Speaker 1: Episode three sixty six Frugal Friends book Club for Minimalism
Speaker 1: and simple Living Books to read in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill. And today we have another edition of
Speaker 1: our Frugal Friends book Club. And if you get the
Speaker 1: friend Letter, if you subscribe to our newsletter, the Friend
Speaker 1: Letter that comes out three times a week, we ask
Speaker 1: what genre do you want our next book club to
Speaker 1: be in? And overwhelming Lee, you said you wanted books
Speaker 1: on minimalism, simple living, clearing out the clutter in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four fresh start all of that, and so here
Speaker 1: are four books with our proved method of selection, scientific
Speaker 1: method for you to read.
Speaker 3: It cuts me every time. I don't know, We've done
Speaker 3: how many book club episodes, and I always forget what
Speaker 3: the method is until you say it at this point
Speaker 3: in the podcast and it makes me laugh. But yes,
Speaker 3: proven and scientific. But first, this episode is brought to
Speaker 3: you by skipping it, just just skipping it, because sometimes
Speaker 3: the absence of something is better than the presence of something,
Speaker 3: whether it was skipping school when you were younger, or
Speaker 3: skipping that those holiday get togethers this month, there's nothing
Speaker 3: that makes you feel quite as cool as skipping it.
Speaker 3: And if this feeling is something you want to hold
Speaker 3: on to, you want to keep trying this out, try
Speaker 3: skipping it with us in a no spend January. So basically,
Speaker 3: we're going to give you all the tips tricks that
Speaker 3: you need through the friend Letter to engage in a
Speaker 3: no spend January, to skip it, skip the spending, skip,
Speaker 3: skip all the unnecessary frills, and really hone in on
Speaker 3: your money and your spending plan in the new year.
Speaker 3: So sign up for the friend Letter to get this
Speaker 3: whole month of tips to help you reset your spending habits.
Speaker 3: Frugal friendspodcast dot com. Yeah, you can get it there
Speaker 3: forule friendspodcast dot com.
Speaker 1: Yes, we are excited for no spend January. Jill will
Speaker 1: be documenting her journey in the friend Letter. I will
Speaker 1: be documenting my journey on Instagram and TikTok, at Modern
Speaker 1: Frugality and at Frugal Friends Podcast. We'll get it's the same.
Speaker 1: It's going to be the same videos throughout. Don't expect
Speaker 1: more from me than I'm capable of. But we are
Speaker 1: very excited because we know that so many of you
Speaker 1: do No Spend January, so many of you want to
Speaker 1: do No Spend January, and we literally want to walk
Speaker 1: through it with you holding your hand, knowing that you're
Speaker 1: not alone in what you're experiencing. There are ways through.
Speaker 1: These are the ways through. These are the ways that
Speaker 1: you take your experiences success and not and apply it
Speaker 1: to do better for the rest of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: A No Spend challenge is not about thirty days of
Speaker 1: saving money and then binging in February. It's about really
Speaker 1: honing in to improve your spending habits for the rest
Speaker 1: of the year. And that's the mindset we're taking in.
Speaker 1: So sign up for the friend letter, follow Modern Frugality
Speaker 1: and Frugal Friends podcast on Instagram and we'll see you there.
Speaker 1: But first, something we will be doing in No Spend
Speaker 1: January is reading. And if you want to pick up
Speaker 1: a book from the library reserve it in advance, then
Speaker 1: these are some really good ones. If by chum chance,
Speaker 1: you have read all of these, then hit up our
Speaker 1: other books our book club episodes. We do one every
Speaker 1: four months with four books to read. We've got episode
Speaker 1: three thirty four, which is four money psychology books, Episode
Speaker 1: three oh six four personal finance books, and then to
Speaker 1: sixty seven we got four more personal finance books to read,
Speaker 1: so those are all great. You can also find all
Speaker 1: of the books at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash books.
Speaker 1: That's our Amazon storefront where we have all the books.
Speaker 1: But seriously, get them from the library. It's fine, it's
Speaker 1: just an easy place to put them all. All right,
Speaker 1: we are ready and stay tuned to the end, and
Speaker 1: you get to hear Jen's fiction selections for the last
Speaker 1: four months as well, which is always a blast for
Speaker 1: me and chills how many children's books Chill has read
Speaker 1: over the last four months. But first, these are all nonfiction.
Speaker 1: So these are the nonfiction self help, self improvement, that
Speaker 1: sort of genre.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: And we'll kick it off with our scientific method. This
Speaker 1: is our method that we use every episode, every book
Speaker 1: club episode to select our books. And this is over
Speaker 1: the year has worked like a dream for us. You
Speaker 1: guys haven't emailed us or told us anything positive about it,
Speaker 1: but we only imagine that's because you are so busy
Speaker 1: reading the books and you are enthralled in them, not
Speaker 1: because you don't care or haven't recognized how good the
Speaker 1: method is. So let's start.
Speaker 3: No, absolutely just neutral, it's just science, yes, all right.
Speaker 1: Silence means everyone is executing.
Speaker 3: Is sometimes better than the presence.
Speaker 1: Right, exactly. Everybody is too busy executing the scientific manod
Speaker 1: to read their books. And that's it's great. So you
Speaker 1: can take this into any quarterly book goal. So here's
Speaker 1: the method. Our first book, something old or than five years,
Speaker 1: something new or than one year, something borrowed from our
Speaker 1: listeners or social media, some an idea that we got
Speaker 1: from someone else. And fourth, something with a blue cover,
Speaker 1: and that is the Frugal Friends methods on the cover. Normally,
Speaker 1: this is not going to be an entirely blue cover.
