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- [00:00]
Shannon Maldonado
My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop from the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms, it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you is it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com
- [00:31]
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Some
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Capital Group Announcer
of the best lessons don't come from a classroom. They come from experience on the Power of Advice, a new podcast series from Capital Group. You'll hear from CEOs, investors and founders about how they built careers, took risks and reinvented themselves. If you're starting your own journey, this is the kind of advice you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Published by Capital Client Group Inc.
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Podcast Sponsor Announcer
23 Frugal Living Tips from the Great Depression.
- [01:06]
Podcast Host Intro
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 Jill.
- [01:23]
Jen
Welcome Frugal Friends. I'm Jen.
- [01:25]
Jill
I'm Jill.
- [01:26]
Jen
And the Great Depression in frugal living spaces is kind of looked like at this as this peak of frugality, this like peak aspirational, most money saving area of, of life. And that's always kind of irked me. So we have always stayed away from like really extreme frugality ideologies. But I did take a look at it and find some very good mindsets I think that we can use to really glean the wisdom from that era and incorporate it into non deprivation. Really Optimization of frugality. Yeah.
- [02:12]
Jill
I do think when we see people depriving themselves or sacrificing hygiene that is a level of deprivation that was necessary for survival during the Great Depression, but not something we need to carry over. But that said, there are a lot of really great things that were practiced through the Great Depression. Some creativity and problem solving that took place that I think we would do well to adopt and push back against some of this over consumption culture that we're in.
- [02:42]
Jen
Yeah. So if that is a mindset that you jive with, that you want more of, you're not into the extremes, but you do want to see what wisdom there is to glean from them, you should definitely subscribe to frugal friends on YouTube. This is the kind of content we put out every week. We're exploring and visiting these extremes to see what there is to learn without being entrenched and obsessed with them. And we're trying to find our radical middle. So please, like this video, help it get out to more people and. And subscribe to the channel to let us know that this is the type of thing that you want more of. So first, I wanted to start with a story that I found because none of us alive, our parents, possibly even grandparents at this point, lived through the Great Depression.
- [03:32]
Jill
My grandmother did, but she was young. She's born in 31. So, yeah, very early. Early on.
- [03:38]
Jen
So I think it's important that we get a sense of what it was like. And so we'll put a story up here and you can pause to read the whole thing. And I am just going to read a few parts of it. So this is from Cora. This is just a guy explaining. My mother lived through the Great Depression. Her family were farmers. They did several things to survive. They grew their own food, raised their own meat, rendered their own lard for soap, made their own clothes to wear. They didn't use flour sacks for clothes. But for many years after the Depression, my grandmother continued to make her own clothes. They learned how to maintain and repair all mechanical devices to keep them running through the Depression. But she said they considered themselves lucky because they had it better than other people. My mother died in 2018. She and my father, who died in 2008, had a comfortable life, but the Great Depression never left them. They bore a scar the rest of their lives. They would always save money. They would not buy things, even though they could well afford it. Their biggest fear was to be a financial burden on their children. My mother would never spend all the money she received from Social Security. When she was older, I paid someone to mow her lawn, but I gave him strict instructions never to tell her how much he was charging because she would think it was too much and want to do it herself. And so I will read the very last sentence. They were. There was one area they would splurge. She and my father believed in education and gave yearly scholarships to the college my mother graduated. So I think it's important that we see that in reality, the Great Depression is not something necessarily to strive for. It was a means to an end. It was a desperate time. And it was a literal scar that people brought with them the rest of their lives that impacted how willing they were to enjoy the one life they had been given. And I'm sure we can we all know someone, whether it's our grandparent or somebody else's, who would literally, like, not spend on even, like, lawn maintenance if it costs, Even if they could afford it and they were like, physically difficult to, like, mow the lawn, wouldn't pay someone to do it because it cost money.
- [06:03]
Jill
And this happens to all of us when we go through something really extreme. We know it's possible, so we know it could happen again. And sometimes that can lead to that mindset of just waiting for the other shoe to drop kind of a thing. I think even for our generation, we're going to have and do have a lot of those things because of different things that we've experienced in the economy. Granted, the Great Depression was quite intense, but there are some really great mindsets that stayed with people throughout that I think we would do well to adopt. So we want to go through some of our favorite, best frugal, living mindsets, including the first one that pride came from resourcefulness, not consumption. This was a thing to be proud of yourself for, of being able to make use of, of all of the resources that you have. So this meant fixing things. And an ability to fix things expressed status, intelligence, success. It was a good skill set to have. Buying new often meant a degree of failure. Like, why did you need to buy that thing new?
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Jen
You couldn't fix it. You weren't smart enough to fix it
- [07:17]
Jill
or find something else to utilize. You had to get it brand new.
