Speaker 1: Episode three point thirty four Frugal Friends Book Club for
Speaker 1: money psychology books to read this fall.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen
Speaker 2: and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill, and today we have four more books
Speaker 1: for you to read, all under the theme of psychology,
Speaker 1: and some are money psychology summer psychology that can relate
Speaker 1: to money. But I think you're going to enjoy all four.
Speaker 3: You don't have to read them all. Pick the one
Speaker 3: that makes the most sense for you in this season
Speaker 3: if you want to, I mean fall.
Speaker 1: But they were scientifically chosen long so true you might
Speaker 1: want to read them all because science.
Speaker 3: We have a scientific process that works every time for
Speaker 3: these book recommendations that we will tell you about. But first,
Speaker 3: this episode is brought to you by shortcuts, like watching
Speaker 3: the movie instead of reading the book. It's always better
Speaker 3: that way, don't you dare once start me for that,
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Speaker 1: All right, okay, book club. We have done a book
Speaker 1: club since the very first episode of the show. It's
Speaker 1: gone through several iterations and since last year we have
Speaker 1: done three times a year. We will just talk about
Speaker 1: four different books that you can read in the upcoming season,
Speaker 1: and that has worked really well. You can see all
Speaker 1: of our past book recommendations at frugalfriendspodcast dot com slash books.
Speaker 1: You can also just listen to the episodes. They're all
Speaker 1: on that page. One for Fall last year was episode
Speaker 1: two thirty five, and they have typically just been personal
Speaker 1: finance books, but we wanted to theme this one as
Speaker 1: money psychology books, just to do something a little bit different,
Speaker 1: and I kind of like it. I think we might
Speaker 1: keep up with the theme thing. We will see in
Speaker 1: four months what happens. But we have an ultra scientific
Speaker 1: method for choosing the four books every episode. If you
Speaker 1: are an avid listener of the show, you know this
Speaker 1: scientific method. If you are new, welcome, you're about to
Speaker 1: find out the scientific method this is it. We have
Speaker 1: something old er than five years, a book that's new
Speaker 1: er than one year, something borrowed from our listeners, a recommendation,
Speaker 1: and something blue with a blue cover or blue on
Speaker 1: the cover. That is the scientific method we choose for
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends book Club books. They must fit those specifications.
Speaker 3: Yes, and if they don't, they don't make it on
Speaker 3: this list. Yeah, and then they don't and we don't
Speaker 3: get married, not successfully anyway.
Speaker 1: No, that would be a probably a book lover's dream.
Speaker 1: Somebody will probably do this, I hope. Please let us
Speaker 1: know if you do. All right, So let's dive in
Speaker 1: first book something older than five years, this one. I
Speaker 1: can't believe that this is the first time that we
Speaker 1: are putting this on the list, but it deserves a
Speaker 1: permanent spot in the book club. And it is the
Speaker 1: one thing by Gary Keller. If you listen to our
Speaker 1: prioritization episode last week, then you got kind of a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the gist of this book. So the
Speaker 1: one thing by Gary Keller and j pompa is on
Speaker 1: is based on the I think they call it the
Speaker 1: refining question, but it is what is one thing that
Speaker 1: I can do now that makes everything else easier or
Speaker 1: a necessary leader. And this is a business book, so
Speaker 1: if you want to succeed in your career more quickly,
Speaker 1: I guess, or if you have a business and you
Speaker 1: want things to be streamlined in it, this is going
Speaker 1: to be tailored to you. But the ideas are applicable
Speaker 1: in your personal life as well. So whatever goal you're
Speaker 1: trying to reach can really be reached faster if you
Speaker 1: focus on one goal at a time. I'll read part
Speaker 1: of the description from Amazon because I think it does
Speaker 1: a really great job of selling the book. The daily
Speaker 1: barrage of emails, texts, tweets, messages and meetings distract you
Speaker 1: and stress you out. The simultaneous demands of work and
Speaker 1: family are taking a toll. And what's the cost second rate? Work, missedeadlines,
Speaker 1: smaller paychecks, fewer promotions, and lots of stress. And you
Speaker 1: want more. You want more productivity from your work, more
Speaker 1: income for a better lifestyle. You want more satisfaction from
Speaker 1: life and more time for yourself, your family, your friends.
Speaker 1: Now you can have both less and more. What a
Speaker 1: radical middle moment.
Speaker 4: I love.
Speaker 1: In the one thing, you'll learn to cut through the
Speaker 1: clutter achieve better results. In less time, build momentum towards
Speaker 1: your goal, dial down the stress, and overcome that overwhelmed feeling.
