Speaker 1: Episode four fourteen, Staycations Revisited.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver life.
Speaker 3: Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill.
Speaker 4: And you all loved our.
Speaker 1: Recent episode that we did with Jen on a jet
Speaker 1: plane about vacation destination dupes, and so we wanted to
Speaker 1: revisit Staycations.
Speaker 3: That was such a good one. We walked away from
Speaker 3: the episode with a few bucket list items to wellow out.
Speaker 1: And we actually had a listener who messaged me after
Speaker 1: that episode and said they went to Washington right after
Speaker 1: the episode aired and were able to it. Gave than
Speaker 1: the idea to walk through. I forget what the flower was,
Speaker 1: but like these fields of flowers and she sent me
Speaker 1: pictures and it was gorgeous.
Speaker 3: Amazing, and that's right whips in Washington State.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it must.
Speaker 1: Have been I'm bad at flowers, but it was gorgeous
Speaker 1: and it was thanks to that episode. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: do a little bit more just talking about traveling in
Speaker 1: our own backyard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited about this one because it is if
Speaker 3: you've been listening to other episodes what I, Jill and
Speaker 3: my husband Eric are implementing lately, just how can we
Speaker 3: really lean into and enjoy our area if we're not
Speaker 3: going to be traveling as much and it has been
Speaker 3: really fun, it has not been deprivation. So we're excited
Speaker 3: to help you lean into maybe a staycation that is
Speaker 3: just an added little bonus and isn't deprivation. Whether that's
Speaker 3: because you're trying to save money and you can't really travel,
Speaker 3: or you've got other kind of life events, or you
Speaker 3: just want an opportunity to explore your area more, take
Speaker 3: more breaks. There's a there's a million reasons to do this,
Speaker 3: but first, this episode is brought to you by the Drifters,
Speaker 3: pleading with you don't go, please stay. And there are
Speaker 3: other hits like save the Last Dance under the Boardwalk
Speaker 3: and sign up for the free front letter. That last
Speaker 3: hit is my personal fave, well not as old as
Speaker 3: the others. It's chalk full of all the goodies like freebies,
Speaker 3: money saving tips, and mindset hacks. To get this top
Speaker 3: hit in you're inbox, go to frulfriendspodcast dot com.
Speaker 1: Thanks Drifters, I didn't realize the Drifters was a band.
Speaker 3: Oh were you googling that?
Speaker 1: Just though no I was, but I that last hit
Speaker 1: is Dansey.
Speaker 3: It's a hack.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a lot of stuff, man.
Speaker 3: They really they really went all out on that last one. Yeah,
Speaker 3: sign up for the free front letter was they had
Speaker 3: everybody on all their instruments, just jamin out.
Speaker 1: Just doing their job. Yeah, for sure. So travel, We
Speaker 1: love travel, We love spending our money on experiences. But
Speaker 1: something that we say is that just because you value
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you have to spend all of
Speaker 1: your money on it. Frugality incites creativity so that we
Speaker 1: can get the things that we value at a lower
Speaker 1: cost or.
Speaker 4: At no cost.
Speaker 1: And it is totally okay to spend money on the
Speaker 1: things you value, but it doesn't mean you have to.
Speaker 1: And so that's something with staycations. They're going to cost money,
Speaker 1: but they're going to cost a lot less than the
Speaker 1: European vacations that a lot of people are taking on
Speaker 1: social media this summer. So if you love talking about travel,
Speaker 1: then again Episode three eighty six, our best vacation destination Dupes.
Speaker 1: The conversation about cheese caves in that episode changed me,
Speaker 1: and that was with Jen on a jet plane obviously,
Speaker 1: and episode two eighty four how to Hack Your Next
Speaker 1: Vacation with Chris Hutchins. He is a travel hacking expert,
Speaker 1: but we spend maybe a quarter of the episode talking
Speaker 1: about points. We talk a lot about how to get
Speaker 1: everything else low cost, everything you can't get on points,
Speaker 1: how to keep the vacation affordable because sometimes we can
Speaker 1: get the free flight, or we can get the free hotel,
Speaker 1: and then overspend on everything else because we got a
Speaker 1: deal on one thing. I was just listening to a
Speaker 1: podcast where that was their vice, Like she would see
Speaker 1: an eighty dollars flight, she would book it because it's
Speaker 1: such a good deal and then spend without regard on
Speaker 1: everything else, so it didn't end up being a money
Speaker 1: saving trip.
Speaker 4: So that's two eighty four is really good for that.
Speaker 3: We also pulled you all in that friend letter again
Speaker 3: that that top hit from the Drifters. Why did you
Speaker 3: sign up for free friend Letterfregal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 3: And we asked you all what's your favorite summer activity
Speaker 3: and the options were swimming, hiking, sunbathing, volleyball, boating, other
Speaker 3: tell us and you all love swimming.
Speaker 1: Swimming one out by a land by a landslide.
Speaker 3: You all are swimming this summer, which is great. That's
Speaker 3: a that's very much a staycation activity. It's also a
Speaker 3: vacation activity, but it is something you could do locally.
Speaker 1: Yes, But we also you guys are doing other really
Speaker 1: cool things like spending time with your horses and attending
Speaker 1: horse events and.
Speaker 4: These are all things.
Speaker 1: So we're saying these things that like our listeners are doing,
Speaker 1: but like to spark your creativity, uh, going to waterfalls, camping, gardening,
Speaker 1: riding on a motorcycle.
Speaker 4: I oh.
Speaker 1: I was talking to my college friend's parents and they
Speaker 1: rented motorcycles the whole time their kids were growing up,
Speaker 1: and then and then bought them, but they loved renting motorcycles.
Speaker 3: A rented motorcycle, well you don't.