- [07:22]
Jen
Yeah, this is definitely one of my favorites because we have been conditioned since that time and we keep. We always say, like, the marketing we see today started as a result of the end of the Great Depression and the Industrial Revolution having made it so easy to mass produce goods. But the mindset of people in the Great Depression being, we only buy what we need. And so marketing was literally modern. Marketing was literally invented to combat those two realities and get us to where we are today, which is vast overconsumption. And so this, I think, having pride, like, when we think of not consuming, we think of deprivation. If we can recondition ourselves to think of some of these positive attributes that we're gonna go over in this episode, I think frugality becomes so much more than just a have to or a need to. It becomes a true virtue. And this one is one of my favorites. The next one is use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without wasn't cute. It was a mantra. And I love this. People did not see items as disposable in the 20s. They saw the full lifecycle value and waste really did trigger guilt. When you wasted something, it was a character flaw, like to an extent. Yeah. And so I love this, this idea that this little mantra, use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. This was the lifestyle.
- [09:05]
Jill
Yeah. I think it's something that we can adopt. I think measured though, because there were real consequences of not following this mantra during the Great Depression. Now it's not as dire of a situation and we don't want to so so far go into scarcity mindset. Also recognizing that things are not made the way they used to be made. Things are not as fixable as they used to be. But still there is, there is good fruit within this mantra. All right, number three is that delayed gratification wasn't a hack, it was the default. There really was no buy now, pay later programs. If you didn't have the money to. You didn't buy it. What a novel concept. What if, if we don't have the money, we don't buy it? That'd be, that'd be good.
- [09:54]
Jen
Yeah.
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Jill
For all of us.
- [09:56]
Jen
And again, we understand that like things are different. Like back then you could, you didn't need a car to get to your job. Like literally your job was probably your farm. Right. And so financing cars to an extent does help people improve their life. Financing a college degree helps people improve their life. So there are some differences, but with the discretionary things like always, I think there will never be a time where there is a discretionary item that we need to put on a credit card or we need to buy now, pay later. And if we would just put those barriers up, saying like, I'm not going to, you know, klarna or afterpay, even though I can, I'm not going to. And I am going to pay the credit card off every month. Even though I could afford one month of interest, I'm not going to. It's just these self made safety barriers that are so useful and you know, kind of play off of this mindset. Next is another one of my favorites. Community replaced consumption. So instead of shopping for recreation, we were being communal. And instead of buying, like going straight to a store to buy something, we first went to our community when we needed something. So borrowing, trading, sharing, that was all normal and it was not awkward. I feel like there's this level of status degradation if you ask for help, if you ask to borrow something. And it's not like you're being, it almost feels like you're being like needy. Like I can't afford it. But again, changing our mindset to be communal and being like, hey, can I borrow this snow boots that you have because you go up to Michigan every winter and I'm just going to like New York like one time in my life, so can I borrow like your snow boots and, and being more in like that kind of mindset?
- [12:05]
Jill
Yeah, we've been able to do that a lot more lately as my friends know that I'm open to that and just being in community with people that's happening more regularly so it can be cultivated. Number five is that scarcity created creativity constraints do form the context for our creativity. That it's not as if, oh, we need to have zero boundaries in order for us to be creative. Oftentimes when we set parameters then we kind of know what are the boundary lines in which I can be problem solving. And it kind of provides a bit of an anchor for us. I think this led to a lot of repurposing of everything. But we discover so much about ourselves when we put up some of these constraints. We think the modern day equivalent of is a no spend challenge. It is force constraints. They're not necessary. You don't have to do a no spend challenge, but you're choosing to, you're choosing to set up these constraints and figure out what can I do within these boundary lines and what do I learn about myself? What creativity pops up, what new things do I engage in because I'm not going to my old habits, the things that I am accustomed to. Capsule wardrobes are some constraints for us. If we can decide what is enough. How many pairs of pants do I actually need? How many shirts do I actually need? And a lot of times we can find. I even like this better because now I'm able to buy the quality things that are versatile, that are going to last long and our closets aren't full of Amazon stuff and sheen and teemu. And now I actually like these things and I feel good about where I purchased them from. So there's so much benefit to these constraints. Certainly different challenges like giving yourself a dollar fifty a week to spend on grocery challenge, you name it, we'd love to do challenges. Actually we do many monthly challenges. Check out our website if you're interested. Frugalfriendspodcast.com but yeah, you're, you're basically kind of recreating some of this scarcity for the purpose of discovering your own creativity and money saving strategies.
