Speaker 1: Episode to see is Uga the new frugal Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Brugal 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. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today
Speaker 1: we are talking about Huga, Huga, Huga Say it with
Speaker 1: us Uka. This is a episode that you requested and
Speaker 1: we are happy to oblige on that. This sounds like
Speaker 1: an amazing concept that in Florida, it's not fully a thing,
Speaker 1: it's not as necessary, but we can still embrace sit
Speaker 1: in many ways. And again, our listeners tune in from
Speaker 1: all over the world really and definitely all over the US.
Speaker 1: So oh, it's such a lovely concept put into practice
Speaker 1: is a great lifestyle and as with many amazing things,
Speaker 1: pairs beautifully with frugality. And we're going to talk more
Speaker 1: about that absolutely. But first, this episode is brought to
Speaker 1: you by blankets. Do you love blankets but your partner
Speaker 1: keeps stealing them from you at night? Do you love
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Speaker 1: that neck hole or armholes, and slash short. I do
Speaker 1: have shawls that I don't need anymore in Florida, but
Speaker 1: I love them in the North because it's essentially like
Speaker 1: wearing a blanket only sold and advertised as clothing because
Speaker 1: it just has like one slit down the middle to
Speaker 1: be worn like a shawl, but it's a blanket. But
Speaker 1: like when you need to do anything with your arms.
Speaker 1: It's like where does the where does the front park go?
Speaker 1: It's just different where you put it. It's just dang,
Speaker 1: Like can you need to do anything when it's super
Speaker 1: called out? You just wrap yourself in a blanket or
Speaker 1: shawl and like you wait, just cross your arms underneath
Speaker 1: your shawl, and that's how you live in the winter.
Speaker 1: I can't believe, I mean crocs came back around. I'm
Speaker 1: waiting for snugg ease to come back around because I
Speaker 1: have a Snuggie and it is convenient and I just
Speaker 1: I just like the function and the form. I think
Speaker 1: it's beautiful and practical. Anyways, and this is right on
Speaker 1: topic truly with Huga. I mean, it's more than just
Speaker 1: blankets and shawls. But you know, we're getting there, We're circling,
Speaker 1: we are we are getting into there. So if you
Speaker 1: are like on par with this conversation and you are
Speaker 1: excited for this episode, we do have a few episodes
Speaker 1: that you could queue up after that will just feel
Speaker 1: like a cozy embodiment of our podcast all around you.
Speaker 1: We got e so to thirty seven, which is Cokibo,
Speaker 1: the Japanese art of mindful budgeting. I feel like we've
Speaker 1: mentioned that episode quite a bit lately. We're so proud
Speaker 1: of it. I love it. And then episode sixty nine
Speaker 1: create a fulfilling minimalist lifestyle. I definitely do love the
Speaker 1: there's I feel like there's a little bit of maybe
Speaker 1: congruence with minimalism. It's definitely Huga is definitely not minimalistic,
Speaker 1: but it is simple and I think you could make
Speaker 1: it your own version of minimalists. So those are a
Speaker 1: couple of good ones to cue up after. But let's
Speaker 1: talk about hugality and frugality and fruga that's beautiful. Yes,
Speaker 1: this first article comes from a GOP investing and it's
Speaker 1: titled Huga How the Danish art of cozy aligns with
Speaker 1: financial independence. So we are going to kind of use
Speaker 1: the terms and ideas of financial independence somewhat interchangeably with frugality.
Speaker 1: They're not always all the same, but certainly this is
Speaker 1: talking about the ways in which practicing this kind of
Speaker 1: art of cozy can really align and is quite congruent
Speaker 1: and can help in financial goals. Financial independence, a frugal lifestyle,
Speaker 1: it all kind of blends quite well together. And so
Speaker 1: for those who aren't familiar, we said the word huga
Speaker 1: many times because it's just fun to say, and assuming
Speaker 1: you're familiar with this idea, but if you're not. It
Speaker 1: is a Danish word. It does not look like you'd
Speaker 1: pronounce it huga, which I think is probably why we
Speaker 1: keep saying it over and over. The first time that
Speaker 1: I saw this word, I was like, highis okay, But
Speaker 1: it's not. It's huga. And it is the quality of cozy,
Speaker 1: e nous and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of
Speaker 1: contentment or well being. So in general, just kind of
Speaker 1: this idea of at peace inside oneself, this coziness. It's
Speaker 1: kind of a way of life, a lifestyle. Certainly, there's
Speaker 1: some very tangible things that we'll talk about and that
Speaker 1: these articles talk about that can bring about a sense
Speaker 1: of huga. But it seems to be from what I'm reading,
Speaker 1: what I've learned, what we've chatted about, even on some
Speaker 1: other different episodes, is that it runs a whole lot
Speaker 1: deeper than that. That it's almost this mentality mindset shift. Certainly,
Speaker 1: in the winter this concept becomes a lot stronger. It's
Speaker 1: one of the mindset shifts that I have seen, at
Speaker 1: least for a lot of folks in the north who
Speaker 1: experience a very typical kind of cold winter wanting to
Speaker 1: not approach it like, oh, let me just wrap myself
Speaker 1: in a blanket and wait the one out. As much
Speaker 1: as I like to joke about that, that's not the
Speaker 1: best attitude to have. And so how can I embrace
Speaker 1: really every season and the beauty of every season and
Speaker 1: engage in it in a way that is life giving, joyous,
Speaker 1: breeds contentment and and I think we love to talk
Speaker 1: about this, particularly in the winter, because we like to
Speaker 1: associate cozy feelings with the winter time. Cold doesn't always
Speaker 1: breed cozy, So how can we breed cozy in the
Speaker 1: way that we're choosing to go about life. So that's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a precursor definition idea of what
Speaker 1: HUGA is. When do you think John I like it
Speaker 1: in that it embraces It really emphasizes embracing the season.
Speaker 1: And that's something we try to get across, is really
Speaker 1: recognizing the season that you're in and not fighting against it.
