Speaker 1: Episode two eighty, How to take care of your Clothes
Speaker 1: No Sewing Necessary. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, race and live
Speaker 1: with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Mm hmmmmmmmmmm.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill. And today we are talking about
Speaker 1: preserving the longevity of your clothes because when you're buying
Speaker 1: fewer clothes, you obviously want them to last longer. But
Speaker 1: even if you love clothes and that's something you value,
Speaker 1: you want to take care of them because you're gonna
Speaker 1: be buying probably nicer clothes. Yeah, and it's a hot
Speaker 1: take to say no sewing necessary. Well, we're talking to
Speaker 1: look at taking care of your clothes without sewing. We're
Speaker 1: talking longevity more than we're talking about mending. We do
Speaker 1: have some other episodes that where we kind of touch
Speaker 1: on that, but I am not a sewer. I don't
Speaker 1: know a sewing machine. When we have something needing mending,
Speaker 1: I send it to my mother or to Jill. And
Speaker 1: so I didn't want me to see this episode and
Speaker 1: not listen because it's not accessible to me. So this
Speaker 1: is accessible to everyone. Speaking of doing the least. That's
Speaker 1: our sponsor today. It's about working smarter, not harder, or
Speaker 1: just doing the bare minimum to get by because it's
Speaker 1: been a long week, and it's it's long week after
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Speaker 1: whether working smart or not harder, or it's been a
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Speaker 1: Maybe it'll motivate you to not do the least. That
Speaker 1: was inspirational, especially at a time in my life where
Speaker 1: I am doing the least, where I've it's been a
Speaker 1: long week and when we were recording. This is Monday
Speaker 1: at one pm, and it has been a long week
Speaker 1: for me. It's already a long week, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know this is the first thing to mondays are we
Speaker 1: live an entire week in that one. Yeah, from here
Speaker 1: about it all gets better from here, you know, even better.
Speaker 1: Debt free stories on YouTube. I can't say it without
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Speaker 1: these that will be releasing over February and into March.
Speaker 1: So there are some already up, there are more to come.
Speaker 1: You are going to love them. I love them and
Speaker 1: I know you will too. So let's talk about mending,
Speaker 1: or let's talk about taking care of your clothes. Sorry,
Speaker 1: So if you want information on mending or just saving
Speaker 1: money on clothes in general, check out episode to eleven,
Speaker 1: which we've got how to save money on clothes, and
Speaker 1: then episode tips for creating a capsule wardrobe that is
Speaker 1: a fan favorite. Everybody loves the capsule wardrobe episode here
Speaker 1: it all the time, so definitely check that one out.
Speaker 1: That one pairs minimalism with frugality to create this capsule
Speaker 1: wardrobe that isn't restrictive but does capitalize on your unique
Speaker 1: style and also saves you money. So those are really
Speaker 1: good ones to cue up for after. But let's talk
Speaker 1: about longevity. And this is more of a Jill episode
Speaker 1: for sure. So Jill take us to the first headline.
Speaker 1: The first one comes from Simple Lion Heart Life. I
Speaker 1: like lions, so that's great for me. And it's talking
Speaker 1: about how to take care of your clothes and help
Speaker 1: your simplified wardrobe last longer. So this is not just
Speaker 1: talking about extending the life of our clothing, but sprinkled
Speaker 1: throughout its chatting about simplifying our wardrobe as well, or
Speaker 1: once we've simplified, how do we make it last longer?
Speaker 1: And I do appreciate some of the introduction before it
Speaker 1: gets into the various tips that I think can keep
Speaker 1: people from simplifying a wardrobe of I mean, first of all,
Speaker 1: just I won't have as many options, But then it
Speaker 1: can also bring the question of won't my clothes wear
Speaker 1: out faster if I have less? And reality is and
Speaker 1: we've seen this mention kind of across the board, and
Speaker 1: we just know it based on our own lifestyles, is
Speaker 1: that we tend to, regardless of the size of our wardrobe,
Speaker 1: where only about of our clothes of the time. So
Speaker 1: chances are what you're wearing is already just your simplified wardrobe.
Speaker 1: And we can clear some of that clutter by getting
Speaker 1: rid of donating, passing on to someone else the clothes
Speaker 1: that you're just simply not wearing. And we'll get into
Speaker 1: more tips later, but not having jam packed closets is
Speaker 1: going to be another way of extending the life of
Speaker 1: our clothing, allowing some of that airflow and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. So I just appreciated that statement and acknowledgement
Speaker 1: here that and it's kind of a motivator for me too,
Speaker 1: of yes, keep a simplified wardrobe so that you're just
Speaker 1: actually you just actually keep on hand the things that
Speaker 1: you wear. But then in general, it's probably going to
Speaker 1: be the things that you act that you really like.
Speaker 1: It's that's what I say all the time. People think
Speaker 1: I'm always dressed up except for right now. I don't
Speaker 1: know if anyone's ever going to be able to watch
Speaker 1: this video not currently level. Usually though it looks like
Speaker 1: I am, people will often be like, WHOA, where are
Speaker 1: you going? And I'm like, nowhere. I just don't truly,
Speaker 1: I'm not going anywhere. I'm sitting at home. But I
Speaker 1: don't have many clothes. So the clothes that I do have,
Speaker 1: I really like I have really paired it down to
Speaker 1: what I enjoy, and so then when we get to
Speaker 1: that point, we feel higher motivation to take care of it,
Speaker 1: to extend the life. And I think that there's some
Speaker 1: really great tips in here, so I'll just we're not
Speaker 1: going to go through all of them, but our favorites.
