Speaker 1: Episode two ninety eight, No Cost Ways to be More
Speaker 1: Eco Friendly. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll
Speaker 1: learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rice and liver rich
Speaker 1: your life. Here are your host Jen and Jill M.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and welcome to April. It is
Speaker 1: our annual sustainability eco friendliness episode at us. Yeah, look
Speaker 1: at you. Really you do the planning? I do you
Speaker 1: thought ahead? Yes, April showers, bring May flowers and eco
Speaker 1: sustainability thoughts and provisions. Yes. Since Earth Day is April
Speaker 1: twenty if I think twenty seconds, Sorry, it's a different
Speaker 1: We decided to just do our ability episode on the
Speaker 1: first episode of April, so you can prepare for four
Speaker 1: twenty If we're talk to two anyways. Sorry, we are excited.
Speaker 1: We talked. We've talked a lot about different ways to
Speaker 1: be frugal and sustainable because those two ideas don't always
Speaker 1: align when you're being marketed to, but in reality they
Speaker 1: do align very well. So well, I don't know why
Speaker 1: we have to keep saying how well they align, so,
Speaker 1: but we were here for it. Yeah, because it's more
Speaker 1: content we're just gonna we're just going to emphasize that
Speaker 1: a little bit more again today. Well, I think it
Speaker 1: is another angle because you don't there are things you
Speaker 1: can do that spend money doesn't have to be a
Speaker 1: lot of money. And then there's things that we can
Speaker 1: do that is just not spending any money at all,
Speaker 1: and it's like a win win win win win, and
Speaker 1: we love those. But first, this episode is brought to
Speaker 1: you by getting better, kind of like when you're sick
Speaker 1: and getting better, only a little different and very different
Speaker 1: from the harsh exhortation of others to do better. Wow.
Speaker 1: This one's more about making small improvements day by day
Speaker 1: towards personal growth and having the ability to look back
Speaker 1: and say, I'm getting better. This is something you want
Speaker 1: to say about your finances. You should definitely check out
Speaker 1: our Spending Makeover. It's a free three day total makeover
Speaker 1: for your money and will help you get better with
Speaker 1: finances in so many different ways, and it's free. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, dot Com, slash Makeover chch check it out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's mostly for your spending, like, it's not going to
Speaker 1: help you with like you're investing or your income or
Speaker 1: so you got one one towards getting better. Yeah, one step.
Speaker 1: We like to under promise and over deliver, so I
Speaker 1: don't want you to promise too much, Jill. We like,
Speaker 1: actually like to promise game or deliver. But here we
Speaker 1: are all right. So in honor of this year's eco
Speaker 1: friendly episode, here are a few that we have done,
Speaker 1: and we do more than one a year, but we
Speaker 1: definitely do one in April, so we have a few others.
Speaker 1: Episode two forty one is about divesting, so it's about
Speaker 1: sustainable banking. So if you are using a big bank,
Speaker 1: I'll just let you know. The big banks are Chase,
Speaker 1: Bank of America and Wells Fargo. If you are using
Speaker 1: any of those, Episode two forty one is definitely for you.
Speaker 1: Episode two ten Tips to live zero waste frugally that
Speaker 1: was the last year's episode for April, and that is
Speaker 1: reducing your waste is really the best way to combine
Speaker 1: frugality and sustainability because it doesn't limit what you can
Speaker 1: own or buy or have. It's not deprivation, but it
Speaker 1: is literally a conscious effort to use what you have.
Speaker 1: And so I think that's the best gateway into sustainability
Speaker 1: for a frugal mindset, so we love Episode two ten
Speaker 1: and then episode one seventy six was a replay with
Speaker 1: our interview with Debt Kick and Mom on zero waste
Speaker 1: ish cooking, so it's zero waste reducing waste specifically in
Speaker 1: the kitchen where the most waste is usually found in
Speaker 1: a home. So those are some of our favorite sustainability episodes.
Speaker 1: You've got a lot to work through this month, and
Speaker 1: there are more than just that, So when you listen
Speaker 1: to these other episodes, will do a recommendation in each
Speaker 1: of those two, so you'll get even more for the
Speaker 1: whole month. Just keep digging, Just keep all right. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about no cost ways to be more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: We're splitting this into two parts as we normally do.
Speaker 1: The first is mindset shifts for sustainability because we haven't
Speaker 1: really talked about that aspect much, and then the second
Speaker 1: is some actual practical no cost tips. Love it. So
Speaker 1: the first article comes from the Family Footprint Project and
Speaker 1: is talking about, like Jen said, the mindset shifts for
Speaker 1: sustainable living, another kind of area that is lesser talked about,
Speaker 1: of what needs to happen in our thoughts and our
Speaker 1: mind before we're going to see the behavioral actions that follow.
Speaker 1: It always will begin first in our thoughts, but yet
Speaker 1: we just love to jump straight to the behaviors. It
Speaker 1: rarely works. So here we are with some of the mindsets,
Speaker 1: and the first one that they mentioned is imperfect action
Speaker 1: being willing to embrace and except actions that are imperfect.