Speaker 1: We know that usually usually, but there is definitely a
Speaker 1: shade of blue somewhere on the cover. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get into it with our first book, something older than
Speaker 1: five years. This first one is good Bye Things, the
Speaker 1: New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki. It's an oldie, but
Speaker 1: a goodie in the minimalism space. And I know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe you thought the first one was gonna be you
Speaker 1: know somebody else, but I actually really liked this one.
Speaker 1: It's a little extreme, but I like it. If they says,
Speaker 1: this is the quote from the description, Fumio Sasaki is
Speaker 1: not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo.
Speaker 1: He's just a regular guy who was stressed out and
Speaker 1: constantly comparing himself to others until one day he decided
Speaker 1: to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he
Speaker 1: didn't absolutely need. And the effects were effects were remarkable.
Speaker 1: So again, we don't support saying goodbye to everything, but
Speaker 1: that's I mean, that's what books are for, is you
Speaker 1: get to read these extreme experiences, the positives, the negatives,
Speaker 1: and then learn from the wisdom so that you don't
Speaker 1: have to do it the extreme way. And I yeah,
Speaker 1: I really liked this one. It's a it's a really
Speaker 1: good it's a really good minimalism book. If you've already
Speaker 1: read Marie Condo, then it's a next step.
Speaker 3: I think it's really helpful to hear different people's perspectives
Speaker 3: on minimalism. It's interesting to me that he references Marie
Speaker 3: Kondo in his books Synopsis and saying and not quite
Speaker 3: like her. I guess that helps to narrow down what
Speaker 3: to expect, but that okay, if you connected with one
Speaker 3: thing or or not, it's worth identifying. Okay, well what
Speaker 3: else is out there? How have other people tried and
Speaker 3: made it work? Similar to what we do in the
Speaker 3: personal finance space, recognizing we're not for everybody and we
Speaker 3: are not the only voices that people should be listening
Speaker 3: to on personal finance, and so kind of bringing this
Speaker 3: collection of voices and practices and new ideas to help
Speaker 3: us think maybe even outside the box with how we've
Speaker 3: understood minimalism simple living. So we haven't at least I'll
Speaker 3: speak for myself. I've not read any of these. These
Speaker 3: are just our suggestions what we are curating and adding
Speaker 3: to our list of books. But I like it on
Speaker 3: this list for that reason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do want to read one of the reviews.
Speaker 1: I think this is helpful if you're deciding kind of
Speaker 1: which og minimalism book to read, and they this one
Speaker 1: I think really sums it up. Of reviewer says I
Speaker 1: probably read seventy five books on decluttering, organizing and minima's
Speaker 1: minimum minimizing because they call me and uh, this is
Speaker 1: the first book to talk about your things, talking to you,
Speaker 1: not like in real life like noise, but but kind
Speaker 1: of like one year. Things will say I need washing
Speaker 1: or dusting, and something else says I need a new battery,
Speaker 1: and it's more mostly just like us thinking like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need to take care of this thing. I need
Speaker 1: to take care of this thing. I need to move
Speaker 1: that thing before my mother in law, friend, your neighbor comes.
Speaker 1: It's almost Halloween. Time to drag you know, me quote
Speaker 1: unquote the thing to me out once a year so
Speaker 1: everyone can see me. And all of the chatter that
Speaker 1: comes with owning things, because once you buy something, the
Speaker 1: dopamine hit is done. You've bought it, You've got what
Speaker 1: you were really after. But you continue to own that
Speaker 1: thing for much longer, and that thing will quote unquote
Speaker 1: tell you things you know like put me here, put
Speaker 1: me there, clean me like and then apparent and then
Speaker 1: eventually your toddler gets a hold of it and it's
Speaker 1: in disarray and it says I'm dying. So the more
Speaker 1: stuff you have, the more quote unquote chatter is going
Speaker 1: on in your house. And once you get rid of
Speaker 1: the chatter and the clutter, and once you stop bringing
Speaker 1: more clutter, into your house. Your house actually becomes quote
Speaker 1: unquote quieter.
Speaker 3: Yeah hmmm, I love that synopsis coming from a review. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3: The next category in the Scientific method something new or
Speaker 3: than one year is a slow living And here is
Speaker 3: the very extens subtitle, The Secrets to Slowing Down and
Speaker 3: Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere, decorating book for home bodies,
Speaker 3: happiness book. So whatever you're looking.
Speaker 1: For, that's not on the book, that is keywords stuff title.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at this stuff right now. That's true. Okay,
Speaker 3: it does stop at The Secrets to Slowing Down and
Speaker 3: Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere Okay, by Helena Woods. So
Speaker 3: the synopsis of this is that slow Living is for
Speaker 3: anyone looking to simplify life. Personal growth books for women
Speaker 3: tend to leave out men and children, but this book
Speaker 3: was intentionally crafted with everyone in mind. If you're looking
Speaker 3: for how to improve yourself, how to get into simple living,
Speaker 3: then this is the guide for you. For many, a
Speaker 3: slow European lifestyle seems out of reach, but with the
Speaker 3: direction in this book, readers are able to craft this
Speaker 3: lifestyle for themselves and anywhere anytime. They say that in it.
