Speaker 1: Episode one eleven, Repairing and maintenance tips to prolong the
Speaker 1: life of your stuff. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity rights, and
Speaker 1: liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are going over
Speaker 1: a listener request for a lot of repair tips for
Speaker 1: things around the house, et cetera. Yes, gotta gotta take
Speaker 1: care of stuff. It's part of it's part of growing up.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta you gotta take care of your things,
Speaker 1: make them last long. Yeah, you save a dent of
Speaker 1: the money you don't spend. So if you can repair
Speaker 1: something at home with things you already have, you saving
Speaker 1: a lot of money. A lot of money. Girl, so smart. Yes,
Speaker 1: but first let's get that money and talk about our sponsors.
Speaker 1: So our next sponsor is June Carter Cash. Five time
Speaker 1: Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, comedian, author. June
Speaker 1: Carter Cash is the is the woman we all want
Speaker 1: to be. And June is June Carter Cash month here
Speaker 1: on the Frugal Friends podcast, because hey, her name is
Speaker 1: June duh, and be her last name is Cash. Duh.
Speaker 1: So take time this month to listen to a few
Speaker 1: of our favorite j c C songs, including it Ain't
Speaker 1: Me Babe Jackson and a good Man, and emulate your
Speaker 1: own inner June this month as you kick butt and
Speaker 1: take names with your cash months here. Haven't I think
Speaker 1: you've been in isolation for too long? I mean, I
Speaker 1: love it. It makes sense you also wrote duh in
Speaker 1: your show notes, like when you said dah that was
Speaker 1: actually written plan to say that I read scripts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: follow the script. But I always I love June Carter Cash.
Speaker 1: I've always loved her. She's a fantastic woman. And we
Speaker 1: should all be our own version of June Carter Cash
Speaker 1: because Johnny Cash gets too much of the publicity. Like,
Speaker 1: but the real power behind that empire is June. And
Speaker 1: so you be your June this month and get that cash,
Speaker 1: get that cash. Well done. Well, let's let's not waste
Speaker 1: any more time. They're so sorry, but I'm not sorry. Uh,
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about repairing things today. Um. We have
Speaker 1: had a few other episodes covering maintenance, but it's been
Speaker 1: a long time since we've done something like this. So
Speaker 1: um an episode twenty three we talked about home maintenance
Speaker 1: and building an essential toolbox that has like all the
Speaker 1: things that you're going to need for home maintenance, for
Speaker 1: general home maintenance. So that's episode twenty three, and then
Speaker 1: episode ten we talked about car maintenance, so a few
Speaker 1: car things that you could do on your own. But
Speaker 1: here to this episode a hundred eleven, we haven't done
Speaker 1: anything since. So that's we're gonna go a little deeper
Speaker 1: in it to it today. Yeah, So first article comes
Speaker 1: from Martha Stewart. Jen was so excited to actually use
Speaker 1: a Martha Stewart article. Martha Stewart is another woman I admire.
Speaker 1: I I'm so into the powerhouse women, like with Empires.
Speaker 1: You're building your own over there. I see you. I
Speaker 1: just love them. They see you with your books on
Speaker 1: your bookshelf. You. So she gives in this article twelve
Speaker 1: things that you could repair instead of replace. Something that
Speaker 1: I will say is Martha, good old Martha is coming
Speaker 1: from the perspective that all of your things are very
Speaker 1: nice to begin with. She find expensive, high quality, real
Speaker 1: products that you should repair instead of replaced. So keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. We're not going to go through all
Speaker 1: twelve of them. We're going to go through our favorites
Speaker 1: and give you our take on it. Like always, we've
Speaker 1: been here for a hundred and eleven episodes. You know
Speaker 1: what to expect. But also it's worth noting that if
Speaker 1: it's not real, we might go about this in different ways.
Speaker 1: It's not high quality. And this is really great if
Speaker 1: you find something of good quality that somebody is trashing
Speaker 1: or getting rid of, or maybe at a thrift store. Uh,
Speaker 1: this could be away when if you familiar eye yourself
Speaker 1: with these different points and these different products, you could
Speaker 1: get that for a low cost, bring it back to
Speaker 1: life and have something of really great quality that stays
Speaker 1: with you for a really long time. Oh, such a
Speaker 1: good point, jen Man. You are you are an empire.
