Speaker 1: Episode one oh three, how to Live a zero waste
Speaker 1: lifestyle Frugally. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll
Speaker 1: learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liberate your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill m. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name's Jill, and we are talking all about zero
Speaker 1: waste eco friendly living today. It's always been a benefit
Speaker 1: of frugality and so now we're kind of going to
Speaker 1: talk about it in and of the It is the
Speaker 1: main goal and how to fit frugality around an eco
Speaker 1: friendly lifestyle. Yeah, so good summary. Yeah. I'm excited about
Speaker 1: the articles and the tips we've got. Yes, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to share some some personal details in this episode
Speaker 1: because this is that really hits home for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I am. I'm excited. We've done a lot of
Speaker 1: listener requests and this was a me request. I put
Speaker 1: this in here because I wanted to, Yeah, because I
Speaker 1: had these questions and so now I'm answering them perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's another version of frugality that along the
Speaker 1: lines of how minimalism intertwines with frugality. Zero waste intertwines
Speaker 1: with it. I would not say that I live a
Speaker 1: zero waste lifestyle, but I'm definitely intrigued by it and
Speaker 1: learning more about it too, even through like researching this episode.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I'm excited to to get into these articles.
Speaker 1: But first, our sponsors. Our other sponsor today is Earth Day.
Speaker 1: Every April, we celebrate the planet we live on and
Speaker 1: its environment. This year we celebrate the fiftieth official Earth
Speaker 1: Day by posting eco friendly quote, heartfelt post on Facebook
Speaker 1: and going to a free event with a folk band,
Speaker 1: whatever you choose to do. Remember, you only have one
Speaker 1: Earth to live on, so take care of it, because
Speaker 1: it takes longer to get to Mars than we originally thought.
Speaker 1: I was going to say something about Mars like, well
Speaker 1: there is always Mars, but there you go. You debunked
Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, So take take care of your Earth.
Speaker 1: And one of the ways to do that is by
Speaker 1: reducing your waste, especially your plastic waste. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you know this, Jill, but there there's a like
Speaker 1: a swirling vortex of plastic in the ocean, like off
Speaker 1: the coast of California that is supposedly bigger than the
Speaker 1: United States. What Yeah, that is a thing. I saw
Speaker 1: a picture of it's a meme and I saw it
Speaker 1: in a documentary, so I saw too places, so it
Speaker 1: must be true. But two times the charm right, regardless
Speaker 1: of how big it is, it exists. And if we
Speaker 1: want to keep preserving the earth that we live on
Speaker 1: because we're not getting to Mars in our lifetime, no,
Speaker 1: unfortunately no, So we have to be aware of what
Speaker 1: we're doing and it doesn't have to be expensive to
Speaker 1: do so. Right. Well, if anything, I think it is
Speaker 1: the frugal option, which is there's so many benefits to frugality,
Speaker 1: this being one of them, and there's so many tips
Speaker 1: in here that coincide with what living a frugal lifestyle means,
Speaker 1: and especially for those who are concerned about living an
Speaker 1: eco friendly lifestyle. Um, yeah, you can take it up
Speaker 1: a notch and then reap the financial benefits of it. Yes.
Speaker 1: So our first article is from Hestiest Speaks, and it
Speaker 1: is how to go zero waste on the eap or
Speaker 1: as we would say, on the frugal or on a
Speaker 1: budget fruit on the flippity frugal. And she had a
Speaker 1: lot of great ta how to make zero waste affordable? Yeah,
Speaker 1: This was a good a good article for me to
Speaker 1: to even understand more about what the goals of zero
Speaker 1: waste are and what that specific lifestyle means. Certainly it
Speaker 1: does intertwine with minimalism and frugality, um and sustainable living,
Speaker 1: but I mean, it's not too hard to grasp that
Speaker 1: it's talking about limiting the amount of waste that we create,
Speaker 1: not throwing as much away, nor being not not buying
Speaker 1: into this kind of throwaway culture that we live in.
Speaker 1: And so she gives tips for sustainable living on a
Speaker 1: budget because certainly, as with anything you could spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money, just being minimal does not necessarily mean
Speaker 1: that you're being frugal. It can just being zero waste
Speaker 1: does not mean that you're being frugal, because you could
Speaker 1: spend tons and tons and tons of money on all
Speaker 1: of the things that you need to make your own products,
Speaker 1: to have sustainable things, to have reusable things, and in
Speaker 1: the long run, a lot of those things do save
Speaker 1: you money, but you could get really carried away in
Speaker 1: like what you think you need trying to buy your
Speaker 1: way to green. Yes, yeah, that's a good way of
Speaker 1: surprising it. So anyhow, we're going to share with you
Speaker 1: our top tips, but certainly check out the article for more.
Speaker 1: There's a lot, a lot more than what we're going
Speaker 1: to go through. So the first one she mentions is
Speaker 1: glass jars and how reusable and multipurpose glass jars can be.
Speaker 1: And I love the tip that she says in here.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we want the instagram perfect photo of
Speaker 1: all of our pay entry items and fringe items organized
Speaker 1: in glass jars that are beautiful, and yes, that does
Speaker 1: do something for me. But encouraging us to reuse what
Speaker 1: we have. So if you get pasta in a jar,
Speaker 1: don't just throw away the jar because the pasta sauces gone.
Speaker 1: Reuse it for something, clean it out, take the label off,
Speaker 1: and reuse it to store your dried pantry items or
Speaker 1: coffee or fill in the blank. So I like that
Speaker 1: to I use utilize reuse jars a lot of times
Speaker 1: to give flowers to friends, like once pasta sauces emptier
Speaker 1: or you name it um as a vase, So I'm
Speaker 1: not going out and purchasing vases every time i want
Speaker 1: to give a gift. And I love she also mentioned
Speaker 1: that you could just go to people's recycling bins and
Speaker 1: pull jars out of there instead of dumpster diving, recycle ravaging.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's it, there is. Yeah, so I cover
Speaker 1: today you can find really cool doris. That way you
Speaker 1: don't have to just live with the lame jars that
Speaker 1: you buy cool jars. What did I loved the obviously
Speaker 1: the meal planning. So we talk about meal planning a
Speaker 1: lot as a way to reduce your wasted food, and
Speaker 1: so she gives it as a tip, you will buy less.
