Speaker 1: Episode four, Entertaining and get Togethers on a Budget. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill o o o oh. Today is
Speaker 1: a party over at the Frugal Friends House your device.
Speaker 1: That's where we live in your ears. We're talking about
Speaker 1: parties and get togethers and how to do it affordably.
Speaker 1: Nothing I like more than get togethers and affordable Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great way to avoid spending money by just
Speaker 1: having people over to your house. So let's do it
Speaker 1: for as little money as possible. Let's show the people how. Jill. Well, first,
Speaker 1: I'm Jen, you I'm Jill, and we have sponsors for
Speaker 1: you today. Also brought to you by low key hangouts,
Speaker 1: the kind that you did in your college dorm rooms
Speaker 1: or in high school after class, hanging out wherever, no purpose,
Speaker 1: no expectations. You know what I'm talking about, lokey hangouts,
Speaker 1: getting back to our roots and making it cool to
Speaker 1: save money or just be broke. Yeah, but mostly intentional.
Speaker 1: Now that we're adults, thank you. When we were young,
Speaker 1: it was because we're broke. Now it's because we're intentional. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some of us might be broke. That's okay. You don't
Speaker 1: have to stay there, but you can. You can get
Speaker 1: someplace else with your finances with some low key hangouts.
Speaker 1: Broke something Dave Ramsey says, like pours a state of mind,
Speaker 1: and broke is just like a stop along the way
Speaker 1: or something. So you're just to stop along the way,
Speaker 1: like Black Friday is today, it's black fry Day, Black Friday,
Speaker 1: Happy Black Friday. So last year in episode thirty we
Speaker 1: talked about whether Black Friday is worth it, and you'll
Speaker 1: just have to listen to the episode to figure it out.
Speaker 1: We're not doing another one, and last year we also
Speaker 1: did some frugal holiday fun tips in episode thirty three
Speaker 1: and frugal gift ideas in episode thirty four, So we
Speaker 1: thought we are going to do one single holiday episode
Speaker 1: to wrap them all up, but also it can be
Speaker 1: used throughout the year that is entertaining on a budget.
Speaker 1: Everybody has been asking for this one, so I am
Speaker 1: so excited to get into it because it's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite topics to talk about. Yes, it's how we
Speaker 1: met and we hung out so much, and you had
Speaker 1: so many people over even in the midst of your
Speaker 1: debt payoffs. So you are especially speaking from a place
Speaker 1: of expertise in this area. You practice what you preach
Speaker 1: or may not be experts in many things, but in
Speaker 1: have fun we are, and so is Liz Names from
Speaker 1: Frugal Woods dot com, who we have had on the show,
Speaker 1: and she is our first article today. I read a
Speaker 1: bunch of different articles to get the right one for
Speaker 1: this episode, and the ones that you google the first
Speaker 1: couple are very bad. But I love everything Liz has
Speaker 1: to say in this one. What do you think, Jill, Yeah,
Speaker 1: great stuff. I like that she begins by saying to
Speaker 1: counter invitations or offers to go out to eat with
Speaker 1: offers to come over to your home, and making a
Speaker 1: point that usually when that's done, it's reciprocated. Now that's
Speaker 1: not a reason to do it, but to know that
Speaker 1: this can be get itself. An invitation can be get
Speaker 1: an invitation can be getting invitation and possibly start a
Speaker 1: revolution of people hosting in their homes. And she notes
Speaker 1: that particularly for people with kids, this is fantastic anyhow,
Speaker 1: because hopefully you can bring your kids along too, you
Speaker 1: are less likely to have to have a babysitter and
Speaker 1: it can be more relaxed. There's not as many expectations,
Speaker 1: you're not spending as much money. There's so many reasons
Speaker 1: to just have people over. And of course the big
Speaker 1: barrier is but how how do I entertain? How do
Speaker 1: I do this on a budget? And that's what we
Speaker 1: want to talk about. Yeah, so we're going to go
Speaker 1: through all of her tips. Um, there's not a lot,
Speaker 1: but the first one is to fix fine food and
Speaker 1: that can be done on a budget. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk about that a little later. But to feed your
Speaker 1: feed your friends, that is what is going to bring
Speaker 1: the people over, and you don't have to spend a
Speaker 1: lot to do it. So she suggests a few things. Um,
Speaker 1: for coca bread, any bread really honestly is super easy
Speaker 1: to make, especially if you have a kitchen aid mixer.
Speaker 1: If you've got one of those collecting da and you're
Speaker 1: not making bread, you are missing out. It's so cheap,
Speaker 1: so easy, homemade hummus. And then like big batch foods
Speaker 1: like chili chatta masala, or you can grill out if
Speaker 1: the weather is nice, so just get a bunch of
Speaker 1: chicken or have your friends pitch in and grill it
Speaker 1: all out. Yeah, and their recipe for hummus on here
Speaker 1: looks really good and as always we will link these
Speaker 1: articles in our show notes so you can check that out.
Speaker 1: Then she goes on to say number two, if you
Speaker 1: don't want to do dinner, if that still sounds like
Speaker 1: too much work, don't feel like when you have people
Speaker 1: over that you have to feed them a big meal.
Speaker 1: You could You could have people over for dessert. You
Speaker 1: can have people over for drinks. You could get together
Speaker 1: earlier in the day and just have tea or coffee.