Speaker 1: It's the only reason I have nice stuff. The only
Speaker 1: reason I have nice stuff is because I got it
Speaker 1: for free. We're super cheap. That that is true. A
Speaker 1: lot of times people with money who afford these things
Speaker 1: brand new, they get a little stain on them and
Speaker 1: just donate it. And then that's when we swoop in,
Speaker 1: us frugal friends swoop in. We're like, that stains not
Speaker 1: a problem. Yeah, you can find it on eBay. A
Speaker 1: lot of times I'll find things on eBay or Facebook
Speaker 1: marketplace that just need a little love. Yeah. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I love how this article starts off just by talking
Speaker 1: about a fix it first mentality, which I do think
Speaker 1: is the foundation for what we're describing that And you've
Speaker 1: heard us say this before. Can you fix it? Can
Speaker 1: you shop within your home? Do you have what you
Speaker 1: need before going out and buying? And then once you
Speaker 1: do go by can you buy used instead of new?
Speaker 1: And so kind of these these first barriers before we
Speaker 1: actually replace something. So if we begin to adopt a
Speaker 1: fix it first mentality, fix it first mentality, any time
Speaker 1: we see something that we might want to throw away
Speaker 1: or we might want to give away, to think, well
Speaker 1: is this of use to me? What I still want
Speaker 1: to use it? If it worked? Okay, how do I
Speaker 1: fix it? Fix it first? Yes, definitely, I really loved
Speaker 1: um some of the things that I learned from this article.
Speaker 1: The first one was about handbags, so I know, um,
Speaker 1: I've been in some groups where they talk about buying
Speaker 1: less and buying better quality and uh and handbags, leather handbags,
Speaker 1: um or like briefcases, book bag stuff like that. That
Speaker 1: is probably one of the biggest things, like a leather
Speaker 1: laptop bag. You could use that for years and years
Speaker 1: and years and then and pass that down to like
Speaker 1: someone in your family or someone you love. Um, leather
Speaker 1: just stay. It just gets better with time if you
Speaker 1: take care of it, as long as you're conditioning it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it can dry and crack, but you can take care
Speaker 1: of it, it can last forever. Yeah. And so but
Speaker 1: if you have a good quality bag with worn or
Speaker 1: freight straps, um, you can you can replace hardware on
Speaker 1: your on your bags. You can get stains out of
Speaker 1: leather with you can buff them out with white vinegar.
Speaker 1: Vinegar does so. Um. If the leather is untreated, you
Speaker 1: can use a natural shoe polish. UM. And then you
Speaker 1: can Martha Says or whoever wrote this, Um, you can
Speaker 1: boost your functionality by adding a grummet and a carabineer
Speaker 1: for keys. Yeah. So, like it's a versatile, A really
Speaker 1: good bag is versatile. So I'm always on the lookout
Speaker 1: for like good bags on like eBay and stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've even with backpacks or some totes or different things
Speaker 1: if they've got emblems on them or designs on them
Speaker 1: that I don't like. Sometimes all like embroider or put
Speaker 1: fabric in shapes that I do like over top of it.
Speaker 1: I remember I did that with a backpack once it
Speaker 1: had butterflies, and I don't know, I'm probably the only
Speaker 1: one in the world on popular opinion, I don't really
Speaker 1: care for butterflies. I don't think you're the only one
Speaker 1: in the world. I well, also, because this is a
Speaker 1: side tangent, but my brother put a dead butterfly in
Speaker 1: my bed when I was little, and it just like
Speaker 1: flaked apart. Like I'm like, you know how moths just
Speaker 1: they flake up? And then and then I saw the
Speaker 1: butterfly for what it was, which is just a really
Speaker 1: big insect. And from that point on, I'm like, they're
Speaker 1: they're pretty, I get that, but ultimately they are an
Speaker 1: insect and I will enjoy from afar. That's why you
Speaker 1: didn't want to go through the butterfly garden at Epcot,
Speaker 1: you know, like the butterfly I was like, no, oh,
Speaker 1: where they're going to crawl all over me? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: It all comes together. So they've had a butterfly patch
Speaker 1: on it, and I put a bird patch on it,
Speaker 1: bird on it, but just put a bird on it.
Speaker 1: So moving on, speaking of mending, uh sweaters your favorite sweater.
Speaker 1: So certainly with knits you can learn how to darn
Speaker 1: holes or fixed snagged threads or frayed parts or button holes.
