the
Speaker 1: same way. I mean, you can do this with anything food.
Speaker 1: If you go buy all your groceries at the health
Speaker 1: food store, you're going to be spending an awful lot
Speaker 1: more money than if you go to the cheaper place
Speaker 1: down the street, right, And so I hear all that,
Speaker 1: but I do believe that if you dig a little
Speaker 1: bit deeper, if we all dig a little bit deeper,
Speaker 1: it's apparent that sustainable minimalism, frugality, these lifestyles are rooted
Speaker 1: in not buying the new eco friendly it item, but
Speaker 1: instead in buying less, borrowing more, relying on your own
Speaker 1: skill set to make what you need. I mean, these
Speaker 1: are not glamorous by any means. The glamour lies in
Speaker 1: buying the new item. But these lifestyles are really rooted
Speaker 1: in going back to basics, not buying, not buying of
Speaker 1: your money. End of almost all the time the end
Speaker 1: of episode, you didn't save money. If you spend money.
Speaker 1: You might have gotten a coupon, but you still spend money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I love that the borrowing concept woven into there
Speaker 1: as well. Buying less, borrowing, back to basics, these b
Speaker 1: words that they're really crushing it today. Yeah. Our friend,
Speaker 1: our friend Joseph has a pressure washer that he has
Speaker 1: been looking too. I mean, he bought it with the
Speaker 1: hopes that other people would borrow it from him too,
Speaker 1: and so all the time, whenever there's this conversation about borrowing.
Speaker 1: He always brings up his pressure washer, and somebody asked
Speaker 1: to borrow a pressure washer. It finally happened. Finally happened. Actually,
Speaker 1: I think he might be out. He was out of
Speaker 1: town when they asked, so it's just a perfect timing.
Speaker 1: He might be back in town when they need it.
Speaker 1: But it was. It was perfect. But yeah, So having
Speaker 1: that flexibility too, of of when you can use these things.
Speaker 1: And and I think it comes down to like building
Speaker 1: relationships with your community so that you can borrow items
Speaker 1: and and you can pass around stuff like I'm pregnant
Speaker 1: right now and all of my friends that just had
Speaker 1: a baby, or like can I pawn off my maternity
Speaker 1: clothes and infant things on you? And so it's like
Speaker 1: it's building that community where you can share. And I
Speaker 1: think that's that's one of the beautiful things about sustainability
Speaker 1: is that, yeah, you can't buy your way to green.
Speaker 1: It does evolve a little like relational capital instead of financial. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and just thinking about that, they're going beyond borrowing, talking
Speaker 1: about giving away. I live in a community with we
Speaker 1: don't call it a buy nothing group, we call a
Speaker 1: curb alert. But there's something so powerful about giving away
Speaker 1: your perfectly good items that no longer serve a purpose
Speaker 1: for you and giving them to somebody else who could
Speaker 1: use the item extend the life of the item. That
Speaker 1: is just so anti consumerist, isn't it. I mean, the
Speaker 1: corporations do not get a cut when when we help
Speaker 1: each other out, when we're community minded in that regard,
Speaker 1: I love it. I love not helping a corporation out
Speaker 1: because the only language they speak is money. And there
Speaker 1: was a study not a study, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: of fast fashion companies that are doing more of the
Speaker 1: bringing your old dNaM or bringing your old stuff and
Speaker 1: we'll like resell it. But but they are still producing
Speaker 1: more newer garments. Like it's not it's it's a marketing point.
Speaker 1: It hasn't brought down the number of garments they're pumping out.
Speaker 1: It's only to get you into their store. And so
Speaker 1: it's so manipulate. Have on some fronts um, I think
Speaker 1: we're headed in the right direction, but like right now,
Speaker 1: we're at this time where it can be like super manipulative.
Speaker 1: And the more you play into it, the more you're
Speaker 1: telling them that that manipulation is okay and the more
Speaker 1: the less you you buy from them, the they'll hear like,
Speaker 1: oh okay, they're not falling for it. Let's uh, let's
Speaker 1: actually be more sustainable. So for aspiring sustainable minimalists, a
Speaker 1: lot of them, and I know I've I've seen this
Speaker 1: a lot like they find themselves in this endless hamster
Speaker 1: wheel of like buying, decluttering, filling in the gaps, purging again,
Speaker 1: and and trying to like live sustainable all throughout, not
Speaker 1: just you know, be like the home edit where you
Speaker 1: just like find cute places to put all your stuff
Speaker 1: and buy new stuff to do it. Um, So, like,
Speaker 1: what are the first realistic steps that you chose to
Speaker 1: live more minimalist and sustainably. So if you follow any
Speaker 1: minimalist influencers, you know the big ones. I don't even
Speaker 1: have to name them, But the end goal seems to
Speaker 1: always be the tidy home, right the mayor counters, the
Speaker 1: white walls, the pristine living space. And I do believe
Speaker 1: that decluttering is super important towards sustainable minimalism, but not
Speaker 1: for the same reason. The end goal is not a
Speaker 1: tidy home. The end goal of decluttering is too for
Speaker 1: you to have that aha moment where you're looking at
Speaker 1: all your stuff that you spent money on, shouldn't have bought,
Speaker 1: didn't need, wasted money on, wasted planetary resources on, and
Speaker 1: sit with that quite uncomfortable feeling to be honest of
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, this is what a want is and
Speaker 1: this is what a need is. And for many of us,
Speaker 1: we do have to declutter our homes to realize that. Uh,
Speaker 1: I know I did, and so I do believe that
Speaker 1: decluttering has a purpose. But the purpose is to really understand,
Speaker 1: get that understanding on a bone deep level, that the
Speaker 1: stuff we brought into our homes never holds up to
Speaker 1: the promises that we are told they will. They it's
Speaker 1: and you know, there's a there's wants, there's needs, and
Speaker 1: the reality is that today's item is tomorrow's clutter. So
Speaker 1: it starts always with buying less. It's not about decluttering
Speaker 1: your home and then going to create and barrel or
Speaker 1: protttery barn or wherever you like to get your decor
Speaker 1: and filling it up with new vases and candles. That's
Speaker 1: not sustainable minimalism. So if you want to talk about
Speaker 1: you know, where to declutter or where to start being sustainable,
Speaker 1: I'm happy to give you some tips, but that's my always.