Speaker 1: You can and coffee cake. You know, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be that I'm serving you this five course meal
Speaker 1: and I've got to get so stressed out, and I've
Speaker 1: got a plan and prep all these things ahead of time.
Speaker 1: But to center it more around the relationship and just
Speaker 1: being together rather than around what kinds of food you're serving,
Speaker 1: to take that pressure off. Loki hang. Yes. I love
Speaker 1: how that she specifically points out King Arthur Flower recipes
Speaker 1: the hit that spot in between complicated and she says banal,
Speaker 1: but like just super simple, I guess, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like pound cake, scones, brownie sugar cookies, like super cheap,
Speaker 1: easy things to make that will feed people, um, but
Speaker 1: don't cost a lot and can be made without a
Speaker 1: culinary degree. This next one is my favorite one to host,
Speaker 1: and if you come to my house we will probably
Speaker 1: do this. Uh it's hosted cheap wine tasting and I can't.
Speaker 1: I can get wine from al d where I live, Jill,
Speaker 1: I know it's harder for you. When I go to Ohio,
Speaker 1: I stock up. Yes, I love Aldi wine. I love
Speaker 1: Trader Joe's wine, and sometimes I will spring for like
Speaker 1: the five six dollar bottles. I don't know when I'm
Speaker 1: feeling really luxurious, but getting a bunch of different cheap
Speaker 1: wines or even liqueurs, those are not as reliable. But
Speaker 1: doing something that is perceived as expensive, but doing it
Speaker 1: with cheap ingredients can be really fun. And honestly I
Speaker 1: prefer it because I can get so much more wine
Speaker 1: from from It's so good. You could even make it fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just brainstorming here, I'm just spitballing over here,
Speaker 1: but you can't. You could make that fun where everybody
Speaker 1: brings their own cheap bottle of wine and make up
Speaker 1: all kinds of games. So the things that are coming
Speaker 1: to the top of my head would be how much
Speaker 1: did you think it cost? Like put set them all
Speaker 1: out and and make estimates based on the label or whatever,
Speaker 1: like what did you think that the person paid for it.
Speaker 1: Another thing that you could do is have each person
Speaker 1: present their bottle of wine with a story either made
Speaker 1: up or reel of like where the wine came from,
Speaker 1: the tasting nose, how you came across the bottle, why
Speaker 1: you chose it, all these things made up or true.
Speaker 1: Read the back of the label in a really funny accent.
Speaker 1: That would be perfect. This happened. I brought a bottle
Speaker 1: of wine and another friend did uh to like soup
Speaker 1: and bread the other night at somebody's house, and we
Speaker 1: were both trying to like sell our bottle of wine,
Speaker 1: like which one should we open first? And so we
Speaker 1: each kind of like gave our spiel for why they
Speaker 1: should open our bottle of wine. And it was so fun.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, oh, my word, if you had like
Speaker 1: a bunch of people come with a bottle of wine
Speaker 1: and try and convince everybody like open your spy or
Speaker 1: why you should if you want to go home with
Speaker 1: your bottle of line that night, and that's why you're
Speaker 1: the brains of the operation Ship. That's why, that's why
Speaker 1: you're the winner. I just find that making things just
Speaker 1: a little bit fun, just putting a little twist on
Speaker 1: things can make it seem like you've really done something
Speaker 1: with a gathering anyhow. Number four on this list is
Speaker 1: bring back board games. So having a night of playing
Speaker 1: games or board games with friends, with family, whoever, these
Speaker 1: can be a really fun way to bond. So if
Speaker 1: you've got board games sitting in your closet, pull them out.
Speaker 1: One that I love that actually doesn't require you to
Speaker 1: have a board game is balder Dash. Do you know
Speaker 1: what that is? So you can buy the game, but
Speaker 1: you can also do it without owning the game, just
Speaker 1: by going on Google and looking up weird titles or
Speaker 1: like I'm sorry, weird words, obscure words that most people
Speaker 1: would not know the definition for, and then everybody has
Speaker 1: to write out what they think the proper definition is,
Speaker 1: and then you vote on like who'se you think is right,
Speaker 1: and you assign points and that kind of thing super fun,
Speaker 1: especially at the holidays. You could, Yeah, it's a super
Speaker 1: fun game because people come up with all kinds of
Speaker 1: creative crazy and oftentimes the actual definition like nobody thinks
Speaker 1: is the real thing to some of these obscure English words.
Speaker 1: So we have a game that we play a lot.
Speaker 1: It's like three rounds and everybody calls it something different.
Speaker 1: It's one of those games. But the first round is
Speaker 1: you are, I think playing charades fish pop Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've heard that one. And then the second round you
Speaker 1: are I guess maybe the second round you're playing I
Speaker 1: don't remember, But the last one you you work up
Speaker 1: to it to where the last round you're only saying
Speaker 1: one word and your team has to guess the entire
Speaker 1: phrase based on one word. Yeah. So yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 1: you can look out fish bowl, you can look up
Speaker 1: balder Dash. Both those games are really fun with groups
Speaker 1: of people. Yeah. But also I was looking up some
Speaker 1: cheap Christmas gifts and I found a lot of highly
Speaker 1: rated like card games uh that are under ten dollars,
Speaker 1: so like similar to Cards against Humanity, but just like
Speaker 1: different versions from different makers, and they're super cheap and
Speaker 1: you can have a lot of fun with just you
Speaker 1: and your roommates or you and your spouse doing this
Speaker 1: stuff on a date night. Yeah that's great. So the
Speaker 1: fifth one is have a theme. So I love Christmas
Speaker 1: parties because I love pajama themed parties and I feel
Speaker 1: like Christmas pajamas. It's acceptable to do a pajama party
Speaker 1: at Christmas because everyone's at Christmas pajamas. Like, nobody wants
Speaker 1: to come to your pajama party in May. But I
Speaker 1: love pajamas. I've never been to a pajama party, have
Speaker 1: you not? No, you should party when you find up north,
Speaker 1: I guess, and I just want to be in sweatpants
Speaker 1: all the time. So a pajama party to me sounds
Speaker 1: like the best ever. It is fun. I will say too,
Speaker 1: if you are going to host a themed night, make
Speaker 1: it so that people don't have to go out and
Speaker 1: buy something specific for it. That you could dress up
Speaker 1: for this thing with what you have in your closet.