Speaker 1: I mean this article just list sweaters. I would argue
Speaker 1: that you can do that with any type of clothing.
Speaker 1: I remember, Jen, when we were staying with you, guys,
Speaker 1: Travis picked up a sweater from the thrift store when
Speaker 1: he was on a work trip and he bought it
Speaker 1: was a really nice sweater, but it probably got donated
Speaker 1: because it had some holes in it and the pocket
Speaker 1: on the front was kind of pulling away from the
Speaker 1: rest of the sweater. And you guys happen to have
Speaker 1: thread that matched, and we sewed it up and good
Speaker 1: as new. So definitely don't let that be a reason
Speaker 1: to throw away clothes that you like that you wear.
Speaker 1: Often with a little sewing tutorial, you can be good
Speaker 1: as new. Yeah, I think we're still all waiting for
Speaker 1: that sewing tutorial, Jill. I actually I do have some
Speaker 1: mending to do. I will I'll try and record a
Speaker 1: video for you, Jen, okay um. And then the last
Speaker 1: one I liked on this one is uh scuffed furniture.
Speaker 1: So I learned a new technique from here that when
Speaker 1: you have water rings on a piece of furniture, you
Speaker 1: can put salt over the ring and then use some
Speaker 1: heat to draw out the water um like a like
Speaker 1: a blow dryer, and then that can remove the water ring.
Speaker 1: And I know, so most of these I think you're
Speaker 1: seeing a pattern is that we're not repairing our own stuff.
Speaker 1: We're repairing other things that we got for cheap. Um.
Speaker 1: So we got we have this, Uh, we have a table,
Speaker 1: and we also have a coffee table with water rings.
Speaker 1: And the one are dining table for some reason, it
Speaker 1: has a ring that's like singed into it. Um. But
Speaker 1: this coffee table has some water damage. And so I'm
Speaker 1: about to go put some salt on it and see
Speaker 1: what happens, and just maybe put it out in the
Speaker 1: sun because Florida's heat take up. Before and after picture Okay,
Speaker 1: definitely yeah, because Travis are already um, he sanded down
Speaker 1: the coffee table and you can still see some of
Speaker 1: the water damage. So I'm going to see what happens
Speaker 1: and see how if it has to be like newer
Speaker 1: water damage or if it can be older because I
Speaker 1: don't know the age of the water damage. So I
Speaker 1: will I will practice it, and I will report back
Speaker 1: by the time this episode of ours. Yeah. So, but
Speaker 1: this is even easier if you already own something with
Speaker 1: water damage. You can really quickly put the salt on
Speaker 1: it and put some heat on it. Nice. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I really like that, um because you can find some
Speaker 1: great furniture that's been mistreated. Yeah, get a good deal
Speaker 1: on it. Lastly, on this list that I liked is
Speaker 1: rugs and carpet, So there's a lot that you can
Speaker 1: clean and repair. When it comes to rugs and carpet,
Speaker 1: I will say she's a crazy suggestion, and I guess
Speaker 1: it depends on how expensive your rug is and how
Speaker 1: far you're going. But the thing she says that you
Speaker 1: can patch a rug with a similar piece of other
Speaker 1: rugs and die the fabric to match the original pattern.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if I would go that far, honestly,
Speaker 1: because my rugs, in my mind, there's a square of
Speaker 1: like carpet in my rug that I that I would
Speaker 1: try and paint to match the design on my rug,
Speaker 1: And so would be the square that's like a little
Speaker 1: bit higher than the rest of the pill and it's
Speaker 1: it's been clearly painted with like I don't know, water
Speaker 1: paints or oil based paints, and that's it's not even good.
Speaker 1: It's like just free handed. Um, that's probably a repair
Speaker 1: gone wrong. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But a couple
Speaker 1: of my suggestions, you know, because this frugal friend does
Speaker 1: not spend thousands on rugs. Again, I'm from Ross, let's
Speaker 1: be real. But some some tricks that I've done. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I've moved a stained part of the rug under the
Speaker 1: couch because rotate that sucker. Sucker, rotate that sucker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it applies to many things. Also renting a carpet cleaner
Speaker 1: or borrowing if you've got a friend who has a
Speaker 1: carpet cleaner and you can do some uh, utilize some
Speaker 1: water with your cleaning, not just vacuuming. Man that can
Speaker 1: do wonders. All kinds of carpet cleaners out there, certainly, um.