Speaker 3: Some of the key things that you're going to find
Speaker 3: is ways to value quiet moments which bring simple joys
Speaker 3: to your life. How slow living takes root when less
Speaker 3: becomes more in your home. A guide on how to
Speaker 3: simplify your everyday life for mental clarity, how to create
Speaker 3: routines that enrich your mind and feed your soul. So
Speaker 3: this is a little bit less about the stuff and
Speaker 3: a little bit more about lifestyle. How we can engage
Speaker 3: in a slower pace, cultivate contentment, some of the rhythms
Speaker 3: and routines that might serve us better. And I do
Speaker 3: like the cover. I'm not going to lie, I am,
Speaker 3: I'm here for it. I do think that at this
Speaker 3: stage for me personally, I have come to an understanding
Speaker 3: of minimalism with things, but I can struggle with a
Speaker 3: minimalism or simplicity in life overall. I think I can
Speaker 3: be drawn to busyness and distraction and not necessarily engaging
Speaker 3: in productive or beneficial rhythms and routine. So for me,
Speaker 3: I'm definitely drawn to this book for where I'm finding myself.
Speaker 3: So that's one of the reasons that this one's on
Speaker 3: the list for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we're all looking for slowness, and I
Speaker 1: think we pursue it in destructive ways, like when I'm
Speaker 1: sitting in bed at night and I'm scrolling on social
Speaker 1: media or I'm browsing Amazon, Like, that's me searching to
Speaker 1: slow my brain down. But I think having books like
Speaker 1: this to give alternative ways to slow your brain down,
Speaker 1: that that's much healthier. And then that kind of carries over.
Speaker 1: If you can just do that one thing, like figure
Speaker 1: out healthier ways to slow your brain down, that can
Speaker 1: give you the capacity to slow other things in your
Speaker 1: life down. So yeah, I really like this book for
Speaker 1: people who feel like they just need to slow just
Speaker 1: take a pause.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: One of the reviewers says, deeply inspiring Helena shares her
Speaker 3: unique vision for living a beautiful and intentional life. After
Speaker 3: reading this book, you will feel inspired to go out
Speaker 3: and connect with nature, pay attention to the little details
Speaker 3: of your life, and tune into your inner voice. All
Speaker 3: those things sound so lovely, especially at this time of year.
Speaker 3: I think this is something I'm craving, so I'm excited
Speaker 3: to hear more about her perspective through it.
Speaker 1: Well, the topic of slowing down from social media. Our
Speaker 1: next pick is something borrowed from our listeners. Sometimes we'll
Speaker 1: kind of we'll do an Instagram you know, call be like,
Speaker 1: what are you reading? And that's kind of where we
Speaker 1: get these from. And a lot of the times when
Speaker 1: we do that call out, someone is reading digital minimalism.
Speaker 1: So this is I don't think a call to disconnect
Speaker 1: from technology or even like social media entirely, but this
Speaker 1: is practical tips on how to just clear the clutter
Speaker 1: of it, to have it and embrace it, but clear
Speaker 1: the clutter. So part of the synopsis is we're addicted
Speaker 1: to texting, Instagram, face book, and Twitter not because we're
Speaker 1: stupid or shallow, but because they provide real value in
Speaker 1: the form of connection, community, affirmation, and information. Instagram is
Speaker 1: how you see new photos and videos of your friend's baby.
Speaker 1: Texting is how you let your mom know you're safe.
Speaker 1: Twitter insert used to be how you hear about breaking
Speaker 1: news in your industry. But these tools can also disrupt
Speaker 1: the ability to focus on meaningful work and live fully
Speaker 1: in the present. So the question is, must we choose
Speaker 1: between one or the other? Spoiler alert The answer is no.
Speaker 1: But there are ways that you can put up barriers
Speaker 1: to protect your meaningful work time and your living fully
Speaker 1: present time to make the best of both worlds. And
Speaker 1: I love that about this book because it's from cal
Speaker 1: Newport and he if you are familiar with him, he's
Speaker 1: also the author of The Deep World, which is a
Speaker 1: book on really focusing and getting really meaningful work done.
Speaker 1: He has a lot of other books too, but I
Speaker 1: really like the Deep Work book. And so this is
Speaker 1: how can we get I think the biggest barrier to
Speaker 1: doing deep work is the digital clutter. The emails, the
Speaker 1: all the tabs, open, all the apps, like all of
Speaker 1: this stuff. I know that I will get into, like
Speaker 1: I will remember something and want to write it for
Speaker 1: an episode or an email, and I'll open it up
Speaker 1: because I saw it on Instagram. I'll open it up
Speaker 1: to look for it, and then I will get so distracted,
Speaker 1: like I forget why I'm even on there in the
Speaker 1: first place. Because this is what those apps are designed
Speaker 1: to do. Right, So there is a point where no
Speaker 1: amount of self discipline in the world is going to
Speaker 1: allow you to master yourself on social media because they
Speaker 1: are these apps are designed to keep you scrolling right there.
Speaker 1: They are in total conflict with what you want to do.
Speaker 1: So learning these barriers to put up, learning these alternative
Speaker 1: ways to practice social media alternative places like cleaning up
Speaker 1: everything on your phone, on your laptop, on your social
Speaker 1: media is going to help you do the best that
Speaker 1: you can with the mental energy and the cognitive energy
Speaker 1: that you have.
Speaker 3: That's what I need to do specifically, it's just cleaning
Speaker 3: up my computer and my phone storage. But I also
Speaker 3: like the perspective of how can we be more intentional
Speaker 3: with the ways that we're spending time on these different platforms.
Speaker 3: It's interesting to me too. I didn't know this about Cal.
Speaker 3: He is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University.
