Speaker 1: Episode sixty Frugal Summer Fun. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and
Speaker 1: live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I have a fun someometime. Welcome. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen. Hey,
Speaker 1: this is Jill. When you hear this, I will already
Speaker 1: have a child while as we record this that I
Speaker 1: have a child, not on the outside of my body,
Speaker 1: still on the inside. It was the best way to
Speaker 1: describe that. Thank you, you picked the best words. Thank you.
Speaker 1: You know I am a professional writer and podcaster and
Speaker 1: words are my job. So thank you Jill for realizing that.
Speaker 1: I will affirm you. Yes, But I mean that to
Speaker 1: say I am personally looking for some frugal ways to
Speaker 1: have fun this summer because I'm spending all the money
Speaker 1: on a baby, probably I don't know. I've never been
Speaker 1: a parent before, on this thing that's outside my body
Speaker 1: and is a human right. They're much more expensive on
Speaker 1: the outside from what I hear. Well. Summer is one
Speaker 1: of my favorites, and I think it is super easy
Speaker 1: to enjoy free things in the summer. But it's still
Speaker 1: is always good to talk about it and give some ideas,
Speaker 1: get some new ideas. These are one of my favorites
Speaker 1: right when we're talking about free and or frugal activities,
Speaker 1: because it reminds us that we can have fun and
Speaker 1: accomplished financial goals. Yes, so we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: things you're gonna want to do this summer, things people
Speaker 1: are going to tell you to do this summer that
Speaker 1: you don't want to do. And we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: all the ways that you can save money and not
Speaker 1: die in the summer heat, especially if you live in
Speaker 1: Florida like me and you're carrying a baby on the
Speaker 1: outside of your body. But first, our sponsors also brought
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Speaker 1: best way to get there fast and save money while
Speaker 1: doing it, as long as the war you're getting to
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Speaker 1: to the bottom of the hill. We all know it's
Speaker 1: tough to get to the bottom of the hill. So yes,
Speaker 1: you need a slippery slope to help you, of course,
Speaker 1: and thank you to our sponsor Slipping Sides Living FIDE.
Speaker 1: I think that's not trademarked and it is slipping a
Speaker 1: slipping slide, but being slide is what we said, so
Speaker 1: don't see us. All right, we are going to talk
Speaker 1: some frugal fund at home. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: some frugal front fun. Friend, It's it's really difficult to
Speaker 1: talk at this point in my pregnancy, frugal fun on vacation,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Let's get started. We've got fifteen fun and
Speaker 1: frugal summer activities from Goodbye to Broke. How do you
Speaker 1: feel about these, Jill? I felt good about them. Jen.
Speaker 1: I think there's something for everybody here on this In
Speaker 1: this article. You know, there's fifteen things listed, so so
Speaker 1: find something. The one that I like and it made
Speaker 1: me excited for warm weather, is disc golf. So this
Speaker 1: is the one on my list. Oh well, you know what,
Speaker 1: it takes all kinds. This is growing in popularity, but
Speaker 1: it is really fun and you don't have to be
Speaker 1: super good at it. You don't have to go all
Speaker 1: in and join competitions, like you can just do this
Speaker 1: in an afternoon. Basically, it's like a golf course that
Speaker 1: people will set up in the woods and you like
Speaker 1: throw your disk aka your frisbee, but don't tell the
Speaker 1: disc golfers that, and you try and hit this um,
Speaker 1: you try and like get it into a basket. It's you'll, you'll,
Speaker 1: you'll understand it when you do it. It's like a
Speaker 1: basket with chains on it. Sometimes it takes a couple
Speaker 1: of times, you know, just like putt putt, Like you
Speaker 1: you throw the disk here, then you pick it up
Speaker 1: from there and you throw it, throw it some more. Okay,
Speaker 1: some fun things about it, like if you're like me
Speaker 1: all day, it is fun though you do it with
Speaker 1: a group of friends, you get outdoors in nature. You
Speaker 1: might get to see parts of a park that you
Speaker 1: didn't realize we're there. And also on a lot of
Speaker 1: these disc golf trails, people will actually set up coolers
Speaker 1: along the way with like food and or drink in
Speaker 1: them that you like for donation, so like some lemonade
Speaker 1: or some iced tea or some water or whatever. And
Speaker 1: that just makes it fun because it feels like a
Speaker 1: community that would be summer activity just sitting at there.
