Speaker 1: Episode two ten Tips to live zero waste frugally. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. What What What What What What?
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: zero waste living, why it's frugal, and how to do it,
Speaker 1: maybe even more frugally than what you may see on
Speaker 1: the internet. This is a new topic for me in
Speaker 1: some regard. I'm aware that it exists. I've heard about
Speaker 1: zero waste, generally the extreme version where someone keeps all
Speaker 1: of their waste in a mason jar, and so I'm
Speaker 1: just like, oh, well, that's not realistic for me. So
Speaker 1: I'm just going to ignore that movement. But seeing more
Speaker 1: and more how this actually can be woven into our frugal, minimalist,
Speaker 1: simple lifestyle and how it can benefit us our finances,
Speaker 1: our environment, our relationships, and yeah, just being a whole
Speaker 1: lot more aware of my consumption and my waste. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited to have this conversation because it's definitely been
Speaker 1: on my mind a lot recently. Well, Yeah, So we've
Speaker 1: been in our financial Freedom mentorship. April has been a
Speaker 1: zero waste challenge for us. We had an interview on
Speaker 1: Earth Day, so originally we wanted to do this episode
Speaker 1: on Earth Day, but we don't like change, so we didn't.
Speaker 1: So we're doing it a little a little late. But
Speaker 1: we have been reading Zero Waste home and doing this
Speaker 1: zero waste challenge and it's something that I It's probably
Speaker 1: the challenge I've been most excited for because it is
Speaker 1: the one I had to learn and change the most for.
Speaker 1: So we're really excited to share what we've been learning
Speaker 1: with you and um like just kind of demystify what
Speaker 1: going zero waste has to be, especially the startup, because
Speaker 1: that is what gets most people, is starting the zero
Speaker 1: waste lifestyle, because it does have some startup costs, but
Speaker 1: not actually as many as you would think. So let's
Speaker 1: dive in, shall we, Jill, Let's do it. Yes. First,
Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by Mexico. When this
Speaker 1: episode releases, I will be in Mexico, hopefully sitting by
Speaker 1: a pool with a drink in my hand. Am I
Speaker 1: going with my family? No Am I going with my husband?
Speaker 1: No Am I going with Jill. I wish, but no,
Speaker 1: it's going to be me and my other lady friends,
Speaker 1: the two other friends that I have beside, it's Jill
Speaker 1: and some other personal finance nerds because it is actually
Speaker 1: a work retreat that just happens to be in Mexico.
Speaker 1: And you know why I'm able to be in Mexico
Speaker 1: right now because I saved for it. And you can
Speaker 1: save for a trip to Mexico without your family too
Speaker 1: by starting a sinking fund, preferably in a high yield
Speaker 1: savings account. We like Access Bank for its point six
Speaker 1: p y and no fees. So if you want to
Speaker 1: leave your family on vacation, open a sinking fund. If
Speaker 1: you open one at Access at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
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Speaker 1: show at no cost to you. And if you're also
Speaker 1: a human being who enjoys being with their family and
Speaker 1: wants to travel, it's still a good idea to say
Speaker 1: for your family vacations. Well, that's not to be Jill.
Speaker 1: The substance brought to you by Okay, this about to
Speaker 1: you by Mexico without that's I'm sorry. I apologize to
Speaker 1: our sponsor. It's Mexico without your family, because that's the
Speaker 1: real sponsors to show, not Mexico with your family. Mexico.
Speaker 1: I hope we don't lose any fans pepill game him
Speaker 1: friends understand sometimes it's nice to be away from your children,
Speaker 1: exactly so if you are interested in sustainability and its
Speaker 1: intersection with frugality, because we do believe that it is
Speaker 1: an integral part not just being a good steward of
Speaker 1: your financial resources, but being a good steward of your
Speaker 1: natural resources. We do have some other episodes. You can
Speaker 1: check out episode forty eight, Why Frugal is the New Green,
Speaker 1: Episode one fifty seven we go a little deeper into
Speaker 1: eco friendly frugality, and then episode one seventy three, Everyone
Speaker 1: needs to cue this one up to play. After this,
Speaker 1: we interviewed the author Ron Gonu, who is a pioneer
Speaker 1: in the recycling world, on the financial and environmental benefit
Speaker 1: of a circular economy. That was not one of our
Speaker 1: most popular episodes. It is one of my favorite episodes,
Speaker 1: and I just hope everyone will will go in and
Speaker 1: hit play next. On episode one seventy three, that's not
Speaker 1: gonna say about it, yeah, which I think just goes
Speaker 1: to show that we as a collective society are not
Speaker 1: talking about this that much. And it also takes a
Speaker 1: lot for us to engage in something that we can't
Speaker 1: see the immediate benefit to ourselves on. It is much
Speaker 1: more easy to tackle the micro level than the macro level.
Speaker 1: But I think in this conversation it's the pairing of
Speaker 1: the two how the macro level can impact the micro level,
Speaker 1: how we in our homes as we aim at zero
Speaker 1: waste can benefit us and also are larger society and
Speaker 1: context and environment. Absolutely, So let's get into our first article,
Speaker 1: and this is straight really straight out of the book
Speaker 1: that we've been reading for book club in the membership,
Speaker 1: and if you want to check out the membership, you
Speaker 1: can check it out at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash f fm. Even after April you'll be able to
Speaker 1: get access to our zero waste challenge that we did.
Speaker 1: But so this five rs is from the book we
Speaker 1: were reading called Zero Waste Home, and we both we've
Speaker 1: both like, really enjoyed that book. What have you thought, Jill,
Speaker 1: It's really excellent. I think, like what you said, Jen,
Speaker 1: this has been probably the most challenging challenge that we
Speaker 1: have done yet. In that I really had to shift
Speaker 1: a lot and be It raised a lot of curiosity,
Speaker 1: a lot of problem solving, a lot of shifting. Whereas
Speaker 1: a lot of our other challenges are so fruitful, beneficial, helpful,
Speaker 1: I love them. This for me particularly raised some things
Speaker 1: that I've never thought about before, where you know, and
Speaker 1: no spend challenges like great, there's gonna be some challenging
Speaker 1: parts to it, but it didn't didn't cause me to
Speaker 1: actually think about the way that I live so much
Speaker 1: as this challenge has. That's just me personally. So I
Speaker 1: really liked it because I think she answered a lot
Speaker 1: of questions, both in this article as well as in
Speaker 1: her book for what to do with you know, the
Speaker 1: various waste that we might encounter, or how we consume
Speaker 1: and actually make this a realistic lifestyle, and the benefits
Speaker 1: of it, some of the benefits that I not didn't
Speaker 1: even think about previously. So yes, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: So you can tell I'm excited to talk about it. Yes.