Speaker 1: The first is to use less heat. So when we
Speaker 1: are washing our clothes, generally, if we're not doing the
Speaker 1: hottest of hot hot waters and drying it all the
Speaker 1: way through on the highest of hot temperatures and the dryer,
Speaker 1: we're going to extend the life of the clothing. When
Speaker 1: we use a lot of heat, whether that's in water
Speaker 1: or in the drying process, it can shrink our clothes.
Speaker 1: It can just be really harsh on it. I mean
Speaker 1: similar to our hair, right they say, like heat damage
Speaker 1: to the hair, heat damage to clothing happens as well
Speaker 1: in a variety of different ways. That's one way we
Speaker 1: can be gentle it's also really great for our utility
Speaker 1: bill if we are primarily washing in cold water, using
Speaker 1: less electricity for the heat. Whether that means we're just
Speaker 1: kind of doing a tumble dry and then hanging the
Speaker 1: rest to dryer, we're just completely drying air drying it
Speaker 1: from the washing machine. That serves so many different purposes
Speaker 1: of helping our wallets, helping our clothes. So use less heat,
Speaker 1: do less, do less, you can always do less. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think this goes for like ironing as well.
Speaker 1: I was reading in a few articles like just overall,
Speaker 1: keep more heat away from your clothes and the colors
Speaker 1: and the quality will be preserved longer. And so even
Speaker 1: doing shorter dryer settings, I know we've said this before,
Speaker 1: you can if you don't want to line dry for
Speaker 1: a really long time, which who has time for that,
Speaker 1: then dry for a shorter amount of time until it's
Speaker 1: mostly dry, and then you can just lay them out
Speaker 1: on your bed to dry the rest of the way
Speaker 1: it works, So that is my that's my personal experience.
Speaker 1: So and you can hang more things with hangars if
Speaker 1: you have the room, and then once you're dry, they're
Speaker 1: already on hangars and there you go. Why use a line.
Speaker 1: It's fine. Uh So number two is one that I
Speaker 1: like a lot, and it's only washed clothes when they
Speaker 1: are dirty. And so there are a lot of rules
Speaker 1: for and and feelings about how often you should wash things.
Speaker 1: So I have seen, for at least like underwear, sports bras,
Speaker 1: workout close after you work out, socks like those things
Speaker 1: you should wash after every wearing. But everything else, for
Speaker 1: the most part, can go two to five wars without washing.
Speaker 1: I think I saw for like bras and pajamas it's
Speaker 1: like two to three wears, and for jeans shirts, especially
Speaker 1: if it's like out, if you're wearing like an undershirt,
Speaker 1: maybe two to three. If you're wearing over shirts, four
Speaker 1: to five. But yeah, honestly, do what's in your comfort zone,
Speaker 1: because this is you live a unique life, and some
Speaker 1: days you sweat more than others, like obviously in the
Speaker 1: summer and Florida we're doing much more laundry than we
Speaker 1: are in the winter. So I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can go by like those rules specifically, but those are
Speaker 1: the general guidelines I was reading. I usually wear my
Speaker 1: pajamas for a week. I don't know if that's for sure. Okay,
Speaker 1: I wear my pajamas for a week. I also if
Speaker 1: I wear socks at night. I know that's like a
Speaker 1: hot take. People think there are at various ends of that.
Speaker 1: There's not even a spectrum. It's like he's here. We
Speaker 1: all even put like take my socks off that in
Speaker 1: the morning and keep them by the side of the bed,
Speaker 1: because what am I doing to the night night. I
Speaker 1: don't need to wash them after just wearing them one
Speaker 1: night through the night. Another hot take. You may not
Speaker 1: be as on board with this, but I so I
Speaker 1: exercise at home, so I will wear the same exercise
Speaker 1: outfit for the week. I just keep it hung up
Speaker 1: on a hook in my bathroom and I don't wash
Speaker 1: that those clothes until the end of the week, so
Speaker 1: I might as well just keep sweating in it and
Speaker 1: then wash it. But I can very gross. I washed
Speaker 1: it after everywhere. I'm not saying it's not gross, it's
Speaker 1: just what I do. That's how I get away with
Speaker 1: not having like ten exercise outfits. I just have to
Speaker 1: that I have on rotation. There you go. But I
Speaker 1: can be guilty of washing things when they're not actually
Speaker 1: dirty as a way of quickly picking up and feeling
Speaker 1: like I cleaned. And that is something I've had to
Speaker 1: challenge myself with of if it's not dirty, actually put
Speaker 1: it on the hang or put it away, don't just
Speaker 1: throw it in the laundry. But because that's easier. Here
Speaker 1: is my solution for that is I got like a
Speaker 1: blanket ladder and I put it next to my dresser.
Speaker 1: So if I've worn something and it's not dirty yet,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to put it back into my dresser,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to put it in the dirty clothes,
Speaker 1: also don't want to have it on the floor, then
Speaker 1: I hang it on the blanket ladder. I love that
Speaker 1: she has clothes just like everywhere in amis like do
Speaker 1: you want this cleaned? He's like, no, I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: doing it for Travis Um. I was only thinking about
Speaker 1: myself when I got it. But you can find blanket
Speaker 1: ladders everywhere by nothing groups, drift stores. I love that tip. Yeah,
Speaker 1: ladders the ladder, get a ladder. Look at us cooking
Speaker 1: with gas. My next favorite on here is number four
Speaker 1: take simple steps to protect clothes in the laundry. Okay,
Speaker 1: I feel militant about this, and I know a lot
Speaker 1: of my friends who don't do stuff like this, and
Speaker 1: they engine at me with only because we're podcasting together.
