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Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn.
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To save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life.
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Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.
- [02:19]
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Welcome to Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen. My name is Jill, and Frugal Living Tips from the Great Depression is, if you would believe it, a very Googled phrase. And that's why we're doing it. For some reason, a lot of people are searching for this, and I don't want to speculate as to why. I don't want to assume people think that we're heading into another Great Depression. But always, all people always think we're heading into a Depression. Maybe not a Great Depression, but people always think that's where we're heading because it's not just 2025 where this is a very googled term. It has literally been since we started the show in 2018. Just for some perspective. And so you know what, we're not gonna fight it. We're gonna please, please the people and replay this episode from two years ago. Because the same still true, still true, still very searched and still same tips.
- [03:17]
A
Still wanna know. I think there is wisdom in looking back at some of the well worn pathways of those who have gone before us in what worked for them. Obviously there's going to be some things to take, some things to leave, but in an age of rising inflation and practical recession, because they just always move the indicators and the markers of what qualifies for a recession. And isn't that so fun? So yeah, whether, whether we need this economically or just we want tips for our own lives of how we can be managing resources. This is, this was a good one and it holds up, which is why we're sharing it.
- [03:59]
B
But first, this episode is brought to you by another good thing. Spam can. If you remember the Great Depression, you know how popular spam was, am I right? And for as shelf stable as spam is, you know what lasts longer than spam? The spam can. That's right. If you're looking for an aluminum can that is in a slightly odd shape but just tall enough to be useful for holding small items, look no further. Spam can. It's the opposite of your motivation that lasts up to 24 hours and sinks into the pit of your takeout container, then that's not going to hold anything that's going in the trash. If you want to be as steady as spam can, consider joining our monthly challenge membership. We created it because we wanted to help people stay consistent in their financial goals. Because financial goals require consistency over perfection. And so every month we give a new money challenge to help renew your motivation and keep you consistent in reaching your money goals. As consistent as spam can is in holding your shelf stable meat. And we're going to give you 50% off your first challenge. Use code GREAT50@FrugalfriendsPodcast.com challenge.
- [05:16]
A
I was a work of art. Jen.
- [05:18]
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Spam can.
- [05:19]
A
Eric loves spam. He would do well during the Great Depression.
- [05:24]
B
He would.
- [05:25]
A
For those who don't know, I don't know why I feel like this is worth me mentioning right here, right now, but the reason we're so unhinged with talking about our own things is because once upon a time, we never had digital products or real Sponsorships. But we did want to create a sponsorship ad spot so that all of our listeners would be accustomed to hearing it when we inevitably did have people paying us or our own products to sell.
- [05:51]
B
And we did not anticipate that they would be dynamically inserted in various spots during the episode.
- [05:57]
A
I don't even know if that insertion ever existed.
- [06:00]
B
I don't know if it existed then. Right. So. But we still can't get past these unhinged sponsor slots because now we love them.
- [06:12]
A
So if you're, if you've been here, if you haven't been here since day one and you're, like, wondering what in the world we're doing, that's it. We just give you something crazy and then tie it into something legit.
- [06:26]
B
But you know what's not crazy? The Great Depression.
- [06:32]
A
That's another segment. We'll get there.
- [06:34]
B
The Great Depression. And we want to talk about some tips that come from that. Some tips that you may. May not want to keep in the 2025 year. The year of our Lord 2025, coming from the year 1925.
- [06:52]
A
All right, let's do it here. Here it goes. We are first going to go through this article that comes from everything Abode seven money lessons learned from the Great Depression. Jen and I are each going to pick three that we like. So there's going to be one outlier. So we'll have to read the article.
- [07:14]
B
Yeah, have to read it if you. If you want to know the last one.
- [07:17]
A
Yes. It was so good. And I will also say at this point, I'm feeling especially warm to this topic because I think it does remind me of my grandmother, who I call her Gimba. That's no language other than my older sister who couldn't say grandma as a young child. And it came out Gimba. And we made it up. It's our own language. But my gimbal was born during the Great Depression and carries with her many of the things that were a reality of that timeframe, like embedded and instilled in her into her 60s, 70s, 80s. Now she's in her 90s. God bless her.
- [07:57]
B
God bless Gimba.
- [07:58]
A
She's so great. She has Alzheimer's, so she forgets most things, but she still remembers how to knit. So then that leads me to number some booties. Number three on here is the first one I've picked. Is one one of the money lessons from the Great depression is that DIY. DIYing things is a sound financial strategy for many of us who we have grandparents or maybe parents who grew up during the Great Depression, it was a generation that believed in working with their hands, creating things, making repairs. These are things that are available to us now. We've just maybe let go of them. Forgotten, don't want to. But if we, if we want to take any of the wisdom or implement some of these strategies, this could be a really great place to start. Is there anything that you use often that you could make yourself? Is there any hobby that you want to pick up that could actually be useful for the things that you need, like sewing or gardening or making your own repairs? Is there something that's broken in your house and you're tempted to just throw it away and buy new? Learn from those who went before us and endured the Great Depression and try repairing it yourself? We do have something on our side called the Internet that our grandparents did not have.