Speaker 1: So the website is Unsustainable Magazine dot com and the
Speaker 1: book is Zero Waste Home by Bayat Johnson. So let's
Speaker 1: you've heard of the three rs um But she takes
Speaker 1: a little bit further with five hour. So let's get
Speaker 1: into the first R, which is refuse, so say no
Speaker 1: to what you don't need. And it's essentially she's saying,
Speaker 1: learn how to say no and mean it. And I think,
Speaker 1: as if you are a people pleaser or somebody who
Speaker 1: loves free stuff, which should hit a hundred percent of
Speaker 1: our listeners on either one of those, this is going
Speaker 1: to be a really hard one, but it she says,
Speaker 1: it's her favorite R because you have to be intentional
Speaker 1: with everything that comes into your home and intentional about
Speaker 1: the environmental impact of your actions. So I think this
Speaker 1: is one of those boundaries things where we have we
Speaker 1: have to Frugality is almost a practice in creating boundaries
Speaker 1: between your family, between your friends, and even the greater
Speaker 1: world at large. And that's what I really like about
Speaker 1: this one. This one was very challenging for me right
Speaker 1: off the bat. Yeah, it's amazing. One of those things
Speaker 1: that she pointed out that I never really thought about
Speaker 1: is how many things people are trying to give us
Speaker 1: on a regular basis, even in a daily She gave
Speaker 1: a really simple daily life example of you wake up,
Speaker 1: you open your door and there's a flyer for lawn
Speaker 1: service hanging on the door, so you pull that off.
Speaker 1: Then you know, you go to the grocery store and
Speaker 1: someone's handing your receipt. Then you go for food and
Speaker 1: people are handing you straws and take out stuff that
Speaker 1: ends up in the trash, and and then you come
Speaker 1: home and your mailbox is full of junk mail. And
Speaker 1: there's just like, there's so much coming into our life
Speaker 1: on a daily basis, And this is the first step.
Speaker 1: And I like how she really describes that. It does
Speaker 1: go in order. So Jen and I are volleying back
Speaker 1: and forth on what the five hours are, but you
Speaker 1: do have to start here with refusing and then moving
Speaker 1: into the rest of the four rs and and then
Speaker 1: it's kind of like cyclical. But this refusing is really
Speaker 1: where it starts as the ability to say no. And
Speaker 1: of course that can even include refusing things that people
Speaker 1: are wanting to give you that that we talk about
Speaker 1: this a lot, refusing gifts, refusing extra things, which is uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: but as we train ourselves we can get better at it.
Speaker 1: One tip that Beia gives in her book is just
Speaker 1: simple answers, not needing to give a long dialogue explanation
Speaker 1: or feeling like you need to really defend yourself, but
Speaker 1: just practicing the simple things. She is one of her
Speaker 1: go toos is I don't have a trash can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I would be lying if I said that. She's
Speaker 1: not lying, but you know that was just like a
Speaker 1: simple thing or you know where we are really simple
Speaker 1: in our household. We don't have a place for this
Speaker 1: whatever it is, but just a simple explanation. So there's
Speaker 1: so much more to be said on that. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna move on to the second are, which is reduced,
Speaker 1: and this is partially that learning to let go once
Speaker 1: we've refused. We also then want to move into reducing
Speaker 1: how much we have how much uh yeah, we take
Speaker 1: in is both in that reduction process. This one's quite
Speaker 1: interesting to me because this is a clearing out, Like
Speaker 1: to me, this is a wasting But I think with
Speaker 1: this are we're being really specific about if there's things
Speaker 1: we don't want in our home, we're not simply sending
Speaker 1: them to the landfill. We're going to find another home
Speaker 1: for them. So this is if you've got extra things
Speaker 1: in your pantry or your closet or your toy bin
Speaker 1: that you're not utilizing, we are giving it away. So
Speaker 1: I see this reduce as part pairing with minimalism, where
Speaker 1: we kind of go through this process what don't we need?
Speaker 1: But then I think the idea with reduction is we
Speaker 1: then don't bring in more. So it's almost like there's
Speaker 1: this big process that we go through, but then after
Speaker 1: that we learn what we what we actually need, what
Speaker 1: we actually utilize, so we're not bringing in more. So
Speaker 1: it makes the refusal even easier as we move forward. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think this right here is like frugality in
Speaker 1: a nutshell like this one are like, reduce your consumption,
Speaker 1: reduce your spending, don't eliminate. We're not. We're not eliminating.
Speaker 1: We're reducing down to what's best for us, what's best
Speaker 1: for the environment, and finding the balance within that. And
Speaker 1: and so I this is always been my true north
Speaker 1: when figuring out what's frugal and what's not. Is like
Speaker 1: not what can I get the best deal on? Do
Speaker 1: I get it for free? Like stuff like that? But
Speaker 1: is it a is it a reduction of everything? All
Speaker 1: of the clutter and the noise that the world continuously
Speaker 1: brings into my life? Does it somehow reduce that? Like
Speaker 1: and I know that's kind of like bigger picture than
Speaker 1: just zero waste, but I just have always been obsessed
Speaker 1: with like the three RS. And so to find out
Speaker 1: that the book was kind of based around five hours,
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I didn't know this when I
Speaker 1: started reading, but yeah, so I really believe that. And
Speaker 1: we've said it before, you can't buy your way to green.
Speaker 1: And so the first one is super challenging, like like
Speaker 1: refusing things that are free I have a hard time with.
Speaker 1: And I'm definitely going to give this episode to Travis
Speaker 1: because he has an even harder time with that. But
Speaker 1: this one I love and embrace so wholeheartedly. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so like this one is I have nothing more to say.
Speaker 1: This is great, but it also says like the life
Speaker 1: you had before you were refusing all the things you accumulated,
Speaker 1: those are things you're going to have to reduce. So
Speaker 1: like all of the tiny little shampoo and body wash
Speaker 1: bottles that you get from the hotels or the airbnb s,
Speaker 1: those have to go. And uh I have I have
Speaker 1: quite a few of them, but use them first. That's see,
Speaker 1: That's where I like the zero waste like is kind
Speaker 1: of hard for me because in the in the minimalism too,
Speaker 1: like I have a junk drawer because I'm not just
Speaker 1: going to get rid of things that I will use,
Speaker 1: Like I know I will use body wash and shampoo.