Speaker 3: So interesting that he comes from that digital tech space,
Speaker 3: and so I think that that makes him even more
Speaker 3: of an expert to be able to speak on this
Speaker 3: topic of how do we minimize in a realistic way
Speaker 3: this day in society?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. One these all of these reviews
Speaker 1: are so long, but I will read you part from
Speaker 1: just parts from this very long review, because it has
Speaker 1: some good things and some bad things, not bad, but
Speaker 1: just a few criticisms that you should go into the
Speaker 1: book realizing. So my favorite thing about the book is
Speaker 1: that Cal's advice is immensely practical. He's no laed I,
Speaker 1: and he does not expect you to eliminate technology from
Speaker 1: your life. In fact, he urges you to embrace technology
Speaker 1: and strongly supports when it strongly supports the things you
Speaker 1: value most in life. Again, a values based use of time,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't argue against any specific technology, and this
Speaker 1: is where Cal's practical little advice shines. For instance, instead
Speaker 1: of instituting a blanket ban on social media, Cal suggests
Speaker 1: that those who use social media limit their use to
Speaker 1: their computer or tablet i e. No iPhone in order
Speaker 1: to eliminate boredom browsing. So one of the criticisms that
Speaker 1: they had was his advice on how to spend your
Speaker 1: free times a bit muddled. On one hand, he strongly
Speaker 1: stresses the importance of ample amounts of solitude, which he
Speaker 1: describes as subjective state in which your mind is free
Speaker 1: from input of other minds. He's definitely mit but he
Speaker 1: also stresses the importance of prioritizing demanding activities that often
Speaker 1: require strained mental effort. So I mean you need both.
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily agree with this criticism. Another critique is
Speaker 1: that towards the end of the book he discusses the
Speaker 1: emergence of act blocking software and quote unquote dumb phones,
Speaker 1: which I think they mean flip phones, and seemingly recommends
Speaker 1: that we adopt these paternalistic mechanisms to prevent us from
Speaker 1: being trapped into the allure of new technology. And I
Speaker 1: like that as well. I know, I follow millennial therapist
Speaker 1: on Instagram and she got a flip phone and that
Speaker 1: is now what she uses over the weekend. And she says,
Speaker 1: because her job is social media, it is on the
Speaker 1: phone that the lines between working and personal time were
Speaker 1: becoming blurred because her work was always in her hands.
Speaker 1: So she just got a flip phone to use on
Speaker 1: the weekends. And people like loved it. So there. If
Speaker 1: there are some criticisms, I they're not like big deal
Speaker 1: breakish for me. I loved the book. We talked about
Speaker 1: this book years ago and it has held up well.
Speaker 3: The thing about it is it's good to not exist
Speaker 3: in an echo chamber. I think it is helpful and
Speaker 3: beneficial to surround ourselves too by voices that we may
Speaker 3: not entirely agree with, because that's how that's how we
Speaker 3: grow and learn and are accepting of other perspectives. So
Speaker 3: I think it's still worthwhile to read something that you
Speaker 3: don't align with one hundred agreed. The next and final
Speaker 3: book in our Scientific Method.
Speaker 1: Has a fully blue cover. Hatchet does this time it does.
Speaker 1: You're right, You're right fully blue. I really I went
Speaker 1: in on it, and you know what, the new the
Speaker 1: paperback version of Digital Minimalism also has a blue cover,
Speaker 1: So I got two blues on this one, making up
Speaker 1: for previous previous.
Speaker 3: I love it. Jen you are You're a warrior and
Speaker 3: a dime piece. So this is something blue. It's something
Speaker 3: entirely blue. And it is called Hooga Simplified, A Guide
Speaker 3: to Scandinavian Coziness, comfort and Conviviality. Oh that's a good word.
Speaker 3: I can't huga season. I use the word conviviality in
Speaker 3: my everyday language. But I'm going to start to now
Speaker 3: this and.
Speaker 1: That is truly on the cover conviviality.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. This one's by Tim ray Bourne and the
Speaker 3: synopsis of it is Houga has taken the world by storm,
Speaker 3: and now you too can find comfort and safety in
Speaker 3: the company of others as well as a loon at home.
Speaker 3: Unlike so much self help, Huga is fairly simple and straightforward,
Speaker 3: ranging from different lighting to storage and wardrobe. This lifestyle
Speaker 3: is about more than reducing clutter, however, it is about
Speaker 3: personal growth, so you are living a life of confidence
Speaker 3: and balance. Well. The principles of Huga are applicable to
Speaker 3: people in all phases of life. Start off with friends
Speaker 3: and family in their new home with this ideal housewarming
Speaker 3: gift in the synopsis, okay, happiness because here with hooga simplified.
