Speaker 1: Episode one oh nine, how to Maintain a Minimalist lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and live with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill m Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and we have another episode on minimalism for you guys today.
Speaker 1: It is a happy day for me and I'll let
Speaker 1: you know why later. But we periodically do episodes on
Speaker 1: minimalism because sometimes you're stuck in your house for like
Speaker 1: six seven weeks and you just clear out all your closet.
Speaker 1: I mean that's that happens sometimes. Yes, it's the best
Speaker 1: use of time. Yeah, and then you want to like
Speaker 1: maintain not all that hard work that you just did.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we love minimalism repairs so well with frugality. But yeah,
Speaker 1: then then how do you maintain it? Which is all
Speaker 1: which is pretty much what our podcast is about with frugality.
Speaker 1: How to maintain it? Yes, how do you? How do
Speaker 1: you keep doing it? So before we get into that,
Speaker 1: let's uh, let's get on with our sponsors, our other
Speaker 1: sponsor is First Birthdays. Today as Pi's first birthday. We've
Speaker 1: kept him alive for a full year, and I am impressed.
Speaker 1: I've been dreaming about throwing him a first birthday party
Speaker 1: since before he was born, because, let's be honest, a
Speaker 1: first birthday isn't for the kid, it's for the parents.
Speaker 1: I bought space decorations on Amazon because people on Facebook
Speaker 1: looked at me weird for asking if I could have
Speaker 1: their decorations first birthdays. I will give anyone these deck
Speaker 1: corations when I'm done with them. Oh my goodness, there's
Speaker 1: so many things I don't know what to ask about. First. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, congratulations, thank you for a year the
Speaker 1: first one. Yes, not a question, just a congratulations. Thank you. Also,
Speaker 1: you saw other people's first birthday decorations and message them
Speaker 1: asking if you could borrow them. I was in a
Speaker 1: mom's group on Facebook, a local mom's group, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Hey, does anybody have any first birthday decorations?
Speaker 1: I'm not picky, but I do have a boy um
Speaker 1: and nobody. Somebody gave me a referral link to buy
Speaker 1: other to buy decorations online and I was like, shut up,
Speaker 1: I work online. I know what you're doing. So, um,
Speaker 1: nobody pulled through like I wanted them too. That's funny
Speaker 1: that they would think that's funny. I think that's normal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but we're the frugal friends and that's what we do
Speaker 1: because we're minimalist and we don't want to bring more
Speaker 1: things into our house if we don't have to or
Speaker 1: put money on something that you're only going to use once, right,
Speaker 1: and I did so I will pass it on to
Speaker 1: anybody else who wants to throw a space themed first
Speaker 1: birthday for their child, let me know, and Um, I'll
Speaker 1: send these to you. And that's where I'm at. And
Speaker 1: and that's because I hate having extra stuff because I
Speaker 1: love minimalism. Yes, has it on forward. We have a
Speaker 1: few other episodes on minimalism. If you've been listening for
Speaker 1: a while, you've heard them. If not, UM, then check
Speaker 1: out episode eighty nine with Desiree Andrews. She's the host
Speaker 1: of the minimal Ish podcast, and we have her on
Speaker 1: talking about um being minimal ish. Uh. And then episode
Speaker 1: ninete we talked about contentment, gratitude and flexible minimalism. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of the name of our game, is flexible
Speaker 1: ish minimalism. And for some reason without planning. Yes, every
Speaker 1: tenth episode has been about minimalism one O nine. That
Speaker 1: was not planned. But we're going to keep doing um.
Speaker 1: But if we're still around the cheers, So we wanted
Speaker 1: to do this episode today because yes, a lot of
Speaker 1: people have been decluttering over the past two months, and
Speaker 1: how do we keep going with this newfound minimalism. How
Speaker 1: do we maintain it? And that's what we're talking about today.
Speaker 1: And our first article is from becoming Minimalist and uh
Speaker 1: he is giving us seven powerful ways to maintain momentum
Speaker 1: after decluttering. So this is right after decluttering, how do
Speaker 1: you keep on the path when life gets busy again? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this is a great perspective to come from
Speaker 1: because a lot of times, even within the minimalist movement,
Speaker 1: it's a how to become minimalist, and I think it's
Speaker 1: important to then talk about how do we maintain that
Speaker 1: because we're not just going to automatically keep doing it.
Speaker 1: It's very easy to fall back into our old patterns
Speaker 1: and ways of doing things. UM. So I like the
Speaker 1: approach that this first article takes of how to find
Speaker 1: new opportunities and live intentionally, which is the undercurrent of minimalism.
Speaker 1: It's not just about having less stuff. It's actually not
Speaker 1: really about that at all, hardly, but more about what
Speaker 1: you can do with your time, what's the best use
Speaker 1: of your time, energy, money, and how can we live
Speaker 1: in more intentionally because our spaces are less cluttered and
Speaker 1: we inside ourselves are less cluttered. Yeah, and I forget that.