Speaker 1: If you meal plan, you will waste less. You will
Speaker 1: ultimately save money. But it's not even about saving money
Speaker 1: for people who want to live an eco friendly and
Speaker 1: zero waste lifestyle. Buying less of what you don't need,
Speaker 1: buying in like a fewer quantities helps keep agriculture sustainable
Speaker 1: because we throw away so much food these farms, whether
Speaker 1: it's wheat, corn, whatever, or dairy house chickens, whatever, These
Speaker 1: farmers are forced to meet demand. And so if we
Speaker 1: will stop wasting food, if we will stop buying a
Speaker 1: surplus um that goes wasted, then we can reduce the
Speaker 1: amount that they need. We can reduce the size of
Speaker 1: the farms that they need. We can make becoming a
Speaker 1: farmer more of a viable profession. If farmers don't need
Speaker 1: these mega farms too, so it's not just UM for
Speaker 1: the environment, but it's economical for those people as well.
Speaker 1: I know, like my father in law owns a farm
Speaker 1: and he's like a small, small time farmer, but it's
Speaker 1: his business and so it just goes down the supply
Speaker 1: chain like it starts at you, but it does have
Speaker 1: a bigger impact if we're all like making these small choices,
Speaker 1: and it's friendlier on your budget too. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would imagine that most people print when they have to
Speaker 1: throw away food that they didn't use, Like who likes that?
Speaker 1: Essentially throwing away money. You're throwing away something that could
Speaker 1: have been good, but you didn't use it and it
Speaker 1: went bad, and that's sad. And this may be one
Speaker 1: of the times where being zero waste isn't as optimizing
Speaker 1: UM as frugality, because we like to get the lowest
Speaker 1: price per ounce, price per pound, and that means buying
Speaker 1: larger quantities and sometimes you can freeze those and it's fine,
Speaker 1: but there's some things that you can't or don't want
Speaker 1: to freeze, and therefore you sacrifice the lower price per
Speaker 1: ounce to get the lower quantity, so that you waste
Speaker 1: less and that's fine. Yeah, so kind of along what
Speaker 1: you're saying. She mentions another tip in here about simplifying
Speaker 1: your meals and so not spending on all the fancy
Speaker 1: olive oils and vinegarettes and ingredient but rather really paring
Speaker 1: down to food that's going to be sustainable and tasty,
Speaker 1: but not you know, a mile wide of all these
Speaker 1: different ingredients that inevitably are going to go bad. Something's
Speaker 1: going to go bad and you're not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to use it. And so I love her one tip
Speaker 1: or example that she uses in here of when she
Speaker 1: purchases veggies, getting three rather than five. And I can
Speaker 1: struggle with this in myself. I noticed it recently, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to make a pasta salad and I want
Speaker 1: it to be multicolored. So what do I gotta get?
Speaker 1: I gotta get, you know, like ten different veggies, and
Speaker 1: in reality it tastes just as good with three, whether
Speaker 1: that's a stir fry or salad or you name it.
Speaker 1: I love this kind of shift in mindset of I
Speaker 1: can get some fewer veggies that still have still work
Speaker 1: well together, give a lot of flavor, but not more
Speaker 1: quantity in my fridge. Me. Also, I don't have the
Speaker 1: space in my fridge that that eventually it's it's gonna
Speaker 1: go back, something's gonna get thrown away. Yeah. You can
Speaker 1: take every season and just get the same three veggies
Speaker 1: like every season or like every month, and just say,
Speaker 1: like April is carrots, celery, and onion a month, and
Speaker 1: so we're going to make things that incorporate all these
Speaker 1: and then pick something else for the next month. And
Speaker 1: it helps speed along meal planning, um. And it also
Speaker 1: helps you solidify recipes that are kind of your go
Speaker 1: to recipes, which speeds up cooking time. Um. And it
Speaker 1: also like helps the environment in yeah, which also helps
Speaker 1: you to eat in season, which I know we mentioned
Speaker 1: in a previous episode just about meal planning, but it
Speaker 1: is more cost effective to eat the produce that's in
Speaker 1: seasons rather than trying to do strawberries out of season,
Speaker 1: where you're gonna pay like double or triple the amount.
Speaker 1: Eat the strawberries when they're in sea, and do your
Speaker 1: root veggies in the winter, do your do your berries
Speaker 1: and you know, lighter veggies in the summer. And I've
Speaker 1: even read too that it's good for our bodies to
Speaker 1: be following the seasons with what we input, because we
Speaker 1: need different things when it's freezing outside versus when it's
Speaker 1: a hundred degrees outside. So all of these things that
Speaker 1: are already good for us good for the environment over
Speaker 1: our budgets, like we can be doing and it helps.
Speaker 1: It's a win win, win win win. Yes, And it's
Speaker 1: good for farmers and the people that those farmers employ.
Speaker 1: I'm obviously very sensitive to like the business behind food um,
Speaker 1: but buying in season helps everyone so and it's and
Speaker 1: you know, and it's good for the environment. Another thing
Speaker 1: I liked on this list was to simplify the non
Speaker 1: food products you use. So that kind of relates back
Speaker 1: to minimal is um and like so your makeup products,
Speaker 1: your skincare, your your bath, anything that you use up
Speaker 1: to simplify it as much as possible, kind of like
Speaker 1: our airbnb host, oh old spice body wash, shampoo, dish soap.
