Speaker 1: Episode on creative ways to declutter. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity rights,
Speaker 1: and live with your life. Here your host 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: d cluttering because it's January and that's like a big thing,
Speaker 1: right now, get that stuff gone that you don't need anymore.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna let you in on some fun ways
Speaker 1: to do it and some of our past episodes. But
Speaker 1: first let's give it up to our sponsors. So our
Speaker 1: first sponsor is the Frugal Friends Workbook flash sale. So
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends Workbook is a digital workbook with six
Speaker 1: weeklong challenge is that turn improving your finances into a game.
Speaker 1: You'll get sixty pages of teaching and implementation guidance on
Speaker 1: topics ranging from decluttering and increasing your income to having
Speaker 1: healthy money conversations. And while it can be completed on
Speaker 1: your own, it's created to be gone through in pairs
Speaker 1: or small groups. That's why every purchase comes with two downloads.
Speaker 1: So head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Workbook
Speaker 1: to learn more and this week only, So today through
Speaker 1: next week you can get the workbook for off. That's
Speaker 1: the lowest we've ever offered it. So if you've been
Speaker 1: thinking about it, now is your chance. No code needed,
Speaker 1: Just go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash workbook.
Speaker 1: This Declutter Week is also brought to you by hand
Speaker 1: me downs. As the middle child in my family, I
Speaker 1: survived off of my sisters or let's face it, anyone
Speaker 1: else's used clothing, toys, furniture, probably food, you name it.
Speaker 1: I used to hate it, but like anything that sticks
Speaker 1: around long enough, I began to grow a fondness and
Speaker 1: understanding for it. Hand me downs, it's not what you want,
Speaker 1: it's what you need. That's what you deserve. You were
Speaker 1: the second, third, four fifth child born, so no, you
Speaker 1: don't get the new things. I can't relate. And sometimes
Speaker 1: even if you are the first born, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: You're getting the hand me downs of a friend because
Speaker 1: I sit in his nursery and I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: see anything firsthand in here, and I only have one child,
Speaker 1: so I am proud and then also question why why
Speaker 1: why do I do this? He doesn't know any different.
Speaker 1: He doesn't, so it's good. Christmas toys are still in
Speaker 1: the closet. They are, and I will I am going
Speaker 1: to save some for his birthday in May, but I
Speaker 1: will also slowly drip them out, maybe once a month.
Speaker 1: So smart, okay. Decluttering and then realism. This is a
Speaker 1: huge topic for you, guys. You love it. Whenever we
Speaker 1: ask you what you want to hear, always more minimalism
Speaker 1: and decluttering. So we've got you covered. If you are
Speaker 1: new to the show and you would like to hear
Speaker 1: some more on this, grab a pen or put this
Speaker 1: in your phone. We have a few other episodes for
Speaker 1: you to listen to, and so some of our most
Speaker 1: popular ones are episode sixty one and that's how to
Speaker 1: achieve Digital Minimalism, Episode sixty nine, How to Cultivate a
Speaker 1: minimalist schedule. Episode nine nine we talk about contentment and
Speaker 1: gratitude and flexible minimalism. And then one O nine is
Speaker 1: how to maintain a minimalist lifestyle because maintenance and sustainability
Speaker 1: are big factors in anything that we talk about. So
Speaker 1: those are some really popular or great episodes whore you
Speaker 1: to listen to after this. But this episode we wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about making decluttering fun and creative. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: something that really does speak to us. There's a reason
Speaker 1: that this topic is so popular and something that we
Speaker 1: want to be aimed at. But then there are the
Speaker 1: barriers to it of setting aside the time for it
Speaker 1: and making those tough decisions of what to keep and
Speaker 1: what to get rid of, and yeah, just not wanting
Speaker 1: to do it. It just doesn't seem fun. It seems
Speaker 1: like a version of cleaning, and yeah, I'd rather do
Speaker 1: something else. But I really enjoyed this article that we're
Speaker 1: about to get into that highlights some ways to make
Speaker 1: it fun. And at first when I was looking at it,
Speaker 1: I was thinking, Jen that you and I would just
Speaker 1: pick out our favorites, but I really like all eight
Speaker 1: of them on here. So we're going to go through
Speaker 1: all eight of the ways to make decluttering fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This is from the Mostly Simple Life and it's called
Speaker 1: eight ways to make Decluttering fun. And uh, yeah, start
Speaker 1: us off, Jill. Yeah, so the first tip is to
Speaker 1: take before and after pictures. I love this one. It's
Speaker 1: something I also practice when I declutter, especially if I'm
Speaker 1: decluttering a space that hasn't been touched in a really
Speaker 1: long time, where you know that you're going to get
Speaker 1: a good after picture, and that does two things. First
Speaker 1: of all, it's just fun to see the transformation, to
Speaker 1: be able to look back at whoa, that is what
Speaker 1: it looked like before, because sometimes we forget as we're
Speaker 1: in the process, we don't even fully remember how messy
Speaker 1: or trashy or junkie it used to look, whether even
Speaker 1: if it's just a drawer in your house or a
Speaker 1: full room take up before picture, because you never quite
Speaker 1: know what you're going to end up doing after. So
Speaker 1: it's just fun. And it's also the way that you
Speaker 1: can brag on social media to people you don't have
Speaker 1: too great And secondly, it's motivating. So the fact that
Speaker 1: you have a before picture means that you do need
Speaker 1: to work towards getting an after picture. Although sidebar, this
Speaker 1: did not work for Eric and I in are exercise goals.