Speaker 1: I don't know what happens for you. I just this
Speaker 1: happens for a lot of people. Is not being super
Speaker 1: careful with how we put things into the washing machine.
Speaker 1: And that can be simple steps like zipping up our zippers,
Speaker 1: buttoning our buttons, emptying our pockets, Turning shirts inside out.
Speaker 1: This is especially important, like sweaters that can pill or
Speaker 1: shirts with prints or logos on them. It can protect
Speaker 1: the threading, the decals, the whatnot if we turn it
Speaker 1: inside out. And I know that these are extra steps,
Speaker 1: but they will prolong the life of our clothes. I
Speaker 1: have had clothes a lot of the holes. I know
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about ways to mend without selling,
Speaker 1: but a lot of times holes in our clothing happened
Speaker 1: because we've not done these steps. And you've got Jean
Speaker 1: zippers just bouncing around with everything else just shredding, shredd
Speaker 1: not in a good way, not like the musical shredding,
Speaker 1: the shredding of our clothing that we've spent hard earned
Speaker 1: money on. And even worse, if we don't check the pockets.
Speaker 1: Holy smokes, what's in there, sharpie? That didn't believe sharp
Speaker 1: because in our pants. I stopped washing my clothes with
Speaker 1: Travis's clothes, and I make him do his own laundry
Speaker 1: because the number of things like I can't do it
Speaker 1: all the time. I will I'll do. I kind of
Speaker 1: prep my cloth my clothes for washing when I'm taking
Speaker 1: them off, so when it's going into the washing machine,
Speaker 1: it's going into the wine. I'm not re checking it.
Speaker 1: I'm not turning things inside out at that point. I
Speaker 1: have washed clothes with UH and gotten pen stains on them.
Speaker 1: I once washed my clothes and he had a packet
Speaker 1: of honey mustard from Chick fil A, and the clothes
Speaker 1: came out dirtier than when they went in. And and
Speaker 1: he's always bringing home like nuts and bolts and screws
Speaker 1: and nails from work, and that's just I can't. I'm like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna. And he doesn't care. He'll wear shirts with
Speaker 1: holes in them, and I'm like, you're He's like, I
Speaker 1: like a screws shredding in the Washington. He loves he
Speaker 1: loves shreads shredding. And if you you got to give
Speaker 1: grace to your partner, that is that way. But you
Speaker 1: don't have to subject yourself to it. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: If you're if you are checking the pant pockets and everything,
Speaker 1: that's just going to prolong the life of your appliances.
Speaker 1: Is not for a washing machine or a dryer to
Speaker 1: have nuts, bolts, screws, pens, coins just bouncing around, shread
Speaker 1: and shread and clothing shred and appliances. You're right, You're right.
Speaker 1: It's something I will I will look into. I will
Speaker 1: have a stern talking to him about it with my
Speaker 1: finger out pointing to the sky. Yeah, your finger will
Speaker 1: be there for that, Yes, all right. My next favorite
Speaker 1: is to treat stains before they set. This comes along
Speaker 1: with that making sure things are ready before they go in,
Speaker 1: because when things are going into the wash, I just
Speaker 1: don't like that's it for me. I'm not re checking things.
Speaker 1: So if I am and I know I'm going to
Speaker 1: do a wash in the next day or something, I'll
Speaker 1: just treat the stuff early and let it kind of sit.
Speaker 1: Which I don't know if it's the best method, but
Speaker 1: most of the times I'm not doing that. Most of
Speaker 1: the time I am setting the stain next, I'm setting
Speaker 1: instead of putting it in my laundry basket. I'm bringing
Speaker 1: it to the laundry room and putting it next to
Speaker 1: the washer, so that way I know, Okay, this needs
Speaker 1: to be treated before stuff goes in, So that is
Speaker 1: usually what I'm doing. If it's your own clothes and
Speaker 1: you know it. As a stain happens, it is best
Speaker 1: to just address it right then and there if possible.
Speaker 1: But yeah, otherwise before it goes into the wash, because
Speaker 1: once it's washed, that's usually then how a stain sets.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't treated, Yeah, usually the stain has already
Speaker 1: been there for several hours, so there before I notice it.
Speaker 1: So there is no immediate spot treating in my life.
Speaker 1: I wish there was, but it just doesn't happen. Bonus
Speaker 1: tip that my mom used to do. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Brenda on this one. If you're doing laundry for a household,
Speaker 1: if you're not Jen who's making everyone do their own wash,
Speaker 1: which I respect mad props do less, but I have
Speaker 1: to do kies laundry, so so there you go. If
Speaker 1: you're doing it for other people and they're able, they're
Speaker 1: somewhat functioning, able bodied people. One of the things my
Speaker 1: mom did when we were growing up was to have
Speaker 1: us not our clothing like put a knot in it
Speaker 1: if it had a stain like needed to be treated somewhere.
