Speaker 1: Episode four forty four is episode two thirty seven. Try
Speaker 1: this Japanese art of mindful budgeting.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live at your life. Here
Speaker 2: your hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: a new way to budget that is really an old
Speaker 1: way and it's not even the first time we've talked
Speaker 1: about it. Uh, because this is a rerun of one
Speaker 1: of our most popular episodes from several years ago about kokebo,
Speaker 1: which is the Japanese art of mindful budgeting.
Speaker 3: There is a lot of Japanese concepts that we have
Speaker 3: enjoyed and taken a hold of even since this episode
Speaker 3: was recorded. You have to get our book to find
Speaker 3: out what we're talking about. Buy what you Love Without
Speaker 3: Going Broke at bywolovebook dot com. But this one's a
Speaker 3: really good one, and I think you'll hear us describe
Speaker 3: some of why we think this is so good at
Speaker 3: the beginning and throughout the episode. But I think anytime
Speaker 3: we can find another method or even just mindset around
Speaker 3: how we approach our finances and manage our finance as well.
Speaker 3: It can be the key that kind of unlocks it
Speaker 3: for us, right, like, not every exercise program is right
Speaker 3: for us, not every diet is right for us, not
Speaker 3: every budgeting practice is right for us. And this may
Speaker 3: not be exactly your thing either, but we like to
Speaker 3: kind of give a sampling of different things to be
Speaker 3: trying to find what's going to work for you that's
Speaker 3: going to create longevity long term.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And something I've been talking a lot about recently
Speaker 1: is the power of language. How if there is a
Speaker 1: word that triggers you, that makes you feel a certain
Speaker 1: type of way, there's usually another word that you can
Speaker 1: use in its place that means the exact same thing
Speaker 1: that has less baggage attached to it, or you may
Speaker 1: have to go to another language, but there is always
Speaker 1: something that you can do a little differently, say a
Speaker 1: little differently that is basically an identical practice. But there
Speaker 1: are some unique things about kokebo that you will have
Speaker 1: heard us talk about in spending plans and budgets, but
Speaker 1: that is really honed in in this way the style
Speaker 1: of budgeting.
Speaker 3: But first, this episode is brought to you by trying
Speaker 3: new things. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's scary, like
Speaker 3: shark cage diving or eating crickets. But if you want
Speaker 3: to try something new that isn't scary, get the friend Ladder.
Speaker 3: It's an email that we send every Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Speaker 3: times a week. We're in your inbox with the scoop
Speaker 3: on what's for free that week, ways that you can
Speaker 3: save money on the stuff that you're already buying, and
Speaker 3: helpful mindset hacks and journaling prompts for getting better at
Speaker 3: spending money.
Speaker 4: If you are not signed.
Speaker 3: Up for the friend letter, get it for free Frugal
Speaker 3: friendspodcast dot com.
Speaker 4: And if you.
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Speaker 1: Yes, we love things, especially when they're free.
Speaker 4: It's just fun. It's not at all scary.
Speaker 1: No okay, So if you love budgeting, or if you
Speaker 1: hate budgeting and you're trying to be more mindful of
Speaker 1: what you are spending, then I would recommend you get
Speaker 1: our book by What you Love without going broke at
Speaker 1: buy what youlovebook dot com. But after you preorder it,
Speaker 1: I will wait. Thank you. After you preorder it, it
Speaker 1: won't come till January. So in the meantime, there are
Speaker 1: a few other episodes that you can queue up for
Speaker 1: after this, episode three forty nine how to Budget without
Speaker 1: Deprivation and episode three twenty two what is values based
Speaker 1: spending and how do you practice it? So those are
Speaker 1: good primers for what you're going to get in January.
Speaker 1: But we will replay this episode. It has aged so
Speaker 1: well except for my pronunciation of it, ignore that. But
Speaker 1: it's a fantastic method. We still have not learned nope,
Speaker 1: and even to try for a week would be very useful.
Speaker 4: So enjoy, let's do it.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited to talk about this kind of in
Speaker 3: an older way but still very relevant, and we know
Speaker 3: what that means. It's timeless and it works, and there's
Speaker 3: many principles and tenants and here that we can take
Speaker 3: and certainly make it work for us. But I love
Speaker 3: it when these older ways, these kind of ancient pathways, resurface,
Speaker 3: because I think there's something really rich in the method
Speaker 3: for it to have that degree of longevity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's dive into our first article, which really
Speaker 1: explains the philosophies and the questions behind kokbo, because it
Speaker 1: is it's mindful budgeting. It's like what we say, I mean,
Speaker 1: all the it's it's basically like everything we've said, just
Speaker 1: like repackaged in a different way. And so I'll just
Speaker 1: let it speak for itself. But it's from shondaland it's
Speaker 1: called the Art of Kokibo. This Japanese budgeting system could
Speaker 1: change your financial life. And so this is your first
Speaker 1: time hearing about kikibo. Jill, what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this article specifically.
Speaker 3: It's fantastic. I mean, certainly, I'm really excited about this method.
Speaker 3: But the article I think is really helpful. It's quite
Speaker 3: a long article, so we're not going to obviously read
Speaker 3: off the whole thing to you all or picking out
Speaker 3: the highlights from it, but I do think that the
Speaker 3: introduction they give and the background is really insightful. So
Speaker 3: just a few things before we get into kind of
Speaker 3: the questions and the categories and that kind of a thing,
Speaker 3: as you mentioned, Jhen, They highlight that this was a
Speaker 3: form of budgeting that was developed in nineteen oh four
Speaker 3: by a female journalist, I hope I don't get her
Speaker 3: name wrong, Hanni Modoco.
Speaker 4: Okay, you can check me on that.
Speaker 3: But and then they go on to talk about how
Speaker 3: budgets can feel like diets for our wallet. And I
Speaker 3: think this is always the same conversation that we come
Speaker 3: back to when budgeting gets difficult or when we experience
Speaker 3: pushback on a budget. Is when it's this concept of
Speaker 3: it feels like a diet. They're not fun, they mean
Speaker 3: a lot of restriction and denial, and results are somewhere
Speaker 3: far off in the future. I can't get it now.
