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- [00:01]
Disney Cruise Line Ad
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- [00:30]
Discover Card Ad
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- [00:33]
Jen
Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past.
- [00:41]
Discover Card Ad
Discover is accepted at 99% of places.
- [00:43]
Jen
That take credit cards nationwide and every.
- [00:46]
Discover Card Ad
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- [00:50]
Jen
Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the.
- [00:56]
Amazon One Medical Ad
February 2024 Nielsen report Amazon One Medical.
- [01:00]
Jill
Presents painful thoughts I could catch anything sitting in this doctor's waiting room. A kid just wiped his runny nose on my jacket and the guy next to me sitting in a pool of perspiration insists on sharing my armrest. Next time, make an appointment with an.
- [01:19]
Amazon One Medical Ad
Amazon One medical provider.
- [01:21]
Jill
There's no waiting and no sweaty guy.
- [01:23]
Amazon One Medical Ad
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- [01:31]
Jill
Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven layer dip, or.
- [01:35]
Amazon One Medical Ad
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- [01:37]
Jill
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- [01:59]
Jen
Episode 4772025 Simple Cleaning Schedule and Products.
- [02:09]
Jill
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and live a richer life. Here are your hosts, Jen and J.
- [02:25]
Jen
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen.
- [02:28]
Jill
My name is Jill and the intro.
- [02:30]
Jen
Sounded like it was episode 477 225. But it's really just a cleaning schedule for 2025. You could really use it any year, but we're going to lay it out for the next year. You are going to be so thankful because Jill has really customized this episode. It is unique to anything you will find on the Internet.
- [02:54]
Jill
I shouldn't get so excited about this episode, but I am. This. This thrills me because this has been something that has been really difficult for me over the years. Having a clean home and keeping on top of the tasks has always felt really stressful to me, but literally this past year I found the solution that works for me. It might not work for everybody, but I'm going to talk about what works for and maybe you'll get your own tips along the way as well as we'll look at an article. Don't worry, it's not just me, it'll be the Internet too.
- [03:27]
Jen
But first, this episode is brought to you by the orange ring around the inside of your toilet. Yep, that one. It's not, contrary to popular belief, anything organic, but. Well, maybe it is organic. It's not from your body though. It's some kind of chemical reaction. But who has the time to clean it, right? You might if you simplify your environment. And we can teach you how to do that in our new our new book, buy what you love without going broke. Or maybe what you love is you want to be able to afford somebody to come in and clean that ring. Our book can also help you with that, whether you are looking to spend more, but make that more aligned with your values. To spend less but still feel like you are getting in alignment with your values. Either way, we can help you. If you head to buywhatyoulovebook.com you can get your copy of Buy what yout Love without going broke. Or head to your closest indie bookstore or Barnes and Noble. And if you already have a copy of the book, leave us a review. Let us know what you liked about it, what it helped you with.
- [04:39]
Jill
Buy what you love book.com I can't believe it's out. It is out in circulation now.
- [04:44]
Jen
It's a long time coming. But you know what? If you get it, you won't have to dust it because it's self dusting. I haven't verified that fact, but I believe that the book is self dusting.
- [04:57]
Jill
Dust repellent and you land on it because you know what, you're never setting it down.
- [05:02]
Jen
Right. Exactly. So if you have other books though, that may have dust, we've done a few cleaning episodes in the past. Also, we love decluttering as a way to clean. Because I mean seriously, if you don't want to clean it, just get rid of it. So episode 246, frugal home cleaning tips. Episode 348, declutter your home in 30 days. These are some of our most recent episodes on it. But I really like that this is going to give us a succinct plan for cleaning this year. So take us on a journey, Jill.
- [05:37]
Jill
Let's do it. Okay, so the article that we're going to go through. It comes from Better Homes and Gardens, and it is called a house cleaning schedule you'll actually stick to. And I liked this one the most because that's what I want. I want a schedule that I'm actually. It's actually gonna work for me, that I'm actually gonna stick to. So they give us nine tips. We're gonna kind of combine them, move through them, and I'm gonna give you my own tips along the way. But of course, to start out, they say, get ready. That's step one, which.
- [06:11]
Jen
Well, that is the biggest barrier to entry because I'm never ready to clean.
- [06:15]
Jill
Yeah. So they recommend getting just pen and paper. I love that. I do love to write things down, but you could also put things in your phone as well. But with the way that I'm going to describe what I did and how it worked for me, I'm going to say write it down. Write down what all of your tasks are. I guess your initial list could be in your phone. And then I'll walk you through another way that you can do this.
- [06:39]
Jen
She wrote hers down on paper. She also has it on her phone.