Speaker 1: We actually had Joshua Becker, the writer behind Becoming Minimalists.
Speaker 1: We had him on the show and that was episode
Speaker 1: thirty two. I just looked it up so you can
Speaker 1: one of my favorite episodes for the record. I was
Speaker 1: fan girling. Yeah we yeah, we love Joshua Becker and
Speaker 1: Becoming Minimalists. So he's got such great things to say.
Speaker 1: What were some of your favorite things from these seven
Speaker 1: Powerful Ways? Yeah, so number two stood out to me,
Speaker 1: which is take better care of your things. I think
Speaker 1: we can maintain what we've already begun by making sure
Speaker 1: that we are caring for the things that we do
Speaker 1: have so that they last longer, and also to keep
Speaker 1: us from that urge of I need to buy new,
Speaker 1: or I need to buy different, or I need to
Speaker 1: throw this out, or I need to buy more and
Speaker 1: have multiple by taking care of our things. Not only
Speaker 1: does that make it lasts longer, but I think it
Speaker 1: also helps us to be more invested in what we
Speaker 1: do have and appreciate it if we're caring for it.
Speaker 1: So one of the examples Joshua gives with number two
Speaker 1: is UM line drying your clothes like not putting them
Speaker 1: through the dryer. Um, it doesn't. It makes clothes last
Speaker 1: longer if we line dry. Apparently it takes away the
Speaker 1: life of your article of clothing if we are constantly
Speaker 1: putting it through the dryer. Not to mention, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about in other episodes, that can save on energy costs. UM,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of other benefits that can happen as
Speaker 1: a result of that. But finding ways that will help
Speaker 1: your items have more life to them, yeah, doing your
Speaker 1: research for sure. I liked his first one, which is
Speaker 1: start a blog, so UM. This one is is close
Speaker 1: to my heart because this is how I maintained momentum
Speaker 1: when you were paying off debt. That's exactly why I
Speaker 1: started my blog, is to have, um, just some motivation,
Speaker 1: some accountability. I didn't think anyone would read it, UM,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to have maybe something to help me
Speaker 1: decompress and figure stuff out. And so he says that
Speaker 1: starting a blog is one of the most important things
Speaker 1: he's ever done um for his intentional living journey, and
Speaker 1: I wholeheartedly agree. So, if this is a lifestyle that
Speaker 1: you want to continue to stay engaged with, it's and
Speaker 1: it's not. You don't have to stay engaged with paying
Speaker 1: off debt or being minimalist. You can just have that
Speaker 1: be a part of your life. But if it's something
Speaker 1: that you want to continue to stay engage with and
Speaker 1: learn more about and have is a large part of
Speaker 1: your life, then starting a blog can really be an
Speaker 1: outlet for you to research and learn and decompress your thoughts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I forgot that that was the beginning intention of blogs,
Speaker 1: almost like an online journal, And if you wanted to
Speaker 1: read it, fine. Otherwise, this is a way to not
Speaker 1: take up space on my computer. It's just being stored
Speaker 1: on the internet and people can read it if they want.
Speaker 1: It's become something so much different than that. But I
Speaker 1: feel like what you're describing and what's being described in
Speaker 1: this article is kind of getting back to the roots
Speaker 1: of what the intention of blogs are kind of Yeah,
Speaker 1: a way to decompress or a way to theorize, a
Speaker 1: way to track, a way to log, and and and
Speaker 1: letting other people read your journal and helping like just
Speaker 1: helping the people around you. I think another reason that
Speaker 1: I started my blog was I wanted to help my
Speaker 1: friends and family learn some of the things that I
Speaker 1: had been learning. And when people started reading it, it
Speaker 1: just motivated me more to keep helping other people and
Speaker 1: helping people really how to keep me motivated? Yeah, see,
Speaker 1: that's another great thing about a blog. Uh. Something else
Speaker 1: you can do with your time is volunteer. So this
Speaker 1: obviously is up to each individual on where they want
Speaker 1: to volunteer, how much time they want to volunteer, what
Speaker 1: kind of skill sets you have to be able to volunteer.