Speaker 3: And then I love what they say here where they
Speaker 3: say and budgets can make people super cranky. I don't
Speaker 3: know if that's you, if you or your experience or
Speaker 3: the experience you have with a partner. But sometimes if
Speaker 3: we approach a budget like a diet, that's why it
Speaker 3: can be really difficult. And so I think this system
Speaker 3: of budgeting presents a different mindset, a different approach, which
Speaker 3: is what we talk about all the time. So I'm
Speaker 3: so thrilled to see this be supported with an older
Speaker 3: way of going about this. And so I also like
Speaker 3: how they describe Kakebo being really elegant and straightforward, and
Speaker 3: it pairs mindfulness practices to the process of spending and
Speaker 3: in turn budgeting, but making a big focus on the
Speaker 3: spending and an awareness of the behaviors rather than the
Speaker 3: restrictions and the denial and the parts that make us cranky.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was reading somewhere actually where this is more of
Speaker 1: a philosophy like shifting our perspective on how do I
Speaker 1: save more? Or how do I save? And a shift
Speaker 1: of this perspective to you how do I spend? Which
Speaker 1: is literally all we're trying to do is to shift
Speaker 1: your mind away from how do I save, which is
Speaker 1: obviously going to take you down a path of restriction
Speaker 1: and unsustainable methods, because there are a million things ways
Speaker 1: to save. There are over two hundred in our free
Speaker 1: ebook called Modern Frugal Living you can get at Frugal
Speaker 1: friendspodcast dot com, slash ebook for free plug. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you are so. There are so many ways to
Speaker 1: save it can get overwhelming and it's how we quote
Speaker 1: unquote fail or fall off the wagon or you know,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. But when you shift your mindset
Speaker 1: to how to spend, how how do I spend, then
Speaker 1: you can get intentional about every every dollar you spend
Speaker 1: and you can feel good about it, and then you
Speaker 1: naturally save more because you are deciding to not spend
Speaker 1: money on things you don't care about, and you are
Speaker 1: spending confidently on the things you do. And it doesn't
Speaker 1: always work out the first month, because frankly, you don't
Speaker 1: always know what you care about. The first month, you
Speaker 1: think you care about everything, And as time goes on,
Speaker 1: you get better at learning who you are and what
Speaker 1: you want and what you care about what you don't
Speaker 1: care about, so that it is a sustainable way to
Speaker 1: live life and results in more saving. And so that's
Speaker 1: what I really love about what's at the heart of
Speaker 1: this quote unquote like budgeting method, so kakibo it translates
Speaker 1: to household family ledger. So I love that terminology too.
Speaker 1: I feel like you could use ledger instead of budget
Speaker 1: and get the same result without as much of the
Speaker 1: mental muck that budget kind of like puts forward. But
Speaker 1: like again, It was created by a female journalist in
Speaker 1: Japan for housewives, and she was really like a an
Speaker 1: advocate for Japanese housewives to be conscious of their spending
Speaker 1: and start saving for their families and to be in
Speaker 1: charge of the family finances. And I'm just like yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: And she founded a magazine for house wives and this
Speaker 1: was just like one of the things she put in
Speaker 1: there as like a simple way for women to manage
Speaker 1: their household finances.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love all of those words combined household, family, alledger.
Speaker 3: I mean, first of all, we all know what a
Speaker 3: ledger is, but it's not a common word within our
Speaker 3: English language. And yeah, it does kind of come without
Speaker 3: all of the preconceived notions to it.
Speaker 4: It's just a thing.
Speaker 3: It's a ledger versus all the preconceived ideas that comes
Speaker 3: with the word budgeting and then pairing both household and family,
Speaker 3: that it's what's needed and necessary for the house, but
Speaker 3: that there's a collective unit engaged in this as well.
Speaker 4: It's so beautiful.
Speaker 3: I'm really vibing on a lot of oh yeah, what's
Speaker 3: being talked about here?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are feeling strong vibes. And one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that's seeing a resurgence is is because of all
Speaker 1: the technology that has become available in the financial sector,
Speaker 1: which is awesome, like technic fintech. Financial technology has made
Speaker 1: investing so much easier, It's made making money, earning a
Speaker 1: living like on the internet, so much easier. It's it's
Speaker 1: done all these amazing things. But it's also allowed marketers
Speaker 1: and businesses to market to you and have you spend
Speaker 1: money without all the friction of buying in store or
Speaker 1: parting with your cash or seeing what is like without
Speaker 1: balancing your checkbook like your grandma used to do. You know.
Speaker 1: So there. While technology has has blessed us in so
Speaker 1: many ways, it's also taken a lot of the relationship
Speaker 1: away from how we spend money. And the goal of
Speaker 1: kokeepo is to reconnect you to your relationship with spending.
Speaker 1: And so spending is a lot of what we're going
Speaker 1: to be talking about with the kokeepo method. So yeah,
Speaker 1: let's get into how to execute it.
Speaker 3: So, since the process does pre date smartphones and computers,
Speaker 3: it does rely on that good old fashioned pen and paper.
Speaker 3: The sponsor of today's episode, per figure, and so one
Speaker 3: of the first steps with kakibo, much like any mindfulness work,
Speaker 3: is becoming aware, increasing our awareness, and as it relates
Speaker 3: to our household, family ledger, or our finances, it's what's
Speaker 3: actually happening. We need to raise our awareness there as
Speaker 3: part of this first step. So that's going to mean
Speaker 3: keeping detailed track of your spending for a set period
Speaker 3: of time, and so there's some questions that can go
Speaker 3: along with this tracking spending and income that kind of
Speaker 3: gets at the heart of the kokubo practice, and it
Speaker 3: centers around these four questions. How much money do I
Speaker 3: have or earn, how much money do I want to save?
Speaker 3: How much am I spending? And where can I improve?
Speaker 3: And oh my goodness that that just doesn't summarize all
Speaker 3: the questions that we need to ask and make it
Speaker 3: sound so approachable and attainable. And I particularly appreciate that
Speaker 3: last question of where can I improve. I think anytime
Speaker 3: we are mindful or do some time of reflection and processing,
Speaker 3: that needs to be one of the questions. Certainly what
Speaker 3: am I doing well? We often don't ask that question either,
Speaker 3: but also where can I improve? Where is their growth
Speaker 3: that I want to see? And that's going to help
Speaker 3: inform the next steps.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So once you answer these four questions, and these
Speaker 1: are four questions that you're going to be journaling about
Speaker 1: at least once a month. I would say probably with
Speaker 1: every paycheck. So if you're paid weekly, maybe asking these
Speaker 1: questions weekly. If you're paid twice a month, answering them
Speaker 1: twice a month, but at least once a month, answering
Speaker 1: these questions and then track your spending for a month.