Speaker 1: My first thing is, yes, decluttering is important, but it's
Speaker 1: not so you have a tidy home. A tidy home
Speaker 1: is a secondary benefit. I love what you're describing here
Speaker 1: and probably pun intended when we get down to that root,
Speaker 1: cause that's what creates sustainability and longevity in this lifestyle
Speaker 1: of sustainability and minimalism and kind of aiming in that
Speaker 1: direction because otherwise we're just kind of engaging with it
Speaker 1: on a surface level to achieve whatever Instagram is selling
Speaker 1: us about minimalism just so it can look really cool,
Speaker 1: versus having that more internal intrinsic motivation. And I feel
Speaker 1: like what you're describing, Stephanie, is getting more at the
Speaker 1: emotions and the thoughts and kind of the deeper roots
Speaker 1: behind the lifestyle that we're living and the values that
Speaker 1: we have and how we want to get after it.
Speaker 1: Because if I've been able to connect on a deeper
Speaker 1: level with Man, this is this is not how I
Speaker 1: want to do life. I feel cludar in my mind,
Speaker 1: I feel cluttered in my body, I feel cluttered in
Speaker 1: my space, and that is doing no good for the planet,
Speaker 1: for my community, for my home, for my health, then
Speaker 1: we can make shifts that actually sustain themselves. And when
Speaker 1: it's connected deeper than oh, it just looks really cool.
Speaker 1: I like how this looks. Yes, going back to I
Speaker 1: think I touched on it earlier. But internal motivation versus
Speaker 1: external motivation, I think that comes into place so well
Speaker 1: with what you're saying there. You know, marketing is external stimuli, right,
Speaker 1: and we tend to glock. We all tend to it's
Speaker 1: human nature to glob onto the wonderfulness of the thing, right.
Speaker 1: But when you declutter, and when you really get and
Speaker 1: you and when you use decluttering as a means to
Speaker 1: really get in touch with your inner voice, the inner
Speaker 1: you know, morals that you have within you, it makes
Speaker 1: those external cues, those external sounds, voices, coaxing, so much
Speaker 1: easier to say no, thank you. Definitely, I think that
Speaker 1: the mind set shift, because that's something for me that
Speaker 1: that's the main thing I carry with me, like whenever
Speaker 1: I'm decluttering, or maybe something doesn't look like I think
Speaker 1: it should, like like the minimalist home, like knowing that
Speaker 1: I'm not doing it for the sake of having a
Speaker 1: home that's instagram able. I'm not even on Instagram I'm
Speaker 1: doing it so that I'm like reducing my footprint and
Speaker 1: that i am like reducing the impact on my wallet,
Speaker 1: like I'm doing it for those things. Is there I'm
Speaker 1: curious is there anything you find, Like, what's a big
Speaker 1: mistake people start make when they start decluttering that they
Speaker 1: think might be sustainable but actually isn't. Well, that's a
Speaker 1: great question. I'm gonna answer it one second. But just
Speaker 1: going back to what you said with regard to you know,
Speaker 1: you're doing it for you. If you were doing it
Speaker 1: to have the instagram worthy home, if you were doing
Speaker 1: it for that external validation, you'd never be satisfied, right
Speaker 1: because we're constantly bombarded with photos of more minimalist homes,
Speaker 1: uh clutter free home, So you're never gonna be able
Speaker 1: to compete. But when you do it for yourself, that's
Speaker 1: where the serenity comes from. But with regard to your
Speaker 1: question on what's some mistake people make, the number one
Speaker 1: biggest mistake people make is they declutter their homes. They
Speaker 1: put everything that no longer serves them in a trash
Speaker 1: bag and they stick it on the curb. And I say,
Speaker 1: that's a big, fat mistake because I'm willing to bet
Speaker 1: there's plenty of stuff in the bag or in the
Speaker 1: bags that can help other people out. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: it all is going to to the landfill some day.