Speaker 1: But and depending on what kind of rugg it is,
Speaker 1: Like if it's one of those knitted ones, do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about, Like the spiral you could
Speaker 1: sew back together like a woven yes, thank you. Um.
Speaker 1: Also and this this might be try all in error
Speaker 1: but certain rugs you could, especially if it's an area rug,
Speaker 1: take it outside and power wash it, particularly on high
Speaker 1: wind um sunny days. The thing about washing rugs fully
Speaker 1: is that oftentimes they can have a really hard time
Speaker 1: drying out. So I wouldn't recommend doing this with like
Speaker 1: a super thick rug, um, but you're thinner area rugs,
Speaker 1: you could certainly just take it outside in the driveway,
Speaker 1: power wash it and and if you can kind of
Speaker 1: get it up, you know, on a chair on a
Speaker 1: clothes line on a on a sunny, windy day. That
Speaker 1: has also done wonders for me. Yeah, and that's a
Speaker 1: cool way. When we are allowed to start having parties again,
Speaker 1: you can have a pressure washing party and everyone could
Speaker 1: go in on a pressure washer um and and bring
Speaker 1: your rugs and uh washman drive together. Only where there's
Speaker 1: so much you can power washing your outdoor furniture, your rugs,
Speaker 1: your who knows, that's so fun? A power wah shing
Speaker 1: is addictive. I know it's fun. So if you're looking
Speaker 1: for excuses to have people over once we're allowed to
Speaker 1: do that again, um, we should. We should make a
Speaker 1: list of like frugal parties, pressure washing party, power washing
Speaker 1: parties number one on that list, lamp rewiring party. A
Speaker 1: lot of people, a lot of people would probably be
Speaker 1: into that right now, even if it's just video tutorials.
Speaker 1: We're all at home trying to figure out like what
Speaker 1: needs fixing next, learning these new skills could be great. Yes,
Speaker 1: I agree, speaking of learning new skills. Next, next up,
Speaker 1: we have a list of twenty three things you didn't
Speaker 1: know you could fix yourself from this Old House dot
Speaker 1: com um. And I will be honest, this is a
Speaker 1: very dry article. There's no room for our interpretation in
Speaker 1: But after looking at a lot of articles with things
Speaker 1: that you can d I Y, this one I felt
Speaker 1: was the most comprehensive. It's the things that you can fix,
Speaker 1: how to do it, what the if you need a
Speaker 1: piece for it, how much the piece costs, and what
Speaker 1: it's called, and even on some what it looks like.
Speaker 1: So you can determine if the price is right for you,
Speaker 1: if the skill level is right for you. And so
Speaker 1: we'll have the link to the this Old House dot
Speaker 1: com um article and definitely click on it book market
Speaker 1: and just look at it whenever you have at your leisure.
Speaker 1: It's certainly wanted to hold on too, It's interesting. I
Speaker 1: was going through my grandmother's sewing stuff yesterday, speaking of uh,
Speaker 1: editing your minimalist life and all of that on previous episode,
Speaker 1: but there she had kept so many newspaper clippings of
Speaker 1: how twos, and it hit me that's the equivalent of
Speaker 1: us earmarking websites that we want to refer back to
Speaker 1: when we need them. So, yeah, this is our generation's
Speaker 1: version of, oh, when I need this, when I need
Speaker 1: to do that repair, here's a spot that I want
Speaker 1: to go to and reference. So yeah, that's essentially what
Speaker 1: we're saying, keep this news newspaper clipping someplace. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: got fixes for like an uneven shower stream, leaky faucet,
Speaker 1: puddling toilet, toilet bowl, scratches, stuff in the kitchen like
Speaker 1: your vent hood, cracked glass, cooked top, drippy, dishwasher, all
Speaker 1: the things, very crunched, crimp, drippy, that like all these
Speaker 1: words that are like, oh, yeah, this feels like how
Speaker 1: I would describe it. So this is with the article
Speaker 1: for me. Um, there's definitely lots of plumbing stuff on here,
Speaker 1: which I know can be really daunting for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks, but I think it's helpful to see this
Speaker 1: on here, and just to learn how stuff works. I
Speaker 1: think that's part of this. Trying to fix things yourself.