Speaker 1: So instead of making your ideal budget, the perfect budget
Speaker 1: that you'd love to stick to, the first step is
Speaker 1: in kokeibo, is just like put the mindfulness into practice.
Speaker 1: Just become aware of the transactions. So track your transactions
Speaker 1: for a month on pen and paper. So I would
Speaker 1: just say, find one of those journals that's hiding in
Speaker 1: your bookcase or your closet that you thought you'd use
Speaker 1: and have it used, and just use that and kind
Speaker 1: of make a make your own columns. So there are
Speaker 1: a ton of kokebo journals, but you don't need to
Speaker 1: buy something new for this. You can just say, okay,
Speaker 1: this is the date, this is what I bought, this
Speaker 1: is how much it was, and then you can start
Speaker 1: to categorize. So there are four categories in Kokipo. The
Speaker 1: first is general, this is leisure, third is culture, and
Speaker 1: fourth is unexpected. So general this would be household expendsures
Speaker 1: like housing, food, transportation. It's the things that you sometimes
Speaker 1: neglect writing down as your transactions because you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not impulse spending on gas. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: impulse spending on the internet. But it still is required
Speaker 1: to write it down and put it in the transactions
Speaker 1: because you still want to be mindful about it. Because
Speaker 1: the more you write something down, like maybe you're not
Speaker 1: impulse spending on gas, but the more you write it down,
Speaker 1: the more you realize you're spending on it, and you
Speaker 1: start to give your spouse yourself space to see, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this out of necessity, but how can I
Speaker 1: get creative with this expense? Maybe there's something I can
Speaker 1: do to get a little creative here. So you still
Speaker 1: want to write these things down. So the next is leisure,
Speaker 1: so all the things like Netflix, shopping, general merchandise, gifts,
Speaker 1: all of these things, and sometimes so you'll see these
Speaker 1: four expensive or these four categories kind of different throughout
Speaker 1: from person to person. Some people say that general is
Speaker 1: essential or necessary necessities, where leisure is like non essential.
Speaker 1: I personally like the general and the leisure, but I
Speaker 1: also like necessity like essential and non essential, because then
Speaker 1: you can when as you start to get your values
Speaker 1: in order and find out what you really love, then
Speaker 1: you can say something that might be leisure can become
Speaker 1: like essential, can can kind of get bumped up, So
Speaker 1: it's up to you. Then we've got culture, which is
Speaker 1: things that enrich your life. So a subscription to a newspaper,
Speaker 1: a magazine, or a professional organization, maybe it's a haircut.
Speaker 1: They're also they say, considered non essentials, but just a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I don't know culture. You get to
Speaker 1: decide what's culture for you. And then fourth is unexpected.
Speaker 1: So this is stuff that comes up unexpected that we
Speaker 1: all need to pay for. It's those things that happened
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I bust my budget, I suck
Speaker 1: at budgeting. No, they're just unexpected costs, and I love
Speaker 1: that this method specifically accounts for them. So when you're
Speaker 1: starting out, you track your transactions, you say what it is,
Speaker 1: how much it was, and then what category it falls in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then from there, once you've done those the
Speaker 3: work of those steps, it's then setting your goals once
Speaker 3: you have increased your awareness, you've divided you're spending into
Speaker 3: different categories, then allowing that to help inform what do
Speaker 3: you want to see for your money over the course
Speaker 3: of the next month, the next few months, the next year,
Speaker 3: few years. What do you want to achieve with your money?
Speaker 3: What's your timeline for achieving those goals? What big and
Speaker 3: small goals do you have? So setting those things for
Speaker 3: each of the categories general, leisure, culture, unexpected, and so
Speaker 3: sure that then would become like a quote unquote budget
Speaker 3: or how you would approach your household family ledger with
Speaker 3: what you want to see your spending look like. So
Speaker 3: again it is that shift from what am I spending
Speaker 3: on versus what am I saving on? Although both will
Speaker 3: be happening, saving will be happening in certain categories as
Speaker 3: well as spending, and then continuing to track your spending
Speaker 3: and assess how you're doing, how does it align with
Speaker 3: your goals, with your values, with what you said you
Speaker 3: wanted to do. And then I like how the article
Speaker 3: moves into these questions that we can ask before we spend.
Speaker 3: So a lot of this can be helpful, particularly in
Speaker 3: avoiding impulse spending, but just in general, before we spend,
Speaker 3: asking do I actually need this?
Speaker 4: Will it be useful? And does it get me excited?
Speaker 4: Do I have space for this?
Speaker 3: Will it have a place to live in my home
Speaker 3: or in my life? Do I actually have room for it?
Speaker 3: Based on my current financial situation? Can I actually afford this?
Speaker 3: How do I feel about buying this? So that's a
Speaker 3: true mindfulness practice, getting in touch with your thoughts and emotions.
Speaker 3: What is it stirring in you even viscerally inside your body?
Speaker 3: What do you noticing is happening for you when you
Speaker 3: think about purchasing this? A lot of times for me,
Speaker 3: I've talked about this in previous episodes. If I get
Speaker 3: kind of like sweaty or my heart's racing before purchasing something,
Speaker 3: that's usually an indicator for me that I'm probably not
Speaker 3: comfortable doing it right at that moment. Maybe I need
Speaker 3: to think about it more, or it is an impulse purchase.
Speaker 3: So just paying attention to what's happening inside you. And
Speaker 3: then finally, another question we can ask is what is
Speaker 3: my general emotional state today? So kind of even more broad,
Speaker 3: where am I at checking in with myself emotion is
Speaker 3: this maybe a coping mechanism. Do I want to give
Speaker 3: myself more of a space or a pause before I
Speaker 3: engage in this purchase?
Speaker 4: So really great.
Speaker 3: Check in questions and that circling back to pen and
Speaker 3: paper could even be something we carry around with us,
Speaker 3: although that could be typed into your phone as well.
Speaker 3: Kind of my checklist of questions I asked myself before purchasing.