Speaker 1: At one point we took before pictures of like our
Speaker 1: bodies in our workout here We're like, oh, yeah, this
Speaker 1: will be so good and a couple of months will
Speaker 1: take after pictures. What were you going for? You're both like,
Speaker 1: so fit, We're not fit, we're skinny, we're skinny, we're nothing.
Speaker 1: I did. I wanted to see definition, I wanted to
Speaker 1: see tone. It just I don't know who knows where
Speaker 1: those those before pictures are. In your defense, you could
Speaker 1: keep up with us when we were running in the
Speaker 1: spring like it was. I mean, you beat me some days,
Speaker 1: so you are pushing a stroller to be fair. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: I think where the motivation would come in is because
Speaker 1: I think decluttering, hopefully will take less time than toning
Speaker 1: your body while exercising as quick to win. Something else
Speaker 1: I love is time last. So take your before picture
Speaker 1: and then do a time lapse video while you're decluttering,
Speaker 1: and so the hour to that you spend decluttering becomes
Speaker 1: this like really short video that you can see the
Speaker 1: progress happening, and it keeps you motivated to keep going
Speaker 1: because you're like, oh, I can't stop. My Time Labs
Speaker 1: video is going. And then you watch it afterwards and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, this is so cool. I want to
Speaker 1: do another. Yes, we did a time lapse video when
Speaker 1: we moved here with Travis. Travis helped us unload our
Speaker 1: enclosed trailer. We did a time Labs video unloading our
Speaker 1: trailer and moving in. It's fun, it is, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a way to make it fun, give you something to
Speaker 1: look forward to watching at the end of your work.
Speaker 1: It's great. Yes, and time last videos are so fun
Speaker 1: to watch on YouTube and Instagram, So then definitely please
Speaker 1: post your time last videos and tag us in them
Speaker 1: so that we can celebrate with you. Yes, because I
Speaker 1: love I love watching time Labs cleaning videos. Those are
Speaker 1: so satisfying. I love them all right. So number two
Speaker 1: is to set a timer. So if you're intimidated by
Speaker 1: the amount of time you think it will take to
Speaker 1: finish and cluttering project, try setting a timer and racing
Speaker 1: against the clock. So maybe you only have you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen or thirty minutes, like before your kid wakes up
Speaker 1: from your nap. And normally I would be like, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna sit here for thirty minutes and scroll Instagram.
Speaker 1: But if you have a small space, maybe one drawer
Speaker 1: or something that you can declutter, set a timer twenty
Speaker 1: minutes and then go really quickly. And what that also
Speaker 1: does is helps you make faster decisions and you make
Speaker 1: better decisions about decluttering. I love this one. It's so great.
Speaker 1: Just make sure you don't actually throw away really important
Speaker 1: things like the only knife that you ever used to
Speaker 1: chop vegetables. Keep that well, yeah, you're not gonna probably
Speaker 1: not gonna throw away that one if it's the only knife.
Speaker 1: My boss threw away her marriage license in a decluttering frenzy,
Speaker 1: is just like, what's this? This is cluttering up my counter.
Speaker 1: I throw away everything, and Travis is like, hey, have
Speaker 1: you seen this piece of paper? And I was like,
Speaker 1: I threw it away. Always keep it in a good spot.
Speaker 1: Otherwise has thrown out. Always. The third tip on this
Speaker 1: list is to do it with a friend. Just having
Speaker 1: someone there to socialize with you, even if they're not helping,
Speaker 1: they're just kind of hanging out with you while you
Speaker 1: do this. That can make it fun. Okay, here's my
Speaker 1: personal caveat on this one. However, make sure that it's
Speaker 1: a friend who was on board with this process, not
Speaker 1: a friend who's going to question every decision that you make.