Speaker 1: I just haven't yet. So that's why there's this like
Speaker 1: it's not either or it's just finding the synergy of
Speaker 1: all of it. Well, there is a tough tension because
Speaker 1: I think that some zero waste sters, if I can
Speaker 1: put a title to it, some zero wasters will go
Speaker 1: the direction of just keeping everything to keep it out
Speaker 1: of a landfill. That can be a picture in our
Speaker 1: mind of people who go zero waste. At one end
Speaker 1: of the spectrum is we utilize everything. If it's a
Speaker 1: paper plate, we're not throwing it away. We're going to
Speaker 1: somehow figure out how to wash and dry that paper
Speaker 1: plate and keep using it. And we're going to have
Speaker 1: containers everywhere cluttering everything. And so I think what what
Speaker 1: we're advocating for, and this article is advocating for, is
Speaker 1: the pairing of zero waste with a minimalist lifestyle. So
Speaker 1: you have less, you're bringing less into the home, you're
Speaker 1: not just maintaining your lifestyle, and yet not throwing anything
Speaker 1: away because that that's what moves to words hoarding, and
Speaker 1: that's not a lifestyle that we want to advocate for
Speaker 1: just for mental and emotional and physical health. So there
Speaker 1: is but there is a tension there because as you
Speaker 1: begin this, there is gonna be a certainly a startup
Speaker 1: cost and a waste startup, if that's a word like.
Speaker 1: There is gonna be a lot that you're getting rid
Speaker 1: of in this process. But then the hope is that
Speaker 1: that's not the lifestyle that you keep living of bringing
Speaker 1: in a ton of stuff that just needs to find
Speaker 1: its way to the landfill. Mm hmm. Yeah. So let's
Speaker 1: move on from refuse and reduce to reuse. And this
Speaker 1: is maybe the one that I have the second hardest
Speaker 1: time with. I do love reusable water bottles, reusable cloth, napkins.
Speaker 1: There are some things that I do use a lot
Speaker 1: of reusables, and then there's just some that I like,
Speaker 1: I am not the person that has the cabinets full
Speaker 1: of old glass jars from foods and and that's kind
Speaker 1: of the minimalist in me, because I have what I
Speaker 1: have and I just I will recycle the rest. But
Speaker 1: so I was challenged in that instead of just getting
Speaker 1: single use plastic to get more things that come in glass,
Speaker 1: because glass is much easier to recycle than plastics, because
Speaker 1: not all plastics are recyclable. I keep learning that, like
Speaker 1: and not eat one plastic that's recyclable here isn't recyclable there,
Speaker 1: but the glass is. And so that was one thing
Speaker 1: with the reuse that I have been inspired to do.
Speaker 1: But there are a few other things. So like she
Speaker 1: gives some examples, So paper tissues can be replaced with handkerchiefs.
Speaker 1: You can get straight edge razors instead of disposable razors,
Speaker 1: cotton closs and set of dish sponges, loose tea and
Speaker 1: set of tea bags. Um. I actually did not buy
Speaker 1: coffee filters for my coffee maker. I just reused a
Speaker 1: reusable It already had a reusable filter in there. I
Speaker 1: just kept a filter on it because I liked it,
Speaker 1: didn't like the residue at the bottom, and then I
Speaker 1: was like, Jen, you're grown up, get over it. So
Speaker 1: there have been some things that I've been challenged to
Speaker 1: like do more of, and I think that's that's great.
Speaker 1: We do things in steps and stages, and we continually
Speaker 1: taken knowledge and surround ourselves with people that challenge us
Speaker 1: to just be a little bit better every year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love this list. This list is an excellent place
Speaker 1: to start. And there's so many things that I see
Speaker 1: on here that I can shift in my own lifestyle.
Speaker 1: What's one thing that you're going to shift? Okay, that
Speaker 1: I will shift. Yeah, I'm putting you on the spot, Jill,
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I'm looking at it. So the paper
Speaker 1: and plastic bags. I definitely bring my own bags to
Speaker 1: like all the or Trader Joe's because they forced you
Speaker 1: to do that. But let's say I shop at Walmart
Speaker 1: or anywhere else. I don't and I just didn't ever
Speaker 1: think about it, Like I think, oh, well they have bags,
Speaker 1: but here's a store that they don't have bags. So done. Now,
Speaker 1: any time I go into any store, I have my
Speaker 1: reusable bags in my car, like they're already there. For
Speaker 1: those other grocery stores, I'm going to start utilizing that. Now.
Speaker 1: Here's my one barrier, because we're going on a side
Speaker 1: tangent now, apparently, is that I will use those bags,
Speaker 1: the plastic ones from Walmart or Home Depot for trash
Speaker 1: bags in my bathroom. But then that's what brings up
Speaker 1: that whole other issue of what if I stopped making
Speaker 1: as much trash, But I think it's not really I'm
Speaker 1: going to make trash. I'm not. I'm know that I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be the person who ends up with
Speaker 1: their annual trash and a Mason Mason jar. But then
Speaker 1: I would have to figure out an alternative trash bag
Speaker 1: for my bathroom. Well, I think also there's always going
Speaker 1: to be people trying to get rid of their plastic bags.
Speaker 1: So if you are ever in a pinch where you
Speaker 1: need plastic bags like grocery bags for your bathroom, you
Speaker 1: can just go on and buy nothing group and say
Speaker 1: I'll take these off your hands. Or you go to
Speaker 1: the grocery store and they have recycling bins for those
Speaker 1: bags because they're not recyclable in regular recycling bins, and
Speaker 1: you just stick your hand in there and pull some out.
Speaker 1: And I'm at least for using it, giving the life
Speaker 1: of the thing a little bit longer, more uses, which
Speaker 1: I think is also a part of that reuse. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it does end up getting thrown out, but how much
Speaker 1: more life can we get out of any kind of
Speaker 1: product also helps. And and you, Jill, you're the one
Speaker 1: that taught me about like always think of the third option.
Speaker 1: There's always a third option. There's the yes and the know,
Speaker 1: and those are usually very obvious, but if you sit
Speaker 1: down and just think about it a little bit longer,
Speaker 1: there's always a third option. And sometimes there's you know,
Speaker 1: four or eight options, but you just have to think
Speaker 1: about it a little long. And that's the same with
Speaker 1: what we say about frugality. It's not inconvenient, it's not
Speaker 1: it's just not the most convenient. You just think about
Speaker 1: sit down, think about it for a few minutes or
Speaker 1: a few days, and and see find what the third
Speaker 1: option is. I think that is what's so challenging about this,
Speaker 1: But I like it. I enjoy the creativity, the problem solving,
Speaker 1: the curiosity that this challenge has created of Okay, I
Speaker 1: could do this, then what what's the ripple effect of that?
Speaker 1: How can I solve for that? What might else need
Speaker 1: to change and shift? Where could I make more shifts?
Speaker 1: And it just it's been this like really rich challenge.