Speaker 1: So if it is cold out side, to not try
Speaker 1: to force, you know, a vacation to somewhere where it
Speaker 1: is blizzarding, you know, that's a very that can be
Speaker 1: a very big let down when you get to the
Speaker 1: airport and find out all of travel has ceased to
Speaker 1: said location. You know, sometimes those things aren't avoidable. But
Speaker 1: like really embracing the season and what the season calls
Speaker 1: for and and making the most of it, and I
Speaker 1: think we can. It's HUGA doesn't have to just be
Speaker 1: like a cozy thing, like cold cozy, but it can
Speaker 1: really be a embracing of any season and trying to recognize, Okay,
Speaker 1: my children are young, and I'm in this season, so
Speaker 1: how can I make the most of this for this
Speaker 1: several months they're in school for this several months they're
Speaker 1: out of school for the two weeks you know before Christmas,
Speaker 1: Like just recognize and see in our life and trying
Speaker 1: to live into the best that they have to offer.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of what this concept has inspired in me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so they go into characteristics of HUGA that align
Speaker 1: with financial independence. There's just four of them, so let's
Speaker 1: go through all of them. Yes, So the first one
Speaker 1: is attempting to spend less money, which is something that
Speaker 1: we are clearly all about. Not attempting to spend no money,
Speaker 1: attempting to spend less money. So the author says, Huga
Speaker 1: is about enjoying the simple things in life. So instead
Speaker 1: of paying for expensive forms of entertainment, who seeks to
Speaker 1: take advantage of the things we already have, no need
Speaker 1: to go over the top to have a fun evening,
Speaker 1: why not just invite a few friends over for a polux.
Speaker 1: So that's what this says, and that's super a super important.
Speaker 1: Like it's it's about enjoying the simple things in life
Speaker 1: most of the time. And sometimes it's awesome to spend
Speaker 1: like spend willy nilly, spend extravagantly to have good times,
Speaker 1: to have those expensive forms of entertainment. But the more
Speaker 1: you do that and the more you rely on it,
Speaker 1: the less fun they actually are. They because you take
Speaker 1: them for granted, they become just ways of life. But
Speaker 1: if we are looking to really embrace the simple things,
Speaker 1: embrace what we have, and enjoy this contentment and gratitude,
Speaker 1: then not only do we spend less, just as a result,
Speaker 1: in the times where we do spend money for a
Speaker 1: vacation or a party or a dinner, we enjoy it
Speaker 1: more or we feel more free to spend and less
Speaker 1: guilt in spending, and we actually have more to spend.
Speaker 1: So there's just so many benefits of doing a predominant
Speaker 1: focus on the simple things in life. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Huga and frugality are pointing towards contentment, and where there
Speaker 1: is contentment, there's not as much of a need to spend.
Speaker 1: A lot of times are spending can come from a
Speaker 1: place of discontentment or our revulsion to getting on a
Speaker 1: budget or trying to stick to a spending plan can
Speaker 1: be that it feels super restrictive and I don't want that,
Speaker 1: And we're focusing on maybe the negative things about what
Speaker 1: we think it's breeding, rather than looking at what could
Speaker 1: this season hold for me and what ways could I
Speaker 1: lean into the beauty of what this is creating for me?
Speaker 1: Some of the deeper reasons for embracing this, Like again,
Speaker 1: this was so much my experience in the north, and
Speaker 1: I did I just left it. I did just escape it.
Speaker 1: So take this with a grain as salt. But my
Speaker 1: mentality so often was just I cannot stand the cold.
Speaker 1: I got unreasonably angry just at being cold, and I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm like using myself as like a bad example,
Speaker 1: like bear in sting Bears, what not to do? Like
Speaker 1: what if I would have embraced saw the good parts
Speaker 1: of that season. What if I would have focused a
Speaker 1: little bit more on Like number two says, this is
Speaker 1: my segue, a focus on relationships. What if I would
Speaker 1: have been more intentional about spending time with people. Yes,
Speaker 1: you can't be outside, you can't necessarily do all of
Speaker 1: the fun things when it's below freezing, But what if
Speaker 1: we would have been able to have fires together or
Speaker 1: do chili nights once a week or something. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: tried that. I think this is the idea with with
Speaker 1: Hugat and frugality, of focusing on the things that matter.
Speaker 1: And some of that is identifying what are my values,
Speaker 1: what is important to me and pursuing that And usually
Speaker 1: for many of us, it is going to be relationships.
Speaker 1: And we all don't need to be extroverts for that
Speaker 1: to be true. For us, it can be our very
Speaker 1: closest friend or friends, our spouse, our children, our family,
Speaker 1: and could there be ways to spend time with people.
Speaker 1: And usually when we're doing that, we're not spending as
Speaker 1: much money either. It can help us on some of
Speaker 1: these financial goals. It can help reinstill some of those
Speaker 1: deeper wise, for maybe some of the sacrifices that we
Speaker 1: might be making financially for a greater long term goal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there is never a convenient time to connect with people,
Speaker 1: Like there's never a time where you're just gonna be like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is a great time to prioritize my relationships. And
Speaker 1: that's why so many people in their thirties and forties
Speaker 1: have really great friend groups because they recognize that time
Speaker 1: that time does not exist and it becomes harder to
Speaker 1: main maintain relationships the older. We get that is the norm.
Speaker 1: But I love how this emphasizes taking the season where
Speaker 1: not a ton is going on. Uh, there's you know,
Speaker 1: we just got off of the holiday business where everything
Speaker 1: was going on. Soon it will be spring and a
Speaker 1: ton of things will go on, but for the most
Speaker 1: part in the winter, there's not as much going on.
Speaker 1: And and that is definitely locational, Like in Florida. Uh,
Speaker 1: there is a lot. There's way more going on outside
Speaker 1: this time of year than there is in the summer.
Speaker 1: But still I think there's definitely still more going on
Speaker 1: in the summer than there there is right now. Shorter
Speaker 1: taking advantage, yeah, taking advantage of the nights that start
Speaker 1: earlier and the fewer events to really invest in relationships.
Speaker 1: This is the time and this is what you're going
Speaker 1: to wish you had spent your time on looking back,
Speaker 1: versus trying to spend money on something by yourself. I
Speaker 1: think that's when we get when we're alone, it's easy
Speaker 1: for us to you know, browse Amazon or go to
Speaker 1: t J Max and YadA YadA, but we don't, you know,
Speaker 1: pick up our phone as much when we are with people.