Speaker 1: Like one time, I think my mom sat in my
Speaker 1: childhood bedroom as I de clatter to what not the
Speaker 1: same no chili? Not your yearbook, yes mom, my yearbook
Speaker 1: with your mom exactly. Not someone who's going to be
Speaker 1: super sentimental, but it could be someone who might be
Speaker 1: willing to take some of your things of ah, yeah,
Speaker 1: sure I could use that and they could benefit. I
Speaker 1: also had the thought that this could be a trade
Speaker 1: z where if you've got a friend who is also
Speaker 1: interested in doing this, you swap days and maybe they
Speaker 1: do come and help you declutter and if they've got
Speaker 1: kind of a similar mindset of how to go about it,
Speaker 1: and then you give of your time to them, and
Speaker 1: you might even find things that you can swap actual
Speaker 1: goods that you might need. Similar to helping friends move,
Speaker 1: oftentimes there's things that they want to discard in their move,
Speaker 1: and because you're helping them, you get to benefit. So yes,
Speaker 1: I'm getting rid of and receiving and something you could
Speaker 1: do like you could do a virtual like code declutter,
Speaker 1: Like there's virtual coworking now, you could do a virtual
Speaker 1: code declutter. So if you have a friend that you've
Speaker 1: met on the internet, say maybe in the Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: community on Facebook, and you want to do some d cutters,
Speaker 1: then swap contact info and do like a timed clutter.
Speaker 1: This is a great brainstorming session. I love and God
Speaker 1: we do this. The fourth one is to compete, So
Speaker 1: this is for all you competitive people out there. Check
Speaker 1: if your spouse or partner roommate, whatever, We'll compete with
Speaker 1: you and see who can get rid of the most
Speaker 1: clothes or storage boxes or paperwork. This is a great
Speaker 1: way that if your spouse maybe a hoarder um and
Speaker 1: maybe also competitive, that you can get them to get
Speaker 1: rid of more things. It's not manipulative, but it just goes.
Speaker 1: I said it's not manipulative. That means right. Uh so,
Speaker 1: it's just a technique that you I'm not saying I've
Speaker 1: used before, but you could. And I think this could
Speaker 1: relate to the previous one, the previous tip of doing
Speaker 1: this online with somebody you could all so make it
Speaker 1: a competition. It doesn't have to be someone within your
Speaker 1: own household. You could also compete with somebody outside of
Speaker 1: your household for how many things you get rid of?
Speaker 1: Or yeah, there's all kinds of creative or whoever who
Speaker 1: has the most before and after photos? Who has a
Speaker 1: pretty for and after photos? Posted in the Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Facebook community group. We vote. It doesn't have to be pretty,
Speaker 1: it just has to be clean. Don't don't make it please.
Speaker 1: Number five on this list do a declutter challenge, so
Speaker 1: somewhat along those lines, maybe not as competitive with another
Speaker 1: person but a challenge with yourself, and this article recommends
Speaker 1: going on Pinterest and finding any kind of declutter challenge.
Speaker 1: Just type that in and find one that resonates with you.
Speaker 1: Some common ones will include decluttering a certain room of
Speaker 1: your house or a certain portion of your home. It
Speaker 1: could be getting rid of x amount of items, So
Speaker 1: find one that resonates with you. If you know that
Speaker 1: clothing is a particular point of contention for yourself personally
Speaker 1: and that needs to be the area that gets decluttered,
Speaker 1: you name it. Find a challenge that works for you
Speaker 1: and kind of go along with that. Some of them
Speaker 1: are just a day challenge, but some of them are
Speaker 1: monthly challenges of get rid of one item a day
Speaker 1: in this category or yeah, find one that works for you.
Speaker 1: I love challenges because they force you to get through
Speaker 1: the decluttering process quickly, because if you let it go
Speaker 1: for longer than six weeks, even maybe four weeks, it's
Speaker 1: very unlikely that you will get through it at all.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those things where you need to
Speaker 1: just rip the band aid off, set the timers, do
Speaker 1: the challenge and get it done quickly and then be
Speaker 1: done with it and then just go on into maintenance,
Speaker 1: because it's very hard to live in a house that
Speaker 1: you are decluttering, especially if you start something like you
Speaker 1: start a declutter a portion of your house and then
Speaker 1: you don't finish it, and then all that stuff is
Speaker 1: just laying around. It's it's very stress inducing. So work
Speaker 1: on it in chunks that you can finish in the
Speaker 1: same session you start, and then just keep doing it
Speaker 1: over and over until it's done. Yeah. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: can do Number six while you're doing it is listen
Speaker 1: to a great audio book or podcast. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: listen to the Frugal Friends podcast while you declutter, but
Speaker 1: I am saying we have a hundred and forty three
Speaker 1: other episodes to listen to. Yeah. This isn't manipulation by
Speaker 1: any means, but you could listen to this very podcast,
Speaker 1: this very episode while you d clutter, just to give
Speaker 1: you your the motivation you need. Yeah. But also audio books,
Speaker 1: a good audio book, whatever you want. And number seven
Speaker 1: on this list is to sell things. You know that
Speaker 1: We've talked about this from a variety of different angles,
Speaker 1: as we is to make money when you're short on cash,
Speaker 1: and it also pairs well with the decluttering process. This
Speaker 1: article mentions that you can make decluttering fun by selling
Speaker 1: some of your things for fun money. But I would
Speaker 1: also argue you could have any other sort of financial goal,
Speaker 1: whether it's a savings goal or a specific purchase that
Speaker 1: you want to make, or getting out of debt quicker
Speaker 1: like that can be a fun motivator. It doesn't have
Speaker 1: to just be that you plan to spend this money
Speaker 1: in a fun way. You can also just sell things,
Speaker 1: see how much money you can make and put it
Speaker 1: towards something that's really valuable to you. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: know that not everything is sellable, so even if it's not,
Speaker 1: when it comes to selling your stuff, it's not about
Speaker 1: what it's worth. It's about what people will pay for it.