Speaker 1: So we talked a lot about the refining question in
Speaker 1: our prioritization episode last week. But this book also goes
Speaker 1: into strategies. Once you have decided on your goal and
Speaker 1: that priority, it goes into how to strategize, And honestly,
Speaker 1: it might take a couple reads to fully understand, but
Speaker 1: maybe you're smarter than me. It takes me a couple
Speaker 1: reads to really understand. It's simple, but it's also complex.
Speaker 1: I think my only criticism of the book is that
Speaker 1: maybe they overcomplicate the concept of goals are great, but
Speaker 1: you need strategies to achieve your goals. Goals are kind
Speaker 1: of like out there floating around dreams, and strategies are
Speaker 1: things you are in control of. So like you can
Speaker 1: say I have a goal to make six figures this year,
Speaker 1: the strategies are and this is like straight from the book,
Speaker 1: is like I have the control over how many sales
Speaker 1: calls I make in a day. So if I want
Speaker 1: to make this much money, I have to sell this
Speaker 1: much in a year, and I will make this many sales.
Speaker 1: I convert it five percent, So this is how many
Speaker 1: calls I have to make per year, per month, per
Speaker 1: day sort of thing. So reverse engineering and creating strategies
Speaker 1: to get to your goals, that's really where this book shines.
Speaker 1: And yes it talks it's about work, but it teaches
Speaker 1: you how to put it in to your life and
Speaker 1: specifically your finances too. They do talk about your financial life.
Speaker 3: Did you listen to the audio version of this? Do
Speaker 3: you think that that's a reasonable way to move through
Speaker 3: this book? I?
Speaker 1: You know what, I listened to so many audiobooks. This
Speaker 1: is not one of the audiobooks I've listened to. I
Speaker 1: should listen to the audio version. Yeah, it was before
Speaker 1: I got into audiobooks. Nice, yeah, yeah yeah. Once I
Speaker 1: started getting into audiobooks, I stopped reading with my eyes.
Speaker 3: I would say this one just needs to be recommended
Speaker 3: because you'll understand Jen a lot more and the references
Speaker 3: she makes this book by reading it.
Speaker 1: Probably, but I.
Speaker 3: Think that this is something we could all use assistance with.
Speaker 3: It came for more to our attention in the prioritization
Speaker 3: episode that we just did. How important it is to
Speaker 3: even be able to identify what is our one thing
Speaker 3: and that doesn't come naturally to all of us. We
Speaker 3: do need a bit of a guide in that process
Speaker 3: to get better at prioritizing and then to be able
Speaker 3: to solely focus on that one thing. Oh yeah, and
Speaker 3: that one has a yellow cover, which is fun. Yes, okay.
Speaker 3: The next book in our scientifically proven method is something
Speaker 3: new or than one year, and this one is Mind
Speaker 3: your Money Insightful Stories and Strategies to help you reach
Speaker 3: your hashtag money goals by Janelli Espinel, and it goes
Speaker 3: through looking at your money, how to identify money goals
Speaker 3: and get after them by storytelling. So I'll just read
Speaker 3: a bit of the description. Most books about money are boring,
Speaker 3: they say in their description. I'm probably going to agree.
Speaker 3: Our brains crave stories, not seminars. Mind your Money delivers
Speaker 3: all the personal finance basics through insightful stories with a
Speaker 3: splash of SaaS. I do love me some alliteration and SaaS.
Speaker 3: Janelli knows how to make things easy to understand, which
Speaker 3: has earned her millions of views on YouTube. At miss
Speaker 3: be helpful. Whether you're frustrated with your budget, dealing with debt,
Speaker 3: or struggling to raise that credit score, this book will
Speaker 3: motivate and inspire you to finally reach your hashtag money goals.
Speaker 3: She happens to already have five star reviews on eighty
Speaker 3: one reviews, which is pretty great on Amazon so far.
Speaker 3: So again, it's newer than one year. I always feel
Speaker 3: the need, just out of integrity to say that I
Speaker 3: have not read all of these books on our list.
Speaker 3: This is more of those aspirational goals, and especially one
Speaker 3: that's very new. More so, this here's what we're putting,
Speaker 3: or at least for me, putting on my list of interests.
Speaker 3: And I am very drawn to stories. I mean, it
Speaker 3: kind of explains why I went into the mental health field.
Speaker 3: And so for those of us who want to be
Speaker 3: that person who will sit down and read a cerebral
Speaker 3: book about money and math but just won't and you
Speaker 3: know you won't, here's the one to pick up. It's
Speaker 3: going to help us under stand math and money through
Speaker 3: some storytelling, through some humor, through some laughter, and that
Speaker 3: I can totally get on board with. I want to
Speaker 3: hear it from the lens of other people's experiences. I
Speaker 3: personally do find motivation that way. So I'm excited about
Speaker 3: this one.