Speaker 1: And I so appreciate even just starting with this tip,
Speaker 1: because I think anytime we talk about issues that we
Speaker 1: are facing in the world, where there might be injustice
Speaker 1: or difficulty or a demand for doing better that there
Speaker 1: can be then this really unforgiving mantra surrounding it of
Speaker 1: you have to be doing all of the things and
Speaker 1: it needs to rise to the same level of importance
Speaker 1: as I'm feeling right now as I dedicate my life
Speaker 1: to this thing. And I mean, I love all the
Speaker 1: advocacy people out there, but sometimes and I'm mostly also
Speaker 1: talking about myself because I've been in the injustice world
Speaker 1: for a long time. It can be all consuming and
Speaker 1: we can demand so much, and then that can lead
Speaker 1: to people just not doing anything. It feels so overwhelming.
Speaker 1: It's like I can't do that perfectly. I'm going to
Speaker 1: get yelled at. I don't even know if I want
Speaker 1: to touch it because it feels so volatile. But this
Speaker 1: new movement and new wave that is far less shaming
Speaker 1: and just recognizing small steps towards getting better. It is
Speaker 1: going to be imperfect. What's important to you is not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to be the most important thing to me,
Speaker 1: But in each of our own ways, finding what can
Speaker 1: we do to be actively moving towards greater levels of
Speaker 1: sustainability that will benefit our environment, the world around us,
Speaker 1: other people, ourselves. You don't have to do it perfectly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is unfortunate that we live in a culture that
Speaker 1: loves to point out imperfection, whether it be in the
Speaker 1: past or the present. It just loves to call out
Speaker 1: others imperfection, usually as a dec from our own imperfection,
Speaker 1: and so there's always going to be people out there
Speaker 1: that do that. But know that if you're taking small steps,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what other people are saying. You're going
Speaker 1: in the right direction, and you just have to have
Speaker 1: grace for people that might be judgmental and know that
Speaker 1: it comes out of their insecurity, not your lack of
Speaker 1: trying and moving in the right direction. Yes, the next
Speaker 1: is conscious consumption. This is the things having no intention
Speaker 1: of moving off the grid and living solely off the land,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure would mean fostering out my children, who
Speaker 1: would refuse to come with me. Oh, the author is
Speaker 1: definitely honest. She says, I'm faced with being a consumer,
Speaker 1: which we all are. We say this over and over again.
Speaker 1: Have you spend money? We spend money. We love spending money.
Speaker 1: Spending money is not the enemy, and very much in frugality,
Speaker 1: spending money is seen as the enemy. What really is
Speaker 1: the enemy is the mindless consumption. I mean, you are
Speaker 1: conscious if you're awake, but unconscious consumption. I like it.
Speaker 1: I like saying mindless habitual. That type of consumption that
Speaker 1: is the enemy. Actual consumption is not. So we want
Speaker 1: to move more towards intentional and conscious consumption of products.
Speaker 1: And so this article actually references the five RS that
Speaker 1: we talked about in last year's zero Waste episode, which
Speaker 1: is refuse, reduce, reuse, rot and recycle. And so we're
Speaker 1: very familiar with reduce, reuse, recycle, but in the zero
Speaker 1: waste world, first we refuse, and so that is refusing
Speaker 1: to bring things into your home that you do not need,
Speaker 1: refusing to bring things in that our impulse purchases are
Speaker 1: even free things from your buy nothing group that you
Speaker 1: probably don't need but are just taking for free. So
Speaker 1: that's the first one. And then it also adds rot
Speaker 1: before recycle, so if you have if you can compost,
Speaker 1: to try to do that first, and then recycle is last.
Speaker 1: So being very aware of the things that you're bringing
Speaker 1: into your home and being very aware of the things
Speaker 1: you are spending your money on and the journey that
Speaker 1: they took to get there. That alone, just having that
Speaker 1: mindset is that I'm conscious of the journey that my
Speaker 1: item took to my home can really change a lot
Speaker 1: about how you buy things. Yeah, and this is a
Speaker 1: great concept for us just solely financially, but how much
Speaker 1: more so when we add on the layer of the
Speaker 1: benefit it has for the environment when we are more
Speaker 1: conscious consumers. So I love it when we could just
Speaker 1: like stacks on stacks on stacks, really solid reasons for
Speaker 1: being mindful and good stewards. So there's just another one.