Speaker 1: You can you can ride the latest model without paying
Speaker 1: full price. Yeah, So they were renting them and they
Speaker 1: and it was so fun and you got to do
Speaker 1: You got to rent a different bike every time, far
Speaker 1: less expensive than owning one. But a lot of you
Speaker 1: love camping concerts. It's oh yeah, Like if you are
Speaker 1: a music person, festivals aren't cheap, but you can see
Speaker 1: so many artists at the same time.
Speaker 4: So it's kind of like getting a deal.
Speaker 1: It's like it's like bundling oming. I've never been to
Speaker 1: a music festival, but I assume it's like bundling.
Speaker 4: That's that's a lot. I went to WARP for a
Speaker 4: couple of times.
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, I guess I can't say I've I've been
Speaker 3: to an adult summer camp, but I have not been
Speaker 3: do a music best So.
Speaker 1: That's a story for a later time.
Speaker 3: What is that I never have I ever?
Speaker 1: So the article that we are going to be in
Speaker 1: today is a two parter, so it's one article and
Speaker 1: it is how to plan a Joyful staycation on Kanmari
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 3: Even the aesthetic and the way that this is written
Speaker 3: felt like it was helping me enter into that mode
Speaker 3: of kind of just making everything a little bit special,
Speaker 3: and so I did feel inspired reading this. But we
Speaker 3: want to go through first of all, just kind of
Speaker 3: how to plan a staycation, and then we'll go into
Speaker 3: some ideas that they list out the different types of
Speaker 3: staycations you could possibly do that can start some brainstorming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I never thought about the kon Maarrii method with vacationing,
Speaker 1: but it does make so much sense because so like
Speaker 1: we see so many pictures and videos from around the
Speaker 1: world people vacationing, and it's really hard, especially when you
Speaker 1: don't know what happens in a place or what goes
Speaker 1: on in a place you've never been to to figure
Speaker 1: out if that's like a place that's good for you
Speaker 1: to vacation or a good place for you to explore.
Speaker 1: And so really considering these staycations first can help you
Speaker 1: establish maybe like what you value in travel, so that
Speaker 1: you can more intentionally choose these bigger travel destinations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so the first one in how to plan a joy
Speaker 1: sparking staycation is to imagine your ideal trip. So there
Speaker 1: are countless staycation ideas out there, so it can help
Speaker 1: to spend some time envisioning your ideal staycation, much like
Speaker 1: you would a regular vacation. So what sort of experience
Speaker 1: sounds ideal to you? Do you need some rest and
Speaker 1: relaxation or intellectual and creative stimulition, Like I think that's
Speaker 1: that's something that maybe we don't think of with vacationing.
Speaker 1: Like if you have a job that requires creativity and
Speaker 1: that doesn't have to mean art or things in the
Speaker 1: art if your job requires you to think differently or innovate,
Speaker 1: so often we can get in creative slumps, and so
Speaker 1: maybe you just need a vacation that sparks creativity. This
Speaker 1: is something I see entrepreneurs do all the time, is
Speaker 1: just do a weekend in a hotel to and just
Speaker 1: explore a place nearby to spark creativity and like quiet themselves.
Speaker 3: Just getting out of your immediate space. I notice this
Speaker 3: for myself, even just throughout a work day, I can
Speaker 3: forget to walk outside, and only when I remember get outside,
Speaker 3: look at a tree, breathe in fresh air, I feel
Speaker 3: so much better, rejuvenated, ready to get back into it.
Speaker 3: Just those little breaks. And that's kind of what I
Speaker 3: think we're looking at a staycation as. And I will
Speaker 3: say the article does describe a staycation as something within
Speaker 3: your area. Staycation can look a lot of different ways.
Speaker 3: But you're cutting out the travel, you're cutting out along
Speaker 3: the road trip, you're cutting out air fair But that
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that you couldn't either stay in your own
Speaker 3: home and exployer city, or for some people it does
Speaker 3: mean going within you know, a twenty to forty mile
Speaker 3: radius of their homes and staying at a hotel or
Speaker 3: something like that that could still be considered a staycation.
Speaker 1: My definition was what you can leave your house in
Speaker 1: the morning and be in the destination in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: still enough time to include that day as part of.
Speaker 3: The staycation, right yeah, yeah, it's just a few hours
Speaker 3: of a trip. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, so what do you want your ideal
Speaker 1: trip to be. Maybe it includes outdoors, maybe includes sports
Speaker 1: or no sports, spaying as far away from sports as possible.
Speaker 1: So maybe there's like a disc golf tournament that you
Speaker 1: want to participate in, or you just want to accompany
Speaker 1: your spouse to one and not go, but like stay
Speaker 1: at the hotel. That's that is a dream. So yeah,
Speaker 1: brainstorm things that you would like to do and also
Speaker 1: work on this with your partner if you want to
Speaker 1: stay cationed together, so that you can come up with
Speaker 1: something that's you're doing each other's like you're doing your
Speaker 1: own ideal thing, but together, Like your ideal thing doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be their ideal thing, but something that you
Speaker 1: can both do your ideal things in the same location.
Speaker 3: Ish or because it can be so much less expensive
Speaker 3: than a vacation, you both get to plan a staycation
Speaker 3: at different parts of the year.
Speaker 4: That's so true.
Speaker 3: One gets to do their ideal thing, the other gets
Speaker 3: to do theirs, which ties into number two. Consider your budget,
Speaker 3: consider your spending plan. Consider what sort of money you
Speaker 3: want to put towards this. As with anything, this could
Speaker 3: be a staycation could be very expensive, or it could
Speaker 3: be inexpensive. It could be super complicated, or it could
Speaker 3: be really simple. So again, in identifying your ideal type
Speaker 3: of staycation, also consider how much money do I want
Speaker 3: to spend on this? Am I really trying to do
Speaker 3: something where I do get to relax and have some adventure,
Speaker 3: But I really only want to spend like fifty bucks
Speaker 3: on this, or actually I could spend two to three
Speaker 3: hundred dollars. It's not enough to get me to go
Speaker 3: somewhere outside of my hometown, but it is enough to
Speaker 3: have a nice dinner out and go see some sites
Speaker 3: and do some cool things. So whatever the money's going
Speaker 3: to do will also help to dictate what you can do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we love like our primary way that we vacation
Speaker 1: is these small staycations, and we live so close to Orlando,
Speaker 1: so we have so many options. So we're just like
Speaker 1: really black in that area. But we'll use points for
Speaker 1: hotels and we'll just do a one night stay somewhere
Speaker 1: and we'll get there like early in the afternoon, take
Speaker 1: advantage of all the amenities, have the place to sleep,
Speaker 1: and then do a late checkout if we're if we can,
Speaker 1: and then explore, like some playgrounds in the area.