Speaker 1: Yes, I got to see her speak at fin con
Speaker 1: last year, and she has so much energy, like not
Speaker 1: in the over energy sort of way. I love her energy.
Speaker 1: And she is Brooklyn Born. She was an elementary school teacher,
Speaker 1: so she's got teaching at her heart. If you're familiar
Speaker 1: with Brooklyn Born Latinas, she is your girl. She's another
Speaker 1: person of color and personal finance that's making personal finance
Speaker 1: more accessible. And I love the fact that this is
Speaker 1: a story based book, because yeah, that is one of
Speaker 1: the reasons people like so many personal finance books are
Speaker 1: the same literally down to the chapters. There's a money
Speaker 1: mindset chapter, there's a saving chapter, there's a debt chapter, investing,
Speaker 1: they're all the same. But the fact that this is
Speaker 1: really story based was why we added it to the list.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I just loved, you know, the's energy
Speaker 1: and she does a lot of outreach for the younger generation.
Speaker 1: She's the director of educational Outreach for Next Gen Personal Finance,
Speaker 1: which is a nonprofit that is in Congress making sure
Speaker 1: every high school student gets a full semester of personal
Speaker 1: finance education, making it required by law in every state.
Speaker 1: That is her work that she does, and so I
Speaker 1: am obsessed with that. I love that, and so if anything,
Speaker 1: go buy the book to support her. But I think
Speaker 1: you'll also find that it is not like any other
Speaker 1: personal finance book that you do not have this personal
Speaker 1: finance book on your shelf anywhere.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: Now something borrowed from our listeners. We will do an
Speaker 1: occasional poll on Instagram, like what are you reading or
Speaker 1: what have you read? What should we be reading? And
Speaker 1: a lot have you said in our last poll that
Speaker 1: we should be reading The Psychology of Money Timeless Lessons
Speaker 1: on Wealth, Greed and Happiness by Morganheusel. This is by
Speaker 1: far one of the most popular personal finance books on
Speaker 1: the market, and it's not even five years old. Like
Speaker 1: I couldn't even put it in the something old category
Speaker 1: if I wanted to, but it was something that people
Speaker 1: have recommended time and time again. So it's based on Morganheusel,
Speaker 1: financial journalist wrote this piece. I think it was on Forbes,
Speaker 1: but it was a viral piece on the psychology of money.
Speaker 1: It was a article, and so he has turned that
Speaker 1: article into a full book and the article. Honestly, if
Speaker 1: you don't have time for another book, I think the
Speaker 1: article is required reading. We will put the link to
Speaker 1: the article in the show notes, but this is nineteen
Speaker 1: short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money
Speaker 1: and teaches you how to make better sense of your life.
Speaker 1: So it's really personal finance as math versus personal finance
Speaker 1: as behavior and feeling. And it's crazy to think that
Speaker 1: people still think personal finance is math, like people think
Speaker 1: the best way to do personal finance is the mathiest way,
Speaker 1: when literally every study that's ever been done has created
Speaker 1: the field of behavioral finance and it is still one
Speaker 1: of the most popular financial fields for people to go into.
Speaker 1: So this book, honestly, I did read it, and while
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just me, I really think
Speaker 1: that you could just do with the article again, we'll
Speaker 1: put the link to it, but so many people love it,
Speaker 1: and it's got forty thousand ratings, so many people recommended
Speaker 1: that I definitely wanted to put it out there. So
Speaker 1: if you read the article and you want more, read
Speaker 1: that book. It's definitely going to be for free in
Speaker 1: the library. Well definitely going to be there.
Speaker 3: And thank you for our listeners, because this truly does
Speaker 3: feel like something that should be on our list. It's
Speaker 3: so congruent with the messaging that we have that it's
Speaker 3: not just this static in a vacuum, do this, this,
Speaker 3: and that. I mean, we can talk about finance as
Speaker 3: it relates to every single other aspect of our personhood
Speaker 3: and understanding the ways in which the biggest, most important
Speaker 3: part of our body, our brains, plays into the way
Speaker 3: that we approach money, the behaviors around it, the habit formation,
Speaker 3: and how understanding our minds and behaviors is an integral
Speaker 3: piece to making and seeing real change with our finances.
Speaker 3: That the two can't go hand in hand, they can't
Speaker 3: be separated. I can't help but wonder for you, Jen
Speaker 3: if the article felt more like, oh, just read the
Speaker 3: article over the book. Because we've been talking about something
Speaker 3: very similar for five years, like where we feel a redundancy.
Speaker 3: We'll sometimes think, oh, then I don't need that, But
Speaker 3: that's not everybody's circumstances. Sometimes we need that kind of
Speaker 3: crash course additional information to really understand it. Versus you've
Speaker 3: invested six seven years in two really understanding integration of
Speaker 3: our mind with money. So it's probably a personal preference thing.