Speaker 1: But if you pass your I don't know, you're perfectly
Speaker 1: working microwave. Let's say, I don't know, microwave just came
Speaker 1: to my head. But if you give that microwave to
Speaker 1: somebody who needs a microwave, you're at least in theory,
Speaker 1: preventing that person from purchasing a new microwave and um
Speaker 1: using those resources, those planetary resources in addition to their own,
Speaker 1: you know, financial resources to purchase it. And so I
Speaker 1: think decluttering is synonymous with tidy ing, and people don't
Speaker 1: realize often that when you declutter your home, the decluttering
Speaker 1: is hard, but what's also hard is finding worthy recipients
Speaker 1: for your stuff. That is takes just as long in fact,
Speaker 1: And so I always recommend, like, if you're planning to
Speaker 1: declutter your I don't know addict on Saturday and Sunday,
Speaker 1: you take the following Saturday and Sunday, so you double
Speaker 1: the time, uh, and to to risk honsibly declutter, to
Speaker 1: responsibly pass on your stuff because it's time consuming, you
Speaker 1: gotta schlup stuff places, you gotta call places, and so
Speaker 1: the work's not done when you decide what you're getting
Speaker 1: rid of. The work's done when the stuff is responsibly
Speaker 1: passed on. M hm. I appreciate this so much, and
Speaker 1: you are identifying it does take extra time, and I
Speaker 1: think that's one of the biggest barriers for people. It's
Speaker 1: just easier to put it out in the trash and
Speaker 1: I never have to see it again. But I would
Speaker 1: also say, I think one of the things that is
Speaker 1: a barrier for people and even getting rid of things
Speaker 1: that they don't need, is the reality that they remember
Speaker 1: spending money on that thing, and so there still is
Speaker 1: a value to it, sometimes an emotional attachment. So I
Speaker 1: would even encourage people to tap into that part of
Speaker 1: themselves in that kind of second process of now I've
Speaker 1: decided to get rid of it, and you can honor
Speaker 1: the money and time that you spent acquiring that thing,
Speaker 1: holding onto that thing by finding a good home for
Speaker 1: that thing that isn't the landfill. So if firm what
Speaker 1: you're saying, Stephanie, it feels good to find a good
Speaker 1: home for things, and whether we're selling it giving it away,
Speaker 1: that buy nothing group the curb alert like there's a
Speaker 1: place for that item to go. It might just take time.
Speaker 1: Speaking of how we engage with our things, how we
Speaker 1: engage with others, how we keep this up in a
Speaker 1: sustainable way in our homes. You mentioned one of the
Speaker 1: first things that even got you into this lifestyle was
Speaker 1: people giving you things for your daughter and then realizing
Speaker 1: I don't have space because and that's kind of like
Speaker 1: the first the first move into your aha moment. How
Speaker 1: have you maintained that now what a boundaries look like
Speaker 1: in your life as it relates to others, in order
Speaker 1: to kind of keep the home that you want, that's
Speaker 1: good for you, that's good for the environment, when you
Speaker 1: probably do have people in your life wanting to just
Speaker 1: give you things without asking. So, yes, I get this
Speaker 1: question all the time, and my first caveat is to
Speaker 1: say I am not perfect. My daughters are now eight
Speaker 1: and five, and they love the little plastic trinkets. I
Speaker 1: swear they're just like little plastic trinket like magnets, and
Speaker 1: so it's a constant juggling act. But I will say
Speaker 1: that I believe that I am the gatekeeper of my home.
Speaker 1: I am the gatekeeper because I'm the one who's cleaning
Speaker 1: and tidying and maintaining it, I ultimately get to decide
Speaker 1: what comes in and what stays out generally, I mean
Speaker 1: with I'm not completely authoritarian on it, but for the
Speaker 1: most part, with gifts and gifting, this is always a
Speaker 1: big one. Um, you know, the grandparents especially. I'm lucky
Speaker 1: because I have a podcast about this, and so my
Speaker 1: in laws and my parents are pretty darn good about
Speaker 1: listening to my wishes. But we're not buying all the
Speaker 1: things for my kids. My kids are so fortunate to
Speaker 1: have plenty of toys. They do not need toys for existing.
Speaker 1: They don't need gifts just because if they genuinely have
Speaker 1: a need, you know, we can talk about that. But
Speaker 1: I do not have a family where the grandparents come
Speaker 1: over and and bring stuff just because around the holidays.
Speaker 1: I am so on top of the holidays. I've already
Speaker 1: made their like needed lists for the holidays. I passed
Speaker 1: those on very early before you know, my mom starts
Speaker 1: shopping and like, I don't know, August, so we passed
Speaker 1: that on really early. And you know, we had fuse
Speaker 1: some fun in it as well. But the minimalist gifting
Speaker 1: strategy that I tend to follow and I suggest I nicely,
Speaker 1: I hope us that my family follows is the want, need, read,
Speaker 1: share experience. So you get one like wanted item, but
Speaker 1: then you also get something they need, an experience you
Speaker 1: can do together. Usually my mom does like a cooking
Speaker 1: lesson with them, which they absolutely love. Um an experience
Speaker 1: gift which could be you know, passes to the movies,
Speaker 1: passes to an aquarium, so it's not a thing and
Speaker 1: it's an experience. And then the share gift is usually
Speaker 1: something they can share. My kids are huge Lego fans,
Speaker 1: so it's usually like a Lego item and that's it.