- [09:26]
B
Amen.
- [09:26]
A
Where we can look it all up. Don't know how. Toilet. YouTube it. Don't know how to stop your leaky faucet. YouTube it. Don't know how to clean out your dishwasher washer or your, your, your lint. Lint filter. I thought of that commercially lint liquor. YouTube it.
- [09:48]
B
YouTube it.
- [09:50]
A
And you can DIY it yourself. And then you're gonna benefit as a result of knowing more. Feeling accomplished, not needing to buy new things. DIY it.
- [10:00]
B
We talk about this in the Frugal Friends Club, our membership. And, and I personally hate, like, diying a lot of things. Like, I'm not a DIYer, but when it comes to repairs and maintenance, yes, we will DIY before we call a professional just to see if. Because we already have the thing, and so we would rather keep it out of a dump and try to repair it than just automatically go buy new. So that is where we diy. I will not just, like, buy things and DIY something. Yeah, unless it's floating shelves, because, oh my gosh, I spend $150 on floating shelves. Or I can buy an $18, like, piece of wood. That's another story. Though typically I hate diying, but we talk about this in our membership and so many people have taken the, like, have taken. Run with that and saved so much money, like, just by simply, like, maintenance and repair. DIY using YouTube. It's insane. So highly recommend that even if you're not a DIYer, just starting kind of with something like that, I am personally going to jump back to number one and say it's more than just being frugal. That's. That's the first money lesson. And I think that's kind of what we have tried to emphasize on our show is that being frugal for the sake of being frugal or for the sake of hoarding money is a horrible financial strategy. I mean, maybe it's not a horrible financial strategy, it's a horrible life strategy. But rejecting frugal just for the sake of not wanting to be the person that's seen as stingy or moocher or who's cheap, also not a sound life strategy because that's not what frugal is. So during the Great Depression, a person who was frugal was viewed as smart and responsible. Now we know they're seen as cheap, stingy moochers or I love, like, when I say I host the Frugal Friends podcast, I'll have people come up to me, like after, wherever I'm speaking, be like, oh, I got this, like, shirt from a thrift store. Or like trying to like, show me how frugal they are or how little they spend. And I'm like, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. That's not the point. But I am glad that you, you bought thrift store clothes because I love thrift store clothes.
- [12:38]
A
But usually it's people like bragging about their coupons or how they didn't spend anything for this value add. And it's like you can spend money.
- [12:48]
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Or how they lost all their friends to pay off their debt. It's so interesting. But it's about more than the financial practices. It's about what the financial practices get you. It's about being able to afford more of what money can't buy. That is the purpose of being frugal. And there are so like everything you want, you might like, we give you an assignment list off everything you want on a piece of paper and see how much of it costs money. Like in one mindset, everything, everything you put on that list will cost money. When you become, when you adopt a frugal lifestyle, frugal mindset, the things on your list no longer cost money, but it takes money to be able to get them. If that's what it's like, it's not things or experiences or things that inherently cost money, but it's like these self fulfillment things, these family fulfillment things, career fulfillment. It's these self actualization pieces that don't necessarily cost money in and of themselves, but do take money to pursue. And so that is the point of frugality, not just being frugal for frugal's sake.
- [14:12]
A
Yes. Having a deeper reason. The other tip or lesson learned from the Great Depression that I love. Number five, the value of budget. Budgeting said a different way. The value of a spending plan, the value of knowing how much money is coming in, how much money's going out, where is it going to. The more that we feel as though we have an understanding and are in control of that, the better off we're going to feel about our finances, the more intentional decisions we can make. And ultimately the goal of really having a plan in place like that, a knowledge and understanding is to spend less than we earn. So that doesn't mean that we can't ever spend or that our spending needs to look the same as somebody else, just that our spending really, we want to get it to less than what we earn. And that includes making room for saving and investing and paying down debt, whatever it is that your goals are, and lowering some of those bills and cost of living, but still being able to say yes to the things that are valuable and important to you. I still remember that my great grandfather, so my. My grandmother's father, had a ledger that he kept. And they of course kept it. Like, I mean, they don't have Excel spreadsheets or all the apps or the different programs, and he had this ledger that he would keep daily record of transactions. And that seems absurd and over the top, but yet that kind of practice, at least for a short time, can really help us to get acquainted with our spending, our habits, our behaviors, and help us hone in on how do we actually want to be engaging with our money and what are the decisions we want to be making around it. And really, probably because there wasn't a debit card or credit card that he was swiping where he could just pull up the transaction list like he had to manually do that. And what more value than there is to understanding how you're interacting with your money. But we've got it a little bit easier and a little bit harder in some ways. But getting in touch to deeper levels with your habits and behaviors around money, I think is a really important lesson and something we can be implementing that will benefit us in the long run.