Speaker 1: I'm at basket number nine, just enjoying a nice cold tea,
Speaker 1: my beverage of some sort. My summer activity is sitting
Speaker 1: at a whole number nine. Anyhow, it's super fun and
Speaker 1: you can have as many people as you want, or
Speaker 1: you can do it by yourself, but you'll probably meet
Speaker 1: friends along the way and you might just get yourself
Speaker 1: an iced tea from me. I think all of the
Speaker 1: ones that I'm gonna throw out there are going to
Speaker 1: be different than Jills because I live in Florida, where
Speaker 1: summer is not a place where you want to do
Speaker 1: a lot of things. And I know that I won't
Speaker 1: be alone because we have a lot of listeners in
Speaker 1: Texas and on the Gulf Coast and in Florida. So
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to speak for you guys and gals,
Speaker 1: and that's where all of my suggestions are going to
Speaker 1: come from. So my favorite on this one was dinner picnics.
Speaker 1: So evening like no earlier than soundset, Yeah, no earlier
Speaker 1: than sunset. For these dinner picnics, We're not doing lunch picnics.
Speaker 1: We could do breakfast, but that's very early. So yeah,
Speaker 1: sandwiches and um different frugal foods I think are a
Speaker 1: really great way either. So sunset at the beach is
Speaker 1: probably my favorite time to go to the beach in
Speaker 1: the summer is fantastic. And obviously if you're on the
Speaker 1: other coast, sunrise picnic at the beach fantastic or on
Speaker 1: a lake. Everyone has a body of water in the summer,
Speaker 1: so bring food, bring blanket, bring a basket or a
Speaker 1: bag and eat by O P for picnic. Also have
Speaker 1: a cookout and short jen I'll let you have this one.
Speaker 1: It can be after the sun goes down, but in
Speaker 1: my area doesn't have to bait. You can do this
Speaker 1: for lunch. And I mentioned this in a previous episode,
Speaker 1: but something that I enjoy doing with some people in
Speaker 1: my friend group is to bring your own thing to
Speaker 1: throw on the grill. So you know, maybe maybe the
Speaker 1: host might provide some sides, but or you can bring
Speaker 1: them yourself, but then bring your own thing to throw
Speaker 1: on the grill. And that can be a frugal way
Speaker 1: of getting gather with a bunch of people enjoying a barbecue,
Speaker 1: but not putting all the financial responsibility on the host
Speaker 1: to provide everyone with steaks. Yes, this is why we
Speaker 1: did episode fifty eight first, is so that you could
Speaker 1: accumulate all the friends. Then you can use the information
Speaker 1: from this episode to profit from that. So if you
Speaker 1: don't have any friends, go back to episode fifty eight.
Speaker 1: Creating a culture of frugality in your community. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: also love stargazing, So you can do this just app
Speaker 1: outside with an app or at a school's planetarium. If
Speaker 1: you're near a university that has science, um then yeah
Speaker 1: science doing some stargazing is really fun. It's also at night,
Speaker 1: and you're welcome Southerners. I also liked in her tubing
Speaker 1: listed on here. So of course in a lot of
Speaker 1: areas there are places that you can pay to go tubing.
Speaker 1: That's not at least what I'm talking about here. Actually,
Speaker 1: this past what would have been uh fourth of July,
Speaker 1: we just got some tubes that we like blew up
Speaker 1: with our mouths from Walmart for five dollars. There's some
Speaker 1: fun tubes that Walmart sells for five bucks. And we
Speaker 1: went to a local little river that flows through our area,
Speaker 1: dropped a car at like one end and another car
Speaker 1: at the other end, and just floated on down in
Speaker 1: our five dollar Walmart tubes, which was so fun to
Speaker 1: deal with a group of friends. And you can either
Speaker 1: link up by holding each other's tubes and float along,
Speaker 1: or you can go that one so low and kick
Speaker 1: yourself away from the group, you know, depending on how
Speaker 1: the day's going. But that's a nice way to be
Speaker 1: able to cool down, especially if you don't live near
Speaker 1: a lot of water or you have rich friends with pools.
Speaker 1: Um go to the creek crick crick crick creek with
Speaker 1: an eye, that's what they call it in this area.
Speaker 1: We got a creek in our backyard. How many or
Speaker 1: we're a little river. Okay, I know what that is.
Speaker 1: I don't have one, but I know what it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's fun. Yeah, we do have springs and stuff
Speaker 1: in Florida that are super fun to tube down. I
Speaker 1: love those. And yes, you have to get your own
Speaker 1: tube from the Walmart because it's much cheaper than renting
Speaker 1: one there. But they don't let you use the big
Speaker 1: party tubes at the ones byass, which is so disappointing
Speaker 1: because all you've had a great sale on one, and
Speaker 1: our friend got one and was not able to use it.
