Frugal Hobbies: What To Do With The Free Time That Not-Spending Frees Up

I don't know why it's actually happening. Yeah, it's excitement. I guess that's it. Yeah, I don't. I don't practice before I start these, So whenever, we definitely never talk about it. It just happens, and it's whatever comes out. And whether not Eric chooses to edit edited out, he normally doesn't. So you get us and our rob best and today it's sometimes offensive, right because I'm just sitting in a room by myself. I forget there's thousands of

people listening to me and my intimate thoughts. Exactly. We're working on it because this is our hobby and we're not professional podcasters, and that is what we're talking about today. Frugal Hobbies and podcasting is a great frugal hobby. It's not super expensive, um, but you do have to know what you're doing. But as as with all hobbies, right, yeah,

it's more fun if you know what you're doing. And we have a extensive list of hobbies that are people in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook do, so we're going to share those with you. We are going to look at some ways to do hobbies that could be expensive but do them without overspending, and then also to

how to find a frugal hobby as an adult. So we're not just gonna we're not reading a list of hobbies at least not until the very end, and we're going to actually help you find out what your frugal hobby could be and how to keep it frugal. Yes, that's what's in store today. But first a word from our sponsors, Sian Noah cry Late. That's right, folks, it's the chemical and our super glues and it's coming at you today. As a sponsor. Hobbyists everywhere know what I'm

talking about on this one. It's the cure all for your create it, fix it, build it needs cyan. Noah cry Late can even be used in a pinch to bind up that wound. I would know I've done it. See your episode on lowering your medical bills. It is no owned to stop bleeding and create less scarring than other methods of closing wounds, Sian Noah. Cry Late effective for some toy airplane action and in replacement of stitches. We are not medical professionals and we do not advocate.

We're using superglue un cuts. Unless you are a doctor, you can do it yourself. Yeah, don't. Again, we said we're not professionals. We're doing this like from our bedrooms alone. Jen's eating a banana right now, so clearly like that is the worst idea of food choice when podcast chips much worse. I mean debatable, not that bad. Debatable, Okay, but I see where you're coming from. But it's still debatable. We'll just say in another episode, and this is round

two for us. So I needed a snack, I said, port you. I'm just saying that. It's proof that we're not vesionals. So again, this is a hobbyist sponsor. This is not a medical professional sponsor. Cyanoa cry late for a replacement of stitches, that's what hobbyists do. But check with your physician first. YadA YadA. All right, now that I'm done with my banana, we can get started. You're not different still, hear it? And like the recesses of your cheeks. Eric will edit that out. I hope not. Um.

I hope he does. And we're going to start up with this one from the Simple Dollar called how to Enjoy an expensive Hobby without over Spending. And I really liked this one because Trent was really transparent and saying like his hobby was golf, and that is a boriously expensive hobby, and that he actually when him and his wife decided to get their finances unlock, gave golfing up and so he sold a lot of his more expensive equipment and just kept kind of what he needed to

do it occasionally with his father in law. And so he kind of meditated on how with this new frugal lifestyle, if golf could come back into it, if golf was a part could be a part of a frugal lifestyle, And so he came up with some really great rules of thumb that you can follow if you are really passionate about something that could be really expensive, on how to keep it frugal or to justify spending more on it, because there's nothing wrong if you're spending more on your

hobby if you are okay sacrificing in other places and you are really invested in it. So and really love this one. Yeah, So I appreciated the narrative and background story that he gave, but then also some of these guidelines to consider. And so the first one that he mentions in here is that if you're not doing it already with cheap equipment, you're not going to do it

with expensive equipment. And so basically what this means is, don't go and spend thousands of dollars on camping equipment if you haven't already tried it with just your sleeping bag on even a decently warm night, like do it first, practice doing it first, to even justify do I need this?

Because of course, with any hobby camping just as an example, there's gonna be a whole world to discover within that hobby, with all types of voices telling you what you need to have in order to do this thing well, when in reality you still have to decide those things for yourself. You may not want the coffee pot that you can put over the fire because maybe you don't need coughing in the morning. I don't know. I mean, that's ridiculous,

but that could be your story. But even if you do, go deep into whatever hobby you choose, work your way up to it before investing a ton of money. So I agree with that tip. Yeah, and I would head back into the archives and listen to our episode about getting things for free, because you can definitely get free stuff from free cycle or your local buy nothing group or your time bank, and even from your buying nothing group,

you can borrow things from the people in there. So if you're interested in starting a certain hobby but you don't want to invest in an even cheap equipment, just like go into the buy nothing group and be like, hey, I really want to try this. Does anybody have this that I can borrow or you were thinking about getting rid of? So he says also starting off with low and inexpensive gear and used gear, So thrift store, yard sale also great ways to find hobby. What is it like,

equipment of hobbies past or whatever? So I also like his tip. He talks about pairing an expensive hobby with a cheaper hobby, and at first I was like, well, why why why do you like, if you just found a hobby, do a hobby. But I think he's onto something here in that usually we can have time for more than one hobby, or if we only have one hobby, all of our time, energy resources goes to that one hobby.

