Speaker 1: Episode to forty Frugal Living Tips for Fall. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill m h. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking fall because for the rest
Speaker 1: of the country minus Florida and the Southern States, fall
Speaker 1: is here or coming, and usually that means really beautiful
Speaker 1: leaves changing color, mostly because they're dying, but it's it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful process. It's a beautiful process and so many
Speaker 1: opportunities for saving money and doing free things, and so
Speaker 1: we just to highlight all of these for you as
Speaker 1: we enter into this season, so you can be aware
Speaker 1: of things that you are going to maybe pick up
Speaker 1: and try and things that you're going to feel Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe not this season, maybe next time, but glad I
Speaker 1: know it. Anyway, anytime we can enter into a new
Speaker 1: season with some extra tips for saving and just and
Speaker 1: and also how to embrace that season. It's this it's
Speaker 1: fun for us. But first our sponsor spider webs. They're
Speaker 1: typically gross, like something you want to avoid and representative
Speaker 1: of dark, dingy, neglected basements and crawl spaces, but in
Speaker 1: the fall there decor somehow and this fall. If you're
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Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Patreon right now,
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Speaker 1: spider webs usually something to avoid. Sometimes decoration, it's beautiful,
Speaker 1: It's always beautiful. There are some people that love Halloween,
Speaker 1: and I love those people, but I just don't have
Speaker 1: the patients to decorate for it. It's such a it's
Speaker 1: such an intricate holiday, many good way of describing it,
Speaker 1: so many opportunities, Like in Thanksgiving you have like leaves, cornucopia, turkey,
Speaker 1: that's it, pine cones maybe, yeah, maybe, But I'm here
Speaker 1: for the snacks. People do some really creative stuff around
Speaker 1: Halloween with food. I'm here for that. I'm not here
Speaker 1: for spending money on spider webs. Yeah, or costume that's
Speaker 1: gonna that's kinda come up. Listeners, Yeah, that's anyways. If
Speaker 1: you are looking for a few episodes to queue up,
Speaker 1: if you're like, I can't listen to this one anymore,
Speaker 1: I've been offended. Um, then try out episode two thirty five,
Speaker 1: which is our Frugal Friends book Club episode. It's four
Speaker 1: books to read this fall, or episode one eight, which
Speaker 1: is simple living but make it frugal um. Or maybe
Speaker 1: one nineteen, which is frugal travel. We talked about staycations,
Speaker 1: local travel, short road trips, so being kind of a
Speaker 1: tourist in your own vicinity. We talked with Danielle to
Speaker 1: Zeer about that, So to one nineteen pretty good ones
Speaker 1: to queue up after this one. But let's talk about
Speaker 1: fall and what's your favorite season, Jill. Before we get
Speaker 1: into this summer summer all summer, absolutely you you love summer, sunshine.
Speaker 1: I even like summer in Florida. So I am summer
Speaker 1: through and through. Yeah, I'm I May So Florida has
Speaker 1: two seasons summer and not summer, and so I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm not I'm not a summer girl. I'm a
Speaker 1: not summer girl. So I'll take fall, winter, and spring
Speaker 1: like that's I'll be that side of the show. Okay, okay, um,
Speaker 1: So I love fall, even if it's fake fall, and
Speaker 1: so our first article is five reasons why fall is
Speaker 1: the most frugal season, and I could not agree more
Speaker 1: with all five of these. What do you think, Joe? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they are so fun. Here's the thing, and maybe this
Speaker 1: is like a post show thing, but here I am.