- [06:43]
Jill
Yeah, actually. So that I could get both me and Eric on board with this. Because just because I'm coming up with the plan and the strategy doesn't mean that I'm the only one to implement. Am I right, friends? If you've got more than just you in the house, it's not just you that is doing the work. So you're going to walk through then, room by room, getting an inventory of the areas and the tasks that are going to make up your home cleaning schedule. And I'm going to encourage you, and this article does, too, to think about all of the tasks room by room. So that's. That's the second step is kind of choosing your rooms. I'm going to imagine that you're going to want to clean every room that's in the house at some point in time. So going room by room with pen and paper and thinking through what are the different tasks, both large and small, that you want to be doing or that even your fantasized version of yourself would do at some point. So that could include in the kitchen and we're going to get here. But for now, an example, like both wiping down the counters in the kitchen, as well as cleaning the hood, the vent over the stovetop, or deep cleaning the oven itself. So going room by room with pen and paper, writing out all of the various cleaning tasks that catch your Eye.
- [08:10]
Jen
Step three is identifying those tasks like Jill just mentioned. And you can Google these on the Internet, like lists of tasks, and then just black out the ones that don't apply to you. They always put too many tasks on those lists. And so step four is build on the list. But I'm going to take a subtractive approach because that's what I like to do with cleaning. So they actually have a pretty minimalist list on here. So can I go through it, Jill? Okay. So all rooms would need to dust the light fixture and ceiling fans. We're cleaning door handles. We're dusting door frames. We're dusting blinds, window sills, picture frames, furniture dusting, knickknacks and books, shaking out rugs, or taking your ruggables to the laundromat. Sweep, vacuum, mop. In the kitchen, we add to that cleaning and sanitizing counters and sink. Sanitizing is something you don't have to do every time, but you do have to do it sometimes. Cleaning stove, oven, range, hood, cleaning inside and outside of the microwave, wiping down cabinet fronts and appliances. And then in the bathrooms, we add to that cleaning the mirrors, sanitizing counters and sinks again, wiping down cabinet fronts inside of cabinets, cleaning and sanitizing the toilet, the shower, the shower door, and the tub. So this is like the bare minimum, but you can build on that list if you want.
- [09:46]
Jill
Okay, here's the thing. This all sounds so overwhelming. I'm taking like a. I'm doing a little bit of an intermission here now to describe that. I think one of the things that can get so overwhelming with cleaning our homes is seeing all of the tasks that need to get done and not knowing when are we gonna end up doing these things? At least for me, that was the thing that caused kind of the most stress. I would see all of these things around me, not just the dishes, but then that would cause this heightened awareness of all of the dust on the baseboards and the windows are dirty and the toilets need to be scrubbed. And that's what leads to overwhelm, is not knowing, when am I gonna do this? And I think that's one of the reasons for having this schedule and knowing that this will eventually get done, even if it can't get done today. Now, I know. I look at the baseboards, and I know that's on the list that's gonna come up. Even if it's next week, I know it will end up getting cleaned. So my level of tolerance for the dirtiness can increase because I know that there's a plan to tackle it. So it's at this stage then that I'm going to describe a little bit how I approached this. So you've got your entire list right? And we don't have it prioritized yet. We don't have a schedule yet, but we've got everything listed out that we would ever want to clean in the home on these pieces of paper. What I then did from there. So this is a departure from what Better Homes and Gardens says, but this was actually a very fun activity for me and helped me make use of my post IT notes. I wrote out each of these tasks individually onto a post it note and then I arranged kind of across my entire table frequency. So I had a category for weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, bi, annually, and annually. And then I took all of my post itself and started to arrange them around frequency. So laundry I wanna do weekly. So that went under that weekly category. Cleaning the range hood. For me, that only needs to happen quarterly. Put that under the quarterly category. Mopping the floors biweekly. That's where that one went. So I just kind of went through every single post it note and arranged it towards the frequency that I want to see these things happening. And I will. Even just that process made the whole thing feel less daunting to start to realize, oh, wow, there's not actually that many tasks that I want to get done weekly. And it kind of did get spread out really, really well over what's happening. You know, again, weekly, bi weekly, monthly, and kind of in that rhythm and order, which was so, so helpful. So that's where they describe in here is step five, select frequency. That's just my tip of identifying how you end up going about it. And then you can make changes from there too. If as you look at the list, you realize, you know what? No, actually I want to do, I want to wash all the mats in the house biweekly instead of weekly. That's gonna be fine for me. Or I wanna move this category over to here. Or I wanna actually combine some of these tasks. So maybe instead of going room by room and doing everything possible in one room, you kind of combine like tasks. So for me, that's the choice that I made was I have a whole category for just wiping horizontal surfaces is like a category for me. So that's in the entire house. But that's the only task I'm doing. So that'll be wiping the countertops, wiping the window sills, wiping bed, bedside tables. That's it. Horizontal surfaces. Another one is wiping baseboards so that just that one task will happen in the entire house. So I'm not necessarily. I don't go like room by room, but that could be an option if you more so wanted to do, like, guest bedroom is this day, and kids bedrooms are this day and the bathrooms are this day. That works for people, too. So that could be something that you consider is what's your preference on how you kind of want to arrange the tasks? For me, I found it easier to kind of break it down in that way. No thing is so daunting. But then kind of the whole house regularly, strategically is getting cleaned. So that kind of coincides with number six on here, which is identify your cleaning style. Again, kind of whether. Whether you want to do it once and done like once a month, I'm going to do an entire deep clean. Or if you'd rather have these small, smaller tasks broken up on kind of a daily basis. You're doing something, but it's only going to take you 10 to 30 minutes to do it. So identify whether you want to do it that way. You want to do the timed sessions. You decide on the days that you're going to clean, what you're going to clean. You set a timer for 30 minutes and that's it. Whatever you can get done in that amount of time, room by room, day by day. So however you want to break it up, you decide. But that was a really helpful way for me to kind of arrange frequency and then how am I going to get it all done?