- [14:18]
Jen
Yeah, we are conditioned to see restriction scarcity constraints as negative. We want to have Access to. Access to everything, unlimited everything to, to us that is, that is status. That is adulthood. But I think if you, you can just like look at art, look at the art that people create in Hollywood who have unlimited budgets and how crappy it is, right? Versus art that people create unlimited budgets where they have to get very creative. And that is where you get like innovative theater and music and movies. Like this is what we're talking about. Constraint creates creativity. It creates the need for innovation. In 2008, in the Great, in the recession, if you had all these tech companies popping out of necessity create innovation because people lost their jobs and were not comfortable. And so there is discomfort in it. But I think we can't when we are creating safe constraints of our own choosing. That's where we can create safety to innovate and safety to get creative. That doesn't feel like deprivation, that feels fun and like growth. So next kind of bleeds into this. But for people in the Great Depression, security was greater than status. And so we still kind of see that here because security is on the hierarchy of needs. And we do need a certain level of security in order to pursue perceived status. But I think it has just been degraded more and more over time to where some people, not all people, but some people do think that a perceived, a public perception of status is even more than security. It's kind of like this, fake it till you make it. And so people back then valued stability, savings and food security over appearance. Where here we have this like, like need to be perceived as essentially reaching the self esteem level which is above safety and above relationships, trying to meet that need in a way bigger effect than the safety getting those two levels out of alignment.
- [16:54]
Jill
Number seven, as far as mindset goes is that they didn't outsource basic life skills. So we're talking cooking, repairs, growing food. These are all really normal things. Granted, I can understand all of the realities of today, that we are living very busy lives and schedules and we are not in the midst of a great depression. So we don't have to put all those constraints on us. But there is something to be said for building some of these basic skills. And I do think it's worth hiring some things out if you are going to be then doing some really great things with your time as a result. Because time, time is money. So if it means that I am hiring out lawn service so that I've got that time to be able to build this business, or maybe it's get some time with your family because your work is so crazy. Like that's, that's great. But as far as long term life skills go, knowing basic maintenance around the house, knowing how to cook five to 10 meals that you and your family like that are easy go to meals. These are the types of habits formed over years that is going to really make a difference in our money and I think our self esteem that I'm able to do this for myself.
- [18:17]
Jen
Yeah, I think there's such a big difference. Like as an adult, you do need to know how to cook. You need to know how to cook about 10 meals off the top of your head that you can just, that you know you like that you can just go, you don't need to be a professional hostess or chef. Like that is a different level. So it doesn't absolve you from knowing, like from knowing nothing. You need to know something. You don't need to know everything. And so that is really the mentality that they took. And I love that. Next. I love this one too. I love all of these. Okay. Eight is enough was actually enough. So we very few of us have defined our enough for, for anything like what, what's enough? Silverware, what's enough? Pants, what is enough? Home decor. Right. And so there is this school of thought where like you need to be buying new stuff every single season. Nothing is ever enough. You can always consume more. And then you have the other end of the spectrum which is like you need nothing. Like existing is enough. If you're discontent, just be more grateful. Right. I don't think either camp is a hundred percent right. I think you can be discontent. You can want to improve your life, you should always move towards improving your life. But you also need to set some kind of enough, at least even maybe inches for a season, a period of time, because otherwise this hedonic treadmill that we're on, this lifestyle, you know, upgrading gets out of control and we want you to be able to upgrade your lifestyle, but we want you to be in control of those upgrades. So really setting like do I have enough? Some things you will have enough of already and so you don't have to buy more. And some things you will say, okay, I would like a little bit more of this or that, but then you'll acquire it and you'll know you're at enough.
- [20:26]
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Jill
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Jill
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Jen
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- [21:34]
Jen
And when I think about where we
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Jill
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- [22:31]
Jill
Com for the rest of our list. We are going to switch from mindsets we can adopt from the Great Depression into habits we like from the Great Depression. So continuing the list, number nine is saving everything. I mean with some limitations. So this. But this was a habit, right? Saving jars, scraps, fabric because there wasn't this mindset of buying new and there was this use it up, wear it out, that whole thing. Nothing was ever fully trash like there could be a use for it. And I think right now how we can kind of make use of this, be sure that we're not wasting things, definitely has to do with how we are engaging in our Pantries and kitchens. I think this is where we experience a lot of waste is with our food. And so figuring out ways to keep track of what do you already have on hand. So we're not throwing things out, even if that means having a digital app to track it or just taking pictures of your things when you're creating lists or your, your meal plan for the week that you know you're going to use the things there before you're heading out to the store.
- [23:44]
Jen
Yeah, I personally don't save jars because clutter makes me anxious. But I try to translate this to, to the food waste to if I see something and I don't think I'm going to be able to use it, I freeze it so that I don't have to throw it away and I can always defrost it. It's not hard, but I'm just trying to waste as little food as possible. 10 is they cooked everything at home. Eating out happened, but it was a rare luxury. It was a reward. And it didn't start coming back until like the 30s, 40s, 50s. Right. Like in the 20s, everything was at home. Unless you were like a young one of those like flapper girls.