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind. I'll put something up for
Speaker 1: what I think it's worth. If I don't get anything
Speaker 1: in forty eight hours, I lower the price. And something
Speaker 1: about decluttering too, is that, especially if we're going room
Speaker 1: by room, we might find themes of things or a
Speaker 1: lot of things that we could sell. So maybe we're
Speaker 1: not just going to sell one pair of shorts, but
Speaker 1: if we've got five athletic shorts that we're getting rid of,
Speaker 1: we could post that whole lot for sale, you know,
Speaker 1: and really you want to approach this when you're selling
Speaker 1: it as more. I just want this out of my home,
Speaker 1: and if I can make any amount of money off
Speaker 1: of it, that's great. So if I can do a
Speaker 1: lot of five athletic shorts for five bucks and someone's
Speaker 1: going to come porch pick up, that's great. It saves
Speaker 1: me a trip to Goodwill and I make just a
Speaker 1: little bit of cash and I hardly had to do
Speaker 1: anything for it. So even consider clumping things together, and
Speaker 1: even if it's kitchen utensils, you name it, just for
Speaker 1: a low amount of money, that might be worth it
Speaker 1: for somebody to come grab yea and the five no
Speaker 1: one on here. Give yourself a reward, So treat yourself
Speaker 1: to something special once you've decluttered, so that you have
Speaker 1: something to look forward to. And ideally this wouldn't be
Speaker 1: buying something for your home or buying a thing. So
Speaker 1: maybe it's dinner out, or maybe you get to do
Speaker 1: a family photo shoot in your house, like you get
Speaker 1: to pay somebody to take family photos. Whatever it is
Speaker 1: that you really would like to reward yourself with after
Speaker 1: having a clean home, maybe it's having your family over something.
Speaker 1: But Yeah, these are some great ways to make decluttering fun.
Speaker 1: I loved every single one on this list and so
Speaker 1: our next one is from slow dot co Slow with
Speaker 1: two w's, and it is a list of twenty five
Speaker 1: plus simple living, slow living, decluttering and minimalism challenges. So
Speaker 1: lenges was one of those things on the list, and
Speaker 1: we love challenges, so we wanted to go through some
Speaker 1: of the most popular ones. This is so fun. I
Speaker 1: didn't even know that somebody could have a curated list
Speaker 1: like yes, and so it's in different categories of simple
Speaker 1: living and slow living challenges. Some of them are very
Speaker 1: off the wall but so interesting. So this one just
Speaker 1: stands out to me. I can't not not what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do for multiple reasons. Sleep and Drink with the Dogs.
Speaker 1: It's a once a month stoicism challenge where you sleep
Speaker 1: in the dog basket once a month, drink the dog's water,
Speaker 1: and basically realize that you're okay. You can live that
Speaker 1: way and it gives you a new perspective. So sorry
Speaker 1: to start us off. Most of one of them led
Speaker 1: one apps. I just couldn't I it stood out to me.
Speaker 1: I'm sure someone might try it. No, I'm sure they
Speaker 1: I am ent sure nobody listening to this will drink
Speaker 1: out of their dog's water bowl. But if I call
Speaker 1: it a stoicism challenge, maybe we've got some some people
Speaker 1: who would be interested. Okay, well I set out to you.
Speaker 1: My favorite one on this list was actually a popular
Speaker 1: one from the minimalists, and it's a thirty day minimalism challenge.
Speaker 1: So they have a few on this list. They have like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, maybe five, so they have a ten
Speaker 1: out of ten material possessions. But this thirty day minimalism
Speaker 1: game is the one I really like, and you can actually,
Speaker 1: I think, get like a download of it on their website.