So in this way, if you spread yourself out a little bit, So he gives examples like if you're into photography, parrot was something which can be expensive, parrot was something that isn't as expensive of a hobby, like walking or low intensity hiking, so that all of your energy and resources doesn't get channeled into just photography. Some of your energy and resource gets taken up with the time that it takes to walk, but it can literally be paired that you can bring your camera along with you um

these hikes or walks. He also talks about if you're into backpacking, pairing that or you know, mountain climbing, and compare that with something like reading books from the library. So again it's considering how all of your time, energy and finances are channeled and spreading it out a bit into things that aren't always going to pull all of your finances from you. Yeah, I know. So something like like quilting or or knitting can sometimes get expensive depending

on the yarn you're using. So essentially, instead of like you know, knitting or quilting Saturday and Sunday, you quiote on Saturdays and you take walks on Sunday, So you're spreading out the amount of time you have to work on that project to use the resource as you paid for.

And then pairing it with that cheap hobby that would be a fantastic thing to pair with if you do enjoy doing it a lot, to pair it with yard sailing, so that then you can probably find the materials that you need at way less expensive prices than if you were to go into like a Joeann's or a Michael's or something. Yeah, I really liked this next one, which is regularly reflect on how high of a priority this

hobby really is in your life. Reflected he was golfing multiple times a week, so this was a big part of his life. But when he decided something else was more important, it was very easy for him to stop doing it and just do it kind of in the instances when the occasion required it. Sometimes we take for granted the things that we're doing are just the things we're going to be doing forever. And so yeah, regularly reflecting on how passionate you actually are about something, and

particularly when there's life change. So regularly reflect. But then I would even highlight and especially reflect when there's life change. So if you experience a job change, a move, marriage, having children, all of these things are worth than reflecting on what are the other areas of my life that I am investing in? Is it's still worth it? Do I still enjoy it? I know for a lot of people, hobbies can change or shift in the way that they

look when they start having kids. You might not be able to hike as much, so you may not need to invest as much money in that gear. So yeah, I like that one. And along those lines of reflecting is also being planful and intentional, which he talks about applying a strict budget to your hobby from day one. Plan out how you're going to use that budget to maximize your hobby fun um. But don't assume that, oh, just because I got the sewing machine for super cheap,

that's it. That's my only investment. I mean, actually, consider if I purchase this sewing machine, what kind of investment am I willing to make, and how will I budget for materials that I need, the type of projects I want to do, Consider the entire thing, and how much do you want to invest, probably even before buying even the biggest expense of the hobby. And I like what he has to say about upgrades as well, So that includes doing plenty of research when you decide to upgrade

things um or purchase them in the first place. When you're done borrowing them. UM. When you do upgrade, choose the higher quality items that match what you need and you can get those. You can get higher quality items more affordable like on Facebook marketplace. And then to maximize the resale value of the items that you i when you're upgrading, so you are far better off buying something for two hundred that you can resell for a hundred and eighty, and that goes into the quality and name

name brand aspect of it. Then if you just bought something for eighty, that no one will will want to buy later. So consider re sailing because eventually, if you're doing it enough that you want to upgrade once, you could potentially want to upgrade again and so at that point you can resell. And it also helps you kind of take better care of the things that you have because you know in the back of your head, like, eventually I'm going to resell this, so maybe if like

I break something, I want to repair it. Yes, that's been a fantastic rule of thumb for Eric and I in the hobbies that we do. Primarily him with his music equipment because there's so much of it that's involved in recording and playing music. But he has such a collection now and I'm sure he would not you with this way. There's so much more to be had, I get it. But when he wants to buy something, he considers what he has to sell that he can put towards that um, and any jobs that he has related

to music, he can put that into a fund. So if in your hobby you're able to make any money off of it, that can go then right back into supporting the hobby itself. If you don't need it to be a side gig um, but it can be then fantastic to then have that money that you can invest back into it. But yeah, consider if you're going to buy something new or an upgrade of something, it can really offset the cost if you have something else to sell.