Speaker 1: I'm here now. I think I like the idea of fall,
Speaker 1: but it never brings out the way that I wanted
Speaker 1: to be. And this was a more northern experience. It
Speaker 1: has been better since I've been in Florida when the
Speaker 1: weather is actually really great. But what I found in
Speaker 1: your places where the leaves turn really pretty is you
Speaker 1: don't actually get that many days where you can where
Speaker 1: the weather is really great and crisp and kind of
Speaker 1: sunny and the leaves are changing, and you have off
Speaker 1: of work and you can actually go to a pumpkin
Speaker 1: patch like that happens maybe for a few hours one
Speaker 1: time each fall. So that's you know, that's my opinion. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we did grow up in different parts of the country,
Speaker 1: so so I just that's my opinion. Like it put
Speaker 1: a bad I think fall is great, the idea of
Speaker 1: fall is great, but then lived out it doesn't typically
Speaker 1: go this way. But I like this article for embracing
Speaker 1: the frugality of fall and the things that we can
Speaker 1: engage in and some of the some of the ideas
Speaker 1: and the reminders of Okay, yes, regardless of if it's
Speaker 1: like cold and muddy and rainy, there are still some
Speaker 1: really great free fun things we can do. Absolutely so
Speaker 1: this first one, um there's five on the list, will
Speaker 1: go through all five. First reason why fault is the
Speaker 1: most frugal season is the cost of utilities decrease. We
Speaker 1: have the shoulder season, spring and fall where you can
Speaker 1: really take advantage of giving your HVAC system, arrast, giving
Speaker 1: giving your heat, giving your a C, just just letting
Speaker 1: it go and really saving a lot of money on
Speaker 1: your utilities. And when you can be intentional about this,
Speaker 1: not just like forget and spend money when you really
Speaker 1: don't have to, but you can be intentional. Open the window,
Speaker 1: get those some some of our windows don't have in
Speaker 1: the new house. Don't have them. Not a filter, it's
Speaker 1: the thing that goes over screen. So get those screens,
Speaker 1: open up the windows, and let the beautiful weather be
Speaker 1: your be your guide. And maybe that means you're wearing
Speaker 1: a tank top around the house when we're on the
Speaker 1: shoulder of summer, or you're wearing like a sweatshirt when
Speaker 1: we're closer to turning on the heat. But just kind
Speaker 1: of being intentional about all of the money saving opportunities
Speaker 1: in this season. Yeah, when it is quite temperate, you
Speaker 1: don't need to be paying for either heating or cooling.
Speaker 1: That is a very nice part of that time of year.
Speaker 1: And it's like not like we would ever say, don't
Speaker 1: pay for a c in the summer or leave your
Speaker 1: heat off in the winter. Those are absolutely not things
Speaker 1: we would say. But in the spring and fall, great times.
Speaker 1: Take advantage of it. Yes. The next thing on the
Speaker 1: list that I would also agree with is that veggies
Speaker 1: are in season. This is so fun. Fall is literally
Speaker 1: harvest time. It's part of why we celebrate Thanksgiving at
Speaker 1: that time. It's it's the bountiful harvest of what the
Speaker 1: land has just produced. And so we will often see
Speaker 1: discounts on veggies, and so much has been harvested at
Speaker 1: that time. Of course you're not gonna have as many
Speaker 1: of your like berries and well, yeah, mostly your berries,
Speaker 1: but apples and veggies and all kinds of stuff are
Speaker 1: in bountiful supply, and so you're going to see that
Speaker 1: reflected also in the prices of those things. So it's
Speaker 1: a really great time to be stocking up and maybe
Speaker 1: even considering canning some of these things bacon and cooking
Speaker 1: and throwing that stuff from the freezer. Yeah, I'm I
Speaker 1: once thought about getting into canning, but like the science
Speaker 1: everything had to be so accurate or like you could
Speaker 1: give yourself botuli is um and so I just I
Speaker 1: just relented to like freezing, like I'm gonna get what's
Speaker 1: on sale and freeze it, especially the berries over summer.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, getting things and just putting extra produce
Speaker 1: in the freezer to use in the winter when it
Speaker 1: is not on sale. And I would say this is
Speaker 1: a really good time to the fall is a good
Speaker 1: time to take advantage of like farmers markets, roadside stands,
Speaker 1: um the places where farmer's markets get their produce, so
Speaker 1: like cutting out the middleman. So explore some of those
Speaker 1: in your area because those ones are going to be
Speaker 1: more negotiable on price than your big box grocery stores. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll see some sales there, but you won't see like
Speaker 1: the bulk price sales that you might see at these
Speaker 1: wholesale retailers or these smaller farm stands. Three is inexpensive
Speaker 1: entertainment is at your fingertips. This is my favorite favorite
Speaker 1: one on the list because I think one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that we tend to overspend is that we just
Speaker 1: get bored, like it's Friday, it's Saturday, it's Sunday, what
Speaker 1: do I do? Usually those answers involve spending money. And
Speaker 1: so when we can have a inventory of events going
Speaker 1: on in the fall, whether it's through your your city
Speaker 1: or an organization or maybe hosting your own little get together,
Speaker 1: if you can have an inventory of free events, then
Speaker 1: you don't have to like relent to the happy hours
Speaker 1: or the dinners out or the more expensive things that
Speaker 1: usually we resort to doing. There are so many festivals,
Speaker 1: whether you're talking like a pumpkin festival or an apple festival,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean that you have to spend at
Speaker 1: these things. Oftentimes there are fun things for the kids,
Speaker 1: free stuff for everyone, just getting outdoors and this is
Speaker 1: obviously also the time for all your outdoor activities, biking
Speaker 1: and taking a walk in the park and having picnics
Speaker 1: and just get out there and do it. Also number four,
Speaker 1: and I would agree with this one as well, that
Speaker 1: this is a great time to travel. Usually this summer
Speaker 1: is the peak travel season. A lot of that has
Speaker 1: to do with kids and teachers being off of school,
Speaker 1: and so you see kind of an uptick of travel
Speaker 1: and an increase in flight and hotel prices. But fall
Speaker 1: is excellent because not only are you going to see
Speaker 1: a little bit of a dip in some of these
Speaker 1: travel packages, but also the weather still is real decent
Speaker 1: for pretty much anywhere that you want to go. Usually,
Speaker 1: you know, this would be what what's described as like
Speaker 1: the shoulder season, so you might not have as many
Speaker 1: activities available, or it might be a little bit cooler
Speaker 1: in certain parts of the world or the country, but
Speaker 1: not so frigid that it's not worth going whatsoever. So
Speaker 1: considering traveling in the fall is definitely a way to
Speaker 1: save some money. And then the fifth one on this
Speaker 1: list is to embrace the sales. So now is the
Speaker 1: time to start planning for your Labor Day and your
Speaker 1: Black Friday sales so that we are not tempted by
Speaker 1: the ads that say, oh, look at this thing on sale.