Speaker 1: So then when she was going through the wash and
Speaker 1: adding it into the washing machine and came across like
Speaker 1: a nodded shirt, sweatshirt, pants, you name it, she'd know
Speaker 1: there's a stain somewhere on here and be able to
Speaker 1: treat it. So it wasn't like you have to check
Speaker 1: every single article of clothing for do I need to
Speaker 1: treat something on here? I thought that was like a
Speaker 1: nice hack, good job, Brenda's good way to go. Brenda. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that I would just I'm gonna make my kids treat
Speaker 1: their own stains. They're doing their own laundry at five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Kai has about a year and a half left of
Speaker 1: me doing this for him, so he better he better
Speaker 1: make some moves to learning laundry take advantage of it
Speaker 1: while he has you, all right. The last one I'll
Speaker 1: note on this list is number nine. To store clothes properly.
Speaker 1: And the reason that I picked this primarily is because
Speaker 1: I have been victim to not storing clothes properly, and
Speaker 1: I know how much it can damage and not prolong
Speaker 1: the life of clothing when we don't do this right
Speaker 1: with particularly airflow, needing airflow through your clothing. I used
Speaker 1: to be, you all know this, heavy on the thrift
Speaker 1: stores and yard sales and just collecting things because it
Speaker 1: was just a good deal. Since those times, I've become
Speaker 1: far more minimal. But in my days of having a lot,
Speaker 1: I would just shove it all into the closet, and
Speaker 1: I've gotten like, my clothes have gotten moldy because they're
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, I don't know. I get there's not
Speaker 1: a whole lot of air flow in most closets, so
Speaker 1: then if there's any kind of moisture in the air,
Speaker 1: it can get trapped in the clothing and there's not
Speaker 1: airflow and it gets smold and then that doesn't come out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not good. So definitely not packing your closet super full,
Speaker 1: making sure that there's space in between. But they also
Speaker 1: had some decent tips. If you ever do look up
Speaker 1: this article, you can check the link in our show notes.
Speaker 1: It has pictures of various ways to store sweaters and
Speaker 1: pull the arms of sweaters up over the hangars. That
Speaker 1: was really interesting the pictures. They put the arms over
Speaker 1: the shoulders so the arms don't stretch out who to thought.
Speaker 1: I know, and this is something I've noticed too, But
Speaker 1: if you are primarily hanging things, which I think is
Speaker 1: a great way to store clothing, having more quality hangers,
Speaker 1: which you can still find those at thrift stores, yard sales,
Speaker 1: buy nothing groups, but they better hangers over your your
Speaker 1: just wire hangers are going to allow the clothing to
Speaker 1: hang better. It'll avoid some of those like pointy parts
Speaker 1: in the shoulders, it'll keep the clothes from falling off
Speaker 1: the hangar, so hanging them properly, having airflow. Oh and
Speaker 1: also if you are storing some seasonal clothes, truly making
Speaker 1: sure that the clothes are clean, do that final load
Speaker 1: of wash, make sure that they are fully dry, and
Speaker 1: then in a sealed container because again mold issues, but
Speaker 1: also bug issues depending on where you're going to put
Speaker 1: the clothing. And then also so that when you reopen
Speaker 1: them up, it's not like super gross and smelly because
Speaker 1: you've cleaned them already. And all of these things will
Speaker 1: prolong the life of the clothes that you love. Now
Speaker 1: that you have minimized your closet. Amen. Um, My last
Speaker 1: one that I'm going to bring up is by as
Speaker 1: good of quality as you can afford, because the better
Speaker 1: the quality of the garment, the longer it's going to
Speaker 1: be able to be cared for. Because if you're still
Speaker 1: buying the cheapest three dollar fast fashion clearance items over
Speaker 1: and over and over, those things aren't going to be
Speaker 1: able to be preserved for as long as better quality fabrics,
Speaker 1: better quality blends, better quality stitching, all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So really, do look at the quality of the clothing
Speaker 1: that you are buying. If you are buying less, then
Speaker 1: you can afford to pay a little more for better quality.
Speaker 1: And we're not talking about like buying new even you
Speaker 1: can buy gently used or brand new stuff from online
Speaker 1: stores like posh Mark and thread Up. You can go
Speaker 1: to consignment stores or two these like these buy back
Speaker 1: places like Plato's Closet, and they have now they're popping
Speaker 1: up with even better ones that are kind of like
Speaker 1: individually owned. But there are so many ways to get
Speaker 1: brand new or barely worn, really good quality clothing, and
Speaker 1: that's kind of what we are advocating for, not the
Speaker 1: you know, not the thrift store stuff that's on its
Speaker 1: last leg, because that is just as bad as buying
Speaker 1: the three dollar fast fact. I mean okay, not just
Speaker 1: as bad. It's better for the environment, but as for
Speaker 1: longevity and what you're spending, it's about on par with that.
Speaker 1: So we're looking for better quality, but not full price
Speaker 1: is ideal, and make sure you really like it, because
Speaker 1: even if you're only spending two or three dollars at
Speaker 1: the thrift store, it's not going to mean much if
Speaker 1: you're just gonna be throwing it away in a few months.
Speaker 1: So finding the quality clothes that you really like, that
Speaker 1: are staple pieces that you can wear often and take
Speaker 1: care of it. And man, does this just breed contentment.