Speaker 3: And you know you want to know one of the
Speaker 3: reasons that this is on here for me is because
Speaker 3: the holidays are over, and this is when we get
Speaker 3: into deep winter January February March. For many of us,
Speaker 3: it's cold and dark. People aren't doing much because they'd
Speaker 3: rather just hole themselves up in their house, and anything
Speaker 3: past five pm feels like it's happening at midnight. And
Speaker 3: you know, we're just eating soup, which is basically drinking
Speaker 3: water and just like waiting for the sun to come
Speaker 3: back out. Yeah right, And if you don't want to
Speaker 3: adopt the mentality that I'm describing right there, then this
Speaker 3: is going to be the book for you. This is
Speaker 3: this is what we all collectively need to help help
Speaker 3: us not just get through the wintertime or seasons that
Speaker 3: can be particularly difficult but to help us see the
Speaker 3: beauty and benefit of each and every season. I think
Speaker 3: that's this whole mentality of hooga, this coziness, comfort, how
Speaker 3: to find the simple pleasures in life that are most
Speaker 3: likely not going to cost us a lot of money,
Speaker 3: but really helping with our mindset mostly and then filling
Speaker 3: in the blanks from there. I'm really appreciative, Jen. I
Speaker 3: think you put together this outline you gave me to
Speaker 3: talk about the two books that I'm most excited about.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you talked about the two, but
Speaker 3: you're most excited about, Honest to goodness, these are so
Speaker 3: while I don't read a ton, I will listen to
Speaker 3: audio books. And so again this is your reminder to
Speaker 3: go to your library. Most libraries also have an app
Speaker 3: like Hoopla or Libby, and you can get you can
Speaker 3: rent the audio book through your library on those apps,
Speaker 3: get it for free, listen to it as you can.
Speaker 3: This one, I think is going to be especially helpful
Speaker 3: for this season. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just chose the two books that I have read before.
Speaker 1: So that was my divvying up, and so I'm glad
Speaker 1: that you got the ones that you were excited about.
Speaker 1: They're excited. They're all good ones. And we did an
Speaker 1: episode this year I think it was this year on
Speaker 1: is Huga the New Frugal? I think I said, is
Speaker 1: Huga the new Fruga. I don't know if I said
Speaker 1: that on the episode, but like I and you did
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, that's what I was saying, and people
Speaker 1: loved it. So definitely search back in our archives for
Speaker 1: our Hooga episode because this is Huga season right now,
Speaker 1: post holidays, dead of winter, this is it, and this
Speaker 1: is this is a time to be embraced, not fought against,
Speaker 1: and I think, uh, Hohoga is really the way to
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 3: So let's just recap or wait, I were going to
Speaker 3: say that was episode two seventy seven, our Hooga episode.
Speaker 3: It was a hit. It slapped, Wow, it's slayed it.
Speaker 3: I don't know. We got a lot of feedback on
Speaker 3: that one.
Speaker 1: So Jill has never said it's slapped.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what.
Speaker 1: It in her life, not just on the show.
Speaker 3: But is it the same thing as saying it's slayed.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what that means either.
Speaker 1: It was let's try to be something we're not. We
Speaker 1: are in solidly in our thirties all right, so let's recap.
Speaker 1: Let's spotify wrap this up. Goodbye Things by Fumiyo Sasaki
Speaker 1: really good og older than five years minimalism book. I
Speaker 1: love it for a differy I love Marie Condo. I
Speaker 1: love this for a different reason. I love it way
Speaker 1: more than the minimalists, so highly recommend. We've got Slow
Speaker 1: Living the Secrets to slowing down and noticing the simple
Speaker 1: joys anywhere, and that just came out in April of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. It's our new selection. We've got something
Speaker 1: borrowed from so many people, Digital Minimalism, and that's if
Speaker 1: you've never read it, it is, honestly I think required
Speaker 1: reading for everyone in their life. I think as we
Speaker 1: embrace technology more and more, we've got to know how. Two,
Speaker 1: we've got to know what the makers of these technologies
Speaker 1: are doing, what their intentions are behind creating the products
Speaker 1: and the apps they create, so that we know our
Speaker 1: capabilities and our roles for protecting ourselves. And then last
Speaker 1: we've got Huga Simplified, a Guide to Scandinavian Coziness, comfort
Speaker 1: and Conviviality, which is going to help your sad seasonal
Speaker 1: What is the a seasonal depression. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: live in Florida.
Speaker 3: Seasonal effective disorder.
Speaker 1: Oh see, okay, thank you, yes, seasonal effective disorder. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry. I grew up in Florida. All right, So
Speaker 1: those are our four Yeah, and that was a burn.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, quick Grant. Ninety percent of our listeners do
Speaker 1: not live in Florida. So I we're here. We're here
Speaker 1: for all of you, Jill especially.
Speaker 3: I'm ah, I'm right here for you. Let's hooga this thing.
Speaker 3: You know what else we can do to this thing
Speaker 3: that is helpful? And I think in the spirit of Huga, I.
Speaker 1: Think also it is maybe it is a treatment, not
Speaker 1: a cure, but a treatment for sad.
Speaker 3: It's going too far. The bill of the week.
Speaker 4: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 4: that bill anymore. That bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This
Speaker 4: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Howdy, chill, sub jin. My name is Meg and I
Speaker 5: have worked in FMB my entire adult life, and something
Speaker 5: I have found through that is that larger companies will
Speaker 5: hire out smaller companies to audit to make sure that
Speaker 5: all their locations standards are up the snow. So I
Speaker 5: found out how easy it was to apply for this
Speaker 5: and totally made a date night out of it.
Speaker 1: Basically, we have.
Speaker 5: To take notes to make sure that the bartender was
Speaker 5: doing everything that she was supposed to do, and then
Speaker 5: just wrote a report. Events ended in So I just
Speaker 5: want my reimbursement back. So in addition to a three
Speaker 5: seventy five dollars meal, they pay us fifteen dollars. So
Speaker 5: we were able to turn a date night whose you know,
Speaker 5: money was already in the budget. We would reimburse through
Speaker 5: that and we got to type up a little report together.
Speaker 5: So that's my bill of the week. And the best
Speaker 5: dinner is the free dinner. Love you guys, thank you
Speaker 5: for changing mindset and lives and kill it keep it up.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Meg.