- [15:19]
Jen
The timed sessions really work for me. I have adhd, so, like, I cannot stick to one task. I will get distracted by another task and I'll still be cleaning. But, like, if I make a list of things I need to do and my one thing is, like, I have to cross this thing off the list. It never gets crossed off because it only gets half done. But then I've also half done a couple other things on the list too, because they've distracted me. So, like, it makes me feel sad. But if I just do a timer for like 10 minutes and I'm like, okay, I get as much as I can get done in 10 minutes, then that's a win. And I have still got guidance by a list. But I'm. And it doesn't feel as, like, daunting as it does.
- [16:06]
Jill
Will you choose like a room and then you set the timer? Yeah. Cool.
- [16:10]
Jen
Yeah. I'll just pick my one space that I feel like needs the most. And then it is usually the kitchen. Let's Be honest, it's always the kitchen and then I will be working on that.
- [16:21]
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- [17:30]
Disney Cruise Line Ad
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- [17:47]
Jen
Or maybe five with the bestest besties on earth. Find your moment at Walt Disney World.
- [17:56]
Disney Cruise Line Ad
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- [17:59]
Kisan Patel
M and A. It's the ultimate high stakes game. Biggest investment, biggest risk. But when you nail it, total game changer for your business. I'm Kisan Patel, host of the M and A Science podcast where we cut through the noise and dive deep into what really makes M and A work. We're talking real conversations with top practitioners. No fluff, just hard hitting insights you can actually use. Stay ahead of the curve and learn what it really takes to close deals. Catch M and A Science on your favorite podcast app. Here's to the deal.
- [18:29]
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- [19:30]
Jen
So next we have got practice. And that's really our favorite part of any topic because it's the new info and the plan. Those are always the sexiest part. But it's the practice and the staying on track and the small changes you have to make to your current lifestyle to evolve into this new lifestyle of cleaning regularly. That is really what brings it home. And so that's seven through nine. So we've got practice your cleaning schedule, stay on track and re evaluate your cleaning schedule. Schedule. Because the first time even we know this with budgeting, the first budget you make isn't going to be right. And so you shouldn't feel guilty for not sticking to it because we know in the third, fourth, fifth budget they're never going to be right. We're always reevaluating for our season. So in some seasons we are able to do a bigger chunk of cleaning. Like I'm able to do like a 30 minute clean. But then in some seasons, like when my kids are sick or I'm sick or everyone is sick, it's like a minute clean, right? But it's even more important, right? So like the seasons that limit us more, these small tasks become more important, but we do them less because they're so much more daunting. But really it's just decreasing the perceived size of the task, make it manageable. So that's a big secret in staying consistent with your practice and staying on track. And then of course, if you are consistently like falling behind or not coming through with your plan, then at that point you may need to reevaluate it and make it more realistic.