Speaker 1: And I love the additional rs refusing and rotting. That's
Speaker 1: perfect for me. The next one on this list is
Speaker 1: having this mindset that is more and more headed towards
Speaker 1: valuing second hand and I think a lot of people,
Speaker 1: if you do buy secondhand, might come at this concept
Speaker 1: for a variety of reasons. Some people enter into the
Speaker 1: secondhand purchasing world purely to save some money. Others enter
Speaker 1: into it purely from a reducing waste perspective. But it
Speaker 1: can serve all the purposes and as we're able to
Speaker 1: add more value to that, and it won't just be this, oh,
Speaker 1: let me just see if I can do this to
Speaker 1: save money, because the second we're not as concerned about
Speaker 1: spending less, then we might be buying new. And that's
Speaker 1: what the author gave as an example in their own
Speaker 1: lives of yeah, they used secondhand and free which is
Speaker 1: secondhand usually too. In their college days when they didn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of money, it was not only what's
Speaker 1: at the thrift store, but just what's on the side
Speaker 1: of the road, what's in someone's dumb start. But then
Speaker 1: the second they got a job that wasn't needed anymore
Speaker 1: for their lifestyle, and so they were buying new. And
Speaker 1: so to keep us on this track of secondhand purchasing
Speaker 1: can come when we are then also concerned about reducing
Speaker 1: waste and consuming in a more kind of ethical, sustainable
Speaker 1: kind of way, so wherever we can. And that goes
Speaker 1: along with the rs of reusing, repurposing, buying something that's
Speaker 1: already used. I love how they say they realized that
Speaker 1: the second thing is purchased or bought, it is now used.
Speaker 1: So even even if you are the one who purchased
Speaker 1: it new, now that you've bought it, it's used. So
Speaker 1: that can be a helpful reframe. If there are any
Speaker 1: barriers to buying used items, there can be some really
Speaker 1: amazing deals to be found, and also keeping things out
Speaker 1: of the landfill. So all about and I'm here for
Speaker 1: a secondhand And that's your thrift stores, that's your buy nothing,
Speaker 1: that's your Facebook market place, that's your hand me down
Speaker 1: from friends. Wherever you can get secondhand do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's a radical middle to be found here too.
Speaker 1: I talked to a mom once who was like, I
Speaker 1: can't buy my kids close secondhand because they go through
Speaker 1: them so fast. They're just so rough on their jeans.
Speaker 1: And that is very like, that's an extreme thought, is
Speaker 1: that I can't buy any of my kids close secondhand
Speaker 1: because they are so rough on them. I have to
Speaker 1: buy them firsthand. But there is a there is a
Speaker 1: radical middle so maybe your kid has ten pairs of jeans,
Speaker 1: five of them are new, five of them are thrifted.
Speaker 1: They go through those five, maybe faster than the new ones.
Speaker 1: But then maybe they can pass those new five those
Speaker 1: ones that were newer, pass those down to the next kid,
Speaker 1: and then they get five more new ones, or they
Speaker 1: just use out the thrifted ones faster, and by the
Speaker 1: time they're ready to move up in size, they are
Speaker 1: left with five pairs of jeans. You know, Alternatively, there's
Speaker 1: someone at the other end of that spectrum who has
Speaker 1: bought stuff that their kids never wore. So it's not
Speaker 1: as if you can't find things the thrift store that
Speaker 1: aren't already tattered. There are plenty of things that you
Speaker 1: can buy pre owned, but that doesn't always mean pre used.
Speaker 1: That's so true. Yeah, So there is a radical middle
Speaker 1: to be had in second hand. You do not have
Speaker 1: to be all secondhand or all new in anything. And
Speaker 1: I would just challenge you to explore how secondhand you
Speaker 1: can get in a reasonable like way that fits your lifestyle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for me, I always buy my undies new. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: are a full support of new new underwear. Full support
Speaker 1: if that was something is that's a question you had
Speaker 1: for the frugal friends. We just want to we just
Speaker 1: want to put that out there. Yeah, we are all
Speaker 1: your own. Yes, absolutely. So the next one is reevaluate assumptions,
Speaker 1: which is kind of what I was just talking about,
Speaker 1: with the mindset of having to be all in secondhand
Speaker 1: or all out, really reevaluate what you assume about your
Speaker 1: your footprint. So the author says, I've discovered assumptions that
Speaker 1: I held which prevented me from taking certain actions. I
Speaker 1: touched on an assumption about buying new above, so it
Speaker 1: was a similar thing that I said, and it was
Speaker 1: just what I did. I didn't think about it. I
Speaker 1: just assumed that was what people, including me did. So
Speaker 1: even if the people around you are doing things one way,
Speaker 1: we're here to tell you that there are people surely
Speaker 1: doing it another way, and maybe they're doing it all
Speaker 1: the way. But you don't have to do that either.
Speaker 1: So it is difficult to uncover your underlying assumptions. The
Speaker 1: author does acknowledge that because you don't know what you
Speaker 1: don't know, and that's kind of one of the reasons
Speaker 1: we do this podcast is just to open up mindsets
Speaker 1: to like reveal things that you may not know, but
Speaker 1: go in baby steps, go at a pace and change
Speaker 1: at a pace that is no pun intended, sustainable and
Speaker 1: doable for you. And always if you have an it
Speaker 1: like in your mind, something that you're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: can only do this because and you rationalized it out.