Or like maybe the lower grade equivalent of that piece, to sell it rather than just keeping it in your closet. It can help offset costs if you're able to do that. Also doing plenty of research. We this is again one of those frugal themes that is woven throughout all of

our episodes. But this research component, knowing what you're buying, doing the legwork of what's the best bang for your buck, the reviews on it, all of that prior to purchasing, prior to purchasing, before even getting into it, and then even when you're upgrading, making sure that you're getting um what you want at a good price, and again considering

resale value with it. And so, if your hobby involves routine paid experiences, and make the regular he's quote unquote regular experience as low end as possible and spread out the high end events. So I found this when we went skiing for our baby moon. That is an experience. It's not even expensive to get the equipment. The equipment

can be found for very cheap. It's the lift passes and all of those they wings to actually go use the equipment, and so kind of what they're saying is and he relates it to golf courses, but make the regular experiences as low end as possible, and it also keeps the higher end experiences more special. Mm hmm, just like your your cheap day when you're on your diet, and cookies more special, cookies more special. I like it.

And last but not least, on this article, talking about getting involved in local groups who enjoy the same hobby or um experiences. So this can provide so much. I mean, number one, community, right, we're all about that. So engaging and connecting with other people is a win across the board.

But also it allows opportunity to learn more about what it is that you're doing, which can help you avoid financial pitfalls within your hot bait that you not need to spend money on something that you thought you needed to spend money on because so and so who's been doing it for ten years says no, you just do this thing and it's the equivalent to that, or actually it seems really awesome to do that, but it's not as cool as people think. So there can be so

much to glean from that shared knowledge. But also it's possible that people might swap equipment within a community group like that, so it's possible that somebody else might be upgrading and you would be their first pick to pass down to you the very same thing that you might be looking for to purchase, and you know, at a discounted rate because it's used, and possibly at an even

more discounted rate because now you're friends. So so many things to consider there and getting involved in a local group. I think that's a major one here. Yeah, And so be careful with this one because it's a double edged sword. You can find great deals and like maybe free events regarding your hobby or or all that, but it can also encourage your spending the hobby. So if people don't have the same values as you in keeping it frugal, it can also kind of make you jealous or encourage

you to buy the next best thing. So just be aware of that, and you know, take the frugal for what it's worth and leave the rest. Jill, what if I don't have a hobby? What if I'm still looking for one? Yeah, and as an adult even that can have to find a hobby as an adult. Well, thank goodness for the Internet and this next article which is written exactly for you if you are that person, and it is from Bustle, literally titled how to find a hobby as an adult. So we we've got info for you.

Jen have no fear. In all seriousness, it is important to find a hobby when you're paying off debt or spend less or something or something if you're trying to pay off down or spend less, because it can it can become this isolating thing where you're maybe not going out with friends as much and you're trying to stop doing things that spend money. And so it's really important to fill your time with things that don't cost money. So, and if you don't already have a hobby, it can

be kind of weird to find one. Not to mention it's good because it helps to be more well rounded. It will grow a skill of some sort or satisfy the creativity urges that might not be happening for you within your work. It does. It makes me sad. I have probably far too many hobbies, but it makes me

sad when I meet people who don't have hobbies. It almost has been a thing of I didn't realize that was possible, that like there are people who just work and then eat and go to sleep, Like wait, what, um? That's not a shaming thing. Like I I get it. There are people who you just haven't identified it. So there's no shame in this. But find one like that no matter how old you are, it's important. It helps you be well rounded, and it can help you, say,

save money again if you can find a frugal hobby. Yes, So how can people do this? How can they identify a hobby? Well, we have a couple of tips for you from this article, and the first one is to kind of look back to your childhood. So think about the things that you did when you were younger, the things that people said you were good at, or the

things that you were drawn to. If you can't remember, ask your mom or dad, because that can be a really good indicator of maybe where your natural tendencies or uninhibited desires lie. Yeah, and this doesn't mean that you have to pile on seesaws every weekend, if that's all you remember doing as a child. I don't even think seesaws are legal anymore. They're they're not present in these

playgrounds anymore. That did take up a lot of my childhood, and it's amazing once you start opening your eyes to this world of hobbies how many niches there are that you could potentially get into, like from stargazing, two toy trains to baking. I mean, there are all kinds of things in here. But yeah, if you enjoy being outside, all right, maybe hiking is something to consider. Or oh my gosh, there's so many things anyhow, Yeah, think back

to your childhood. I'm not going to listen off for you, but there's so many um but next, once you've done that, once you've thought through your childhood and things that you might have been interested in that could translate into a hobby, try on a couple of ideas for size, so it doesn't have to be that you say, all right, I'm going head first into kayaking, Like who knows, it might not be exactly what you want to do. Try on a couple of these things. Try out a few different options.