Speaker 1: So consider or that. The next on the list is
Speaker 1: being mindful. So WHOGA is all about slowing down and
Speaker 1: taking time to relax. Obviously that definitely breeds more time
Speaker 1: for relationships and more saving money. And I love how
Speaker 1: he says it's about savoring the moment and enjoying the
Speaker 1: simple pleasures in life. That's the reoccurring the theme I
Speaker 1: think with this, And they say financial independence is also
Speaker 1: a mindful way of life. It requires you too, he says,
Speaker 1: question you're spending, but honestly, I think it requires you
Speaker 1: to just be aware of your spending. And to be
Speaker 1: aware of this might be like too overdic dramatic, but
Speaker 1: like the trajectory of your life. So looking back and
Speaker 1: being like what have the last several winters held, How
Speaker 1: did I use them? And and what did they look like?
Speaker 1: And am I okay with that? Am I happy with that?
Speaker 1: Is that a pattern I want to continue? What would
Speaker 1: I like to change about it? And I think that's
Speaker 1: really what being the huga being mindful philosophy is is
Speaker 1: just being not having rigid rules for what you have
Speaker 1: to do. Is you have to get a blanket, I
Speaker 1: have to get a candle. I have to sit in
Speaker 1: front of a fireplace. I don't have a fireplace. I
Speaker 1: have to go get a fireplace. And I don't think
Speaker 1: it's that. I think it's it's being mindful of Did
Speaker 1: I like the way molass winter looked? Yes? All right?
Speaker 1: What did it include that I liked? How can I
Speaker 1: recreate it? How can I emphasize it? If I didn't
Speaker 1: like it? What didn't I like? What can I say
Speaker 1: no to this year? And what can I add to
Speaker 1: replace it with that I like? More? Which is very
Speaker 1: similar to what we can do with our finance is
Speaker 1: as we look back and review our spending, how did
Speaker 1: my spending go in the last three months? Do I
Speaker 1: like that? Does that feel aligned with my values? What
Speaker 1: do I want to keep? What do I want to change? Again,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of alignment here, and I think wherever
Speaker 1: we can have some level of control, autonomy, influence over
Speaker 1: the ways in which we engage in this season, let's
Speaker 1: do it. I think I've mentioned this on the podcast
Speaker 1: where we were like, oh, let's have an episode about Huga.
Speaker 1: It really became apparent to me that our lives are
Speaker 1: not set up around agriculture, and so we can't or
Speaker 1: we're we're not as accustomed to really slowing down in
Speaker 1: the winter as much as we would if we were
Speaker 1: really dependent on the land when the summers were go
Speaker 1: fast and furious, make the most of the daylight, but
Speaker 1: then truly rest in the winter. So much of our
Speaker 1: lives demand the same thing every day, six five days
Speaker 1: of the year, and we've completely left the concept of
Speaker 1: leaning into the different seasons and what they might be
Speaker 1: making room for. And I'm not saying, oh, let's all
Speaker 1: just like leave our nine to fives and go work
Speaker 1: the land. But what do we have control over, control
Speaker 1: and influence over. Are there ways in which we might
Speaker 1: be able to let off the gas pedal a bit
Speaker 1: on our schedules in the winter. Are there ways in
Speaker 1: which we can be engaging in some celebratory new life
Speaker 1: things in the spring. Are there ways in which we
Speaker 1: can embrace some of the business of the summer and
Speaker 1: go in that kind of rhythm rather than fast furious
Speaker 1: all the time, doesn't matter what season. It is that,
Speaker 1: I think is what can breed some of that discontentment,
Speaker 1: the exhaustion, the and it's why Huga is so appealing.
Speaker 1: And so with all of that said, the fourth thing
Speaker 1: on this list is that who really encourages just being casual?
Speaker 1: And I think to the way that this aligns with frugality,
Speaker 1: the pursuit of spending less money, spending time with friends, contentment.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's in some ways the antithesis or at
Speaker 1: least not super aligned with the need for high end items,
Speaker 1: super luxury brands, expensive just for the sake of being expensive.
Speaker 1: It can kind of create this more casual attitude and
Speaker 1: approach to life, this kind of comfort, coziness in relationships
Speaker 1: and lifestyle and outlook, and that kind of casual attitude
Speaker 1: can carry over into a benefit for our finances as well. Again,
Speaker 1: contentment and and all of those things we just start
Speaker 1: don't have a need to put on this front of
Speaker 1: key being up with the Joneses are having all of
Speaker 1: the nicest, most luxury things. Yeah, and it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you cannot have any nice luxury things. If there is
Speaker 1: something that you really enjoy having that is designer, that
Speaker 1: is more premium, that is aligned with what you value most,
Speaker 1: then that is awesome, that is cozy. But there is
Speaker 1: no requirement or pressure to have premium luxury everything. There's
Speaker 1: there's no pressure and and for me, that's a little
Speaker 1: bit of being casual is that the pressure to be
Speaker 1: something you are not is taken away and you have
Speaker 1: full permission to be you. However, whatever degree of luxury
Speaker 1: that is, maybe it's very luxurious, maybe you are maybe
Speaker 1: you are just like a boogie person and you love luxury,
Speaker 1: and that is you and we are here for that,
Speaker 1: and you be you, and you have the permission to
Speaker 1: be the casual that you define as casual. Thank you, John, Yes,
Speaker 1: because I know you're boushie chill, not in the way,
Speaker 1: but yes, in some very specific ways. Yes, I'm learning
Speaker 1: that and I'm going to embrace it. Thanks for them. Premium,
Speaker 1: you are premium. So the last one on this list
Speaker 1: is feeling safe, secure, and unstressed. So that's I feel
Speaker 1: a really perfect segue, and the author says, in order
Speaker 1: to achieve who Go, one must feel safe, secure, and
Speaker 1: unstressed by life's demands. And we're always saying that frugality
Speaker 1: is being a good steward of your resources, and that's
Speaker 1: obviously money, but also time and schedule and physical space
Speaker 1: and mental energy. And that's really what this is saying.
Speaker 1: Steward your mental energy well, steward your schedule well so
Speaker 1: that you feel unstressed by life's demands. Uh, steward your
Speaker 1: time and your physical space, your presence so that you
Speaker 1: feel safe and secure. And you are never going to
Speaker 1: get it perfect, Like there is no perfect season where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh yeah, I just felt safe, secure and
Speaker 1: unstressed all season. That is never the goal. The goal
Speaker 1: is to make decisions with this in mind. And if
Speaker 1: you can make your decisions based on do I does
Speaker 1: this make me feel more stressed? Does this give me anxiety?