Speaker 1: If it's an absolute challenge, that challenge that mindset in yourself.
Speaker 1: If you have any absolute mindsets or thoughts, take a
Speaker 1: moment and just be like, Okay, I assume this is
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. Let me just live for a second
Speaker 1: if this wasn't one hundred percent. What would it look
Speaker 1: like that for this one hundred percent mindset to be untrue,
Speaker 1: and just think about how what that would look like.
Speaker 1: It's such a good exercise. It may not change everything entirely,
Speaker 1: but it's a good thing to know that not everything
Speaker 1: has to be boxed in and it might lead you
Speaker 1: to a really creative solution. So this is great for
Speaker 1: multiple reasons. The next article we want to go through
Speaker 1: now gives some actual tips of things that we can
Speaker 1: be lamenting to aim at greater levels of sustainability in
Speaker 1: some no cost ways, and it comes from Real Simple.
Speaker 1: The article is titled ten low cost and no cost
Speaker 1: ways to help the planet. This was in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: but we're just going to like move that over to
Speaker 1: also twenty twenty three. Up we will eat. We're not
Speaker 1: going to go through all ten. Both jenn and I
Speaker 1: are going to pick some of our favorites, and I
Speaker 1: will kick it off with one of my favorites, which
Speaker 1: is number one, reduce food waste. And again we reference
Speaker 1: that we did do an entire episode on this episode
Speaker 1: one seventy six if you want to take an even
Speaker 1: deeper dive into what this could look like. But the
Speaker 1: article reference is that globally we waste close to forty
Speaker 1: percent of all the food that's produced, which is really wah,
Speaker 1: that's so so so much food waste, which then leads
Speaker 1: to all sorts of greenhouse gas emissions, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's not great. It's a waste of money, it's a
Speaker 1: waste of food that could be sustaining us. And so
Speaker 1: wherever we can do our part, and I love the
Speaker 1: breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps. This is
Speaker 1: definitely something that every household can be implementing. It's not
Speaker 1: this big massive overhaul of lifestyle. It's tweaking things here
Speaker 1: and there, to make sure that we are only buying
Speaker 1: what we need, consuming what we've bought, being really wise
Speaker 1: and intentional with like even anything that's left over. And
Speaker 1: they I love the tips that they give of some
Speaker 1: simple steps to be moving towards less food waste, of
Speaker 1: taking that extra time to plan out your meals before
Speaker 1: you find yourself at the grocery store. I am definitely
Speaker 1: one who can think this is going to take way
Speaker 1: longer than it actually does, but it truly only needs
Speaker 1: to take ten minutes to sit down, look at your
Speaker 1: week and identify, Okay, when will I be out this week,
Speaker 1: when will I be sharing a meal with friends? When
Speaker 1: will I be home? And what can the plan be. Then,
Speaker 1: because you're at home, you can compare what you plan
Speaker 1: on making to what you already have in the fridge
Speaker 1: and pantry and really only buy what you need. Also
Speaker 1: making good use of your freezer. So if you've cooked
Speaker 1: extra and you know, if I put this in a
Speaker 1: container in the fridge, it probably won't get eaten because
Speaker 1: we're going to be gone most of the rest of
Speaker 1: the week, then throw it in the freezer. I think
Speaker 1: that earlier on in my reducing food waste journey, this
Speaker 1: was one of my biggest downfalls of thinking, Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: just put it in the fridge, and then a week
Speaker 1: would go by and there we go, we've got to
Speaker 1: throw it out, and so realizing how better to utilize
Speaker 1: my freezer, which also plays into that earlier step of
Speaker 1: meal planning, planning stuff that is very freezeable, knowing I'm
Speaker 1: going to have left over, and that's just like a
Speaker 1: double whammy because then you've got food already prepared for
Speaker 1: your busy nights. And also recognizing the difference between expiration
Speaker 1: dates and best before dates. I think sometimes we can
Speaker 1: be overly cautious. I'm like treading very carefully here, but
Speaker 1: best before is not the same thing as expired. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to tell you to like eat moldy or
Speaker 1: rancid things, but recognize that if something, yeah, that you
Speaker 1: just opened recently, but the best before date is past,
Speaker 1: it could still very well be that you can eat
Speaker 1: that thing, And to not let your desire to just
Speaker 1: purge and have a very clean looking fridge overtake the
Speaker 1: necessity of reducing food waste. If it is about to
Speaker 1: go bad, is there a way that you could cook
Speaker 1: that into a meal that quickly goes into the freezer
Speaker 1: or something before it goes bad. Number two is to
Speaker 1: recycle smarter, not harder. And I am reminded of this
Speaker 1: when I think back to our episode with Ron Gonan
Speaker 1: on The Circular Economy about like dream cycling. So don't
Speaker 1: throw something in the recycling bin just because you want
Speaker 1: it to be recyclable. To actually know what is recyclable,
Speaker 1: and it's different in many cities, even like communities within
Speaker 1: cities for some reason, so you should please, please please.
