Frugal Friends Book Club: 4 Books to Kick off the New Year

to make it a recurrent thing. Three times a year. We'll give you four book recommendations. See you've got a book a month. There you go. It's so great, especially for those avid readers. I am excited. We will use the same scientific method we use the last time for the books this time. I just it's um painstakingly created through many hypotheses and tests. Its yeah, trial error, trial more error, and here we are. So but first, this episode is brought to you by the One Week Spending Makeover. Yes,

brand new, you haven't heard it before. Here it is the One Week Spending Makeover. So January two through six, mark your calendar. It's the first Monday, to Friday of the New Year, we are hosting a free one week challenge with daily live lessons in your in box, an exclusive pop up Facebook community that you also don't need to be part of. If you don't have Facebook, it's just a bonus, but you still get everything without it.

And the goal of this one week spending makeover is that in five days or less, you have a clear picture of your past spending, a foundation for values based spending, and a plan to improve and implement moving forward. We're looking at past, present, and future spending. That's what the spending makeover is. We're doing that in five days. There's gonna be prizes, free pdf downloads. We're gonna be live with you every day, especially that that Wednesday right in

the middle, so much more. If you want to kick off your financial goals with a bang, then join us for the one week spending Makeover. It's free and you can sign up at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash makeover. Oh I can get a makeover for free. Yes, if you're spending so grazy spend spending, that's where I probably need it the most. And you're doing mostly work here.

Yeah that's true. Oh yeah, I'm excited for that. Yes, So if you love books, then definitely you're going to want to also listen to our Last Frugal Friends book Club episode four Books to Read in the Fall, and that is episode two five, and maybe you will feel you'll resonate more with that group of books than this. But this is a good group, good, good group of

books here, good stock. They come from good stock, good stock, all right, so let me they are famed and prized, trademark patented book selection process, scientific method, scientific method for selecting our book club books. Um for it's not a quarter, it's for triannual. I don't know, triannual, alright, four books. Our first book something old, or then five years, our second book is something new, or then one year. Our third is something borrowed from our listeners, so something you

suggested to us. And our fourth is something with a blue cover. Oh that such a method, such a sciences the method method trial, errored, tested and now tried and true. And it's a tradition that brides use. So if brides on their wedding day feel like they need to have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, of course we're going to replicate that scientific method for our book

club recommendations. Yeah, and you know what, they've got a shot at being right and we've got a fifty shot at being right for you. So we feel that this is good. This is the facts. These are We're just laying down facts for you here. So let's get into our first book, which is something Old or then five years uh, and that is The Simple Path to Wealth by Jail Collins. And why did we pick it? Well? I picked this one because it is It defined the way I and thousands of other people invest, and it's

amazing start to investing. I know some people like live and die by it. I wouldn't go that far. I would skip the chapter on bonds for sure, as long as you know you should have some and by the end of the book you can figure out how many you want. There you go, you're good. But I so this is a really good, easy to read book on investing. And that's why it's been so popular for so many years.

It's why it's our something Old pick, because it's tried, it's true, and it's really I mean, it's used by a lot of people, even more than our scientific method for picking out books. Well. Vulnerability segment. I know we're not there yet, but you are convincing me to read

this book because I have not read it. But when we talk about throughout our podcast learning and not being afraid to ask the questions and being able to do some of the difficult things or things that we thought were unattainable for us, this is the next step in how we do it. Yes, we can listen to podcasts and we can talk with friends, and that is great and that will get us decently far. But if there's more that we want to take a deeper dive in

we wish we knew more about. That's where these books are going to come in handy, so especially for building upon tools and resources, and I think books can fit a variety of different needs and means for us. Sometimes we turn to books for escape, sometimes rest, sometimes knowledge, sometimes tangible tools, And certainly this one falls under that kind of tangible tools lifelong learning category where hey, I don't know much about investing. Let me fill in the

blanks here with something that's being recommended to me. I think that can be part of the problem too. I know I want to learn more about investing or wealth building, but I don't know where to start hearing it from you, Jen and others who have said this is this has been really helpful for me. Oh, that takes a lot of the guesswork out, so I think, and for me that's that's more so where I'm at. I'm not necessarily