Speaker 1: Mhm alright, let's get to the fourth are. The fourth
Speaker 1: R is recycle, and we only get to the fourth
Speaker 1: ARE once we've made it through the other three. So
Speaker 1: recycling is for the things that we can't refuse, reduce,
Speaker 1: or reuse. And I love how Beia highlights this. She
Speaker 1: shares how often she people are aware of her zero
Speaker 1: waste lifestyle and they're like, oh, yeah, me too, I
Speaker 1: recycle everything, and she's like, that's totally not it. I
Speaker 1: mean like she's excited for them with like where they're
Speaker 1: at in their process and journey. But we don't want
Speaker 1: to stop there. It's not just oh great, we recycle,
Speaker 1: because there's so much to be said about the recycling
Speaker 1: industry and how much has not been solved for how
Speaker 1: unaware we are as a society of how to recycle. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a lack of or like businesses, corporations, companies who
Speaker 1: are utilizing recycled material, there's a lack of consumers buying
Speaker 1: recycled material, like once it has been recycled into something new,
Speaker 1: we have a problem with not actually purchasing those recycled items.
Speaker 1: Were still buying the single use items. So there's there.
Speaker 1: It's not as if we can just put our recycling
Speaker 1: out by the road and be like pat ourselves on
Speaker 1: the back, done deal, I did my due diligence. No,
Speaker 1: there's so much more that goes into it, which is
Speaker 1: really disheartening for me because I was in that camp
Speaker 1: of yeah, I recycled, I'm like, I'm doing such a
Speaker 1: good thing. And then there's this whole myth around recycling.
Speaker 1: So we only do this once we've exhausted the first
Speaker 1: three rs and and then we need to do our
Speaker 1: due diligence and doing it well, well, what can be recycled,
Speaker 1: make sure our recyclables are cleaned out, making sure that
Speaker 1: we're not recycling a ton of stuff off because again,
Speaker 1: we don't have a system that can actually support the
Speaker 1: way that we're doing recycling right now. Yeah, and if
Speaker 1: you are not recycling and this is where you need
Speaker 1: to start, that's fine, that's absolutely fine. You know, whatever
Speaker 1: you have in your refrigerator right now that you can
Speaker 1: recycle when you're done using it, start with that and
Speaker 1: then start to refuse and reduce and reuse. Whatever you
Speaker 1: can start with today is good enough. But yeah, there
Speaker 1: are so many people that just sit on that and
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I did the one thing I did,
Speaker 1: I did eco sustainability, and it's really recycling is much
Speaker 1: more confusing. It's it actually makes me angry every time
Speaker 1: I go to recycle something because I'm like, I either
Speaker 1: have to do a lot to get it to be
Speaker 1: recyclable or I just don't and I just put it
Speaker 1: in and I'm like, I don't really know, and then
Speaker 1: i end up I don't want to contaminate the recycling,
Speaker 1: so I throw it away, like unting is a common
Speaker 1: experience for me when I recycle, Like anytime I go
Speaker 1: to my recycling bin, I it is paired with a
Speaker 1: feeling of uncertainty, and that's not the greatest, right, which
Speaker 1: is why I think reducing is again the key, Like
Speaker 1: reduce what you buy and you reduce what you recycle,
Speaker 1: and if you can rethink, like when I'm now purchasing
Speaker 1: instead of my next move is like so I've I've
Speaker 1: switched to like mayonnaise only in glass jars, and so
Speaker 1: now I'm just gonna move my condiments, like when I rebuy,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to do everything in glass, because I
Speaker 1: know glass, like clear glass, definitely recyclable, and just things
Speaker 1: that I don't have to be so confused about, like
Speaker 1: the paper around the glass might not be I think
Speaker 1: true recycling as you have to pull it off, you've
Speaker 1: got to clean it really well, get the glue as
Speaker 1: much as possible. Yeah, yeah, which I can do that enough.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, so recycling is not what we want
Speaker 1: to rest on. It's definitely the reducing and reusing as
Speaker 1: much as possible, and that takes us to our last
Speaker 1: are which I actually I like and Jill very much likes.
Speaker 1: But it's rot and that is compost it. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: Jill actually likes it because she does use the compost.
Speaker 1: I it just makes me feel better about not wasting.
Speaker 1: I don't do anything with the compost, but it is
Speaker 1: a way to use your food scraps. And I actually
Speaker 1: learned you can use a lot more in compost depending
Speaker 1: on the type of compost you have. You use a
Speaker 1: lot more, put a lot more in there than I
Speaker 1: thought you could. Um dryer forgiving dryer land, hard bores. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had even putting food like like animal waste. I
Speaker 1: guess she has like a special compost. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's special, but yeah, she is not a vegan
Speaker 1: by any means, Like, so she puts her animal waste, um,
Speaker 1: not her animal like pet waste. She said, even there's
Speaker 1: time you could Yeah, so it's it's vast. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've got to learn more about that. For me, I've
Speaker 1: got to but because I know that if you put
Speaker 1: animal waste into like food scraps into your compost, that's
Speaker 1: when you can get pests. So there definitely is a
Speaker 1: way to go about that in a in a way
Speaker 1: where you wouldn't have rats around your garden that's not mine.
Speaker 1: And if you are not a gardener, if you have
Speaker 1: a black thumb, then you can create composts and maybe
Speaker 1: trade it with other people who do have it for
Speaker 1: their fresh veggies that they have, like when stuff whatever
Speaker 1: is in season that are they're trying to get rid of.
Speaker 1: So that's an option if you do not want to
Speaker 1: grow your own food, um, that can be a way
Speaker 1: to kind of use the compost and still get some
Speaker 1: of the benefits of people who do know how to
Speaker 1: garden and grow things. Yeah, that's a great list. We
Speaker 1: encourage you to try it. But we also want to
Speaker 1: move into talking about how we compare frugal tips with
Speaker 1: zero waste. So we are talking about frugal zero waste.
Speaker 1: So this next article we're getting into is seven easy
Speaker 1: frugal tips that are also sustainable. So this is from
Speaker 1: Rainbow Vegans Rock dot com. I'm very much I very
Speaker 1: much like that you are l Rainbow Vegans rock. Here
Speaker 1: we go. So the first tip on here is to
Speaker 1: buy second hand. And you all know this this list
Speaker 1: if you've been listening to frugal friends for a long time.
Speaker 1: Nothing on this list is going to be new to you.
Speaker 1: But we're looking at it from the perspective of sustainability
Speaker 1: and zero waste, or at least reducing waste. I mean,
Speaker 1: even Bia in her book describes that zero waste is
Speaker 1: nearly impossible in the culture that we live in, but
Speaker 1: we're aiming at it. It's something to aim at. And
Speaker 1: so when we buy second hand, this continues to keep
Speaker 1: things out of the landfill. It allows us to reuse
Speaker 1: and almost kind of recycle or up cycle things. Of course,
Speaker 1: we still want to be aiming at reduction in this process.