Speaker 1: I have bought so much fewer clothing in the last
Speaker 1: few years just by doing these things, really enjoying the
Speaker 1: things that I buy, making sure that pretty much everything
Speaker 1: I wear I really like, and caring for the things
Speaker 1: as I go. Has read so much contentment, so much
Speaker 1: less time wasted just chopping and spending money. And I
Speaker 1: like my closet. I like the things in my closet
Speaker 1: and they're not going moldy because it's not jam packed. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1: So that brings us to our next article, how to
Speaker 1: fix clothes without sewing. It's specifically how to fix a
Speaker 1: whole in clothes without sewing. Jen loves this one. This
Speaker 1: one's for you. This is your part of the episode
Speaker 1: where you shine. I mean, this is personally just something
Speaker 1: I wanted to know. So that's why I had no
Speaker 1: idea about I mean, there's only three things on this list,
Speaker 1: but I didn't I did not know about two of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna we're just going to talk about there's
Speaker 1: three in here, right, Yeah, there's three. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about all three. Yeah. I mean, certainly this is only
Speaker 1: going to be super useful for you if you've got
Speaker 1: a hole in your clothes that you don't want to sew.
Speaker 1: But when else are you sewing? But you are going
Speaker 1: to need to like go to this article for the
Speaker 1: details on it. Like we'll give an overview, but this
Speaker 1: is not gonna be the exact tutorial on how to
Speaker 1: with these items, just an overview. So you know that
Speaker 1: this exists, Well, yeah, it's it's in the hopes of
Speaker 1: the next time you have a hole in your clothing
Speaker 1: or something gets messed up. You remember this this episode.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, yeah, let me google that. You don't
Speaker 1: know what to google until you know what to google.
Speaker 1: So here's what to google and yeah, right, and back
Speaker 1: to prevention though, before you even get to this stage,
Speaker 1: avoiding holes altogether is going to come from taking care
Speaker 1: of your clothes and some of the ways that we
Speaker 1: just outlined. So you don't even have to like do
Speaker 1: any of this stuff. But if you do, if you
Speaker 1: do have to patch a hole and you don't want
Speaker 1: to sell, what can you do? Jen, what's one way? Well,
Speaker 1: the first thing is to get a patch. Wow, go figure,
Speaker 1: that's the one I knew about. You have heard of this,
Speaker 1: so uh. They are saying it can be tricky though,
Speaker 1: because you want to use a patch from the same
Speaker 1: fabric to obtain the best results. And right now in
Speaker 1: this picture they are patching a flannel with a piece
Speaker 1: of denom And I don't know if you can say
Speaker 1: that those are the same fabric rick, but I think
Speaker 1: if you're using the same piece of cotton like blend
Speaker 1: or hopefully maybe you're buying cotton, that is the best.
Speaker 1: That's ideal, that's prime, and then you've got your d
Speaker 1: cotton patch again prime. There you go. They don't have
Speaker 1: to be the same exact but I think the fact
Speaker 1: so they sell fabric patches too, and from what my
Speaker 1: mom used to do. She would just iron it on,
Speaker 1: just the patch on the back, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if she would wash it before. I don't think you
Speaker 1: can wash it before. But there's got to be a
Speaker 1: trick in the instructions that say, like because you can't,
Speaker 1: I can't put new wine in old wine skins. You know,
Speaker 1: you can't put new patches on old shirts. So there's
Speaker 1: gotta be some trick, like pre washed fabric patch or
Speaker 1: maybe it's good if it's inks because it just kind
Speaker 1: of pulls the hole to gather more. Maybe, but they
Speaker 1: say you can also use fabric glue if you want
Speaker 1: to get really like close fabrics, if you don't want
Speaker 1: to get like an iron on fabric patch. So those
Speaker 1: are the patch methods. Yeah, And I hadn't really thought
Speaker 1: about putting it on the other side, like the inside
Speaker 1: of the clothing. Whenever I think of patches, I think
Speaker 1: the outside these kind of really large and in charge,
Speaker 1: separate pieces a very different looking fabric sewn onto it,
Speaker 1: And that's not you could do that, but that's not
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. It's just kind of like covering
Speaker 1: it up on the inside with fabric, which, yeah, you
Speaker 1: may not even notice, depending on how closely you can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully it's a whole and not like a gash, Like
Speaker 1: that's a different thing. I think you need to find
Speaker 1: the sewing episode for that one. Yeah. Okay, so this
Speaker 1: one I was not aware of. And they're calling it
Speaker 1: the disappearing act using a fusing web. So this is
Speaker 1: something that you could buy from the craft store. Is
Speaker 1: a fusing web. It can be also used for like
Speaker 1: applications and quilts, but also on your clothing with a whole.
Speaker 1: And it's a type of fiber that melts when heated.
Speaker 1: So it comes in a variety of weights and it
Speaker 1: ideally would be best if you choose the weight that
Speaker 1: kind of most closely matches the clothing. Uh. And so
Speaker 1: you would need an iron for this, but you flip
Speaker 1: the clothes inside out, and you might need some parchment
Speaker 1: paper to kind of help with the heat. Have it
Speaker 1: not get stuck to the iron itself. And essentially, like
Speaker 1: the fusing web kind of like melts the fibers of
Speaker 1: the fabric together, like together with it. Like as the
Speaker 1: fusing web melts, it kind of pulls the fabric together
Speaker 1: and pretty much kind of makes it look like the
Speaker 1: whole disappears. Of course, you're going to make need to
Speaker 1: make sure that it works with the type of fabric
Speaker 1: that you have. I imagine this would be best for
Speaker 1: your smaller holes in your clothing. But this one just
Speaker 1: sounds really great for fixing some of those minor minor
Speaker 1: holes in It's also called fusible web. I'm googling it
Speaker 1: now because it's just it doesn't make sense to me
Speaker 1: how it works, but it looks like it works. It
Speaker 1: probably like the product itself, the fusing stuff probably is melting,
Speaker 1: and as it's melting, it's like bringing all of the
Speaker 1: fibers of the clothing together with it. Okay, I trust it,
Speaker 1: I trust it. Let's try it. I doubt that this
Speaker 1: would work great on like silk or fabric that is
Speaker 1: a lot more a lot less porous, if I can
Speaker 1: describe fabric in that way. Probably better on like your cottons.