Speaker 1: And this might seem like a weird thing to say,
Speaker 1: but I think it links back to what we're talking
Speaker 1: about with maintaining minimalism means that we need to look
Speaker 1: for new opportunities and ways to live intentionally, in ways
Speaker 1: to fill our time that are purposeful, again, to keep
Speaker 1: us from falling back into old patterns of spending all
Speaker 1: of our time up keeping all of our stuff, or
Speaker 1: purchasing more or fill in the blank with everything that
Speaker 1: coincides with just having a lot of stuff, and so
Speaker 1: when we realize, like our version of minimalism, it comes
Speaker 1: with the territory that sometimes we have some extra time
Speaker 1: and what are we going to do with that? In
Speaker 1: a really purposeful, intentional way of spending that time is
Speaker 1: to volunteer. So finding a local nonprofit that you feel
Speaker 1: confident about and being able to give some of your
Speaker 1: time on a weekly, bi weekly, even monthly basis. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I love what Joshua points out in this article
Speaker 1: that it's not just about what you're doing to volunteer,
Speaker 1: but it's also about connecting with other volunteers. Like minded
Speaker 1: people who are also giving of their time can create
Speaker 1: a really beautiful community and at whatever place you are
Speaker 1: volunteering at, forming relationships um with the people they're also
Speaker 1: so it can expand life so much by doing that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And there's no shortage of opportunities to volunteer right now.
Speaker 1: There are. There's a lot of need from organizations locally especially,
Speaker 1: so definitely figure out a place where you can help
Speaker 1: the people in your community, even in social distanced ways. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of being able to even make meals for people and
Speaker 1: drop them off for like you said, there's tons of ways,
Speaker 1: and I think even just reaching out to different nonprofits
Speaker 1: in your community can help to identify what you could
Speaker 1: do right now along that line, Number four is to
Speaker 1: donate money. I loved that one because that it directly
Speaker 1: aligns with frugality. We we buy less and we spend
Speaker 1: less so that we can invest more in the things
Speaker 1: that we care about. But that's not just in our lives.
Speaker 1: That also is in um causes and people that really
Speaker 1: need us um the We can't rely on other people, billionaires,
Speaker 1: the government, whoever you think is going to take care
Speaker 1: of the people that need it, like, we have to
Speaker 1: rely on ourselves and each other. And so if you
Speaker 1: have enough, you can give the extra and even if
Speaker 1: you don't have enough right now, giving a little bit
Speaker 1: will be a practice for when you do have enough
Speaker 1: that you will continue to give and give more. So
Speaker 1: when you when you give a little um, it's a
Speaker 1: higher percentage than if you know then when you do
Speaker 1: eventually get rich and you're giving a lot, like you
Speaker 1: can give the same percentage when we're all millionaires, when
Speaker 1: you're when we are all millionaires. That's the goal of
Speaker 1: frugality and minimalism. Yeah, yeah, UM. And Yeah, as your
Speaker 1: debt gets paid off and you're spending lessons, UM, just
Speaker 1: figure out ways either organizations UM that give a significant
Speaker 1: portion of their donations to the community or whoever they're serving,
Speaker 1: or even just directly to people, like cut out the
Speaker 1: middle man and if you see people around you suffering,
Speaker 1: take them a meal, give them a gift card, like
Speaker 1: do things that aren't going to hurt their pride. UM.
Speaker 1: Don't just like write them a check or give them cash,
Speaker 1: but figure out ways to um honor those struggling in
Speaker 1: your community with some kind of monetary donation. UM. It
Speaker 1: just it's what we need right now. It's it's what
Speaker 1: our world needs right now. There's two on here that
Speaker 1: just are not super relevant given current circumstances, the Age
Speaker 1: and Corona. The one is travel somewhere new and the
Speaker 1: other one is do nothing. And I feel like neither
Speaker 1: one of those are super applicable right now. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna pass over that and go ahead, Jen
Speaker 1: with the last one. Yeah, this is another one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things to talk about, establish a new daily habit.
Speaker 1: I love talking about habits UM, how to build them,
Speaker 1: how to break them. It's like my thing, and uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: having less actually gives your brain more opportunity and space
Speaker 1: to process because you're you're visually like not drawn to
Speaker 1: so many places. When you have a minimalist home or
Speaker 1: minimalist schedule, your brain can be in one place for
Speaker 1: longer and it can make better decisions. And so that
Speaker 1: aids you in UM. It sets you up to be
Speaker 1: able to build better habits and attaching a new habit
Speaker 1: to an action that you already have, or just starting
Speaker 1: something small and trying to do it for sixty consecutive days.
Speaker 1: That's what the article says. UM will will help you
Speaker 1: to improve, you know, ten percent every month and eventually
Speaker 1: you will be a hundred percent better. Like maybe I
Speaker 1: think that's how fractions work. But having having a minimalist
Speaker 1: lifestyle will will help you. And then also actively and
Speaker 1: intentionally trying to form new and better habits. Uh. That
Speaker 1: that provides action in your life. And action is actually
Speaker 1: what produces motivation. So it's not you get motivated and
Speaker 1: then you act. It's action that produces motivation. So the
Speaker 1: more you act, the more motivation you have. And so
Speaker 1: this is a tiny way to start off with some
Speaker 1: action uh and increase your motivation to remain minimalist. I'm
Speaker 1: always drawn to the ones that have numbers attached to it,
Speaker 1: Like it gets me that this says something for ten
Speaker 1: minutes for sixty consecutive days. That to me sounds like,
Speaker 1: all right, let's try it. We can do this. It's
Speaker 1: not just like start a new habit, okay, And you
Speaker 1: have to get a past You have to get past
Speaker 1: the mindset to that like little things are pointless, So
Speaker 1: like taking a ten minute walk might seem pointless, like
Speaker 1: it burns like five calories what um? So just get
Speaker 1: past the mindset that small actions are meaningless and start
Speaker 1: to live in their significance. Start to find significance in
Speaker 1: the small things, and you will find that they eventually
Speaker 1: do become big things. But you have to get past
Speaker 1: them the small mindset like that says small things don't matter.