Speaker 3: So when you're out and about pulling out those questions
Speaker 3: and kind of running through the list or asking yourself
Speaker 3: whatever questions feel most relevant to help inform that decision,
Speaker 3: so you make sure that you are making a good
Speaker 3: choice for yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love these questions because something we've always said
Speaker 1: is you can know your values and what you really
Speaker 1: want in life, and that helps you with baking bigger
Speaker 1: financial decisions. But when it comes down to you and target,
Speaker 1: those big goals are not going to necessarily be enough
Speaker 1: to motivate you to not choose instant gratification. But pausing
Speaker 1: will and pausing and asking these questions just adds another
Speaker 1: layer to the boundaries, to the walls between you and
Speaker 1: an impulse purchase. So yeah, I read another version of
Speaker 1: the first one, which is do I actually need this,
Speaker 1: someone was like can I live without this? Which I
Speaker 1: also thought was a good reframe of it, and then
Speaker 1: just being like do I have space for it? Can
Speaker 1: I afford this? Thinking about not just the current financial situation,
Speaker 1: but like also the goals as well, like can I
Speaker 1: afford this and still be on track to my goals?
Speaker 1: And then just taking like we say this a lot
Speaker 1: is being aware of your emotional state and what you
Speaker 1: did beforehand, what happened beforehand, like are you here? Are
Speaker 1: you shopping to celebrate something and that's why you're wanting
Speaker 1: to buy this? Are you here to avoid some kind
Speaker 1: of emotion that you should be dealing with? So these
Speaker 1: are amazing ques questions And I feel like there should
Speaker 1: be like a phone background with these questions on it,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 4: May make one.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make any promises, but I kind
Speaker 1: of want to make one because this is definitely worth it.
Speaker 3: Or like an audiogram where you just play it back
Speaker 3: to yourself.
Speaker 4: Do you have space for this? Whe're you going to
Speaker 4: put it?
Speaker 3: Do you need it?
Speaker 4: Do you want it? How are you feeling? What happened
Speaker 4: in your life today?
Speaker 1: And you can pick Jill will do one and I
Speaker 1: will do one. And you can pick who's.
Speaker 3: You want, who do you want questioning your purchase decisions.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh that's great.
Speaker 1: They also say waiting on purchasing something for twenty four
Speaker 1: hours is just like an additional recommendation.
Speaker 3: But I mean, we love that patience is a virtue
Speaker 3: always always.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like the general like way to do kokibo.
Speaker 1: It's very simple, and that's something else that I love
Speaker 1: about it. So simple, it's the four questions, categorize you're
Speaker 1: spending into four categories, and then in practice, which very
Speaker 1: few budgeting methods actually have. I would say no other
Speaker 1: budgeting method has actual implementation. So in addition to the
Speaker 1: structure of the ledger, then there's implementation guidelines for following
Speaker 1: the plan.
Speaker 3: And I feel very affirmed in this because I am
Speaker 3: I'm pen and paper. I still do write all my
Speaker 3: transactions down. I just I love it, and I think
Speaker 3: some of it is for this reason. While that could
Speaker 3: sound like a lot of work to some people, to me,
Speaker 3: it feels simple, just pen and paper, aware of what
Speaker 3: I'm doing, informing my decisions upcoming, aligning it with my goals.
Speaker 3: It feels so cathartic to me. I realize that's not
Speaker 3: going to be everybody's situation, and they may not write
Speaker 3: down every transaction every single month, but for me, this
Speaker 3: is essentially what I have been doing already. So I'm
Speaker 3: glad to have a term for it.
Speaker 1: I know, I feel the same way, like we've been
Speaker 1: talking about this stuff for years and to actually have
Speaker 1: a name for it. And this just really simple, like beautiful.
Speaker 1: We've said the word elegant several times in this episode,
Speaker 1: but I really feel that's.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's so simple, it's so elegant, and
Speaker 1: I'm already obsessed. But let's move on to our next article.
Speaker 1: It's from Refinery twenty nine and it's learn about kokibo,
Speaker 1: the Japanese art of saving money.
Speaker 3: So a lot of the same things highlighted in this
Speaker 3: article as the previous one, but this takes a specific
Speaker 3: look at what are the things we need to know
Speaker 3: about kokepo in order to engage with it. So, yes,
Speaker 3: it does sound simple, sitting down at the start of
Speaker 3: each month and making a plan for how we're going
Speaker 3: to spend and having categories and awareness of our goals.
Speaker 3: It's so beautiful and what else do we need to know?
Speaker 3: And so, first off, the bat is this shifting of focus, Jen,
Speaker 3: and you and I have already mentioned this, but just
Speaker 3: to highlight it one more time, it really is looking
Speaker 3: a lot at the spending aspect of our finances rather
Speaker 3: than the saving. Again, both will happen, but clearly we're
Speaker 3: looking a lot more at our spending decisions, the things
Speaker 3: that we're acquiring, where our money is going, and oftentimes
Speaker 3: that can feel more approachable than when we're just talking
Speaker 3: about saving. If we're using the words saving and we
Speaker 3: can't and we can't have and we need to restrict,
Speaker 3: then it can feel like a chore versus becoming more
Speaker 3: what we can do, what we can have, can afford,
Speaker 3: how are we going to do that? I like how
Speaker 3: this article frames this that it becomes a much more
Speaker 3: inviting prospect, and it does feel that way of we're
Speaker 3: all spending money, so here's a method to become more
Speaker 3: engaged in that and align it more with your values
Speaker 3: and goals.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think in frugality sometimes we're tricked into thinking that
Speaker 1: spending is bad and it's how can I spend less?
Speaker 1: How can I buy less? Which is yes, we invite that,
Speaker 1: especially when you are spending on a lot of different
Speaker 1: things that maybe you don't love, but I think what
Speaker 1: we want to reframe frugality to be is the emphasism
Speaker 1: how do I spend better? Spending is great, spending is neutral,
Speaker 1: So how do I just improve my spending instead of
Speaker 1: shaming yourself for spending on a plethora of different things that.
Speaker 4: Actually are neutral.
Speaker 1: They're not bad to spend, even if somebody's trying to
Speaker 1: tell you that you shouldn't be spending money on them.
Speaker 1: The things itself are not bad, and so let's lift
Speaker 1: the shame off of what we're spending on and focus
Speaker 1: on how do we spend better?