Speaker 1: So every day for thirty days, you increase the number
Speaker 1: of things you get rid of by one. So on
Speaker 1: day when you're getting rid of one thing, on day
Speaker 1: two you're getting rid of two things. So by day thirty,
Speaker 1: on day thirty, you have to get rid of thirty things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so that's a lot. It's four hundred sixty five
Speaker 1: items decluttered from your house and getting rid of Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so I'm sure like you can start big and
Speaker 1: go small. You'd really have to make sure that you
Speaker 1: have enough to get rid of and you're not just
Speaker 1: throwing things out. I feel like, well, by the end
Speaker 1: of it, you kind of have to be. But like,
Speaker 1: I think everybody has four hundred and sixty five things
Speaker 1: they can get rid of, even if it's like a
Speaker 1: piece of paper is a thing to you, Like that's
Speaker 1: you can get rid of a stack of like thirty
Speaker 1: old documents that you don't need, like five year old
Speaker 1: tax returns. Yeah, I mean so, I think this is
Speaker 1: a really good game. And then it gets you to,
Speaker 1: you know, start thinking with the obvious, the big things,
Speaker 1: the books and other stuff, and then by the end
Speaker 1: of it, you're going like right down to the paper clips.
Speaker 1: Because sometimes when you're declared uttering, it's easier to get
Speaker 1: rid of the big things, but the small things are
Speaker 1: so small and they're so easy to like tuck into
Speaker 1: nooks and crannies that they just stay in there forever.
Speaker 1: But when you're challenged to get rid of thirty things
Speaker 1: in a day, then finally that paper clip is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: here's one of my things I can get rid of it.
Speaker 1: Another one that stood out to me under the minimalism category,
Speaker 1: and this a little bit more falls into the maintenance
Speaker 1: category than decluttering. But I think still worthwhile to consider.
Speaker 1: It's the one in, one out rule, meaning that you
Speaker 1: would not buy anything new first of all until you
Speaker 1: finished the cluttering. But then once you do get something new,
Speaker 1: you've also got to get rid of something else. So
Speaker 1: once you've kind of paired down to what you see
Speaker 1: as the essentials and what you want to keep into
Speaker 1: your home, if you ever do buy something new, that
Speaker 1: means it has to replace something or something else, even unrelated,
Speaker 1: needs to leave the home. So I think that's a
Speaker 1: good even maintenance concept, something that I think that I
Speaker 1: enjoy keeping in the back of my head as I
Speaker 1: continue to maintain a decluttered or like a minimalist home.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to find myself with twenty pairs
Speaker 1: of jeans. So if I find a pair of jeans
Speaker 1: that I like better, and that's kind of a rule
Speaker 1: for me to like. If I find something that I
Speaker 1: like in a store, I have to ask myself, well
Speaker 1: do I like this better than what I already have?
Speaker 1: And if the answer is yes, then I could consider
Speaker 1: buying it and replacing an item I already have with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great one for maintenance. Another one in this
Speaker 1: list I like, and it's not so much decluttering, but
Speaker 1: I guess it could be. It could keep you from
Speaker 1: bringing clutter into the house. But I just love this one.
Speaker 1: It's called the one time use rule, and so I
Speaker 1: guess the person writing this was like, I did a
Speaker 1: challenge where I wouldn't buy it if I could only
Speaker 1: use it one time. And so their example where coffee,
Speaker 1: fast food, shots at the bar, stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: that's a great money challenge, but it also keeps us
Speaker 1: from just bringing in things that maybe we'll only use
Speaker 1: once in our home. But personally, after I make coffee,
Speaker 1: I put it in the compost, so I would still
Speaker 1: be getting coffee grounds. But it's I mean, I didn't
Speaker 1: understand that one. I'm like, of course, food is a
Speaker 1: one time use thing, so right, yeah, it would be subjective,
Speaker 1: I guess, but I do buy more fast food than
Speaker 1: I should at this point in my life, so I
Speaker 1: think it would be good just to have this like
Speaker 1: kind of rule in your head. It's like, Okay, how
Speaker 1: many times can I use this? How many times will
Speaker 1: I use this? And it might be able to keep
Speaker 1: some expenses off my card. Yeah. I took that more
Speaker 1: in the direction of not having as many disposable items
Speaker 1: like do I buy paper towels or do I utilize
Speaker 1: rags because I can one time, maybe twice, depending on
Speaker 1: if they're heavy duty. Of course you've got this other
Speaker 1: I always gravitate towards the clothing declutter pieces because that's
Speaker 1: been something for me personally. I used to collect a
Speaker 1: lot of clothes partly because I would buy a second hand.