one who reads things just pleasure. I don't know what that says about me, But I read things to grow professionally, to learn more about some of the therapeutic and interventions I'm trying to utilize with clients and and then for personal growth, and so this for me falls right into that category. And to have something kind of written out, here's what you need to know about investing, it can take what I need I can learn more fantastic. Yeah, he really does make it so simplified, and some may

argue like oversimplified. So we have I have an investing course that actually when this comes out, it may already be broken up, but I'm in the process of breaking up to put it into the Frugal Friends Club. So to make it many courses to put it in there. And that dives a little deeper into some of the ways you can make you're investing a little more well rounded, but still simple and that I gleaned that wisdom from a lot of other invest sters, financial planners, books and stuff.

I read them so that you don't have to. But if you're looking for a very just beginner simple like said it and forget it way to do things very easily up front. The Simple Past Wealth made me realize that I don't need some person that I don't know to manage my money. For me to manage my The biggest amount of money like that I will save in my lifetime my retirement savings. I assumed that once you got to that point where you were ready to invest, you just gave it to someone and they invested it

for you. And it was when somebody recommended this book to me and I read it, is when I realized, oh my gosh, this is technology has made investing so accessible for people. I no longer need to do that. It is very easy to do it yourself, and you can just stick to the stuff in the this book and be very successful long term. And if you find an interest in it, you can definitely take it further.

It's not either or it's it's both. And imagine that And for our next book, something new or than one year is Messy Minimalism by Rachel Crawford, and a couple of reasons why we chose this book. First of all is this emphasis that minimalism doesn't mean perfection, which is definitely one of those myths that we do try to push back on. Minimalism doesn't have to cost a lot of money, Minimalism doesn't have to look one way. Minimalism doesn't have to mean perfection. And Rachel kind of continues

to affirm and tease out that idea. I like, how so I'm on the Amazon description of it too, and the way that it's describing the book I think can feel really relevant to a lot of people, like drowning in tides of boys, overflowing closets, crazy schedule. Rachel Crawford assumed that you'd be naturally organized to keep a tidy space. Then she found minimalism, the messy, real life kind that is less about perfection and more about purpose. Thus began

a journey towards decluttering her home, calendar, soul. So if this is something that you're interested in in this new year of how can I find a minimalism that works for me? This could be a really great book for you.

Another reason why this one is recommended is that in part of that journey that Rachel talks about is looking at conscious consumerism, and so if if minimalism is maybe the result of this process, conscious consumption is a big part of that journey, and so not just stuff but time, and so having a book that kind of covers all of those different domains can be really helpful. So minimalism

that work for you. Looking at Rachel's journey, messy minimalism and we like alliteration too, Yeah, absolutely, And she has a great Instagram account to I forget what her Instagram a count is, but I follow her and it's always very practical minimalism, which I appreciate more than some other creators that that take it very like like existential almost,

where we're very into the practical side of minimalism. And yes, we believe minimalism in you know, more than just physical space does help your mental processes, your energy, all of that. But we're very much into practical minimalism. That's saying, the less stuff you have, the less time you spend cleaning it, and the more willing you are to have people over to hang out instead of going to a bar and

all of these practical things. The you know, the less hectic your schedule is, you know, the left for the fewer times that you were shopping, the more time you have to do things that either make you money or to invest in the things that money can't buy. So we're very into the practical aspects of minimalism, and Rochelle definitely talks about those on her Instagram and her and expounds upon them in her book. So the subtitle is Realistic Strategies for the rest of Us, if that gives

you any idea. And oops, it sounds like it's Rochelle and not Rachel, even though they're spelt. I did try to highlight it, and I highlighted it as you were saying it, and you just kept saying it. I I wasn't looking at the outline when you were. We were just you were in the flow, you were in it. I was sorry. Rochelle, Yes, but we will. We will will read your book, and that is that's what you really want. I don't care if somebody calls me Jessica