Speaker 3: That's cool, that is good for the kids.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So we always try to see what's free
Speaker 1: wherever we're going, Like Orlando has a lot of great playgrounds.
Speaker 1: We go to a lot over here, but like every
Speaker 1: playground we go to over there is brand new for
Speaker 1: the kids.
Speaker 3: Side note, I've been liking Instagram for this, Like you
Speaker 3: could just search places to visit and then insert your hometown.
Speaker 3: It's possible that they could come up with things within
Speaker 3: an hour of the place that you're searching. There are
Speaker 3: whole accounts, especially in our area, like places to visit
Speaker 3: in Florida, places to visit and Tampa, places to visit
Speaker 3: in Saint Petersburg, and then you're going to have all
Speaker 3: these different accounts telling you about these different opportunities that
Speaker 3: maybe if you've lived in the area for so long
Speaker 3: you don't know about her, you've forgotten about her. It
Speaker 3: can jog your memory of Oh, yeah, that is a
Speaker 3: park I want to check out, but it's not it's
Speaker 3: an hour away, so it's not typically what you're going
Speaker 3: to do on a Saturday. But now when you're planning
Speaker 3: a staycation, we're going to finally check out that park.
Speaker 3: So if you're looking for ways to brainstorm, I would
Speaker 3: encourage you to try that, like places to visit blank.
Speaker 1: Yes, because I follow those accounts for Saint Pete HM
Speaker 1: And let me tell you, I was born and raised here.
Speaker 1: You have lived here all but five years of my
Speaker 1: thirty five years on this earth, And there are things
Speaker 1: that they post on that account and I'm like, ram,
Speaker 1: where did that?
Speaker 4: When did that come in?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I've started to like save. I've got my own
Speaker 3: saved section of just spots I want to visit and
Speaker 3: put it all. I'm collecting them all.
Speaker 1: Yes, And there's email newsletters a lot like city will
Speaker 1: have some kind of like ours has I Love the Burg.
Speaker 1: It's not a city run account or website, but they
Speaker 1: all have some kind of like commerce business Association, some
Speaker 1: kind of newsletter where they're always talking about what's coming in,
Speaker 1: what's opening, And then just like check yelp to see
Speaker 1: the things.
Speaker 4: I think we're probably skipping ahead.
Speaker 1: So this goes into number three, which is plan an itinerary.
Speaker 1: It is no good to go into a staycation without
Speaker 1: a plan, because the plan is what sets your staycation
Speaker 1: apart from normal life. Right, So, when we have a
Speaker 1: plan to do the restaurant or the hotel or the
Speaker 1: pool or whatever, you can get a resort pass and
Speaker 1: you can get a day pass to these nice resorts
Speaker 1: in your area, and you don't have to pay for
Speaker 1: a full night there. So but you don't do anything
Speaker 1: unless you plan for it. And that's what makes it
Speaker 1: feel special and set apart. And that's the thing about
Speaker 1: a staycation. It feels set apart from regular life. That's
Speaker 1: the cation of it.
Speaker 3: And I like this tip. We've talked about this as
Speaker 3: it comes to impulse spending. If you are wanting to
Speaker 3: go scroll and spend some money off of whatever Instagram's
Speaker 3: telling you to buy, or you just scroll an Amazon
Speaker 3: for no known reason, do this instead, Yeah, and your itinerary.
Speaker 3: Scroll the places that you want to visit, make a list,
Speaker 3: start to think through, oh what's near what and how
Speaker 3: could I make a day out of this? A much
Speaker 3: better way of spending your time and then your money
Speaker 3: eventually and can kind of give you a little bit
Speaker 3: of that high of because when we know that dopamine
Speaker 3: release is in anticipation of something, So if that's what
Speaker 3: you're looking for, anticipate a cost effective trick and you'll
Speaker 3: be able to get that dopamine release of anticipating something
Speaker 3: that you're planning for and have money to put towards.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because when we are trying to decide whether to
Speaker 1: make an impulse purchase or to not the idea, like
Speaker 1: our financial goals really do fall by the wayside and
Speaker 1: we our brains naturally go more towards instant gratification. So
Speaker 1: if you can have something like a staycation maybe every
Speaker 1: month or every other month, depending on how hard it
Speaker 1: is for you to delay gratification, then you can use
Speaker 1: a staycation as something a goal that's closer that feels
Speaker 1: more or less delayed than a financial goal. Like I
Speaker 1: can say I'm not going to eat out this week,
Speaker 1: because in two weeks I'm going on my staycation and
Speaker 1: I'm going to eat out at an even nicer restaurant.
Speaker 1: And if I don't eat out at this one, then
Speaker 1: I can go bananas with what I order on the staycation.
Speaker 3: Yes's the next one on this list is make meals special.
Speaker 3: So they're describing this depending on again, how you want
Speaker 3: to do your staycation, whether you are staying home and
Speaker 3: you're going to be cooking, then think about some meals
Speaker 3: that you'd like to eat that feel more special. Maybe
Speaker 3: there's a new dish that you're excited to cook, or
Speaker 3: if you are going to a hotel, you could treat
Speaker 3: yourself to room service, or is there a restaurant that
Speaker 3: you've wanted to try for years, And take some time
Speaker 3: to jot down a few ideas of restaurants or recipes
Speaker 3: that you want to be trying, make a grocery list,
Speaker 3: have a loose meal plan in place. But I think
Speaker 3: the key with this one is that it feels special.