Speaker 1: Yes, part of me does think that that's it, but
Speaker 1: you would think after seven years of studying something I
Speaker 1: would think that a book would be warranted for it
Speaker 1: versus just an article, especially after said writer gets a
Speaker 1: book deal.
Speaker 3: Hopefully it can be said and it requires again, Yeah,
Speaker 3: well take a look. Let us know what you think.
Speaker 3: But I am glad it's on our list. I do
Speaker 3: think it should be on our list. And thank you listeners. Okay.
Speaker 3: The final tried and true category. This one is a stretch.
Speaker 3: Not gonna lie if you look up this book. But
Speaker 3: here you go, something blue?
Speaker 1: How is it?
Speaker 3: Something blue? Set boundaries? Fine piece. A Guide to Reclaiming
Speaker 3: Yourself by Nedra Glover to WAB And the reason I
Speaker 3: say it's a stretch is because there is one blue
Speaker 3: square on the cover of this book.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's It is also four colored squares, yellow salmon,
Speaker 1: and one of them is blue.
Speaker 3: Teal, white, okay, and blue, a little bit of blue.
Speaker 1: It's just it's got to have blue on it. Yes,
Speaker 1: we've amended the requirements.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a slight stretch here because it's not primarily talking
Speaker 3: about finances, which I love, I am here for, but
Speaker 3: this one is primarily about setting boundaries and how do
Speaker 3: we do that in order to achieve this kind of
Speaker 3: lifestyle that's going to be most beneficial for us. How
Speaker 3: do we cope with maybe even toxic people in our lives.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we're able to get away from them, sometimes we're not.
Speaker 3: And we need to know very strong boundaries and how
Speaker 3: to implement how to enjoy rewarding relationships with our partners, friends, family,
Speaker 3: What healthy boundaries even mean? How can we say no?
Speaker 3: How can we be assertive without offending people? So the
Speaker 3: author Nedra is a licensed counselor and sought after relationship expert.
Speaker 3: Now I'm reading from the Amazon description and one of
Speaker 3: the most influential therapists on Instagram, so you may know
Speaker 3: her from social media. She demystifies this complex topic for
Speaker 3: today's world in a relatable and inclusive tone. Set Boundaries
Speaker 3: Find Peace presents simple yet powerful ways to establish healthy
Speaker 3: boundaries in all aspects of life. So it is rooted
Speaker 3: in some of the latest research and best practices using
Speaker 3: cognitive behavioral therapy, which is CBT for short. Side note,
Speaker 3: you have heard us talk about CBT on our podcast
Speaker 3: as well, so there's definitely a lot of overlap. You
Speaker 3: will be familiar probably with a lot of the concepts
Speaker 3: presented in Nadra's book about setting boundaries. So these techniques
Speaker 3: help us to identify and express our needs clearly and
Speaker 3: without apology. If you find yourself constantly being the one
Speaker 3: saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but then this
Speaker 3: book will probably help you to refrain from that tone
Speaker 3: over and over and over again when you're doing things
Speaker 3: that you actually don't need to apologize for, especially if
Speaker 3: you feel confident in doing them. So they also say
Speaker 3: that it can help unravel some of these root problems
Speaker 3: behind experiences of codependency or power struggles, anxiety, depression, burnout.
Speaker 3: And I can affirm this. I know you probably hear
Speaker 3: us talk about boundaries so often on the podcast, and
Speaker 3: it is because it's one of those very important life skills. Budgeting,
Speaker 3: money management, and boundary setting are some important life skills
Speaker 3: that if we did learn them in our youth, it
Speaker 3: is important to be practicing now and learning boundaries again,
Speaker 3: it's going to help us in every aspect of life,
Speaker 3: including our finances. So even though this book isn't specifically
Speaker 3: talking about finances, learning this life skill will help us
Speaker 3: when it comes to that because finances do intersect with relationships, partnership, families,
Speaker 3: and ourselves, our own ability to say no and yes
Speaker 3: to ourselves, what's helpful, what's hurtful, what's beneficial, what's not
Speaker 3: And so as we do that work of understanding boundaries
Speaker 3: at a broader level, we will then be able to
Speaker 3: integrate that understanding into our personal finance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we say that we are a lifestyle
Speaker 1: podcast that talks about the cost of your lifestyle. Essentially,
Speaker 1: how to save money on your lifestyle and afford your
Speaker 1: lifestyle in the future through investing boundaries is really one
Speaker 1: of those subjects that if you don't have the skill
Speaker 1: of developing boundaries, it makes it harder to do all
Speaker 1: of the other things that are important for your finances.