as long as they listen to my podcast. Some people will call me Gillian even though my name is spelt with a J. Huh. They just I think that it should have been with a G and then sounding it out with a G. I don't even know what to tell you, so empathizing with you, Rochelle in the way that I just butchered your name, all right, moving on

to something borrowed from our listeners. So every once in a while we'll get on our Instagram at Frugal Friends podcast and we will ask you for book recommendations, and from those we will pick one to borrow essentially from your bookshelf and add to our book club. And this one several times recommended, and it could have been recommended by me. It could have also been one of our something old choices, and it's I Will Teach You to Be Rich by ramat Setti. There is no better book

to start the year off than this one. Honestly, it is our personal finance book of choice. Chapter four, specifically on conscious spending, has had a huge impact on our values based spending philosophy. So if you really enjoy our values based spending, values based budgeting, all of that, like the things we talked about, you're very much going to enjoy chapter four of I Will Teach You to Be Rich. We are chapter four if it explode we are essentially

we we have expanded upon it infinitely. Uh so he does. It is written for maybe people that are of maybe a higher income bracket, definitely above the average median income. Definitely not for wealthy people. So I'm talking like if you're making sixty two, a hundred something like that. But literally doesn't matter how much you're making, you can still glean wisdom. But a lot of his examples are in

that income range and higher. But he also lives in New York City, so take that with a grain of salt, because a higher income there is you know, lower in other places. So I I love I'm not one to just uh you know, follow a six step plan to wealth and your a ten step plan or seven step plan, which is what most financial authors tout, and this one is no different. But I love the way in which

the information is presented. It did find it. I read this probably five years ago, and I was challenged by some of the things that I read, and I loved that. If you love to be challenged, then this is a good book for you. But it's all very common sense. If you're looking for just uh one book to rule them all, not one, it's not the right. It's if you're looking for one book that's got everything, this is

my favorite for sure. Nice. Yeah, yeah, I hear you talk about this one a lot and another vulnerabilities segment. Still haven't read it, but these two are standing out to me. For me, I think I will go with the I Will teach You to be Rich and the Simple Path to Wealth, just because that fills in the blanks for me on some of the things that I feel like I'm not an expert in. Yeah, I don't read. I'm an audiobook listeners, so I'll get it from the library.

And all of these are available at the library. Is that's one of the things I check for at least in my library, they're available. If it's not available from my library, I have a pretty robust library system in our city. If it's not there, I don't put it on. So trying to make that as like accessible to as many people as possible. And for our final category, something

with a blue cover, yes, or something blue. A lot of books have blue cover, so that's they do you would you would be surprised that this is not hard one to look for. Yeah, So even with all the options of blue covers out there, we picked this one Set for Life by Scott Trench. You you may remember him. You may know this name. We had him on our podcast episode one talking about home buying. He is a real estate investor and co host of the Bigger Pockets

Money podcast CEO of Bigger Pockets. So but in this one he's specifically talking about kind of making me set achieving financial goals at a younger point in life. And so one of the reasons that we picked this one is that it does offer a good perspective on building wealth earlier in life. So if that's something that you're interested in, what are my options as if you are a younger person you kind of want to be getting

at some of these big goals earlier on. To me, it strikes me a little bit more of that fire movement, financial independence, retire early. Not all of that are am I or are we completely on board with, but again, alternative perspective something to get you thinking. Him telling his

story of what he did. I appreciate the bullet points of what the book is gonna be highlighting saving more income, so maybe ways to live off of fifty and save while still having fun, how to explore possibilities of doubling or tripling your income within maybe a three to five year range. How to track your financial progress and achieve some of the greatest, most influential results. How to build frugal and efficient habits to make the most of your lifestyle.