- [24:37]
Jill
But even then, then you were going
- [24:38]
Jen
out, then you were going out. Let me know in the comments if you are a young flatbroker.
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Jill
I don't know why going out, but
- [24:46]
Jen
I want to know if you identify with them as a spirit animal. Eating out was a rare luxury and we are never against eating out, but we think the more you do something, the more it's normalized and eating out should be special and so you have to do it less for it to maintain its special status. So really intake how you feel about your eating out. Is it special or is it something you're just doing to cope, you're just doing it out of habit, yada, yada, et cetera, et cetera, and figure out how you can make that special again.
- [25:26]
Jill
I do think so often it happens because we are so short on time. And I think, and I'm talking to myself too, to as a special challenge to be looking at, then what else might I be able to give up? Because eating every day is a basic, basic necessity. And so if the rest of my life is taking over so much that like I'm not able to find time to feed myself, there might be something else worth exploring and letting go of or diminishing because this is so important and eating out has never been so exciting, expensive. So it, it's worth reminding ourselves that we can't do all of the things.
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Jen
Yeah.
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Jill
And. And we should be prioritizing what we're doing and feeding ourselves should be at the top of that list.
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Jen
I'm gonna bring the freezer back. Last night, Travis grilled nine pounds of chicken breast.
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Jill
Yeah.
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Jen
And I chopped it up. Half of it went straight into the freezer so that I can just like quickly defrost precooked. Just like chopped into chicken.
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Sponsor Voice
Yeah.
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Jen
The week before, I did probably five pounds of chicken breast in the pressure cooker and then threw it in the kitchenaid to shred. So like for toppings, for. So it's different ways. It feels different. It's the same meat, but it feels different. It's seasoned differently.
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Sponsor Voice
It's.
- [26:49]
Jen
It's been in different ways. And so all week I'm going to like, I have some like hamburger buns and I am going to make chicken sandwiches with my grilled chicken and some mayo. Like simple stuff that's quick because I hate. I don't have time to cook. I don't like to cook. I just have planned like meal prep and meal just like stuff in my head and I'll. And I might eat those. Like sometimes I'll heat up the chicken, sometimes I won't. A little bit of diversity next. And this is not for me, and it might not be for you, but I'm going to say it. Grow your own foods. So in wartime, so like after the Great Depression when things, you know, I guess during the Great Depression, but it was on the cusp, they in wartime governments encouraged people to plant victory gardens. So this would supplement their rations and boost morale. Because growing food and eating it yourself is a huge self confidence booster.
- [27:57]
Jill
But not just that. I think victory gardens were something that, that was communal as well. They would utilize whatever land possible. And if you didn't have a lot of that yourself, joining up with other people. So there was a social aspect to it too. So if you've got a community garden or want to start a community garden, I do think this would be a very valuable use of time, not just for yourself emotionally and mentally, but the ability to meet with other people, learn a skill, grow a skill, have some of your own food. But also finding ways to be able to do this yourself in whatever space you have, even if it means growing some herbs on your porch or in your windowsill. I think there's something really valuable to doing this and providing a degree of sustenance to, to yourself. But it, it in some ways is just a hobby these days. But I think a valuable skill to know.
- [28:53]
Jen
I think so too.
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Jill
Okay. Number 12 is repair instead of replace. This can include you learning the skill of repairing something. YouTube is incredible for that. You can find tutorials pretty much on anything and everything you want to repair on YouTube. Give it a try. This can be a hobby of yours. But also we can pay people to repair things. So whether that's shoes or clothes or appliances, consider the cost of buying new versus repairing and how long of a life that will be able to extend the thing for it. Most of the time is going to be more cost effective to just repair the thing. I know that we love getting new. I know it feels good, good to just be gone with the thing that has been causing us trouble in with the new thing. We love to shop. We want the dopamine hit. But tis better to repair.
- [29:52]
Jen
It's definitely easier to buy new. It's. You don't have to think about it. It can be at your house in theoretically two days for free shipping. You paid $140 for like it's easier to buy new and that's what they want you to do. So don't do it. Repair it. 13. Buy fewer better things. And this becomes harder every year. The better part, buying better things.
- [30:19]
Jill
Yeah, we feel, yeah, it's.