Speaker 1: Hosting things where people have to go out and buy
Speaker 1: clothing just for that event is not that's that's not
Speaker 1: my suggestion. Yeah, make it something super easy or just
Speaker 1: theme the food. So she has a TACKI Midwestern food night,
Speaker 1: and she says only people that have lived in the
Speaker 1: Midwest will understand this, which is true because I don't
Speaker 1: get it. But it sounds like Mexican food, like crispy
Speaker 1: shell beef tacos, cheese dip, corn chips, brownies. Okay, I
Speaker 1: guess that's not Mexican, but I don't know. Think about
Speaker 1: it sounds like normal food. I eat that on every Tuesday.
Speaker 1: It sounds sounds like dinner. Yeah, so yeah, I think
Speaker 1: of creative things that will make your friends laugh and
Speaker 1: they're more likely to come. That's great. And last, but
Speaker 1: not least, number six, play a pot luck. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you. Your hosting people are coming to your
Speaker 1: house and they're using your toilet paper, so absolutely have
Speaker 1: them bring a side or a dessert or drink. So true,
Speaker 1: they are using your toilet paper, they're flushing your toilet,
Speaker 1: they're drinking your water. The only average in the house
Speaker 1: your electric to help them see while they're in your home,
Speaker 1: I mean, they owe you, so the least they can
Speaker 1: do is bring something. Yeah, we do. We have a
Speaker 1: potluck multiple times a month at our friends place, and
Speaker 1: it's always really great. And I can look in my
Speaker 1: fridge and I don't have to assemble a full dinner.
Speaker 1: I can just say, like, what's one random thing that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get rid of that I really need
Speaker 1: to use, and then make that with a few ingredients.
Speaker 1: Like I had butter Scotch chips in my cupboard for like,
Speaker 1: what are those ever? Right there? Like butter butter Scotch
Speaker 1: chocolate chips but without chocolate. Needless to say, I haven't
Speaker 1: been able to find a use for them until uh,
Speaker 1: this month, I was like, holy cow, I could make
Speaker 1: like butter Scotch oatmeal cookies and bring those to the potluck.
Speaker 1: So you can really easily clear out your pantry by
Speaker 1: attending a polock. And sometimes I call them pantry parties
Speaker 1: where I tell everyone like, hey, don't buy anything, just
Speaker 1: brings something that you already have. Get creative. We've even
Speaker 1: done pot looks of like favorite childhood dishes or food
Speaker 1: that we had from childhood. I mean it was all
Speaker 1: kinds of random stuff. Somebody brought box mac and cheese,
Speaker 1: somebody else brought hot dogs, somebody else brought yaw. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna go healthy that night. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: can certainly get creative. You can theme it, it can
Speaker 1: be frugal, and you can have fun with people. And
Speaker 1: on that topic, our next article is from fun Cheaper
Speaker 1: Free dot com and it is how to feed a
Speaker 1: crowd on the cheap for your party, because usually it
Speaker 1: is the food that is the most expensive part, whether
Speaker 1: you are hosting or whether you are going to a party, um,
Speaker 1: because everybody wants to do something free, but then the
Speaker 1: person's like, hey, bring a dish, and you're like, I'm
Speaker 1: doing no spend month. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1: These are the things you need to plan for and
Speaker 1: ways to save money. So the first thing that she
Speaker 1: has on this list, um is to plan your menu.
Speaker 1: And obviously this is if you're hosting, but you need
Speaker 1: to figure out like how many people are attending and
Speaker 1: what time is it. Don't host during dinner time. If
Speaker 1: you don't want to serve dinner. You can end up
Speaker 1: with a lot of disappointed people like I got here
Speaker 1: at five thirty and this thing goes till nine, Like
Speaker 1: of course I'm expecting dinner, right, Yeah, people don't think
Speaker 1: about that. And I love how she puts down these
Speaker 1: times of what to serve and so the time and
Speaker 1: she goes all this girl can party all day apparently,
Speaker 1: but if you're hosting parties from seven am to nine thirty,
Speaker 1: you have to serve a full breakfast. If you're serving
Speaker 1: from ten to eleven, thirty just light snacks. From noon
Speaker 1: to one thirty, you must serve a full lunch. From
Speaker 1: two to four thirty, just lights snacks. If you're hosting
Speaker 1: any any time between five and seven thirty, you must
Speaker 1: prepare to serve a full dinner or to have your
Speaker 1: guests eat enough of your snacks that it will become
Speaker 1: their full dinner. And Jill and I know this from
Speaker 1: a recent party we attended together where dinner was not
Speaker 1: provided but snacks were. Oh, and you best believe we've
Speaker 1: build them on those snacks and was provided, yes, and
Speaker 1: then eight pm or later desserts or snacks. There is
Speaker 1: your rule of thumb on what you want to serve.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to go with some etiquette, that's a helpful,
Speaker 1: helpful rule of thumb. I also love what they say
Speaker 1: about variety being more equals less, so essentially saying that
Speaker 1: if you have a lot of different things, you don't
Speaker 1: have to have as much of each thing, but it
Speaker 1: can spread. So this is the idea with pot lux.