Speaker 1: I didn't know I need it. Well, I guess I'm
Speaker 1: gonna buy it. No, we start thinking, now, what are
Speaker 1: the things around the house that are going to need
Speaker 1: to be replaced in the next six months that should
Speaker 1: have been replaced six months ago, but I've been putting
Speaker 1: it off. What are the things that I need to
Speaker 1: replace or upgrade in my capsule wardrobe? So start thinking
Speaker 1: about and looking at all these things, creating your lists
Speaker 1: and narrowing them down so that when mostly Black Friday.
Speaker 1: I think it just depends on which industry Labor Day
Speaker 1: or Black Friday, which which one is better? But start
Speaker 1: looking at you can maybe even look from last year's
Speaker 1: Labor Day ads and Black Friday ads for a particular
Speaker 1: store company. You can usually still have access to those
Speaker 1: ads somewhere like pdf forms somewhere on the internet and see,
Speaker 1: oh um home depots sale on Black Friday was better
Speaker 1: than their sale on Labor Day. We actually had somebody
Speaker 1: in Hope Depot tell us the best sales there were
Speaker 1: fourth or July on Black Friday for appliances, and I
Speaker 1: was like, great, that's we'll pick one of those too
Speaker 1: at our our appliance package. So you can look to
Speaker 1: compare to see which is better based on what you need,
Speaker 1: so that you can plan and be prepared to take
Speaker 1: advantage of these great sales. We we love them, we
Speaker 1: want to take advantage of them, but we don't want
Speaker 1: them to cost us more because ultimately they are a
Speaker 1: marketing technique. Stores don't lower prices for you. They lower
Speaker 1: prices because it causes people to get what they need
Speaker 1: and more so essentially overspend. So we just want to
Speaker 1: we want to take advantage of these sales without having
Speaker 1: them take advantage of us. I love that idea of
Speaker 1: already starting to think ahead for because that that can
Speaker 1: be when we impulse purchase of this is just a
Speaker 1: really great deal. Yeah, but is it on your list?
Speaker 1: Is it something you've been thinking about for a couple
Speaker 1: of months, it hasn't been on the radar for a while,
Speaker 1: and and is it actually the best deal that you
Speaker 1: can find, especially for these larger things like you're saying
Speaker 1: the appliances or the elect ronics. I love that idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's definitely so things like clothes and like accessories,
Speaker 1: you probably don't need to plan for those on a
Speaker 1: on a Black Friday unless it's like a bigger piece
Speaker 1: like a maybe a coat or something. They they're those
Speaker 1: sales are usually bigger there, you know, anniversary sales or
Speaker 1: annual sales sort of things. But if you missed one
Speaker 1: of those and you still need something worth taking the
Speaker 1: second best sale of the year if you can, it
Speaker 1: just depends. So that's all for this article, um, and
Speaker 1: our next article moves into again emphasizing that having fun
Speaker 1: for free or on a budget, because I think that
Speaker 1: is my favorite thing to talk about when we're talking
Speaker 1: about saving money, because it was one of the big
Speaker 1: reasons I didn't want to pay off debts, because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to like just sit at home and watch
Speaker 1: Netflix for five years. I really wanted to get out
Speaker 1: and do things. And so when we can talk about
Speaker 1: what are things you can do that will so you
Speaker 1: aren't board, so you aren't browsing Amazon or running into
Speaker 1: t J Max or Target to quote unquote just brows
Speaker 1: So this one is from our friend, friend of the show,
Speaker 1: Alison Baggerley over inspired budget dot com and it's fifteen
Speaker 1: fun fall activities on a budget to try ino. I
Speaker 1: will love lists like this where they're given ideas of
Speaker 1: here's something you can do. Usually even if yeah, I
Speaker 1: know of that or I've done that before, it's a
Speaker 1: nice reminder sometimes we don't have the full list of
Speaker 1: good ideas readily available in our heads. So this was
Speaker 1: a good refresher of what are the things that I
Speaker 1: enjoy doing that don't cost me money. And I particularly
Speaker 1: like how Alison broke it down into three portions here
Speaker 1: of fun things that we can do with friends, things
Speaker 1: we can do with family, things we can enjoy with
Speaker 1: the kiddos. So we probably won't go through all fifteen.