Speaker 1: This book specifically goes through the six types of boundaries.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's just six types, but she
Speaker 1: says there are six types physical, sexual, intellectual, emotional, material,
Speaker 1: and time. And these are maybe four out of six
Speaker 1: ones that we talk about being frugal with is being
Speaker 1: good stewards of our physical space, our material sessions, our time.
Speaker 1: So I think if you really resonate with the being
Speaker 1: good stewards of all of your resources, this book by
Speaker 1: Nedro will help you create boundaries so that you can
Speaker 1: take action on being a good steward of those resources,
Speaker 1: because oftentimes it's not that we don't know how or
Speaker 1: that we don't want to, it's that outside forces make
Speaker 1: it really hard to do the things that we want
Speaker 1: to do. But that doesn't mean we're not in control
Speaker 1: of how we react to those outside forces. And I
Speaker 1: think that's where books like this, while not money related
Speaker 1: but adjacent to it, are really kind of like require
Speaker 1: reading for being good with money and just have the
Speaker 1: added benefit of being beneficial to every part of your life.
Speaker 1: I will note that she also has a new book
Speaker 1: out that is about specifically family relationships. It's called Drama Free.
Speaker 3: Is it blue?
Speaker 1: No, it's black. It doesn't even have a blue square
Speaker 1: on it. It's got other colored circles. But it's a
Speaker 1: guide to managing unhealthy family relationships. So if you've got
Speaker 1: unhealthy family relationships where there's a lack of boundaries and
Speaker 1: that is affecting your finances, maybe you are spending a
Speaker 1: lot of money supporting a sibling or a parent or somebody,
Speaker 1: that's also maybe a good one to queue up to read.
Speaker 1: That's a brand new one and.
Speaker 3: Would probably even help stars in some of those difficult conversations.
Speaker 3: We will often talk about having money conversations with your
Speaker 3: as an adult, with your adult parents. It can help
Speaker 3: in the intersection of finances so so much. It's very cool.
Speaker 3: You know what also helps. It is super cool. And
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter if it's old, new, borrowed, or blue.
Speaker 3: And sometimes it's none, sometimes it's all.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's by Bill Curtis.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe.
Speaker 2: Your car died and you're happy to not have to
Speaker 2: pay that bill anymore. That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 2: this is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hey Jen, Hey Jill, this Gin. Since listening to you
Speaker 4: ladies for the past year, I've been able to lower
Speaker 4: two bills, one being my overpriced cell phone plan. I called,
Speaker 4: threatened to leave, and they lowered my payment by fifteen
Speaker 4: dollars a month. My other bill is my homeowners insurance,
Speaker 4: which had increased tremendously, causing our mortgage payment to go
Speaker 4: up by two hundred dollars a month. So we called,
Speaker 4: shopped around, found a better rate, and was able to
Speaker 4: lower our mortgage payment. Thanks for all you do. Keep
Speaker 4: up the good tips. I'm loving it. Thank you, Hi, Jen.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much. What what a great bill. I love
Speaker 3: these bills. When people do it, they make the phone call,
Speaker 3: they negotiate, and they see success in progress. And we've
Speaker 3: heard from so many people with this success in lowering
Speaker 3: cell phone bills or internet bills. But it's also so encouraging, Jen,
Speaker 3: that you've given us two bills of the cell phone
Speaker 3: which still takes a phone call and some guts sometimes
Speaker 3: and your homeowner's insurance. I know. I've been talking with
Speaker 3: so many people who are in similar circumstances where they're
Speaker 3: experiencing increased homeowners insurance rates that is drastically increasing their
Speaker 3: monthly mortgages, which is really overwhelming. So I'm so glad
Speaker 3: to hear that you've experienced success in lowering that bill too.
Speaker 3: Yay for shopping around, Yay for making a call and
Speaker 3: saving money. Well done.
Speaker 1: Yes, you have reminded me I actually have to do
Speaker 1: that with our home insurance that so thank you Jen
Speaker 1: for helping me out and me too.
Speaker 3: I'm going to do it too as a ripple effect
Speaker 3: you're doing. And thanks for listening. If you all who
Speaker 3: are listening want to submit your bill, if it has
Speaker 3: to do with calling, negotiating lowering bills, if it has
Speaker 3: to do with running into a bill, if it has
Speaker 3: to do with what life is like growing up as
Speaker 3: a Bill, and that's your name.
Speaker 1: As Bill Curtis. I'm putting it out there.
Speaker 3: Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill. Leave us
Speaker 3: your bill, and now it's time for you know.
Speaker 1: I put Bill Curtis's face on a tote bag and
Speaker 1: some of y'all voted for it, and they're your real friends,
Speaker 1: and the polls are anonymous, so I don't know who
Speaker 1: you are, but thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: And the toad bag is for the referral program. You
Speaker 3: can get the tote bag for free. It won't have
Speaker 3: Bill Curtis's face on.