- [30:21]
Jen
Quality mattered so much back then because replacing wasn't an option. So they valued durability over trends. And what we're seeing is now even companies that have had a reputation for being durable are skimping on quality. So this becomes harder and harder, which is why repairing becomes more and more important. People ask us all the time, when is it more advantageous to repair a car or just buy a new or a used car? And it becomes more and more advantageous to spend a couple thousand dollars a year repairing a car that is of good quality than to buy a newer car even from the same manufacturer. Because there are things in the last 10 years that are just like no good anymore. Like you're paying to replace a plastic part on your old car, but you get a new car and you're getting more plastic on the same on the newer car. So it just doesn't make sense. So usually if you're only spending two to $3,000 a year repairing a car that is paid off, you are usually better off going that route than like until you get up to probably like $4,000 of repair per year. Honestly, it's even like worth worth the time.
- [31:50]
Sponsor Voice
Yeah. Okay.
- [31:51]
Jill
Number 14 is to multi purpose everything. One item. Many uses that pair of socks. Also a dust rag, the T Shirt. Also a dust rack. I don't really have any more ideas for you other than creating dust rags. But. But this is the creativity portion. Is there something before it hits the trash, before I think it's useless? Is there another way that I could utilize this thing or during its current purpose, Is there some other use for this item? I think this can also keep us from needing to buy or even wanting to buy other things.
- [32:31]
Jen
Yeah. Next is cash based living. And this was by necessity. Obviously, credit wasn't really widely available, but there was no safety net. And so instead of having a credit card safety net or a HELOC safety net, they had a communal safety net, which I think was beautiful. And I don't think we should necessarily revert to that. I think emergency funds are super important. But I do believe that if you have an emergency fund, then you don't need an extra safety nets. Just, you know, live on your theoretical cash and communal safety net.
- [33:09]
Jill
Number 16 is that entertainment was free. They were not accustomed to paying to be entertained. This included playing games with other people. And you can get games from the library. You could spend a little bit of money to get games from the thrift store. You can borrow games. You can make up games. You can play hopscotch. That's free. Store people would. People would.
- [33:33]
Jen
That's what I'm gonna do this weekend is play hopscotch.
- [33:36]
Jill
Yeah. Tell stories, AKA gossip. Get together with your girlies and spill some tea.
- [33:42]
Jen
Oh, yeah, that's free. I love it.
- [33:45]
Jill
Music. Because they were playing it themselves. Again, find free local music in your area. There are still ways for us to find these same things for free. Of course there wasn't social media. People were not being inundated with marketing, which in turn creates a better environment for that contentment. And yes, you too can have that today by not getting on social media.
- [34:13]
Jen
I think you can have better relationships off of social media. Just a thought. Try it.
- [34:18]
Jill
Believe it or not.
- [34:19]
Jen
Next is batch work and efficiency. So again, like I was saying, we cooked nine pound, we grilled nine pounds of chicken breast last night. Cook once, eat multiple times. We're eating chicken in different formats. Well, my family will eat it in different formats. I'm probably gonna eat in the same format. Honestly, we don't all eat the same food every night. I'm gonna be honest, because that's how much I don't like to cook. It is very much a fend for yourself environment in my house. But there is always food and we cook it once we freeze some and we figure out what to do with the rest as the week comes.
- [34:59]
Jill
Oh, that's so Great. Okay. Number 18, planning purchases around seasons. Not just convenience. So not just buying something that you want, but buy something when you, when you actually need it or when it's the least expensive or the most available. So for us this can include shopping in season. Produce the, the things that are going to be the least expensive because there's just a high quantity of them. If you're not sure what that is, look it up. The Internet's great for it. What's in season right now in my area, also paying attention to the store sale cycles.
- [35:40]
Sponsor Voice
That's another way of doing this.
- [35:42]
Jill
And of course end of season items for some of your bigger things or clothing. We will let you know if you are not sure of these things. We send out in the Friend Letter, which is our weekly newsletter at the end of the month. We give a monthly how to budget for the upcoming month. And so we will let you know what, what are the sales cycles, what's on sale, what are we planning for? So you don't have to have these things top of mind. But this is something we can be implementing to be as smart as possible with our purchases.
- [36:13]
Jen
Prove frugalfencepodcast.com right there on the homepage. Next, they practiced serial ownership. So items had multiple lives with multiple people. If you've had a baby, you know that those clothes were not yours. First they came from another baby and then you pass them on to another baby. And it wasn't just, just baby clothes, it was all clothes. Honestly, your kids don't deserve anything new. They don't like. What do they know about hard work? Well, they played the soccer game on Saturday. They practice three times a week. They don't deserve anything new unless you can't find it used. I'm going to be honest, it's not even about deserving.
- [36:54]
Jill
Like none of us, none of us need it. Not necessary. Everything we need has already been created and we can just go and find it.
- [37:02]
Jen
And it could, yeah, it can have multiple lives with multiple people.