- [21:27]
Jill
So I also want to kind of fill in the gaps then from what you do once you have all the tasks listed out and the frequency in which you wanna do them, which kind of coincides with what you're describing of practicing the schedule, refining the schedule. But for me, the next step was then to kind of put it all into a calendar. So I just wrote it out like across the top row, Monday through Sunday, and then first column down, like week one, week two, week three, week four, so that it could kind of work for any given month. And then thinking through my typical weeks, where do I generally have more time in the weekdays or on the weekends, and how do I want to arrange the things that are happening weekly? Even though things might only come up weekly or biweekly or monthly or quarterly, they're still gonna end up landing on a day that you have other tasks. So the way that I ended up arranging it was my typical kind of weekly tasks ended up falling on a Monday. I do typically do laundry on Monday, so that was easy to kind of keep with that rhythm. So I identified that I'm washing clothes and towels every Monday, and then alternate weeks washing mats and rugs or washing bedding, and then on Tuesdays, figuring out, okay, what could I reasonably fit into the schedule on a Tuesday? And so every week is cleaning the toilets and the bathroom sinks. So that's not an entire deep clean of the bathroom. It's just cleaning the things that are most often utilized just to have a degree of maintained cleanliness. And those tasks literally do only take about five to seven minutes. Once I've realized kind of how long these tasks take, tasks actually take, the barrier to entry is so much lower. And when I know this is all I have to do, I don't have to come in here and do an entire deep clean. I know what my schedule is. This is all I've got to do for the day. I've added, like, watering my plants to Tuesday as well. Wednesdays, I decided, are typically the days of the week that for us, we don't have much going on in the evenings. Usually the other days of the week, we do. So Wednesdays were the day that I decided to put my bigger cleaning tasks on. So the things that fell bi weekly, or quarterly would end up happening on a Wednesday. So these are things like cleaning the couch, cleaning the dishwasher, cleaning the stove hood, wiping down baseboards, cleaning the stainless steel. So one of these kind of larger tasks are always gonna fall on a Wednesday, but not all at once. So one Wednesday might be the deep cleaning of the stovehood, and then the next Wednesday is the deep cleaning of the. Thursdays are super light. For me, it's just watering our outside plants. Friday, I've got nothing. That was a goal to have at least one day of the week where there is no task to be done completely free for whatever spontaneous activity, fun thing that we would want to do. Saturdays, I realized, at least in the morning, there's usually a couple of hours that I can snag for. Mowing the lawn, weeding leaf, blowing, cleaning off the patio, washing outdoor stuff. Again, we live in Florida, so those things need to happen pretty much year Round. Or this might be also where a deep cleaning item might come into play. Deep cleaning my air fryer even I've added like changing out our filters for our heating and cooling system. So even tasks that that help to maintain the home could be put on here. Cleaning the car goes on here as well. So that's kind of then how I arranged it. I like having it all on paper and so this is just something that I can put up as a visual for both my husband and I. And it's just a cheat sheet. What week are we in? Week two. It's a Wednesday. All right, what does the schedule tell us we're doing today? Eric prefers digital reminders, so he ended up putting all of our tasks into like a shared Google task list and made it so that it could refresh week over week. Like you could check it off for that week, but then based on the frequency that you desire to be doing that task, it will renew itself. There are also plenty of even free cleaning schedule apps that you could download for you and the rest of the family. We just found that it didn't align with the frequencies that we wanted. It would be like the third month day of every month. But it's like that's not always how we want to do this frequency. So it just didn't quite fit for us. But I'm sure that if that's your preference, you could find something that works for you.
- [26:33]
Jen
So now we're going to move on to cleaning products. So these are going to be tried and true cleaning products that you can keep with you all year, that you can use regularly, that you don't have to buy chemical laden at the grocery store. If lowering your grocery costs is something that you're looking to do this year, then making your own cleaning products is something you can do. Because cleaning products are getting increasingly expensive and we don't buy them that often, so we don't think about them. But especially the name brands, which is what we usually go to when we are thinking about cleaning products. They are getting increasingly expensive. But there are some household items that you can use that are more natural. They're eco friendly and save.com has a list of six of them and we're gonna go over our favorites.
- [27:32]
Jill
So an easy all purpose cleaner is just equal parts white vinegar and water. You can also add in a little bit of lemon peel and or essential oils if you desire. That'll just make it smell a little bit more appealing. Personally, I don't mind the smell of vinegar. I'm accustomed to cleaning with it. But I totally get it. But most of us have these items on hand. Or buying a big old jug of vinegar isn't a problem. And there's so many different ways that we can utilize that white vinegar. So putting that into a spray bottle and using it. However, you would typically use an all purpose cleaner. This could be used wipe down your countertops. That's mostly how I use mine. Countertops, cabinets, tables, desks, kind of everywhere. All purpose.
- [28:25]
Jen
So instead of using this for an all purpose cleaner, I will do just a smidgen like less natural. And I'll do a teaspoon of dawn dish detergent into I think 2 cups of water. Just making it slightly blue. That is what I use for my all purpose cleaner because I actually hate the smell of vinegar. I'm one of those. And so this is a very neutral scent. If anything, just maybe slightly a little dawn scented, which is something I enjoy. But I find it pretty odorless. So.
- [29:06]
Jill
Yeah. The next one is a window or glass cleaner. You can make again with 1 part white vinegar to 4 parts water. You can also add a little bit of rubbing alcohol to that mixture and that'll just help with dry time. But that's great on anything glass or window with just like a microfiber cloth.
- [29:28]
Jen
Yeah. I will use the vinegar in this one because I do it less frequently. So it's with my all purpose cleaner. I'm using it every day. But with the glass cleaner. Yeah, the vinegar. And then definitely if I have some lemon. Adding lemon just to. For me, the lemon is for me. And the rubbing alcohol is actually very helpful. Next would be a wood cleaner. And so this would be olive oil and lemon juice. I've actually never tried this.
- [29:58]
Jill
I did not know this.
- [30:00]
Jen
I still just use my all purpose cleaner.
- [30:03]
Jill
I know I don't have a lot of wood that I'm wiping down. It would just be our kitchen table. But I'm curious to try it. I think I would view this more as a polish than necessarily a cleaner. So I'd probably use the all purpose and then polish it with this.