Speaker 1: Maybe we will, but at least a few in each
Speaker 1: category so that everyone can find something. One of the
Speaker 1: number one did stand out to me. So this is
Speaker 1: within the category of fall activities to do with friends.
Speaker 1: And of course you don't have to keep it just
Speaker 1: in that category. You can do this in family and
Speaker 1: kids and and all of the above. But host a
Speaker 1: pot luck football party, which is exactly how like a
Speaker 1: non sports person would describe it. And I feel so seen.
Speaker 1: You did host a pot luck football party for the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and it was so fun. I think anything
Speaker 1: that we can kind of gather around for me similar
Speaker 1: to what I referenced about Halloween at the top of
Speaker 1: the show, It is less about the event and more
Speaker 1: about the food. But anything that we can find that
Speaker 1: we can get together for we will often also host
Speaker 1: pot luck parties at our house around maybe a concert
Speaker 1: playing on TV that we found for free. Eric and
Speaker 1: I just watched like a free festival on the television.
Speaker 1: We didn't invite anybody over, but I had that thought afterwards.
Speaker 1: I'm like, this was really fun. This would have been
Speaker 1: really enjoyable to have other people over and just like
Speaker 1: bring a dish and we'll watch this concert or we'll
Speaker 1: watch this game. And you may or may not watch
Speaker 1: the game, but you're getting together with people and you're
Speaker 1: having a good time, and then there is something that
Speaker 1: you can turn your attention to if the conversation gets dull. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we definitely. We just like we're making fun of things
Speaker 1: during the super Bowl. I don't remember what we were
Speaker 1: making fun of. Oh, that's why you are really good
Speaker 1: at this. To Jen, you hosted both an Olympic party,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I felt like we co hosted the super
Speaker 1: Bowl party. But really what we did was pull out
Speaker 1: the white board and had like a drinking game. Now
Speaker 1: most of us were just like drinking water or a seltzer,
Speaker 1: like maybe wine, whatever you want. It was more about no,
Speaker 1: it was more like something fun and things to be
Speaker 1: paying attention to. But I think it was like, you
Speaker 1: know something that you take a sip any time a
Speaker 1: touchdown happens, or any time Tom Brady shows up on
Speaker 1: the TV. Or we just had like different things that
Speaker 1: might happen throughout the Super Bowl and most and most
Speaker 1: of them did happen. It was very fun. And then
Speaker 1: you're like yelling at everyone, take a drink, take a drink. Um.
Speaker 1: Yeah I first, Um, I'm like gifted at drinking games,
Speaker 1: that's my But it's so funny because like we weren't
Speaker 1: drinking the whole time. Again, I think most of the
Speaker 1: time I was sip water. But it was really fun
Speaker 1: just to have this like whiteboard and the game and
Speaker 1: there's just you know, something for everyone. So there you go.
Speaker 1: That's not on this list. Uh sorry, Allison. We are
Speaker 1: expounding upon their article, but it's a good idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you can expand this to football. We're not big
Speaker 1: football fans, um, we're just like drinking game fans, I guess.
Speaker 1: But hocus Pocus Too is coming out, so you could
Speaker 1: um have a pot luck for hocus Pocus Too or
Speaker 1: any other Fall movie that you want to watch or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know why it would be anything other than
Speaker 1: hocus pocus too, but to each their own. So it's
Speaker 1: not just football. It can be football, but I think
Speaker 1: the point is just to have some friends over do
Speaker 1: a pot luck and uh save some money. Uh. The
Speaker 1: second one on the list, if I can pull it up,
Speaker 1: is to go on a walk. So grab your tennis shoe,
Speaker 1: call a friend you haven't seen in a while and
Speaker 1: meet them for a nice long walk somewhere that is
Speaker 1: really pretty. Or they could just come over your house.
Speaker 1: You guys, can you know, make some coffee at home,
Speaker 1: take it on the way, and just go for a walk.