Speaker 1: It takes no extra cost. It is absolutely free to
Speaker 1: do a Google search on how to recycle. So just
Speaker 1: making sure things are clean, and if you in all honestly,
Speaker 1: if you don't feel like cleaning it, if you don't
Speaker 1: have the time, to throw it away, because if you
Speaker 1: put something into the recycling that will not be accepted,
Speaker 1: it could contaminate the entire bin, and which in which
Speaker 1: case nothing, even recyclable items, nothing will get recycled in
Speaker 1: that bin. So please just be on the cautious side.
Speaker 1: Don't or wish, don't wish cycle. Please educate yourself on recycling,
Speaker 1: how clean certain things need to be, YadA YadA, so
Speaker 1: that the things in your bin do actually get recycled.
Speaker 1: The next on here happens to be number three that
Speaker 1: I also love or reduce, reduce, reduced. So yes, recycling
Speaker 1: is good, but reducing our waste is even better. And
Speaker 1: a lot of times in this article too is specifically
Speaker 1: talking about those single use plastics. Oh, they are such
Speaker 1: a culprit and that just leads to an overwhelming amount
Speaker 1: of waste when we are only using something one time,
Speaker 1: just like the toll that that takes on all aspects
Speaker 1: of the production and then the post production following the use.
Speaker 1: There's so much that can be said for just decreasing
Speaker 1: the amount of single use plastics that we're relying upon
Speaker 1: in our daily lives. And usually that too just means
Speaker 1: a small, some small tweaks in various areas of life
Speaker 1: to identify where am I consuming the most plastics, Where
Speaker 1: am I utilizing these kind of single use conveniences that
Speaker 1: with one small shift really could make a big impact
Speaker 1: at least for my footprint. And again, love the examples
Speaker 1: that they're giving here which applied to most of us.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the plastic bags and so a simple
Speaker 1: switch to taking your own bags with you to the
Speaker 1: grocery store and not relying upon the plastic bags that
Speaker 1: are just given and then who knows what to do
Speaker 1: with all of them afterwards. This is talking about eliminating
Speaker 1: those plastic bottle usages. Take your own reusable water bottle
Speaker 1: everywhere you go. If you're afraid of running out of water,
Speaker 1: get a bigger water bottle, or take two medium sized
Speaker 1: water bottles or three small water bottles. You get the point.
Speaker 1: And also considering those utensils. Another really common one is
Speaker 1: getting the plastic utensils wherever you're going. Usually it's your
Speaker 1: fast food restaurants, but plenty of places just utilizing plastic utensils.
Speaker 1: I it sounds crazy, but I will carry around like
Speaker 1: I will have my own utensils in my vehicle that
Speaker 1: I can reuse, so I don't need if I am
Speaker 1: happening to find myself in a drive through or getting
Speaker 1: take out, I don't need to take the plastic utensils
Speaker 1: from them. So keeping these types of things in mind,
Speaker 1: keeping your car stocked so you're prepared, so there's less
Speaker 1: opportunity for going for that convenience one time use plastics,
Speaker 1: and then just these other shifts. Again, I would say
Speaker 1: we're not imperfect action. So don't focus on the things
Speaker 1: that only you're intersecting with like once a month. We
Speaker 1: want to look at how like the things you're using
Speaker 1: more regularly. Are there single use plastic items that you're
Speaker 1: using every single day? Start there. We want to look
Speaker 1: for like the high impact items, not necessarily like the
Speaker 1: one time low impact this has only happened, hope happens
Speaker 1: once a month. Yeah, So the next one for me,
Speaker 1: I'm going to skip down to six and I'm just
Speaker 1: going to say it again because it's on the list,
Speaker 1: so I can opt for used items. So the amount
Speaker 1: of waste finding its way into landfills is a growing problem.
Speaker 1: And spoiler alert, you pay for landfills, so you may know.
Speaker 1: There are some communities that do make you pay for
Speaker 1: waste removal, which I love. Even if you are living
Speaker 1: in a community where that's just standard, you don't have
Speaker 1: the option to pay or not pay, you still you
Speaker 1: pay for it. And as the need for landfills increases,
Speaker 1: that cost will go up and you will pay for it,
Speaker 1: your children will pay for it, your your grandchildren will
Speaker 1: pay for it. So we really need to be opting
Speaker 1: for used items when it is possible. The average American
Speaker 1: produces about one thousand, seven hundred and four pounds of
Speaker 1: garbage every year, which is three times the global average.