Try out or a gommi for a few days by looking up YouTube videos and cutting out your own paper before you purchase books and the correct paper. Um rent a kayak first before you go buy one, Like, yeah, try out a couple of different things before investing, and then choose something that will make you forget about your day. So if you have to really wrap your brain um and research and go really like deep dive into this.

Like it might not be a hobby for you right now, like you might need to wait until your life is a little less hectic. You definitely want to do a hobby that allows you to escape. It's not just about occupying your downtime, but really giving you that um, that room to gain mental clarity and to just re center and regroup. It's like a meditation. I like what they're

getting at here. I don't know that I would agree with like forget about your day, like because we're definitely not encouraging you to just I mean some people might be like, Okay, then my new hobby is drinking. That's not what we're talking. Yeah, I would say something more so that can put life back into you, That it is something enjoyable, that it is something that is a break from your regular routine life that you enjoy and can be life giving and could leave room for reflection.

So again, that doesn't it's not necessarily the same thing as forgetting your day and leaving it all behind, but something that can pour life back into and allow time for that important reflection pieces. So yeah, I think that the reason that people enjoy drawing or knitting or sewing as far as these more tactile things is because they can provide that there can be some repetition to it,

particularly with knitting or crocheting. It can provide something in that mundane action that helps our brain then to like catch up with what's happening in our lives. It can be a complete break from what usually happens for us. Um So think about those types of things that can provide that tactile piece, maybe even something that's mundane. If your work is very stressful, overwhelming, consider something that is

a complete break from that. Yeah, it's great. The next one is to see if you have any past hobbies that maybe you forgot about it. Sometimes we get into these things and then we love them for a few months and then just stop doing them. But we forget about all the time we put into learning that stuff, and maybe it's time to try and pick it back up and see if you love it more with fresh eyes, especially because most of the times you'll already have the

equipment lying around. I tried that with crocheting, and but then I realized I lived in Florida, so there's no reason. Yeah, I can't. There's no reason to crochet here, So I kind of gave that hobby up. But I would also say give yourself the freedom. Don't let that hold you back from trying something different. Even if there was some level of monetary investment in a previous hobby, if you learn through trying it that you didn't enjoy it, there's

no pressure. Again. You can implement the Kunmari method here and say thank you for the teaching that you provided me for that time, and I now have the freedom to move into whatever else it is that you want to try. So there is there's freedom there if you don't want to, like continue making friendship bracelets for the rest of your life. They are fun, but you don't

have to do that. And then also in here they list that notice what you love to buy as guilty pleasures, so this can also be an indicator of a possible

hobby for you. So if you notice that I really love buying dishes or paintings of this type or whatever it is, that might be a guilty pleasure purchase, kind of identify what some of the themes are in there or the roots of that, and if that could translate into a hobby whether that is maybe I'm interested in creating my own dishwar and and maybe it's pottery, or maybe I want to try my hand at drawing or watercolor or collages with nature or whatever. I mean, you

you fill in the blank. But the tip here and the takeaway here is what is it that you that you find yourself drawn to, not as a necessity, but something that you find beautiful at the store or when you're out and about is like a guilty pleasure. And then the last one will talk about on this article is see what you want to change about yourself. So I mean, if that is you're spending, then obviously don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff. But so some people might have a hard time doing idle work

that serves no purpose other than being fun. Raise his hand. I really feel that way. So that's why a lot of my side hustles involved making money. But then if that's not your thing, like self improvement can be a really great hobby or doing things that sharpen your mind or what have you. So anything that gives your life a little self improvement that you can feel productive after you've done it is a great way to form a hobby. Yeah. Yeah,

and this can include reading, writing, journaling, taking pictures. You don't have to post it for everybody. They don't have to be fantastic pictures. But if it's fun for you, then do it. So yeah, there's there's a lot of options in here, and you don't have to box yourself in on what what it means to have a hobby or what it means to have something that's life giving, and it doesn't have to be just a hobby that doesn't serve a purpose. Like you said, Jen, I mean,

for me, this podcasting is a hobby. It feels purposeful to me, which is important, but I also it's life giving to me. I enjoy it. It's a break from my normal routine. Along with other things refurbishing furniture. I will often sell it so I get to make a little bit of money off of it. But I enjoyed that and then it felt like it served a purpose. So this doesn't mean that you're doing some cheap craft that you're just going to throw out tomorrow just so