Speaker 1: We don't have to go overboard just because our society
Speaker 1: revers over consumption. We can say that's an ex turtal value.
Speaker 1: It's not in line with who we are, and it's
Speaker 1: not in line with who I want my children to become.
Speaker 1: Fives plenty m hm oh. I love what's coming out
Speaker 1: of this. So many nuggets are apparent to me. First
Speaker 1: of all, you know we talked about boundaries. We could
Speaker 1: even interchange that word with parameters. You've described some really
Speaker 1: incredible boundaries and parameters that you utilize that you give
Speaker 1: to others to utilize that give space to play within.
Speaker 1: Like if we were to think about boundaries like fences,
Speaker 1: they're really great. I think sometimes we can shy away
Speaker 1: from that word, like, oh, it's it's stringent, it's restrictive.
Speaker 1: But really, fences and boundary lines show us the area
Speaker 1: that we can play within. And so you're giving that
Speaker 1: gift to somebody in a way of saying, here's the parameters,
Speaker 1: here's the fences, here's the boundary lines that we can
Speaker 1: live and operate within that are going to be really
Speaker 1: workable for us, and we're gonna be grateful to you
Speaker 1: for living and playing with with us within those boundary lines.
Speaker 1: And so the parameters of something something shared and experience,
Speaker 1: something you want, something you need that's beautiful. That doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be a prescriptive list for everybody, but it
Speaker 1: can give that the creative juices for what can this
Speaker 1: look like. And then this piece of being proactive rather
Speaker 1: than reactionary, that you've done the work early on in
Speaker 1: the year and it's not this last minute kind of
Speaker 1: day before the holiday or day before the birthday. You
Speaker 1: better not bring anything over because no one likes to
Speaker 1: be surprised by that and thinking, I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: kind to you, and now all of a sudden you're
Speaker 1: slapping something that feels really restrictive on me versus having
Speaker 1: gotten ahead of it and saying, here's the best way
Speaker 1: that you can care for and be kind to us
Speaker 1: in our family, and and what can I do for
Speaker 1: you in return? Like, there's so many things that you're
Speaker 1: saying here that I think are really tangible takeaway tips
Speaker 1: for us to be able to define in our own lives. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm really glad to help. And back with regard to
Speaker 1: your point about being proactive instead of reactionary, I found
Speaker 1: through eight years of doing this that that is probably
Speaker 1: the number one most important thing, and not just with
Speaker 1: other people, right, but for myself. Like a great example
Speaker 1: would be my five year old she decided she wanted
Speaker 1: to do t ball. And I know my daughter pretty well,
Speaker 1: I didn't know, if you know, t ball was going
Speaker 1: to be something that she's stuck with. And so I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, Okay, well, I have a ton of friends, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm sure I can borrow somebody's glove, right, I don't
Speaker 1: need to buy a glove. But so that was me
Speaker 1: planning to be proactive, but life happens. Life got in
Speaker 1: the way, and wouldn't you know, It's like three days
Speaker 1: before the first tea ball game and my daughter has
Speaker 1: no glove, and so I had to be reactive. I
Speaker 1: had to be reactionary. I had to go on Amazon,
Speaker 1: which I tried never to do, and purchase a glove
Speaker 1: with the two day shipping so that she wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: woefully under unprepared for t ball. But so I do
Speaker 1: think it is about being proactive, looking ahead, staying two
Speaker 1: steps ahead as best you can. I mean, in its life,
Speaker 1: life throws curveballs all the time. Look at that reference,
Speaker 1: they're curve ball. But yeah, I mean just keeping that
Speaker 1: in the back of your mind, like proactive, overreactive whenever possible,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to be perfect, Like you can
Speaker 1: host a podcast for five years or eight years and
Speaker 1: still there are sometimes we're gonna have to buy something new,
Speaker 1: and I've I felt like on a deep level, your
Speaker 1: your gifts from from family, like I, yeah, I wanted
Speaker 1: with my first child. I made so many mistakes trying
Speaker 1: to be like I wanted not a lot of gifts,
Speaker 1: and I wanted like secondhand gifts. But like I couldn't
Speaker 1: put that on people who didn't understand like why I
Speaker 1: wanted or didn't like, weren't responsible for the extra time
Speaker 1: it would take to be proactive instead of reactionary. And
Speaker 1: so I had to get creative with how I like
Speaker 1: requested gifts like for my like my baby shower for
Speaker 1: Christmas is and be like, Okay, these are the things
Speaker 1: that I probably wouldn't buy used, so here's like these
Speaker 1: are the gifts that we want or that we need.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, now that I'm pregnant again, I'm like,
Speaker 1: should I And I'm thinking about like doing a sprinkle,
Speaker 1: but like maybe it'll just be like diapers. Maybe just
Speaker 1: you get some like diapers for daycare because you can't
Speaker 1: do reusable there, and that will be great and and
Speaker 1: it will be easy for people because they won't for
Speaker 1: some people for some reason, telling somebody to get you
Speaker 1: something second hand can be very difficult, and so making
Speaker 1: it not as a imposition on the people around you
Speaker 1: that don't necessarily hold the same beliefs as you, but
Speaker 1: still having those boundaries. It's a definitely place and not
Speaker 1: like reject think gifts because some people's love language is
Speaker 1: gift giving. My mom's love language is giving gifts. Um,
Speaker 1: And that was a mistake I made for a while, um,
Speaker 1: not letting her show love in that way. So it's
Speaker 1: like this, it is this dance for sure. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: just thinking about your sprinkle. What if you know, instead
Speaker 1: of everybody buying the I'm not sure if you're having
Speaker 1: a girl or boy, or if you're even you even know,
Speaker 1: But I found in my own experience I had two girls.