Speaker 1: It was so gross. It was just one one old
Speaker 1: spice bottle in different dispensers in different places around the
Speaker 1: Airbnb closing is different things. Yeah, that was a gross
Speaker 1: way of doing this. Don't do that if you're okay
Speaker 1: with that, But like cool, go for it. I hate
Speaker 1: the smell of old spice. Yeah, I learned find find
Speaker 1: a product that can be versatile for you. Um, but
Speaker 1: you can also cut out products. So maybe you're using
Speaker 1: like a toner and a face wash and a face
Speaker 1: something else, Like maybe you just need to change your
Speaker 1: face wash to something that's like a three in one
Speaker 1: or something. I don't have a really great skincare regiment,
Speaker 1: so I can't really speak to them. And like I
Speaker 1: already have a very simple makeup regiment. I didn't wear
Speaker 1: makeup for a year, so now it's I'm super simple
Speaker 1: with what I wear. But experiment and and all the
Speaker 1: things that you use that are not food, just think
Speaker 1: about those as well, because those sometimes get forgotten, like
Speaker 1: as we think of them as necessities, that it's worth
Speaker 1: like getting creative and not considering them necessities and see
Speaker 1: how that goes for you. Also, the tip on growing
Speaker 1: herbs indoors. So buying fresh herbs is a decent expense,
Speaker 1: and they can go bad pretty quickly. I mean I'll
Speaker 1: be honest, a lot of times I will rep waste
Speaker 1: fresh herbs with the dried herbs and recipes just to
Speaker 1: not purchase the new stuff, But how much better to
Speaker 1: grow it yourself and be able to use the fresh
Speaker 1: herbs but not have to pay for it. And it
Speaker 1: just is a bit more sustainable that way because then
Speaker 1: they're not all cut Like you take what you need
Speaker 1: for as you need it for each recipe, and the
Speaker 1: rest can kind of keep growing in your window sill.
Speaker 1: So I love that idea. Plus it's plants in your
Speaker 1: house and that's lovely. Yeah, I personally kill herbs, and
Speaker 1: so that doesn't work for me, But there are plenty
Speaker 1: of other tips I can follow. Yes, you do you
Speaker 1: you use the dry herbs then, but I use them
Speaker 1: all up and I make sure that when I meal plan,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to incorporate dry herbs the dryers that I
Speaker 1: have like into my recipes so they actually get used
Speaker 1: and I just don't have like dry herbs languishing in
Speaker 1: the back of my pantry forever. So that's something that
Speaker 1: a lot of people neglect in their pantry, is the
Speaker 1: herb section. But I encourage you to meal plan around
Speaker 1: your herbs as well. The next thing I liked on
Speaker 1: this list was some I mean, we talked about this
Speaker 1: almost every episode. Choose secondhand. First, it's really the way
Speaker 1: to being zero waste. It's it's the number one way,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to be like confined to thrift
Speaker 1: stores to choose secondhand first. There are so many options
Speaker 1: for getting the things you need second hand and saving
Speaker 1: money on them. eBay is a great place to go
Speaker 1: to find like specialty items. I love online thrift stores
Speaker 1: like thread up. We actually have a affiliate link for them.
Speaker 1: You go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash threat up.
Speaker 1: You can get ten dollars off your first order, no minimums.
Speaker 1: You can get like a even dollar thing and ten
Speaker 1: dollars off of it. Um. So I love I get
Speaker 1: clothes from there whenever I need them. Um. You can
Speaker 1: also do Posh, Posh Mark and Marcari for clothes, but
Speaker 1: I found that a lot of those sellers will post
Speaker 1: the same thing on eBay and make it cheaper because
Speaker 1: fewer people are going to eBay for clothes. So like,
Speaker 1: always check eBay is the moral of this story. Um.
Speaker 1: But like also Facebook, Marketplace, Craigslist, offer up check, just
Speaker 1: check those places first and if you don't find what
Speaker 1: you need within a few weeks or a month, figure
Speaker 1: out if you even need it at all. Um. And
Speaker 1: if you really do, if you're really hurting, then go
Speaker 1: by it new the bite quality so you won't need
Speaker 1: it again. That goes to the next tip that when
Speaker 1: you do buy new, because it does happen, sometimes spend
Speaker 1: the money on quality. And this is where we've talked
Speaker 1: about this before. The difference between being frugal and being cheap.
Speaker 1: Being frugal is making wise visions with your money for
Speaker 1: sustainability for your budget in the long run, not just
Speaker 1: can I get a deal on this? And so, yes,
Speaker 1: you can spend top dollar on something and be making
Speaker 1: the frugal choice. Those two are not mutually exclusive because
Speaker 1: and she uses this example in the article of buying
Speaker 1: boots and cheap boots because she felt like that's all
Speaker 1: that she could afford at the time, but then needed
Speaker 1: to replace them every year, needing a new pair of
Speaker 1: boots because the zipper would break, or she'd get holes
Speaker 1: in the soles, or they just weren't working because they
Speaker 1: weren't quality. And now having purchased boots that she did
Speaker 1: spend a lot of money on but have lasted her
Speaker 1: over two years, and she intends for them to last
Speaker 1: at least ten years. Uh and and It's interesting. I
Speaker 1: had this conversation with a friend recently. We were in
Speaker 1: a store, like a high end store, and there was
Speaker 1: a shirt for fifty dollars and she was like, that's ridiculous,
Speaker 1: and like, well, sometimes I agree, particularly if you're if
Speaker 1: it's just named brand and it's still lacking quality and
Speaker 1: you're going to spend that amount. But it also hit
Speaker 1: me that the night before we had spent well over
Speaker 1: fifty dollars for four people to go to go out
Speaker 1: to eat, not at a super fancy place, but between
Speaker 1: tip and your food, we spent over fifty dollars. And
Speaker 1: it hit me like, why are we so okay with
Speaker 1: spending fifty dollars to go out to eat that happens
Speaker 1: once for half an hour, and so averse to spending
Speaker 1: that amount of money on a shirt that could last
Speaker 1: us years and years and years? Wow? What what is that?
Speaker 1: And And so I wouldn't say to get a plethora
Speaker 1: of clothing at top dollar, but why not spend what
Speaker 1: you would spend out at a restaurant on something that's
Speaker 1: going to last you more than like a one time experience.