Speaker 1: But if you're not having people bring a bunch of stuff,
Speaker 1: you could do some of your more appetizer type snacky things.
Speaker 1: You know, you're a little bit of cheese and some
Speaker 1: crackers and a little bit of veggies and a little
Speaker 1: bit of susa and chips, and a little like a
Speaker 1: little bit of a little bit goes a long way.
Speaker 1: And this woman that writes this blog has six children
Speaker 1: and she is pregnant with twins. I just want to
Speaker 1: so she's about to have eight children, so she knows
Speaker 1: about feeding crowds. I just want to put that. I
Speaker 1: want you to filter all of your thoughts through that lens. Yes,
Speaker 1: and of course considering what what's the occasion, what's the
Speaker 1: time of year, and planning your menu around those type
Speaker 1: of things. And of course here we are the cheap
Speaker 1: party food ideas. Yes, I did love some of the
Speaker 1: things she listed, So as far as dinner goes, she
Speaker 1: lists potato bar barbecue, buy o meat barbecue. So love
Speaker 1: these anything that just requires a little bit, I think,
Speaker 1: I love I love charcouterie. I love cheeseboards for this reason.
Speaker 1: But this is such a fantastic idea because it is
Speaker 1: filling and it is frugal. So to purchase just a
Speaker 1: bunch of potatoes, bake them up, and this is where
Speaker 1: you could have everyone just bring aside or get your
Speaker 1: own it's not not a ton, right, We're talking sour
Speaker 1: cream and some cheese and maybe some chives and salt
Speaker 1: and pepper and potato bar done so easy, and if
Speaker 1: you are paleo sweet potato bar. Yeah, and then a
Speaker 1: b y o meat barbecue. We've done this a lot
Speaker 1: with friends. I think we talked about it in our
Speaker 1: summer episode where you know, I've got the grill, so
Speaker 1: bring whatever you want to throw on the grill, and
Speaker 1: we've got sides so that can save on the expensive
Speaker 1: portion if if you're providing or you want meat to
Speaker 1: not have to provide meat for everybody, but just hey,
Speaker 1: we've got some chips and some salad, bring your own meat.
Speaker 1: We've got the grill going. We'll throw it on when
Speaker 1: you get here. Kind of a thing. And that's a
Speaker 1: fantastic way to to do it as well. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love the idea of a pasta bar. So there's nothing
Speaker 1: cheaper than pasta. But sometimes it can feel tacky. But
Speaker 1: she has a display on the post where it's three
Speaker 1: different types of pastas. She's got a tomato sauce, a pesto,
Speaker 1: and a few different toppings and then just a pitcher
Speaker 1: of water like that's it. Oh and then she has
Speaker 1: a basil plant. That's a basil. Yeah, and so it's
Speaker 1: so cute, but it doesn't it maybe costs like less
Speaker 1: than ten dollars for this whole spread, and it's going
Speaker 1: to feed You're gonna have leftovers. Yeah, whoa. So she
Speaker 1: didn't even have people bring anything, She just provided all that.
Speaker 1: That's that's a picture worth looking at. Yeah, everyone says potluck, potluck,
Speaker 1: pot luck, but you can do other amazing things with
Speaker 1: just providing the food yourself. And if you provide the food,
Speaker 1: then you can say, hey, you bring the wine or
Speaker 1: the liquor or the beer, and then you can get
Speaker 1: the really expensive stuff covered by your friends that are
Speaker 1: still spending money. Yes, that's how you keep those friendships.
Speaker 1: So taco bar, salad bar, just think of all the bars.
Speaker 1: Also chili, and then some rice and some bread. Oh
Speaker 1: what a fantastic stretching meal that is. To those boxes
Speaker 1: of corn bread are like ten cents each. And I
Speaker 1: just throw in some halapenos and some Mexican shredded cheese
Speaker 1: and I could eat that cornbread all day. It's so good.
Speaker 1: And it costs like less than a dollar to make
Speaker 1: a huge batch. It's real great. Oh man, these brunch
Speaker 1: ideas make me want to have a party over brunch.
Speaker 1: I know, I never think about having a brunch party
Speaker 1: unless it's feel like a baby shower or something, but
Speaker 1: I it makes me want to have this spread that
Speaker 1: is this picture right now? My word? Yeah, well they
Speaker 1: talk about making your own parfaits, which is so fun. Yeah, yogurt, fruit, granola,
Speaker 1: and then that's just fun. This other picture, though, wof
Speaker 1: what is that that? This does not look frugal. There's bacon,
Speaker 1: there's salmon, there's bowls of peanut, butter, nutella, jams, jellies, avocado. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not frugal. Poutiful, Yeah, it is beautiful, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm looking at. But I like this waffle crepe or
Speaker 1: pancake bar. So pancake batter is so cheap to make.