Speaker 1: Everybody purchased a fully dress for her, which was very
Speaker 1: nice but extremely impractical. Everybody loves baby clothes, I'm start
Speaker 1: it's the same for boys. Like a cute little sailor
Speaker 1: out there. But instead of like giving the guests carte
Speaker 1: blanche to buy whatever they want, which is likely going
Speaker 1: to be an outfit, maybe you suggest they bring like
Speaker 1: some diapers or a freezer meal, which is something super
Speaker 1: helpful for you. I'm sure once you give birth and
Speaker 1: you just take one of these items out of the
Speaker 1: freezer put it in, and that is like such a
Speaker 1: like a heart first gift. Right. It's not going to
Speaker 1: a store. It's not like having a corporation solve the problem.
Speaker 1: It's them infusing love into a dish for you. And
Speaker 1: your family, so just about Also, I'm doing all the
Speaker 1: work in this, so I should get a gift of
Speaker 1: I like that for it to absolutely here, for taking
Speaker 1: the mom's whatever they need, Babe is doing very little.
Speaker 1: Speaking of being proactive and not reactive, we prep our
Speaker 1: listeners and our guests every single week for this gem
Speaker 1: that is sticking around. It's sustainable, it's taking hand a
Speaker 1: molest a second hand. It's the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: That's right. It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. To Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week, Stephanie. Every week, without fail,
Speaker 1: we invite a listener or our guests to share with
Speaker 1: us their bill for the week. And it's vague for
Speaker 1: a reason because it's open ended and we'd love to
Speaker 1: hear yours. So I'm really excited for this because this
Speaker 1: is one of my biggest wins as a sustainable minimalist.
Speaker 1: In my town, we have to pay for garbage pick up,
Speaker 1: so you solicit quotes from the different garbage companies you
Speaker 1: go with. It's private, it's we're not we don't pay
Speaker 1: for it, end access. And so on garbage day, which
Speaker 1: is Friday, you have like fourteen different trucks going by
Speaker 1: your house. But that's a whole another story. And so
Speaker 1: I have my bill here. It's nine hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: dollars a year for trash pickup. And so my husband
Speaker 1: and I a couple of years back, said, well, I mean,
Speaker 1: what if we just cut back on our trash production.
Speaker 1: If we cut back on how much trash we have,
Speaker 1: then we can maybe cut back on, you know, how
Speaker 1: many times a week a month this garbage person comes,
Speaker 1: and maybe we can reduce our bill. So sure enough,
Speaker 1: we decided instead of them coming every week, they were
Speaker 1: just going to come every other week. So we cut
Speaker 1: the bill in half to four and eighty dollars a year.
Speaker 1: And that was, like with very little effort, very little,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, Like we started composting. That took our
Speaker 1: trash from one hundred to fifty very quickly. We just
Speaker 1: were more mindful about what we were throwing out, what
Speaker 1: we were bringing home. And so then after maybe about
Speaker 1: a year or so of that we I said to
Speaker 1: my husband, what do you think do you think we
Speaker 1: could go to once a month? And so we're we
Speaker 1: just went to once a month about I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe four or five months ago, and it's definitely harder.
Speaker 1: But our bill, which started at nine hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: dollars a year, is now two d forty dollars a year,
Speaker 1: which with the savings of seven hundred and twenty dollars
Speaker 1: a year. This is one of my favorite bills I've
Speaker 1: ever heard, because I love the concept of paying for
Speaker 1: your own trash pickup, because what else is going to
Speaker 1: motivate people to make less trash? And I love that
Speaker 1: this has happened in real life. It's always just been
Speaker 1: been a concept in my head. And I love that
Speaker 1: you just said it in real life. And this is
Speaker 1: where minimalism and sustainability pairs with frugality and it's good
Speaker 1: for you and it's good for the planet. And it's
Speaker 1: a good bill. Yeah, yeah, because of a year. You
Speaker 1: don't think about it. Annual bill. You pay for those
Speaker 1: dumps like you pay in your taxes. You pay for landfills,
Speaker 1: and if you if we could make fewer landfills, we
Speaker 1: would save money on that, but you don't realize it
Speaker 1: unless it's parsed out and you have to pay for
Speaker 1: it yourself. Yes, can I just say something on that.