Speaker 1: So I'm challenging myself with that kind of how I
Speaker 1: approach these things. And I've been conditioned to think that
Speaker 1: a shirt is worth five dollars, that's all I should
Speaker 1: spend on it. But that you know, well, I think
Speaker 1: we're all at varying degrees of knowledge on kind of
Speaker 1: the business as you're saying, behind what we're consuming, but
Speaker 1: that can perpetuate a lot of exploitation of people, both
Speaker 1: in the US as well as abroad. So just kind
Speaker 1: of rethinking where we're spending our money, how we're spending it,
Speaker 1: and is it sustainable? What a huge mindset shift. And
Speaker 1: I that challenges me as well because I would also
Speaker 1: say the same thing if I saw a fifty shirt,
Speaker 1: which you can get quite and this would still go
Speaker 1: back to use what is already out there in the world.
Speaker 1: And I love how this article talks about that sustainable
Speaker 1: living zero waste is about what is already available. Let's
Speaker 1: use that first before we create something absolutely new, uh,
Speaker 1: And and that it's possible to do that, and even
Speaker 1: if it doesn't last as long as it would if
Speaker 1: you were buying new, it's still gonna last about the
Speaker 1: same as buying the cheaper version new, and you are
Speaker 1: creating less waste. So and that is the goal. The
Speaker 1: last thing I liked from this one is to host
Speaker 1: a swap party. So this isn't just a way to
Speaker 1: get rid of clothes and get a few free things, um,
Speaker 1: but I think it's a really great way to cultivate
Speaker 1: community and to find people that share your values. I mean,
Speaker 1: it has the word party right, so we're always going
Speaker 1: to highlight that one. So hosting a swap party like
Speaker 1: Facebook makes it very easy to host events, and you
Speaker 1: can partner with organizations in your community. I know that
Speaker 1: there's a mom group that hosts a swap once a
Speaker 1: month in my area. There is a buy Nothing group
Speaker 1: that has recently hosted a few swaps and they actually
Speaker 1: did clothing swaps. One week was for like small, medium, large,
Speaker 1: and then the next week was plus size. So there's
Speaker 1: ways you can do it, and I think for me,
Speaker 1: the deeper goal behind it is to meet people and
Speaker 1: form relationships with people that share your values and your convictions.
Speaker 1: And two to be working together because sometimes frugality and
Speaker 1: not going out as much can seem isolating, and so
Speaker 1: any opportunity you have to meet people in a small
Speaker 1: group setting, we should definitely be taking those. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that one. So many more great things in
Speaker 1: that article. That moving on, So this next article comes
Speaker 1: from going zero waste dot com and she goes through
Speaker 1: twelve things she stopped buying since going zero Waste. Again
Speaker 1: with this one, we're not going to go through all
Speaker 1: of them. I will say, though I was surprised by
Speaker 1: a lot of that. I expected certain things to come
Speaker 1: up of this is what I stopped spending on, and
Speaker 1: certainly some of those are on this list, but some
Speaker 1: of them surprised me. And we'll go through it, but
Speaker 1: I want to start with just a statistic that she
Speaker 1: gave and and of course this is at this point
Speaker 1: in part from two thousand nineteen. The statistics so depending
Speaker 1: on when you're listening and might change a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it says that the average American spends almost five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars on products that are thrown away every year.
Speaker 1: I believe it because you're not just throwing away food
Speaker 1: and plastics, but years down the road, you're gonna put
Speaker 1: clothes in the garbage, You're gonna put socks, accessories, you're
Speaker 1: gonna put toys. Well, yeah, there's so many there's so
Speaker 1: many things we throw away that we don't think about.
Speaker 1: Well not I mean not to mention just the products
Speaker 1: that we specifically buy to throw away. They are meant
Speaker 1: to be disposable. Your water bottles, your paper products, like
Speaker 1: anything that you use up is made to be thrown away.
Speaker 1: Which yeah, it's it's striking and five thousand dollars. I mean,
Speaker 1: as this article mentions that's a vacation, I would say
Speaker 1: that's more than a vacation than a couple of vacations
Speaker 1: that has been, depending on where you're going. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so anyhow what stood out to you Jen from this one?
Speaker 1: Going zero Waste is one of my favorite blogs right now.
Speaker 1: She is super practical. She is from America, so all
Speaker 1: of her advice is catered to America, which is where
Speaker 1: we live. So and there are a lot of zero
Speaker 1: waste bloggers from like UK Australia and they kind of
Speaker 1: like say how to do it there? But I I
Speaker 1: love how down to earth she is and also balanced
Speaker 1: because to go completely zero waste you kind of have
Speaker 1: to go off the grid, um so and she's she's
Speaker 1: just talking about balanced, realistic ways that normal people can
Speaker 1: go zero waste. Nice. Yeah, so numbers one through three
Speaker 1: on this list, we're probably where where the shock factor
Speaker 1: or for me not well, or or the areas that
Speaker 1: are most difficult for myself. I love how you noted
Speaker 1: them in the outline. I didn't just put one through three. Ah,
Speaker 1: that was kind of like how I thought about it.
Speaker 1: So so let me just tell you what those three are.
Speaker 1: I won't go into super depth, but number one is
Speaker 1: paper towels and napkins. Number two tampons and pads. We'll
Speaker 1: circle back to that. Number three toilet paper. So each
Speaker 1: one getting more and more shocking as we go down
Speaker 1: the list. Um, okay, well for starters, paper towels and napkins. Yes,
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know this. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be honest with you this. This is a stickler for me.
Speaker 1: I don't do napkins. Paper towels are my all in one.
Speaker 1: They are my napkin, they are my everything. Paper towels
Speaker 1: are jills everything. And you just have to understand that. Eric. Listen, No,
Speaker 1: he's on board with it. He's not the one trying
Speaker 1: to stop this dream. So I do reuse rags, and
Speaker 1: for the most part, like I know how to get by,
Speaker 1: but there are a few circumstances where I'm just like,
Speaker 1: what would I do instead of a paper towel. And
Speaker 1: we talked about this in the Cleaning Supplies episode. I think,
Speaker 1: and I'm even recalling you mentioning wanting to go cloth napkin.
Speaker 1: Do I call you out on this? How did that go?