Speaker 1: And you can have this, you know, get a twenty
Speaker 1: dollar griddle from Walmart and everyone can do their own
Speaker 1: pancakes because you want to do them one at a
Speaker 1: time anyway, So why don't have everybody do their own
Speaker 1: with their own toppings, And that is so fun. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to do that at brunch. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: eat pancakes anytime. That could be even a dinner thing
Speaker 1: or or a dessert like that's so fun, interactive, or
Speaker 1: even French toast super cheap breakfast, which is good stuff
Speaker 1: all right. And if you're not serving a dinner or
Speaker 1: a brunch, we have some snack party food ideas too.
Speaker 1: I love a dip party. I love a good dip.
Speaker 1: Everybody bring a dip and have a dip off. Who's
Speaker 1: got the best. I'll be a judge. Yep, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: all of the dips and then like different things like
Speaker 1: carrots and chips and peta and all the different things
Speaker 1: to put in it. Like those are just vessels for
Speaker 1: a good dip. Yeah, Like nobody cares about what you
Speaker 1: bring on the side, a vessel for the dip and
Speaker 1: finger foods. I think it'd be a fun idea to
Speaker 1: even have a bunch of people bring their frozen appetizers
Speaker 1: that you throw in the oven. Mm hmm. Can judge
Speaker 1: which is the best. None of this to have a
Speaker 1: double oven. None of it's healthy. You could do some
Speaker 1: veggies with your dip. We've been doing a lot of
Speaker 1: carrots and hummus to try and eat fewer carbs and
Speaker 1: sweet potatoes, snack boards. Again, like I said, that's charcoutery.
Speaker 1: We do charcouteri for dinner all the time. But you're
Speaker 1: talking crackers, cheese, some nuts, honey, allee what it's literally
Speaker 1: empty or fridge and put it on a board and
Speaker 1: it looks beautiful. Slice up an apple done, yes, and
Speaker 1: you can get it for so cheap at all. It's
Speaker 1: very it is. You can do the fantastic cheeseboard from
Speaker 1: all the great cheese is. Trader Joe's has fantastic cheeses
Speaker 1: as well. They're charcuterie is a little more pricey, but
Speaker 1: so good, so good. And then also throw in some
Speaker 1: some cashews, some almonds, like some of the healthy things.
Speaker 1: But you don't have to just eat them plain. You
Speaker 1: can really like roast them in the oven for a
Speaker 1: few minutes and it brings out this new side of
Speaker 1: the nut that you thought, oh, I don't like almonds.
Speaker 1: And then you have them roasted with just a little
Speaker 1: sea salt or maybe a little cinnamon or something, and
Speaker 1: you're like, I love almonds. Roast some garbonzo beans with
Speaker 1: some your favorite spices. That's so young to parties are
Speaker 1: a great way to try foods you otherwise wouldn't because
Speaker 1: if you don't like it, then there are other people
Speaker 1: there to eat it. You're not stuck with the whole thing,
Speaker 1: and it can help you eat healthier if because normally
Speaker 1: these things, these new things you're trying are healthy and
Speaker 1: you don't want to be on your own eating. That's
Speaker 1: like stuck eating all the healthy food. All this kale
Speaker 1: chips I try. Yeah, I mean if you you can
Speaker 1: eat kale chips for a night at a party, or
Speaker 1: you can make kale chips during the week and eat
Speaker 1: them all week and then hate kale more than you
Speaker 1: did when you started. Yes, so think about that when
Speaker 1: you're thinking about party food. Is try try to incorporate
Speaker 1: some healthy things that you've been wanting to try. But
Speaker 1: have it enough about healthy things. She's got some great
Speaker 1: ideas to dessert. So again, all the bars, ice cream,
Speaker 1: sandwich bar, brownie bar, builds your own Sunday bar, popcorn bar,
Speaker 1: some More's cookies. Girl, really means where I'm getting all
Speaker 1: the carbs now? You name it. If there's things that
Speaker 1: you can do with just a bunch of different types
Speaker 1: of toppings that can make it really fun and seem
Speaker 1: as though it's more elegant than maybe what the what
Speaker 1: the budget would show always fun, Yeah, because you can
Speaker 1: get the cheap ice creams and maybe transfer them to
Speaker 1: a new dish, print out a cute ice cream sandwich
Speaker 1: bar sign, and then just get some of the cheap
Speaker 1: cookies from the grocery store because you want harder cookies
Speaker 1: for well, you want like not the softest homemade nice
Speaker 1: cookies for a cookie ice cream cookie bar. You want
Speaker 1: you want them, you want them to have like a
Speaker 1: little substance, and yeah, and just throw them on a
Speaker 1: on a cute plate with labels and those are all
Speaker 1: super inexpensive and really cute. Yeah. And again at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, when you're planning these things, use
Speaker 1: what you have, plan your menu around sales. Don't go
Speaker 1: out and be so rigid that it had that you
Speaker 1: have to get. Provide a certain type of meal if
Speaker 1: that thing is super expensive. This is the opportunity we're
Speaker 1: buying in bulk can be really helpful. Maybe it's not
Speaker 1: helpful year round, just for you if you if you're
Speaker 1: in a small family, but if you're feeding a lot
Speaker 1: of people, then that's when you might want to check out, Hey,
Speaker 1: do you have any friends who have some memberships to
Speaker 1: these stores where you can buy a ton of buns
Speaker 1: for those hamburgers, or the big tubs of ice cream
Speaker 1: whatever it. Maybe buns for them hot dogs and hamburgers. Yes,
Speaker 1: and don't go crazy. At the end of the day.