- [37:05]
Jill
Number 20, they stored surplus as a protection, not excess. We're not talking hoarding, but we are buffering against uncertainty. They were. And we also can, especially when we do find things that, that are reasonable prices, have a good shelf life and we know that we'll use them. So this is canned goods and freezer items and you know, our beans and rice and things like that. Just keeping things on hand because this especially helps us to not do those impulse purchases when we are Tired. And we just want to pay for convenience when we have these emergency meals already on hand, then we've really just thought ahead.
- [37:53]
Jen
All right, three more. Last three. They minimized fixed expenses aggressively. Flexibility meant survival in the Great Depression, and so they had to be flexible, nimble, and that means you had to minimize things that were fixed. So high fixed costs were dangerous. And I think we should think about that more. I think when we buy homes, we. We dive into this really high fixed cost that gives up, that takes away a lot of our flexibility. And homeownership is. Is not bad. I own two homes, right. Ask me how I feel about being a landlord. I hate it. Thank you. But it is something I am doing for. To diversify my wealth and to help my family. And. And it does take a lot of my flexibility away. I wish I had more flexibility. And so I have traded one for the other. And I think. I wish that I had thought more about that area before I had entered into this. This lifestyle. And even if you're only buying one home, really looking at the cost and like, should I get the maximum I'm. I can or should I go smaller? Can be, like, very important.
- [39:19]
Jill
Number 22 is separating needs from availability. Just because something exists doesn't mean it's necessary. I think sometimes we can think, well, if it's been created, it must solve some problem that I indeed must also have, and I also need this thing. But manufacturing now is so much easier than it was. And also, we all don't have the same problems in life. We don't have to buy something just because it exists right now. I think availability of a thing can create a perceived need in us, and this is something we need to keep a pulse on and keep in check of. But is that actually a problem for me? Is this an area that I have been trying to create greater levels of efficiency in? Will this actually be beneficial for. For my life and worth the money? And if the answer is no, then the answer is no, my friends. We can save that money.
- [40:18]
Jen
I think about the cereal cup when I think about this. The cup that you can bring with you and store your cereal like this. That is what I think of.
- [40:29]
Jill
I have never seen that before, girl.
- [40:31]
Jen
Yes, you literally are. Okay, we're gonna have to add this. Yeah. It separates your cereal, you know what I'm talking about, from the milk, and then you just drink it. Look, like this mom is doing. She's drinking her cereal and she's like, wait, don't bother me.
- [40:47]
Jill
Wait, what's happening?
- [40:49]
Jen
The milk and cereal go together when you drink it instead of sitting together. No, they were.
- [40:58]
Jill
So that's a choking hazard.
- [40:59]
Jen
They were so concerned with if they could. They stopped to ask if they should. Like why.
- [41:06]
Stacy
I.
- [41:06]
Jen
It's, it's stuff like that.
- [41:08]
Jill
I've never seen this before. So clearly it hasn't taken off.
- [41:11]
Jen
Just because it's available doesn't mean it's a necessity.
- [41:15]
Jill
So true.
- [41:16]
Jen
All right, last is they expected hardship, not constant optimization. And this is the thing that I thought, I want us, like, if you've tuned out, this is the last one. Come back and really internalize. They expected hardship. They did not expect. They did not go into things. And this, I think, is maybe like a. The human condition is we go in and we think we're just going to improve, improve, improve. And the, the line of improvement is just going to be straight. But really we see that it's very kind of flat at first and it curves up. Right. And so they expected two steps forward, one step back. Two steps forward, one step back. They did not chase perfect systems. The secret to success. They were not tricked by gurus on social media saying, this is what you're missing. Like you're doing it wrong, do it this way. No, they kept chugging along and they built resilience, resilience in the imperfection. And that is what social media cannot sell you. It cannot sell you resilience. It sells you solution, solution, solution. So that you don't have to build resilience, but you're going to want to because hardship is never going to stop coming up. And this is. You've built resilience in so many other places in your life, build it financially as well.
- [42:47]
Jill
It's not this waiting for the other shoe to drop kind of mindset. Not, not always excited, expecting something around the corner. And so you're not able to enjoy the here and now. It's the. Enjoy if you're in a really great season, but no difficulty is going to come in a just matter of fact kind of way so that you can be prepared for it and it doesn't wipe you out. And if you are in the. In a difficult season, okay, yeah, I knew that this was gonna happen, but it won't last for forever. And how can I be managing this and prepare even better in the future? I think it's this kind of cyclical thing that we just need to be aware of that sometimes it is not just as optimized and as efficient as possible. Sometimes it's just rough. And how do we scale down and how do we manage our money as wisely as possible in the midst of that? So that. That kind of tethered approach. Not. Not a complete pessimist.
- [43:45]
Jen
I like the way the stock market describes it, is that small, small seasons of dip, they're called corrections. Whereas a large, you know, is called a recession. Right. Most of the time you're going to experience a lot of corrections. Right. So don't view them as recessions or hardships unless they. They truly are. View these minor setbacks as corrections.