- [16:43]
B
Yes, absolutely. My next one is Save for a rainy Day Day. And who hasn't heard this phrase, save for a rainy day. But we do take it for granted. I think even if we don't intend to, we still take it for granted because we're still shocked when emergencies come and we still don't save enough in our emergency funds. And that's really what this is. Take advantage of the good times and save for the lean ones. There will always be some time. Like it may not be for years or decades, but eventually you will need your emergency fund. And hopefully it's not for, like, a bad reason. Hopefully it's, you know, a neutral emergency, as neutral as emergencies can get. But you're going to need it. And we just, we don't value it enough. So. And that includes, and I would say, not just rainy days saving for retirement. I don't think that we, we often value that one enough for what it really is. Because investing for retirement isn't just. It is not saving for a hammock on the beach. It is saving to cover your bills and expenses. So even if you get Social Security in your later years, that is going to probably cover your housing, maybe your food. But if you would like to, I don't know, drive or like, go out to eat, like in addition to groceries, it's probably not going to be enough to cover that stuff. Or like, if you would like to have utilities, like lights or water, stuff like that, Social Security is likely not going to cover all of your expenses. So we're not saving for a hammock on the beach. We're not even saving for a rainy day. We're saving just for a day. We're saving for our future days. So I would say your emergency fund is important, but also saving just for days in the future is of equal importance. So, yeah, we have to do it now because you may not be able to work later.
- [19:08]
A
Just, you know, going for the easy ones, huh, Jen?
- [19:11]
B
I am.
- [19:12]
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It's the reality. Hopefully we have days. We're breaking it down.
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I want to assume that you'll have days and I want you to have money to spend all your days.
- [19:24]
A
Thank you, Jen. I believe you. The last one on this list for me is number six, the value of diversification and multiple income streams. So this is referring to both investing and types of savings and investment accounts. Making sure that we're putting money into a few different places. That's that saying not having all of your eggs in one basket, but making sure that your investments are in a variety of places. So that if one is risky or doesn't do as well, then you've got this other account that is also seeking to earn interest for you. But then I like how they paired this with the seeking multiple income streams. I want to find the radical middle here because I also think that we've had such a focus on hustle culture and side hustles, and you have to do more and just Having one full time job isn't enough. There was a recent commercial. I don't really see commercials. I think Eric and I were at a hotel or something and had the TV on and this commercial just caught me so off guard. It was talking about a credit card. That was the way that they were advertising. It was talking about how we all have side hustles and the credit card was going to be able to make it easier for you to have a side hustle. Or because you have a side hustle, you can have this credit card. I don't totally know how they were tying it in. I just know that they were talking about side hustles. I'm like, what day and age are we in where it is apparently so commonplace that they're their commercial to the masses for a big credit card. One of the biggest credit card companies is talking about side hustles. To me, that was highlighting an issue in society that our full time jobs aren't paying us enough, that we need a side hustle. Whether it's highlighting the greed that we have and we all just want more, or it's highlighting the fact that none of us are getting paid enough to like cover our most basic expenses, I don't know. Either way, it's a problem. So I kind of want to like rein this in and not say you should. You have to have. If you don't have an extra stream of revenue, you need to get one just for the sake of getting one. Right. It's not frugality for the sake of frugality. It's not earning more for the sake of earning more. But it isn't a reasonable thing to consider. If your regular work is not enough to cover isn't really kind of tipping the scales for some of those financial goals that you have. At least for a season. It doesn't have to be a long term lifestyle, but at least for a time considering an additional stream of revenue and hopefully within the realm of things that you enjoy. So are you already a biker, like a bicyclist and you can fix your own bikes and maybe you can pick up some extra cash fixing other people's bikes for them too and that's something that you enjoy and you get to chat with the neighbors while you do it, or do you already watch your own children and hey, what's two more and you can make a little bit of extra cash watching other people's kids for a time, a few hours a day, a weekend, I don't know, your life or whatever else it is that you might enjoy that might be able to bring in additional income. Again, one of the things I'm going to highlight is make sure you enjoy it, but also don't put the pressure on yourself to do that if you don't actually need it.
- [23:09]
B
Absolutely. And the last one from this article is to eat at home. That is a great lesson that we got from the Great Depression that we have for sure lost over the years. They say when the stock market crashed and shuttered businesses, many families had to scrape by on what they could to survive and that meant eating out was no longer an option. Families got creative, which is a tenet of frugality, and they cooked their own meals, scrabbling together what they could find at home. So they new dishes came into vogue out of sheer necessity. And it doesn't list any of them. I wish it did. But eating at home, and we all want to do it, we all find it is the hardest thing to do. And we have spent like, gosh, we probably have like 5, 50 episodes on how to make eating at home easier. Like, not just we all know that it's important, but how do we like make it easier? How do we follow through?
- [24:13]
A
Well, I mean, the frugal friends have made it easier in the membership by giving everyone in our membership a meal plan each month. So there's another reason to check that out.