Speaker 1: People go home hungry. They probably have food at home.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's be honest. They yeah, they're They're here
Speaker 1: to hang out with you, and eating is a great perk.
Speaker 1: But you're there to spend time together and hopefully you're
Speaker 1: going to be doing something besides eating, like playing a
Speaker 1: game or watching a movie, um or chatting. So just
Speaker 1: make sure the rest of the party is entertaining and
Speaker 1: your friends won't spend the whole time in the kitchen
Speaker 1: just silently eating all your food. Yes, take it from experience.
Speaker 1: And you know what else is entertaining? Something something I
Speaker 1: would talk about all day at every party. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That bill, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, This is the bill
Speaker 1: of the Week. Hi Jen and Jill. This is Jill
Speaker 1: from Dayton, Ohio. First, I have to say, Jill, I
Speaker 1: love your name and it works all great because Jen
Speaker 1: is also the name of my sister who is also
Speaker 1: my best friend. So hey, you guys have great names.
Speaker 1: I love it. So I wanted to give you my
Speaker 1: bill of the week, and it's actually reducing the cost
Speaker 1: on some of your bills that you may have to
Speaker 1: pay on a regular basis. So if you get your
Speaker 1: hair cut, get your oil changed in your car, or
Speaker 1: um have to get your dog groomed, go and visit
Speaker 1: your local vocational school. There are students there who are
Speaker 1: learning all of these trades who would love to practice
Speaker 1: on your hair, on changing the oil of your car,
Speaker 1: and grooming your dog. And it's usually it highly reduced rates.
Speaker 1: So go up and check out your local vocational school
Speaker 1: and um get great service. Help these students learn a
Speaker 1: trade and save a lot of money at the same time.
Speaker 1: So I love your guys podcast, Keep up the great
Speaker 1: work and have a great week. By Jill, I am
Speaker 1: so glad you called on so many levels. I love
Speaker 1: your name too. Wonder if your full name is Jillian
Speaker 1: mine is I also love my full name. Uh and
Speaker 1: that your best friend and sister is Jen. What what
Speaker 1: a match? Holy smokes. I love your tip is amazing.
Speaker 1: We were literally just talking about this before we started
Speaker 1: recording that Eric complimented Travis on his hair and I
Speaker 1: was like, it was three dollars. He got it done
Speaker 1: at the hair school. Well before you said that, I
Speaker 1: was like, three dollars. What kind of weird arrangement was?
Speaker 1: That's like, there's no way that you went to an
Speaker 1: actual salon and only paid them three dollars. But there's
Speaker 1: also no way that you have a friend who cuts
Speaker 1: hair that you only pay three dollars, Like it'd be
Speaker 1: better to just do it for free. And then you
Speaker 1: said vocational school. It's like, there it is. There's the
Speaker 1: thing I'm missing. He went and did it at a
Speaker 1: local vocational school. But what a good thought. Even on cars,
Speaker 1: I did not think about that. I usually think about
Speaker 1: hair or massage, but yeah, pet grooming, and I've done
Speaker 1: massages at the massage school over here, and it's it's
Speaker 1: so good. I it's so inexpensive and you really just
Speaker 1: need somebody to dig down into your muscles. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's such a steal. So you just need someone to
Speaker 1: do what your spouse isn't actually willing to do. They
Speaker 1: don't need to be that true parent. Yeah, yes, just
Speaker 1: need to be willing to do it for longer than
Speaker 1: thirty seconds. Yes, way to read, Yes, way to read
Speaker 1: my mind. Oh, Jill, thank you so much. If you
Speaker 1: have a frugal tip to save on our bills, please
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill and leave
Speaker 1: us a message on our Google voicemail or a speak pipe.
Speaker 1: We love hearing your tips and we sometimes learn things
Speaker 1: from them. It's great sometimes sometimes well not every time, Jill. Well,
Speaker 1: we either learn something or we think it's heartwarming, or
Speaker 1: we think that we are always one of those categories.
Speaker 1: We're all three and next, Oh, that's so scary. It's
Speaker 1: Black Friday. So it's a dark episode, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you I'm gonna let us say. You're gonna let
Speaker 1: me have it out right now, I'm gonna let you keep,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you finish. I'm gonna let you finish. Thanks.
Speaker 1: But but the other Lightning rounds are just equally scary.
Speaker 1: It's fine. So in today's episode of the Lightning Round,
Speaker 1: we are going to share our favorite reasons to throw
Speaker 1: a party or get together, and we we want you
Speaker 1: to be prepared with any opportunity you can two avoid
Speaker 1: going to the bar or restaurant and save your money.
Speaker 1: So what you got, Jen, So, my favorite reason to
Speaker 1: throw a party is the weather doesn't suck. In Florida,
Speaker 1: we have summer for nine months out of the year,
Speaker 1: and so when the weather doesn't suck, you want to
Speaker 1: have people over to be outside to enjoy the patio.
Speaker 1: And then you've got that one month a year where
Speaker 1: it's too it's sixty degrees as it's too cold to
Speaker 1: be there. But those like other two months, we are
Speaker 1: outside every weekend at a party without fail. Perfect. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite reasons is it's Tuesday. Mm hmm. So
Speaker 1: if it's a Tuesday, I want to have a party.