Speaker 1: It won't spoiler, it will not, but it will have
Speaker 1: a much cooler design that you guys voted on. But
Speaker 1: it could have had just a big Bill Curtis head
Speaker 1: on it.
Speaker 3: Our real Lightning round is favorite most recent. Rea doesn't
Speaker 3: have to be financial, Jen.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's not. Do you want to go first, because
Speaker 1: I have several It's so good. It's the end of summer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the end of summer, and it's like summer's my
Speaker 1: reading time. So I have several I'm.
Speaker 3: Gonna have to ask you in the after show how
Speaker 3: you find time for this? Okay? Mine is you know me?
Speaker 3: If it's going to be pleasure reading, it's children's books
Speaker 3: or tiny books. All the other books I read are social.
Speaker 1: Work tiny books? What kind of tiny books?
Speaker 3: Tiny? This one Songs for Courage by Grace Noel Kraw
Speaker 3: and it is a tiny little book full of poems,
Speaker 3: and I think it's adorable. I found this first at
Speaker 3: a used bookstore and I thought it was adorable. It
Speaker 3: was very antiqued, jaggedy edges has some person's name in
Speaker 3: the front of it because it was previously owned, and
Speaker 3: they've marked up little poems on the inside of it.
Speaker 3: And the poems are beautiful and they have encouraged me
Speaker 3: through various seasons of life. Cute, and it's one of
Speaker 3: my go to gifts for people when they are experiencing grief, suffering,
Speaker 3: or loss. I think that poems, similar to music, can
Speaker 3: help touch a part of our personhood that just regular
Speaker 3: words can't. It's still words, but they're more beautiful. So
Speaker 3: there you go songs for courage.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, all right, So let me go down my
Speaker 1: list of the summer reading that I did. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I was on a I didn't like. I mean, it
Speaker 1: wasn't all of them wasn't weren't for me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I told you guys in the last episode
Speaker 1: maybe that the Colleen I tried one Colleen Hoover book
Speaker 1: and I couldn't get through the first chapter. But I
Speaker 1: have been on a Taylor Jenkins read era. While everybody
Speaker 1: else was talking about Taylor Swift, I was exclusively talking
Speaker 1: about Taylor Jenkins read. And you might know her from
Speaker 1: Daisy Jones and The Six That is the show on
Speaker 1: I think Amazon Prime Prime because I did get a
Speaker 1: thirty day free Amazon Prime membership and I watched it
Speaker 1: during that time. So she has these four books that
Speaker 1: live in the same era, and I think kind of
Speaker 1: all of her books maybe like live in the same era.
Speaker 1: It's not like a series or anything, but it's all
Speaker 1: about like famous people in LA So they kind of
Speaker 1: all cross somehow.
Speaker 3: Are they real famous people? Are these almost? No?
Speaker 1: They're made up? Okay, So last year I read Evelyn
Speaker 1: Hugo seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo spoiler alert, It is
Speaker 1: I think the best one of the four. It was
Speaker 1: so good, so good. Daisy Jones and the six also good,
Speaker 1: but I think Carrie Soto is back. That one was
Speaker 1: my second favorite of the four, and then Malibu Rising
Speaker 1: third favorite.
Speaker 3: Did you read all of these this summer?
Speaker 1: Yes? Audio books, Jill, Okay, I don't read. I listen, yeah, audiobooks.
Speaker 1: I drop my kids off at school and daycare every day,
Speaker 1: well daycare of the summer, and I do chores and
Speaker 1: I listen to audiobooks.
Speaker 3: So your kids are listening to these two or.
Speaker 1: No, I will once I drop them off, and I'll
Speaker 1: play it when I get back. Sometimes when i'm running,
Speaker 1: when I'm like taking shower, getting dressed, getting ready for work.
Speaker 1: So my morning basically from when I drop my kids
Speaker 1: off till I start work is audio books.
Speaker 3: I mean this is helpful because I think I could
Speaker 3: have space for audio books, but when I go to
Speaker 3: my Spotify, I'm just thinking I don't got time to
Speaker 3: pick something. I don't even know where i'd start music.
Speaker 1: I'm on Hoopla, and.
Speaker 3: So this an episode like this helps, Like you have
Speaker 3: a list of recommendations boom, that's what you do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so these are available on Hoopla. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people use Libby or Overdrive. I personally use Hoopla.
Speaker 1: That's what my library connects to. But yeah, all of
Speaker 1: these were on there, and all four of those were good.
Speaker 1: I liked them, but that was just the order I
Speaker 1: liked them, and Daisy Jones was my least favorite. Evelyn
Speaker 1: Hugo is my favorite. I also read Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Speaker 1: and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Very good. It's not a
Speaker 1: love story, but it's got love in it and it
Speaker 1: made me cry. And it's about gamers, like video game designers.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no interest in video games at all.