Speaker 4: I can't be nodding harder right now.
Speaker 3: We are not recording video on this one, but I'm
Speaker 3: giving myself whiplash for how hard I'm nodding at everything
Speaker 3: you're saying.
Speaker 4: It's a nodding yes, not a no, thank you, not
Speaker 4: shaking my head.
Speaker 3: I'm nodding it.
Speaker 1: So the next is and I think all these are
Speaker 1: like mindset shifts. So if you make these mindset shifts,
Speaker 1: you'll have a much better time implementing kakibo. So the
Speaker 1: second shift is that writing things down will help. So
Speaker 1: keeping kakibo is all about recording your spending but when
Speaker 1: we do it, we just plug numbers in on a spreadsheet,
Speaker 1: or we sign up for Mint and they just automatically
Speaker 1: plug transactions in. It takes away the poor reason to
Speaker 1: record your transactions. Putting pen to paper is a fundamental
Speaker 1: part of this practice, and it's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: when people are like, what's your favorite budgeting app? And
Speaker 1: I still don't have one, because it just depends on
Speaker 1: where you're at on the journey, when you are very
Speaker 1: early in the journey, and I would say everyone can
Speaker 1: benefit from this at some point, whether you're just starting
Speaker 1: out or you've been doing it for a while, Like
Speaker 1: recording your transactions manually is essential to discover and learn
Speaker 1: about your relationship when with money it's essential, and so
Speaker 1: typically I would just recommend an app where you could
Speaker 1: do things manually, or a budget spreadsheet where you could
Speaker 1: input things manually. But I love this concept of actual
Speaker 1: like physical pen to paper, because it forces you, like
Speaker 1: to slow down, like we're all so busy and so
Speaker 1: to go to the grocery store and have to pause,
Speaker 1: like before you put the groceries in the car and
Speaker 1: write down the transaction and the amount and the category,
Speaker 1: like I and it's so it's not inconvenient, but it's
Speaker 1: not the most convenient, Like it's not going it's not
Speaker 1: going out of the way to like seven different grocery
Speaker 1: stores to get the lowest price on everything. But it's
Speaker 1: also not just swiping your card and being totally disconnected
Speaker 1: from the bill like it's that it's that radical middle.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: The next thing that is worth noting about this method
Speaker 3: is that we're gonna need to be honest about our
Speaker 3: musts and our wants. I like how the article describes
Speaker 3: that the keepo method is about decluttering your finances, and
Speaker 3: we've described.
Speaker 4: The simplicity and the elegance of that.
Speaker 3: So this definitely goes hand in hand with yes, decluttering
Speaker 3: our finances. And if you followed all the other steps,
Speaker 3: then you know how much money is coming in, how
Speaker 3: much money is going out, and so now it's time
Speaker 3: to figure out what are you going to do with
Speaker 3: the rest? Assuming that there is a little bit of
Speaker 3: margin left over from the essentials, where do I want.
Speaker 4: That money to go?
Speaker 3: What are my musks, what are my wants, And particularly
Speaker 3: in the category of wants, how do I make sure
Speaker 3: that the money is going to the most important of
Speaker 3: my wants and not frivolously getting spent who knows where
Speaker 3: and being left at the end of the month kind
Speaker 3: of disappointed in what we see. And so of course
Speaker 3: then it's going to inform what shifts need to be
Speaker 3: made so that the spending really can align with my
Speaker 3: true wants.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think this is where those questions, the
Speaker 1: monthly or bi monthly questions really come into play, because
Speaker 1: that question on how can I improve it tells you more.
Speaker 1: It allows you to think more of about, Okay, what
Speaker 1: are the things that I value that maybe non essentials
Speaker 1: for somebody else but are essential for me? And what
Speaker 1: are my actual non essentials? Because you can want anything,
Speaker 1: but you probably don't want everything. That's very unlikely. Marketing
Speaker 1: definitely tells us we should want everything, But if you
Speaker 1: look at it over the course of months and years,
Speaker 1: and even the things you wanted like a year or
Speaker 1: two or three ago can and should be different than
Speaker 1: what you want now. And so it also gives you
Speaker 1: the time to reflect on, Okay, are the things that
Speaker 1: were like essential to me then still essential to me now?
Speaker 1: The fourth is going to kind of hurt some of
Speaker 1: our hearts. It's going to be uncomfortable for some of us.
Speaker 1: But it's that cash is better than card and psychologically
Speaker 1: cash is better than card. Yes, for travel reward points
Speaker 1: and cash back cards.
Speaker 5: Love.
Speaker 1: But and I say this to people again, if you're
Speaker 1: very new to the journey, if you are just starting out,
Speaker 1: cash is almost essential. Like to just do at least
Speaker 1: a month, two months, three months with cash will really
Speaker 1: make a big difference in the speed to which you
Speaker 1: kind of get in control of your relationship with money.
Speaker 1: It will really speed it up after the first few months.
Speaker 1: I would say, once you've built a habit of mindfulness
Speaker 1: with your money, you can go back to card. It
Speaker 1: is a very for me, inconvenient way to live. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of others agree, so I do prefer card.
Speaker 1: But it is so easy swipe your card and you
Speaker 1: have no clue how much you just spent on your card.
Speaker 1: So yeah, tying that pen and paper recording with the
Speaker 1: cash really like going off the deep and intense method
Speaker 1: to like be a catalyst to getting your relationship with
Speaker 1: money kind of solidified.
Speaker 3: See now for me, I agree and disagree. I think
Speaker 3: on the one hand, it is a good practice and
Speaker 3: like you're saying, Jen, especially when just starting out. For me,
Speaker 3: I feel as though cash is not traceable, so oftentimes
Speaker 3: when I spend cash on it, it feels like I'm
Speaker 3: hardly spending because it's not going to show up in
Speaker 3: a paper statement. I'm not going to see it later.