Speaker 3: It feels out of the norm and the regular routine
Speaker 3: of what you're doing. And because for me at least,
Speaker 3: food is a big part of vacations, So if we
Speaker 3: can pull that into our staycation experience and be able
Speaker 3: to have some food that feels out of the ordinary.
Speaker 3: Maybe this is the time that you allow yourself some
Speaker 3: chippies with your sandwich, or you're able to get the
Speaker 3: I'm thinking, We've got this Italian market near us that
Speaker 3: I just love and they have these really great pre
Speaker 3: prepared meals, but it's not something that I do regularly.
Speaker 3: Like that might be something that I would do is
Speaker 3: get a pre prepared pasta dish and a really nice
Speaker 3: salad from the Italian place and have that on hand.
Speaker 3: If I'm staying home or plan out, where do I
Speaker 3: want to go? What new restaurant do I want to try?
Speaker 3: Think about ways, because if you're not traveling and you're
Speaker 3: not having a lot of new sites that you're seeing,
Speaker 3: then having some new cuisine is what can make it
Speaker 3: feel special.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we give almost the opposite advice while you're
Speaker 1: traveling to make meals like less almost not less special,
Speaker 1: but just pick and choose your special meals. And I
Speaker 1: love like Costco and Sam's Club. They're pre prepared meals
Speaker 1: that you can just like either eat cold or slip
Speaker 1: into an oven pre made and just warm up. They're
Speaker 1: so great. They are really great when you don't have
Speaker 1: a full kitchen, maybe you just have a little oven
Speaker 1: or a microwave. But this can be something you use
Speaker 1: on a staycation as well. Maybe you are getting an Airbnb.
Speaker 1: Then you can instead of maybe one night you're cooking
Speaker 1: and one night you're going out. On the night you're cooking,
Speaker 1: you don't have to like make dishes and stuff. You
Speaker 1: can just get one of these pre prepared meals, like
Speaker 1: from the Italian Market or from Sam's Club.
Speaker 4: The fifth is.
Speaker 1: Nobody is surprised this is on the list. It's from
Speaker 1: conmari dot com. It's to tidy up. And this I
Speaker 1: will actually say, make sure your house is clean before
Speaker 1: you leave, so when you get home, you're not coming
Speaker 1: home to a messy house. And this is like a
Speaker 1: goal everybody wants to do, but it is very hard.
Speaker 1: But it will feel more like a staycation if you
Speaker 1: do tidy up before you leave. Because I if I'm
Speaker 1: coming home to a mess then I have that anxiety
Speaker 1: and it starts on the drive home. But if I'm
Speaker 1: coming home to a clean home, I do not have
Speaker 1: that anxiety on the way home, so I feel more
Speaker 1: relaxed instead of We all have experienced that you get
Speaker 1: home from a vacation and you're more stressed than when
Speaker 1: you left. So at least you can eliminate that one stressor.
Speaker 3: My comment on this is tied to number six, which
Speaker 3: is slow down. It's important for us all whether we're
Speaker 3: staying or we're going on a staycation or vacation. But
Speaker 3: I think if you're staying in your home, tidying up
Speaker 3: is even more important before you enter into the staycation.
Speaker 3: So having a clean home can help you to be
Speaker 3: able to slow down and relax because you're not looking
Speaker 3: at everything you have to do and that needs to
Speaker 3: get done. It can be one help for you to
Speaker 3: actually be able to rest and relax in your home.
Speaker 3: And they even recommend, you know, pull out the good
Speaker 3: linens and use the tablecloth, and light the candles and
Speaker 3: do all the things that again you may not normally
Speaker 3: do the things that are going to help you slow down.
Speaker 3: And only you know that. For me, one of the
Speaker 3: reasons that I do need to get out and go
Speaker 3: to a hotel is because I can't. I have a
Speaker 3: very hard time turning my brain off in my home.
Speaker 3: I'm going to end up wanting to get a project done, cleaning,
Speaker 3: some deep cleaning, something that I don't normally do. So
Speaker 3: you know yourself and what you're going to need to
Speaker 3: actually be able to rest and slow down, or if
Speaker 3: you are in your home, what do you need to
Speaker 3: do ahead of time to prepare so that you don't
Speaker 3: get distracted by all these things and put parameters around
Speaker 3: it that I'm not going to do any projects and
Speaker 3: I'm just going to enjoy my space.
Speaker 1: So this second part of the article is staycation ideas
Speaker 1: for every taste, and so these are themes that you
Speaker 1: can theme your staycation around. And I think everyone should
Speaker 1: do every single one of these. So just like make
Speaker 1: the list and just check them off. Try to do
Speaker 1: them in a year. There's six of them, so you
Speaker 1: could do one of these themes every other month and
Speaker 1: there you go. There is your beautiful year of staycations planned.
Speaker 1: The first one is the artist retreat, and so this
Speaker 1: could be art, but it could also be architecture. So
Speaker 1: head to the nearest city that has museums galleries. These
Speaker 1: don't have to be like big museums like most cities
Speaker 1: will have some kind of small local gallery, so you
Speaker 1: could do that. Or you could do tours like home tours.
Speaker 1: If you like architecture, you could do go tours. If
Speaker 1: you like spooky stuff, every almost every city has.
Speaker 4: A ghost tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, check out groupon Yeah for your own city.
Speaker 1: Groupon will have all of these It is the best
Speaker 1: for them. Try a like a sip and do some craft.
Speaker 1: Sip and craft they have them all. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: our city. Now you can do candle making, you can
Speaker 1: do pottery making and painting. You can do canvases, or
Speaker 1: you could get if you're staying home and you're not
Speaker 1: going out, you can get one of those paint by
Speaker 1: number kids that I see everywhere that always.
Speaker 3: They are calling to you. You need to try it.