Speaker 1: D I y ng some simple fixes helps us to
Speaker 1: learn how things are put together, how they work, which
Speaker 1: then can grow our confidence level to be able to
Speaker 1: handle some of these fixes as we keep going, like
Speaker 1: we we wouldn't normally know where the waterline to the
Speaker 1: fridges and how that connects to the ice maker unless
Speaker 1: we take some time to do that. Um. So I
Speaker 1: think it's all worthwhile. I will say a lot of
Speaker 1: this stuff in some ways comes down to cleaning, where
Speaker 1: we think, oh, this thing is broken, it needs to
Speaker 1: be replaced really, especially when it comes to plumbing stuff.
Speaker 1: Calcium build up um can really cause low or slow
Speaker 1: um flow out of faucets and shower heads and that
Speaker 1: kind of a thing. And so even just going around
Speaker 1: and unscrewing that and plopping that in vinegar can can help.
Speaker 1: So they've got some of that listed on here. But
Speaker 1: thinking about can I fix this? Is this maybe just
Speaker 1: something that needs to be cleaned really well before I
Speaker 1: go to the next step of trying to actually hire somebody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and about half of the repairs on here are like
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars or less, and the other ones range from
Speaker 1: seventy five. And the price per repair really does correlate
Speaker 1: with how complicated it is. So, um, if you're looking
Speaker 1: on here and you see like a fifteen dollar part,
Speaker 1: then have confidence in yourself and try to do it yourself,
Speaker 1: because that's probably not as complicated as a like removing
Speaker 1: the gas coils from a grill and replacing that, even
Speaker 1: though that doesn't actually sound super hard. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: look at the price and then try it out for
Speaker 1: yourself because it's not that much money lost too if
Speaker 1: you mess up, because that's another thing you have to
Speaker 1: be okay with maybe not succeeding and and quote unquote
Speaker 1: wasting um, you know, fifteen dollars or something, because if
Speaker 1: you do succeed, then you've not only saved yourself money
Speaker 1: by repairing what you have, but you've also built confidence
Speaker 1: in doing the next thing. Um. But if you quote
Speaker 1: unquote fail, then you haven't lost money. You've just gained
Speaker 1: a little more knowledge and what you can do what
Speaker 1: you can't do. Um. So stuff like that, So don't
Speaker 1: more about how that works. It's definitely yeah, Um, one
Speaker 1: of the things on here um, let me let me
Speaker 1: find it. UM vacuums. So this stalled vacuum brush number.
Speaker 1: So we actually found a vacuum by a dumpster when
Speaker 1: Travis and I were dating sounds like right, five y
Speaker 1: um five years ago, and this is before I knew
Speaker 1: what to expect with him. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: whatever you you know you do. You take the vacuum
Speaker 1: and he all you had to do was clean it out.
Speaker 1: And here it says that if you have a stalled
Speaker 1: vacuum brush that it's just like three bucks to repair. Um.
Speaker 1: But he didn't even need to repair anything. He just
Speaker 1: cleaned it out. And we had this hundred dollar vacuum
Speaker 1: that we got for free that has worked ever since.
Speaker 1: We literally just got a new vacuum UM and it
Speaker 1: was kind of out of necessity because we've been using
Speaker 1: this one for five years that we found by a dumpster.
Speaker 1: But I really wanted a cordless stick to be easier
Speaker 1: to maneuver around highhair and stuff. Um. Yeah, we have
Speaker 1: been using that for five years and it was free. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. And I do think we know this at
Speaker 1: the root of everything, that if I were willing to
Speaker 1: do some problem solving and dig into this a bit more.
Speaker 1: It might be I might be able to fix this,
Speaker 1: But I do think some of it just comes down
Speaker 1: to our willingness and our desire to problem solve and
Speaker 1: whether or not we just want to be lazy and
Speaker 1: buy new. Frugality is not going to let you be lazy. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: turn that vacuum cleaner upside down, grab a screwdriver, and
Speaker 1: see if you can figure this thing out yourself. I mean, right,
Speaker 1: And it's not just with vacuum cleaners, but using that
Speaker 1: as an example, I think just being willing with take
Speaker 1: a small tool and start figuring it out, and then
Speaker 1: when it gets beyond you YouTube it. And then when
Speaker 1: it gets beyond that, all right, maybe call for some help.