Speaker 1: But I would imagine that the fusing web would give
Speaker 1: that those types of instructions. So it comes in different weights.
Speaker 1: It comes in different weights, so if you're having a
Speaker 1: lightweight fabric, you use a light fusible web fabric. I
Speaker 1: want to various widths. Try it out with core back friends.
Speaker 1: All right, John, what's the third one? Hemming tape? Hemming way.
Speaker 1: So so this is another adhesive kind of solution that
Speaker 1: you can substitute for sewing, called hemming tape. And these
Speaker 1: are just good things to know because so many people
Speaker 1: will clear out their sewing kits. And if you see
Speaker 1: something like this at like a thrift store or a
Speaker 1: yard sale or something and you know what it is,
Speaker 1: then you can get it and be prepared with it.
Speaker 1: But it it is just another heat activated repair tape essentially,
Speaker 1: So it comes in thick or thin. Thick is used
Speaker 1: for you know, canvas, quarter right, denim, wool swade, while
Speaker 1: the thin one is like cotton, chiffon, linen, rayon, silk.
Speaker 1: And there will be instructions hopefully on the hemming tape.
Speaker 1: But this is it looks like very similar to the
Speaker 1: feasible web and how you use it. And I think
Speaker 1: these kinds of fixes are so worth it when we
Speaker 1: are buying the more quality, when we really like the
Speaker 1: clothes that we have. I think when we're kind of
Speaker 1: just getting the throw away, the fast fashion, we get
Speaker 1: a hole in something and who cares? Just chuck it.
Speaker 1: But what we're advocating for is moving away from that mentality,
Speaker 1: finding a more simple wardrobe of the things that you
Speaker 1: really enjoy, taking care of them, learning how to mend things.
Speaker 1: Don't even have to have a sewing skill set. But
Speaker 1: I think sometimes it can sound silly, like, well, why
Speaker 1: are we talking about patching our clothing? But I think
Speaker 1: when we really like the things that we're wearing and
Speaker 1: we want to extend the life of them, why not.
Speaker 1: And I have had so many articles of clothing have
Speaker 1: various things in them. A button falls off, for yes,
Speaker 1: I get a small hole in it, or a stain,
Speaker 1: and because I love the things that I wear, I
Speaker 1: want to know how to repair this, how to fix it,
Speaker 1: how to make this look better so I can keep
Speaker 1: wearing it and not just throw it out just because
Speaker 1: there's a pen size hole in it, or just because
Speaker 1: there's this stain that I didn't have the energy to
Speaker 1: look up how to treat that type of stain. But
Speaker 1: finding that energy, hopefully we can be that motivation to say,
Speaker 1: let's do the thing. We don't have to have this
Speaker 1: broad skill set to fix our clothing, but let's find
Speaker 1: clothing we like and let's take care of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And just having literally the base knowledge to know what
Speaker 1: to google, I think is really helpful of getting over
Speaker 1: that barrier to entry. Do you know what has very
Speaker 1: low barrier to entry? Super attainable? Anyone could do it.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna want to google it the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's bills, Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. Hi, John and Jill, this is Franz and
Speaker 1: now officially two years after bankruptcy, we knocked our a
Speaker 1: p R down on our auto loan by two percentage
Speaker 1: points this week. My wife thinks it's a little silly
Speaker 1: because we're only saving ten dollars a month, but I'm
Speaker 1: super excited. Keep up the great work, Ah, Franz, thank
Speaker 1: you for calling in that bill. It's not stupid, it's great.
Speaker 1: Ten dollars. You know what you could do with ten dollars,
Speaker 1: good by dinner, taco bell for yourself. You could and
Speaker 1: then bring it home to your wife and be like
Speaker 1: you thought this was stupid, So I'm gonna eat the
Speaker 1: stackle bell. You could probably buy some fusing web to
Speaker 1: like for roles. I don't know if it comes in
Speaker 1: a role or what, but to buy some refusing using
Speaker 1: web to fix some clothes plenty you can do with
Speaker 1: ten dollars. But you know what, it's not just about
Speaker 1: the monetary amount. It's about the deeper choices and awareness
Speaker 1: that's happening here, of doing well with your finances, paying
Speaker 1: attention to interest rates, wanting to pay down car loans. Like,
Speaker 1: there's so much more attached to what you're describing, and
Speaker 1: we just want to say well done and thank you
Speaker 1: for your bill. There are so many valid reasons to
Speaker 1: be proud of you. But also go get some taco
Speaker 1: bellt go to it. You have earned it. If you
Speaker 1: all listening, cut a bill a taco bells worth amount
Speaker 1: or you're just out here being a person named Bill,
Speaker 1: you know the drill Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill.