Speaker 4: They taunt me you could.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just something that flexes your creativity muscle in
Speaker 1: the physical and that will translate, I think to other
Speaker 1: parts of your life too.
Speaker 3: I will also add, if you've got universities near it
Speaker 3: could be worthwhile to see what's open to the public
Speaker 3: at the nearby university. So like I mean, we've got
Speaker 3: a lot between Saint Pete and Tampa, and I went
Speaker 3: to one recently that they one of the buildings on
Speaker 3: their property is over one hundred years old, and it
Speaker 3: was owned by the city but then donated to the university.
Speaker 3: But the in the with the qualifications that they lead
Speaker 3: it leave it open to the public so that the
Speaker 3: public can enjoy the grounds and be able to tour it.
Speaker 3: So it's completely free to be able to walk through,
Speaker 3: and they've got placards around to learn about the different
Speaker 3: architecture and the people who came through that building. Depending
Speaker 3: on what the university's known for, too, sometimes you'll have
Speaker 3: some really cool stuff on university sites. If they are
Speaker 3: known for business or agriculture architecture, then there's definitely going
Speaker 3: to be things on the campus that are odes to
Speaker 3: those types of schools. So that I did not. I
Speaker 3: did a staycation with a friend recently and toward this campus,
Speaker 3: and it was the highlight for me. I would not
Speaker 3: necessarily consider myself like a museum person, but that was
Speaker 3: very fun. It was both indoors outdoors. It felt like
Speaker 3: not a typical kind of museum environment because you've kind
Speaker 3: of got the collaboration of students live here and go
Speaker 3: to school here, and there's this like cool history happening.
Speaker 3: So that was something I hadn't thought about before that.
Speaker 3: But throwing it out to you, I'll check out your
Speaker 3: local universities what they've got going on. The next one
Speaker 3: I'll mention is do a spa weekend. Again, whether this
Speaker 3: is going to be something you recreate in your own
Speaker 3: home or you choose to spend some money because you're
Speaker 3: saving it in other ways by not getting a plane
Speaker 3: ticket or a hotel but booking yourself a spa weekend,
Speaker 3: getting a facial and a massage, or doing an at
Speaker 3: home pedicure and a bath and a sheet mask and
Speaker 3: lighting a candle and playing soft music whatever that's going
Speaker 3: to look like. Really be able to set some time
Speaker 3: aside to hamper yourself.
Speaker 1: For you and another mom, go haves the's on a
Speaker 1: hotel room, get away from your kids, and you just
Speaker 1: do the spa things. You get those masks on you guys,
Speaker 1: watch them trashy TV that your husbands don't like.
Speaker 4: That's a dream. You get the double beds. That is
Speaker 4: what actual dream.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know what we're doing next.
Speaker 1: I would love to do that, or even like, go
Speaker 1: have these so you go get a pedicure out and
Speaker 1: then you do other things at home, or you find
Speaker 1: a school that has facials and massages. Yeah, Cortiva is
Speaker 1: the one near us, but they have places around the country.
Speaker 1: You know, almost every city will have a massage school,
Speaker 1: so go find it. The next is a backyard staycation,
Speaker 1: so you spend the day or weekend outdoors in the
Speaker 1: backyard at an nearby park or a city arb arboretum, arboretum,
Speaker 1: thank you. I'm bad at flowers with a picnic, some books, whatever.
Speaker 4: I love this.
Speaker 1: We have so many like gardens in this city. A
Speaker 1: lot of them are free, some of them you have
Speaker 1: to pay. The Largo botanical gardens are so beautiful. Not
Speaker 1: a lot of beautiful things in Largo, but like that
Speaker 1: is beautiful, So go find something beautiful in nature around
Speaker 1: you and then just spend the day there.
Speaker 3: Do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not sleep outside in my backyard, but
Speaker 1: so many people do, so that could be If you
Speaker 1: like camping, it could be a thing. I like a mattress.
Speaker 3: I like this next one on the list, it's romantic firsts.
Speaker 3: So if you do have a partner that you are
Speaker 3: taking this staycation with a couple of ideas here. Either
Speaker 3: do you recreate all of your firsts together, So if
Speaker 3: you're still living in the same area where you met,
Speaker 3: going to the same restaurant where you first met, or
Speaker 3: seeing the movie the first movie that you saw together again.
Speaker 3: Another idea, again still with firsts, is do something throughout
Speaker 3: the staycation that is going to be a first for
Speaker 3: both of you. So maybe new experiences that you can
Speaker 3: have together that neither of you have done before. It
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be super complicated. But like neither of
Speaker 3: you have played pickleball before, great, go try it. If
Speaker 3: neither of you been to the to the local state park,
Speaker 3: go do that or again, recreate some of the first
Speaker 3: things that you did together.
Speaker 4: I love that. What would you recreate?
Speaker 3: So our very first date, we did a lot on
Speaker 3: our very first we did a lot too. Yeah, we
Speaker 3: went to skip rocks at a nearby state park. We
Speaker 3: went out to dinner at what became our favorite dinn
Speaker 3: spot because it was so inexpensive. It was cash only.
Speaker 3: You could get dinner and drinks for less than ten
Speaker 3: dollars apiece. And then we went shopping for Mother's Day
Speaker 3: cards because we met right around Mother's Day. And then
Speaker 3: we watched a movie It was Easy A.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love that movie.
Speaker 3: That would be the movie we watched it yet, Easy.
Speaker 4: I love that movie. That movie's so good.
Speaker 3: We don't live in the area that we met, but
Speaker 3: there's some of those things that we could do together, Yes,
Speaker 3: like skipping rocks and watching ECI.
Speaker 4: Yes, Oh my gosh, what would you know? What you
Speaker 4: could do?
Speaker 1: You guys met at a wedding, Right, You're going to
Speaker 1: a wedding in June, so you could like make it
Speaker 1: a kind of a first date meet.
Speaker 4: I mean cute date.