Speaker 1: Because walking is great exercise. If you heard our Frugal
Speaker 1: Fitness episode, we very much promoted walking as a great
Speaker 1: way to get fit and to reconnect with people because
Speaker 1: it's hard. Some people can talk when they run. I
Speaker 1: am not one of them. I am very much like
Speaker 1: can't breathe can't talk, leave me alone. So walking is
Speaker 1: a great community and fitness builder, and it's free and
Speaker 1: it's not super stupid hot anymore in the fall, so
Speaker 1: it's like, go back outside. Eric has inspired me he
Speaker 1: will go on a walk when he is calling a
Speaker 1: friend like connecting with someone. I mean for us people
Speaker 1: back in p a for me, it might be my
Speaker 1: mom or my sister, and rather than just like sitting
Speaker 1: stationary on the couch while I do that or doing dishes,
Speaker 1: going for a walk while also having a phone call
Speaker 1: with someone that you need to catch up with has
Speaker 1: been a nice little pivot for us recently. The next
Speaker 1: one on the list for things that we can do
Speaker 1: with friends is visit a state park. I really like
Speaker 1: this one. This is something that we love to do
Speaker 1: with friends is go on This is another version of
Speaker 1: a walk. Might be a hike if there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of an incline that doesn't exist in Florida, but
Speaker 1: there are alligators you can spot, which is really fun,
Speaker 1: or armadillos, but really taking advantage again of the weather
Speaker 1: and visiting some of your more like beautiful places in
Speaker 1: the area together and taking an all day venture, packing
Speaker 1: a picnic and seeing what your area has to offer.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. I'm going to jump down to the families
Speaker 1: and kids sections. Jill will not jump down to these sections.
Speaker 1: So I I think I am going to take Kai
Speaker 1: to a pumpkin patch this year. That's one of the
Speaker 1: suggestions because I always see these cute pictures of kids
Speaker 1: at like pumpkin patches and they have petting zoo and
Speaker 1: the corn maze or hay and um. It always looks
Speaker 1: so fun and I think he's at the age where
Speaker 1: he would really enjoy it. And typically I think so
Speaker 1: sometimes these you do have to pay to get in,
Speaker 1: but there are ones at the farms anything where they
Speaker 1: have like something else to sell. I think you can
Speaker 1: get in for free. So like you pick farms. I
Speaker 1: know my in laws have you pick farm and that's
Speaker 1: how I know this. It's free to get in and
Speaker 1: then you like pick stuff and pay for it. So
Speaker 1: I think they do have pumpkins, but it's not like
Speaker 1: a pumpkin patch. So maybe they will have something like
Speaker 1: this this year and I can just be easy to
Speaker 1: just take them to my in laws. But otherwise I
Speaker 1: will find one to to take kai to. Yish. That's
Speaker 1: a fun one. And then that leads into another activity
Speaker 1: of carving and decorating and then leaving it out on
Speaker 1: your porch to rot until Christmas. I once carved a pumpkin,
Speaker 1: actually I carved. I have carved one pumpkin in my life,
Speaker 1: and in it I just carved the words spice latte.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of work irving spice spice latte. Pumpkin
Speaker 1: spice latte. You look at you so basic the one
Speaker 1: that I like on this I don't think this is
Speaker 1: just for kids. This is for family and for too.
Speaker 1: But creating an outdoor movie experience. We have done this
Speaker 1: with friends. We want to do it again and it's
Speaker 1: just so fun hanging a sheet outside, borrowing a projector
Speaker 1: from someone, or there are opportunities to get a really
Speaker 1: decent projector for under a hundred dollars. Still not like
Speaker 1: free obviously, but if someone has a projector you can borrow,
Speaker 1: this is really fun. Or bring your TV outside, but
Speaker 1: we enjoy We enjoy this a ton hanging a big sheet.
Speaker 1: And that's where you can also combine it with other
Speaker 1: things that are inevitably on this list, as I'm sure
Speaker 1: you all know, roasting some moores, having a bonfire. It
Speaker 1: can all kind of be wrapped up into this event.
Speaker 1: S'mores are one of my favorite desserts. It's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite like flavor combinations. I I'm obsessed with s'mores,
Speaker 1: so I love that one on this list. My last
Speaker 1: one on this list that I will talk about, well,
Speaker 1: I have two more so the first one is star
Speaker 1: gaze at night, and this is one I think is
Speaker 1: fun to do once a quarter because the stars really change,
Speaker 1: like you can really see a shift like every season,
Speaker 1: so to do this once a season is really great.