Speaker 1: We're here. We need you, We actually do really need you. Now.
Speaker 1: We've got two episodes a week, a lot of space
Speaker 1: for all you bills. Yeah, if you have big bill energy,
Speaker 1: give us a call please, Now it's time for let
Speaker 1: me round sure super vulnerable. Yes, this one's not too vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I agree with yours too. Okay, So the
Speaker 1: question is what do you hate most about laundry? Go
Speaker 1: for it, Jen, Okay, So besides finding Chick fil a
Speaker 1: honey mustard, not just because it ruined the clothing, but
Speaker 1: because the honey mustard packet now was wasted, ruined the
Speaker 1: honey mustard. I mean, I just had to wash it again.
Speaker 1: And it's not like the pen, the pen that opened
Speaker 1: up and just destroyed half the wash. I can't with
Speaker 1: that man. I love him dearly, but I can't with
Speaker 1: his laundry. I hate folding, and Travis says it's because
Speaker 1: I fold. I use the I do the Conmari method
Speaker 1: of folding, so it does take a smidge longer, but
Speaker 1: it allows me to place my clothes in face up,
Speaker 1: like like I can see it's stacked, like it can
Speaker 1: see everything versus just the top one thing. And I
Speaker 1: like that because when I put the laundry in, I
Speaker 1: put it in the back, so I cycle through everything,
Speaker 1: like I know what I'm wearing when I'm not wearing.
Speaker 1: So if something stays at the front too long, it
Speaker 1: just leaves, but so I have a reason I do it,
Speaker 1: and Travis, you know s as that's why I hate folding.
Speaker 1: But I think I hate folding just and I just
Speaker 1: hate folding. Yeah, that's a chore. I don't mind because
Speaker 1: it's the one thing you can do and be productive
Speaker 1: while doing sitting and maybe even watching TV. Like to me,
Speaker 1: that's oh, I'm being productive. I'm doing a chore. But
Speaker 1: yet I get to sit like chore is standing moving around. Ben,
Speaker 1: I have to wait till Kai goes to bed because
Speaker 1: he will unfold what I have folded because they'll want
Speaker 1: to help. He's like, can I help? And then he'll
Speaker 1: take the folded stuff and help do that, and and
Speaker 1: so I have to wait. So it sounds like you've
Speaker 1: got a ways to go for him to be doing
Speaker 1: his own laundry in a year and a half. You're right,
Speaker 1: another hack there, Although I don't know if this is
Speaker 1: any better, but I hang my mot to my stuff,
Speaker 1: So there's a very minimal folding. When you when you
Speaker 1: minimize your wardrobe, you don't have to have a bunch
Speaker 1: of different places that it goes. You could just hang
Speaker 1: everything and it can all fit in your closet. Because
Speaker 1: you don't have too much. Yes, that will be my
Speaker 1: solution soon. Right now, I have probably about fifteen inches
Speaker 1: worth of closet space, um fifteen inches for for all
Speaker 1: of the hanging and I've used it to its max.
Speaker 1: So now, yeah, well it's open air. There's no doors
Speaker 1: on the closet. It's really a dumpster fire right now
Speaker 1: because the rack hanging rack actually collapsed and it's just
Speaker 1: one of the many things collapsing on this house. And
Speaker 1: so I'm just and I have so many maternity clothes
Speaker 1: right now. Like so I have this whole wardrobe that
Speaker 1: I don't want to get rid of because I will
Speaker 1: go back to it. But I have this whole wardrobe
Speaker 1: that I have to be in right now. So that's
Speaker 1: just kind of like hanging out, Like those clothes are
Speaker 1: just out like to It's it's such a weird stage
Speaker 1: that I'm in right now. And I'm not even trying
Speaker 1: to be cute about it. There, I am doing the
Speaker 1: least Jill, how about you. So this doesn't have anything
Speaker 1: to do with clothing, but it does have something to
Speaker 1: do with the injury when you really don't like remake
Speaker 1: in the bed. Oh, it's one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: I wait so long to wash my sheets because remaking
Speaker 1: the bed, and it's not just about putting the sheets
Speaker 1: back on the bed. It's also about pulling the comforter
Speaker 1: and if there's extra pillows or blankets on the bed,
Speaker 1: finding a spot to put that while you put the other.
Speaker 1: It's just a lot of moving big blankets around and
Speaker 1: rassling things and hoping my nails don't break. I haven't
Speaker 1: had that one, but I have to take my watch
Speaker 1: off to get the fitted sheet between the headboard, Like yeah,
Speaker 1: and I just can't do much anyway. So I actually
Speaker 1: saw this Instagram reel that was too real about this
Speaker 1: girl coming out of her bedroom and she's like huffing
Speaker 1: and puffing and the things like did you just work out?
Speaker 1: And she's like, no, I just made the bed. And
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, you're right. Yeah, I'm about to
Speaker 1: be making beds constantly when we have the Airbnb up
Speaker 1: and running. But I'm hoping i'll have to report back.
Speaker 1: But we just got a platform bed, so literally there's
Speaker 1: no amount of space that the mattress drops down into
Speaker 1: the bed. Because that's really the worst. You gotta like
Speaker 1: lift up the mattress to get the fitted sheet around
Speaker 1: the corner of the bed, drop it down, scrape yourself.
Speaker 1: It's just yeah, it's or asslin. But this one platform bed.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking it's going to be the key to you, right.