Speaker 1: Then I'm gonna I'm gonna walk away. I'm gonna say no,
Speaker 1: and uh, I'm gonna choose huga, I'm gonna choose cozy well.
Speaker 1: And that's a tricky thing of this whole conversation, too,
Speaker 1: is that we are coming to a point of putting
Speaker 1: pressure on ourselves to be able to rest well too.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well, I'm starting to see more and more
Speaker 1: reels kind of identifying this, like the pressure to be
Speaker 1: a good mom, take care of the house, make some meals,
Speaker 1: have like do crush your job, and take care of
Speaker 1: your mental health and exercise and like all those things
Speaker 1: are really lovely things, but it's like it's almost this
Speaker 1: additional to do piece of and and are you resting
Speaker 1: and are you getting enough sleep? And it's like this
Speaker 1: added pressure and I think that's what we're saying. Yet
Speaker 1: you're not going to do it all well. And there
Speaker 1: is a reality. I love that this article points this out.
Speaker 1: They describe that effort does need to be made to
Speaker 1: attain this lifestyle or even feelings of hooga. Similarly with
Speaker 1: reaching financial goals or even financial independence, whatever that definition
Speaker 1: is to you, that none of these things are going
Speaker 1: to be possible without some preparation or effort. There is
Speaker 1: a reality to there being some degree of labor, effort, preparation,
Speaker 1: intentionality for rest, for this mentality of coziness and contentment
Speaker 1: for financial goals. And I think it's important that we
Speaker 1: recognize that because sometimes we think like I should just
Speaker 1: be this all the time. It should just be relaxed
Speaker 1: and unstressed all the time. And I appreciate that the
Speaker 1: article is pointing out, No, it's not done perfectly. It's
Speaker 1: not happening all of the time. Sometimes there's effort that
Speaker 1: comes before this experience. If you're having friends over and
Speaker 1: you're doing a pot luck, there still is going to
Speaker 1: be the reality of prepping the food and making space
Speaker 1: for them to sit, and thinking about community, hating with everyone,
Speaker 1: and and and accomplishing all of your other tasks that
Speaker 1: you have space to be able to fully focus on
Speaker 1: the people right in front of you. So there is
Speaker 1: there is no perfect magical thing where this all comes together,
Speaker 1: but I can appreciate this. There is a mentality though,
Speaker 1: that we can be aimed at and making efforts towards
Speaker 1: and then getting rid of the fluff all the other
Speaker 1: stuff that can unnecessarily stress us overwhelm us. And I
Speaker 1: think some of this mentality is going to help to
Speaker 1: be able to identify that what's the fluff? How can
Speaker 1: we get rid of it? Yeah, I hate those reels
Speaker 1: and TikTok's that tell me what self care is. And
Speaker 1: I'm like no, and they're like, self care is like
Speaker 1: not a bubble bath in wine, and I was like,
Speaker 1: don't you yuck my yum? Like I love wine. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's the right phrase. I it's whatever
Speaker 1: makes me feel good. Like whatever to an extent helps
Speaker 1: me dissociate from reality, but be also helps me process
Speaker 1: it so that I can re enter reality with more
Speaker 1: better perspective, more better Yeah, so we all have defind
Speaker 1: what our self care is, but it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be this stressful additional task. Absolutely. So let's talk about
Speaker 1: frugal ways to bring Houga into your home because sometimes
Speaker 1: when we talk about these cool concepts like minimalism or sustainability,
Speaker 1: were like, oh, they're so expensive to maintain or start,
Speaker 1: but it's not the reality. Like yes, on Instagram, the
Speaker 1: beautiful curated posts and articles and you know magazine layouts,
Speaker 1: those are obviously expensive to recreate. But in reality, these
Speaker 1: are concepts, These are not products. So there's always going
Speaker 1: to be a frugal way to incorporate them. And that's
Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about in this next article.
Speaker 1: You're so this one comes from the Lady prefers to
Speaker 1: save and the two is a number two, just to
Speaker 1: keep it spicy. It's nine for the ways to bring
Speaker 1: Juga into your home. We're not going to go through
Speaker 1: all nine, Jen and I are just picking our favorite three.
Speaker 1: But one thing I will say before we jump into
Speaker 1: our favor three is I appreciate that all of these
Speaker 1: tips are not Most of them really aren't like super tangible.
Speaker 1: It's not do this and save money and experience huga.
Speaker 1: It is again more attached to the deeper meaning of
Speaker 1: Uga and some of the things that we've identified with
Speaker 1: frugality and some of the mindset and ways that we
Speaker 1: can be approaching life and perspective. So they don't seem
Speaker 1: like maybe tips off the bat because they're not like
Speaker 1: life hacks, but they are still where we usually begin
Speaker 1: is what are what's my thought patterns? How am I
Speaker 1: engaging with life at this moment, and what could be
Speaker 1: shifted and changed in this environment. So that's my disclaimer
Speaker 1: about these pieces. What did you think of the article? Jen? Yes, no,
Speaker 1: I felt the same way, and I um I very
Speaker 1: much liked that it got to the core. I love
Speaker 1: this quote from the author of the Little Book of Hookah,
Speaker 1: the Danish Way to Live Well, and it is live
Speaker 1: life today like there is no coffee tomorrow. And I
Speaker 1: don't fully understand the quote or why it's so important
Speaker 1: to make it like an actual graphic out of but
Speaker 1: I do maybe it's just like drink all the coffee today,
Speaker 1: like there will be no coffee tomorrow, and that is
Speaker 1: the way I want to live. That is truly the
Speaker 1: life that I want to lead. So on that, on
Speaker 1: that note, um, I loved I just I just want
Speaker 1: to start out with the very first one on here,
Speaker 1: make your house a home. I absolutely have always agreed
Speaker 1: with this, even before I knew how to say huga,
Speaker 1: because the more your house feels like a home, even
Speaker 1: if you're an extrovert, you're gonna want to spend more
Speaker 1: time there, and you're you're going to want to have
Speaker 1: people over. It's going to be easier to clean, so
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to have people over on shorter notice.
Speaker 1: There are so many benefits to making your house a home,
Speaker 1: and the author of this article says starting the path
Speaker 1: of hooga most often begins with a simplified interior design.