It sounds that's how to secure in quotes real assets and avoid false ones that might destroy wealth. Looking at real estate and stock investing to generate passive income. So those are a few of the highlights. And if this sounds interesting to you, if this feels like it's going to fill in some of the blanks, some of the questions that you have, some of the things you're pondering, this could be a great option for you. Yeah, I like this one. So I haven't read this one, but

I actually like before. So there's an updated version, and I think both covers are blue, but the new cover is definitely blue. But I had somebody several years ago read it and their mind was just blown. And I was already familiar with Scott and you know, had hurt him speak, had heard him like he's just a He's a great guy. He's very smart, and what he did was very unique and set him up for long term success without having to be as on fire as as

vigilant as some other fire people seem to be. So I just love that it seems like a very strategic and not extremist way to achieve fire. But I also love it because it's a little bit different. Then I will teach you to be rich, So you might benefit from reading both, but you might be able to choose which one makes more sense for you in your season. So Remin is a big proponent for renting. He is

a big rent guy. And then Scott over here is like, you should buy a house like a duplex or something that you can rent out to a roommate, and then do that for several years and then buy something else, keep renting out the other house, and then just like kind of keep doing that until you feel like you want to settle. So he's big into not like intense real estate investing and also not intense stock or retirement investing. It just is a very it's kind of like what

we're doing. We're not in our twenties anymore. But we rent out our house. Our first house that we ever bought, we rented out, and we bought it with the intention of renting it out. We bought our first house, knowing this isn't going to be our dream home, it's not in our dream location. We will rent this out eventually, and we are. And we bought another house now that has a part in the back that we will be renting out. And I don't know if we'll ever leave here.

I'm still tired from renovating, so I can't think beyond that. But our first house we didn't even have to renovate. We just we got a good deal on it and

it was already renovated, so that was great. So yeah, I really love that method, and it does focus on that a little more intensely, whereas I will teach you to be rich, UM focuses on like set it and forget it investment um and also gives some great, you know, frugal living tips and and focuses a lot on I would say, more increasing your income versus the real estate like gradually investing part. Both books are great, both strategies. You should know both so you can decide if you

want to do both one or neither. But I just I love the They're both very successful people and they're doing it different ways, and it shows you can be very successful and do things very differently from somebody else who's very successful exactly. It further highlights the ability to

find what works for us. But it's super affirming to know a few different paths can be good ideas, Like, it's not one set way, And so I think even if you kind of know the direction you're going, it's still worthwhile to hear, well, what are the things other people are doing, or what is an alternative perspective to that, just to be sure that the path you're choosing and taking truly is the right one for you, or to maybe even give some brainstormy creative problem solving ideas of

how you might be able to do the path that you're choosing even better or with greater efficiency or effectiveness. I also love about this list how like seemingly all over the map it is like talking about wealth building and investing and real estate and minimalism, which also just all falls under the umbrella of how massive this concept of for gality is, but the reality of how complex our lives and lifestyles and the span of life can

be in the various decisions that we make. So I think what I would highlight here is identifying what is the one area that you feel like there's a gap in knowledge base, or there's a gap in or or barriers to your lifestyle right now, and whether it's on this list or somebody else's list, but picking up a book or a podcast that's going to help fill in that gap so that we can keep growing and and getting better at the things that we are saying are

important and that we value. Yeah, and frugality is being a good steward of your resources. And we think of that in the ways we spend primarily, but we keep emphasizing that is in it's in the way you spend your time. And so Re meets really like he gives a lot of um negotiating scripts, especially for negoti changing your salary, because where you work takes a lot of your time, so let's make the most of it. And for Scott, where you buy your house, the type of

house you buy that is a big investment. Let's be a good steward of that. With the simple Path to wealth, you can spend a lot of money and fees going to UH an actively managed fund or a financial advisor that's earning a commission on what they're selling you. If it's not the right product for you so you can pay. You waste a lot of money to fees that you don't need to be paying. Uh So, you do save a lot of money by knowing these alternative ways. And

not all actively managed funds are bad, you'll see. He's a big proponent of Vanguard in this book, and they have actively managed funds, but many there for a select few people at a select time. Uh So, and you will, you'll figure that out or you'll learn about that up the more you read about it. And so I I love And then obviously we know, like minimalism, the less you buy um, the less you consume, the more money

you will keep. And so all of these books are frugal living books in my opinion, in some way or another. And it emphasizes that frugality isn't a race to the bottom of spending. It is good stewardship of every aspect everything that money touches, Yes, and and resources includes time and being a good steward of our time and energy can also include in what ways are we being kind to ourselves, benefiting ourselves, helping ourselves learn and grow. Books

are a massive part of that. So our podcasts, so well done being here, Thanks for what you are both listening and learning about books. That's like double double time. You're putting in double time time right now. You pat yourself on the back today because you are it. You are doing it the person that you want to be. You are, you are, You have defined yourself in that way. You are her or him, and you're only getting better. Do you know what else? It seems to only get better,