- [24:23]
B
We do do that. Yes, but so eating at home, even if it is not the perfect budget friendly meal, even if it is not the perfect meal, definitely calculate. And this is where tracking your transactions and your expenses comes in. Figure out your cost per meal of eating at home, of everything versus eating out. And really consider how much you save by eating at home.
- [24:52]
A
And talk with other people. Get ideas. That's the best way, I think, to give new invigoration to it. And yeah, again, the Internet is a great resource for us trying to implement on some of these things. What happens when Chip and Joanna Gaines hit the gym together for the first time ever? I'm Don Saladino and I've got both of them on a new episode of my podcast, Stronger Out. Right now. We'll talk about their fitness journey, the mindset to keep going as they approach 50, and the discipline needed to get Chip ready for the COVID of Men's Fitness. Spoiler alert. I told him he's going to be miserable. This episode's hilarious, honest and packed with great advice to motivate your own fitness journey. Listen to Stronger with my guests Chip and Joanna Gaines on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shows. So moving on to the next article, which comes from money crashers and it is 8 money saving frugality tips from the Depression era. Again, Jen and I are just gonna go through three of our faves. I'm just going to kick it off with number one because I love it so much and I'm putting it in all caps, even though the article doesn't use what you have. And I am kind of yelling it because that's what all caps demands, that we need to be using up what we already have on hand. This has to do with food, toiletries, cleaning products, just anything that we already have using it. This also means exploring substitutions in our cooking and recipes and meals and cleaning products that it doesn't always even mean that we have to replace what we've used up. Maybe we can use up our vinegar in cleaning. That's the best cleaning product, honestly, out there is vinegar and lemon and hot water and rag and some good old elbow grease. Can't buy that at the store. That's just.
- [26:58]
B
Where can I find elbow grease?
- [27:00]
A
Yeah, at home.
- [27:02]
B
Yes.
- [27:03]
A
At work. Put. Put your body to work. And I love too. We talked about this a bit recently with Ingrid from DeclutterHub. This is. This is just good across the board. It's good for our finances, it's good for reducing waste. It's good for creating contentment that we can just explore what's already in our pantries and our cabinets and under our sinks and use that. We don't have to get whatever's new and hot on the market or throw it away just because it's half empty. What if it were half full? Am I right?
- [27:41]
B
So number two is to avoid food waste. And you know, we love that. We love that tip. We hate food waste. And it is not only a way, it not only hits the frugality button, it hits the minimalist button because you are only buying what you need. So you have minimal food on hand. And hits the sustainability button because less food is sitting in the dumps that we do pay for with our taxes. And so it just hits every button for me. Avoiding food waste. Literally, again, using what you have and just eating what you have. And when you see that it's about to go bad and you can't eat it, freezing it if you have it and you don't really like it anymore, repurposing it, but just avoiding as much food waste as possible.
- [28:43]
A
Yes, I love that too. You know how important that is to me. And number three, we're just going in order because this is a good article. This one I found so interesting to research depression era recipes which yes, this is a Google search that you can do. The article does give a few examples of recipes to use. Now again, I'm going to challenge us to hold the radical middle here because there are some things that we do out of necessity that aren't required long term and some things that are just good long term. Like if we don't have to find recipes that don't use milk, eggs, whatever, then then don't explore that. But if you are feeling the pinch of the price of eggs and animal products and meat, there is a plethora of resources for you. And so a lot of these depression era recipes are meatless animal product less and usually are these kind of staples that are easy to find, less expensive still the case nearly 100 years later of they're just affordable food options. I think they gave like a carrot cake recipe that doesn't use any dairy in it. So that could be an option. If even if you want a challenge to yourself or you want to find new recipes, this could kind of be a little gamifying way or out of necessity way of determining, determining how to cut some of your food costs. Let's dig back into the past. What did our grandparents and great grandparents make when money was tight? And maybe you'd find yourself a good recipe in there.
- [30:41]
B
All right, for my next one, I'm going to jump to number seven and say use less electricity. So I'm not about going off the grid, like that's not me. But I do think that we could all stand to use a little less electricity, but also use a little more electricity. So hear me out. The move away from like to towards like electric vehicles. I love that. So using a little more electricity in lieu of gasoline, you know, guzzling products, cool. But then in the things that we are used to using electricity for. So maybe that means staying off your phone a little so that you don't have to charge it as many times throughout the day or turning the lights off during the day. You can keep your lights on at night. I know Travis well. Every time I leave the room, Travis turns off a light and I'm like, I was just gonna go right back into that room and I would like it to be lit. So within like, you know, necessity, like.
- [32:02]
A
Meet your necessities, the lights can be on, but if it's daytime, the boogeyman is not there and you don't need the lights. Right.