Speaker 3: I'll wear the same dress I wore.
Speaker 4: You still fit in that. I'll punch you. I'll punch it.
Speaker 3: I don't want that. No, I did not keep that dressed.
Speaker 4: I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: So the next one is the solo staycation. This here's
Speaker 1: the thing. It says if you're single, but listen, if
Speaker 1: you're not single, you probably need this.
Speaker 4: You need it.
Speaker 1: So if you are a person, a staycation, a solo
Speaker 1: staycation is the perfect opportunity to connect or reconnect with
Speaker 1: what sparks joy for you. So some solo staycation ideas
Speaker 1: take yourself out on a date if there's a place
Speaker 1: that you want to go that your partner does not
Speaker 1: or your friends do not want to go go. I
Speaker 1: went to a ray La Montanne concert by myself because
Speaker 1: I've always been sixty years old and no love. Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't know you, nobody, nobody even like knew who
Speaker 1: he was, so I went by myself. This was before
Speaker 1: I met Travis. I used to take myself out all
Speaker 1: the time when I was single. All the time. Spend
Speaker 1: a day in your city's botanical gardens and then go
Speaker 1: to lunch or cook your idea of a perfect meal.
Speaker 1: Just anything you love to do or have wanted to
Speaker 1: do and nobody wants to do with you.
Speaker 3: Take yourself out, girl, be the best date you've ever
Speaker 3: are your best date. You have self flowers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody buys you gifts as good as you do.
Speaker 1: Nobody treats you as well as you do, So go girl.
Speaker 3: The last one on this list is the Foe vacation.
Speaker 3: And I do like this one, and I'm gonna tell
Speaker 3: you what I like it. Not just as a staycation.
Speaker 3: I like this as a regular Tuesday night if I
Speaker 3: can do it. And that is, if you have a
Speaker 3: dream destination to travel to, whether it's a foreign country
Speaker 3: or another state that you've never been but it's known
Speaker 3: for certain things, take I mean, certainly take some time
Speaker 3: to plan and save to hopefully be able to go
Speaker 3: there one day. But bring that place to you. So
Speaker 3: figure out what types of things that area has and
Speaker 3: if there are dupes in your area, again referencing our
Speaker 3: talk with Gen on a jetplane, but also food. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's the best way to kind of recreate an area.
Speaker 3: So they give the example of let's say you wanted
Speaker 3: to travel to Tokyo someday, then having a time dedicated
Speaker 3: to Japan, make sushi. Figure out how to make sushi,
Speaker 3: watch YouTube videos, get the ingredients, try a hot pot place,
Speaker 3: do some host of Japanese inspired dinner party if it's
Speaker 3: not Japan, pick the place and identify what kinds of
Speaker 3: foods do they have there? Could I pick up a
Speaker 3: new skill in the process and be able to bring
Speaker 3: that place to me. I love this for just even
Speaker 3: being able to make a regular week feel special, or
Speaker 3: being able to help me with my meal planning for
Speaker 3: an entire week. Oftentimes I will do the cuisine of
Speaker 3: a certain area because that also helps me use up
Speaker 3: specialty ingredients that often might go to waste. So if
Speaker 3: there are dishes I want to try but they use
Speaker 3: mirror in which, by the way, you can just sub
Speaker 3: some white wine for that. But if you're getting some
Speaker 3: of these ingredients, then plan the whole week for it
Speaker 3: and try out a bunch of new dishes. But you
Speaker 3: know what, we love to try out and we do.
Speaker 1: We try this every week. It never gets old. I
Speaker 1: always love to go here.
Speaker 5: With you the bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 2: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. That's built but flow bills bill clean.
Speaker 2: This is the bill up the week.
Speaker 4: Hey, Jim and Jill.
Speaker 6: I am so excited about this bill of the week.
Speaker 6: So it's my current insurance and last six months I
Speaker 6: wasn't really happy with how my cost was going up.
Speaker 3: So I did a little bit.
Speaker 6: Of shopping around, found a different company that actually wasn't
Speaker 6: a whole lot of thing things at that time. But
Speaker 6: the company has really good reviews on responsiveness if you
Speaker 6: actually have an accident, which is important. And they also
Speaker 6: have the app that you can download onto your phone
Speaker 6: and it monitors if you're going they say speeding, they're
Speaker 6: only checking if they're going eighty miles an hour. They
Speaker 6: don't know what to speed will out stuff like that.
Speaker 6: And it's not one of the ones that, oh, actually
Speaker 6: you're a really bad driver and you get not as
Speaker 6: much and now your break goes up. It's not one
Speaker 6: of those that I was super great about explaining everything.
Speaker 6: So last six months my bill was eight hundred sixty
Speaker 6: eight dollars. I got the maximum discounts, and just six
Speaker 6: months it is six hundred nine. That is nearly two
Speaker 6: hundred and sixty dollars in savings. And I am so stoked.
Speaker 4: I am so pleased about this. Have a good one.
Speaker 3: Bye. M Yes, I'm so stoked with you. I have
Speaker 3: been trying to shop around for car insurance and we
Speaker 3: live in Borida and it's so so high. But this
Speaker 3: is a massive win. To save two hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: dollars on six months of car insurance is so huge.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you hear fifteen twenty dollars and that's still nothing
Speaker 3: to laugh about. That's great. Then you can you can
Speaker 3: buy dinner with that put two hundred and sixty dollars.
Speaker 3: You can have a staycation with that kind of savings.
Speaker 4: Yes, if you.
Speaker 3: All are listening and you want to submit a bill,
Speaker 3: if it has to do with saving big money on
Speaker 3: some insurance negotiations, or if you're just out here plan
Speaker 3: in a staycation. Your name is Bill and you want
Speaker 3: to just say hi. This is a Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 3: dot com slash bill, leave us your bill.
Speaker 5: We're ready for it.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for.
Speaker 1: The lightning around all right, what is your dream stayation? Jill?