It only gets Honestly, it does only get better. Well, and we're going to test that theory right now with that Bill of the week. 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've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Hi,

Jen and Jail, This is Patty. I live up in Calgary, Canada, and my bill of the week that I'm thankful for is something that my parents will be paying for themselves. They had their house to become unlivable in Fort Myers, Florida from Hurricane Ian. But my brother in Denver is going to get them in an RV today and come back and install them and an assisted assisted living housing

just outside of Denver near him. It's very expensive, but we are so grateful that they will be able to pay it because they have been frugal their whole lives and they have taught me to be frugal. I've paid off my mortgage last year, and if I need to help pay for it they're assisted living, I can and they will be taken care of and happy and safe, and even though they will miss their friends of their community has been you know, really tested down there, and

they feel terrible about that. But they're in their mid eighties and we are thankful to be paying that bill. So that's it. Thank you so much. Bye bye Wow. Patty. First to your parents, Yeah, we are. The devastation continues in Fort myers Port, Charlotte, Santa Belle, and it is something that we talked about in October and it is December and we're still talking about it. It is still devastating down there, and so so thankful that you were able to move your parents out of there, because there

are some parents that are down there that can't move. Gosh, they can't even afford to redry wall their houses and mold is rowing all over the walls. So that is amazing. That is an amazing benefit of frugality and good storship of resources. Yeah, what a lineage. And when we talk about legacy, I hear that coming through and what you're describing your parents living a lifestyle that's allowing them to make these pivots even in really crisis unforeseen difficult times.

But the ability to now have options because of the way that they've managed money and the way that you have carried on that amazing trait and behavior and decision making in your own self with a paid off mortgage, congratulations, and the lifestyle that you're living that has afforded that. And yeah, just what's happening now for your parents, your brother, yourself, the peace of mind that can come with that, your your parents moving. I mean, I know it's not an

easy thing. That's quite a transition, but my goodness, Denver and Colorado is beautiful. I have often said, if I didn't live where I live in Florida, I think I'd want to live in Colorado. So your parents are living that reality and I hope it's a really great assisted

living place for them. I mean, well done. On all of these bills, And in that transition, you've brought up a point that I've been passionate about for a really long time, is that you you planned well enough to be able to take care of your parents when you need it to. And typically when we think about caregiving for our parents, it's not till fifties or sixties when it very much is almost too late for us to do anything about it, to prepare financially, because we're just prepared.

We're trying to, you know, maybe sometimes starting just to prepare for our own retirement, and in that time is when parents start to need caregiving, and if they haven't prepared for it, then that will definitely stall your own preparations for your own retirement because those needs are more immediate. This is something that we need to be thinking about starting in our thirties, honestly, is what have my parents prepared?

What have they not prepared? Do I have the margin to or in what capacity do I have the margin to be able to prepare to help them? Um? And and how will that be divided between siblings if it will be uh so, so this is something that nobody wants to think about. Everyone will deal with the average age people say they want to retire. In a survey, people said sixty four was the year they wanted to retire.

The actual average retirement age is sixty one. And that's not because people are saving more and being pleasantly surprised and retiring early. That's either because of a health reasons or be caregiving reasons where they have to leave their work to care for either their parents or their spouses parents or something like that. Um, those are the most two most common reasons. And so this impacts your retirement.