- [32:11]
B
So maybe on the shoulder season. So this is like my Favorite one in the shoulder seasons, spring and fall, using the natural air conditioning that is all around you. Going outside more. Oh my gosh. Spending more time outside is so underrated. So just kind of not. But trying to unplug things at the end of the night to save a couple cents in electricity, but doing big things that will lower your energy consumption so that you can maybe compensate with something else that's using electricity that is not using another more expensive utility. Gas is more expensive than electricity, right?
- [33:07]
A
Yes, typically, yeah.
- [33:09]
B
So I would say, you know, save where you can so you can spend it elsewhere.
- [33:14]
A
To me, turning out the lights, especially if you have LED light bulbs, is like the latte factor. Like you focus on the wrong thing. The wrong thing. Thanks, Kanye. Like we wanna look at, when it comes to electricity, what are the heavy hitters? And that's gonna be your washing machine and dryer and your oven and your bigger appliances. And so I. And the H VAC system like you're referencing Jen. And so is there an opportunity to air dry your things and not use the dryer? Can you make a cold dinner? You know, especially in the summers, your pasta salads, your salads, your just something that's a little bit more light and fresh. And you're not turning on the oven, which is dual purpose. You're not not overheating yourself and you're not spending a ton of electricity. Does your house need to be max heated and cooled all of the time or are there alternative ways that you can be looking at? Can you just open the window? So those are the things I would encourage us to look at more than just like, did you turn off the light in the bathroom? That's just not gonna save you much Pennies.
- [34:26]
B
All my diet, all my dad's out here listening to this are like, don't touch the thermostat. They're like here for it. So yeah, let's think about our heavy hitters and focus on those. I think doing more activities outside in those shoulder seasons, or I guess for us it's the shoulder seasons, but for maybe northerners it's summer. And just try and do that instead of like kind of nickel and diming your savings with electricity.
- [34:57]
A
The last one I'm calling out on here is number six. Six make your own. Kind of connected to diy, but thinking next level of what can I do myself make my own. That works maybe just as good, if not better. Saves me money. The thing about making your own is that typically it's not going to save you any time. It's mostly going to save you money and is often has the added benefit of maybe being the healthier, more sustainable, better for you alternative. So it does have a few things going for it but it definitely typically does not have the time saving element. But we're talking about making your own cleaning products which is usually just vinegar and water. That doesn't take a ton of time. I will encourage you to do that. Making your own beauty products, depending on what we're talking about that could take some extra time. Kombucha they list. I've not tried this. I know a lot of people who have gotten into this. Hats off to you. That feels like even next level that's the elevated tier up. I don't know if I trust myself but that's fun. Canned foods that feels like something I might get into eventually. Of canning foods that seem to I.
- [36:16]
B
Would can foods before I make kombucha but I also don't like kombucha.
- [36:21]
A
I think it's making your own pie crust, your own pasta, doing your own beans. But whatever's gonna be most important to you feels like it's gonna be the most cost saving. But an additional thing I'll add to this section is making your own could be an activity that you do with your kids or with a friend. If there's something here that sounds interesting, you could pair it with an opportunity to to get together with other people, try something new together. That's reminding me actually as I'm talking about that interview we had recently as well, talking about going more plant based and getting together and trying new recipes with people trying these things out, trying canned canning food together. So that appeals to me because I think it combines a couple of different values. Certainly the value of spending time with other people, community and saving money. So just being creative, making your own, figuring out how you can incorporate other people into that process. I love that one.
- [37:31]
B
Amen. Again, not a big DIYer, but I do appreciate it on occasion for the big things. For the big things. So if you're not a big DIYer then reserve it for just some of your heavy hitters like we mentioned before. And my last one is my favorite one. It's always my favorite on any list I find and I happen to find it on a lot of lists because I'm looking for it. It's to focus on one main task and I didn't know that this was a tip from the Great Depression. Who knew? Money crashers knew. And they say if you've ever read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big woods, which I assume is a follow up to Little House on the Prairie, because prairies are probably smaller than big woods. You know that when Laura was growing up, her ma had a specific task for each day and they were set in stone. Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday.
- [38:43]
A
Oh, I love that. Let's get back to the big Woods. The Big woods sounds like a simple yet laborious life. That might be nice, but I'm gonna.
- [38:55]
B
Switch up Churn on Thursdays to be something else. The advantage of using a schedule like this is that it provides a framework for getting bigger tasks done on top of all the other chores you've got to accomplish. So this is something that we talk about all the time, is when you prioritize one thing, you keep it really simple. You get it done. That is kind of like our life motto. We are pretty lazy, but we like. So when we had Kendra Adachi on She's the lazy genius. And she always says, be lazy or be a genius in the things that matter and lazy in the things that don't. And that's kind of like the approach that we take to frugality is to really focus on the things that matter. But first you have to name the things that matter. You got to find out what those things are so that you can be intentional with those and then either say no to the things that don't matter or just be as efficient and minimal effort necessary for the other things that you don't value, but you still have to do.