Speaker 1: I used to do this all the time, Travis Knight.
Speaker 1: This is on our debt free Journey. Literally every month
Speaker 1: this was our date night. It was some kind of
Speaker 1: restaurant auditing mystery shopping thing. We did so many restaurants
Speaker 1: that we would have never been able to go to
Speaker 1: for free and got paid, you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen bucks. I love it, and they still do.
Speaker 1: It's it's a thing will as long as there will
Speaker 1: be restaurants, there will be like secret shopping, mystery shopping auditing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love this. I love this as a date
Speaker 3: night idea. I like that you even highlighted that writing
Speaker 3: the report together was a part of the date night
Speaker 3: and an enjoyable aspect. It is something new to try together.
Speaker 3: The only pitfall that I'll mention for any other listeners
Speaker 3: out there is you do float the money like you
Speaker 3: pay for it and don't get your re mbursement, typically
Speaker 3: for about sixty days, so you do have to be
Speaker 3: willing to put that money out and wait for your reimbursement.
Speaker 3: But otherwise it's an awesome way to ultimately get some
Speaker 3: free experiences, and I couldn't agree more meg. A free
Speaker 3: dinner is the best dinner I am here for that.
Speaker 3: If you all listening have a bill about getting some
Speaker 3: free food, we love that. We love that almost as
Speaker 3: much as we love hearing from people named Bill. Whatever,
Speaker 3: whatever your name is, wherever you're at, whatever you have
Speaker 3: that's loosely related to Bill or Being Bill. Visit Frugal
Speaker 3: friendspodcast dot com slash Bill. We can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for.
Speaker 1: All right, our lightning run. Which minimalism book would you
Speaker 1: suggest to a friend beginning their minimalist journey and why so, Jill,
Speaker 1: I do like yours, but I think I really would
Speaker 1: do the life changing magic of tidying up Marie Condo.
Speaker 1: I mean, I really do love that book. I don't
Speaker 1: like I don't ever feel like I need to subscribe
Speaker 1: one hundred percent to whatever anybody tells me. So that's
Speaker 1: never been I've always like, take what works, leave what doesn't.
Speaker 1: But I found a lot of things that work for
Speaker 1: me in that. Like I've never picked up something and said, like,
Speaker 1: does this spark joy? That's not me, but it has
Speaker 1: helped me with with recognizing sentimental things and realizing their
Speaker 1: place in the decluttering ecosism ecosystem.
Speaker 3: That's fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is different than items that do not carry as
Speaker 1: much emotion behind them. I fold my clothes in the
Speaker 1: Marine Condo method, have four years, love it. Travis always
Speaker 1: makes fun of me and says it takes too long,
Speaker 1: but I fold his laundry the way he likes it
Speaker 1: and my laundry the way I like it, and they
Speaker 1: both take the same amount of time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think you just get good at a
Speaker 3: technique and it doesn't take so long anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't fold my socks like she says, or
Speaker 1: if she says, don't like fold them together, and I
Speaker 1: do because I just need them to be together. But
Speaker 1: I so, I'm yeah, take what works, leave what doesn't.
Speaker 1: But I have taken a lot of things from life
Speaker 1: changing Magic of Tidying Up.
Speaker 3: You do love that book. I remember the first time
Speaker 3: you talked about it. It sounded wild to me. You
Speaker 3: were discovering it, like there's no way you actually really
Speaker 3: love this this much? And then it did. It grew
Speaker 3: on me too, mostly because you've grown on me. No,
Speaker 3: you had me yet. Hello, I'm just kidding. What am
Speaker 3: I saying? All right? So for me true to my
Speaker 3: own minimalist nature, I've only read one book on this
Speaker 3: topic and I did like it. I do recommend it.
Speaker 3: It's The More of Less by Joshua Becker. I think
Speaker 3: it's great. I think it is an entry level book
Speaker 3: for someone just starting out on the journey because he
Speaker 3: kind of describes his own path what led him to
Speaker 3: a more minimalist, simple life. He shares stories of other people,
Speaker 3: so I think it's really easy to be able to
Speaker 3: find yourself in the story of at least one of
Speaker 3: the people he talks about throughout his various chapters. So
Speaker 3: really enjoyed the book. We interviewed him probably back in them,
Speaker 3: like oh, fifties, like earlier, fifty something, thirty something.
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to find it now. Okay, it
Speaker 1: was thirties, I think, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Which was exciting too, But that was a good it
Speaker 3: was a good breed. I recommend it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh thirty two. Whoa thirty two?
Speaker 3: Good job? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I met him at a conference and I was like,
Speaker 1: will you be on my podcast? I did one of those,
Speaker 1: and he was like yes.
Speaker 3: Oh and then I think I remember you telling me
Speaker 3: that you tried to give him like a bookmark. That's
Speaker 3: what you were giving out at the time at that conference.
Speaker 3: You're trying to give out the book mark. And he,
Speaker 3: in his very the less of more, was like, I
Speaker 3: don't take things like you're better off holding on to it.
Speaker 3: But he still came on the shop.
Speaker 1: Forgot about that. Yes, oh my gosh. Yeah. When we
Speaker 1: first had. I mean, we've had the Frugal Friends book
Speaker 1: Club since episode one, and so our first ever merch
Speaker 1: was is a bookmark that looked like it was a
Speaker 1: It was a real bookmark, but it looked like there
Speaker 1: was a sticky note taped on it that said, uh
Speaker 1: like proud member of the Frugal Friends book Club. And
Speaker 1: of those, yeah, I still have some.