Speaker 1: So really, you've got someone monitoring your your springs. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know it's Florida. Yeah, I don't know what that means. Um.
Speaker 1: I also I just said it. Yeah. I also like
Speaker 1: the bike rides, but I added the caveat of early
Speaker 1: morning bike rides. They are definitely better then hiking. We
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of good hiking places in Florida,
Speaker 1: not like you guys up north or in the West,
Speaker 1: but we do have a lot of great roads for biking.
Speaker 1: And an early morning bike ride with that wind in
Speaker 1: your face, and then you stop at a coffee shop
Speaker 1: and get a nice cold brew after your bike, and
Speaker 1: then go home and shower and you're ready to be
Speaker 1: inside in the air conditioning by the time it gets
Speaker 1: really hot, and it's just it's a really, really good time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They also mentioned finding free stuff near you in the
Speaker 1: summertime is a really great time to find this, especially
Speaker 1: for those of us in the north when everyone comes
Speaker 1: out of hiding and you feel like you've got to
Speaker 1: pack in all of your activities for the year. So
Speaker 1: this article mentions being able to find free stuff to
Speaker 1: do in the summer at on websites like meet up,
Speaker 1: dot com, event bright your local town. Websites will often
Speaker 1: list free events or even like Expedia or trip Advisor
Speaker 1: or group on. I haven't tried that out. I thought
Speaker 1: that most of those were for purchase, but they are
Speaker 1: indicating that sometimes there's free options on those sites. Have
Speaker 1: you ever tried that? Jen? Yeah, I don't think there
Speaker 1: are free options on group on, but there are. Like Facebook,
Speaker 1: you can look at the offense section on Facebook and
Speaker 1: I'll show you free events near you and then but
Speaker 1: group on, like Living Social and stuff, are really great
Speaker 1: for finding deals on like festival tickets. So maybe there's
Speaker 1: one you want to go to you don't want to
Speaker 1: pay full prey for entrance. Always check group on and
Speaker 1: places like that to see if there's any like buy
Speaker 1: one get one deals or something nice. All right, anything
Speaker 1: else on this one, Jill? That's it, moving on, Moving on.
Speaker 1: So for those of you lucky enough to actually be
Speaker 1: escaping where you live this summer, I'm going to be
Speaker 1: trapped under a baby, but it's you know, it's fine.
Speaker 1: Here are the top ten cost cutting vacation tips from
Speaker 1: trip savvy dot com and its subtitles Tips to help
Speaker 1: stretch your vacation dollars just elongates the word still, what
Speaker 1: are your What are your faiths on this list. So
Speaker 1: the first one that they mentioned is buying your necessities
Speaker 1: before you leave so that you're able to save. So
Speaker 1: think ahead on what you need on a regular basis,
Speaker 1: or even some random stuff like aspirin or toms, because
Speaker 1: those are the purchases that can cause you to spend
Speaker 1: more than what you intended because you're used to having
Speaker 1: your medicine cabinet at home, but you get there and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, no, I have acid reflux. What now
Speaker 1: I gotta drop ten dollars the local CBS. That's just
Speaker 1: not worth it. So bring bring some of these things along,
Speaker 1: things that you know are commonly used, so that you
Speaker 1: don't have to be buying the toothpaste or the hair
Speaker 1: spray or the face wash or the toms. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I also like the idea to plan your meals regardless
Speaker 1: of where you're staying. So obviously staying someplace where there's
Speaker 1: a kitchen or at least a mini fridge is going
Speaker 1: to be really advantageous. We stayed at the Park Hyatt
Speaker 1: in Beaver Creek, and we had points, so we didn't
Speaker 1: pay for this day, but we also got like bread
Speaker 1: and pebe and j and Um, all this stuff from
Speaker 1: the grocery store for our meals, and like stuff for
Speaker 1: breakfast too, so that we could we planned on where
Speaker 1: we would eat either a lunch or a dinner out
Speaker 1: and then we would eat our other two meals back
Speaker 1: at the resort. So planning your meals and that doesn't
Speaker 1: just include what you will make, but also what you
Speaker 1: will eat out which meal it will be. We love
Speaker 1: usually staying in places where breakfast is free, so that's
Speaker 1: one less meal we have to worry about. So just
Speaker 1: make sure you're planning your meals ahead of time, regardless
Speaker 1: of what they are, so you can budget and save money. Nice.