Speaker 1: It's like a couple of things. Number one is when
Speaker 1: I sat down with the reality that we were paying
Speaker 1: nine d and sixty dollars a year to cart away
Speaker 1: our junk like that just felt wrong. Nearly a thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year to cart away trash that that's a
Speaker 1: hard number to hit. But most of us don't think
Speaker 1: about that because it's just in our taxes. Right. You
Speaker 1: put your stuff on the curb, out of site, out
Speaker 1: of mind. You don't know where your stuff is going,
Speaker 1: but you also perhaps don't really care. So just a
Speaker 1: reminder to everybody it's going somewhere and you are paying
Speaker 1: for it, whether you know it or not. M h.
Speaker 1: Well done, Stephanie. This is so exciting and it could
Speaker 1: be a whole other episode about how you reduced your waste.
Speaker 1: In that regard, we did a zero waste challenge in
Speaker 1: our private membership community and it was one of my favorites,
Speaker 1: just to get really tangible and connected to our consumption
Speaker 1: and our waste and finding creative ways to reduce that,
Speaker 1: which often meant that we're reducing various bills, from grocery
Speaker 1: bills to trash bills to utility bill, you name it. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so excited when you're doing so well. I am
Speaker 1: at once a week and I can't imagine doing less
Speaker 1: than that and once a month. Wow, kudos to you.
Speaker 1: If you all listening, have a similar bill, if it
Speaker 1: has to do with the intersection of minimalism and frugality
Speaker 1: and lowering bill bills, or you know, any other kind
Speaker 1: of bill, because we like it vague and we like
Speaker 1: to just bebop all over the map on this bill,
Speaker 1: this bill of the week, bill of the month, Bill
Speaker 1: the year, Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill,
Speaker 1: leave us your bill. We are so excited to chomp
Speaker 1: our teeth into that one. And now it's time for
Speaker 1: all right, So we never prepare anybody for the mid
Speaker 1: show sound effects, so it's always good to see how
Speaker 1: people react. Um, So it's laughter, sometimes it's fear. Sometimes
Speaker 1: sometimes it's laughter because of fear, nervous laughter. Okay, So
Speaker 1: this week's lightning round question, what's something you've done in
Speaker 1: pursuit of minimalism or sustainability or both, or just one
Speaker 1: that went horribly wrong and you will never do it again.
Speaker 1: Okay that this is me your first Okay, very obviously
Speaker 1: the safety razor. If you don't know what a safety
Speaker 1: should I explain it? Yeah? Okay, So as safety razor
Speaker 1: is a reusable razor. You replace the razor blade every
Speaker 1: four ish days with a new razor blade. Uh, no
Speaker 1: plastic to see, it's for shaving your legs, whatever you shave. Um,
Speaker 1: I really wanted this to work for me in terms
Speaker 1: of sustainability. No plastic, no real trash. You send the
Speaker 1: dull blades back. You know, nothing's going to the landfill.
Speaker 1: No plastic and site it sounded great. Oh my legs,
Speaker 1: you guys, they are cut up, cut up. So we
Speaker 1: went back to the plastic razor in this house. Oh man, Stephanie,
Speaker 1: I feel like I can relate. And why is it
Speaker 1: these things that have to do with beauty, hygiene care,
Speaker 1: health care that we're willing to use ourselves as guinea
Speaker 1: pigs in this process. As I was considering this question,
Speaker 1: my answers were very much the same. They're a little
Speaker 1: bit more intimate than your example, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: share which loves to use the lightning round as like
Speaker 1: vulnerability round, and here you go. I have I have
Speaker 1: been on the journey of Yeah, it's it's this category
Speaker 1: of feminine care and hygiene. So if that's if that's
Speaker 1: going to turn your stomach, then turn off this episode
Speaker 1: of the podcast right now. But it has to do
Speaker 1: with well, here's the list. I tried to men stroke
Speaker 1: up that ended very poorly for me. Thankfully it did end. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: it came to an end. There was a moment there
Speaker 1: where I wasn't sure if it ever was gonna end.
Speaker 1: It did, But never ever again, I'm stuck in my ways, apparently,
Speaker 1: and that's it's not for me. I tried and at
Speaker 1: home treatment of a yeast infection that involved garlic that
Speaker 1: did not go so well. I didn't really totally know
Speaker 1: that the garlic is not going to break down on
Speaker 1: its own, positioned where it was positioned, and that led
Speaker 1: to some terrifying bathroom experiences. I'm sorry, you guys. This
Speaker 1: is the vulnerability and finally, far beyond where I thought
Speaker 1: it was going. Yeah, well read the outline, Jen, I
Speaker 1: did read at home, d I y bikini wax. I
Speaker 1: made my own wax was so proud of myself. Actually,
Speaker 1: the consistency was really decent. And the strips that I
Speaker 1: used to try and put the wax on was an
Speaker 1: old T shirt of my husband's that I cut up
Speaker 1: right sustainable, frugal, eco friendly. I thought I was on
Speaker 1: the right path. But his old T shirt is quite stretchy,
Speaker 1: is not. It's more pliable than what you want with
Speaker 1: a waxing strip. You want it to be, you know,
Speaker 1: really solid and sturdy and not stretchy. So that that
Speaker 1: didn't go well. But you know, obviously I've got so
Speaker 1: many examples, Like It's not kept me from stopping to
Speaker 1: like trying these things on my own body. I'm my
Speaker 1: own guinea pig um. But none of the none of
Speaker 1: those things went well for me. Those are all like
Speaker 1: like there's one thing to try on yourself, but then
Speaker 1: there's like trying very intimate things on yourself, which that's
Speaker 1: a whole another lagger. Yeah, you're right, all of all
Speaker 1: of those examples are like in a very specific area
Speaker 1: of one's body, and I'm just like, I'm just going
Speaker 1: forward for it. Yeah, but think of all the success
Speaker 1: she has had on the regular parts of her body.