Speaker 3: We should get some people who do the friend letter
Speaker 3: referral program like stickers, and some of our old they
Speaker 3: have our old they have our old podcast.
Speaker 1: Art on them. Yeah, which is why don't we really
Speaker 1: give them away anymore?
Speaker 3: But if we've got listeners who have listened for this
Speaker 3: long into this episode and they're true readers, they're going
Speaker 3: to want that. So yeah, get the friend Letter Frugal
Speaker 3: Friends podcast dot com. Then refer a friend and just
Speaker 3: one friend we'll send you.
Speaker 1: I'll start including them with the with the tote bags
Speaker 1: tote bags. If you get a tote bag, you'll also
Speaker 1: get a vintage Frugal Friends pot Talk self select book
Speaker 1: Club old school out of print bookmark.
Speaker 3: Perfect.
Speaker 1: So that is that's that. But well, okay, so Lightning
Speaker 1: Round Part two.
Speaker 3: What oh question?
Speaker 1: What fiction are you reading or listening to anything, Jill,
Speaker 1: have you, like, forwared somebody listening to something?
Speaker 3: I love that you are asking this just so you
Speaker 3: can answer it yourself. No, I'm looking at my bookshelf
Speaker 3: to try and see, like I want to answer you.
Speaker 1: Podcasts in the last four months.
Speaker 3: Only of those who either we've been on their podcast
Speaker 3: or they're coming on our podcast.
Speaker 1: Do you listen to your own?
Speaker 5: Nail?
Speaker 3: Oh? Wait, no, I did someone recommended a podcast? No? No, Like,
Speaker 3: if we're going on someone else's podcast, I'll listen to
Speaker 3: their podcast what I'm in store for, or if we're
Speaker 3: interviewing someone else who has a podcast, I'll listen to
Speaker 3: their Okay, I can know, yeah, one of us should.
Speaker 3: I listened to an episode of the Judges, But that's
Speaker 3: not what is that that fictional? It's just people. Uh,
Speaker 3: they're just talking about I think the one that I
Speaker 3: listened to, it was just stories that people had written
Speaker 3: in about their real lives, and then the judges comment
Speaker 3: on it and they judge, they.
Speaker 1: Judge things, Jillian, that's what you're listening to.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 3: I listened to one episode because I wanted to experience
Speaker 3: life outside of like only doing things for work, and
Speaker 3: I think I only made it halfway through, but it
Speaker 3: was funny. But I think that their gen z and
Speaker 3: so part of how they talked I couldn't understand.
Speaker 1: I couldn't understand.
Speaker 3: All right, Jen, your turn to answer the question that
Speaker 3: you clearly want to answer.
Speaker 1: Well, it's I've been and it's like one of those
Speaker 1: things that when you're dreading it, you just have to
Speaker 1: get it over with. I have. I'm kind of I've
Speaker 1: been dreading this one for the past four months. I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm gonna have to talk about this in
Speaker 1: our book club AP I have to. But okay, well, okay,
Speaker 1: so you're not going to understand, but I will talk
Speaker 1: about a mutual friend of ours Elena. You know Alena,
Speaker 1: I used to I worked with her for years. She
Speaker 1: is like a she majored in literature, so she's like
Speaker 1: high level, like books, you know, book nerd. And so
Speaker 1: I go in to see her. We've been friends for
Speaker 1: over a decade. And I went in to see her
Speaker 1: for an acupuncture treatment and I brought my headphones and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I'm going to listen to an
Speaker 1: audio book during my treatment. And she's like, oh, what
Speaker 1: are you listening to? And I was so embarrassed, kind
Speaker 1: of like right now, it's like because I know how
Speaker 1: you know she's she reads right, and I'm like embarrassed
Speaker 1: to tell her, like what I'm listening to, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: don't be embarrassed. I read I read the Court of
Speaker 1: Thorns and Roses series this year, and I was like,
Speaker 1: so did I. So that is what I read the
Speaker 1: last four months. But that wasn't the actual book that
Speaker 1: I was listening to and said treatment it was Iron Flame,
Speaker 1: which means I also read Fourth Wing in the last
Speaker 1: four months. So I read are these Yes, it's so
Speaker 1: you still love me because you don't know what the
Speaker 1: books are, right, right? But right, so I feel safe
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 3: But I google is a thing, right yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: What wasn't it called Thundered.
Speaker 1: Wings thunder Yes, yes, Thunderwings thundered So no, I read
Speaker 1: it started with Fourth Wing, okay, and then I then
Speaker 1: I finished it and I was like, I feel that
Speaker 1: was not what I was ready. That's not what I
Speaker 1: wanted to read. I wanted to read the Hunger Games
Speaker 1: with some Game of Thrones, and what I got was
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones but with teenagers as main characters, like
Speaker 1: all all of.
Speaker 3: Them for anyone else? And again, yeah, and the brutal
Speaker 3: and elite world of a war college for dragon Riders.
Speaker 3: What just came out of my mouth? What am I
Speaker 3: reading in that one's?
Speaker 1: And Jill, I'm going to need you to refrain. This
Speaker 1: is the vulnerability round and I need you to continue
Speaker 1: to be a safe space for me. It's so it
Speaker 1: started there and I was like, what did I just read?