- [30:19]
Jen
So they're saying most for hardwood floors. Either that too.
- [30:23]
Jill
Yep. And I don't have that.
- [30:25]
Jen
I guess. I guess you would have to use this on your own. But it's saying like keeps the wooden surfaces shiny and nourished. And they say combining with lemon juice is. Gives it a. You know, it's again, just for scent. But yeah, I don't know. I guess that would be a. It is a thing that you can do.
- [30:46]
Jill
And then apple Cider vinegar is a great thing to also have on hand. This is going to kill bacteria and mold. So any places that you have those items existing, you can spray some apple cider vinegar on it. You can also mix it with baking soda, which can then become a polish for your stainless steel sinks, faucets, silverware. So really, you can see there's not a lot of ingredients. We're talking a lot of vinegar. And water is mostly what's going to.
- [31:16]
Jen
Solve an honorable mention, I'll add is Bar keeper's Friend. It is a brand name, but it is pretty natural. Yeah, it's like one of those. I'm in the middle. Like, I'm not going ultra process, but I'm not going like straight from the ground. Like, I'm somewhere in the slightly processed family. So I love bar keepers Friend on our stainless steel, our cast iron in our sink. Like, I just. I use it all the time. The tub? Yeah, all the time. Everywhere.
- [31:51]
Jill
What products would you say you buy over hand making, Diying them?
- [31:57]
Jen
Oh, you know, it is dishwasher detergent. That's the answer you wanted me to give. It is. And they don't pay me to say this, but it is the. Oh, my gosh, I forget the name. It's Platinum plus version. It's not the Platinum. It's the Platinum plus. For some reason, they have three tiers.
- [32:18]
Jill
Is it liquid or capsules? Pods. Pods.
- [32:21]
Jen
Pods. And it is according to all of the review sites that I've. We subscribe. We subscribe, the business does, to Consumer Reports for their research. Also Wirecutter. You don't need to subscribe to that. Those are the two most reputable research and testing sources. Both say that this Platinum plus in the purple, Gosh, I'll look it up. People are listening and they're like, it's this, it's this. It's just unbeatable. It is. Oh, here it is. It's the purple. It's the cascade Platinum plus. And they have three levels. And I don't know why they have the first two levels because they're trash. It is the Platinum plus that does it. And I buy it in bulk. Wow. Buy it in bulk.
- [33:18]
Jill
Wow. I have gotten so into diying my things this year. It's almost been a challenge for me not to say that, oh, I'm gonna continue this forever. I just wanna see, do I already have the ingredients to be able to clean the thing that I'm cleaning? Because I think, honestly, I think my gateway drug here, it was meal planning and meal prepping. And demystifying food like condiments and salad dressings and realizing I can make my own. I already have the spices, the oils, the vinegars to make my own things here. Which then kind of prompted me to be like, well, what other things is there just mystery around that I think some company puts special magic dust into and that's why it's a good cleaner when really I already have the ingredients to be able to do this. So there's been some trial and error happening over here. But I have been making my own laundry detergent and my own dishwasher detergent. I will say I am at the stage where the laundry detergent is great. I'm gonna keep going with that. The dishwashing detergent hasn't been ideal. It does clean. Everything does come out clean. But it has this kind of like milky film on it a bit, which I think might have to do with like the wa. The water being hard. But I also didn't have that issue when I was using store bought detergent. I'm not gonna lie though. I am still very curious to see if I can find a recipe that will get me what I want. And a lot of it, you know, between the dishwashing detergent and the laundry detergent, it's a lot of baking soda, washing soda, borax, citric acid. So these things that, you know, I mean, the citric acid I don't always have on hand. I get that specifically to be able to make my own stuff. But it's like once I have it, these things are the ingredients of our cleaning products. It's been a fun challenge and I think has helped me learn more about different ingredients and what works with what, where I can then be more informed in my future buying decisions as well.
- [35:35]
Jen
I will say that some newer research from Wirecutter has tested the drops. What is it? Drops Ultra Wash plus, which is a bio based dishwasher detergent pod that is more sustainable than the Cascade plus powder, whatever. The ones that I use and I am interested in trying them, they said they just, they tested just under the Cascade, their top pick, but was comparable. And if they are more sustainable, it is something that I could try, but we'll see. But if anybody else is interested in a more sustainable dishwasher pod, the Drops Ultra Wash Plus.
- [36:29]
Jill
Do you know what else is sustainable? We don't even need to look to Wirecutter to support this.
- [36:35]
Jen
Yeah.
- [36:36]
Jill
The bill of the week.
- [36:39]
Disney Cruise Line Ad
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- [36:48]
Jill
That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.