Speaker 1: Oh well, said, yeah, my goodness, You've got a one
Speaker 1: year old now, and you've just got wisdom pouring out
Speaker 1: probably how you know, some small things do matter. You've
Speaker 1: got my god, a small, tiny one year old, and
Speaker 1: he matters. He you really get to the to the
Speaker 1: core meaning of my life. Jill, Yes, you so well.
Speaker 1: To two plus years of podcasting. Man, look at what
Speaker 1: it's done. I know. All right, let's get onto our
Speaker 1: next article. It's from One Empty Shelf dot com and
Speaker 1: it's how to maintain minimalism. So once you're kind of
Speaker 1: settled in and this is kind of where we are,
Speaker 1: we're embracing the lifestyle, and so how do you just
Speaker 1: make this a normal part of your life? And she's
Speaker 1: got three tips that I really enjoy or four, sorry
Speaker 1: for yeah, So we'll go through all of them. And
Speaker 1: the first one is to keep the right mindset, meaning
Speaker 1: to maintain this perspective that minimalism is a way of
Speaker 1: removing the unnecessary to make room for what's important. And
Speaker 1: I love the way that she describes this because a
Speaker 1: lot of times we ourselves or other in this minimalist
Speaker 1: space can say, oh, it's so it's deprivation. It lacks personality, right,
Speaker 1: Like we think of minimalism and we think of white
Speaker 1: walls with like one tiny greenery on like a little tables,
Speaker 1: Like that's what minimalism is. It's for like the quiet
Speaker 1: people who don't have children. And that's just like it's
Speaker 1: not the case at all. Um, So maybe we should
Speaker 1: stop using pictures that that give that association anyhow I digress,
Speaker 1: So maintaining this perspective that it is a helpful tool
Speaker 1: to getting at what's important in life. Um and every
Speaker 1: time that maybe we we're thinking about just collecting and
Speaker 1: collecting and collecting helping to put some of those stop
Speaker 1: gaps in our thought life of well, what is this
Speaker 1: gonna do? Is this going to add meaning and purpose
Speaker 1: and intentionality to my life or is this just like
Speaker 1: a thing that I'm mindlessly bringing in into my space.
Speaker 1: And maintaining this thought life and this perspective so that
Speaker 1: we don't again, yeah, kind of just go back into
Speaker 1: old ways because we're not thinking about it. Definitely. The
Speaker 1: next one is to continue to edit your possessions. So
Speaker 1: this is something that you will have to do and
Speaker 1: redo for the rest of your life, because even with
Speaker 1: trying to pare down your possessions or pare down your
Speaker 1: whether they be tangible or digital or in your schedule,
Speaker 1: you have to continually reevaluate and pare down and establish
Speaker 1: what's a priority or what's important right now. Because something
Speaker 1: that three months ago could have been really important and
Speaker 1: really useful maybe now or you know, six months down
Speaker 1: the road, may not be and that's totally fine. There
Speaker 1: are seasons for every thing, so that's why you have
Speaker 1: to continue to edit what you have. Uh, it's definitely
Speaker 1: it's easy to do one big clear out and do
Speaker 1: a full reset all together. That's great. Uh, and then
Speaker 1: just go through every maybe six months or as as
Speaker 1: you feel like my closets getting like crowded again, let
Speaker 1: me see or my junk drawer seems junkie again, let
Speaker 1: me go through this stuff. It'll your space will begin
Speaker 1: to tell you when it needs to be edited. I like,
Speaker 1: I like her how she says edit. I want to
Speaker 1: do some more. Um. But your your space will tell
Speaker 1: you when you when it needs something, and you can
Speaker 1: more easily read that when you are living a minimalist lifestyle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and finding a number three on here is finding a
Speaker 1: minimalist community. So finding inspiration and support from others really
Speaker 1: helps us to keep on track with this. And this
Speaker 1: could be online through Facebook groups or blogs or podcasts, um,
Speaker 1: but it can also be just in your community if
Speaker 1: you've got friends who are like minded, or you want
Speaker 1: to begin your own kind of online group for people
Speaker 1: who are local to you. That's I mean, we've talked
Speaker 1: about this before and already in this podcast, you know,
Speaker 1: with talking about blogs, but this podcast has helped me
Speaker 1: in the community that we've created, maintain frugality and by proxy,
Speaker 1: minimalism too. It's it's a focus that I appreciate for
Speaker 1: my own life. But it's amazing how much like we
Speaker 1: can stay focused on our own But it's amazing the
Speaker 1: exponential growth and focus and inspiration of motivation that can
Speaker 1: come from having community. I think it is a greater