Speaker 3: Like I am very aware of what I spend on
Speaker 3: the card because there's a record, there's a paper trail
Speaker 3: more than just my receipt, and all often spent in
Speaker 3: cash when I want it to feel like, oh, this
Speaker 3: doesn't even count. There's no record, it's not traceable. So
Speaker 3: that and maybe that's just like a poor mindset I've adopted,
Speaker 3: but that's how it feels for me, like I'm using
Speaker 3: cash when like I don't even have to think about
Speaker 3: that purchase.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is the first time I've heard somebody say that,
Speaker 1: But I'm sure you can't be alone. And I'm not
Speaker 1: going to judge anybody for not going to cash because
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I wouldn't, And I think with the recording,
Speaker 1: like with the pen and paper recording, it does add
Speaker 1: that mindfulness. So I think maybe you wouldn't, like wouldn't
Speaker 1: need to stay in cash as long as somebody who
Speaker 1: was using an app to track their budget so I
Speaker 1: really think it does add that relationship to the spending
Speaker 1: that a like a fintech app would not. So I'm
Speaker 1: not going to judge anyone for not doing the cash
Speaker 1: on envelopes.
Speaker 3: Thanks, I appreciate you with holding your judgment from me.
Speaker 3: So the final thing on here to be aware of
Speaker 3: Number five is that you should finish the month by
Speaker 3: reflecting on your progress. And I so appreciate how this
Speaker 3: is coming full circle and it is congruent with mindfulness practices,
Speaker 3: with the simplicity of it, but also the connectivity of
Speaker 3: it that we're not just setting goals and tracking our spending,
Speaker 3: we're also looking back and reflecting because oftentimes that's where
Speaker 3: the true understanding learning shifts happen is when we give
Speaker 3: ourselves space to reflect. So once we've set the month
Speaker 3: and we've done the month, this is crucial to then
Speaker 3: pause and reflect how did that go? What went well?
Speaker 3: What do I want to see go differently? Before we
Speaker 3: set what the next month is going to be, we've
Speaker 3: got to give ourselves that space and time to look
Speaker 3: back and learn from what just happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what else we can use to learn
Speaker 1: what has happened?
Speaker 3: Hmmm, Look back and reflect before we move forward.
Speaker 1: We really should create a compilation of.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 6: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 6: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 6: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 6: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 6: that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill claion, this
Speaker 6: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, ten until. My name is em and I'm calling
Speaker 5: from Quebec, Canada, and I wanted to submit my bill
Speaker 5: of the week. So my bill is my new heating
Speaker 5: and air conditioning vice that has been installed last week.
Speaker 5: I've been working from home for the last two years
Speaker 5: and it was getting really hot in the summer, so
Speaker 5: I was looking forward for this home improvement, also knowing
Speaker 5: that it will be increasing the value of my house.
Speaker 5: The total bill was seven thousand dollars, so it was
Speaker 5: quite high. But after getting some information, I knew that
Speaker 5: I was eligible for different grants, so I will be
Speaker 5: getting back a little bit more than three thousand dollars
Speaker 5: on grants from the government, and I will also be
Speaker 5: saving about twenty dollars per month on my heating bill.
Speaker 5: During the winter, so the system will be paid by
Speaker 5: itself quite quickly, and the value that it had to
Speaker 5: my house, if I ever decide to sell it will
Speaker 5: be way more than what I've paid for. So I'm
Speaker 5: really happy with that. Thank you and have a nice day.
Speaker 3: Bye bye, amazing m Thank you so much for calling
Speaker 3: in from Quebec and sharing this amazing bill.
Speaker 4: It's so practical, and.
Speaker 3: That is such a massive household upgrade. That can often
Speaker 3: be one of those things like, oh, it's so much
Speaker 3: money to spend on something that you don't totally notice,
Speaker 3: although heating and cooling is really essential, but it's not
Speaker 3: something we typically want to drop that amount of money on.
Speaker 3: But it sounds like you are planful and we're able
Speaker 3: to spend the money but then also put in the time,
Speaker 3: energy and effort to do the research and apply for
Speaker 3: these grants. Getting money back is saving you forty percent
Speaker 3: on this massive home upgrade, and then like you're saying,
Speaker 3: what it's going to save you monthly, the value add
Speaker 3: that it is to your home. What an amazing bill.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy for you that this is installed and
Speaker 3: working in your house. You're getting to enjoy it. You
Speaker 3: just feel really good about this purchase you've made.
Speaker 4: Well done, Yeah, good job.
Speaker 1: I think it teaches everyone always check for rebates and
Speaker 1: grants from your city and state before you make big
Speaker 1: home improvements, because there's always something like in Penelos you
Speaker 1: can get a free toilet for your house, Like everyone
Speaker 1: gets a free toilet, Like there's a very minimum standard
Speaker 1: you need to meet to get a free toilet, so
Speaker 1: like there's it's always worth looking for those grants.
Speaker 4: Making us sounds so weird.
Speaker 3: We're just getting out toilets down, were out toilet foreveryone.
Speaker 1: We all get excited about it, right, So yeah, if
Speaker 1: you want to submit your bill of the week, visit
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill to leave us
Speaker 1: a bill. Maybe you got a free toilet. We'd love
Speaker 1: to hear about it.
Speaker 4: And now it's time.
Speaker 1: For so we are talking about spending intentionally, shifting our
Speaker 1: focus to how can I spend better? So we want
Speaker 1: to know. Inquiring minds want to know how do you
Speaker 1: feel about your intentionality towards your spending in this season?
Speaker 1: Because it is seasonal. Once you achieve intentional spending, it's
Speaker 1: not like you're there forever. It's definitely seasonal. And so
Speaker 1: let's be honest and transparent and vulnerable about our seasons.
Speaker 4: Jill, I was gonna say, so, do you want to
Speaker 4: go first? If you want to be honestable?
Speaker 3: All right, So I am feeling really great. Actually, you
Speaker 3: caught me in a good season. And you know, I'll
Speaker 3: be honest with you. There's times when I am not
Speaker 3: crushing it. But right now it feels really great. And
Speaker 3: I'll tell you why. I have been doing a ton
Speaker 3: of cooking at home and making meal plans and it
Speaker 3: has been going so well. Now. Part of that is
Speaker 3: because we are on a four week stretch where we.
Speaker 4: Have no travel plans and no guests.