Speaker 1: So you can use an app like sky View that's
Speaker 1: a free app, and you can put it up and
Speaker 1: see which constellations you're looking at. It's super fun even
Speaker 1: without kids, and you can just like accentuate it by
Speaker 1: like getting a blanket, getting some hot coco and hanging
Speaker 1: out looking up at stars running around. You can also
Speaker 1: follow along online the space station, the International Space Station.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes with the sky is clear, you can see it
Speaker 1: go by in the sky, which is so fun as well,
Speaker 1: so plenty and for us living where we do in
Speaker 1: Florida so close to where launches happen, sometimes we're able
Speaker 1: to see landings of some of these space shuttles or takeoffs,
Speaker 1: which is cool too. And last thing I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk about on here kind of weaves together the walking
Speaker 1: and some other things on here, like creating leaf rubbings
Speaker 1: and adventure and exploring and one of the things that
Speaker 1: we used to do as kids. I believe this was
Speaker 1: my mom's idea which I still do with other children
Speaker 1: to this day. Is go on interesting things walks. It's
Speaker 1: just a regular walk, but you take along like a
Speaker 1: basket or a bag, and you collect interesting things. And
Speaker 1: then when you get back you can kind of lay
Speaker 1: them all out and look at all the interesting things
Speaker 1: you collected and learn about them. Create leaf robbings, build
Speaker 1: with it, make pretend porridge, you know, all the things
Speaker 1: you do as a kid. Just make sure you're not
Speaker 1: collecting cigarette butts like I used to do. On interesting
Speaker 1: things walks. Interesting. That's very telling, Jill. I imagine you
Speaker 1: actually like stealing things like, look, this is interesting. This
Speaker 1: is somebody's like porch light, looking up interesting, this is
Speaker 1: this doesn't fit in my basket. Um. Leaf rubbings was
Speaker 1: also my last one. I think that's really fun. We
Speaker 1: don't have very interesting leaves here though, which is why
Speaker 1: I was like not going to say it. But then
Speaker 1: if you live somewhere with interesting leaves, this is definitely
Speaker 1: fun for kids. Uh, it is a fun I like
Speaker 1: looking at them, but we have to we do my
Speaker 1: my son does it at daycare and she has to
Speaker 1: like print fun leaves off of the internet. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: or it could morph into as it has for me
Speaker 1: into adulthood taking pictures of the interesting things I see.
Speaker 1: I think we've got a lot of really beautiful vegetation
Speaker 1: in Florida that I might not be able to create
Speaker 1: a rubbing with, but I can take a picture of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know something you can always have? You don't You
Speaker 1: won't ever have to take a picture of it behind
Speaker 1: and listen to it. Yeah, the bill of a week.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That built Bablo bills bill claim. This
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. I didn't do. This
Speaker 1: is much from Crack of Poland podcast. It helps me
Speaker 1: to keep my motivation to be From Welson, thanks a
Speaker 1: lot well. My bill of the week is connected with
Speaker 1: my way to minimalism and also with my spirit. Since
Speaker 1: two years ago, me and my wife tried to get
Speaker 1: rid of the things, all the things we don't need.
Speaker 1: For example, I left only one guitar that I really play,
Speaker 1: and I saw or cave to other people from guitars
Speaker 1: that I also had and I didn't really use. I
Speaker 1: also had quite a nice guitar amplifier and that I
Speaker 1: didn't need. And I did the barter exchange with the
Speaker 1: owner of my favorite coffee browser in Poland who just
Speaker 1: happened to need guitar rump. So I gave him a
Speaker 1: little and I will that he will give me a
Speaker 1: lot of coffee for them. And I must say that
Speaker 1: apart from many things that I don't really need, I
Speaker 1: do really buy specialty coffee from small artisan groceries is
Speaker 1: something I can give all my money. So upthing now
Speaker 1: it is my favorite bill of all time. Once again,
Speaker 1: thanks for your work. By Oh my gosh, that's so
Speaker 1: fun A hello in Poland. That's so fun Yes, thanks
Speaker 1: for calling us from I didn't know we had listeners
Speaker 1: in Poland. That's so funny for me. And getting rid
Speaker 1: of those guitars and that amp that you're not using,
Speaker 1: and getting close in the middle and getting coffee from it.
Speaker 1: We can very much support that. Yeah, that's a great bartering.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy when I'm able to do a trade
Speaker 1: of something of high value for something of lower value
Speaker 1: but more quantity, like what you're describing here. Of a
Speaker 1: one guitar amp that would be of high value for
Speaker 1: many many cups of coffee. It's so so wonderful. What
Speaker 1: a great hack. I love this. There was a time
Speaker 1: when Eric and I with a friend bartered construction labor
Speaker 1: for massages, and his construction labor hourly was a little
Speaker 1: bit more than at the time her massage labor hourly.