- [37:08]
Carol
Hey, Jen and Jill, this is Carol calling in with the bill of the week. It's actually my bill of the year, since I've been meaning to send this in for months because my bill is a recurrent bill. My YMCA membership, our local YMCA costs $78 a month, which includes 10 hours a week of childcare, fitness equipment, free classes, community events, all the regular Y stuff, tennis courts if you're into that. But mostly it's time for me to be by myself while still taking care of my small children and not taxing my stay at home husband with extra hours in the morning or evening. He and I have actually taken YMCA dates before where we pick up coffee at the Dunkin Donuts down the street, drop the kids off in childcare, and sit at a picnic table outside just for some room to breathe. You can't beat a babysitter for $2 an hour who are as lovely and cheerful as the people at the Y. So if you haven't looked into your why, I'd recommend it. Thank you for everything you do.
- [38:11]
Jen
All right, girl. You don't know how many times I have thought about doing this. A bunch. If I didn't have the beautiful, wonderful childcare that I do for Atlas right now, when that expires, it is very likely that I'm gonna try and do that. It's just the YMCA is just like, it's a little, it's not too far, but like I'm spoiled with how close. Our gym isn't even that close to us, but it is brand new and nice. But so many thoughts.
- [38:52]
Jill
I love this hack and this isn't the first time that I've heard about this one. I love all of the different benefits that are offered at the Y. It's a combination of a gym membership along with them being able to watch your kids. I mean, obviously the goal isn't to drop them off and then go elsewhere. I think they want you to kind of stay there, which you are doing, but it doesn't mean that you have to then be exercising. There are other things that you can be doing while you're there, which is so, so cool. Well done. We love this bill too. And I love how like, like somewhat affordable they can be for an entire family compared to other gym memberships. So this is exciting. I hope that it prompts any of our listeners to want to share your bill. If you're listening and you've got a bill you don't mind paying for, one that has a lot of benefits or no benefits so you stop paying for it or your name is Bill frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill we can't wait for it.
- [39:55]
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- [40:13]
Jen
Or maybe five with the bestest besties on Earth. Find your moment at Walt Disney World.
- [40:22]
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Resort.
- [40:24]
Kisan Patel
M and A. It's the ultimate high stakes game. Biggest investment, biggest risk. But when you nail it, total game changer for your business. I'm Kisan Patel, host of the M and A Science Podcast where we cut through the noise and dive deep into what really makes M and A work. We're talking real conversations with top practitioners. No fluff, just hard hitting insights you can actually use. Stay ahead of the curve and learn what it really takes to close deals. Catch M and A Science on your favorite podcast app. Here's to the deal.
- [40:55]
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- [41:55]
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- [42:33]
Jen
All right, so today's lightning round question is. Let me scroll down. A cleaning product everyone should diy. Did you make this one, Jill?
- [42:46]
Jill
No, I didn't. Goldie asked this question. Why are you being so peeved about it?
- [42:51]
Jen
Well, go. Well, you go first for your answer.
- [42:55]
Jill
I did say all of it, which is a little extreme.
- [42:58]
Jen
It's a lie. It is not real.
- [43:03]
Jill
I know. I am smiling next to that. I do think it's a fun challenge to see what can I. How can I clean with the things that I already have? I think that this is a big area where we can procrastispend. We can buy a lot of cleaning products for the fantasized version of ourselves that is clean. When really what we needed was a good structure and strategy and plan. And it wasn't about the cleaning products to begin with. It was about the implementation and the skillset to be able to do that. So I think all of it can be DIY'd. However, I think one of the best ones to begin with is that All Purpose cleaner. I think white vinegar and water to just know that it doesn't have to be super complicated can also help us.
- [43:57]
Jen
Yes. I love it as a challenge. Absolutely. As a way to stretch your creative muscles. And I would just say I don't necessarily recommend doing the dishwasher with the natural stuff. You know, that's not me. It's not me.
- [44:15]
Jill
You know, you're drinking out of a cup right now. That came out of the dishwasher cleaned by my all Natural DIY dish detergent.
- [44:25]
Jen
Yeah, I know, I noticed. I'm just gonna say that.
- [44:30]
Jill
What did you notice in.
- [44:32]
Jen
On the inside, There was a film inside. And I'm not a germ freak, so I drank out of it anyway. Like it doesn't. And so that's coming from somebody who would drink out of a mug that was. Looked like it was coated in coffee residue. Okay. So that is the level we're working on, Jill. Okay.
- [44:50]
Jill
Yikes.
- [44:51]
Jen
Okay. Cascade should pay me.
- [44:54]
Jill
Yeah. There's a lot of companies that should pay us.
- [44:56]
Jen
Yeah. Okay, so I'm gonna. We already know that. I love my DIY All Purpose cleaner. It's Dawn. I think that is. Nobody should pay for an all purpose cleaner. Done. I'm actually going to talk about a thing I think everyone should Buy.
- [45:16]
Jill
Oh, wow.
- [45:17]
Jen
Okay, I'm sorry. In advance. I'm gonna influence people and it's because I was influenced by social media and it is the best product.