Speaker 1: Very successful, So yeah, I just think that mine is
Speaker 1: so mundane. It's not even an actual like fail because
Speaker 1: I can't. I don't do a lot of feminine hygiene
Speaker 1: extras or there's a will, there's a way. You want
Speaker 1: this lifestyle, but I don't want to pay for it.
Speaker 1: You do. Yeah, in the midst of it, I've just
Speaker 1: given up. But also I think I'm like, I'm blessed
Speaker 1: in that I don't have a lot of body hair,
Speaker 1: so I actually don't have to shave a lot. So
Speaker 1: that's just a that's a unique gifting um to where
Speaker 1: I have not had to try this stuff. But so
Speaker 1: we moved into a new house that does not recycle
Speaker 1: glass for some reason. Glass is just anything else they recycled.
Speaker 1: So we're like your neighborhood, my neighborhood, Yeah, my old
Speaker 1: neighborhood did. So we were like, Okay, we're just gonna
Speaker 1: save the glass and we still own that house in
Speaker 1: the other neighborhood, and we'll just like save up the
Speaker 1: glass when we need and then you know, whenever, when
Speaker 1: it gets full, take it to the new house or
Speaker 1: the old house. And we did that, and I tried
Speaker 1: to move the bucket to take it over and it
Speaker 1: was like there was ants. We cleaned out these bottles
Speaker 1: and still ants covered and I was like, I couldn't
Speaker 1: put the thing in my car and I was like,
Speaker 1: how am I going to get this glass? And so
Speaker 1: I couldn't take it. Travis had to take it in
Speaker 1: his truck so it could be outside, and he just
Speaker 1: took it to his work. So with the infrequency with
Speaker 1: which we were cycle glass, this method did not work
Speaker 1: for us. Yikes, you just need to rinse out your
Speaker 1: glass better. But they were they were rinsed, they were,
Speaker 1: you know, like prepped and ready to go. We did
Speaker 1: that recycling episode and I was like, Okay, I know
Speaker 1: how to prep my glass for recycling. But for some
Speaker 1: reason it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough and came or
Speaker 1: maybe it was just like one glass wasn't enough, and
Speaker 1: maybe they were all not. I don't know. I wasn't
Speaker 1: there like it was they weren't consulting with you know,
Speaker 1: they weren't consulting with me because it was there. It
Speaker 1: took like a few months to like fill it up.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, yeah, that was that was our fail.
Speaker 1: Much more benign. Wow, I hope you find a better solution.
Speaker 1: Jen Now Travis just takes it to his work. We
Speaker 1: don't even let it fill up. He just takes it
Speaker 1: one at a time. M hm. I put my story
Speaker 1: if anybody wants to hear it. Yes, when my one
Speaker 1: of my daughters was in preschool, I was no plastic
Speaker 1: in the lunch box mom, and so I packed her
Speaker 1: I don't know, let's say, pretzels in a repurposed glass
Speaker 1: jar like a jam jar. Put the pretzels in, stuck
Speaker 1: it in the lunch box. She was eating them in
Speaker 1: the parking lot of the school. Dropped the jar, got
Speaker 1: glass everywhere, cut her leg open, A car went over
Speaker 1: it like it was a hot mess. I got multiple
Speaker 1: scolding emails from the principle saying, no more glass at
Speaker 1: the school or on the premises so ever, no more smoking,
Speaker 1: no more drugs, no more glass anywhere near this school,
Speaker 1: anywhere near this elementary school. We live and we learn.
Speaker 1: You do all just living and learning, having veils along
Speaker 1: the way and laughing about them. Right. I'm getting better
Speaker 1: and sticking with it through it. Really. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much Stephanie for hanging out with us today. Um where
Speaker 1: can people find your podcast and find even more from you?