- [40:08]
A
That's been a helpful approach too. With just meal planning. Like, we can input that to really any aspect of life, especially the ones that feel overwhelming. We can't seem to get a handle on it. I love the way you approach meal plans, Jen of like Meatless Monday something Tuesday.
- [40:27]
B
It changes up too. So it's not like that every month, but like. Like a Meatless Monday handheld Tuesday. So like a sandwich or calzone and then like soup Wednesday or free, like fridge clean out Friday.
- [40:42]
A
Just anything like that template. It doesn't mean that it looks the same all the time, but you have a template. So yeah, I love that.
- [40:48]
B
Yeah, we just have a template. You know, we do this for February and then try something new in March sort of thing.
- [40:55]
A
You know what else has a template easily implemented? There's no question marks. It's the one thing. It's the main tasks. It's super simple, so it gets done. The bill of the week. That's.
- [41:20]
B
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.
- [41:30]
A
Maybe your car died and you're happy.
- [41:32]
B
To not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills. Buffalo Bills.
- [41:36]
A
Bill Clinton.
- [41:37]
B
This is the bill of the week.
- [41:40]
A
Hi, Jen and Jill. This is Kim from Rochester, Minnesota. Just wanted to say I appreciate everything you guys do on the podcast. It's been great for helping me create a budget. My bill of the week is the.
- [41:52]
B
6% raise that I got at work.
- [41:54]
A
I will be using these extra bills towards putting my dog in obedience classes.
- [41:59]
B
I rescued him off the streets of.
- [42:01]
A
Alabama and I'm super excited for him to go into obedience school and nose.
- [42:05]
B
Work, which is a canine sports competition.
- [42:08]
A
These are things that we can do together.
- [42:10]
B
And I'm really excited about it because.
- [42:12]
A
He'S been great for my mental health. Sometimes I wonder who rescued who, and I look forward to doing these classes with the extra money that I get. Thanks, guys. Oh, Kim, this is amazing. This is so celebratory. First of all, congratulations on your 6% raise. That's exciting. Well done. Sounds well earned, well deserved. And then your very intentional, values based approach to how you're choosing to allocate some of that increased revenue, sending your doggy to obedience school so that you can find fun things to do together. How amazing.
- [42:53]
B
This is one of those, like, one thing expenses, right? So, like, we were just talking about, like, focusing on one main task, like getting your one main thing, like putting. Using your raise to put your dog in obedience school will save you money in so many ways in the long run, even though you're just doing it to like, make life easier and to have more things to do. Like a dog that's trained, chews up, like, your stuff less and does not, you know, attack people on the street. And these are all, like actual stories that I hear all the time from dog owners so that you don't have to pay for that person's medical bills. There are like, so many reasons why this expense is going to compound your savings over time. And I think as somebody who does not own a dog, I have a lot of respect and appreciation for people who train their dogs really well, especially for like, I don't know, what was that nose test? Like that, like, competition thing? Like, just go to go above and beyond to do fun things with them. I very much appreciate that.
- [44:09]
A
Yeah.
- [44:09]
B
As somebody that doesn't like to get.
- [44:11]
A
Attacked by dogs, it's kind to you. It's kind to your dog. Well done, Kim. Thanks for sharing. If you all listening, have a bill where you're sending someone to obedience school. We want to hear from you. That's just good clean fun. Visit frugalfriends podcast.com Bill send us your bill because we're not stopping. We're focused on the this one thing.
- [44:36]
B
Maybe your dog's name's Bill.
- [44:38]
A
And now it's time for the lightning round. How's that? Her mouth sounds so sorry, Christian.
- [44:50]
B
Christian like hates our mouth sounds. He doesn't hate our mouth sounds. He's just so polite in saying you have a lot of mouth sounds.
- [44:58]
A
Drink more water. I just want you to be healthy.
- [45:01]
B
Yeah, okay. So this one's from Goldie, our podcast manager, and she says it's because she fell down the rabbit hole. That is Reddit. And I fell down the same rabbit hole because she left the link to it. She says, what depression era trick did your parents or grandparents teach you that you're still doing today? And this will link to this Reddit thread. I guess it is in the show notes because you might fall, you might enjoy it as well.
- [45:32]
A
Reddit, such a great place.
- [45:34]
B
Vulnerability around, kick us out.
- [45:38]
A
My grandmother, my gimba, she feels so integral to so many things that I do now. Like the list could go on and on and on, but to name a few. Keeping and reusing tissue paper for gifts. It might be like borderline cheap, but hey, why not? Why throw out very reasonably still good tissue paper just cause it has a few wrinkles in it. I mean, I don't think I've ever had to buy new tissue paper. I got the tissue paper from a grandmother that went to my mom that's now mine. Even when I give gifts, if it looks like the person's gonna throw it away, I'll like take it back. Not the gift, just like the tissue paper, maybe even the bag. And I just reuse that. I never actually write on the T on the bags and like then you can't reuse it.