Speaker 1: So it's almost an excuse of why I could have
Speaker 1: more clothing because I could buy it less expensively, But
Speaker 1: then I would still just end up with a stuffed
Speaker 1: closet of things that I hardly ever wore. So this
Speaker 1: has been a thing for me. But there's the closet
Speaker 1: hangar method, or some might call it the reverse hangar trick,
Speaker 1: where you turn all of your clothes around the opposite
Speaker 1: direction from what you might normally hang them, or the
Speaker 1: hangar goes on backwards on the hook, and then when
Speaker 1: you wear it, then you turn it right side around.
Speaker 1: And if you've gone for six months and nine months,
Speaker 1: twelve months with still the one hanger opposite, that means
Speaker 1: you haven't worn it, so yeah, it of it, pass
Speaker 1: it on to somebody else. Yeah, And it can also
Speaker 1: help you go through your closet more you see one
Speaker 1: of those things that you haven't worn in a long time,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, I'll wear this, so you get better
Speaker 1: use out because they always tell you, like get rid
Speaker 1: of clothing you haven't worn in in a year. And
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like, I don't know did I wear this.
Speaker 1: I can't remember what I ward five months ago. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of like this one. So this is
Speaker 1: another one from the minimalistle. And you look at a
Speaker 1: possession and if you have, you like asked yourself, have
Speaker 1: I used this item in the last ninety days? If
Speaker 1: you haven't, will you use it in the next ninety
Speaker 1: If not, then it's okay to let go. I like
Speaker 1: that one. It's weird in Florida, like winter clothes. I
Speaker 1: could say that like in June, like I haven't worn
Speaker 1: this jacket in ninety days and I won't wear it
Speaker 1: for ninety more days, but those two days in January
Speaker 1: I need it. So but that's just close. I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's a lot of other things that I'm like, I
Speaker 1: should do this with and I'm currently working on it.
Speaker 1: But this also goes. They have another one rule and
Speaker 1: it says anything we get rid of that we truly need,
Speaker 1: we can replace for less than twenty dollars in less
Speaker 1: than twenty minutes from our current location. And they said,
Speaker 1: thus far, this hypothesis has become a theory that has
Speaker 1: held true of the time. And then although we rarely
Speaker 1: had to replace just in case items fewer than five
Speaker 1: times for the two of us combined, we've never had
Speaker 1: to pay more than twenty dollars or go more than
Speaker 1: twenty minutes out of our way to replace them. And
Speaker 1: I think as frugal people, we hold onto things because
Speaker 1: we don't want to pay for them again later. We
Speaker 1: either look at the sunk cost of what we've already
Speaker 1: paid for it or think of future costs. But in reality,
Speaker 1: especially if you were living in a city where things
Speaker 1: are very easy to access, it's very likely that we
Speaker 1: don't need the things that we're holding onto, like just
Speaker 1: sting case. Yeah, they've got other groupings of challenges on here,
Speaker 1: like digital minimalism challenges. So the one is digital declutter
Speaker 1: your smartphone challenge, and you can figure out what is
Speaker 1: going to work best for you. But some tips might
Speaker 1: include like not having email come to your phone or
Speaker 1: not having any apps on the home screen, turning off
Speaker 1: all of your notifications, different declutter experiments that you can
Speaker 1: do for a month, having a challenge of unplugging your phone,
Speaker 1: or like literally not having access to your phone for
Speaker 1: maybe twelve to twenty four hours. Of course it's twelve hours.
Speaker 1: Make sure it's when you're awake so you can actually
Speaker 1: experience what that's like. Yeah, but I just I think that,
Speaker 1: especially if challenges resonate with us, this is a great
Speaker 1: article to check out to find one that really speaks
Speaker 1: to what your current needs and goals are, an area
Speaker 1: of your life that you want to see decluttered, and
Speaker 1: find a challenge that works for you. They've also got
Speaker 1: a whole degory of purpose challenges on here, Like one
Speaker 1: of them is asking why five times, getting to the
Speaker 1: root of some of the things that you might do.
Speaker 1: It sounds kind of like a like a toddler, like
Speaker 1: your your internal toddler. If you find yourself doing certain
Speaker 1: things like why am I doing this is important to me? Why?
Speaker 1: But why? But why? And that can kind of help
Speaker 1: us to declutter and prioritize what we have in our home,
Speaker 1: what we have on our computers, that we have on
Speaker 1: our phones. So different ways of approaching this kind of
Speaker 1: declutter topic. Yeah, I loved these purpose challenges actually, and
Speaker 1: so when we talked about digital minimalism, we talked about
Speaker 1: some of these challenges and I did. I took all
Speaker 1: the apps off of my phone and only brought back
Speaker 1: the ones that I use. And it's probably time for
Speaker 1: another digital declutter for me. But these are all great.