Speaker 1: And this is Danish and we all know Swedish minimalism design,
Speaker 1: so they're very interconnected. But I think the hookah of
Speaker 1: philosophy kind of isn't minimalist, but it is more on
Speaker 1: the simplified version. So still having all the things that
Speaker 1: make our lives full, make our lives efficient, but keeping
Speaker 1: the interior design simple and the number of things to
Speaker 1: clean or tidy or manage, so keeping fewer knick knacks
Speaker 1: and not changing out your extensive home decore scheme every season,
Speaker 1: having boxes and boxes of decor I just think of
Speaker 1: did you know did Knee has like multiple warehouses where
Speaker 1: they store their Christmas decorations? Christmas? Right, And so obviously
Speaker 1: we're not going to be on the same level as Disney,
Speaker 1: but like, you store your decorations more time than you
Speaker 1: display them if you're one of those seasonal changers. So
Speaker 1: it's just something to think about. Two, when you make
Speaker 1: your house a home and not a storage facility, you
Speaker 1: really do get to enjoy it more and you pay
Speaker 1: for it every month, so why not? Yeah? And and
Speaker 1: for some people they love that that's what makes a
Speaker 1: house a home is having the various seasonal the core,
Speaker 1: but also keep track of how much stress it might
Speaker 1: bring to you. Do you might think you're that person
Speaker 1: only to find out, oh, actually, I I used to
Speaker 1: decorate crazy for Christmas. Like people would literally tell me,
Speaker 1: I don't know where to put my eyes. It looks
Speaker 1: like like Christmas blew up in here. And I took
Speaker 1: it was like an actual quote from someone in my
Speaker 1: tiny apartment, and I was like, oh, yeah, you have
Speaker 1: entered into this version. Yeah, I know. So I thought
Speaker 1: that that was me. And now I'm at a place
Speaker 1: where my rule is that all my Christmas to core
Speaker 1: needs to fit in one plastic tub, and it does say, yeah,
Speaker 1: that is also my rule. Okay, So my next favorite
Speaker 1: thing on here is learned to linger. Part of that
Speaker 1: is because of alliteration, but also, I think because it's
Speaker 1: a hard lesson for especially US US citizens to learn.
Speaker 1: Were so accustomed to rushing, eating, asked on the go.
Speaker 1: We get our identity from being busy, just constantly busy,
Speaker 1: and so learning to linger it not only values what's
Speaker 1: right in front of us, whether that's a person or
Speaker 1: a task at hand, it also gives ourselves some space
Speaker 1: to think and be in the moment. We all know
Speaker 1: that that cultivates mindfulness and intentionality, which will absolutely carry
Speaker 1: over into our finances and breed benefit. But when we
Speaker 1: can learn to linger. We can also enjoy what's happening
Speaker 1: more and find contentment in that moment. And yeah, just
Speaker 1: not be so focused on what's next, what's next, what's next.
Speaker 1: And I'm saying this to myself too, because like, any
Speaker 1: meal that I eat is down in five minutes, and
Speaker 1: I blame the public school system for that. I blame
Speaker 1: that you take like half a cup of food. There's
Speaker 1: like a half cup of food on your plate. Jill, Like,
Speaker 1: that's no. I mean, okay, maybe sometimes like I don't
Speaker 1: need a ton of food, but come with me to
Speaker 1: that burger place l cap. Eric is like kind of
Speaker 1: grossed out to go with me because I don't put
Speaker 1: the burger down. The burger is gone, I kid you
Speaker 1: not in two minutes. Burger, there's a couple of reads.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's super messy, so I don't want to
Speaker 1: have to put down. Offended, Eric doesn't do the same thing. No,
Speaker 1: he's his mother's child and he takes like hours to
Speaker 1: eat his food. But again, I blame the public school
Speaker 1: because we got like twenty three minutes for lunch, and
Speaker 1: that included like going to your locker, dropping off your books,
Speaker 1: getting to the cafeteria, and back to your next class.
Speaker 1: So I've just been trained in eat your food in
Speaker 1: five minutes. Yeah, I also need to hear need this
Speaker 1: reminder of learning to linger. I am the person and
Speaker 1: I was writing about this this morning, actually, like because
Speaker 1: I value like achievement and and finishing things and completing things.
Speaker 1: I complete something and then I'm already onto the next
Speaker 1: thing that I can achieve or accomplish without celebrating what
Speaker 1: I have just done, no matter like what the magnitude
Speaker 1: of it, whether it's big or small, I'm just always
Speaker 1: onto the next thing. And it's not in my nature
Speaker 1: to linger or to celebrate, and that is I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's just reserved for people who
Speaker 1: have that core value, but it is this natural tendency
Speaker 1: for me, lingering is foreign and that is something I
Speaker 1: really need to pay more attention to in the seasons.
Speaker 1: So my next favorite is two Buy with Purpose. I
Speaker 1: love this. The author says the Danes are nothing if
Speaker 1: not thrifty, and they are one of the happiest, if
Speaker 1: not the happiest countries in the world. They always rank
Speaker 1: up there, according to a European study that was referenced
Speaker 1: in one of these articles. Like, I don't know how
Speaker 1: long ago the study happened, but yeah, we were listed
Speaker 1: as the what that metric is there? You haven't? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're happy. They're super happy, and it's not all because
Speaker 1: of their thrifty nous. But they are still happy despite
Speaker 1: not like buying all of the things, Like they do
Speaker 1: not live this lifestyle or in this mindset where the
Speaker 1: next thing is going to make my life easier or better.
Speaker 1: They really strive to see better and improved outside of
Speaker 1: their purchase is so when they make a purchase, it
Speaker 1: has a certain purpose and not that purpose is not
Speaker 1: to bring happiness. So they say favoring the idea that
Speaker 1: it's better to save up for that favorite furnishing in
Speaker 1: lieu of buying something they don't really like just because
Speaker 1: it's cheap. I feel like that's a personal attack on
Speaker 1: the old. And bring items into your home only if
Speaker 1: they are both beautiful and bring purpose and utility to
Speaker 1: you and your family's week. And I feel like we
Speaker 1: don't usually combine the two. We either bring I mean,
Speaker 1: for me, it's either a it's either beautiful or it's purposeful,
Speaker 1: because if it were both, it would definitely be more expensive.