Speaker 1: But actually I didn't hate it? And then that made
Speaker 1: me judge myself. And so that's when I started reading
Speaker 1: the Akatar series, a Court of Thorns and Roses series,
Speaker 1: and I listened to all of them. I didn't listen
Speaker 1: to the novella that was a short one that was
Speaker 1: I passed by that one. But I listened to all
Speaker 1: of them. And then Iron Flame came out and I
Speaker 1: used a thirty day free trial of Audible to listen
Speaker 1: to that because it was like a six month wait
Speaker 1: on Libby and Hoopla and I'm like, I can't, I can't.
Speaker 1: I have to know what happens.
Speaker 3: Is iron Flame like adjacent to twin Flame? Is it
Speaker 3: like the next tier of twin No?
Speaker 1: No? But it wasn't good. I'm so sorry, Like they
Speaker 1: are not good pieces of literacy. It's not Kristin Hannah,
Speaker 1: it's not Taylor Jenkins read like, it's not even Hunger
Speaker 1: Games like. It's it relies on the clickbait. I'll say that,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't put it down like I had to
Speaker 1: know what happened. And that's how that's why I made
Speaker 1: it through, because it's one of those like sunk Costs.
Speaker 1: I gotta know sunk costs, yep, and I went through
Speaker 1: all of them, and so that is what I've spent
Speaker 1: the last four months doing.
Speaker 3: I wonder what the judges would have to say about it.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't want to ever listen to
Speaker 1: that podcast. That's horrible.
Speaker 3: Okay, we need to wrap this up, because.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you for listening to this podcast. If you
Speaker 1: are like me and you read smutty nonsense and then
Speaker 1: judge yourself for it, or if you're like Jill and
Speaker 1: you don't listen to any books or pie casts, you're
Speaker 1: just effervescently cool. We hope that you will find an
Speaker 1: episode somewhere in the archives that will be for you.
Speaker 1: But we hope you'll check out some of these minimalism
Speaker 1: and simple living books too, because we really like them,
Speaker 1: and if none of the above apply to you, we
Speaker 1: would really love if you just like would leave a
Speaker 1: kind review of what does apply to you, like this
Speaker 1: one from Harper one sixty six, who says great encouragement.
Speaker 1: Being frugal can seem a lonely path. It's awesome to
Speaker 1: have frugal friends to make it fun and seem so achievable.
Speaker 3: Thanks Harper one six six. Thank you all for listening again.
Speaker 3: If you haven't reviewed the show yet, please do. It
Speaker 3: helps us find other people who are like minded, or
Speaker 3: you know, maybe some of you out there are like Jen,
Speaker 3: some of you out there are like me. You can
Speaker 3: find yourself and maybe one of us, if not both
Speaker 3: of us or none of us. But you've just gone
Speaker 3: here for the personal primance from the book government you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're leaving now, don't leave a review.
Speaker 3: Also get the friend letter that's going to be important
Speaker 3: in January. Goruglefriendspodcast dot com See you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1: Gorugle Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jen, yeah, I'm not going to circle back to
Speaker 3: the book thing. We're not going to do please don't, kay,
Speaker 3: don't ever, But what I will circle back to is
Speaker 3: related to digital minimalism. I last time I think off
Speaker 3: the pod said to you that I think that the
Speaker 3: current smartphone I have is the first one I purchased.
Speaker 1: And I told you, there's no that's you said, there's.
Speaker 3: No way that's true. I conferred with Eric, it's true.
Speaker 3: I think I got this. We purchased this phone in
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen, and I still it's still the one that
Speaker 3: I have in twenty twenty three. I should say that
Speaker 3: quieter they're listening in. My phone's probably gonna break soon,
Speaker 3: but there is a there is a caveat to it
Speaker 3: that prior to that, for a little less than a year,
Speaker 3: I had used an old phone of one of my parents,
Speaker 3: like they did an upgrade, and then I used one
Speaker 3: of their phones. That was my first smartphone. So I
Speaker 3: didn't get a smartphone until No, here's what happened. I
Speaker 3: got my first smartphone from my parents in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 3: and then bought this one in twenty eighteen. Okay, but
Speaker 3: before that, I had one of them what do they
Speaker 3: call did they call it a dumb phone? Flip phone?
Speaker 3: I didn't have one until twenty seventeen, which felt late
Speaker 3: to the game at the time, but you're I and
Speaker 3: then you know what. It's part of the reason why
Speaker 3: I don't understand all Instagram works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my phone is from twenty twenty. It's an iPhone ess.
Speaker 1: I like the small phone, but I don't I can't
Speaker 1: see I know it's from twenty twenty, but I can't
Speaker 1: see the year on it. I thought you could on
Speaker 1: the computers you can, so I don't know. Oh can
Speaker 1: I tell you? Actually, I made a purchase for the
Speaker 1: business that I didn't tell you about.
Speaker 3: And you want everyone else to know too. You know
Speaker 3: we're recording, okay, Yeah, because it doesn't feel safer if
Speaker 3: everyone else is listening.
Speaker 1: Uh huh, it's safer this way.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Speaking of technology, I bought us an iPad on Black Friday.
Speaker 3: Oh do we meet that?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: Was that something we can use it?
Speaker 1: I had ideas for it, okay, especially for no spend
Speaker 1: January say more. That's all I'm gonna say right now.
Speaker 1: I think you got to get the friend letter and
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3: To know how we're going to use the iPad. The iPad, Yeah,
Speaker 3: well that's okay because I have a purchase I'm going
Speaker 3: to make and everyone will just have to stay tuned
Speaker 3: for what that's going to be on the company card.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm excited to read about it in the newsletter.
Speaker 3: Yes,