- [44:09]
Jill
Do you know, it's not a correction, it's just always optimized. It is just scaling upwards. The middle of the week.
- [44:30]
Podcast Host Intro
That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his. 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.
- [44:50]
Stacy
Oh my gosh, the library. I never knew that one of the resources you can get is online courses. My library has a whole database of different websites you can go to and get classes. Like where? Normally you'd have to go to the website and pay a subscription fee, but it's all covered under your library card. One of the websites they offer is craftsy and that offers classes in cooking, baking, drawing, sewing, gardening, home decor, everything you can think of, like even woodworking. Additionally, it even has fitness classes and yoga classes. Great. So cool. But what I'm working on right now is photography. I don't really want to become a photographer, but I've got little kids and pictures are expensive and you can take
- [45:50]
Jen
these courses and I'm learning how to
- [45:52]
Stacy
do simple pictures where I no longer have to go and pay $200 per kid for dance class pictures. I can do it at home myself with just a piece of foam board to reflect the light.
- [46:07]
Jen
Who knew?
- [46:09]
Stacy
Apparently the library did says get your library card and check out what they have to offer. Thanks so much for sending me down this path,
- [46:20]
Jen
Stacy. Blessed blossoms upon. Oh wow. This is feeding me.
- [46:28]
Jill
You have caught on to the excitement of library and we are also now feeding off of that. This is a reciprocal relationship where we are all fed by excitement over library.
- [46:42]
Jen
Oh my gosh. Those dance photos, sports photos. Oh my Lord. Too expensive.
- [46:50]
Jill
Such a great idea.
- [46:52]
Jen
What a fantastic source of creativity and innovation. Oh my gosh.
- [46:59]
Sponsor Voice
Stuff.
- [46:59]
Jill
When we talked about skill building. Yeah, there's YouTube and there's also library. Amazing. Thanks for this extra tip, Stacy. If you're listening and you have a bill that you want to submit. If it has anything to do with library, we want to hear about it. If it has anything to do with being bill, we want to hear about it. If it is just going to use the word bill at point some some point in your communication to us frugalfriendspodcast.com build.
- [47:25]
Podcast Sponsor Announcer
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Podcast Sponsor Announcer
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- [48:38]
Capital Group Announcer
If you're early in your career and looking for insight, inspiration and honest advice, listen to the Capital Ideas Podcast. Hear from Capital Group professionals about leaning into the differences that make you unique, making decisions that last, and what it means to lead with purpose. The Capital Ideas Podcast from Capital Group. Available wherever you listen. Published by Capital Client Group, Inc.
- [49:05]
Jill
And now it's time for.
- [49:11]
Jen
All right, what is a Great Depression era frugal living tip that you that we did not include because you no longer do it or recommend it?
- [49:21]
Jill
I used to do it in the late 20s, but now I don't anymore.
- [49:26]
Jen
Tell us about it, Jill. What did you stop doing after the depression ended?
- [49:31]
Jill
Yes, yes, I stopped darning socks.
- [49:35]
Jen
The sock darting. Remind me what that is again.
- [49:40]
Jill
Oh, yes, it's.
- [49:41]
Jen
I've blocked it out.
- [49:42]
Jill
Sewing the holes of your socks.
- [49:44]
Jen
Yes.
- [49:45]
Jill
And repairing your socks. Actually, my grandmother always did this. She was. She always had socks she was darning and that's great. They were actually quality socks and she had all the materials to do it. She had. It was this. I don't know if I should be making the hand motions, but like a round stick, like, it was like a stick thing with like a round thing at the end. And you'd shove that into the heel of the sock or the toe of the sock and that kind of provided stability and then she would work around it. So I've. I've watched enough sock darning to kind of know. But our socks are polyester and plastic and fine. No, I don't do that. But. But truly, I've never darned socks. And so now I still don't. But I don't keep bacon grease. I used to.
- [50:37]
Jen
So did I. I used to.
- [50:38]
Jill
And I don't even remember if I used it, but I don't now.
- [50:44]
Jen
Yeah, I don't.
- [50:45]
Jill
I don't keep.
- [50:45]
Jen
Sometimes I. I will. If I'm cooking with it in that same, like, session. Session. Yes. I'll. I'll save it and, and cook with it in that session. But yeah, just keep it in the fridge. And I don't remember if I used it.
- [51:00]
Jill
I know that's the thing. So I've just stopped doing that. But sometimes I'll use it to season my cast iron pan. But that's it.
- [51:09]
Sponsor Voice
Yeah.
- [51:10]
Jill
Okay.
- [51:10]
Sponsor Voice
How about you?
- [51:12]
Jen
In the great Depression era, they used to take boarders to cut rent and like.