Thinking about your parents and Patty, I'm so glad that you brought this up and you were able to a have parents that prepared themselves and taught you to prepare, uh, not only so that you can you know, support yourself, but you can you know, bless your parents should they need it, should a random hurricane throw off their plans for retirement. So yeah, this is something I want to talk about more on the show. Do it do an

episode in the new year. But thank you, Patty, thank graduations for highlighting all of this, so much food for thought and highlighting just another episode that we need to do. But you are just modeling well the way that this can look and again, I do hope that this transition goes well for your parents. Thank you so much for your bill. If you all listening are in a similar position of the ability to help your parents, are the things that you've learned from your parents or having a

paid off mortgage? Who knows, there's so many different bills, you know, just you know a bill parent named bill. Yeah, that's all we require or loosen goosey over here, visit Google, Friends podcast dot com, slash bill. Leave us your bill. We're ready for it. And now we're moving into your round round. Oh okay, it is time for the lightning round to get vulnerable. So let's talk about it. Okay. I love how just just just jump jump. Goldie didn't even like give us any like runway. She just jumped

too intense. And her question for us today is a book that made you question in everything that you know. And Juli, I'm puzzled by your answer. I look forward Iel like you want me to start. Yeah, because you've got probably like a more realistic because I wrote down a book. Because I wrote down a book, is that why I should start? Huh? Okay, because you took that, you took the assignment seriously, and I understood the assignment, okay, so mine is maybe it didn't. I don't know if

it made me question everything that I knew. But it was the most recent book that I read, and I'm like, oh my god, what is happening. Everybody is suspicious, skeptical of everything everywhere, ever, which I already am, but this just made me more so. And and nobody is surprised. The book is called cult Dish and hold on, let me pull up. I listened to the audio book for free from hoop La, which is my Library Systems audio book and e book app alright, So it's called Cultish

The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. And if you like cults, this is the book for you. And so this author, Amanda Montell, she's a linguist and she studies language and specifically cult language because her parents, her father,

I think, was in a cult. So she they pushed back on the term brainwashing and they and they say that and this is is fascinating because I've always had this like belief anybody the smartest people in the room joined cults, honestly, Like if you look at the history of cults, like anybody can get into a cult, so you just have to be aware so that that's not you. And and this kind of emphasizes that and saying that

cults don't actually brainwash. They use very specific language to make people feel part of a tribe and then to make them feel indebted to the tribe and then kind of make them feel like they can't leave. So that is it was like and they say, and they're like, it's not just cults, it's everywhere. People use this language, this cult language everywhere, especially in marketing products. People use cult language to market products influencers. Influencers use cult language

essentially at themselves. I mean, we've never used cult language because but maybe we'll start. You're right every time I say never, So are you recommending this book? This yes, round, so that just I want you to know when we start using cult language, I want you to know that I want you to be able to be fully aware. Yeah. It is insane, very good book for anybody that likes cults are just how h language is used. Two twist. Reality has very little to do with frugality and just

more to do with well free entertainment. This book was

probably free. Okay, it was free entertainment. But then also like it like goes into health and fitness, right, so we always say, like these health and fitness places like soul Cycle, Peloton, they have cult followings and they have cult following things because they use cult language to create super fans and so, and like Peloton is not a cult, but people are buying two thousand dollar bikes and biking every day and spending the money on the annual membership

and they're doing all this stuff because they feel part of a tribe and they feel indoctrinated into it. You know, nobody's gonna shun you if you leave, but yeah, I'm a bit that they that's how they get you in, but they might you might lose I mean, how much of the community you're a part of in You can lose communities when you leave places. What's the thing you two CrossFit that's the first one they mentioned Jill Pros

first when they mentioned language. But imagine if you do like you're not gonna not maybe intentionally or maliciously, but you certainly won't be going to all the community things that they You would lose community if you no longer did cross fit. Yes, absolutely, And I love my community CrossFit. It's the one of the reasons I do it. But obviously it's like not my closest community, it's not the tribe I identify with, so but yes, that community focus is a big part of why I am so committed

to it. And yes, no CrossFit. They they they start out the book with a yoga cult and then cross fit and I was like, okay, girls, we are getting spicy, but I'm here for it. What else you got for me? Yeah? So it is a fun read. Well, similar to some of the different episodes that we've talked about with marketing tactics and how knowing marketing tactics can help us to spend more wisely and intentionally and be privy to those things. It sounds like this is kind of right up that

alley and in a more intense way. But this is this is what a lot of organizations, businesses, sales teams are trying to do make us feel like we belong. And yeah, and they were. Now and here's the thing, this is a small spoiler alert. They're the next cult wave because there's cult waves, like every decade has a different type of cult wave, you know. So you've got your hippie type cults in the seventies, and you've got your tech and space mostly space type cults in the nineties.