Speaker 1: We ended up with more massages. She still owes us
Speaker 1: some Leanna next time you're here. That's so so great.
Speaker 1: What an excellent tip and unique way of going about
Speaker 1: bartering and minimize saying. There's many many tips within your
Speaker 1: bill of the week. So thanks for calling in and sharing. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: If you want to submit your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill to leave
Speaker 1: us your bill from wherever you are in the world.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for round boo boo bu So
Speaker 1: today we're going to share what is included in our
Speaker 1: fall bucket lists. Do you normally create a fall bucket list?
Speaker 1: I try to well. I will take an inventory of
Speaker 1: events that are happening each season. I used to get
Speaker 1: to them a lot more, and now with child it's
Speaker 1: harder to make them, but I still do an inventory
Speaker 1: of the events. I'll look at Facebook, I'll look at
Speaker 1: the city website. Just make sure I know what's happening when,
Speaker 1: so that I can be prepared if by some random chance,
Speaker 1: we are not doing anything and the stars aligne that
Speaker 1: it is appropriate for us to leave the house. But
Speaker 1: I would so. I actually I hate Halloween costumes. I
Speaker 1: think there are a huge waste. I can't justify wearing
Speaker 1: something one time and then never wearing it again. Do
Speaker 1: you hate Halloween costumes or do you hate buying Halloween costumes?
Speaker 1: I well, I I think it would be both. I
Speaker 1: hate buying something for a one time use, but I
Speaker 1: would also hate just like consuming it for a one
Speaker 1: time use and then I have it and I don't
Speaker 1: care if it was free, it's just sitting there. So
Speaker 1: I but I would like to come up with some
Speaker 1: kind of UM family Halloween costume from the things that
Speaker 1: we either already have or can get from the thrift
Speaker 1: store and will be reused. That is on my bucket list,
Speaker 1: and you have an idea of what you'll be um,
Speaker 1: I have a feeling it's going to be pot patrol
Speaker 1: related and it is going to be such a sad
Speaker 1: makeshift Pop Patrol, but not as sad as some of
Speaker 1: the actual like legit costumes that people wear, Like if
Speaker 1: you google like Pop Patrol birthday party and you see
Speaker 1: scary like full dog like just like dog costume mascot
Speaker 1: costumes like repurposed into pow Patrol. So yeah, I don't know. Well,
Speaker 1: creating the costume and of itself is an activity. If
Speaker 1: you're d I y ng it, that's that's an activity
Speaker 1: one night. Then wearing it is a whole other activity.
Speaker 1: We've always done costumes that we could just pull stuff
Speaker 1: from our closet and put it to other in a
Speaker 1: way that looks like we tried. Yeah, so that is
Speaker 1: my That's going to be a big task that I'm
Speaker 1: preparing for. Yeah. Nice, how about you, Jill. So I
Speaker 1: am combining actually a lot of the tips that we're
Speaker 1: in both of these articles for something that we're planning
Speaker 1: this fall. Every year we go on a trip usually
Speaker 1: in the fall with some other friends, and this year
Speaker 1: it's to Utah. So similar to what the one article
Speaker 1: mentioned about traveling in the fall, we do find that
Speaker 1: we can get places a little bit less expensively, and
Speaker 1: then we share an Airbnb rental, so that helps cut
Speaker 1: the costs, and we often do it in areas that
Speaker 1: have a lot of hiking and outdoor activities. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna go check out Zion National Park and I'm so
Speaker 1: looking forward to that. Yeah, Zion is fun. It's a
Speaker 1: fun little area. Well cool, I hope that goes. I'm
Speaker 1: still not invited to these friend trips. I've never been invited.
Speaker 1: That's not true. We did a friend trip. We did
Speaker 1: know these particular friends go on these trips with these
Speaker 1: particular friends. Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Anyways, we just
Speaker 1: have to do our own let's plan it. I think
Speaker 1: we are okay, okay, anyways, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear your fall bucket list items, so
Speaker 1: let us know over on Instagram or in our Patreon,
Speaker 1: who knows, I don't know. But we also, in addition
Speaker 1: to the Patreon, have like an upper level where we
Speaker 1: offer kind of monthly challenges with lessons and accountability groups.
Speaker 1: And we want to congratulate one of our members of
Speaker 1: that club, the Frugal Friends Club, Ali whom during our
Speaker 1: declutter challenge had a big win and she said book
Speaker 1: clean out. I love encouraging my kids to read. I
Speaker 1: always spend on them as I always get my books free.