- [51:21]
Jill
Renters.
- [51:21]
Jen
Yeah. In their home of one room. And we used to do that via Airbnb in our old house.
- [51:28]
Jill
Yes.
- [51:29]
Jen
Used to have people. We used to rent a room out inside of our house and we kind of still do that. We have a apartment in the back of our house that has its own entrance but still is attached to my house and ask me how I feel about being a landlord.
- [51:49]
Jill
So it's not that you no longer do it anymore, it's that you. I don't want to do it.
- [51:54]
Jen
Yeah. I don't. I don't do it in my house anymore.
- [51:56]
Jill
Yeah, that's true.
- [51:57]
Jen
Thank you so much for listening. I hope this inspired you to glean some wisdom from great depression era frugality while leaving out the things that really do not serve us in 2026. And if you're interested in this again, please like the video and subscribe. But also we have a book called Buy what you love without going broke that dives into some of these mindsets a little more deeply with a more millennial coded point of view. And you might like it. Like Jeffrey liked it. He left a five star review on Amazon that said realistic approach to Mindful spending. I've gone through phases in my life where I'm more frugal, thrifty than others. I hit thrift shops hard in high school, for example, and only recently rediscovered the thrill. I also had a Dave Ramsey phase. And lately I've gone down the buy nothing rabbit hole. Jen and Jill speak to all these different parts of me so clearly and use all the best lessons learned from each phase to create a holistic new lifestyle that I'm excited about. Values Based Spending this is a great read. It's conversational and educational all at once and requires just the right amount of self reflection. I'm definitely embracing my season and saying no more. Thanks to these gals.
- [53:16]
Jill
Oh, thanks Jeffrey. That's a really insightful review. Appreciate it. If you've read the book and haven't left a review yet, we've, we'd love for you to do that. Amazon's a great place to do it. Even if you didn't buy it there, it's great. If you didn't buy it there and subscribe to our YouTube channel, comment on this video. We'll respond. Yeah, we'll see you next time.
- [53:36]
Jen
Let us know if you're a flapper girl. Yes.
- [53:39]
Capital Group Announcer
Bye.
- [53:41]
Jen
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
- [53:54]
Sponsor Voice
Okay, Jen, I am so curious to
- [53:59]
Jill
hear more about this fend for yourself approach with food in your home.
- [54:05]
Jen
Yeah, well obviously the children don't have to fend for themselves.
- [54:09]
Stacy
Right.
- [54:09]
Jen
Like I feed them mostly, but so
- [54:13]
Jill
they have stuff things that they'll eat that aren't the dinner that you're going to eat.
- [54:18]
Jen
Right. So if I'm. They have so few things that they will eat. It's beans and rice, Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers. I don't want to eat those things over and over. Right. So like sometimes I'll make that and then just take like leftovers. I meal prep a lot. So I'll just do a meal prep, you know, something in the microwave or batch cooked chicken and I'm doing chicken sandwiches or last week when I had all the shredded chicken I did a curry chicken salad. Oh yeah, yeah. So like a lot of sandwiches in that regard. So yeah. I mean we're also getting into warmer months so there will be less hot food in my house and more like salads and chicken salad, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is a very like Travis is like what's for dinner? And if I'm not cooking it is very much like whatever you eat.
- [55:19]
Jill
Yeah, whatever you can find to eat.
- [55:23]
Jen
So it's mostly Travis spending for himself.
- [55:28]
Jill
But, like, do you have a plan or does it feel. Feel like you're also fending for yourself?
- [55:33]
Jen
I have a loose plan. I always have a loose plan when I'm prepping.
- [55:37]
Stacy
Right?
- [55:37]
Jen
Like, I'm like, okay, I'm going to have, you know, four pounds of chicken. What am I going to do with this? And it also has to come down to what I want to do in the moment, because Sunday me is different from Wednesday me. It's different from Friday me. Yeah. So I need to plan that. I need to plan for that.
- [55:58]
Jill
Yeah.
- [55:59]
Jen
But I, I redo a lot of the same meals until I get tired of them, and then I'll switch to something else. So right now I'm chicken sandwich girl, you know?
- [56:10]
Jill
Sounds great to me.
- [56:11]
Jen
It is. It won't last forever, but I try not to have too much variety because it's too much work.
- [56:20]
Jill
Those are words to live by.
- [56:25]
Capital Group Leadership Podcast Announcer
What does leadership really look like? On the Power of Advice, a new podcast series from Capital Group. You'll hear from athletes, entrepreneurs and executives who've led on the field, in the boardroom, and in their communities. It's not about titles. It's about impact. Discover what drives them and the advice they carry forward. Subscribe and start listening today. Published by Capital Client Group, Inc. Me
- [56:54]
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