Speaker 1: It is insane. So we need to start reducing our waste. Reduce, reduce, refuse,
Speaker 1: but also opting for used and so yes to buy
Speaker 1: a throwt store. That costs a little bit of money,
Speaker 1: which goes against the title of the article, but there
Speaker 1: are ways to get used things for free to Obviously
Speaker 1: we talk about buy nothing groups a lot, but if
Speaker 1: you are not on Facebook or don't want to babysit
Speaker 1: the buy nothing group, just in your like, look at
Speaker 1: your community and what are the things that you collectively
Speaker 1: own or individually own that you could collectively use. I
Speaker 1: think we've talked about our friend Joseph who has a
Speaker 1: but he loves he loves his pressure washer and he
Speaker 1: loves when people ask him to use it because he
Speaker 1: doesn't get to use it. Yeah yeah, So so think
Speaker 1: about stuff like that. Get together with your friends and
Speaker 1: talk about that kind of stuff. Things that you can borrow.
Speaker 1: You don't have to own something to you. What are
Speaker 1: the things that I can lend? What are the things
Speaker 1: that I can borrow so that we can lower our
Speaker 1: consumption rate and lower our waste and hopefully peter out
Speaker 1: the need the growing need for landfills. He is number eight.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with this even though we're talking
Speaker 1: about no cost, but we all do spend money, so
Speaker 1: rehighlighting this idea of spending with purpose, being a conscious consumer,
Speaker 1: making sure that the money we do spend has been
Speaker 1: thought about, is intentional, is going to keep things out
Speaker 1: of the landfill rather than add to it. That again
Speaker 1: also just helps our wallet. But I also like how
Speaker 1: they are advocating for some of these new credit cards
Speaker 1: that are popping up on the market that are focused
Speaker 1: on funding causes. They reference that there's this aspiration zero card.
Speaker 1: These are debit cards. They're not even credit cards. So
Speaker 1: if you don't want a credit card, these are debits.
Speaker 1: It plants a tree for every single purchase you make,
Speaker 1: which seems insane. So there you go. There's your no
Speaker 1: cost if you're just already spending money, and then this
Speaker 1: is just like no cost to you to actually be
Speaker 1: doing good with your purchases, and the card gives you
Speaker 1: one percent cash back for your purchases. We're not there's
Speaker 1: no sponsorship here. I'm just breading this article. Might have
Speaker 1: a credit card too, but they also have a debit
Speaker 1: card that does pretty much the same thing. That's a
Speaker 1: really cool additional way of spending with purpose, not just
Speaker 1: conscious consumerism, but figuring out how my spending can go
Speaker 1: further in utilizing resources like these debit and credit cards
Speaker 1: that are also on team sustainability. Yeah, and this Climate
Speaker 1: First Bank, I'm going to pay you back. My third
Speaker 1: is also going to be number eight because I love
Speaker 1: this Climate First Bank, which is another eco driven debit
Speaker 1: hard that recently announced a one of a kind regeneration
Speaker 1: checking account which for every qualifying regeneration account open Climate
Speaker 1: First makes a one hundred dollar donation to Project Regenera Regeneration.
Speaker 1: So it's a nonprofit focused on ending the climate crisis.
Speaker 1: So there are a ton of ways where you can
Speaker 1: go further. I really believe that credit unions, using credit
Speaker 1: unions for most of your banking really reinvests in the
Speaker 1: community that in itself is sustainable. Not everything has not
Speaker 1: all sustainability has to do with with the climate, but
Speaker 1: it can also be you know, sustainability and keeping money local.
Speaker 1: But these banks also are very climate driven, and there's
Speaker 1: all kinds of ESG funds coming in you know, to
Speaker 1: your IRA or your four oh one K. There are
Speaker 1: definitely ways to not spend extra, but spend money you're
Speaker 1: already going to spend, whether that's you know, on regular
Speaker 1: stuff or investments. Whatever they can have like an added
Speaker 1: can go a little bit further. Yes, I love that.
Speaker 1: Automating generosity too give be awesome. They also reference ways
Speaker 1: to be engaged in advocacy efforts and volunteerism. So these
Speaker 1: are obviously free ways, but then they also become activities
Speaker 1: and they get us involved in the community and meeting
Speaker 1: other like minded people. So there's so much that can
Speaker 1: be done here that doesn't involve us spending more money
Speaker 1: just to become more eco friendly and sustainable, Like most
Speaker 1: of the efforts are not spending money. Yeah, we've said
Speaker 1: this from day one. You cannot buy your way to green,
Speaker 1: and many climate activists will say the same thing, you
Speaker 1: cannot buy your way to green. It's a marketing tool.
Speaker 1: So and when you know that, then then you can
Speaker 1: take this more radical middle approach of not having to
Speaker 1: be perfect but just desiring to be better. Do you
Speaker 1: know what else can't be purchased, but is just getting
Speaker 1: better and better always automatically organically. I would never say
Speaker 1: do better, but it's always becoming better. The bill of
Speaker 1: the week, that's right, it's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week, Ay, Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: My bill of the week was my phone bill. I
Speaker 1: message our carrier, our data carrier, about getting a lower
Speaker 1: rate because they were advertising a lower rate to new
Speaker 1: customers and we've been with them for almost nine years.