Speaker 1: I hope you're right, and I hope you listening can
Speaker 1: find comfort in these struggles that we have, and I
Speaker 1: hope that you will share with us your own struggles
Speaker 1: about caring for your clothes and selling and making the bed,
Speaker 1: especially if you're in our membership the Frugal Friends Club.
Speaker 1: A lot of you know that we have a membership
Speaker 1: for our listeners who are paying off debt, and we
Speaker 1: do monthly money challenges, we have courses, we offer accountability groups,
Speaker 1: and we want to congratulate one of our members for
Speaker 1: a win. This is Debbie and back in December, she's said,
Speaker 1: I am ready for my Christmas present. I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask my husband to choose one of the book club
Speaker 1: books to read together. I have been looking for a
Speaker 1: way to share some of the financial load with him
Speaker 1: and TWBH getting a little push back, and this is
Speaker 1: a great way. And her update is that he said
Speaker 1: yes to the book club, so he's going to read
Speaker 1: one of our book club books. The like way to go, Debbie.
Speaker 1: Debbie has been on this this mission to share the
Speaker 1: load and you're getting you're making steps. This is not
Speaker 1: the first they were making steps. This is such a
Speaker 1: great idea. I think we've talked about this before and
Speaker 1: episodes about how to get your partner on board. And
Speaker 1: usually when you can identify a third thing, like something
Speaker 1: outside of one of the two of you trying to
Speaker 1: convince the other and play tug of war, but finding
Speaker 1: a resource whether it's a podcast or a book to
Speaker 1: both be listening to share your thoughts on those that
Speaker 1: can be one of the best ways to have mutual
Speaker 1: buy in and kind of shared understanding around a topic.
Speaker 1: This is just such a great idea and then a
Speaker 1: fun activity to do together. So great job, Debbie, m M,
Speaker 1: so thank you for listening. If you want to check
Speaker 1: out our membership where we have all kinds of of courses, interviews,
Speaker 1: challenges and more, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash club to check it out. See you next time.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Jill. Should we
Speaker 1: get a little more vulnerable? Okay? Okay? And they're part
Speaker 1: well and there will be no protection there can be
Speaker 1: protect myself. Okay, how how often do you wash your
Speaker 1: bed sheets prepared for that? Oh? Yeah, not as often
Speaker 1: as I should. However, I am proud to report that
Speaker 1: I did just wash my sheets yesterday. So I'm feeling
Speaker 1: real good right now. I do. This is like a
Speaker 1: weird fun fact. I don't know if it's that fun.
Speaker 1: Maybe just weird fact about me is that I really
Speaker 1: like to have my house clean before I leave for
Speaker 1: a trip. It's like my special treat to myself when
Speaker 1: I come back. I'm not alone in that. I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people like that, and so like
Speaker 1: clean sheets, clean floor, clean bathroom, it's so nice to
Speaker 1: come back to. So we're about to leave. We leave
Speaker 1: tomorrow for just head back north, and I cleaned my
Speaker 1: sheets in preparation for that. But otherwise, I mean, if
Speaker 1: I don't have a trip for a few months, you
Speaker 1: can't disgust me, I know. I honestly, I'd love to
Speaker 1: say it's every two weeks, and like, potentially that's true,
Speaker 1: but more likely it might be once a month. I'm
Speaker 1: a once a month girl. Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely a
Speaker 1: once a month girl. And I just I hate putting
Speaker 1: the sheets on the bed, that monch. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: just hate that. Yeah. And time goes by so quickly
Speaker 1: that right, you think I just did this and it's like, no, sweetheart,
Speaker 1: you did that when it was a different season. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I forget and I'm like, oh, should we change
Speaker 1: the sheets. Oh, it's been a month. We should more
Speaker 1: than more than putting the sheets back on the bed.
Speaker 1: I hate folding the sheets. Folding, folding the Actually I'm
Speaker 1: decently good at it, but I gave up. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: when I when I washed the sheets, that's smart. I
Speaker 1: know someone who like wash washes. When they wash them,
Speaker 1: if they're not putting them back on the bed, they
Speaker 1: just throw it all into a pillow case. So then
Speaker 1: they know when they can just like grab a pillow
Speaker 1: case out of the linen closet. It has everything in it,
Speaker 1: flat sheet, fittaged sheet, extra pillow cases. That's a your
Speaker 1: stuff is gonna be wrinkly. But I mean that's a
Speaker 1: great hack. Yeah. So because I hate folding it so much,
Speaker 1: then I just put the things that I just washed
Speaker 1: back on the bed. So that that that's great, But
Speaker 1: then it can also confuse me to not really remember
Speaker 1: when was the last time I washed the sheets, because
Speaker 1: I'm never the sheets never look different, like, it's always
Speaker 1: my white sheets that I'm using, So who knows. And
Speaker 1: I'm not keeping a calendar. I'm just going off of
Speaker 1: what feels right, and what feels right is every six weeks. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: when we pay the mortgage, I know it's time to
Speaker 1: change the sheets. But the mortgage payment is automatics, and
Speaker 1: there you go. There's the problem, so many problems. Yeah, So, um,
Speaker 1: I just changed the sheets every time I wet the bed.
Speaker 1: That's probably smart, that's probably that's probably the way to go.
Speaker 1: That's probably the way to go. If I didn't urinate
Speaker 1: in the bed, then we're good to go. Why not,
Speaker 1: It's fine,