Speaker 1: I like that that was smart. You don't need to
Speaker 1: buy three meals a day. Um. And then they also
Speaker 1: talked about and we've talked about this in previous episodes,
Speaker 1: but renting a condo or a house instead of a
Speaker 1: hotel room. Sometimes this can be more cost effective, especially
Speaker 1: if you're traveling in a large group or if you
Speaker 1: are considering doing a vacation with some friends. It's a
Speaker 1: great thing to consider rather than going solo as a family.
Speaker 1: Are there some people that you enjoy spending time with
Speaker 1: that you could split the cost of a larger airbnb
Speaker 1: with more amenities or a condo or something, and in
Speaker 1: that way it be less and you might even have
Speaker 1: access to more if you travel in a larger group,
Speaker 1: and then you definitely have that kitchen so you can
Speaker 1: make better meals rather than just like PBS and Jay's
Speaker 1: with potato chips on them, but which I'm not knocking.
Speaker 1: I love. But you can put potato chips on your
Speaker 1: PB and j's. Who doesn't. I mean, when you have
Speaker 1: a sandwich of any kind and potato chips, are you
Speaker 1: not going to put the potato chips on the sandwich.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to. I'm going to put them on
Speaker 1: the side. Though. You should try it. You should try
Speaker 1: it once I think I have I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: totally opposed to it. But it is an interesting thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a texture thing. It's texture. You gotta like it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta try it. My last favorite part of this
Speaker 1: one is to spend the day away from attractions. So
Speaker 1: if you are going to a place for a particular attraction,
Speaker 1: you don't have to spend every single day of the
Speaker 1: vacation taking advantage of that attraction because most of the
Speaker 1: time there's going to be free and low cost alternatives
Speaker 1: are round there, and you can spend the day doing
Speaker 1: one of those and most likely it won't take the
Speaker 1: whole day. You will maybe spend half a day doing this,
Speaker 1: and then you can come back to the room or
Speaker 1: to the airbnb and just chill, take a nap. Because
Speaker 1: sometimes when you take a vacation, you get back needing
Speaker 1: a vacation from your vacation. So spend one of the
Speaker 1: last days just chilling and spend it in a free
Speaker 1: way that is not gonna make you feel tired when
Speaker 1: you get home. Yeah, and enjoy what's available to you
Speaker 1: for free at these places. Yeah, And you can consider
Speaker 1: that when you are booking the hotel or the condo
Speaker 1: or the house rental. You know, does it have a
Speaker 1: hot tub or a pool, or is it within walking
Speaker 1: distance of of a park or some other fun things
Speaker 1: that are frugal, and you can kind of take a
Speaker 1: break from the expensive pieces but still enjoy yourself. And
Speaker 1: of course, finding alternative to airport parking. I mean, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe others don't know about this, but you don't have
Speaker 1: to park at the airport. Certainly, there's plenty of hotels
Speaker 1: around the airport or parking alternatives that are literally a
Speaker 1: fraction of the costs. So whatever airport you're going to
Speaker 1: look up parking in the area, they'll have shuttle buses
Speaker 1: a lot of times. Even group on will have some
Speaker 1: airport parking options, So definitely do your research before you
Speaker 1: pay like forty dollars a day to park at an
Speaker 1: airport if you are flying to where you're going. Same
Speaker 1: with cruises. We went on a cruise a few years
Speaker 1: ago and we just googled cruise parking and there was
Speaker 1: a parking that just took a shuttle from one of
Speaker 1: the hotels and it was half of the price to
Speaker 1: use that service then it would have been to use
Speaker 1: the actual official cruise parking. So ways, if you're not
Speaker 1: going to take an uber, always check to see if
Speaker 1: there's something cheaper. Yeah, and of course the minimalist and
Speaker 1: the frugal in me likes number nine on here, which
Speaker 1: talks about taming the gummeas, which is not an animal,
Speaker 1: but basically all these places that just want you to
Speaker 1: purchase the souvenir cup, the photograph or the autographed photograph.
Speaker 1: Well I've never said that before. So if you are
Speaker 1: a person who who likes the souvenirs. You want a memento,
Speaker 1: think about what is one thing that could help you
Speaker 1: remember the trip or the memories. Or take a lot
Speaker 1: of pictures on your phone and save them to your computer.