And she says the next cult it was going to be consumer based. They're already seeing anti level market based no. I mean, yes, she does talk about multilevel marketing absolutely, um, but it's going to be these cult followings of influencers and the products they hawk and the products they create. So that's what the cult I mean. And Taylor Swift just broke the inner Internet. Yeah, gets sales, Yes, I mean our internet went out for two hours and we just realized it was at the very time that Taylor

Swift tickets went on sale. And I love that. It may not be the exact reason that my internet went out, but I will believe that that's the reason. And we're already seeing instances where influencers are trying to start their own like kind of cults, and they talk about she talks about that in the book, like influencers the new cult leaders, and it is fascinating. It did make me question, It did made me question everything that I knew because

I already kind of thought that way. But it was it's not conspiracy theorist like either it's not like that, but it's just how these people use the language in the same way that you know, the leaders of jonestown and scientology and all of these other things. They use very similar, very interesting, very interesting. I feel like I'm part of a book club right now. Just the way we're talking about, we probably talked about more than all the other books. It should have been it's a new book.

It would have been our something new. Alright, Jill, how about yours a book that made me question everything that I know? I said my journal it is a book two ways of two ways of looking at this. Okay, well maybe more than that. I'll back it up by saying, you've heard me already describe this. I don't read many books. I don't know what to tell you, folks. It's not my main way of spending time. I swing hammers. There are many listeners, okay who will feel seen by that. Okay,

don't feel ashamed. And so in the books that I have read, I can't say that like I questioned everything I knew, like life just isn't that extreme for me. But that being said, I'm not even lying with this. This would have happened a couple of years ago, I was going through my old journals and reading them, and it did feel like a little bit of a upside down reality for me, just to realize and recognize like what I used to think and say and do, Like what like if you would have asked me what kind

of person was I at ten or eleven? I probably would have had a very different answer for you than what my journal of a ten eleven all year old said. Like it was. It wasn't even cute though, That's the thing. It wasn't even like, oh, this is so heartwarming looking back on this, I could not stomach reading the things

that I wrote at ten. I threw them out. They were just so silly and like, but not in a cute way like out yeah, just like, oh, like this stupid stuff I wrote and not stupid ten year old. That's not to say, like, if you're a ten year old and you're listening to this, like definitely journal, you're probably way cut than I am. Uh you're and you're going to enjoy looking back on those journals. But for me, it held nothing like, it held no version of sentimental value.

I threw them out. What's one thing, Okay, give me one example, like what wasn't cute? I just need to know. Now, if you're gonna say the journal is your book, you need to expound. I'm trying to think of examples. I mean some of it was just like there's no sentimental

value in this one. One one journal entry was me listing out all the things I got for Christmas, just like now it's still it was like bullet points of me misspelling that I got pens and stickers and like noxious, well that's what you do at ten, like what else is going there? Nothing else in my life that should be more important than what you get for Christmas? Or like Sack complaining at eleven that like I haven't had a boyfriend yet and no boys like me, and no

boys are ever gonna like me. It's just like it's just so you know, you are love. Some people feel that way at thirty one, Okay, chill, like don't yeah, and you know what, like you're fine. Felt like the eleven year old me was journaling as if I was forty three, and it just was like I think it felt like I thought I was so much older than I was and I just couldn't stomach it, and like there's never again going to be a moment where like, I want to read this and remember that these were

the thoughts that I thought. So I'm getting rid of it. I So I read back when we moved and I cleared out some of like I had two boxes like memory boxes, and I wanted to consolidate to one. And it is hilarious, like how when I made those two boxes five years ago, how easy it was to consolidate to one five years later. It's hilarious. But so I found one of my journals. I kept it. But it was like I was going through a breakup and I was sad because apparent and he broke up with me.