Speaker 1: So I negotiated with them and got twenty dollars off
Speaker 1: every month as a loyalty discount. So now we're gonna
Speaker 1: be saving two hundred and forty dollars every year just
Speaker 1: by negotiating and talking with them. So yeah, thank you nice.
Speaker 1: I love this. I love these examples of a simple
Speaker 1: phone call negotiation station and getting a lower monthly payment
Speaker 1: that we're not talking a one time discount, which I'm
Speaker 1: also here for. Those are great, But when we can
Speaker 1: reduce monthly expenses because you made one phone call, that's amazing. Kayla,
Speaker 1: well done. Yes, congratulations Kayla. The phone bill we found
Speaker 1: phone and internet if you have complete competing internet providers,
Speaker 1: but always the phone bill easiest one to lower, honestly easiest.
Speaker 1: Mmmmm yeah. I mean, gosh, give him a call or
Speaker 1: switch providers. I mean there's enough providers. Heyla did it,
Speaker 1: so can you yea? Oh well, if you all are
Speaker 1: listening and you also lowered a bill regularly, or you
Speaker 1: got to discount one time on something, or you know
Speaker 1: anything else just basically related to being bill, visit Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill
Speaker 1: be a bill, all about them bills, and now it's
Speaker 1: time for the lightning round. Shout you off, all right,
Speaker 1: So we know you guys love hacks. So today's question,
Speaker 1: what is your favorite free, eco friendly hack? Jill, I
Speaker 1: love yours. Can you go first? I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's a hack. I mean there's a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: that goes along with the word a hack. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I love composting you Honestly, I guess now that I say,
Speaker 1: it does feel like a hack, And the more that
Speaker 1: I've gotten into composting, it feels like a hack to
Speaker 1: reducing waste because I am getting rid of stuff I
Speaker 1: am consuming and like throwing away, but instead of throwing
Speaker 1: it into the trash that goes to the landfill, I
Speaker 1: am throwing it into a compost bin that gets turned
Speaker 1: into gold gardener's gold that helps my veggies, thus saving
Speaker 1: money on taxes and landfills in the future. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: saving money on needing to buy like the expensive soil
Speaker 1: that's full of all the nutrients. I'm making it myself.
Speaker 1: And the deeper I've gotten into the world deeper composting
Speaker 1: he is, indeed, Well, I mean I'm not that deep,
Speaker 1: Like don't don't try and like DM me with like
Speaker 1: the dark web of composting, because I'm not there yet.
Speaker 1: I'm just like I'm I'm at one o two, there's
Speaker 1: one oh one, and then I'm at one o two.
Speaker 1: But I'm learning how much can be composted. I think
Speaker 1: before I did this, I had no clue. And now
Speaker 1: it's dryer land, it's some cardboard, it's certain types of
Speaker 1: paper products, it's my coffee filters like so much. And
Speaker 1: so I am now at the point where I confuse
Speaker 1: my guests because my recycling bin is larger than my
Speaker 1: trash can I literally have one of those very tiny
Speaker 1: like goes in the bathroom types of trash cans for
Speaker 1: all of my trash, which I then had to label
Speaker 1: because all of my guests was throwing things out into
Speaker 1: the recycling bin. I'm like, ash, I didn't identify that
Speaker 1: soon enough for people ball and they're like, this is weird.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm on a low waist journey, and they like,
Speaker 1: learn more about me than they bargained for it. But
Speaker 1: I'm able to do that because I compost and again
Speaker 1: I'm getting rid of stuff. It just is in like
Speaker 1: the best way where it rots and it turns into
Speaker 1: great material. It feels like a hack. I love it.
Speaker 1: I do love composting. We are not composting right now,
Speaker 1: but it is such a satisfying feeling to turn garbage
Speaker 1: into dirt. Yeah. And I also love the ritual of
Speaker 1: walking out to my compost bin. Like I don't love
Speaker 1: it if it's like ten pm and my compost bin
Speaker 1: is full and it's raining outside. But most days, when
Speaker 1: I take my compost bin from the kitchen and I
Speaker 1: dump it into you know, my like actual actual compost
Speaker 1: bin outside, it's a really nice ritual. It draws me
Speaker 1: out to my garden regularly, and that's great. It's great
Speaker 1: for the soul. That's beautiful. Thanks Se. What about you?
Speaker 1: What's your hack? Hack? So I have gotten away from Facebook,
Speaker 1: but I can still go to Facebook Marketplace, and so
Speaker 1: there are people that will post things for free on
Speaker 1: Facebook Marketplace, and so that is the hack that we
Speaker 1: have been using most recently. I don't have to babysit it.
Speaker 1: I can maybe get a notification if it's something I need. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm not the one doing it. It's mostly Travis. He's
Speaker 1: the one that does it. But I do love some
Speaker 1: of the stuff that we have been able to acquire.