Speaker 1: But try to avoid purchasing all of these things that
Speaker 1: are just gonna end up in the trash. Maybe in
Speaker 1: a yard sale, but no one's probably going to buy
Speaker 1: the picture of you on a roller coaster. So just
Speaker 1: just watch yourself there. That can be something that eats
Speaker 1: up a lot of money. It just seems like six
Speaker 1: dollars here, three dollars there, but it can get thrown
Speaker 1: down the drain with things that are just gonna pack
Speaker 1: your attic and so you're creating more problems there. Something
Speaker 1: I like to do is maybe find one thing from
Speaker 1: each trip. Sometimes it's a free thing. Usually it's something
Speaker 1: off the beach or um, maybe something that somebody gave
Speaker 1: to me, or a pressed flower from the area. So
Speaker 1: I'm not discounting the desire to like make memories and
Speaker 1: mark that somehow and have a memento to to remember
Speaker 1: it by. But it doesn't have to be the thing
Speaker 1: you you purchased. It could be a really cool seashell,
Speaker 1: a flower, like I said, a picture that you take
Speaker 1: near an important thing or time that you enjoyed together.
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind. Yeah, definitely, And I mean
Speaker 1: you can skip the middleman and just check out the
Speaker 1: thrift store for other people's souvenirs that they bought and
Speaker 1: then don't aiden so you pretend then you went to Europe. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Oh there's one more thing on this list and you
Speaker 1: I would say watch out for it. It's number ten.
Speaker 1: Take advantage of coupons. So I find that a lot
Speaker 1: of the coupon places are kind of tourist trappy. But
Speaker 1: one place where you can get around this is to
Speaker 1: download yelp, and so you can see right on Yelp
Speaker 1: find like the best reviewed places, and then sometimes they'll
Speaker 1: have specials like if you check in, you'll get a
Speaker 1: free appetizer, or you'll get off something or something. And
Speaker 1: that is a coupon that is you know will be
Speaker 1: worth your money because you're only looking at places that
Speaker 1: are already well reviewed instead of word getting the I'm
Speaker 1: so glad you mentioned that because I just found out
Speaker 1: about that. On our last vacation to Florida, I did that.
Speaker 1: I was using Yelp to find good places to eat,
Speaker 1: because that was a top priority for Eric and I
Speaker 1: surprise surprise, was eating relaxing and eating good food. So
Speaker 1: we used Yelp because we trust their reviews and on
Speaker 1: most of the restaurants that we went to, if you
Speaker 1: check in, which literally just means pressing a button. It
Speaker 1: doesn't need to go to your Facebook or anything. You
Speaker 1: just check in and sometimes they might ask you for
Speaker 1: like a picture of the menu when you check in
Speaker 1: or whatever. I don't think it's necessary that you do that,
Speaker 1: but whatever, you can help them out and then you
Speaker 1: get something for free. So literally, at the one place,
Speaker 1: it was by one get one free on try. Another
Speaker 1: place gave us a free milkshake. Another place was a
Speaker 1: free fried corn on the cob. Like it was really
Speaker 1: good stuff that we got for free at all of
Speaker 1: these places just for checking in on Yelp. So that's
Speaker 1: a great tip. Definitely use that one. Yes, yeah, I
Speaker 1: love Yelp. And they'll have like free events in your
Speaker 1: city too. You can go under the events tab and
Speaker 1: see what's going on in whatever city you're in. I
Speaker 1: know they'll especially do them in the summer. They'll do
Speaker 1: like local events. So download that app and under like
Speaker 1: the menu tab go to events and you can see
Speaker 1: all these free events going on. So that's another free help.
Speaker 1: Isn't paying us. This is not a sponsor. This is
Speaker 1: just us telling you that we like yelp and we
Speaker 1: like slip in size. Yeah, but not yelping slides slipping.
Speaker 1: We like slipping slides were brought to you by those
Speaker 1: but not all d or yelp, even though we like
Speaker 1: just unsolicited um respect for those places. Yes, and you
Speaker 1: know what else we have unsolicited respect The best time
Speaker 1: of the week, the that's right, it's time for the
Speaker 1: best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
Speaker 1: born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off
Speaker 1: your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to
Speaker 1: not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bill Buffalo bills,
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: my frusal bill of the week is a hat bill.
Speaker 1: And that is because I find myself on this fruzil
Speaker 1: journey um not washing my hair as much, which doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that I'm disgusting. It just means that I typically
Speaker 1: wear a lot of hats and I'm a teacher first,
Speaker 1: But don't wear a hat there. But my second job,
Speaker 1: I worked at a bakery and I tend to wear
Speaker 1: a hat which covers up my nappy nappy hair. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I was just thinking about that the day and I figured, oh,
Speaker 1: this hat has a bill, so that could be my
Speaker 1: bill of the week. So I hope you enjoy that.
Speaker 1: I love your guys the show. Keep doing what you do. Girl.