Speaker 3: That has not happened in the last two years at
Speaker 3: least where we haven't had guests or travel plans for
Speaker 3: that amount of time. So part of it is my
Speaker 3: ability to really get into a rhythm and be at
Speaker 3: home and cook for us. And so that is one
Speaker 3: of the discretionary categories, discretionary spending categories that can get
Speaker 3: out of hand for us. So me being on top
Speaker 3: of it has, Yeah, it's been intentional, and it has
Speaker 3: also really saved us a lot of money over these
Speaker 3: last few weeks, which has allowed us to then put
Speaker 3: some additional money towards the renovations that pythe away. You
Speaker 3: might be able to hear in the background if you
Speaker 3: hear any power tools, it's happening. No, it's fine. Renovations
Speaker 3: are happening. Have you've been listening to this for a
Speaker 3: long time. You can celebrate with me. I'm not going
Speaker 3: to hinder that progress because I need I need that
Speaker 3: kitchen in some real ways. So I'm feeling like, really
Speaker 3: really great about it. I continue to not only do
Speaker 3: I keep a pen and paper account of all of
Speaker 3: my transactions, I also back in June, I made a
Speaker 3: new spreadsheet that I am so stoked about. It's a
Speaker 3: more complicated spreadsheet, but it gets my finances to a
Speaker 3: more detailed measure that is really cool for me and
Speaker 3: has a few more categories of sinking funds. That has
Speaker 3: been helpful for me because I'm realizing I've got a
Speaker 3: couple of things that I want to be saving for
Speaker 3: that I just wasn't doing when I didn't have it
Speaker 3: allocated to different sinking funds. So I've done a couple
Speaker 3: of these, like minor shifts recently that have really brought
Speaker 3: my budget my finances together in a nice way, and
Speaker 3: I appreciate what you're saying there. Jen of for this season,
Speaker 3: I don't think I'm going to need to have such
Speaker 3: a tight hold on the money in and out in
Speaker 3: you know, a year from now. But because we're going
Speaker 3: so hard at renovations and cash flowing them, I'm trying
Speaker 3: to be really mindful, really intentional in some of these
Speaker 3: different areas, and these are the things that have helped.
Speaker 3: So right now I feel great. I feel on top
Speaker 3: of the world with it.
Speaker 1: What about you, Well, I wanted you to go first,
Speaker 1: because mine is a bit of the opposite. So and
Speaker 1: it's not so like it's I've been intentional. So it
Speaker 1: hasn't been like negative spending, but it has been increased spending.
Speaker 1: So it has been this like interesting dichotomy. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's the right word. But we are recording
Speaker 1: this at the end of summer, and so I have
Speaker 1: allowed myself this summer kind of to be freer with
Speaker 1: my time. This is a slower season in the personal
Speaker 1: finance world. Nobody not as many people care about their
Speaker 1: money over the summer.
Speaker 4: After summers my dam occasion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's been light and I've been allowing myself
Speaker 1: to rest, and allowing myself to rest has meant going
Speaker 1: out with friends a little bit more, so I have
Speaker 1: been spending more. And also July was the first month
Speaker 1: that we paid a mortgage on the new house, so
Speaker 1: now we have two mortgages instead of one, and we
Speaker 1: still have not We've only rented out one of the
Speaker 1: two rental you know areas. So this month will involve
Speaker 1: a tightening just because a we need to focus on
Speaker 1: renovating the rental half of our house and be because
Speaker 1: we have we have saved and so that money is
Speaker 1: not coming The money for that mortgage is not coming
Speaker 1: out of our month to month it's coming out of
Speaker 1: our savings. But it's still something that I want to
Speaker 1: be mindful of. And we're entering back into our quote
Speaker 1: unquote busier season, and so I will allow myself to
Speaker 1: say no more to going out and finding alternatives for
Speaker 1: things that, you know, activities that I would normally spend
Speaker 1: money on, and kind of suggesting alternative activities. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I did give myself space to rest and spend over
Speaker 1: the summer, and now heading into fall being a lot
Speaker 1: more aware, and so I think I'm going to be
Speaker 1: trying this Kokibo for the fall. I have not personally
Speaker 1: like tried it, and just learning about it for this
Speaker 1: episode has made me like think, Okay, I actually really
Speaker 1: need this, because even though I am frugal and I
Speaker 1: care about my money, some seasons just get you out
Speaker 1: of your groove. Maybe not even a bad way, but
Speaker 1: they just get you out of your groove and it's
Speaker 1: time to reset and rethink heading into the next season,
Speaker 1: Like what is essential for me? What is non essential?
Speaker 1: Et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3: Well, I think in all of it, what I am
Speaker 3: hearing you say is there are degrees of intentionality. Maybe
Speaker 3: the rains how tightly the rains are on your spending
Speaker 3: might have shifted, but you have given yourself that space
Speaker 3: intentionally to spend this summer. So it doesn't sound like
Speaker 3: it's lacking intentionality. It just might be lacking the amount
Speaker 3: of boundaries that you are going to be putting around
Speaker 3: it in the fall because of the different goals. So yeah,
Speaker 3: each season requires different boundaries and maybe a tighter grip
Speaker 3: or a looser grip on our finances.
Speaker 1: Yeah I did. I went out to brunch with friends
Speaker 1: two days in a row, and after the second one,
Speaker 1: I turned to my friend. I was like, we can't
Speaker 1: do this every day. I love that story.
Speaker 4: I saw yet night.
Speaker 3: You're like I went out to brunch, was like, great,
Speaker 3: You're like two days in a row.
Speaker 1: It was great and fun, but I was like, we
Speaker 1: gotta get this together. I gotta get it together.
Speaker 3: Oh I love it so much. Yeah, well, Jen, did
Speaker 3: you end up doing two brunches in a row? Now?
Speaker 1: I honored my my voice and I did not do
Speaker 1: that level of brunch again. I think maybe that's the
Speaker 1: last time I did do brunch. Maybe I think I
Speaker 1: can't recall on.
Speaker 4: A brunch bender. And now it's over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it all out.
Speaker 4: Of my system. Amazing. Well, we're back.
Speaker 3: We hope that that episode felt as a timeless to
Speaker 3: you as it did to us, and that you've got
Speaker 3: some takeaways or new ways to look at managing your
Speaker 3: money that will be helpful for you.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love I mean, we always love the idea of
Speaker 1: looking at your purchases objectively and kind of asking questions
Speaker 1: about them. And if you're afraid of doing this, then
Speaker 1: we would just encourage you to look at your spending
Speaker 1: from a place of curiosity, start asking yourself questions that
Speaker 1: get to the root of the purchase, not in a
Speaker 1: defensive way. Take out the why why questions can be
Speaker 1: very informative. But just like I was saying with language
Speaker 1: at the top of the episode, sometimes whys can put
Speaker 1: us on the defensive, and it's just a way to
Speaker 1: get us out of the habit of being judgmental about ourselves.