He dumped me, and I'm sad that I made him feel some type of way that he felt he needed to break up with me. To read. Oh wow, that was hard to read. That was hard to read, but it was very educational and I got to see how far I've come. Yeah, no one can undo me and make me question everything that I know, quite like myself. So that's why I say my journal can be an upending book. Yes, well better not. There you go. Um. Five out of the six books stated can be can

be read. The other one can be read and one's the only copy was thrown away through the trash. See what you find and we hope that you get to read at least one of them, uh this winter slash early spring, and let us know what you thought of it, let us know if we were on the money or if you're like, actually, you should probably talk about this one next time. And I know we keep saying book club, and what we mean by that is these are the

books were recommending. Pick one, start your own club, or you could also join our membership where people are able to get together in a club and talk with other fellow frugal friends. Frugal Friends Club where we facilitate people coming together that have all heard this episode and are like, maybe I want to read this book with other people, but nobody else in my life is a frugal friend.

Not true. They are there there at the Frugal Friends Club, speaking of that private community where those monthly money challenges, book clubs, accountability groups are happening. We want to call out one of our members, Corey, who shared, to my surprise, something actually came up that I did not want to make time for in my schedule this week. So I

said no boundaries. This is from last months simplifying challenge, where one of the weeks you had to simplify your schedule in some way and we all know that simplifying our schedule makes it easier to spend money intentionally, and that was kind of the purpose of that week. And so congrats Corey. That was very convenient that it came up for you during this challenge and proud that you you said no. You were in the right place at the right time to say no. No more excuses needed.

No is a full sentence. And then thank you all for listening. If any of this sounds interesting, if you want to learn how to make no a full sentence, or you know you want to be part of a book club or an accountability group or do a money challenge, head over to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club. You can check out all the things that are going

on there. What challenge we have coming up next. Hopefully we'll see you over there, If not, we'll see you here and we'll definitely see you at the one week spending challenge for Goal Friends podcast dot com slash makeover. That is going to be just a small introduction to what we are doing over in Frugal Friends Club. It's

just like a tiny little piece of the pie. So if you're kind of like I want to try out the Frugal Friends Club, then join us Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash makeover and uh, you'll probably meet some of our members over there, taken doing their extra credit the one week Spending Makeover. So we'll see you, We'll see you somewhere, see you somewhere. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syria. When do you do most of your book listening when I'm doing home renovation things? So like

I did when I did painting, I was listening. So when I think when I did painting, I was listening to Coldish. When I listened when I was priming, I listened to this book called Never Saw Me Coming. And it is a it's an interesting it's not my favorite book that I've ever read. It has an amazing premise though. So it is a group of psycho paths like kids, can you tell? I mean, I'm into it too. I'm not gonna so sorry, I'm not sorry. This is me.

So it is centered on this one girl. She's a clinically diagnosed psychopath and she goes to this college where they are doing a program for psychopaths to kind of like study them and integrate, to teach them strategies to integrate into society, because they believe not all psychopaths end up being killers and serial killers and stuff, and then and stuff and then some But this girl has every intention of killing this guy. There's a whole story behind

that that's a subplot. So it's funny because she's in this program to like be a normal member of society, and the whole time she's plotting like murder. And then somebody starts murdering students in the psychopath program and they're like, which psychopath is killing all of us? And so they go first on a trying to figure out who's in the program because they don't tell you who's in the program, they all find each other and then and finding out who's trying to kill them. So lots of murder in

this one. So much murder. Wow. I mean, I would recommend one of the four books that we recommended today that will actually like expand and grow. It is. Yeah, So it has such a great premise. The execution was not um up to part was a little It was a little y a young adult, but it was not a young adult topic, so I don't know, Okay, okay, So that's why I didn't talk about it in the Lightning Round because I'm glad. I'm glad you did, right. Yeah, it would be a little bit too much for the

listener who doesn't listen this far. But then I also love Disney bloggers on YouTube. I watch a lot of Disney had Left Turney loved hard Left turn It me love you for that.