Speaker 1: It happens to a greater degree when you're surrounded by
Speaker 1: other like minded people and you're allowing their ideas to
Speaker 1: kind of influence what you're doing and your choices. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's fantastic. So finding that community can be really helpful. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I so when looking for a Facebook group in particular,
Speaker 1: I recommend choosing smaller groups. Minimalism is a like big
Speaker 1: topic for Facebook groups, and you can find groups with
Speaker 1: thirty fifty people you're and you're not going to get
Speaker 1: as much rich interaction with other people. Are The Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends community on Facebook has just around two thousand, and
Speaker 1: I feel like that is just a perfect number. I
Speaker 1: know will continue to grow, but right now I feel
Speaker 1: like we're at a great place. So don't shrug off
Speaker 1: a group because it doesn't have as many members as
Speaker 1: another group. Look. Facebook will tell you how active the
Speaker 1: group is and how many members are in it. And
Speaker 1: you want to look for groups that have fewer people
Speaker 1: but are still active, like still have new posts daily
Speaker 1: and monthly. So just like that when you look it
Speaker 1: is important. Yeah, active is important to take into consideration,
Speaker 1: and Facebook tells you. Uh. For worth is probably my
Speaker 1: favorite one on here. Um, marvel at the space and
Speaker 1: time you create to devote to things you love. Uh.
Speaker 1: Minimalism isn't about removing things and leaving a gaping void.
Speaker 1: Minimalism allows you to fill that gap with every single
Speaker 1: thing you love to do and create. It's a fuller life,
Speaker 1: but a more meaningful one. And that is I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what we're all about in minimalism and frugality is
Speaker 1: stripping away the noise, stripping away the clutter, stripping away
Speaker 1: all of the transactions and what remains is what's most valuable.
Speaker 1: And take time. Once you begin to do that, don't
Speaker 1: take it for granted. Take time to step back and
Speaker 1: look at the light the full life you're creating, and
Speaker 1: and really appreciate it. I love that word, marvel. It's
Speaker 1: such a it inspires so much wonder And I think
Speaker 1: also gratitude, which I know we've talked about before as well,
Speaker 1: but that can help us to adopt a grateful perspective,
Speaker 1: to recognize the pieces that we can be grateful for,
Speaker 1: even in difficult times or when things are weird or
Speaker 1: feeling out of balance, which it has been for the
Speaker 1: past couple of months. I do think that looking for
Speaker 1: pieces of gratitude can really help. And I think um
Speaker 1: a lot of what's included in the minimalist lifestyle can
Speaker 1: assist us in finding pieces to be grateful for. We
Speaker 1: can see it more clearly because we've paired down to
Speaker 1: what we love, what's meaningful, what provides us with purpose. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's the point that we are trying to get
Speaker 1: across here, and so I hope that you've seen it.
Speaker 1: And then there's there's one more point we're trying to
Speaker 1: get across here, and we try and get it across
Speaker 1: every week. Every week, you're getting it, I think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're all getting it hopefully. Yeah, it's the 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 build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. My name is Jackie. I'm an e
Speaker 1: l A teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada, the city that
Speaker 1: used to Never sleep, which means that I am now
Speaker 1: teaching el A at home. My favorite bill of the
Speaker 1: week is for my big red two thousand fourteen truck.
Speaker 1: I drove it in the school parade today. We had
Speaker 1: about thirty cars that drove through the neighborhoods that our
Speaker 1: children live in. Um. Everybody said what it was great
Speaker 1: to see because it's so bright. It's easy for everybody
Speaker 1: to look at and to know where they are in line.
Speaker 1: But it is my favorite bill of the week because
Speaker 1: I paid it off two months ago, before we knew
Speaker 1: that coronavirus was going to be a thing. Thanks girls
Speaker 1: for everything you do. That's amazing. That's awesome. First of all,
Speaker 1: big red truck. That just sounds so fun and bright
Speaker 1: and cheery and providing so much joy to people. But
Speaker 1: also the fact that you paid it off without even
Speaker 1: knowing what was to come. But you're like previous frugal
Speaker 1: mental desire to be debt free has helped you right now, Um,
Speaker 1: well done, amazing, Yes, yes, congratulations and gosh, I hope
Speaker 1: I hope those kids are back in the classroom soon.