- [46:28]
B
Oh, it's so rude when people do that. It's so rude. I think we talk a lot about my packet drawer, but we don't talk about my gift bag cabinet. I have a gift bag cabinet that has a ton of gift bags, a ton of tissue paper. Blank cards.
- [46:48]
A
Yes.
- [46:49]
B
Because you gotta. You only buy blank cards. Cause you can use them for every reason.
- [46:53]
A
Yes.
- [46:54]
B
Yeah, I have a little cabinet in my china hutch that doesn't have any china in it.
- [46:59]
A
You have a china I Was gonna say what?
- [47:01]
B
That's what it's called. It's a hutch.
- [47:03]
A
It's quarter adaptive. Folks, Jen's trying to be someone she's not.
- [47:08]
B
In our china cabinet that does not have any china. You've seen the cabinet and we don't own china. But yeah, it's like a little gift cabinet. And I never buy gift bags. I never buy tissue paper. Except for one time I had a bag with no tissue paper and I had to buy tissue paper.
- [47:29]
A
I keep some of that stuff in my car.
- [47:31]
B
You do?
- [47:32]
A
So that if I'm like last minute gift giving, I don't have to spend money on that extra fluff that.
- [47:39]
B
Well, I don't know what it's like to give last minute gifts. Mine are always. I also have gifts for kids. Like if Kai received something and I could do this more when before he like really understood Christmas and birthdays. But I would take gifts that I knew he wouldn't play with or were duplicates or were much too old for him and keep them in the gift closet so that I could either gift them to another child or give them to Kai again at a later holiday. Yeah, so we have the gift like a little gift basket in the closet. The basket is full of ungiven gifts. Well, they were given to Kai, but they were taken away. And then the. The cabinet with bags.
- [48:30]
A
Yep. Sewing and mending for me too. Buying secondhand. I mean, I really only grasped the value of that first through my grandmother. So so many things.
- [48:43]
B
See, I had packet drawer down here. Nobody ever taught me we did not do depression era things when I was growing up. There was none of that, like none of the stereotypical. I was looking. I was in that rabbit hole in the Reddit thread looking for something that I did or that my grandmother or my mother did growing up. And my grandmother, she was bougie. She had tastes that were outside of her lifestyle.
- [49:14]
A
She actually had a china cabinet.
- [49:17]
B
Oh yeah. 100% yes. And there was china in it. I couldn't think of anything.
- [49:24]
A
See, now there is something to be said for that too. Where. And I saw this in my grandmother as well, who I would define as very frugal. But that frugality also lent itself to buying quality things but then ensuring that it would last. So she would go to the higher end shoe store and buy very expensive shoes and meet with the consultant or get a very nice coat and actually pay to have it tailored, which seems like the, the bougie way to go, but in reality then has these pair of shoes that last for years. And this coat that lasts for years. That when it got a rip in it or a stain on it, there was investment in. Let me mend this myself. Let me figure out how to get this stain out of it. And I would say, to some degree, I carry that with me as well. I don't know if that'd be the same for you with your bougie grandmother. But this reality to buying really quality things in certain areas can also be the depression era or at least the 1950s takeaway of really quality things that can last and then taking care of them to ensure that they last.
- [50:41]
B
Yeah, I don't. I don't think I got that. She did. My grandmother hoarded. I know you did. My grandmother hoarded toilet paper. That was the one thing she hoarded. And she drank really cheap beer. Those were, like, her two things that grounded her. I don't drink beer, and I don't hoard toilet paper. But I did get an inheritance of toilet paper from her after her death. That was, like, my inheritance from her was a lot of toilet paper.
- [51:12]
A
So you were fine in 2020, huh?
- [51:14]
B
I mean, she died in, like, 2012, so a long time before 2020, you.
- [51:21]
A
Were wishing grandma were still here. She would have had you covered.
- [51:25]
B
Oh, she was an interesting lady. Yeah. I don't. Gosh, I wish I had an answer. All of the great depression things that I do, I do because I do them. So it's like my gift bag dime piece, my gift bag cabinet, or my packet drawer. Or I do them because of Travis.
- [51:46]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [51:47]
B
Travis turns off every light in the house every second. Jill actually noticed this and made fun of it, and I didn't even say anything, but I was just like, oh, my God. You see it too. It's not just me.
- [52:01]
A
I respect it. It's his home. Yes. Sorry, Travis. Didn't mean to leave the light on.
- [52:08]
B
But I did mean to leave the light on. I did mean to leave the light on.
- [52:16]
A
Okay, Jen, so we kind of didn't totally finish that entire thought during that episode about Travis's obsession with turning off all the lights. I mean, you do get the point, but does this persist? Is this a thing for him?
- [52:32]
B
Yes. Yes, absolutely. He would live in the darkness. But what he doesn't do is shut doors. So, like, what I do when I leave a room is I shut the door so the AC doesn't like. Cause the outside of our house isn't insulated. So I shut the door so that the AC doesn't spend more time, like, heat like cooling down the room. And he does not do that in H vac. Costs us more than like our lights do. Statistically. When you're thinking about your electricity bill, it's always the H vac that costs more.