Speaker 1: But they're saying save up for these things instead of
Speaker 1: buying all the things that are maybe fifty of what
Speaker 1: you really want, when you could have of what you want,
Speaker 1: and that will help in the minimalism too. I think
Speaker 1: sometimes when we can't get what we want, it can
Speaker 1: lead to that spending like I can't buy that, but
Speaker 1: I still want to buy something, and then it's not
Speaker 1: actually what we want, and then in the long one
Speaker 1: we might end up spending more because we then had
Speaker 1: to replace that thing over and over because it never
Speaker 1: was what we truly had our sights on, rather than
Speaker 1: being patient and saving for it. It's just a different mentality,
Speaker 1: a different approach to it, and definitely a hard one
Speaker 1: to get to when you're living on a very limited income,
Speaker 1: because we very much we underestimate what we're able to
Speaker 1: save for and sometimes feel guilty if we say for
Speaker 1: something that I feel guilty and actually buying it because
Speaker 1: you feel, oh my gosh, I've just saved this amount
Speaker 1: of money. I should be putting it towards something like good,
Speaker 1: not just this like robot vacuum. And so it is
Speaker 1: a tough mindset to get out of if you've lived
Speaker 1: in this paycheck to paycheck cycle. But I would just say,
Speaker 1: give yourself permission to save a save for good quality
Speaker 1: things and then to buy them when you do, and
Speaker 1: because you will in the long run spend less. Then
Speaker 1: if you're in the twenty dollars here, twenty dollars their
Speaker 1: mentality because like, oh yeah, I can afford twenty. I
Speaker 1: can't afford two hundred or four hundred, but I can
Speaker 1: afford twenty. And then you're and you end up with
Speaker 1: all of this crap that in two years you don't use,
Speaker 1: want or need. But if you'd spend you know, maybe
Speaker 1: the two hundred on the robot vacuum, maybe you love
Speaker 1: it still in two years. I don't know. It sounds
Speaker 1: like personal experience. Yeah, all of this is all right.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna pick one more on this list. I'll
Speaker 1: probably mention the third in in you know, the lightning round.
Speaker 1: But share. Oh and I'm just going to read this
Speaker 1: whole paragraph that they talk about wisdom sharing. In a
Speaker 1: HUGA home, experiences are shared. Guests bring food, hosts allow
Speaker 1: help in the kitchen. The family entertains one another. Every thought, idea,
Speaker 1: and expression is equally validated. No one needs to internalize
Speaker 1: sentiments or tear others down to make their points known.
Speaker 1: Coziness is knowing your opinions, customs, beliefs, and traditions can
Speaker 1: be safely shared. There. It is folks and friends and
Speaker 1: my frugal friends. How beautiful of a sentiment is this
Speaker 1: for both HUGA and a frugal lifestyle and approach? And
Speaker 1: I will say that this is something I didn't know
Speaker 1: that it was aligned with HUGA, but something I've embraced
Speaker 1: more and more in having my own home and I
Speaker 1: am becoming used to hosting. I didn't do that before
Speaker 1: because I didn't have a large space, and so I,
Speaker 1: certainly in the beginning, was one who thought I had
Speaker 1: to do everything. My guests need to just sit there,
Speaker 1: and I need to act like I'm Mary Poppins just
Speaker 1: pulling things out of nowhere, and it needs to look effortless,
Speaker 1: and they need to like not see me when I'm working,
Speaker 1: but it all needs to get done, and that doesn't
Speaker 1: work spoiler alert. And I have now shifted over into
Speaker 1: this allowing people to do things when they asked me
Speaker 1: what can I do? Yeah, you can strip your sheets,
Speaker 1: Yeah you can help me peel the potatoes. Sure, you
Speaker 1: can water my plants like and it does actually breed
Speaker 1: this greater sense of connectedness and bonding where I think
Speaker 1: my guests truly then do feel more at home when
Speaker 1: I invite them into some of the asks of of
Speaker 1: being in my home, of me hosting, And it takes
Speaker 1: a greater weight and pressure off when it feels shared,
Speaker 1: and there's not this kind of truly when we approach
Speaker 1: hosting in that way, it's an imbalance of power and
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily going to make people feel at home.
Speaker 1: And and of course I'm talking about guests that I
Speaker 1: have that stay overnight, but this is also when guests
Speaker 1: just come for dinner or they come for dessert. The
Speaker 1: ability to have these shared experiences and then to take
Speaker 1: that even further where it's talking about an ability for
Speaker 1: all opinions and belief systems and traditions to be valued equally.
Speaker 1: And to me, that also says age groups. You know,
Speaker 1: when we're hanging out with children, I think this juga
Speaker 1: idea comes into play of listening to what do the
Speaker 1: children in the household have to say and what do
Speaker 1: they want to share, and placing value and dignity on
Speaker 1: their human entity and their experiences. And I think This
Speaker 1: is so true, especially within the personal finance space and
Speaker 1: within our kind of frugal community. Something we try and
Speaker 1: practice is not tearing others down or judging others for
Speaker 1: the ways in which they may choose to spend their money,
Speaker 1: for the different values that we might each have, Like
Speaker 1: you've said, gent, Yeah, some of us might be a
Speaker 1: little bit more bougie and some of us might be
Speaker 1: a little bit more casual, and there's space for all
Speaker 1: of that. So I think that ability to kind of
Speaker 1: share here's my approach to frugality, and yes there's space
Speaker 1: for you. Oh I love it. There's so much alignment
Speaker 1: here between these different concepts. Absolutely. And then the last
Speaker 1: one I'm going to do just real quick is uh
Speaker 1: is light candles. And this is because we all have
Speaker 1: candles that are just sitting around not getting lit. And
Speaker 1: the other day Travis said, well, don't you want to
Speaker 1: like preserve that candle? You don't want to use it
Speaker 1: all up? And I was like, that's what I bought
Speaker 1: it for. It's a pumpkin candle and it's just not
Speaker 1: pumpkin season all year round. I'm gonna use this candle
Speaker 1: up in this season. So if you have candles, use them.