Speaker 1: I have been wanting to go cloth napkin for a
Speaker 1: long time, and I say it, but that involves me
Speaker 1: buying the napkins. And I just have a problem with
Speaker 1: buying things. Yeah, it's not a healthy frugality. It's that
Speaker 1: is my problem with pulling the trigger on buying. You
Speaker 1: can absolutely make it out of old fabric I have. Okay,
Speaker 1: well we'll be there, so so I don't Yes, it's
Speaker 1: an aim, but I've got to figure out these couple
Speaker 1: of things, which one of them I realized is what
Speaker 1: to do with bacon grease. Paper towels are must have
Speaker 1: when there's bacon grease involved. So if anybody's got another
Speaker 1: tip for me, like feel free. But and I think
Speaker 1: with some of these tips in here, a lot of
Speaker 1: the people who write about being zero waste are vegan.
Speaker 1: So where some of this breaks down, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: is where there's meat products involved that can't be composted
Speaker 1: and that smell gross if you don't dispose of them
Speaker 1: properly or would attract animals. So that's that's still something
Speaker 1: after I went my mind on all right, I'm getting
Speaker 1: too much on a rabbit trail. Number two was tampons
Speaker 1: and pads. I know we probably are primarily female listeners,
Speaker 1: but even still, I'll be kind and won't get too
Speaker 1: much into this. But yeah, apparently there's alternatives two your
Speaker 1: throwaway option. There are, and they are becoming so much
Speaker 1: more popular and more effective because at first you would
Speaker 1: get them and they weren't reliable. Okay, full disclosure, I've
Speaker 1: never used one, but they I've heard that now there
Speaker 1: are different kinds that are more comfortable and more reliable.
Speaker 1: So that will be like a special frugal Friends episode,
Speaker 1: like a discreet hidden episode on our experience. Maybe we
Speaker 1: do plan on doing an episode and how to save
Speaker 1: money on like specifically female products, so this will be
Speaker 1: in there. Oh gosh, it's in our future. It will
Speaker 1: be in our future. Number three was toilet paper. So, okay,
Speaker 1: I got a little bit worried when I read this,
Speaker 1: but then I kept reading and I was like, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: I feel better. So so this author has a bidet
Speaker 1: attachment to her toilet it that she loves. She does
Speaker 1: love it, and she says post on it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there is one. And she does say that they use
Speaker 1: some toilet paper, but much much less because of the
Speaker 1: bid day. So that's you know, it's an interesting concept
Speaker 1: because I was afraid she was going to go down
Speaker 1: the route of reusable toilet paper and those people is
Speaker 1: that it's some family family cloth or like just cloth,
Speaker 1: some something cloth. Yeah, that makes me feel weird. Family
Speaker 1: cloth is that sounds the worst. Yeah, No, that's not
Speaker 1: something you want to share with your family. So and
Speaker 1: I know that there's people out there who do that.
Speaker 1: I can't say that that's going to be my journey.
Speaker 1: The family cloth is a reusable alternative to toilet paper.
Speaker 1: So you know, the thing that my mind goes to
Speaker 1: with all of this is you're you are going to
Speaker 1: be doing a lot more laundry, and so actually looking
Speaker 1: at the savings of increased water and electric use edge
Speaker 1: because of the increased amount of laundry that you're doing
Speaker 1: versus purchasing inexpensive paper towels for the few times that
Speaker 1: you're going to use them. I mean, especially for us
Speaker 1: living in a camper and having a tiny washing machine.
Speaker 1: We would be doing laundry all the time if we
Speaker 1: were washing our toilet paper in with our napkins. No,
Speaker 1: I would say. My alternative would be um to find
Speaker 1: plastic free toilet paper, So toilet paper that is made
Speaker 1: just from paper, and that doesn't necessarily make it decompose easier,
Speaker 1: but it's from the back end process that it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It doesn't need plastic um, so that's where you're being
Speaker 1: eco friendly. And yes, it will cost more, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if all d carries it, but that is
Speaker 1: an option, and it's something for me to write down,
Speaker 1: like I could do that. I could spend more on
Speaker 1: toilet paper if I get to throw it away you
Speaker 1: mean flush it? Yeah, okay, just I mean I know
Speaker 1: that's what you do in other countries just because their
Speaker 1: septic systems can't handle the toilet paper. But I didn't
Speaker 1: know if there was like a reason I loved in
Speaker 1: America and it works just fine. All right, What do
Speaker 1: you like on this list? So that we made it
Speaker 1: three one through three? Yeah, so number four is aluminum foil,
Speaker 1: and I still use aluminum foil, but I use a
Speaker 1: lot less because of these two. Well, one of these two,
Speaker 1: um alternative she liss silicone mats, So the silk pat
Speaker 1: you can put it on, and I only use it
Speaker 1: as a way to it's gonna sound so bad to
Speaker 1: save the calories from putting oil on things. Um, and
Speaker 1: because I hate cleaning. Why does that sound bad? That's well,
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, it's reasonable, Okay, thank you for val
Speaker 1: thank you. And and the other things she says is
Speaker 1: bees wax wraps, and that can also help, not necessarily
Speaker 1: in the oven, but to wrap things, so that can
Speaker 1: also take care of um. Plastic wrap And honestly, plastic
Speaker 1: wrap is the worst. It's like from satan, and so
Speaker 1: getting like a big thing of beast wax wrap might
Speaker 1: be like a godsend. Yeah. And they're cute, are really cute.
Speaker 1: They are expensive, and I'm not quite sure. I don't
Speaker 1: have any my sister does because she does anyhow, uh Um,
Speaker 1: there's not, there's not. It's just she can afford it
Speaker 1: by the cute. The dig in deep know it's I'm
Speaker 1: really happy for her. Um, it's making it sound worse
Speaker 1: and worse. I digress. I'm okay, I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: happens with bees wax wraps. Eventually, I feel as though
Speaker 1: eventually the wax you would need to replenish it, and
Speaker 1: maybe there's a way to do that, but I'm curious
Speaker 1: about them. Yeah, if you've used bees wax beeswax wraps
Speaker 1: for quite a while, let us know in the Facebook
Speaker 1: group Frugal Friends Community, uh and and let us know
Speaker 1: what you think or any of these any zero waste
Speaker 1: alternatives that you've found that are also frugal. We would
Speaker 1: love to hear about it in the group. Of course.