- [53:13]
A
But you have duct work into your bedroom.
- [53:16]
B
Yeah, but for some reason, it's a little bit. And I can feel it when I shut the door, it's a little bit warmer because it's not where the thermostat is.
- [53:27]
A
Okay, so you're concerned that the thermostat will end up working harder because of your bedroom. That's the Internet where the thermostat is. Where is it? Is it near your bedroom door?
- [53:37]
B
No, it's near the kids bedrooms.
- [53:41]
A
So that probably. I mean, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that the detector is at the thermostat. So it's only going to matter in the vicinity of the thermostat.
- [53:52]
B
Okay, well, I think.
- [53:54]
A
But I love that we just unearthed, like, another neuroticism just now. That was fun.
- [53:59]
B
I think I'm doing something constructive and so does he. And together we're doing two constructive things and judging each other for them.
- [54:08]
A
I think the reason I had brought that up in that episode is probably because it was, who knows, nearer to the time when we stayed with you guys. We've stayed with you on a variety of occasions. But in re listening to this, I do remember that there were times where I was in your house and I would just walk out of a room, but planning to, like, walk back in in literally a few minutes. Maybe, like, I went to the bathroom and then I came back in and he'd be off. Or like, I. I saw him like, I was literally.
- [54:41]
B
No.
- [54:42]
A
Hardly steps out of it, and he was like, jumping up from the couch to, like, go turn off the light. And I was like, oh, wow, this is important. Noted.
- [54:52]
B
Yeah. Now that we have two kids and a dog, he's much more tired. So I don't think he is as neurotic anymore. He doesn't have the energy to be as neurotic. Neither of us do, if I'm being honest.
- [55:06]
A
I love it. Well, thank you all so much for listening. If you love things like reading our book, leave us a review. Like this one from the Price of Avocado Toast, which is a very fun podcast. Yeah. We shared a story, one of their stories in our book, about what you love without going broke. So they said.
- [55:27]
B
And people love that story. They've commented on it.
- [55:30]
A
5 stars. If you get your hands on any book, it needs to be this one. I've spent a lot of time reading various personal finance books and I have to say this is hands down my favorite book. It's so well done. It's evident how much time Jen and Jill spent on it. And I don't just mean the time it took to write the book, but the years of experience they collectively have have between the two of them and the journeys that they've shared along the way. I appreciate the holistic approach they take in this book. It's not just another personal finance book giving you 10 tips on how to be better with your money. It ties in psychology and research with real life experiences and stories like Haley and Justin's. By the way, I can't recommend this book enough. If you're looking for ways to live your life in alignment with your values and simultaneously make sure your spending is also values based on this book is for you. The outcome is quite literally to help you learn how to buy what you love without going broke. Kudos on that title choice as well.
- [56:26]
B
Thank you, Hailey. We love to be straightforward. If we can get a little alliteration in there, we love it. But honestly, we just, we don't want to be clever. We want to be straightforward. So thank you. If you enjoyed the show, please let us know. Go subscribe on our YouTube channel and leave a comment on our latest video or leave a review for the book on Amazon. You don't have to buy it there, but it is where people get most of their reviews. If you head to buywhatoulovebook.com, we've got instructions there on how to get it on bookshop.org or to request it from your library.
- [57:04]
A
See you next time. Bye.
- [57:07]
B
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
- [57:21]
A
Well, we're flying fast and loose these days. Happy summer.
- [57:28]
B
I mean.
- [57:29]
A
And right now, as we speak, your son Kai is in the room with us. He did such a good job. You all didn't hear him because he's just playing silently. I don't even think he can hear. Oh, he can hear me right now.
- [57:44]
B
Yeah.
- [57:45]
A
Do you wanna say something, Kai?
- [57:48]
B
No, because I told him not to and now he's not.
- [57:50]
A
He's not gonna talk now. He's scared.
- [57:53]
B
It's a trick.
- [57:54]
A
It's a trap. He's being so quiet. Yeah, but. Yeah. Is it a fun boy summer so far?
- [58:02]
B
Kai, you wanna come say in the mic what you did this summer?
- [58:07]
A
We told all of our listeners about how it was going to be a fun boy summer for you and mommy.
- [58:12]
B
Has it been fun? Come. You want to come over here and.
- [58:15]
A
Say hey, you can push the mic to him.
- [58:17]
B
Can I push him?
- [58:19]
A
Yeah, yeah. He's got a new setup. Has it been a fun summer?
- [58:24]
B
What do you want to say? Hi.
- [58:29]
A
Proof that he's in the room.
- [58:30]
B
There you have it, guys. There you have it.
- [58:33]
A
And he's nodding to it being a great time so far.
- [58:36]
B
He's a six year year old podcaster. Move over, Joe Rogan.