Speaker 1: What do you do on Tuesdays? It's just the day
Speaker 1: after Monday, in the day before Wednesday. So why not?
Speaker 1: Oh yes, because Monday's are the worst and Wednesdays are
Speaker 1: hump days. So but you know what, I'd love to
Speaker 1: have a party on Monday too. That's a good reason
Speaker 1: to have a party because Monday comes after Sunday. Yes,
Speaker 1: one of our favorite get togethers is actually hosted by
Speaker 1: the running store near our house, and they do Monday
Speaker 1: group runs, and to me, that's a party because sometimes
Speaker 1: they'll do like they'll give you free gels or beer
Speaker 1: or you know, popsicles after your run, and it's a
Speaker 1: fun way to work out with other people. And so, yes,
Speaker 1: that is my kind of Monday party. Yes, Tuesday or
Speaker 1: Monday or Monday or any other day of the week,
Speaker 1: that's a good reason. Another one of my favorite reasons
Speaker 1: to throw a party is that when my friend has
Speaker 1: a board game or a card game I haven't played yet,
Speaker 1: that is. Yes, we love playing games, and so we'll
Speaker 1: talk about these games to other people and they'll be like, oh,
Speaker 1: we should come over and play that, and we'll be like,
Speaker 1: we don't own it. Like we go to other people's
Speaker 1: houses and play these games. You can buy it, though,
Speaker 1: and I'll come to your house and play it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's not that I'm cheap, but I just make it
Speaker 1: a point to say, hey, that game looks so cool,
Speaker 1: let's play it, and then we play it. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's not being cheap. I don't want it to
Speaker 1: sound like I'm mooching off of other games. I do
Speaker 1: have some games, but everybody always I mean Game ofvers
Speaker 1: just have cool games and I can't buy them all.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I make it a point to ask. There
Speaker 1: you go. Ah, here's another good reason to have a party.
Speaker 1: Your place is finally decorated. M that's fun. Have people over.
Speaker 1: We just got a new space for our office and
Speaker 1: Eric's music studio, and it's a great reason to have
Speaker 1: people over to come check it out, you know, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday. Yes, yes, have party to warm the
Speaker 1: office and food. Food is always a good reason to
Speaker 1: have a party. Just if you want to eat dinner
Speaker 1: that night, you could have a party around it. In
Speaker 1: the end, you don't have to plan frugal get togethers.
Speaker 1: I know, planning is a big tip if you're going
Speaker 1: to have a big party. But the point is to
Speaker 1: fellowship with people, be in community, maintain friendships, and you
Speaker 1: can easily do that by just inviting people to your
Speaker 1: home and having conversations with them. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: Your home is not big enough to have people over
Speaker 1: like ours, especially before we got this new space. Offer
Speaker 1: to go to them and bring food to them. They're
Speaker 1: so likely to say yes. Who wouldn't be right? Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, so true. So we hope that we have
Speaker 1: inspired you given you some ideas to you have more
Speaker 1: get togethers. Don't be embarrassed or nervous about the way
Speaker 1: your house looks your friends, your real friends won't care.
Speaker 1: They just want to spend time with you, So figure
Speaker 1: out some fun ways to them a party and get
Speaker 1: a group text going, get a Facebook event, invite, um
Speaker 1: emails some invites. Those are really cute. But do what
Speaker 1: you have to do. Get people over to your house,
Speaker 1: and don't isolate yourself just to be frugal. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: but if you do choose to stay alone, you can
Speaker 1: read our book club book like Transitions. Thank you. If
Speaker 1: you want to be a recluse, you can read uh.
Speaker 1: This month we are reading I Will Teach You to
Speaker 1: Be Rich by Ramit Setti for our book club. It
Speaker 1: is such a good one. I read it over the
Speaker 1: summer and I'm still thinking about it. M hmm. That's
Speaker 1: so great. We saw him at or he spoke at
Speaker 1: Fincon too, which was a treat. If you want a
Speaker 1: free copy of this book, leave us a review on iTunes, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: screenshot the review and send it over to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Podcasts at gmail dot com. We pick one winner for
Speaker 1: every five reviews that are sent to us, and then
Speaker 1: we'll select the winner at the end of the month
Speaker 1: and send you your free book. And if you want
Speaker 1: to know an example of a helpful review, here's our
Speaker 1: review of the week. It is five stars from Liz
Speaker 1: pat eight and it is titled Relatable Reasonable a Riot.
Speaker 1: Oh you know I love a Literations. You know I
Speaker 1: love it. I look forward to my weekly date with
Speaker 1: these ladies. Their advice is practical and inspiring no matter
Speaker 1: what your financial circumstances. I appreciate that they're honest about
Speaker 1: the things they value and willingly spend money on. It's
Speaker 1: great to hear a balance take on budgets in real life.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jenn and Jill. You are welcome, Liz Patty.
Speaker 1: As long as there's people in the world like you
Speaker 1: writing fantastic reviews like that, will keep coming at you.