Speaker 1: Another thing that I was surprised to see on here
Speaker 1: was number six, and that's trash bags. Um. So making
Speaker 1: less waste means you throw away less trash, so you
Speaker 1: save on trash bags. Um. But there's also paper liners
Speaker 1: made from newsprint. But you're not necessarily throwing away your
Speaker 1: wet garbage. You're composting it so that goes in a
Speaker 1: different place. And again I mean sometimes if you eat meat,
Speaker 1: that can be wet and it has to go in
Speaker 1: a plastic bag. So for me, I wouldn't get a
Speaker 1: paper a liner. But we've started composting, and not in
Speaker 1: order to plant a garden, but because I learned that
Speaker 1: the things that we throw away what I had just
Speaker 1: assumed because it was compostable, it would get composted in
Speaker 1: a landfill somewhere, which is biodegrade. But sometimes the trash
Speaker 1: is so packed together, especially in cities, that even biodegradable
Speaker 1: things can't degrade because they are not in a setting
Speaker 1: to degrade. And so if we, if more people would
Speaker 1: take it upon ourselves to compost, we could keep the
Speaker 1: things that are able to biodegrade, to keep them, you know,
Speaker 1: degrading um and then lower our impact on trash heaps
Speaker 1: less in your own trash. If you do garden, then
Speaker 1: it's fantastic for your soil. So that's a good reason,
Speaker 1: and you can give it to people that you know,
Speaker 1: garden and stuff. We're just going to probably spread it
Speaker 1: on our patch of land back there and maybe put
Speaker 1: some grass down, grass seed. I did a science project
Speaker 1: about composting and put it in a container and then
Speaker 1: put it in in my locker and forgot about it for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. And then when I was
Speaker 1: cleaning up my locker found it and I learned a
Speaker 1: lot about composting the hard way. Right. It does. But
Speaker 1: the thing is is that you can do all of
Speaker 1: your veggies and stuff, and then coffee grounds are nitrogen,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to like pick up leaves and
Speaker 1: put it in there. You can literally just like veggies
Speaker 1: and coffee grounds. I'm like, you're good to go. I
Speaker 1: like that, good to go. Yeah, you don't have to
Speaker 1: think about it too hard. With the amount of coffee
Speaker 1: I drink, I don't know your life. So number nine
Speaker 1: on here is conventional cleaners, and they cite another tistic
Speaker 1: that American families spend anywhere between three to eight hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a year on cleaning supplies, just cleaning supplies. So
Speaker 1: even if you're on the conservative estimate end of that,
Speaker 1: that's still a ton of money. So ditching your conventional
Speaker 1: cleaners and finding ways to make your own, or finding
Speaker 1: all purpose cleaners that I mean, do what they say,
Speaker 1: work for different purposes and not need something for your
Speaker 1: windows and something for your floors, and something for your
Speaker 1: toilet and something for your tubs, something for your sink,
Speaker 1: and it's it can get crazy. And listen to our
Speaker 1: cleaning episode because we tell you just all about vinegar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so for some of the things that do actually
Speaker 1: need chemicals to clean, because I won't say that you
Speaker 1: can clean. I wouldn't want to clean everything with vinegar
Speaker 1: a it smells be I just think some things need chemicals.
Speaker 1: If you're a city, I don't know what you're doing that.
Speaker 1: I'll take your word for it. If your city has
Speaker 1: a place where you can dispose of chemicals like household cleaners, paints,
Speaker 1: because you shouldn't be throwing those into garbages. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know that, but your city should have
Speaker 1: a place where you can drop them off. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: cities at the same place where you drop them off
Speaker 1: have a little place where you can go in and
Speaker 1: pick up other people's chemicals for free. Our city has that,
Speaker 1: and so we will get cleaning products and like weed
Speaker 1: eater stuff and like just things that we don't think
Speaker 1: to buy. We will. I mean, you know frugality podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I don't need weed killer. Yeah, but yeah.
Speaker 1: So check to see if your city or town or
Speaker 1: wherever as that option. And another option you should check
Speaker 1: to see if they have is the bill of the 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 Williams. 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. Touch bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. Hey, Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: This is Andy Hill from the Marriage, Kids of Money
Speaker 1: podcast and I just wanted to share my favorite bill
Speaker 1: as of late. I am working a new career now,
Speaker 1: and this summer we had of both my wife and
Speaker 1: I working and we really had no plans for for
Speaker 1: daycare as as the summer rolls around, and so my
Speaker 1: new favorite bill now is summer camp. I can continue
Speaker 1: working on my business, and my wife can continue working
Speaker 1: at her career that she likes now, and our kids
Speaker 1: can have a fruitful summer and allow us to continue
Speaker 1: to enjoy our careers. So summer camp is is quite pricey,
Speaker 1: but man um lining up our summer camps and having
Speaker 1: that completely ready so we can keep rocking and rolling
Speaker 1: in our businesses is making me feel pretty happy. So
Speaker 1: that's my favorite fill of the week. I hope you
Speaker 1: ladies are doing well. Talk to you soon. Yes, I
Speaker 1: feel you so strongly, Andy. I love the genuine laughter. Andy,
Speaker 1: I've just loved I've got a plan for my kids. Yes,
Speaker 1: I have been saying lately that daycare is the best
Speaker 1: bill I have because I too like to work on
Speaker 1: my business during business hours and man and summer camp
Speaker 1: much more fun for kids. Kids didn't to be bored
Speaker 1: in the summer. So oh what I wouldn't have given
Speaker 1: to be able to go to summer camp. Another one
Speaker 1: of yours, like what you missed from Childhood today on
Speaker 1: today's episode of What Jen Missed from child Summer Camp.