- [45:29]
Jill
Please don't say a steamer.
- [45:30]
Jen
It's not. No, it's not. It's not.
- [45:33]
Jill
Okay.
- [45:34]
Jen
It is the Dremel scrub Sponge. Like drill. It's the Dremel. It's called Versa Power Scrubber and I'll show you. Jill. Oh, I bought it like a year ago. It's what Amazon is telling me. Look, you attach these different types of sponges to it.
- [45:56]
Jill
Oh, wow.
- [45:56]
Jen
And you press the button and you don't have to work as hard to scrub. It does the scrubbing for you and you just move it around.
- [46:04]
Jill
And what are you scrubbing?
- [46:06]
Jen
I am scrubbing my glass. The thing I use it for most is my glass oven top. So I will put some glass oven cleaner. And this is stuff I've had. I just use a smidgen. So I've had it for five years. I got it for free at the chemical repository or the.
- [46:27]
Jill
Okay, yeah, that's cool.
- [46:30]
Jen
And so I've been using it for like five years, but I just use like a little. Little dollop. Yeah. And we'll use the Dremel to clean the residue that gets stuck on there to make it good as new. I can also use it in the bathroom because the tiles get like grubby and it's just so much work to scrub by hand. When I use the Dremel, I'm just smooth. I'm just work like I'm going back and forth.
- [46:58]
Jill
It's like a dance.
- [46:59]
Jen
She's doing the work. Yeah, I am. And it comes with five different cleaning sponges.
- [47:07]
Jill
Is it electric or battery powered?
- [47:09]
Jen
Electric. So you charge it.
- [47:11]
Jill
Okay.
- [47:12]
Jen
You can. It says you can use it in pots and pans. I actually haven't used it in pots and pans. But like what a fantastic. You get your bar keeper friend in there, barkeeper's friend, and you just give her a little run through with the Dremel.
- [47:28]
Jill
So we're going from stove to bath.
- [47:31]
Jen
But we're using different sponges.
- [47:34]
Jill
Okay. Okay.
- [47:35]
Jen
Yeah, we got different sponges. I haven't used it for the pots, but obviously use a different sponge. Sponge between each place. Right, Obviously, Yeah.
- [47:46]
Jill
So that sounds awesome. My one critique of it is it looks like I wouldn't be able to get into corners. There's so many corners I need to get into.
- [47:57]
Jen
This would be a fact. Because it is circular.
- [47:59]
Jill
It's circular. Yeah.
- [48:01]
Jen
So it's not 100% but for the 99% of the rest of the space.
- [48:08]
Jill
Do you think it'd be good for cleaning grout? That's something that's on my list that I need to do soon.
- [48:13]
Jen
The, the original scrub daddy pad might be give you enough like. Okay. So what I do is I'll just.
- [48:22]
Jill
Like turn it sideways a little. Yeah, but like, but in a true corner. Corner. Yeah.
- [48:27]
Jen
No, no, no, no. Yeah. It's not going to get you.
- [48:31]
Jill
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [48:32]
Jen
Because it's spinning around. It's gotta be circular.
- [48:34]
Jill
Yeah, that's cool.
- [48:35]
Jen
So the Dremel Scrub Daddy scrubber.
- [48:39]
Jill
Yeah.
- [48:40]
Jen
She's not cheap, but she is worth it.
- [48:43]
Jill
Yeah. I will say there are things I will purchase and like you said, this sparked my memory. I will get cleaning products at like yard sales and stuff too. A lot of times homes are getting rid of, you know, half used or hardly used bottles of various types of cleaner which is so convenient. I will buy stainless steel cleaner. I have a lot of stainless steel appliances. They're like the polish. My fridge, oven, microwave, dishwasher, air fryer is all stainless steel. So having that on hand, I actually haven't looked up what, what a good DIY would be. I just have so much stainless steel cleaner from thrift store or from yard sales that that works for me and I agree with bar keeper's friend and I do buy D dish soap.
- [49:35]
Jen
So that's another thing. If you have the stuff, don't stop using it to go like with these DIYs just before you repurchase or purchase more, try a little bit of the diy. You don't need to make like a big thing to test out if it works for you. Just try it one time, see how you feel and then from there you know, decide if you're going to continue.
- [49:57]
Jill
Thanks everyone for being here on our little cleaning extravaganza. We loved having you here and and we also love reading all of your kind reviews that you leave for us. Like this one from aquidgex says the best five stars. Love Jen and Jill. The best financial podcast ever. Thank you girls for your hard work. Love Jennifer. Jennifer. Short and sweet, so kind.
- [50:25]
Jen
You look at me like it was me who wrote it. Jennifer.
- [50:32]
Jill
No, I know you go by Jen. I know you. I know your name.
- [50:36]
Jen
Thank you Jennifer. And if you are listening to the show, if you haven't left a review, we would love it if you could leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts or a rating and comment on Spotify. If you Have. We would love if you would leave a rating and review on our book, buy what yout Love without going broke, anywhere that you purchase it from or on Amazon and just help people know what they can expect from us and from the book.