Speaker 1: Yea amazing. That is creative only from a teacher. Would
Speaker 1: we get a hat bill? Yes? Ideal of the hat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you are mysterious because you didn't share your name
Speaker 1: with us, which I find even more interesting. So serious
Speaker 1: teacher baker, where hat whar? That's amazing though? How do
Speaker 1: you teach and work at a baby? That's some serious
Speaker 1: side shiffling right there. Whoever you are, ye, mystery teacher.
Speaker 1: We're definitely treat were hats all the time. If I
Speaker 1: had two jobs, started wearing hats more, um, and I
Speaker 1: have zero jobs. So you're girl, a human in your belly,
Speaker 1: that's that's work. Yeah, I do. I sit on my
Speaker 1: butt and I grow human and you will be more labor.
Speaker 1: Literally that's depressing. So if you have a bill that's
Speaker 1: exciting and mysterious maybe visit us at Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash bill to leave us your bill and
Speaker 1: make us interested. Surprise us. We're excited, you know what.
Speaker 1: We also like lightning around you. You get more scary
Speaker 1: every week. That's the goal. Thank you, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: We love hearing that we're meeting meeting our goals, and
Speaker 1: I'm want to affirm you you were meeting yours in
Speaker 1: your scary craziness. Yes, all right, So today's Lightning Round
Speaker 1: are four misguided tips for a frugal summer. And these
Speaker 1: are tips I found on every list of one hundred
Speaker 1: free things to do in the summer or one hundred
Speaker 1: frugal summer things, or every list that has too many
Speaker 1: things on it. Essentially, I got just flawing for some ideas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you look at them and you're like, probably not.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna we're gonna call him out today
Speaker 1: in the lightning Round. So are you ready for this? Friends?
Speaker 1: I'm ready for it, the lightning Round? So how can
Speaker 1: you be ready? But we're as ready as will ever be? Yes, okay.
Speaker 1: Number One, visit Orlando theme parks in late August and
Speaker 1: September for the cheapest tickets. This is true. This is
Speaker 1: not a lie. They're not lying about this. But it's
Speaker 1: also the least crowded. As someone who lived in Orlando
Speaker 1: for five years and who's lived in Florida her entire life,
Speaker 1: I can tell you there's a reason why those tickets
Speaker 1: are so cheap. It's because the average temperature is ninety degrees.
Speaker 1: There is little to no shade at Disney unless you're
Speaker 1: standing in line for a ride, which the lines are
Speaker 1: shorter in that time. It rains every single afternoon without fail.
Speaker 1: It rains every day like we're in a subtropical climate here.
Speaker 1: Humidity is on all day every day. Is that is
Speaker 1: that science? Er? Is that? Like? Like the weather according
Speaker 1: to that is a hundred That is true. Look in
Speaker 1: your weather app and I'll screenshot it next time I
Speaker 1: see it. But yes, humidity at a hundred percent all summer.
Speaker 1: And so unless you hate yourself, don't go to Orlando.
Speaker 1: Don't go to Disney World August and September. It's a
Speaker 1: good point because usually you know Disney for everybody who
Speaker 1: doesn't live in Florida, it's can be that once in
Speaker 1: a lifetime trip. So even if you are doing it
Speaker 1: for a bit less expensive to know what kind of
Speaker 1: vacation you're buying, Like, you're still spending a decent chunk
Speaker 1: of money on that thing, so you know, eyes wide
Speaker 1: open on that one, that that's what your vacation is
Speaker 1: going to be. Is somebody who does not live in
Speaker 1: Florida wrote that tip, I assure you. So. Number two
Speaker 1: on Jen's list of misguided tips for a frugal summer
Speaker 1: is look for a last minute deals, you know, because
Speaker 1: that's not stressful at all. So again, there is truth
Speaker 1: to this that you might find deals if you are
Speaker 1: willing to travel last minute, but it is also true
Speaker 1: that you might not. And so if you're banking on
Speaker 1: finding something last minute and intentionally waiting till the last minute,
Speaker 1: even though you have this chunk of time carved out
Speaker 1: for the last year, you might come up empty on
Speaker 1: finding something good. That, of course, is different from oh,
Speaker 1: I see that I have an opening in my weekend
Speaker 1: next weekend. Is there something I could do? Sure, try
Speaker 1: it out. But if you're banking on your yearly family
Speaker 1: vacation being a last minute deal, that's that's a slippery slope.
Speaker 1: Or even if you are not banking on it and
Speaker 1: you just find this really great last minute deal on
Speaker 1: like a fly or a hotel or a ticket, Like
Speaker 1: there's more that goes into a vacation than just one part.