Speaker 1: But somebody did relate with me when we did yes
Speaker 1: our episode with Caroline Bencil where I said that I
Speaker 1: did not get the life size Barbie. I would not
Speaker 1: have been able to fit into her clothes anyway, but
Speaker 1: I didn't have any friends, and I wanted a friend
Speaker 1: or sibling in a life size Barbie. And somebody felt me,
Speaker 1: at least on the close part was that even a
Speaker 1: part of life size Barbie like that you could wear
Speaker 1: her clothes, could wear them. Yeah, that was a thing
Speaker 1: alright for some kids that could fit into them things. Andy,
Speaker 1: glad your kids are going to be watched and fully
Speaker 1: supervised this summer. If you have a bill that you
Speaker 1: want to submit to us, whether that's sending your kids
Speaker 1: away to be fully supervised or or else with something
Speaker 1: else partially visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill,
Speaker 1: leave us your bill, and now it's time for running round.
Speaker 1: Pe tapped into that. Yes, So today for our lightning round,
Speaker 1: Jill and I will dive into our favorite frugal Here
Speaker 1: we go deep dive. Yes, ll yours first, so to
Speaker 1: t in one here and not whatever, here you go.
Speaker 1: Water filter, So really love my water filter. We've got
Speaker 1: a burkey and it they say it can filter pond water.
Speaker 1: I haven't gone that far, but any water from hoses
Speaker 1: so far we've been putting into our burkey and it
Speaker 1: always tastes the same. And then I've got a reusable
Speaker 1: water bottle that I put it in so I'm not
Speaker 1: purchasing water and and the plastic and the water bottles
Speaker 1: and the water dispensers. So love that. Also food creativity,
Speaker 1: and I've been having some fun with this, Like when
Speaker 1: you get to a level where you can kind of
Speaker 1: enjoy figuring out ways to not throw food away, it's
Speaker 1: kind of fun. I'm definitely not a pro, but a
Speaker 1: few of my tricks are when I see that I'm
Speaker 1: not eating the bananas that I purchased that I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to eat, but instead I chose chips.
Speaker 1: Every time I'm I as they're on their last leg,
Speaker 1: I quick shove them in the freezer. And then when
Speaker 1: I'm ready at some point when the bananas build up
Speaker 1: over over weeks and weeks of me not eating bananas
Speaker 1: and ly that I make banana bread. This just happened yesterday.
Speaker 1: I made banana bread and it's really tasty. You know,
Speaker 1: we've got breakfast because with banana bread, you don't need
Speaker 1: like a perfectly ripe banana. You can have a like
Speaker 1: almost on its last leg banana. It's better when they're
Speaker 1: on their last leg. Yeah. And tomatoes, like my tomatoes
Speaker 1: were nearly going bad yesterday, so I made bruschetta yesterday. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So just there's different things that if it's like okay,
Speaker 1: still have a lot of this, what do I do?
Speaker 1: And the internet is great for that. So anyhow, I've
Speaker 1: been having fun getting creative with food. Nice um mine
Speaker 1: would be going back to our first article, glass containers.
Speaker 1: So I've been trying to mini mis my use of
Speaker 1: disposable bags, um, whether that is grocery bag or plastic
Speaker 1: zip block, and using more glass containers. They don't stain
Speaker 1: as easily as plastic ones, and so I'll usually use
Speaker 1: like reheatable leftovers in glass and maybe things that don't
Speaker 1: stain and I'm not heating up in plastic um. But
Speaker 1: I bought some of those recently and I have been
Speaker 1: using them a lot more. And I got ones that
Speaker 1: are a perfect portion size for a meal, so that
Speaker 1: I could like get rid of all of the random
Speaker 1: plastic ones that I had built up from lunch meat.
Speaker 1: Uh and and yeah, so I'm using more plastic containers
Speaker 1: instead of um disposable things, which I like it does
Speaker 1: it helps you organize in your fridge. Your fridge looks pretty,
Speaker 1: and I think with glass containers you can see through
Speaker 1: to what the food is and you're more likely to
Speaker 1: eat it if you know what's inside versus all the
Speaker 1: not translucent plastic that you cover with the foil and
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't even know what that is. Just
Speaker 1: leave it there. And then more ways, Yeah, another tip,
Speaker 1: my tip is to learn some simple sewing skills. I've
Speaker 1: saved a lot of clothing and purses and blankets and
Speaker 1: you name it, just by being able to do some
Speaker 1: little sewing fixes. And I've even noticed a lot of
Speaker 1: times people will get rid of quality clothing and donate
Speaker 1: them to the thrift stores because of maybe a broken
Speaker 1: zipper or a small tear or a steam kind of
Speaker 1: coming loose, And if you've got the skills to repair it,
Speaker 1: then you can get quality clothing at the thrift store
Speaker 1: or even on a clearance rack at a store, because
Speaker 1: they'll put on clearance if something's wrong with it. And
Speaker 1: if you're able to fix it yourself, then that's a
Speaker 1: really fantastic way of being able to reuse what you
Speaker 1: already have or be able to purchase used and make
Speaker 1: it last longer. YouTube is a great place to go
Speaker 1: to to learn simple and maybe one day Jill will
Speaker 1: give us a video on our YouTube sewing skill. It
Speaker 1: was so cute the other night. We were all hanging
Speaker 1: out and Travis. Travis was the one with a little
Speaker 1: sewing kit on hand because I had some buttons that
Speaker 1: fell off of a skirt and so I was sewed
Speaker 1: that back on. And then he had just gotten a
Speaker 1: sweater from the thrift store. Um that was torn, like
Speaker 1: it was a really good sweater, but like the pocket
Speaker 1: on it had kind of like pulled away from the sweater,
Speaker 1: so fix that up. We were just regular homesteading individuals,
Speaker 1: all while watching Love Is Blood on Netflix, all while
Speaker 1: watching trash taving. Now you know, yes, so I love
Speaker 1: that and I definitely think that that video will be
Speaker 1: on our YouTube one day. Sewing with Jill um So
Speaker 1: my last one. And this is um so pretty personal
Speaker 1: for me, not as like what the thing is, but
Speaker 1: just what it tells me. Um So. Convenience food swapping
Speaker 1: out like take out or individually packaged items for more
Speaker 1: bulk and other like non plastic covered stuff from the
Speaker 1: grocery store. Uh, sometimes that stuff does cost more, and
Speaker 1: I'm very tempted. I'm not just tempted. I go for
Speaker 1: the cheaper one. But I have been saying for years
Speaker 1: that one of the reasons I love frugality is because
Speaker 1: it is so environmentally friendly. Um And I say that,
Speaker 1: and I say that, and I write it, and then
Speaker 1: I look at my bank statements and I look at
Speaker 1: what's in my like, you know, previous orders from all
Speaker 1: D or M Walmart, and I'm not seeing that the
Speaker 1: places where I'm spending my money is reflecting the what
Speaker 1: I say that I value. And I think it's so important.