Speaker 1: I know teachers were first really excited about like working digitally,
Speaker 1: and now all I talk I talked to them and
Speaker 1: they're like, I just need to get back in the classroom.
Speaker 1: I can't figure any of this out. It's so annoying.
Speaker 1: Even the ones that have figured it out are like,
Speaker 1: I kind of missed my kids. So yeah, and I
Speaker 1: know parents. We don't need to parents because we all
Speaker 1: know parents. Kids said yeah, yeah, all all kudos and
Speaker 1: applause to teachers and parents doing this thing together to
Speaker 1: join the effort. Yeah. Oh well, if you all have
Speaker 1: a big red drug or paid off debt or an
Speaker 1: amazing parade bill or other kind of bill to tell
Speaker 1: us about, uh, please submit it to us at Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash bill. We'll listen to it.
Speaker 1: It may not be until like October and November at
Speaker 1: this point, because y'all heard us and you've been submitting
Speaker 1: your bills like crazy. Thank you. Uh through August, so
Speaker 1: you we asked for bills and you provided. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and that's what you do because you're the best. Yes,
Speaker 1: and now it's time for the next best thing. Well, so, uh,
Speaker 1: let's talk about our decluttering. Jill, have you decluttered anything
Speaker 1: while in quarantine? Yes? Tell on me about it. So
Speaker 1: I do like how the previous article mentioned editing. I
Speaker 1: do feel that's what we do on the regular so
Speaker 1: maintenance mode editing. Although there's a lot to be said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to try and keep this brief. We have
Speaker 1: moved to people recently, um still in our own way
Speaker 1: of social distancing, but moves have still happened. So we've
Speaker 1: tried to do our best to help family. And I
Speaker 1: think that this highlighted to me the importance of maintaining minimalism,
Speaker 1: and this happens to all of us. Like I would
Speaker 1: consider myself pretty extreme minimalist, and yet I still collect
Speaker 1: things and every time I move somebody, I realized, Man,
Speaker 1: we just we fill our space. And for me, every
Speaker 1: time I move it it's a motivator to move somebody else.
Speaker 1: It's a motivator for me to come back and look
Speaker 1: at right, what else can I get rid of because
Speaker 1: we move about once a year. It's like, yeah, not
Speaker 1: a great rate of moving for us right now, but
Speaker 1: we do and so I realize how much it is
Speaker 1: to pack up and to move, and so I want
Speaker 1: our moves to be simpler and simpler. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: since we do have an office space, we've been able
Speaker 1: to kind of unpack a lot of the stuff that
Speaker 1: we had kept in like a little storage space and
Speaker 1: start to see the things that I kept because I
Speaker 1: thought eventually I'm going to have a house and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna want these things. And now it's been like five
Speaker 1: years that we've lived tiny, so I'm like, well, these
Speaker 1: things I don't think I even want anymore, like I've
Speaker 1: done without them for so long. So little by little
Speaker 1: we've been posting things on Facebook, market place and stashing
Speaker 1: some money for when we do get a place and
Speaker 1: we'll just make the decisions for what we want at
Speaker 1: that point. But no use in keeping it anymore. I've
Speaker 1: just realized it's not it's not worth it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny the things you keep thinking like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna want this when this happens, and then by the
Speaker 1: time it happens, you don't want it anymore. I've that's
Speaker 1: happened to me several times as well. So just assume
Speaker 1: that whenever whatever happens, you're not gonna want whatever it is,
Speaker 1: and sell it now and keep the money so that
Speaker 1: you can buy something you really do want whenever you
Speaker 1: do get your own place. Yeah, yeah, what about you?
Speaker 1: I have done, yeah, just maintenance decluttering whenever I wear
Speaker 1: a shirt that I no longer enjoy, and I get
Speaker 1: most of my shirts from like clothing swaps and friends,
Speaker 1: so I don't spend money on clothing. I uh so
Speaker 1: I don't feel bad getting rid of it either because
Speaker 1: I didn't spend any money on it. Um. But if
Speaker 1: I don't love it, I'll put it in a pile
Speaker 1: in my closet. That is the donation pile. And usually
Speaker 1: that donation pile gets donated three month and we have
Speaker 1: not been able to donate things, so that pile is
Speaker 1: just sitting on my uh closet floor, just waiting to
Speaker 1: be donated at some point. I've got a pile in
Speaker 1: my car too. These thrift stores are going to be
Speaker 1: over run, yes, Oh my gosh, it's going to be
Speaker 1: the thrifter's paradise. Once all the stuff gets sorted out,
Speaker 1: if the three stores take it all, they might start
Speaker 1: to get uh like have standards. Right, It's still going
Speaker 1: to be a thrifter's paradise because it's already been so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Travis is actually off through May um and so
Speaker 1: he has been selling things. He's been going through um
Speaker 1: our clutter and seeing what he can sell on Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 1: So he's been doing a bulk of the decluttering, which
Speaker 1: is a total flip flop. I have always been the
Speaker 1: declutter and he's always been the order. But right now,
Speaker 1: like I'm just working so much that he is selling
Speaker 1: all kinds of things. It's great. We need right, so
Speaker 1: I'll talk at your table. So it's it's been great
Speaker 1: having him come to the dark side for a little while,
Speaker 1: for as long as he's home. Once you catch the bug, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's kind of fun. Yeah, it is, especially
Speaker 1: when you're selling it on Facebook, market place or eBay
Speaker 1: then and you know you can make a little money
Speaker 1: off of it. It's been fun. I'll usually have let
Speaker 1: it sit posted for about a month and usually things, um,
Speaker 1: if it's if we think it's worth posting, it'll go
Speaker 1: pretty quickly. Um, and if it's not, it'll sit there
Speaker 1: for a month and then just get donated. Uh. There
Speaker 1: was actually one thing recently that I did donate and
Speaker 1: Travis six months later got somebody that wanted to buy it,
Speaker 1: but I had already donated it and I felt slightly bad.