Speaker 1: But let's try and fix it first, you guys, Yeah,
Speaker 1: give yourself an hour at an hour away from the
Speaker 1: internet is not going to kill you in trying to
Speaker 1: repair something. Because we also realize your money is worth
Speaker 1: or your sorry, your time is worth money. So it
Speaker 1: shouldn't take away from time you should be working or
Speaker 1: doing something else, um, like having valuable time with your family.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't take away from that. But if you are
Speaker 1: thinking about scrolling on some Instagram. Maybe you take those
Speaker 1: apps off your phone for a day or two and
Speaker 1: and try out repairing something that you need to repair.
Speaker 1: So you just have to balance um. Your life isn't
Speaker 1: going to be all about fixing stuff. It's sometimes it's
Speaker 1: worth getting something new. But I think too quickly we
Speaker 1: resort to that first, and it's just get creative, get
Speaker 1: get resourceful. Yeah, or we we want to spend the money.
Speaker 1: You're gonna beat this thing up so I can't get
Speaker 1: a new one. And I'll say with my new uh,
Speaker 1: Dyson cordless vac. I did a survey on Instagram of
Speaker 1: what cordless vacs people were using, and unanimously everyone said Dyson.
Speaker 1: And obviously Dyson is not cheap. But I told Travis,
Speaker 1: I was like, if you don't get me a Dyson,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna hit you with the stick that
Speaker 1: you whatever it is, so a stick or like or
Speaker 1: like the old vacuum whatever, chordless Yeah, chordless stick vacuum
Speaker 1: you do get me with I'm gonna hit you with that.
Speaker 1: So uh, and so he got me one, but he
Speaker 1: got me one in traditional Travis fashion, where he went
Speaker 1: on eBay, we love eBay and he got one that
Speaker 1: was open box, so it was half the price that
Speaker 1: it would have been new, but the vacuum was brand new,
Speaker 1: and he had a cupe on for like ten fift
Speaker 1: percent off, so he got additional money. Even he does coupons,
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, right, it also does cash back on racketin.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so he got this UM. I think it's
Speaker 1: normally three hundred dollars UM and he got it for
Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty I know, I know. So I
Speaker 1: think I just had to like praise him for a
Speaker 1: second because he got me exactly what he wanted, what
Speaker 1: I wanted UM, and he didn't get hit over the head,
Speaker 1: which is I'm sorry, Travis, we'll be, we'll be. And
Speaker 1: for the record, to him, he'll attest to that I
Speaker 1: didn't say that. But yeah, so you do need to
Speaker 1: buy something. You can still get creative in how you
Speaker 1: buy it. There's no excuse. Well, the article also has
Speaker 1: a what's not a d I Y Fix list, so
Speaker 1: you're welcome to check it out. But there are definitely
Speaker 1: things that are too dangerous for the average person to
Speaker 1: try to attempt. I remember we talked about this um
Speaker 1: on one of the previous episodes that you had mentioned,
Speaker 1: like replacing a garage door is one of those. And yeah,
Speaker 1: on this one, microwave ovens that don't heat up. It's
Speaker 1: it's pretty dangerous to replace the magnatron tube. Okay, just
Speaker 1: the fact that it's called Magnatron, you should probably know.
Speaker 1: We're not going to be able to do that. Um,
Speaker 1: Pressure washers with a leaky flow, cracks on a furnace,
Speaker 1: heat exchanger, squeaky bearings on a front load washer, refrigerators
Speaker 1: that don't cool. Yeah, those compressors and all those things
Speaker 1: don't do it. If it's got the word compress or magnatron,
Speaker 1: triplex pump carbon monoxide, we probably want to stay away. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so those are the So those are the things you
Speaker 1: shouldn't attempt to do yourself. Um, But everything else just
Speaker 1: look up a YouTube video unless you're a professional. I'm
Speaker 1: sure we've got professionals listening to us, and they're they're
Speaker 1: probably dying right now. Like I'm sure they're not dying
Speaker 1: agreeing with us. But if you have any um things
Speaker 1: that you have repaired yourself and have made you feel
Speaker 1: really accomplished, please go to our Frugal Friends community on Facebook.