Speaker 1: But if you have everybody also has spa things that
Speaker 1: they got his gifts or just ended up with somehow,
Speaker 1: use them. Just use this stuff that you've been saving
Speaker 1: for a special occasion. It's it's the special occasion today
Speaker 1: is specialist shoka is it's the special simple occasion. Well
Speaker 1: that's great, Jen, because that was going to be my
Speaker 1: third one too. That is like the one very tangible
Speaker 1: time I wanted. Actual list is lighting a candle and
Speaker 1: it really does bring about this sense of coziness and
Speaker 1: it could save you a little on electricity. Maybe think
Speaker 1: about it, um or if you don't have a candle,
Speaker 1: you know, utilizing some of those white led Christmas lights
Speaker 1: throughout the year. We love using just low lighting in
Speaker 1: our house. It just is cozy. It's still lighting. We
Speaker 1: can still see our way around. But when the day
Speaker 1: is done, we don't have task lighting on in our home.
Speaker 1: We light candles, we plug in the Christmas lights, we
Speaker 1: do the under cabinet lighting. Just the low lighting brings
Speaker 1: about coziness. And you know what else brings coziness all
Speaker 1: year round. There is shared space here, no judgment. All
Speaker 1: are welcome. Yes, it's a warm blanket of love, the
Speaker 1: double of the week. That's right, it's time for the
Speaker 1: best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
Speaker 1: born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off
Speaker 1: your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to
Speaker 1: not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bills Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: Bill Clint, this is the Bills of the week. Hi,
Speaker 1: Jenn and Jail, my frugal friends. I'm calling you from
Speaker 1: West Michigan, where it's quite silly right now. I just
Speaker 1: listened to your winter episode and just wanted to say
Speaker 1: how much I really enjoyed that cozy truly speaks to
Speaker 1: the soul. My bill of the week is my grocery bill.
Speaker 1: It's my bill of the week because I really love
Speaker 1: spending money on food. I love food, I love eating food,
Speaker 1: and recently I've been making a lot more meals and
Speaker 1: trying to deal prep even doing some freezer meal prepping.
Speaker 1: So I'm just really excited. And when I heard you
Speaker 1: guys needed some more bills, I knew I had to call.
Speaker 1: Thank you, love you Ball for all that you do.
Speaker 1: Or You guys are awesome. You're very motivational and I
Speaker 1: love listening to you. Please keep with the food episodes.
Speaker 1: Bye yay, thank you from West Michigan. This is amazing
Speaker 1: and how timely we did not plan this. So that
Speaker 1: winter before that winter episode you're talking about is also
Speaker 1: where we mentioned, oh, we need to do a hookah
Speaker 1: episode because of what we chatted about there. And here
Speaker 1: we are. Here we are and I love food too,
Speaker 1: So we are going to keep those food episodes coming
Speaker 1: because we're not going to stop eating. Yes, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Lindsay. I am so appreciative of you saying that,
Speaker 1: because yes, food, we'll never get enough food episodes, will
Speaker 1: never stop doing them. I think our next one on
Speaker 1: the docket is is a replay and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: maybe talk about systematizing like meal prep, so there will
Speaker 1: never be enough food. And there's a reason why bears
Speaker 1: eat and hibernate in the winter, you know, there's it's
Speaker 1: it's just natural, That's what I'm saying. I'm about to
Speaker 1: do that. What's in our control? How do we lean
Speaker 1: into the seasons and what they might be demanding of us?
Speaker 1: Are giving room for it's ace for and it is
Speaker 1: eating more, and it's eating hearty meals, and it is
Speaker 1: definitely for bread and butter this season in particular for me,
Speaker 1: I am definitely embracing bear status and I am eating,
Speaker 1: I am napping, I am not shaving. I'm just kidding,
Speaker 1: but I am embracing it. And if you all out
Speaker 1: there also love food and you're just so stoked about
Speaker 1: your grocery bill, you're that helps you prepare freezer meals,
Speaker 1: or you're experiencing bear status, Bill bear status or anything
Speaker 1: else you know the Drill Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill. Leave us your bill, We are here for it.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for I love how you just
Speaker 1: went in there, but we still do have a commercial. Okay,
Speaker 1: hang around, here we go, and now it's time for
Speaker 1: lightning round. That's my bad. I just get so excited.
Speaker 1: I know, I know. So today in our vulnerability segment,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how do you currently make
Speaker 1: life more cozy? And Jill, you are for sure cozier
Speaker 1: than I am, so this feels like a mission for me.
Speaker 1: Cozy is also similar to the idea of making things
Speaker 1: feel special, so I kind of used that interchangeably with
Speaker 1: this concept of how can I create and breed fun,
Speaker 1: enjoy and life giving cozy things and that is that's
Speaker 1: a daily effort, every single day, and it is simple things.
Speaker 1: I think I have really leaned into the reality that
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be that I wait for one
Speaker 1: week long vacation a year to truly enjoy life. There
Speaker 1: are things every single day, very simple things that can
Speaker 1: make life just feel so special. And and and some of
Speaker 1: that is ritualistic things. So coffee each morning is a
Speaker 1: ritual for me. It's not just this grab and go,
Speaker 1: gulp it down, run out the door, mostly because there
Speaker 1: is no running out the door. I work from home,
Speaker 1: so we're just saying this morning, Jill never leaves her home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to drop Kai off at daycare by morning,
Speaker 1: so I leave my home daily. But but coffee, coffee
Speaker 1: is special. And Eric and I we might have mentioned
Speaker 1: this before. We don't have a micro wave, so we
Speaker 1: make our coffee in a thermos because we realize that's
Speaker 1: the only reason we ever had a microwave was just
Speaker 1: to reheat our coffee. So instead of that, we just
Speaker 1: make it in something that will keep it warm. Well.
Speaker 1: When we first pop the thermos, it like makes this
Speaker 1: like champagne popper sound. And so I've leaned into that
Speaker 1: and so every morning when Eric and I pour our coffee,
Speaker 1: we like, we like cheers to something, like we pop it,
Speaker 1: or like to we make a speech. What's the what's
Speaker 1: that term a toast? A toast, a toast, that's what
Speaker 1: it is. We like to whatever, and it might be
Speaker 1: like to a beautiful day, to the sunshine, to whatever
Speaker 1: might be happening that day, Like to whatever, and then
Speaker 1: and then pop it and pour the coffee and cheers.
Speaker 1: And we do cheers, Eric and I with any kind
Speaker 1: of drink, well cheers our coffee will obviously cheers our wine.
Speaker 1: We cheers. We just cheers. If we're eating together, we cheers.