Speaker 1: We went through our books and donated around town in
Speaker 1: these little donation boxes, and then she showed the picture
Speaker 1: of the little free libraries. So she was decluttering and
Speaker 1: she's also donating for other families to be able to
Speaker 1: have the gift of reading for free. So that was
Speaker 1: a really, really great win. So good for you, Ali. Congrats, Ali,
Speaker 1: what a great idea. Again, I think similar to our
Speaker 1: Bill of the week, there's multiple benefits in this of
Speaker 1: the decluttering and then the giving away and allowing other
Speaker 1: people to enjoy it, and then the opportunity to bring
Speaker 1: in new things as well. So it's yeah, such a
Speaker 1: beautiful community cycle that's happening. Great job, yes, So thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. If you want to check out our monthly
Speaker 1: challenge community, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: club see what challenge we have coming up next and
Speaker 1: join us if you need a little bit more accountability
Speaker 1: on your financial freedom journey. See you next time, everyone.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. Okay, Jen, we
Speaker 1: we travel together. It's just always it is work. We're
Speaker 1: about to go to podcast movement in Texas. That's going
Speaker 1: to be supposed to be going to Tennessee. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the cabin trip, doing a Tennessee trip. Mm hmm h.
Speaker 1: We have hopes of one day doing an Alaskan cruise together.
Speaker 1: That's a that's a bucket list A life bucket list
Speaker 1: item for us is a last can cruise together. That
Speaker 1: will be find um. Lisa Rowan who was on the show,
Speaker 1: she just took an Alaskan cruise and she sent me
Speaker 1: a postcard from Alaska. She's so good at it snail mail.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Yeah, and she loved it. And she's not
Speaker 1: a cruise person, and I was like, you're not a
Speaker 1: cruise person until you take a good cruise and then
Speaker 1: you're a cruise person, Like you're a cruiser cruising around. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'd like to give a shout out. Speaking of cruises,
Speaker 1: I'd like to give a shout out to the Frugal Cruisers. Yes,
Speaker 1: tell us about them, jen Um. If you are a
Speaker 1: cruiser like me, I feel like if I didn't have
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, maybe i'd have the Frugal Cruisers podcast.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad somebody did it. But it's just these
Speaker 1: guys that quit their jobs and now they're travel agents
Speaker 1: and now they make videos on YouTube about they're cruising,
Speaker 1: and people live vicariously through their videos on Instagram and YouTube.
Speaker 1: But also no, I haven't. I haven't cruised with them. No,
Speaker 1: but um, they are just given tips on how to cruise.
Speaker 1: I did take one of their tips, though I actually
Speaker 1: didn't know this. When you on certain a certain carnival ships,
Speaker 1: carnivals what they usually cruise right when you get on
Speaker 1: from like noon to two or four. Uh, there's a
Speaker 1: half price happy hour at UM, one of the bars,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I didn't know this, and so
Speaker 1: Travis and I actually went and we got and I
Speaker 1: was just planning on getting a half price drink because
Speaker 1: Travis doesn't drink, but then the very nice bartender Um
Speaker 1: pressured us into getting the fish bowl. The fish bowl
Speaker 1: is a picture. You did send me a picture. It
Speaker 1: was a lot to start off, like, we're not big drinkers. Was, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a lot. And Travis doesn't get drunk. He
Speaker 1: gets tired, so he goes back after this fish bowl
Speaker 1: that I drank most of, and I was just feeling
Speaker 1: like it was so much sugar I but also a
Speaker 1: lot of alcohol and those two mix. Well. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to lay down and read in the sun,
Speaker 1: and he's already out cold sleeping. Wow. But the fish
Speaker 1: bowl was like more than half off, So there's no
Speaker 1: way we would have ever gotten one of those had
Speaker 1: we not been like here. So I guess thank you
Speaker 1: for rugal cruisers, but also, dang, I owe you, owe
Speaker 1: me an apology. This is what it's like to travel
Speaker 1: with you fish balls and that ups. Yeah, No, it's
Speaker 1: what it's like to travel, yeah, with me and Travis
Speaker 1: at least fish bowls for me, naps for him. But
Speaker 1: I just, I mean, we it's so good for us
Speaker 1: because you get on there and you don't have to
Speaker 1: spend any money. And that's what Travis really dislikes about vacation,
Speaker 1: is just the constant spending of money. So we'll do
Speaker 1: like the free things, but then there's always every day
Speaker 1: you have to spend money on something and he just
Speaker 1: really dislikes that. So with the cruise, nothing except the
Speaker 1: quarter game, yeah, except for how much you choose to
Speaker 1: gamble and the fish bowls. Yeah, but that's uh, that
Speaker 1: was my summer bucket list. I did that over the summer,
Speaker 1: and we'll see about next summer, right