- [51:02]
Jill
Thanks. Bye.
- [51:06]
Jen
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
- [51:19]
Jill
What do you need to clean this week?
- [51:24]
Jen
I always need to clean my kitchen.
- [51:26]
Jill
Mm.
- [51:29]
Jen
It's. There's so much stuff. So many cups and backpacks and plates. So many things. Like why it makes me want to live off of coffee because it only creates one dish. Like, I wish. And I. I do drink a lot of beverages, like, just as a way to not prepare food. Even if something's already, like, prepared when I eat it, then it's done and the dish is dirty. I'm just. I'm a weirdo about that stuff. And I wish. Yeah. I just wish I could drink, sustain myself, like, on life, like, on coffee, and not make. And just keep the mess at bay.
- [52:23]
Jill
Yeah. The food. Between the food planning, prep, cleanup, all that. That means for the entire kitchen, not just the dishes. Yeah. It's a lot. Yeah.
- [52:34]
Jen
It's made me consider getting those. I see the ads for factor meals, and I'm like, oh, if I didn't think those were gonna be disgusting, I would.
- [52:44]
Jill
Do you think. Have you read the reviews?
- [52:46]
Jen
No.
- [52:47]
Carol
Gross.
- [52:47]
Jen
They remind me of TV dinners, and those are kind of, like, gross.
- [52:52]
Jill
Yeah.
- [52:53]
Jen
So I assume. But maybe Factor wants to reach out and sponsor me. Yeah.
- [52:59]
Jill
Because they're listening right now.
- [53:01]
Jen
Yeah.
- [53:02]
Jill
They're still here.
- [53:03]
Jen
Maybe they want to pay me to find out if it's gross or not. And I would take that money gladly.
- [53:10]
Jill
Yeah. Yeah. I'd take anyone's money gladly.
- [53:15]
Jen
I wouldn't take anyone's money gladly.
- [53:17]
Jill
Why not? If they're giving you money, you know you're gonna make good decisions with it.
- [53:21]
Jen
I know, but then I obviously have to do work in order to.
- [53:25]
Jill
Not obviously. No, not necessarily. The question was, would you take anyone's money? Not would. What. Would you. Would you be willing to do anything that the person giving you money would make you do?
- [53:36]
Jen
I'm gonna. I'm going to stick with my answer, but. Okay.
- [53:41]
Jill
Yeah. Wow. I got to clean my floors.
- [53:44]
Jen
Yep. Now I see a little piece of dirt on the floor.
- [53:47]
Jill
I know. Oh, man. Friends. High gloss tile was a choice.
- [53:54]
Jen
Looks so cool.
- [53:57]
Jill
It was a choice, but it shows so much. There's no. There's no hiding. There's no hiding here. There.
- [54:04]
Jen
I look at our, like, lvp, and I look and I think it's dirty, but it's really just the grain and the wood. And I'm like, oh, blessings, blessings. Because the two over there really are like dried milk covered in dirt. But this one is actually the dark grain of the wood.
- [54:22]
Jill
I do think these floors might drive me nutty, but we're gonna try and stay sane.
- [54:29]
Jen
We'll see.
- [54:30]
Jill
Stay tuned.
- [54:31]
Jen
Traveling to see your fave sports team.
- [54:33]
Jill
Is cool, but traveling with Amex Platinum for the big game is even better. Right this way. With access to dedicated card member entrances at select events, you can skip the line and 1. And with access to the Centurion Lounge.
- [54:47]
Jen
He shoots a 3.
- [54:49]
Jill
You can catch the next game on the way home. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com withamex Card Member entrance access not limited to Amex Platinum Card Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Upgrade the whole team@lenovo.com Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device. Win the Tech Search for Business PCs@lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo.
- [55:32]
Kisan Patel
MA it's the ultimate high stakes game. Biggest investment, biggest risk. But when you nail it, total game changer for your business. I'm Kisan Patel, host of the M and A Science podcast where we cut through the noise and dive deep into what really makes M and A work. We're talking real conversations with top practitioners. No fluff, just hard hitting insights you can actually use. Stay ahead of the curve and learn what it really takes to close deals. Catch M and A Science on your favorite podcast app. Here's to the deal with the best.
- [56:03]
Disney Cruise Line Ad
All inclusive vacation deals to Mexico and the Caribbean. Booking your getaway with Cheap Caribbean Vacations means you have have more freedom to do your deal. Whether you want to enjoy snorkeling, endless margaritas and more, or simply soak up the sun and sand in a tropical paradise, Cheap Caribbean Vacations has your deal for that plan and book the exact getaway you want at exactly the right price for you by using our exclusive Budget Beach Finder. Or find a featured adults only all inclusive package to secrets, resorts and spas and do your deal@cheapcaribbean.com.