Speaker 1: I want you to go first, because I feel like
Speaker 1: you've thought about this way more than I have.
Speaker 3: I have, Oh, I mean, I don't I thought about that.
Speaker 3: I can't say I thought about it more than you.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I do have so many ideas, Okay, top
Speaker 3: of mind, though, something that I did get excited about
Speaker 3: recently is you all remember how when we we're in
Speaker 3: the midst of our renovations took us three years, the
Speaker 3: first thing we did was build out an airbnb like
Speaker 3: a hotel room. It's like a bedroom bathroom that we
Speaker 3: were going to airbnb. And then by the time we
Speaker 3: got to the end of the renovations, we decided not
Speaker 3: to airbnb it. And that's on us, that's our bad.
Speaker 3: We're living in it now. But I had the idea
Speaker 3: recently because like I said, I don't know that I
Speaker 3: could fully allow myself to rest and relax in my
Speaker 3: own space. However, I was thinking that it'd be very
Speaker 3: fun to set up what is now our owner's suite
Speaker 3: as a hotel room for us, where we almost block
Speaker 3: off the whole rest of the house, or we don't
Speaker 3: allow ourselves to enter the whole rest of the house.
Speaker 3: But I bring in my espresso into that space, and
Speaker 3: we treat it as if we are our own visitors
Speaker 3: to this Airbnb space, and we do the things that
Speaker 3: an Airbnb guest would do. So I would like leave
Speaker 3: out maybe a bottle of wine and have an espresso
Speaker 3: in there, and we'd use the kayaks, and we'd go
Speaker 3: out to dinner and come back to just only our
Speaker 3: little kind of hotel room.
Speaker 4: That would be fun.
Speaker 1: Now, you also steal the toilet paper when exactly guest bathroom.
Speaker 3: But I also have this other dream eventually of being
Speaker 3: able to have a full SPA day where I do
Speaker 3: all of the things where I can get a facial
Speaker 3: a massage, a manny petty, sitting and relaxing whatever area
Speaker 3: they have to sit and relax in, whether it's a
Speaker 3: salt room or a sauna or a just kind of
Speaker 3: all the whole thing. I want to do, the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I realized that many spas that's gonna be like five
Speaker 3: or six hundred dollars, and that's why I haven't done
Speaker 3: it yet. Maybe I just want someone else to just
Speaker 3: give me those things. But I feel like that'd be
Speaker 3: very fun. Yeah, just do all the things.
Speaker 1: I've never had a spa day. I've never done anything
Speaker 1: except get a massage. That's the spaiest thing that I've
Speaker 1: ever done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and even if I get a pedicure, I never
Speaker 3: have done a pedicure and a manicure, Like, I don't
Speaker 3: do all of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, so I do get pedicures like a couple
Speaker 1: times a year, but I don't remember the last time
Speaker 1: I got a manicure.
Speaker 4: So yeah, that would be fun. That'd be fun.
Speaker 1: I used to get gel manicures.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I can't call it.
Speaker 1: Well, they were your nail plosh would stand for.
Speaker 3: So long, I know, and then it would ruin your
Speaker 3: nail bed. Yeah yeah, I can't have that.
Speaker 1: These babies got a last I know, I know.
Speaker 6: I know.
Speaker 4: That's why I never had my nails painted.
Speaker 3: Okay, what's yours?
Speaker 1: So I think maybe like getting a hotel on the
Speaker 1: beach would be fun. It is annoying to go to
Speaker 1: the beach because it costs so much money. If you
Speaker 1: live here, parking is like twenty bucks and which is nothing.
Speaker 1: I mean, granted, if twenty bucks does all cost to
Speaker 1: go to the beach, Like, that's a lot better, you know.
Speaker 3: But it's not something you can do.
Speaker 1: Like just because we live near the beach doesn't mean
Speaker 1: we go often because it is quite an expense, and
Speaker 1: so it's also work to trudge everything there and back,
Speaker 1: and then you have to be there the whole time.
Speaker 1: You can't take a break like you can if you
Speaker 1: had a hotel room on the beach. It's just a
Speaker 1: lot easier to vacation on the beach than it is
Speaker 1: to live near one. Yeah, so I think that would
Speaker 1: be fun. I've I used to go. My friend's parents
Speaker 1: had like a beach house right on the water, like
Speaker 1: up in Saint Augustine. That was so much fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was when I realized. I was like, this is
Speaker 1: why I don't.
Speaker 3: Like the beach, because it gets war out of the sun,
Speaker 3: right but.
Speaker 1: Like when you're right there, it's so easy to just.
Speaker 4: Go in and out like all day.
Speaker 1: So I think that might be maybe, But we're not
Speaker 1: big beach people anyways, so I don't know, but that
Speaker 1: that would maybe, like a just a hotel. I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to stay the Vanoi, but we've never we got
Speaker 1: engaged there.
Speaker 4: We've never stayed.
Speaker 3: There, and you should. That'd be a good little anniversary treat.
Speaker 3: But I also feel like something like that would be
Speaker 3: really fun with kids, as far as a hotel on
Speaker 3: the beach, Yeah, it would help with you can rinse
Speaker 3: them off, you can bring the toys and you're just
Speaker 3: kind of back and forth. When they get too tired,
Speaker 3: you can come inside and cool down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not shuffling around in the car or waiting
Speaker 1: lines or anything. So yeah, I think that would be
Speaker 1: super fun to do with the boys. Yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening. I hope this episode inspired you
Speaker 1: to have a staycation somewhere. Hope we inspired you with
Speaker 1: the themes. Please let us know by leaving a rating
Speaker 1: or review. Late rating and review which theme you're gonna
Speaker 1: try first, and let us know how it goes. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it's five stars like this one from this I guess
Speaker 1: it's from change. Jar called doubled my Money. After listening
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Speaker 1: I opened a savings account with cit through your link.