Speaker 1: Some of the needs we've been able to meet for
Speaker 1: free because of Facebook Marketplace, and not a lot of
Speaker 1: people are there for the free part of it, so
Speaker 1: it feels like a hack. So yeah, that is that's
Speaker 1: mine right now. Yeah, you've done so well. You were
Speaker 1: just We love when when I visit Gen's house, I
Speaker 1: get updates on her renovation progress. So when she visits
Speaker 1: my house, she tours my updates. And You've always got
Speaker 1: something really great that coincides with your aesthetic. I think
Speaker 1: sometimes there can be this idea that if I'm getting
Speaker 1: it for free for my home, then my home's just
Speaker 1: going to be this hodgepodge of items that are kind
Speaker 1: of dented and bruised and broken and nothing matches. But
Speaker 1: reality is people are giving away, they're gently used, very
Speaker 1: beautiful items for a variety of reasons, and you can
Speaker 1: benefit from that. Like your things are not a hodgepodge,
Speaker 1: they all and that comes with you know, the practice
Speaker 1: and curating and being patient and keeping an eye out.
Speaker 1: But you've found some really great stuff that has reduced
Speaker 1: the cost of your renovations and has reduced waste. Love that, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: So we hope that in this first episode of February
Speaker 1: we have inspired you to make some free changes to
Speaker 1: be a little more eco friendly for the year to come.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for listening. We love reading
Speaker 1: your kind reviews too. So we're going to take a
Speaker 1: break from member wins from Frugal Friends Club and share
Speaker 1: this one from Bella Niente, bell Niente. Maybe it's a
Speaker 1: nice I like this name. It just happens to be
Speaker 1: five stars and she she titles it the life Coaches
Speaker 1: I'm too cheap to pay for. We don't use the
Speaker 1: c word, but I care for that. Yes, and I
Speaker 1: don't know anyone's ever referenced me as a life coach. Show.
Speaker 1: Jen and Jill's podcast is helpful for everyday life making
Speaker 1: finances down to earth. I appreciate the very easy to
Speaker 1: implement ideas from inexpensive plants to spruce up your yard
Speaker 1: to grocery ideas. So often their frugal ideas from swapping
Speaker 1: to skimping are also the sustainable choice, and I love that, belligente.
Speaker 1: I love all of your alliteration swapping, skimping, sustainable. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're not here for deprivation, but we are here for
Speaker 1: wise conscious decisions. Yes, So it sounds like you are too,
Speaker 1: thank you and we are so thankful to have you
Speaker 1: as a listener. If you enjoyed the show, please take
Speaker 1: a minute to leave a raining and review. It helps
Speaker 1: potential new listeners know what our show is all about,
Speaker 1: know what they're getting into. So if they're here for
Speaker 1: a different type of frugality, they can try something else.
Speaker 1: They are, they don't have to waste their time an
Speaker 1: hour of their time, or maybe they might want to
Speaker 1: after they read these really great reviews, maybe they need
Speaker 1: a life coach and Oh, I don't want to overpromise anything.
Speaker 1: We might kind of give you something that's useful. See
Speaker 1: you next time. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Oh,
Speaker 1: I went to my compost been the other day and
Speaker 1: found some things sprouting. I went like, I attended to
Speaker 1: my compost and I met the other day in secret.
Speaker 1: I went to my secret guns in the dark, which
Speaker 1: is where seeds sprout. Oh, there's so many beautiful life
Speaker 1: met a force that happened the garden. There's your life
Speaker 1: coaching seeds. Well, I mean they just call it therapy.
Speaker 1: Dirn't come from but that's we Like dirt, seeds need
Speaker 1: the darkness to germanate. Most seeds germanate in the dead.
Speaker 1: People sleep for the for the Mormon and the sunshine.
Speaker 1: Why I can't skip what you just said. The pregnant
Speaker 1: one over here is telling us how life works. It's no.
Speaker 1: You heal when you sleep your body. That's what I thought.
Speaker 1: You're talking about procreation. You were awake, Yeah, that's illegal.
Speaker 1: If you were asleep when that happened, don't take that.
Speaker 1: But if you're trying to heal or something, your body
Speaker 1: does a lot of work when you're sleeping, and there
Speaker 1: were reaches out for the morning sun and reluctantly, so
Speaker 1: full of hope. I don't know how you wake up.
Speaker 1: But there are seeds sprouting in my compost. I'm like, ash,
Speaker 1: Should I pull them out? What's trying to grow? But
Speaker 1: instead I just dump more composts. Look at that, Look
Speaker 1: at that beautiful little baby seed. It will never live,
Speaker 1: and maybe it will, maybe more will happen. We shall
Speaker 1: say that's beautiful, Jill, that's a beautiful life metaphor lesson. Wow,
Speaker 1: I mean we really should be charging for this life
Speaker 1: coaching coaching that's happening. Yeah, maybe we'll add that to
Speaker 1: charging for counseling. And it's way more than I could
Speaker 1: charge for podcasting. Think I'll stick with that. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: not a counselor, so follow follow Jen for more life
Speaker 1: coach for discount life coaching for free. It's called the
Speaker 1: podcast Us. Look it up.