Speaker 1: My podcast is the Sustainable Minimalists. It's a top ten
Speaker 1: Home and Garden along there with you guys. So so
Speaker 1: happy to be up there with you on the charts,
Speaker 1: on the iTunes charts. Yeah. So Sustainable Minimalists is the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram at Sustainable Minimalists, And there's also a
Speaker 1: book by the same name, Sustainable Minimalism where we go
Speaker 1: into more depths about what we talked about today. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. This was a
Speaker 1: ton of fun. Yes, thanks for joining us. Yes, this
Speaker 1: was a blast. Mm hmm, thank you, Stephanie. It was
Speaker 1: everything we wanted and more and and we hope that's
Speaker 1: true for our listeners. It was just a fun, a
Speaker 1: fun topic to kind of geek out about and know
Speaker 1: that there you can prioritize, you don't. There's like balance
Speaker 1: does not exist, Like you can't prioritize all three of
Speaker 1: these things at the same level. One may have to
Speaker 1: give and so, but knowing that they are not competing
Speaker 1: against each other. While you can prioritize one over the other,
Speaker 1: they don't compete. And that was great to hear from Stephanie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just affirmation of again that that individualizing the way this
Speaker 1: can look for you. It doesn't have to look one way,
Speaker 1: even though influencers would love to make us think that
Speaker 1: we can find our own version of this in a
Speaker 1: way that fits with our lifestyle. Yes, absolutely so, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. We talked about our Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Club in the intro and if you want to
Speaker 1: check that out, we would love to have you. We
Speaker 1: actually want to congratulate one of our members for a
Speaker 1: big win. This one's from Vanessa. She says, I actively
Speaker 1: look for inexpensive or free events on Facebook and basically
Speaker 1: keep my account just for by nothing groups and Facebook events.
Speaker 1: That is me. SAME's uh. So today I went to
Speaker 1: an event or organized by local real estate agents. Everything
Speaker 1: was free, but you had to bring a toy or
Speaker 1: food donation, and we gave two toys I had planned
Speaker 1: to give to my daughters but changed my mind. They're
Speaker 1: not going to miss them and they were happy to
Speaker 1: help other kids in need. They both received slide candies,
Speaker 1: hot chocolate, hamburgers, even a pumpkin for free. And there's
Speaker 1: face painting artists who did an amazing job too. Then
Speaker 1: we were able to go to a you pick farm
Speaker 1: uh to avoid food waste. They had the public come
Speaker 1: pick up leftover veggies and you can keep as many
Speaker 1: veggies as you wanted as long as you were picking
Speaker 1: the same amount to take to a senior home. And
Speaker 1: because I had gun grocery shopping, it was perfect timing.
Speaker 1: Came home with a huge bag of carrots, turnips and kale.
Speaker 1: So shout out to Facebook Events. I am here. I
Speaker 1: same story, Vanessa. I love Facebook events. We went to
Speaker 1: seven trunk or treats for Halloween, all free, all from
Speaker 1: Facebook Events, and right, but yes, I love the free events.
Speaker 1: And that was one of my biggest things when paying
Speaker 1: off debt, is that I didn't want to just stay
Speaker 1: home all the time and not go out. I wanted
Speaker 1: to live life. And that's how I discovered Facebook Events.
Speaker 1: You live life. You you were very good at keeping
Speaker 1: a pulse on what's happening in the community and curating it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's always some stuff happening, but it's a
Speaker 1: matter of is that going to be worth by while
Speaker 1: you find the good stuff? And my goodness, Vanessa, this
Speaker 1: sounds like this is a really cool community. But that's
Speaker 1: the thing. If we don't get out there and see
Speaker 1: what's happening, we miss like things like this, while very amazing,
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily just unique to where Vanessa lives. Like there
Speaker 1: are amazing people all over the place doing really great
Speaker 1: things in their community. So thanks for reminding us of that.
Speaker 1: So glad it worked for you, Vanessa. Hope others listening
Speaker 1: can find similar and join our club to learn more
Speaker 1: from our people membership, and we have big wins like
Speaker 1: this and remember sharing tips all the time, So if
Speaker 1: you want to check them all out and see what
Speaker 1: monthly challenge we've got coming up next, head to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash club to see what's going on.
Speaker 1: See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syriana.
Speaker 1: I must be in a different place now because I
Speaker 1: do remember saying to myself at one point, I will
Speaker 1: never share the story of my d I y yeast
Speaker 1: infection remedy, much less thousands of people on this podcast
Speaker 1: mainly thinking of the podcast. But here I am so
Speaker 1: I must you must have worn me down vulnerability from me,
Speaker 1: and I have exploited my own vulnerity. It was more
Speaker 1: vulnerability than I required. Is that called above and beyond? No,
Speaker 1: you always tell me vulnerability without protection is exploitation. And
Speaker 1: I think that's where we're at. And I have witnessed it. No,
Speaker 1: I didn't not I didn't ask for this and no
Speaker 1: one can. But nobody stopped you, and maybe that was
Speaker 1: where we fell short. Nobody stopped you, and that's maybe
Speaker 1: how you were exploited. Today, here we are. You know
Speaker 1: you all know everything now. Yeah, I don't think that
Speaker 1: there's anything I've withheld, And I think you guys know
Speaker 1: everything about Jill that that Eric and I know, so
Speaker 1: you know, join our patreon. We did not talk about
Speaker 1: this from the padre, so join it for that. Although, yeah,
Speaker 1: what am I saying? You're not going to get anything more?
Speaker 1: I gave you every if you ask in the bonus episode.
Speaker 1: I guess we'll have to. Yeah, that's true. I guess
Speaker 1: we'll have to. Well, you did it, you wore it down.
Speaker 1: Here we are, Episode two sixty six tw