Speaker 1: And post those. Uh, you can post a picture of
Speaker 1: your thing or maybe a video tutorial that you used
Speaker 1: to fix something. UM, that would be really helpful for
Speaker 1: encouraging people to get in on the d I Y
Speaker 1: repair train. Knowing that there's other people that have done
Speaker 1: it and succeeded, so that would be really helpful, does
Speaker 1: help to motivate us. It's time for the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. That's right, it's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week. Hi guys, my
Speaker 1: name is Sidney. UM. My fiance is currently deployed, and
Speaker 1: I just moved us into our first apartment. Um. This
Speaker 1: is my first time hanging all the apartment bills and
Speaker 1: by myself, and I was able to do it while
Speaker 1: drinking the glass of wine in my couch. So it's
Speaker 1: it's been a pretty great goal of the week. I
Speaker 1: hope everybody is okay, and I look forward to your
Speaker 1: podcast so much every week when it comes out. It's
Speaker 1: really helped me kind of start meeting my goals so
Speaker 1: we can buy a house in a few years when
Speaker 1: he gets out of the military. Thanks again, and I
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear you guys next week. By Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, that's awesome with a glass of wine. You
Speaker 1: are my girl from the couch. Yeah, so it's done.
Speaker 1: That is living the life. It sounds like it was
Speaker 1: a little daunting to do that on your own, and
Speaker 1: especially to be alone right now. But you are out. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm just like you are. June Carter cash in it.
Speaker 1: So it's all I could think of. She's yes, Jen
Speaker 1: can't get away from that one. Yes, good job, June
Speaker 1: Carter cash in it. Yes, being your own woman, paying
Speaker 1: your bills from your couch. That's what's uh. You don't
Speaker 1: need a good one. You love a good man, but
Speaker 1: you don't need one. I hope you guys can buy
Speaker 1: that house in a couple of years. Way to get
Speaker 1: at your goals. If you have a bill that you
Speaker 1: want to submit to us, whether you're sitting on your
Speaker 1: couch drinking a glass of wine or out and about,
Speaker 1: if you're allowed, visit us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash Bill leave us a bill. We love to hear it,
Speaker 1: all of your different bills. It's so fun. Yes, we
Speaker 1: love cheering you on, so please let us cheer you
Speaker 1: one more. Yes, and that brings us to round. So
Speaker 1: we went over some things that you can fix to prolong.
Speaker 1: But we will now proceed to share with you the
Speaker 1: top two things that we each take care of so
Speaker 1: that they will last longer, and how we take care
Speaker 1: of them. Nice. Yeah, I'll start. So we have outdoor furniture,
Speaker 1: and we bought the kind that the fabric around the
Speaker 1: cushions can come off so we can wash it. So
Speaker 1: we bring in the cushions each night. I know some
Speaker 1: people have storage bins on their deck or bringing them inside.
Speaker 1: It is a pain, but it makes them last so
Speaker 1: much longer. And then you don't walk out and sit
Speaker 1: on wet, zoggy cushions, and then you can't even enjoy
Speaker 1: it anyway, because the cushions are wet and zoggy. So
Speaker 1: we bring in the cushions each night, and and then
Speaker 1: I wash the covers yearly so it has stayed in
Speaker 1: really nice condition. Yes, what about you? Um, so this
Speaker 1: one you wouldn't like. I don't know if this is allowed.
Speaker 1: But I'm thinking of our grass, our podcast Oh good
Speaker 1: good um, so of ours grass. We so, Travis and
Speaker 1: I installed this grass with our own four hands, and
Speaker 1: we really do make an effort to maintain it and
Speaker 1: take care of it so that we can enjoy it
Speaker 1: for longer. And we made an effort to buy the
Speaker 1: type of grass that was right for the season we
Speaker 1: were planting it um and then learn how to maintain it.
Speaker 1: And then there have been a few times where what
Speaker 1: we've done to help it have has actually tried to
Speaker 1: kill it. Travis got a few fertilizers that kind of
Speaker 1: did not do well with the grass um, but really
Speaker 1: quickly tried to rectify it. And so that is one
Speaker 1: of the that's probably the biggest thing right now that
Speaker 1: we are trying to maintain because we want to have
Speaker 1: a like a good grassy area for Kai to play
Speaker 1: in because he's about to learn to walk, and so
Speaker 1: that is kind of it's a big deal. It's not
Speaker 1: cheap either, so I can vouch for your guys care
Speaker 1: of your grass. My goodness. Literally, anytime it was sunny
Speaker 1: and Travis wasn't working when we were parked there, he
Speaker 1: was out doing something to the grass. He wasn't shirking
Speaker 1: on other responsibilities. He's still a great dad and husband.
Speaker 1: He just also is a really good groundskeeper, like watering,
Speaker 1: looking at it, cutting it, watering it again for dad
Speaker 1: looking at it, talking about it, watering it. Yes. Um.