Speaker 1: But not six months though that would have been a
Speaker 1: long time to hold onto it. Yeah, it was a while.
Speaker 1: Uh So yeah, take take those tips for what you will.
Speaker 1: And I just have you been doing anything else in quarantine, Jill?
Speaker 1: You know, I've been working a lot, and I know
Speaker 1: that that's kind of the case for you too, and
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for that that my work has been well,
Speaker 1: I say, relatively unaffected, but also an increase UM. I
Speaker 1: work in the mental health space, and so UM this
Speaker 1: time has really brought out a lot of vulnerabilities for people, UM,
Speaker 1: increased anxiety and I mean other things too. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of blessings that people are identifying in this time,
Speaker 1: but it's it's been difficult for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: and so UM A lot have been seeking support and
Speaker 1: encouragement during this time, which I'm so glad for UM
Speaker 1: to see some of the stigma of counseling fall fall off,
Speaker 1: but definitely a lot more people reaching out for assistance
Speaker 1: right now. So it's really been like I've been working
Speaker 1: from like eight am till seven pm and then dinner,
Speaker 1: and it's dark out and cold here. It's still cold
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. It's like has snowed that we're recording this
Speaker 1: end of April and it's still like in the thirties
Speaker 1: and forties anyhow. Yeah, so it's just been like that's
Speaker 1: that's been it. Really. I wish I could say that
Speaker 1: I'm one of those people who is um crossing off
Speaker 1: like crazy goals that they've had their whole lives and
Speaker 1: doing house projects and all this stuff. I mean, thankfully
Speaker 1: we live minimalists. We don't have like big projects we
Speaker 1: have to finish. But it's it's been work for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I think everybody got their all their goals
Speaker 1: done in the first month, and in April has just
Speaker 1: been everybody binging Netflix and which is totally okay, which
Speaker 1: is fine, how about you. Yeah, working a lot, and
Speaker 1: I start a YouTube channel, so I added more work
Speaker 1: to my plate UM and we will be growing the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends YouTube channels, So definitely subscribe to that. UM
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends on YouTube, and then I started a YouTube
Speaker 1: channel for Modern Frugality, So that's going to cover um
Speaker 1: some different things UM related to frugality. And if you
Speaker 1: like fruality, you'll definitely want to subscribe to both of
Speaker 1: those channels. It's free, yeah, so no reason not to
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, definitely nice. Well, someday we'll all be
Speaker 1: able to see each other again one day, yeah, one day,
Speaker 1: and or at least the weather we'll get warm and
Speaker 1: I'll be able to enjoy the outdoors like it seems
Speaker 1: a lot of people get to do right now. There's
Speaker 1: so many people who are unashamedly like I am so
Speaker 1: ready for bathing suit, whether just because all they've been
Speaker 1: doing is exercising, running two times a day and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. I'm like, good for you. That is not
Speaker 1: my story, but good for you. Yeah. Anyhow, Uh, let's
Speaker 1: wrap this thing up. Thanks so much for listening everybody.
Speaker 1: We are so thrilled, especially right now, to still be
Speaker 1: surrounded by community online and through this podcast. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your kind reviews. Those of you
Speaker 1: who have reviewed our podcast UM on iTunes or stitchers.
Speaker 1: We want to highlight one that that has been especially
Speaker 1: encouraging and I think helpful for other people to kind
Speaker 1: of learn whether or not this is going to be
Speaker 1: a podcast for them. So this one's titled love This
Speaker 1: podcast happens to be. Five stars happens to be and
Speaker 1: they say, I am new to frugal friends. The podcast
Speaker 1: was recommended to me by the budget mom group on Facebook.