Speaker 1: I think are where we spend says more about what
Speaker 1: we value than what our mouths say, um, and so
Speaker 1: realizing that, And it wasn't until I was writing my
Speaker 1: course five Weeks to five hundred, where there's a module
Speaker 1: on UM like finding what you value. And then when
Speaker 1: I was writing that and I was finding I was
Speaker 1: deciding what I valued myself, and I was able to see, like,
Speaker 1: my spending is not aligning with what I say I value,
Speaker 1: and so I was. I have since been taking steps
Speaker 1: to spend differently, and overall it has not saved me
Speaker 1: a ton of money, because I've already been living pretty frugally,
Speaker 1: but it has made me more confident with the words
Speaker 1: that are coming out of my mouth. So I am
Speaker 1: like trying to buy. If I do buy something that
Speaker 1: is packaged, UM, I buy it frozen or I buy
Speaker 1: like multiple like vegetables in a in a bag. Because
Speaker 1: I don't think buying prepackaged food is necessarily bad. I
Speaker 1: think it can save you money by saving you time,
Speaker 1: which makes it easier to cook, which saves you money.
Speaker 1: So I've just been purchasing consciously. UM. So it has
Speaker 1: and I started. I bought a bamboo toothbrush and so
Speaker 1: that I can can post it. Yeah, they had numbers
Speaker 1: on them. Yeah I don't know why. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know why, but it does. So so that has been
Speaker 1: like my biggest swap has been in the way I'm
Speaker 1: thinking and the way I'm approaching purchases, in making sure
Speaker 1: that they align more with what I value. And maybe
Speaker 1: like eco friendliness isn't something you value and this is
Speaker 1: just like not relevant for you, But I hope if
Speaker 1: it is something that you value, that you'll take this
Speaker 1: information and you will make sure that your transactions align
Speaker 1: with anything that you're saying you value. And that's I
Speaker 1: hope what you take away from today's episode. Good word,
Speaker 1: Thank you all so much for listening, and we want
Speaker 1: to thank you also for your kind reviews that we
Speaker 1: do see. We see all of the reviews and we're
Speaker 1: so thankful for the kind ones on iTunes and stitture
Speaker 1: like this one. It comes from Jacques Pearl. Great encouragement
Speaker 1: in a fun way. I love listening to these ladies
Speaker 1: as I take walks. They can make any financial topic
Speaker 1: understandable and interesting. Even though I am a teacher in
Speaker 1: my fifties with an almost paid off house, I still
Speaker 1: gather little tidbits of information to share with my adult
Speaker 1: daughter and daughter in laws. It's a great encouragement to
Speaker 1: hear of others doing what we do. Amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I love hearing and knowing that we are like where
Speaker 1: we're joining people. Like people have said, I'm I'm in
Speaker 1: the middle of a move and listening, or yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: on a walk or on my commute to work, or
Speaker 1: while I'm making my kids breakfast. And somebody even mentioned
Speaker 1: that her her four year old is listening to us
Speaker 1: and commenting on Jen and Jill, and it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: amazing to me. Really, it's a privilege to be invited
Speaker 1: into these places of your own. So we're so grateful
Speaker 1: and we're happy to keep providing you with content. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so thank you, thank you for sharing what you want
Speaker 1: to hear, thank you for listening, and thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing on social media. Um so we want to kind
Speaker 1: of thank our friends for reviewing and sharing. So for
Speaker 1: every five reviews or tags we get on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: we're going to give away a ten dollar Amazon gift card.
Speaker 1: I love gift cards and Amazon it's a great place
Speaker 1: to get all your dabies. But you have to tag
Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends podcasts. If you're doing on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: because that is the only way we will see those shares.
Speaker 1: So you can do that, and you can also continue
Speaker 1: leaving reviews to enter our drawing. So keep leaving us
Speaker 1: reviews on iTunes or stitcher sending the screenshot of your
Speaker 1: review to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com. That
Speaker 1: is the piece you have to You have to email
Speaker 1: it to us the review to get in the running
Speaker 1: for a gift card. If it's tagged anywhere at Frugal Friends, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see it on social media. So thank you again.
Speaker 1: And uh, be kind to your mother, and be kind
Speaker 1: to your mother earth because Mars is not your mother.
Speaker 1: Herugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Seria.
Speaker 1: What's amazing. It's not where I expected you to go
Speaker 1: with that. Wow, where did you think it was good? Well,
Speaker 1: just something more standard or typical or normal. Kind your mother,
Speaker 1: be kind to your mother, because Mars is not true mother.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's T shirt worthy. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you want a T shirt out of it, let
Speaker 1: me know. Oh, there's so many T shirts we need
Speaker 1: to create. We need to make a list in the
Speaker 1: Facebook group of T shirts need to be created. That's true.
Speaker 1: And we could have like our whole wardrobe with frugal
Speaker 1: friends t shirts to be quality and sustainable, sustainable quotes,
Speaker 1: quotes that will never yeah, not like references to TikTok,
Speaker 1: follow frugal friends on TikTok, which we will never say.
Speaker 1: You just said it, but it's a thing t do
Speaker 1: that you can't. You can't find us on TikTok, you
Speaker 1: will be sorely disappointed for many reasons, one of them
Speaker 1: being the fact that we're not on TikTok. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: are on Instagram, are in YouTube and all the podcast platforms,
Speaker 1: but we can't be everywhere that options Yeah and a
Speaker 1: friend in me yeah okay by Footy