Speaker 1: Also with my clothing. So can you tell that clothing
Speaker 1: is like you wouldn't know it by the way that
Speaker 1: I duress, but you do. I've seen you line dry everything. Um.
Speaker 1: Part of that is because our combo all in one
Speaker 1: washer dryer sometimes doesn't fully dry, which I'm okay with.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. That's another thing we
Speaker 1: got to figure out. That's besides the point. We line
Speaker 1: dry most of our clothes, and that does make them
Speaker 1: last longer. It helps me not have to iron because
Speaker 1: let's be real, I hardly own an iron and I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna waste my time doing that. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: also I so I do repairs on my clothing, um
Speaker 1: before throwing it out. I mean, certainly there's clothing that
Speaker 1: is just at the absolute last leg and I'm tired
Speaker 1: of it, so I will pass it on either in
Speaker 1: rag form or to the thrift store or something. Um.
Speaker 1: But usually I try to make my clothes last as
Speaker 1: long as possible that way. M hm, anything else for you, Jim,
Speaker 1: cleaning my kitchen appliances. We didn't do that when I
Speaker 1: was growing up, and so I didn't realize the effect
Speaker 1: it had on how the appliances functioned. I thought that
Speaker 1: we were just broke so that we had like things
Speaker 1: that didn't work right, but that could have been easily
Speaker 1: remedied to an extent, um by cleaning the refrigerator, cleaning
Speaker 1: the dishwasher, stuff like that, Um, cleaning the microwave. Even so,
Speaker 1: that is another thing that I do to prolong the
Speaker 1: life of my things. Um. Yeah, I just bought a
Speaker 1: I got this little dishwasher cleaner thing, and I don't
Speaker 1: know it did clean, but I don't know if it
Speaker 1: made any difference other than me just hand cleaning the dishwasher.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to dry it out to see. It's
Speaker 1: so true. I think cleaning is a way, it doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like it on the outset as a way to
Speaker 1: make something last longer. But you start to realize if
Speaker 1: things get more and more gunked up, the less likely
Speaker 1: they are for you to even want to use them,
Speaker 1: or for them to really even be able to serve
Speaker 1: their main function, So just dusting and cleaning and polishing
Speaker 1: can really help. I realized one one bonus one for
Speaker 1: me is that anytime I do a painting project or
Speaker 1: I refurbish something like usually referring to furniture, I will
Speaker 1: do a clearcoat over top of it, clear coat of paint,
Speaker 1: and that helps the finish last longer and it makes
Speaker 1: it more resistant to chipping. So I've seen that really
Speaker 1: do well over the years. And I also realized that
Speaker 1: with furniture that is maybe a little bit tired or
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not liking as much, if I'm able
Speaker 1: to think of a way to update it using paint
Speaker 1: or hardware or taken some pieces off of it, whatever
Speaker 1: it is, it that has really helped to make me
Speaker 1: um renewed, a renewed happiness in it and the contentment
Speaker 1: in it, and just to kind of like refresh it
Speaker 1: a bit. So that's also another thing, not necessarily repairing,
Speaker 1: but definitely um caring for it or breathing life back
Speaker 1: into it, which helps it to last longer, even for
Speaker 1: like my contentment level of that thing. Awesome. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: I hope that you guys found this episode on repairing helpful.
Speaker 1: Definitely head to our show notes or our website and
Speaker 1: bookmark that twenty three things you can fix yourself because
Speaker 1: that will come in handy eventually. And thank you so
Speaker 1: much for for listening and being being part of our group.
Speaker 1: Yeah uh. And also another way to thank you is
Speaker 1: by sharing a review. We were so grateful for all
Speaker 1: of your kind reviews that you all have left us
Speaker 1: over the years. We can say that now on iTunes
Speaker 1: and stitchers. So we want to read this one. It
Speaker 1: comes from Age C m D. It's titled fun, Frugal, Fabulous.
Speaker 1: They know we like alliteration, happens to be five stars
Speaker 1: and says super fun, super frugal, super fabulous exclamation mark.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for that review. We love being fun,
Speaker 1: frugal and fabulous. M So you can also continue to
Speaker 1: keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher. Send a
Speaker 1: screenshot of that review to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com and tag us on social media. Our latest
Speaker 1: episode in both ways will enter you to win attend
Speaker 1: all rooms on gift card. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Syrian