Speaker 1: You know what else is really good? The best time
Speaker 1: of the week I need to do again the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. That's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's bills, Buffalo bills, bill claim.
Speaker 1: This is the bill of the week. Hi Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: My name is Jess. I'm from Victoria in Australia. My
Speaker 1: favorite bill of the week is my internet bill. After
Speaker 1: listening to one of your podcasts on negotiating all bills,
Speaker 1: I finally got the guts to call up my internet
Speaker 1: provider and negotiated paying fifteen dollars less a month for
Speaker 1: the same amount of data. Now I love paying it.
Speaker 1: I absolutely love the podcast all the way down here.
Speaker 1: Thanks by That's awesome, Jess. Jess, well done and I
Speaker 1: love the details that you gave it. You are paying
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars less but the same amount of data, so
Speaker 1: nothing changed for you other than the amount that you paid.
Speaker 1: Well done and good job finding the guts to do it,
Speaker 1: and for even acknowledging that it takes guts and some
Speaker 1: courage that it just seems like, oh, I just don't
Speaker 1: have time for it. But part of our barrier to
Speaker 1: doing something like this and negotiating is, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe a fear of being rejected or not having the
Speaker 1: right words, or feeling like you're being a burden to
Speaker 1: someone else, even though you pay money to these people,
Speaker 1: so you do have the right to just ask and
Speaker 1: to try to negotiate. But well done and finding the
Speaker 1: time to do it and the courage to do it,
Speaker 1: and then seeing success and sharing it with us, this
Speaker 1: motivates us. Yeah, and they need you Honestly, whenever you
Speaker 1: have a recurring subscription, unless it's like Netflix or something,
Speaker 1: Netflix doesn't really need you, but other service providers, especially
Speaker 1: ones that have local competition, they need you. So don't
Speaker 1: ever be afraid to negotiate, it is very likely you
Speaker 1: can negotiate a lower rate. We do that literally every
Speaker 1: time we have a bill coming up, like an annual
Speaker 1: review coming up, or any time somebody is trying to
Speaker 1: increase our bills. So thanks again just for sharing that.
Speaker 1: If you have a bill that you lowered through negotiation
Speaker 1: or anything else, then please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash bill and leave us a voicemail or speak
Speaker 1: pipe and we will play it and we will celebrate
Speaker 1: with you. Yes, now it's time for the learning worundo.
Speaker 1: So are lightning round? Today? Is confession of what is
Speaker 1: something in your house that you need to get rid
Speaker 1: of but you just have not yet? What is it
Speaker 1: for you? Jen um? So I actually am. You can't
Speaker 1: see this, but I am sitting in front of a
Speaker 1: gigantic box of things that need to be gotten rid of.
Speaker 1: And I'm typically very good about getting rid of stuff.
Speaker 1: I love getting rid of stuff. I don't like getting
Speaker 1: rid of Travis's stuff. But he has some snorkeling gear
Speaker 1: and a bowling ball, and neither of which he has
Speaker 1: used in the entire time I've known him. But we
Speaker 1: still have it. And so I've kind of gotten some
Speaker 1: of this stuff out, and it's kind of just waiting.
Speaker 1: I have some other stuff of mine that I'm getting
Speaker 1: rid of, but I'm happy to get rid of. I
Speaker 1: had to shuffle some things around because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I could probably get rid of this if I put
Speaker 1: this here and this here, and I just like look
Speaker 1: for things to get rid of. But we're working on
Speaker 1: getting rid of the snorkeling gear and the bowling ball. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love that. It's that it is, Travis, is things
Speaker 1: that you're trying to get rid of. I know, well,
Speaker 1: I try to think of something like what do I
Speaker 1: need to get rid of it? I'm like, if I
Speaker 1: see it and I need to get rid of it,
Speaker 1: it literally goes right into a bag, and then when
Speaker 1: that bag fills up, it goes to the thrift store.
Speaker 1: Like all the time. My trouble right now is finding
Speaker 1: a place to donate my items. Like I'm still learning
Speaker 1: the area. Back up north, we would have drop boxes
Speaker 1: all over the place, or I kind of knew the
Speaker 1: thrift stores that were along the way and what their
Speaker 1: donation hours are, and I don't know that yet. So
Speaker 1: I just have this constant bag in the trunk of
Speaker 1: my car. That's like, if I happen to see a
Speaker 1: place that I can drop things at, I'll do it.
Speaker 1: So anyhow one thing that I need to get rid of.