Speaker 1: I am familiar with many aspects of frugality, but there
Speaker 1: are a few gems that I picked up. This podcast
Speaker 1: is like having a conversation with your girlfriends. Jen and
Speaker 1: Jill are practical and funny, never judge or scolding, as
Speaker 1: some well known financial folks are. I put on this
Speaker 1: podcast when I'm cleaning the house, when I'm working on
Speaker 1: my budget or doing my nails. Thanks, ladies, appreciate your
Speaker 1: hard work. Rhea naughty, Oh, thank you so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what good times to be listening cleaning the house, working
Speaker 1: on the budget, or painting your nails. I'm so kind
Speaker 1: joining you during those times because nobody's listening to us
Speaker 1: on on their commute right now. That's true. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: We've heard people in the Facebook group saying like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm behind because I don't have it on my Friday
Speaker 1: morning commune, and I'm like, I know, I miss, I know,
Speaker 1: I understand. So we want to thank you guys for
Speaker 1: listening and sharing. So every month we do a drawing
Speaker 1: for ten dollar Amazon gift cards. If you share the
Speaker 1: latest episode and tag guests at Frugal Friends podcast on
Speaker 1: Facebook or Instagram, we will add you to our monthly drawing,
Speaker 1: and we do one of those gift cards for every
Speaker 1: five tags and reviews we get every month. Sorry, just
Speaker 1: hit my mic so excited, So keep leaving us reviews
Speaker 1: on iTunes or Stitcher and sending us a screenshot to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com and tag us
Speaker 1: on social media both ways will enter you into our drawing. Yes,
Speaker 1: and we will see you next week. Have a good
Speaker 1: Memorial Day. Oh bye bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited
Speaker 1: and mixed by Eric Sperience. Um can I tell you
Speaker 1: about something that's been super therapeutic for me? Yes? Uh so,
Speaker 1: I watched a clean with Me video recently last week
Speaker 1: and it was uh neither had I. Um So, I
Speaker 1: don't know why I was looking at cleaning stuff, but
Speaker 1: I was on YouTube and uh, this woman had She's
Speaker 1: it's cleaned my space on YouTube she's like a million subscribers,
Speaker 1: and she did a kitchen clean with me, and so
Speaker 1: it was a time lapse of her cleaning and she
Speaker 1: was just going through and explaining her cleaning method how
Speaker 1: she cleaned her kitchen after a really messy day, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, this is great, and
Speaker 1: so I decided to take a time lapse of me
Speaker 1: cleaning my kitchen. It's amazing. Yeah, And so I posted
Speaker 1: on Instagram and somebody messaged me and was like, this
Speaker 1: was oddly calming, and I was like, I know, it's
Speaker 1: calming and motivating to watch other people clean, Yes, right,
Speaker 1: and motivating. It's like the first step of action that
Speaker 1: you could take in that direction. But it's also cathartic
Speaker 1: because you see, you see a space get better. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: watching disarray become order and beauty is amazing. It's funny
Speaker 1: that you mentioned that, because actually I was talking with
Speaker 1: a girl yesterday and she said the same thing that.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's exactly related to what you're describing,
Speaker 1: but they were doing time laps with my phone and
Speaker 1: I've never used that function actually on my phone before.
Speaker 1: But she's like, have you ever watched like time laps
Speaker 1: videos of people like painting or like getting a project done,
Speaker 1: really kind of anything. It's super Uh yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know what it does to us, probably just to like
Speaker 1: see a finished product faster than what we know. It's
Speaker 1: like what we want to have happened, Like everything gers
Speaker 1: that it's done. Um. Yeah, of cleaning or I would
Speaker 1: even think like organizing or moving or whatever kind of
Speaker 1: time labs or doing it yourself to then be able
Speaker 1: to see the progress at the end from where you started.
Speaker 1: I just thought of this, what a great challenge. If
Speaker 1: you are going to be decluttering your home, you should
Speaker 1: totally record it with time laps. So I spent maybe
Speaker 1: a half hour cleaning my kitchen, and I think it
Speaker 1: just still down to like thirty seconds. And so take
Speaker 1: your time and declutter and record it and then post
Speaker 1: it on Instagram tag us because we want to see it,
Speaker 1: because we want, we need to be calmed, and and
Speaker 1: then you will have the motivation to like get it done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what a great challenge. I really like that challenge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do it, Yeah, a project or something. Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: decluttering for sure, But I think all of them are
Speaker 1: great ideas. I'm looking at the closet in my office,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering how I can record a declutter. I'm
Speaker 1: going to think of more things to do with the
Speaker 1: time laps. Yes, let's utilize time labs, getting deeper and
Speaker 1: deeper into quarantine time laps. That's amazing. Alright, well, let's
Speaker 1: get to it. Let's time lapse this thing, make it
Speaker 1: go by faster, all right, okay, well by then,