Speaker 1: We don't want to go buy second hand just because
Speaker 1: it's a deal and bringing more things into our house
Speaker 1: that we may not need and might find its way
Speaker 1: to the trash can quicker. But when we do need something,
Speaker 1: this is the first place we should be going to.
Speaker 1: Whether it's an actual physical thrift store or it's Craigslist
Speaker 1: or Facebook, marketplace or eBay, these are the spots that
Speaker 1: we should be going to to find the items that
Speaker 1: we need again to take from somebody else who's not
Speaker 1: going to be using it anymore, to put that thing
Speaker 1: to use, to keep them from throwing it away. And
Speaker 1: this is also a solution for us, not just in
Speaker 1: buying second hand, but when we don't need something anymore.
Speaker 1: These are the places we should be going to to
Speaker 1: be donating or selling. Yeah, and we went thrift ng
Speaker 1: this weekend, Jill. We did. We got some. I was
Speaker 1: looking for things for our frugal friends party. Didn't find
Speaker 1: what I needed, but I did find Actually I found
Speaker 1: this shirt. I needed more. I found this. Sure needed
Speaker 1: another look at us. We're so excited to wear our
Speaker 1: new shirts. I realized I don't have any like professional
Speaker 1: short sleeve shirts. I always it's either like a dress
Speaker 1: that I wear or a lightweight long sleeve or sleeveless.
Speaker 1: But I only have one other short sleeve shirt, so
Speaker 1: I got a second one. So now I have two
Speaker 1: professional short sleeve shirts. So you're either going to see
Speaker 1: this or my black one. Love that? Uh? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: so I don't particularly love thrift ng like I. We
Speaker 1: went to one thrift store and afterwards I was like exhausted.
Speaker 1: So typically I do most of my thrift ng online.
Speaker 1: Um we use thread up. We have a promo code
Speaker 1: for ten dollars off thread up at for Girlfriends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash thread up No. A. And then posh
Speaker 1: Mark eBay. I love eBay. Their prices are usually cheaper
Speaker 1: than posh Mark and it's the same exact things they
Speaker 1: post them in both places. And then this one also
Speaker 1: says deep pop um or Facebook Marketplace, So there are
Speaker 1: plenty of places to get secondhand that are not a
Speaker 1: thrift store too. The second one on this list is
Speaker 1: bulk buying. Uh. And so when Jill and I were
Speaker 1: originally talking about this, she thought I meant like Sam's
Speaker 1: Club Costco bulk buying, and then I was like, I
Speaker 1: want glass containers for bulk buying, and she didn't know
Speaker 1: what I was talking about. But this is like at
Speaker 1: your health food store where you're filling up your own
Speaker 1: container of shelf stable like products. Um. And so that's
Speaker 1: something that I'm going to try and move towards and
Speaker 1: trying to bring instead of using the plastic bags they give,
Speaker 1: trying to bring my own glass containers that are uniform
Speaker 1: in size. I'm just not here for bringing seven different
Speaker 1: types of jars and getting them all teared and then
Speaker 1: going to fill them up. I'm here for for simplicity,
Speaker 1: So I might just start with one maybe brown rice.
Speaker 1: I think I'm due for a brown rice refill. So
Speaker 1: but yeah, I I am very interested to try this
Speaker 1: and see the price difference. See yes, there, as with
Speaker 1: some other things like minimalism, eco friendly, sustainability, zero waste,
Speaker 1: there is a version of this that could go not
Speaker 1: super frugal. We can, in anything, spend a ton of money,
Speaker 1: although if it's within our values and something we really
Speaker 1: want to aim at, then it can be frugal living.
Speaker 1: But again that intentionality with our finances, with our lifestyle.
Speaker 1: So I think we all have to find what is
Speaker 1: what's gonna work for us, because going to seven different stores,
Speaker 1: spending all of the time and energy to make your
Speaker 1: own laundry detergent, butter men clothes, like to do all
Speaker 1: of the things as if we were living in fifteen
Speaker 1: twenty two might not work for everybody. So there is
Speaker 1: definitely a lot of room in here to figure out
Speaker 1: what how does this pair with your version of frugality,
Speaker 1: And like you said, Jen, just being doing a little
Speaker 1: bit better each day towards the goals that we have stated.
Speaker 1: I will say this article does highlight bulk buying in
Speaker 1: your large what is it, the big box stores like
Speaker 1: your Costco or your Sam's Club. Now we've also still better,
Speaker 1: We've all yes, I guess it reduces waste in the
Speaker 1: sense that you're not throwing out five tiny bottles, You're
Speaker 1: throwing out one slightly larger bottle, and you're probably reducing
Speaker 1: the waist. I don't know, I would guess by that's
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing that out there. I'm not great at numbers,
Speaker 1: but that would be my guest. But then you've also
Speaker 1: got the alternative where sometimes that isn't minimal and we
Speaker 1: may not it might not be financially sustainable for us
Speaker 1: to be spending a ton of money on these like
Speaker 1: larger bulk items. So that's one of those that can
Speaker 1: kind of go either way, and we'd have to determine
Speaker 1: what will we buy bulk, how will we buy bulk?
Speaker 1: Is it worth it to us to be going to
Speaker 1: all these different stores to do this? So yeah, there's
Speaker 1: the bulk buying is one that I'm I'm curious about.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit on the fence with because yeah,
Speaker 1: it does reduce the cost per ounce, but you have
Speaker 1: to be selective. So instead of getting everything bulk, you
Speaker 1: choose maybe three things. We choose three things that we
Speaker 1: buy in bulk. We go to one store, we go
Speaker 1: to the store has all of them, or we choose
Speaker 1: the store that's closest to them and whatever store, whatever
Speaker 1: they have. That's what dictates our bulk. Because driving around
Speaker 1: all over also has an environmental impact and it has
Speaker 1: a time impact, and we're not about that either. So
Speaker 1: sometimes you do have to let your location and what's
Speaker 1: available to you dictate what you keep in bulk, and
Speaker 1: don't get you don't need to get everything in bulk.
Speaker 1: So like, I'm just gonna start with brown rice because
Speaker 1: I use brown rice every week and I love that.
Speaker 1: Baia said that she keeps a jar on a rotation
Speaker 1: of like unique like grains or whatever she wants to try,
Speaker 1: so she doesn't have like twenty containers with all these
Speaker 1: different bulk things, which can be expensive. She has her
Speaker 1: set and then she has one jar or one container
Speaker 1: that if there's something interesting that she wants to try,
Speaker 1: she'll fill it up and she to use all of
Speaker 1: that before she can get something else that she wants
Speaker 1: to try. So I actually love that too, Yes, agreed, alright.