Speaker 1: Like you might get a really good deal here, but
Speaker 1: you're going to pay for your savings some or else
Speaker 1: along the line point. Yeah, if you're trying to scrape
Speaker 1: it together last minute, then sometimes we can have blinders
Speaker 1: onto Okay, and how am I getting to the airport?
Speaker 1: What does transportation look like once I'm there? And what
Speaker 1: are the costs of food and restaurants in that area?
Speaker 1: And where am I saying? Like there there can be
Speaker 1: a whole slew of other things that are unforeseen that
Speaker 1: we're kind of just like, but it's such a good
Speaker 1: deal on the hotel or on the flight. Still, it's
Speaker 1: going to cost money, yes, yes, so especially if you're
Speaker 1: getting those autographed photographs. Right number three, somebody from Florida did,
Speaker 1: right this one. Go to the beach because everybody lives
Speaker 1: by the beach, so it should be really is not
Speaker 1: necessarily cheap, yeah right right, it's definitely not even free
Speaker 1: even for locals. Now, I mean, so you can, yes,
Speaker 1: going to the beach if you are near a beach,
Speaker 1: is a pretty frugal activity, or going to anybody of
Speaker 1: water is a is a pretty good frugal summer activity.
Speaker 1: But again pay attention to those like peripheral costs. You know,
Speaker 1: we live an hour and a half away from the beach,
Speaker 1: so yes, we could do that in a day, but
Speaker 1: how much does it cost to get there and get back?
Speaker 1: What are the tolls? There is parking? And is it
Speaker 1: only two hour parking? So then do you need to
Speaker 1: keep moving your car? Can you bring food onto the beach,
Speaker 1: which is the case a lot of the beaches around us.
Speaker 1: You can't bring food onto the beach. So then even
Speaker 1: an ability to pack a picnic is kind of like
Speaker 1: what's the points? Then you might be eating at a restaurant.
Speaker 1: It's just like, m this isn't as cheap as I
Speaker 1: thought it was going to be. Yeah, yeah, And last,
Speaker 1: but not least, work while you travel for free lodging,
Speaker 1: you know, because that's why you take a vacation, right
Speaker 1: just to like work in a different location, and so
Speaker 1: like that's a good idea, like and and it might
Speaker 1: provide you some change of scenery and some rest, but
Speaker 1: then that's not really a vacation anymore. Whether you're working
Speaker 1: from home, and you just you try to continue to
Speaker 1: work from home, but while on vacation or if you're
Speaker 1: and what are they suggesting doing wolfing like woffing, like
Speaker 1: working on organic farms, oh, and other things like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not quite It could be good for some people,
Speaker 1: but it's not like, oh, here's an alternative to arrestful vacation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're like trying to be a digital nomad and
Speaker 1: travel more, woffing and stuff like that is totally cool,
Speaker 1: but it's it should not be on your list of
Speaker 1: a hundred ways to save money on your summer vacation
Speaker 1: because working outside on a farm sounds horrible in the summer.
Speaker 1: And I know this because my father in law owns
Speaker 1: a farm in Florida. Oh gosh, it's horrible this summer.
Speaker 1: He closes up, he closes up shop in the summer,
Speaker 1: as most things in Florida. You guys hibernate in the winter,
Speaker 1: and we hibernate in the summer. Good to come up here.
Speaker 1: I know, still humid, it's still humid, but hey, it's
Speaker 1: not a hundred percent humidity, is it. Yeah? I doubt,
Speaker 1: I doubt we get that bad. I would love to
Speaker 1: know what the humidity is right now in early summer.
Speaker 1: M maybe I can find it. It's nineties. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: ninety six degrees. Feels like a hundred and three. Oh
Speaker 1: we're only ten right now? Yeah, sorry, Disney World right now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: right now would be a prime time. It would be
Speaker 1: a lot long lines, though. You know what we can do.