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Speaker 1: and in two months, I've doubled my savings. I've used
Speaker 1: many of your helpful tips to get there, couldn't have
Speaker 1: done it without you two. Each listen feels like girlfriends
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Speaker 1: husband thanks you even more. Ah girl, Dad, Big Change
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Speaker 1: high yield saving Hi, the yield will not double your money,
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Speaker 3: Yeah. I earn over one hundred dollars on my money
Speaker 3: every month just by having it in a high yield
Speaker 3: savings account. I mine is truly with c it. Again,
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Speaker 3: don't actually like or use. I use them. They're great.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad that this has helped you. Thanks for
Speaker 3: your kind review, And if you all are listening and
Speaker 3: again want to want to leave that review, please do
Speaker 3: on whatever platform you're listening to get the friend letter
Speaker 3: Frugal friendspodcast dot com. Keep listening. We're so glad you're here,
Speaker 3: and we're going to see you next time.
Speaker 4: Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Jill.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about owning a home, because
Speaker 1: we were just talking about this before we recorded, and
Speaker 1: this is real talk owning. It's not when we say
Speaker 1: it's not for everyone. Honestly, it's in a lot of aspects. No,
Speaker 1: it's not better than renting. It's it's on par it's
Speaker 1: basically the same thing. Are So we have done what
Speaker 1: real estate, the real estate people told us to do.
Speaker 1: You know, like I've talked to hundreds of real estate
Speaker 1: investors in my career and everyone said, what we you know,
Speaker 1: buy a house that's really my and then in five
Speaker 1: years buy another one, rent that first one out and
Speaker 1: you know, renovate what you got.
Speaker 4: Like so we did it text book.
Speaker 1: And they're like, eventually you'll be paying you know, on
Speaker 1: the second one, you'll be paying well if so, we
Speaker 1: bought a house hack essentially it was our second one
Speaker 1: where we're renting out one side and living in the other,
Speaker 1: and they're like, essentially you'll be living for free.
Speaker 4: And I did.
Speaker 1: I just ran the numbers this morning because just this month,
Speaker 1: like everything is kind of reset and after taxes and
Speaker 1: insurance have raised every year for the last two years.
Speaker 1: We are paying the exact same But then we also
Speaker 1: had to go through the arduous task of renovating this
Speaker 1: home and dealing with two sets of tenants. And I
Speaker 1: would rather not I'd rather just pay that money, not
Speaker 1: have an investment, which is basically a second job for
Speaker 1: each of us, plus raising children. It just didn't work out.
Speaker 3: That's the thing. I wish that more people would talk
Speaker 3: a little bit more openly about this. At the same time,
Speaker 3: I don't want to lose sight of the privilege that
Speaker 3: it is to now have a home. There. That is
Speaker 3: something I go back to in worst case scenario if
Speaker 3: I need money, I have something to sell. I did
Speaker 3: not have that as a renter. So there is that.
Speaker 3: But as far as day to day, month to month,
Speaker 3: our monthly expenses are going up just like they would,
Speaker 3: if not more astronomically, as they would if I were
Speaker 3: renting like Eric and I bought our house three and
Speaker 3: a half years ago, and in those three and a
Speaker 3: half years just from taxes and sure it's alone our
Speaker 3: mortgage or you know what we pay monthly to live
Speaker 3: here rows five hundred dollars per month, per month, month, monthly. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So let's say this is not the real numbers. But
Speaker 3: let's say I was paying one thousand, now it's fifteen hundred.
Speaker 3: If I was paying fifteen hundred, I'm now paying two thousand,
Speaker 3: like per month to live here. So now the spot
Speaker 3: that I'm in, I'm still paying less than I would
Speaker 3: if I were to have to rent a place like this.
Speaker 3: But it still makes me nervous because I bought this
Speaker 3: place very conservatively. We were approved for this amount of
Speaker 3: house based off of my income alone, thinking we're in
Speaker 3: great shape and we're inching close to it's about twenty
Speaker 3: five to thirty percent of our annual household income is
Speaker 3: now what we're paying for this house now. It wasn't
Speaker 3: what we were paying previously. So I think I always
Speaker 3: thought you're kind of get locked in, Like if your
Speaker 3: mortgage isn't expensive, then that's just kind of how it's
Speaker 3: and it's not insurance and taxes go up every year,
Speaker 3: so they make your monthly housing expenses go up every year,
Speaker 3: just like they would if you were a renter. And
Speaker 3: that's what I don't hear enough people talking about, and
Speaker 3: not to mention with your piece where people just want
Speaker 3: to make it seem so easy house hack have tenants.
Speaker 3: It's like there are so many nuances that go into
Speaker 3: that and keeping a house full fully rented with good
Speaker 3: tenants who are paying you on time, not to mention
Speaker 3: upkeeping and maintaining now two different properties. Plus you don't
Speaker 3: get homestead exemption on the place that you're renting out,
Speaker 3: so that absolutely increases the taxes on it. There's just
Speaker 3: so much to it that it does baffle me and
Speaker 3: frustrate me with how people will talk about just do this.
Speaker 3: This is the one way in the one path, and
Speaker 3: it is good, it can be good, but it is
Speaker 3: not for everybody, and there are so many other ways
Speaker 3: to be able to make money in a more simple way.
Speaker 3: I think that isn't so dang stressful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and we are all lucky that we bought,
Speaker 1: like our first house and your house way below what
Speaker 1: we could have. Like so many people get wrangled into
Speaker 1: buying at the top of their budget or buying at
Speaker 1: the midpoint of their budget, and then we see stuff
Speaker 1: like this happen, and it is just it's killing people.
Speaker 3: And that's the reason not to push the budget, because
Speaker 3: if you're pushing the budget as is, it's going to
Speaker 3: go up, and it could go up drastically, But then
Speaker 3: there you go, all the more reason for us stay ocasion,
Speaker 3: for us to enjoy the place that the majority of
Speaker 3: our income is going to yep, paid my mortgage, going
Speaker 3: to get the money's worth