Speaker 1: This next one, which I am all for, where we
Speaker 1: compare frugality with zero waste, is mending our things. So
Speaker 1: if something is broken or torn or ripped, we look
Speaker 1: at mending and fixing. Mending to me kind of seems
Speaker 1: very fabric clothing specific. I would take it a step
Speaker 1: further and just say fixing things if something gets broken,
Speaker 1: rather than throwing it away, tossing it to the side,
Speaker 1: putting it in a junk drawer, how can we make
Speaker 1: this thing useful again, work again, serve its purpose again,
Speaker 1: and picking up a new skill set in this regard,
Speaker 1: I don't think we have to all become seamstresses. But
Speaker 1: if there's a hole in our clothing, is there, could
Speaker 1: we mend it before we go out and buy new
Speaker 1: and just throw it away. So I'm I'm all about
Speaker 1: sewing on buttons, patching up our clothes, fixing the things
Speaker 1: that are broken, which is going to also mean that
Speaker 1: we buy quality things that's worth fixing, that's going to
Speaker 1: last us a long time. That's a whole other part
Speaker 1: of this. When we do buy that it's quality and
Speaker 1: then we can be fixed. Yeah. And and some things
Speaker 1: are created to not be able to be fixed. They're
Speaker 1: just created cheaply. So that is something we also have
Speaker 1: to be intentional about buying. Like the author, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: author of this article, did you hear my story about
Speaker 1: my nutribullet? Is that what you were bringing up to
Speaker 1: Everyone has a story about a nutribullet not and throwing
Speaker 1: it out, And I went through two or three. I've
Speaker 1: got other friends who, well, Nutribuleet will never sponsor us
Speaker 1: because I think that they make crap products, at least
Speaker 1: the one the bullets and the rubber like melts away
Speaker 1: and it smells, and there's no like, how are you
Speaker 1: going to fix the rubber that melts away? Can't I tried? Wow, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad I'm not the only one. Listen, if you
Speaker 1: work for neutro bullet, okay, just let him know. Um.
Speaker 1: But this author of this article talks about trying to
Speaker 1: return a dehumidifier that didn't work and to the manufacturer instead,
Speaker 1: and her husband was like, did you, like, are you
Speaker 1: returning that to be fixed? And she didn't even realize
Speaker 1: that that's what she would be doing. She just thought
Speaker 1: she was going to get a new dehumidifier and she's like, well,
Speaker 1: I could try. I could just try to repair it myself. Um,
Speaker 1: and I don't necessarily try and recommend trying to repair
Speaker 1: something that might be like defunct or just a lemon,
Speaker 1: but definitely anything that maybe could use it do a repair,
Speaker 1: just trying you to bit I. We had a listener
Speaker 1: who just she was listening to us and then she
Speaker 1: said that her oven went out or something and she's like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm just gonna try. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: watch YouTube. Or maybe it was her husband or something,
Speaker 1: I don't remember, but they they watched YouTube and it
Speaker 1: ended up being like a fix, like to fix. And
Speaker 1: and it's not something like if you realize that it's
Speaker 1: you're in over your head once you watch the YouTube video,
Speaker 1: go get it fixed. But if you don't try, you'll
Speaker 1: never know if it's the easy fix or the hard fix.
Speaker 1: I will say we've also gotten really great deals on
Speaker 1: things that we've been willing to fix that other people
Speaker 1: are getting rid of. So, for instance, we've been wanting
Speaker 1: this really high end in wall microwave oven combination for
Speaker 1: the kitchen that we're renovating. At our house. It's very expensive.
Speaker 1: It's like four to five thousand dollars new, and we're like,
Speaker 1: we're never doing that. Well, one popped up on Facebook
Speaker 1: Marketplace broken for a fraction of that cost, and we
Speaker 1: snagged it and Eric is fixing it and we're gonna
Speaker 1: have like we're going to keep that out of the
Speaker 1: landfill because the manufacturer eventually told this person like, we're
Speaker 1: just replacing it, so do what you want with it,
Speaker 1: like meaning just like go ahead and throw it out,
Speaker 1: this massive appliance. And so them, good on them that
Speaker 1: they decided not to just throw it away and find
Speaker 1: a new home for it. And then if you do
Speaker 1: have some of those problems solving ability to fix things,
Speaker 1: now we'll be we'll be able to give it a
Speaker 1: new life. We got a great deal and it's gonna
Speaker 1: make our kitchen look amazing. So win win, win, win, win,
Speaker 1: win win win. When you mend and fix, yeah, and
Speaker 1: or if you're not handy like that, you have a
Speaker 1: friend that is you can see if they will like
Speaker 1: do it for money. Some people like to just toy
Speaker 1: around with those things or be helpful and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: like I have this, if I got this for or whatever,
Speaker 1: would you fix it? I'll pay you And that could
Speaker 1: be a thing too, So many options. There's always a
Speaker 1: third option. Yes, The next one is probably one of
Speaker 1: our favorites, if not our ultimate favorite. It is mindful purchases. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what we're all about. Intentional spending,
Speaker 1: conscious consumerism, mindful purchase, whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 1: but realizing what your values are and then making sure
Speaker 1: you're all of your spending, not just your discretionary, but
Speaker 1: like your your mandatory quote unquote spending as well, is
Speaker 1: aligned with those values. I think the hardest part in
Speaker 1: that equation isn't making the mindful purchases, it's actually figuring
Speaker 1: out what your core values are. Because we are our
Speaker 1: core values are so often influenced by media, friends, family,
Speaker 1: co workers, jobs, whatever. It's very hard to figure out
Speaker 1: what do I actually want to have in my life,
Speaker 1: what do I want to live in, What do I
Speaker 1: want to acquire, have not have. It's hard to figure
Speaker 1: that out, and that's what you need to do in
Speaker 1: order to be able to make mindful purchases. And that
Speaker 1: on the flip side with also being aware of the
Speaker 1: impact behind the things you are consuming. So the journey
Speaker 1: that it took to get wherever you are. So this
Speaker 1: is some I mean, we're mindful purchases is not just
Speaker 1: a tip on some article. It is the foundation of frugality.