Speaker 1: So let's take why off the table for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Let's ask ourselves different questions so that we can look
Speaker 1: at the spending journal with more objectivity, more neutrality, so
Speaker 1: that we can really learn about ourselves our spending and
Speaker 1: use that information to improve. Yeah, so thank you for listening,
Speaker 1: and thank you for leaving kind reviews. We especially love
Speaker 1: this one from Kitty Pooh eight eight eight eight eight
Speaker 1: eight eight Happy Pod, Happy Gah. Kitty Pooh says, this
Speaker 1: show has been one of my relaxing chill out pods
Speaker 1: for a long time. I can always rely on a
Speaker 1: positive attitude from both Jen and Jill, and they keep
Speaker 1: it very fun. It also has the added bonus of
Speaker 1: some helpful tips about living life in an ethical and
Speaker 1: sustainable way, so I get to feel a little productive
Speaker 1: while I listen. I've probably listened to about eighty to
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the episodes, and I can tell you
Speaker 1: there's not one I've heard that's been a bummer.
Speaker 4: It's all positive.
Speaker 3: She's just keeping going with the eight eight eight. Thank you,
Speaker 3: she's listening eighty to nineties.
Speaker 4: She's listened to.
Speaker 1: Eight eight eight eight eight eight eight episodes eight eight
Speaker 1: eight eight eight eight eight amazing.
Speaker 3: Thanks Kitty Boo for that lovely review. We're so glad
Speaker 3: that we're bringing the positivity to you. If anybody else
Speaker 3: listening has nice things to say and helpful things for
Speaker 3: other potential podcasts, listeners of the Frugal Friends to kind
Speaker 3: of know what to expect, what this podcast is about.
Speaker 3: Those are the ways that reviews can be helpful to us.
Speaker 3: So please, wherever you're listening to us, leave us a review.
Speaker 3: It really helps us, it helps other people.
Speaker 4: You just be helpful and.
Speaker 1: Make your name on it, just a lot of random
Speaker 1: numbers and letters, and because we will read it. And
Speaker 1: it is a way that you can make podcasting more
Speaker 1: difficult than it already is for us.
Speaker 3: It can be your good deed for the day, and
Speaker 3: then you can do whatever else you want after that
Speaker 3: because you've done a good deed.
Speaker 5: There you go.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jen Jill, I have, I'm probably gonna I'm essentially
Speaker 3: organically starting a series over here of my Florida experiences.
Speaker 1: Yes, I live for this series. This is one I
Speaker 1: could binge. I look forward to it every week.
Speaker 3: We are four years into living in Florida, and all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, it feels like we're we're getting the
Speaker 3: real deal lately, just back to back Florida stuff happening,
Speaker 3: happening to us.
Speaker 1: I feel like the first two or three years you
Speaker 1: were here, Florida was on a different vibe. It was
Speaker 1: just a different vibe. And now Florida is floording again.
Speaker 1: It's back, She's back better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And most of it has to do with other
Speaker 3: living creatures that are not humans. If you've heard Yeah,
Speaker 3: She's back, if you've heard my other series, the other
Speaker 3: installments in this series, it's been a cockroach in my pants,
Speaker 3: it's been a massive spider in my clean laundry. And
Speaker 3: now what I have for you, friends, is we got roosters,
Speaker 3: or at least you have a rooster. There's a rooster.
Speaker 1: It would be bad if you had more than one rooster,
Speaker 1: because then you would have a different problem.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was driving so through the alley the other day
Speaker 3: and they were just chickens, just chickens in the alley,
Speaker 3: run and loose, free range.
Speaker 4: Free range. They would call that.
Speaker 3: Yes, they're highly sought after except for in my alley.
Speaker 3: And I don't know who they belong to. But I'm
Speaker 3: just like, oh fun, just wild chickens. I suppose. Until
Speaker 3: that night, in what felt like the very middle of
Speaker 3: the night, there was a rooster cocking where cockadoodling.
Speaker 1: Where the women are the men will come?
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that felt abrasive and uncalled for, because chickens
Speaker 3: are more than welcome without a rooster. They bring edible eggs.
Speaker 3: With a rooster, you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: They just bring their voice, and they think their voice
Speaker 1: is so important that it has to they have to
Speaker 1: say what they've got to say, say at two o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning, and everyone has to hear it.
Speaker 3: We are two miles from downtown. I don't think it's
Speaker 3: allowed to have a rooster here. I think chickens. You
Speaker 3: could have up to four chickens, but not roosters. And
Speaker 3: yet here we are.
Speaker 4: I don't know who has them.
Speaker 1: Here, because somebody probably had them. They told them to
Speaker 1: get rid of them and the loose, and now here
Speaker 1: they are.
Speaker 3: But now I'm so shocked because we do so we
Speaker 3: live right on a nature preserve and there are foxes
Speaker 3: and coyotes in the nature preserve, and I would have
Speaker 3: imagined that they would have been.
Speaker 4: Probably why they brought there.
Speaker 1: That's why they brought them here.
Speaker 3: Right, But three or four days in a row now
Speaker 3: we've been on a farm and we've been getting up
Speaker 3: to melt the cows before the crack of dawn, and
Speaker 3: it's wild and it's happening, and they're still alive, and well.
Speaker 5: Well, good for them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3: On a on a bit of a scavenger hunt today
Speaker 3: to try to figure out where these animals are, if
Speaker 3: they are on someone's property or if they're just wild
Speaker 3: in the park. I don't know. If they're wild in
Speaker 3: the park. I might become a chicken mom. I've already
Speaker 3: done sour dough cool.
Speaker 4: I will not. I will not be having a rooster though.
Speaker 4: That's not going to happen.
Speaker 5: Nobody should do that.
Speaker 1: It's fine, it's just them.
Speaker 4: Let him live.
Speaker 1: In the preserve and what happens to him. What happens
Speaker 1: to him.
Speaker 4: We'll see, we'll find out. Stay tuned for my Florid adventures.
Speaker 5: Stay tuned