Speaker 1: We can wrap up this show by talking about the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends book Club. Yes, so it is June and
Speaker 1: we are reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport because it
Speaker 1: is the year of minimalism. You've minimized your stuff, you've
Speaker 1: minimized your other stuff, and now it's time to minimize
Speaker 1: your digital stuff. And Cal reports book is going to
Speaker 1: help us with that, which does come next, right, It's
Speaker 1: not necessarily the place you you would usually start with minimalism,
Speaker 1: but now that we've maricondoed our lives, this is definitely
Speaker 1: worth thinking about how to make our phones and computers
Speaker 1: less cluttered. So if you want to learn more about this,
Speaker 1: get challenged, engage with us on this book and our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends book Club. You can do that, and you
Speaker 1: can also have an opportunity to win yourself a free copy,
Speaker 1: and you do that by leaving us a review on
Speaker 1: iTunes or Stitcher. Then you would screenshot that review and
Speaker 1: email it to us. And so our email is Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Podcast at gmail dot com, and you will be
Speaker 1: entered to win this book, Digital Minimalism, and we will
Speaker 1: give away one buck for every five reviews. So chances
Speaker 1: are pretty good if you know anything about math, which
Speaker 1: I know a little bit about math, and I can say,
Speaker 1: you have a one in five chance of winning. So wow,
Speaker 1: And you're pregnant and you're doing that math right right,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna be doing even better math by the
Speaker 1: time this episode airs, because I'm gonna be so not pregnant. Fantastic.
Speaker 1: If you want an example of a helpful review that
Speaker 1: could get you to be one of those one in
Speaker 1: five winners, here's our review of the week. I love
Speaker 1: this one. It's from Melissa and it is a five
Speaker 1: star review. And that's not a but it's a pretty
Speaker 1: It looks pretty pretty over here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it has stumbled upon a good one. Started listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast a couple of weeks ago after I
Speaker 1: saw it on my mom's iTunes. Hey moms, I added
Speaker 1: that one clicked on it for fun and realized I
Speaker 1: know Jill from childhood. I love all the great tips
Speaker 1: and have started using them in my own life. I
Speaker 1: love that they talk about topics that I often wonder about,
Speaker 1: and they've already done some of the research for me.
Speaker 1: I told my husband Jacob that I've been listening to
Speaker 1: this podcast and he said, Jill literal. She used to
Speaker 1: be funny, I think, and I happily informed him she
Speaker 1: still is. Thanks. Thanks Melissa. I do know Melissa, and
Speaker 1: that's a fun one. We are happy to inform everyone
Speaker 1: Jill is still funny, but still funny, still maintained the
Speaker 1: humor despite the marriage, yes, or maybe because of the marriage.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Sorry, Eric, I love you. So that
Speaker 1: is our review of the week, and we would love
Speaker 1: to hear yours, especially if your long last friend of
Speaker 1: Jill or me. Maybe. So that's what we have for
Speaker 1: you guys today. Enjoy the rest of your day, have
Speaker 1: some frugal summer fun. Happy Summer Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Sirian. Oh wow, I look
Speaker 1: forward to not being ignant. Yeah, but then, but then
Speaker 1: you're going to be nursing. Oh that's probably just as
Speaker 1: hot that's gonna be. That's probably just worm. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: gonna need a fan, like literally right in there on
Speaker 1: the baby's face. I'm gonna have to get a battery
Speaker 1: powered one because or multiple plug in ones because I
Speaker 1: don't think one is going to cut it any for
Speaker 1: that Will Travis, lets you have the A C on?
Speaker 1: Oh we have you have to have the A C on.
Speaker 1: But still it's so hot outside. I mean we live
Speaker 1: like one floor below Hell and it's so hot, Like
Speaker 1: if you were to get on the elevator, it would
Speaker 1: be like, do you want level one to Hell or Florida?
Speaker 1: You know, I saw that it was a comic. I
Speaker 1: can't take credit for that joke. It was an actual
Speaker 1: tonic where these people were on an elevator and it
Speaker 1: opens up and the devil is like, oh, you want Florida?
Speaker 1: That's one floor down and I was like, yes, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: So it is dreadfully warm and our home, um, I
Speaker 1: mean even if you said it really cool, like our
Speaker 1: house is so old, it doesn't like get as cool
Speaker 1: as you said it. So we're working on it. We've
Speaker 1: got blackout shades and we've reinsulated. And we're doing some
Speaker 1: other things. You'll just lock yourself in one room that's insulated,
Speaker 1: like with some dry ice. Like this is where I'll
Speaker 1: be wallee nurse until the baby is weaned. Send my
Speaker 1: food here. Yes, and our ac is really old, so
Speaker 1: we're kind of just like toughing it out until it
Speaker 1: goes to put out. Well, you can always come here,
Speaker 1: come this way, look for it. I should, I should
Speaker 1: migrate north. We all just go up to Maine where
Speaker 1: the summers are amazing. Maine like no humidity, but like
Speaker 1: perfect weather. So crisp, bless them, bless them, except for
Speaker 1: their winners are awful. So you know you can't you
Speaker 1: can't have your cake and eat it too. But you
Speaker 1: can be nomadic and live in a trailer and get
Speaker 1: your and have your cake and eat it too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I do love cake. I like cheesecake cut