Speaker 3: I do remember you talking about this. Yeah, it is
Speaker 3: an interesting concept. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I read a few that I was so.
Speaker 1: The only one maybe that I didn't like was Bad
Speaker 1: Summer People by Emma Rosenbloom. That was about like one
Speaker 1: percenters in their homes on Fire Island, which I don't
Speaker 1: even know if is a real place. It is, Oh, okay, great,
Speaker 1: So not a big fan. I did like Happy Place
Speaker 1: by Emily Henry. It was it was good. It was
Speaker 1: definitely stereotypical like love thing, which I'm not normally super into.
Speaker 1: I think I like the Taylor Jenkins read books because
Speaker 1: they are very unique twists on love and they're not
Speaker 1: like just about the relationship, like the love relationships. Like
Speaker 1: I'm not a rom com person books or movies, but
Speaker 1: Happy Place was very romantic.
Speaker 3: We're doing a whole other, like half to this episode
Speaker 3: of like I know, I'm sorry, sorry, the question was
Speaker 3: your favorite most recent? I can't pick Jensen Overachiever though,
Speaker 3: and she's real over zealous at this list.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's one last one though. It's also a Taylor
Speaker 1: Jenkins read book. It's called After I Do, where a couple,
Speaker 1: a married couple takes a year long break away from
Speaker 1: each other to see if they should stay married. I
Speaker 1: really liked that one. I think that could be like
Speaker 1: helpful for people too, So I would say, of these
Speaker 1: my favorite, I think Carrie Soto is back and After
Speaker 1: I Do both Taylor Jenkins read and you know, where
Speaker 1: do you go for fictional book references like recommendations? You
Speaker 1: go here. You come to the Frugal Friends book Club episodes,
Speaker 1: because jen is going to say what she's been reading
Speaker 1: for the last four months.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because Jen's got this one in the bag.
Speaker 1: And none of them are financial.
Speaker 3: And Jill's always and forever going to say she's reading
Speaker 3: something social worky and here's a book of holmes.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So you come for the financial books, but you
Speaker 1: stay for the Taylor Jenkins read recommends I'm in my
Speaker 1: audiobook era.
Speaker 3: Wow, and we're all here for it.
Speaker 1: Yes, So thank you so much for listening. We love
Speaker 1: reading your kind reviews, and we especially loved this one
Speaker 1: from Jenny and Noel says Funny and Frugal a winning combo.
Speaker 1: Thank you Jen and Jill for so many episodes of practical,
Speaker 1: inspiring guidance on becoming and staying frugal. At its heart
Speaker 1: is the reminder that being a frugal is not being cheap.
Speaker 1: It's about making conscientious and intentional financial decisions. Jill's protective
Speaker 1: as a social worker is a bonus for me as
Speaker 1: I try to convince my social worker husband that we
Speaker 1: could change our finances for the better, even on his salary.
Speaker 1: The other bonus, laughing out loud, is these two good
Speaker 1: friends correct jokes and get a little silly. Thanks ladies,
Speaker 1: good as getting silly.
Speaker 3: Thank you Jeniah Noel Jill makes fun of me for
Speaker 3: doing so much reading. No, it's I love it. It's your
Speaker 3: you are goals. Thank you all for listening to us
Speaker 3: because you can't read us yet. Someday you will. Though.
Speaker 3: If you enjoy this show, please take a minute to
Speaker 3: leave a rating and review. Your enjoyment of it and
Speaker 3: description of it helps potential new listener friends know what
Speaker 3: the show is about, know if it's right for them.
Speaker 3: So we do love it. Thank you for helping us
Speaker 3: in that way.
Speaker 1: See you later. Gorugle Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 3: Jen. Yeah, I had a very frugal experience. I'm in
Speaker 3: my frugal era, which I has been for a long time.
Speaker 3: It's my entire lifetime.
Speaker 1: Thank god. I'm thankful for that.
Speaker 3: It was just my birthday and Eric got me many
Speaker 3: gifts throughout the entire weekend. I just kept coming into
Speaker 3: the kitchen and there'd be a new wrapped present, which
Speaker 3: is adorable. He's so amazing. But one of the gifts
Speaker 3: he caught for me was a new pots and pans
Speaker 3: set because three of my pans slash pots were very uneven,
Speaker 3: so it made cooking quite frustrating. That they weren't sitting
Speaker 3: flat on the stovetop, and so it was getting uneven heat,
Speaker 3: so certain things would be very cooked and other things
Speaker 3: would be hardly cooked. And I may do because you.
Speaker 1: Know me, I just make do in your frugal era.
Speaker 3: Yes. And one of my pots, my saucepans pots didn't
Speaker 3: have a lid, and so I would use a bigger
Speaker 3: lid upside down on it when I'm making rice because
Speaker 3: I don't have a rice cooker. I don't need all that.