Speaker 1: This is a tough one for me because we are
Speaker 1: still in the process of settling in our new house
Speaker 1: and going from living in one hundred seventies square feet
Speaker 1: to living in four hundred square feet, so it has
Speaker 1: been a bit more of collection for us than decluttering. However,
Speaker 1: our garage is a hot mess, and this might be
Speaker 1: in line with what you're describing jen of Travis's things
Speaker 1: versus my things, and especially if I don't understand things
Speaker 1: like all of the different tools that Erik has. But
Speaker 1: yet we're also in a renovation, so there's things that
Speaker 1: I can't quite get rid of. So this is my
Speaker 1: long answer to say, there are some lights I think
Speaker 1: in the garage that we need to get rid of.
Speaker 1: We have a collection of lamps that I don't think
Speaker 1: we're gonna need anymore here. But then I've been kind
Speaker 1: of holding off because we're not quite settled and my
Speaker 1: kitchen is practically still demolished. So it's a weird time
Speaker 1: for me. Okay, it's a weird time in the decluttering space,
Speaker 1: there is a lot of stuff, but there's reasons for it.
Speaker 1: So I think lamps check back in in a year. Okay,
Speaker 1: that did actually made me think of there are some
Speaker 1: white Christmas lights that I've been holding onto that I
Speaker 1: need to get rid of because white lights are so versatile.
Speaker 1: But I have enough lighting outdoors and I'm not in
Speaker 1: my twenties anymore, so I'm not going to hang them
Speaker 1: inside my house. So I'm getting rid of those are
Speaker 1: actually in the box. I just remember those were in
Speaker 1: the box. So that is a thing that you do
Speaker 1: in your twenties, right, It's cute, it's like it's it's
Speaker 1: but I usually you're living in spaces in your twenties
Speaker 1: that needs, like anything is going to make the space
Speaker 1: look better, So like twinkle lights is the way to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: white twinkle lights are fun. But I have a real outdoor,
Speaker 1: you know, petty lights now, So we're good because you're
Speaker 1: in your mid thirties now, yeah, hey, early thirties, so
Speaker 1: you're six months younger than me. Six months that's it. Okay, Wow,
Speaker 1: well thank you for listening and not insulting my age. Um,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, we're so grateful for you and your
Speaker 1: kind reviews like this one on iTunes from seem Stress.
Speaker 1: It's a to dot emoji to dot emoji hands waving
Speaker 1: in the air emoji happens to be five stars. I
Speaker 1: love these girly sense of humor and tips. On more
Speaker 1: than one occasion, I've been given information that I haven't
Speaker 1: heard on other budgeting podcasts. I love that this podcast
Speaker 1: isn't just their opinion or rattling on about how coffee
Speaker 1: they've drank that day, as so many podcasts are. Now,
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to hear about is budgeting. Keep up
Speaker 1: the good work. Thank you. I hope you liked the
Speaker 1: budgeting replay we just did. Thanks seems Stress. That's great,
Speaker 1: and you're welcome for not talking about coffee all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I already finished. Instead, we talked about wine, so true.
Speaker 1: Before we were recording, Jill talked about how she bought
Speaker 1: two bottles of champagne for our get together, but before
Speaker 1: we could get are already gone. So that is the
Speaker 1: thing that I wanted to tell everyone listen, not because
Speaker 1: of me, because of my friends that I'm hosting. But
Speaker 1: that's another story. We also want to thank our friends
Speaker 1: who share these episodes on social media, So when you
Speaker 1: share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: we're adding you to our monthly drawing. For every five
Speaker 1: tags and reviews week at each month, we're giving away
Speaker 1: a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook. And don't forget
Speaker 1: that that workbook is on flash sale right now, So
Speaker 1: if you have not been successful in the giveaway so far,
Speaker 1: definitely get in there on that Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash workbook, and please keep leaving us reviews on
Speaker 1: iTunes or Stitcher and sending the screenshot to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast at gmail dot com and our assistant Jennifer will
Speaker 1: get in there and see it and send you that
Speaker 1: workbook if you win, see you next week. Bye. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric sirianni Um. I know my
Speaker 1: mom doesn't listen to the podcast, but I still would
Speaker 1: like to say happy birthday, Mom, Oh, happy birthday today.
Speaker 1: It's your birthday, it's your body. I'm glad you were
Speaker 1: born so I could be born. I'm glad you were
Speaker 1: born so Jen was born and that could be friends
Speaker 1: with her. That's it. You did a good job at
Speaker 1: the Dada Blessings blessings. She is so and yourself. I
Speaker 1: just want to keep you know, we should never sing
Speaker 1: on the show, yet somehow we always we do every
Speaker 1: single times. And it's always the same song too. I
Speaker 1: don't know what song we're making up that it's always
Speaker 1: the same thing. Well, well, great apologies, but thank you
Speaker 1: for sticking around and listening to the after show and
Speaker 1: the singing every time. It's always a great after show.