Speaker 1: And that's fun and that's special and that's cozy. I
Speaker 1: love lingering, speaking of lingering outside with my neighbors, if
Speaker 1: I'm able to see people during the day, because you know,
Speaker 1: I work from home, so I'm just trying to get
Speaker 1: some human interaction, stopping to notice tiny flowers, really slowing
Speaker 1: down as I'm watering my plants. Like that's a fun
Speaker 1: ritual for me, not like an obligation, but something that
Speaker 1: I like look forward to doing. So even some of
Speaker 1: these tasks, I will look for ways to make it fun.
Speaker 1: If I'm feeling rushed or hairried and I'm cooking. Doesn't
Speaker 1: sound fun to me. I'll put music on and immediately
Speaker 1: that'll kind of just like change the space up, make
Speaker 1: it more cozy, make it relaxing, make it something enjoyable.
Speaker 1: If I'm washing the dishes and I want to, yeah,
Speaker 1: a similar thing, put music on. Maybe even use dim lighting, like,
Speaker 1: don't put on the task lighting. I'm only just use
Speaker 1: the under cabinet lighting. So it just feels cozier as
Speaker 1: I'm washing the dishes. Again, very simple things. That's beautiful.
Speaker 1: Things great, and none of those things involved spending money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not at all. That's sickeningly adorable that you guys, cheers
Speaker 1: to everything. You can come over and cheers with us. Jen,
Speaker 1: you just have to be here early enough for the
Speaker 1: thermis popping. That's early. I got stuff to do in
Speaker 1: the mornings. What about you? How do you make it cozy?
Speaker 1: So I love the morning cup of coffee in the mug,
Speaker 1: like and that is definitely mugs are cozy. That is,
Speaker 1: it just takes a drink from being normal to cozy.
Speaker 1: And candles for sure, not so much blankets because it's
Speaker 1: already usually warm here. But candles. I do. I will
Speaker 1: run a candle to the very end. I love completing things.
Speaker 1: I love finishing candles. That's another thing. It's an achievement,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a task I can achieve, is finishing
Speaker 1: the candle. So I love that. I love lamp lighting,
Speaker 1: warm lighting. Stay away from the daylight light bulbs, just
Speaker 1: stay away from them. Under three thousand and yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of where coziness ends for me. I
Speaker 1: love putting on the chill hop station on YouTube, which
Speaker 1: is just kind of like jazzy low fi. Or I
Speaker 1: play the Luminears radio on Amazon Radio on my Alexa.
Speaker 1: And those are those are my cozyes. Those are the
Speaker 1: I wear slippers at home because I'm an old lady
Speaker 1: in my feet heart. Okay, where's my grandmother made for you? Okay,
Speaker 1: So I do have those, and I do love those,
Speaker 1: but my feet have gotten older since she gave us those,
Speaker 1: since you gave us those, and so now I have
Speaker 1: to wear special slippers with support. Yeah, I do love
Speaker 1: those slippers. Though Travis still wears his, so great. Thank him,
Speaker 1: and thank you all for listening. Many of you know
Speaker 1: we have a membership for our listeners. Many of whom
Speaker 1: are paying off debt. Where we do monthly money challenges
Speaker 1: and offer accountability groups because we all know these big
Speaker 1: goals are not possible without some of that community accountability
Speaker 1: being no cozy couragement motivation. Yes, and we want to
Speaker 1: congratulate one of our groups a big win. Wendy said,
Speaker 1: paid it off again. Hey, I just wanted to share
Speaker 1: that they paid off my target card again. I let
Speaker 1: a balance sit on it for two months, but I
Speaker 1: cut up the card, paying it off and close the account.
Speaker 1: Who yes, Wetty, Oh girl, congratulations Wendy. I feel like
Speaker 1: you just like pop in all the time with I
Speaker 1: did this great thing, and I'm like, yes, Wendy. So
Speaker 1: like some people are super here and then some people
Speaker 1: are taking it in and being like I'm crushing it,
Speaker 1: and we are here for both. Yeah, So congrats and
Speaker 1: then again thanks everyone for listening. If you want to
Speaker 1: check out our membership where we have all kinds of courses, interviews, challenges,
Speaker 1: and so much more. There's a lot to be discovered,
Speaker 1: feel free to check it out. Frugal Friends Podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash club club you know how to spell that word,
Speaker 1: and we'll see you there. Yeah, see you next Time.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni jen As. We
Speaker 1: were talking about minimalism in this episode and like knickknacks
Speaker 1: and not wanting a bunch of knickknacks. It reminded me
Speaker 1: last night I had some version of a nightmare where
Speaker 1: I had to give a gift to someone, and I
Speaker 1: guess I was so flustered and didn't know what to
Speaker 1: give that I ended up giving like this knickknack is
Speaker 1: really what? It was kind of like a mini little statue,
Speaker 1: figurine thing, and I was so stressed about giving it
Speaker 1: because I'm like, this doesn't feel like a gift that
Speaker 1: I would give. They're just going to have to dust it.
Speaker 1: I specifically remember, just gonna be a thing that collects.
Speaker 1: Does I do not want to give this to them?
Speaker 1: It was awful. Wow, that does sound like a nightmare.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. That shows you, like how embedded this
Speaker 1: like minimalist lifestyle has become and my desire to give.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're like, you're very extra with the giving
Speaker 1: and you want to give really good gifts, and you
Speaker 1: do give really good gifts. Not in my dream, Not
Speaker 1: in my dream last night. You should have seen me
Speaker 1: in the trash I was given to other people trash.
Speaker 1: I bet it was a really cute knickknack that they
Speaker 1: would have gladly dusted. It's interesting. It was actually similar
Speaker 1: to we have one figuring. I do have one figurine.
Speaker 1: It sits on my dresser and it is sentimental. It was.
Speaker 1: It's a figurine of like a silhouette of a man
Speaker 1: and woman that Eric and I got on her honeymoon.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think we thought like look at us, no,
Speaker 1: and we got this figurine. Um, it wasn't like it
Speaker 1: was something like that that I was giving to someone.
Speaker 1: But still it felt like this isn't for them, that's
Speaker 1: just going to collect us. This is not minimalist, this
Speaker 1: is not a good gift. Oh, it was so stressful.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad I woke up from that dream. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm glad you woke up too, and that you still
Speaker 1: have your silhouette of man and woman. I have to dust. Yeah, okay,