Speaker 1: See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and
Speaker 1: mixed by Eric Syria. So we had a little uh
Speaker 1: a kerfuffle um yeah in our in our Facebook group
Speaker 1: and our reviews, and I just wanted to clear the air. Okay,
Speaker 1: So it's been a little it's been a little cloudy
Speaker 1: on whether we are advocating frugality or cheapness. Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we had a review um saying that we were
Speaker 1: falling on the cheap side, because early on we say
Speaker 1: every week like, be frugal, not cheap, and people got
Speaker 1: the message. Goodness gracious. But so here's my definition of
Speaker 1: frugal versus cheap and let me know if you're with
Speaker 1: me on this, Jill. So, cheap is anything that inconveniences
Speaker 1: you or is bad for the environment or community. Um,
Speaker 1: that includes illegal stuff. And then frugality is anything that
Speaker 1: serves you financially, that makes your life easier or the
Speaker 1: e value. So that leaves a lot of room open
Speaker 1: for interpretation, like what is cheap for me could be
Speaker 1: frugal for you, because what is inconvenient for me could
Speaker 1: not phase you in the slightest weight. Cheap being what's inconvenient.
Speaker 1: Help me understand that. So so something like, um, we
Speaker 1: use and I'll admit this openly, we use the Netflix
Speaker 1: account of my best friend and that is cheap to
Speaker 1: some people, but for yeah, it doesn't phase either of
Speaker 1: us in the slightest. We have offered to let her
Speaker 1: use our Hulu account, but she gets it from somewhere else, um,
Speaker 1: so she doesn't need it. So it's a synergistic relationship.
Speaker 1: And to us that is frugal, but other people are
Speaker 1: morally opposed to it, and that is totally fine. We
Speaker 1: don't know. That's why we don't. That's that would never
Speaker 1: be a suggestion I would make on the show, like
Speaker 1: use other people's accounts, So sure, yeah, yeah. I where
Speaker 1: I draw the line with cheap is if it takes
Speaker 1: advantage of people. Yeah, I mean that's kind of my
Speaker 1: my most baseline definition of cheap. So where you could
Speaker 1: do something yourself or pay something, or you are saving
Speaker 1: a buck, but it's causing somebody else to have to
Speaker 1: spend money again where they're not willing to do it
Speaker 1: or or unbeknownst to them, or like this sounds like
Speaker 1: an agreement between you and friends with the Netflix things.
Speaker 1: You could fall in your own camp of whether just
Speaker 1: like ethically, you think you should be doing that. Granted
Speaker 1: Netflix knows about it, there's not like there's like that
Speaker 1: that's not hidden. That is public knowledge that you are
Speaker 1: allowed multiple users on a on an account and it
Speaker 1: gets shared. So but I get it that people are
Speaker 1: going to fall where you're going to fall. But like
Speaker 1: if I were to in order for me to save
Speaker 1: money on something, I asked somebody, let's say I need
Speaker 1: my wall painted, and I asked my friend who is
Speaker 1: a professional painter, to come and paint my wall on
Speaker 1: Monday afternoon so that I could save money. But yet
Speaker 1: he's got to take off work to come do it.
Speaker 1: Like that's cheap, that's taking advantage of somebody. Granted they
Speaker 1: have choice in whether or not they're going to do that,
Speaker 1: but but the fact that you think to ask that
Speaker 1: and think it would be okay to ask that is
Speaker 1: a cheap mindset. And yeah, I had a friend who's
Speaker 1: um part of a referral program for a financial um
Speaker 1: guru and said he he's a real estate agent. He's like,
Speaker 1: I left this referral program because all the clients this
Speaker 1: person sent me want the world and want to pay
Speaker 1: nothing for it. And and that's cheap. And we are
Speaker 1: frugal so that we can pay people a living wage
Speaker 1: and help others. We are frugal so that we have
Speaker 1: the money to help others. And and that is a
Speaker 1: big reason that I love frugality, but yeah, I'm sure
Speaker 1: that some of what I would call my frugal practices
Speaker 1: would borderline what somebody else would think is cheap, like
Speaker 1: reusing a zip block bag to me, like that's cheap,
Speaker 1: Like just just get something else, or get something that's
Speaker 1: actually reusable than this thing. Uh, but you know me
Speaker 1: cutting over open toothpaste to get the last little bit out.
Speaker 1: So I think it is just frugal and resourceful, But
Speaker 1: somebody else might be like, that's cheap. You're gonna get
Speaker 1: one more toothbrushing session out of that, just throw the
Speaker 1: thing away, So it is it is very relative. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I guess we can claim frugal not cheap, but
Speaker 1: absolutely that's going to be different for everybody for sure.
Speaker 1: And I we are We're in our face but group
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends community every day and we monitor it.
Speaker 1: We make sure that spammy things you never see them,
Speaker 1: to the best of our ability, but we leave most
Speaker 1: things up because even if it's something that we don't
Speaker 1: do a we love learning from you guys, and we
Speaker 1: want other people to be able to search the group
Speaker 1: and learn from your experiences too. So if you're not
Speaker 1: part of our Frugal Friends community. We would love you
Speaker 1: to join um, but know that there are going to
Speaker 1: be a wealth of opinions and strategies and methods to
Speaker 1: doing frugality. We all have to be chilling the chat.
Speaker 1: That's the rule. There are differences, which is fantastic because
Speaker 1: we express our frugality and all kinds of different ways. Yes,
Speaker 1: so if you want to chill with us in the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends community, head over to Frugal Friends podcast, dot com,
Speaker 1: slash group and and hang out with us and learn
Speaker 1: from each other and be open minded with us. That's
Speaker 1: a rap, that's a rab.