Speaker 1: I think that's that is when someone asks us to
Speaker 1: define frugality, it is some version of mindful spending then
Speaker 1: being intentional with or resources. That's it. So done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if my mic was not on a stand, I'd drop
Speaker 1: it right now. Yeah, well you could. You could throw
Speaker 1: it on the ground if you want, just to prove
Speaker 1: your point. No, I love, I love my mic. Just
Speaker 1: leave it here. So the article also mentions as a
Speaker 1: tip in this space free activities. It might seem at
Speaker 1: first like it doesn't fit, but as we engage in
Speaker 1: free activities, generally we're not engaging in purchasing things, collecting things,
Speaker 1: gathering things, and so there can be a pairing of
Speaker 1: engaging in fun free things that means zero waste. So
Speaker 1: when we enjoy time on the weekend with friends with
Speaker 1: family in things that are free, and we also are
Speaker 1: able to implement the refuse, reduce reuse mentality, then this
Speaker 1: is a helpful kind of frugal zero waste pairing. MM
Speaker 1: and the last one on this list re using containers,
Speaker 1: So definitely, if you want to do this, get your
Speaker 1: glass jars or look at your thrift stores. I am
Speaker 1: still in the market for some more glass containers that
Speaker 1: look aesthetically pleasing. I have open shelving and I care
Speaker 1: about that stuff, so but uh, there are some pretty
Speaker 1: good looking glass containers that food comes in, so be
Speaker 1: on the lookout for that. And if you have any suggestions,
Speaker 1: d m s on Instagram and let us know what
Speaker 1: we should be what food we should be consuming to
Speaker 1: get those cool glass jars that or yeah, finding them
Speaker 1: second hand. Definitely will not be buying them used. And
Speaker 1: I like the tips that they give for how we
Speaker 1: can reuse some containers. One of my go two's for
Speaker 1: glass jars is to keep hold on to some of them. Again,
Speaker 1: this is where it bumps up against my minimalism. I
Speaker 1: don't want to have an entire cabinet dedicated to glass
Speaker 1: jar empty glass jars. But if I give flowers as
Speaker 1: a gift to somebody, or sometimes I'll make like an
Speaker 1: anti pasta or an appetizer of some sort, and that's
Speaker 1: an easy way to give it to people and not
Speaker 1: require them to be giving back the container, So I'll
Speaker 1: kind of keep some things around so that I can
Speaker 1: gift things to people and not have to purchase containers
Speaker 1: for it or be putting the pressure on them to
Speaker 1: get my container back to me. Absolutely, but you know what,
Speaker 1: there's never any pressure to give back to the people,
Speaker 1: and always always does give, never, never, hardly resists zero
Speaker 1: waste for sure. 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 Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. US bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week. Hi Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: My name is Amy. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Speaker 1: and my bill of the week is my dad, William
Speaker 1: but known to everyone else as Bill. My dad was
Speaker 1: a minimalistic, frugal, simple living, non materialistic person before it
Speaker 1: was cool. He's content with living a simple life, and
Speaker 1: so when my brothers and I tried to pick his
Speaker 1: brain for potential birthday or Christmas gifts, his response is
Speaker 1: usually I could use a new fish filter for his aquarium,
Speaker 1: and they cost like ten dollars. So I just want
Speaker 1: to say cheers to my dad who keep things simple
Speaker 1: but frustrates those of us who want to buy in
Speaker 1: presence because he does not care for material things. Thanks ladies,
Speaker 1: keep up the good work. Love the show, Oh, Amy Mrie,
Speaker 1: I am I am in love with your dad, Bill.
Speaker 1: He sounds like the best. Bill sounds so great. Bill.
Speaker 1: Thank you for paving the way for your family and
Speaker 1: this minimalism, contentment, simple living that doesn't require much. But
Speaker 1: you also just sound like an amazing person with rich
Speaker 1: relationship with those around you, which I think is what
Speaker 1: this can lead to. Like it can be a byproduct,
Speaker 1: this minimalism, simple living can lead to contentment, which leads
Speaker 1: to Yeah, it can better relationships with people and just
Speaker 1: time enjoyed together. And how amazing Amy to hear how
Speaker 1: much you enjoy and admire your dad And this well done.
Speaker 1: And thanks Bill, what a great Bill. If you want
Speaker 1: to submit your bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash Bill to leave us your dad Bill,
Speaker 1: your duck Bill, your man Bill, any Bill, And now
Speaker 1: it's time for this is uh. This is the part
Speaker 1: of the show where our podcast manager Goldie asks us
Speaker 1: a question to get us vulnerable. I no longer make
Speaker 1: up the questions because Jill feels attacked and I like,
Speaker 1: you know too much typically before. Yeah, so now Goldie doesn't.
Speaker 1: And now it's fun because I don't see the question
Speaker 1: until right before it comes. So this week's question, what
Speaker 1: are your comm promise items? So like, not zero waste
Speaker 1: but still eco friendly, go for a chum? What is it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you kind of took mine. Um, so can you go
Speaker 1: first so that I can think of another one? Um?
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is ego friendly, but toilet paper,
Speaker 1: I can't give that up. That's mine. That's my no
Speaker 1: compromise item. I don't know that there's ever going to
Speaker 1: be a time when I say no to toilet paper. However, well,
Speaker 1: hold on as I'm thinking out loud, and that problem
Speaker 1: solving creative juices are blowing. What's the third way? The
Speaker 1: third way is a bad day when it rhymes to
Speaker 1: their way is the bidday. That's a lot. That's a
Speaker 1: big transition. People who have those Oh, I'm sure they
Speaker 1: do have a bidet love their third way. If I
Speaker 1: am squirming thinking about it, I, oh, what is my compromise? Yeah? No,
Speaker 1: I'll never give up toilet paper. Okay, so here, Okay,
Speaker 1: so this isn't zero waste, I guess, but I actually
Speaker 1: I like I have to have a certain hair care product,
Speaker 1: like shampoo and conditioner. I have heard all of the
Speaker 1: ideas and the shampoo bars and the all of the
Speaker 1: apple side of it. I've heard all of the ideas.
Speaker 1: But if you had my hair, which is very curly
Speaker 1: and very thin, you would know that I am fighting
Speaker 1: a battle and I can't. I can't go zero waste.
Speaker 1: If I had your hair, I'd be ten percent happier.
Speaker 1: I mean, but you know what the gift to me
Speaker 1: is that I get to look at it. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and my son has the same hair and everyone's always
Speaker 1: trying to touch it and complimenting it, and I feel
Speaker 1: complemented by proxy because nobody does that to me. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but so I think the I do always recycle the
Speaker 1: plastic containers that they come in, and I think next
Speaker 1: time I will see if I can buy a larger
Speaker 1: size than what I currently have. I think those are
Speaker 1: my alternative. And okay, so also, I only shampoo my
Speaker 1: hair once a week. All the other times I will
Speaker 1: condition it, and I only condition it maybe like two
Speaker 1: or three times a week. All the other times, I
Speaker 1: just like wet it because I do work out most mornings,
Speaker 1: and sometimes I'll just either not wash it or just
Speaker 1: wet it. So that's a zero waste thing that I do.