Speaker 3: I figured out how to make rice in my regular
Speaker 3: pot and we good. But these issues collectively were making
Speaker 3: me like, okay, I need to solve for this issue,
Speaker 3: Like I'm cooking a ton at home and this is
Speaker 3: this is a nuisance. I was definitely open to figuring
Speaker 3: out how to fix it, and I did look up
Speaker 3: a YouTube video but didn't try to implement yet, and
Speaker 3: thinking that maybe I could just find a lid. Anyhow,
Speaker 3: Eric went the rout of research and getting a whole
Speaker 3: new pots and pants set, which was amazing, and I'm
Speaker 3: glad he had this kind of initiative and motivation to
Speaker 3: we're solving this now, and now's the time it's going
Speaker 3: to happen. I open it up, I am super grateful.
Speaker 3: That is my very first reactions. But then as I'm
Speaker 3: unboxing it, recognizing, I don't think I like these, don't
Speaker 3: I don't think I want this. I think I'm really
Speaker 3: happy with what I have. If we could just fix
Speaker 3: what I have, And he was there for it, recognizing, yeah,
Speaker 3: this is a big decision. We've had our pots and
Speaker 3: pants for eleven years, for as long as we've been married.
Speaker 3: They've worked really well. They're stainless. I don't need the
Speaker 3: non stick Like I figured out how to cook and
Speaker 3: things not stick to the pan. That's not a dig
Speaker 3: It's just a me personally thing. And I think I
Speaker 3: like what I have. And so then that led us
Speaker 3: to immediately implementing on the YouTube video I watched fix
Speaker 3: my pots and pans. There now level they lay flat.
Speaker 3: He found the lid for my saucepan that was missing
Speaker 3: a lid for fifteen bucks on eBay. That's going to
Speaker 3: get shipped in a couple of days, and for now
Speaker 3: with shipping, twenty dollars spent and fifteen minutes in the
Speaker 3: garage hammering out the unevenness of my stainless steel pots,
Speaker 3: and then me spending probably thirty minutes scrubbing the pots
Speaker 3: because now I was excited to make them all look
Speaker 3: brand new and they are sparkling clean. Thank you, barkeepers.
Speaker 3: I feel like I have a whole new, brand new
Speaker 3: set of pots and pans that work exactly how I want,
Speaker 3: look how I want, They are what I want, and
Speaker 3: hopefully I'm going to get another eleven years out of them.
Speaker 3: Ship in the new set back. That was a whole
Speaker 3: process putting these pots and pants back into the box.
Speaker 3: That was like Tetris and wow, yeah, I just and
Speaker 3: I'm not disappointed. The thrill of just getting something new
Speaker 3: isn't there for me. I really truly, both Eric and
Speaker 3: I enjoyed the fact that we can make what we
Speaker 3: have work and actually like it more than the new thing.
Speaker 3: And I couldn't be more thrilled. It was a great
Speaker 3: birthday present.
Speaker 1: Wow, that was a lot. And I didn't know to go,
Speaker 1: I have to go.
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 1: Hey, I didn't know that stainless steel pants could warp,
Speaker 1: which I guess that makes sense. I also have stainless steel.
Speaker 1: Do you have calflon?
Speaker 3: No, they're accusin art.
Speaker 1: Okay, but that you can then bend them back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: without any special tools.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have known either. Just a mallet and a
Speaker 3: straight edge and spire plugs.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know either until I looked it up
Speaker 3: on YouTube. And now I also know. I mean that
Speaker 3: happened over the course of eleven years because earlier on
Speaker 3: in my early cooking days, I would put my hot
Speaker 3: pan under cold water immediately because I didn't I wanted
Speaker 3: it to immediately start to you know, take any brown
Speaker 3: bits on the bottom off. I wanted my cleaning to
Speaker 3: go easier. But also I did like the sizzling sound.
Speaker 3: I really enjoyed that. Just the eruption of smoke and
Speaker 3: sizzle was enjoyable for me in that cooking process. But
Speaker 3: it is what warped the pan. Now I know better.
Speaker 3: Now I won't do that. I'll let it sit on
Speaker 3: the stove for twenty minutes. Then I'll fill it with
Speaker 3: water and that's no big deal. Wow, And yeah, save
Speaker 3: myself two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that I know that now because I typically
Speaker 1: let my pants sit but sometimes I'll put a little
Speaker 1: bit of water and put them back on the stove
Speaker 1: so the water heats.
Speaker 3: Up, heats up Yeah. Yeah huh.
Speaker 1: The more you know, the more you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Happy happy birthday.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I get to keep the things I want and
Speaker 3: now they work better. Whoo.