Speaker 1: But I gotta have I gotta have the right haircre
Speaker 1: oh and rest assured. This is not the only area
Speaker 1: where where our lives need improvement. There's so many other
Speaker 1: shifts and changes we can be making. But I think,
Speaker 1: like we said at the beginning, we'll say at the end,
Speaker 1: it is about making small adjustments as we go and
Speaker 1: as we can see the low hanging fruit of what
Speaker 1: needs to shift. Like I got stressed yesterday about the
Speaker 1: junk mail that's coming. It's like, well, this shouldn't be
Speaker 1: my first step. If I'm also still using paper towels,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be hunting down and spending a ton of
Speaker 1: time making sure the local Catholic church doesn't send me
Speaker 1: like flyers all the time. It should be what am
Speaker 1: I doing in my own personal life currently. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that could be a drastic shift, more drastic than the
Speaker 1: flyers that come to my door. Absolutely, Well, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening to this episode. I hope you've
Speaker 1: got some helpful tips that might help you conserve and
Speaker 1: steward wisely your natural resources. Thank you for your kind
Speaker 1: reviews like this one comes from Brittany says Real Discussions
Speaker 1: happens to be five stars. She says, I'm so mad.
Speaker 1: I just found this podcast a few days ago. Wish
Speaker 1: I would have found it sooner. I thought I was
Speaker 1: the only person who obsesses with money every day, all day,
Speaker 1: every purchase, every bill. This episode paying Off Debt and
Speaker 1: Mental Health with Melanie is amazing. She's so vulnerable and
Speaker 1: shared her anxiety related around money O c D anxiety
Speaker 1: and I felt all her thoughts. I appreciate this podcast
Speaker 1: very much. Thank you, Brittany. Brittany, I love the aggressive
Speaker 1: way that you are giving us five stars. It's really beautiful.
Speaker 1: You are kindred, spared restinates with Kindred, bad with you
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Speaker 1: See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Speaker 1: Syrian Okay, Jen zero waste is blowing my mind and
Speaker 1: it's it's invading my life and it's good. It is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think I had said this a while ago
Speaker 1: when I lived in a tiny home. It got me
Speaker 1: so much more connected to my consumption, my waist. I
Speaker 1: love that I did learn a lot through that, and
Speaker 1: I still have so much to learn. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if the main thing that's drawing me to this
Speaker 1: movement is just the challenge of it and the creative
Speaker 1: problem solving, like I do care, but I honestly think
Speaker 1: that like the challenging portion is like the majority of
Speaker 1: what is like magnetizing me to it. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that's a lot for a lot of people. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing that I am realizing. I think to embrace this
Speaker 1: lifestyle more, I think it's going to cause me to
Speaker 1: be ten percent less clean. Explain I like, I like
Speaker 1: I came to that conclusion yesterday, it might not be
Speaker 1: like a final conclusion. Well, so I've admitted this before
Speaker 1: and it still is a problem. I do have paper
Speaker 1: towels in my home, and I do use the paper
Speaker 1: towels because I feel like it keeps my hands cleaner.
Speaker 1: I'm able to get a better clean on some of
Speaker 1: the things in my kitchen and my bathroom and then
Speaker 1: get rid of it. Versus if I'm like cleaning things
Speaker 1: and I'm using a reusable rag, that either means that
Speaker 1: I like, once I use the rag on something that
Speaker 1: I perceived to be like dirty, it has to immediately
Speaker 1: go into the washer that's not super sustainable, or like
Speaker 1: I have to be okay with it just kind of
Speaker 1: being more dirty, just you know, like okay. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: you were over the other day and I've got one
Speaker 1: of those like sink clean out things in my kitchen sink,
Speaker 1: and it does collect some debris. I try and scrape
Speaker 1: off as much as possible, but there's still like some
Speaker 1: food scraps and stuff. And I'm the type of person
Speaker 1: who will use like a quarter of a paper towel
Speaker 1: to like clean to scrape out what's in there into
Speaker 1: the trash can, because it's not always just like this great,
Speaker 1: It's not just like the food scraps. It's also some
Speaker 1: of the like scum that can start to build up
Speaker 1: and so, okay, in the past two days since you've
Speaker 1: been over, I'm like, all right, what if I were
Speaker 1: to try life without doing that? And so I'm just
Speaker 1: doing it with my hands. I'm just like scraping it
Speaker 1: out with my hands, and it just feels dirtier, it
Speaker 1: feels like a more gross process. I can get okay
Speaker 1: with it, but it's just I think that's my realization,
Speaker 1: like life just has to be My standards for cleanliness
Speaker 1: need to decrease by ten percent in order for me
Speaker 1: to engage in this lifestyle. Yes, what if you use
Speaker 1: an old toothbrush? We keep an old tooth rush at
Speaker 1: our sink because sometimes if you don't want to use
Speaker 1: your nails, okay, it just gets into those crevices um
Speaker 1: and that is a is a small Yeah, that's a thing.
Speaker 1: I do have an old toothbrush under the sink for cleaning.
Speaker 1: That's good. That's good. This is good. This is we're brainstorming.
Speaker 1: This is good. I'm glad we're finding your third way
Speaker 1: so well. But then also then then and then I
Speaker 1: used a rag, I'm like, all right, we're pulling out
Speaker 1: the rag. The other thing about rags is they're often
Speaker 1: too thick, so like I also like paper towels for
Speaker 1: how thin they are and how I can get into
Speaker 1: crevices easier with how thin it is. I know you're
Speaker 1: probably gonna say, use a T shirt, but I don't
Speaker 1: the material of a T shirt. But I was gonna say, okay,
Speaker 1: that's too thin. So there are these new um they
Speaker 1: dry like hard almost and when you get the wet
Speaker 1: they are malleable like a paper towel, and then you
Speaker 1: just rinse them off and dry them. And I forget
Speaker 1: what they're called, but they are like a paper towel
Speaker 1: like when wet. And then maybe I could have because
Speaker 1: what I also found was all right. Because I was
Speaker 1: using a rag, I wiped down the counters and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a spot on the floor I want to get up.
Speaker 1: So then I use it on the floor. But now
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I'm I can't use the rag that
Speaker 1: I just used on the floor back on the countertop,
Speaker 1: So now it's ready for the wash. But the third
Speaker 1: way could be that I have one for my countertops
Speaker 1: and like you know, my more clean spaces, and one
Speaker 1: for my more dirty stuff like wiping the lid of
Speaker 1: the trash can or the floor boom. Jen look at this,
Speaker 1: and and these reusable like paper towel things can just
Speaker 1: be rinsed off, maybe with a little bit of soap,
Speaker 1: and then dried and it's ready, so you've just washed
Speaker 1: it like a soap is supposed to clean things, so
Speaker 1: it's like I hand washed it once. I theoretically, ah yeah, okay, wow,
Speaker 1: I feel energized. I'm gonna go not throw things away.
Speaker 1: That consultation is free. Maybe