you could have spent time doing something. If you are a person who it's important that that you see the fruit of your labor and that the thing that you did has a reason for it, then fine, find a hobby that provides that good word. Good word. You know what else is a good word? Jill? The best time of the week has some good words in it. Yes, it's time for the 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 paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bill Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Hi, this is jents Noce again, the one that has a duckbill. I just listened to one of your podcast and I just died laughing at Jill's laughter for the wrong nufferent color. Who said who did that? Was hilarious. But anyways, I just wanted to put my favorite bill of the week. One way I like to

reduce my dental bills is brush your teeth. Now very important. You get a electric toothbrush. It does not have to be a super expensive one, but it should have this the thinny head and don't use the manual one. You really need to spend that extra It doesn't have a big sense of what five t for one, and that's good, But do it every every single night. A lot of people brush just in the morning because as they wake

up and they had bad breath. Do it at night because if you don't do it before you go to sleep, you have eight plus hours that that steria is sitting on your teeth and just eating away at the teeth. So every single night, and my recommendation to do it in this order to floss the teeth, to get out any bits in between, brush the teeth and for two or more minutes, but definitely two minutes, and then rinse

or use mouth wash. Either way, if you get out the particles that the flossing and the brushing not loose, but it might still be in your mouth, you know, rinse and spit. A lot of people don't brush in between meals. It's it's hard, you're you're busier to go. But one thing you can do to stop too to stacy and between meals is just swishing your mouth with water. That helps cut down a lot of the bacteria. That's

all you do is um. You can rinse then spit, or you can rinse the name and swallow if you pendal worth spit, it doesn't matter um, as long as you get you know, get it rinsed. Um. This alone can stay you thousands upon thousands of dollars on dental work and needless pain. UM. So that's my goal of the week. Thanks guys, girls. Yes, Jen, are you adentist? And Jen is a dentist. I don't call you Dr Jen on that one. Oh my word, you are so

serious about brushing teeth A mound me and education. The amount of detail in that Bill of the week and specific detail too. I never in a million years would have said on our Bill of the Week segment, we're going to get some good detail on how to brush your teeth, But Jen, you brought it. I love it. I love that. That was very specific to saving money on dental hygiene because most of the time it is not covered in your health insurance. You have to pay extra.

But you don't have to pay that extra if you just pay the extra for electric toothbrush and brush your teeth twice a day, it's worth the detail with the money you can save. Jen. That fantastic and you have breath. Yeah, that's true. So this is really good for money saving

and for friends saving. So if you want to submit a bill of the week that is going to educate us and rust worlds, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and leave us a speak pipe or a Google voicemail and golly, we'll play it and everybody says that they love your laugh. Jill Jen is not the first one. You're welcome. I mean you're getting genuine laugh like I've got nothing else to give foods. We still get a kid the occasional robo call on our Google voicemail,

so we don't play those. We should do a montage of those. At some point you're like, all the same, I delete them. But anyways, it's time for the lightning round pure ping ping ding ding ding. So if you need a list of hot frugal hobbies to inspire you, gosh, we asked this question in our Frugal Friends community on Facebook, and we were not disappointed with how many ideas there were.

Like you've got your normal ones that will you'll be like, uh huh okay, and then you've got your ones where you're like, what, We've got some creative people, yes, and we are. We are sharing almost all of them except for the doubles, but these will hopefully help you in inspiring you to create a new hobby or maybe pick one backup or something. So um Eileen said reading library books. Katie loves walks in nature. Rebecca runs. I also love

running when I'm not thirty two weeks pregnant. UM and then and they're free running groups, So there's your community right there too. Melinda sings in her community choir UM. As long as they don't make you buy those like expensive choir robes, then that is great. Tracy likes puzzles and Cupawn ng Akey likes podcasts, specifically travel podcasts, and I was recently on an episode of a great travel podcast called We Travel There, and it highlights the best

things to do in a different city every episode. So if you, yeah, if you like travel podcasts, We Travel There is a good one. And then um and Jennifer volunteers. And she even gets because she volunteers. She gets like free memberships and into events for free because she volunteers

with the organization. So that's a great thing if you if you find an event you want to go to find out if they need volunteers or the organization that supplies their volunteers, and that will often provide community as well. If you are an extrovert and you desire for your hobby to also be paired with human connection. My goodness, what a better I mean that checks off more than three things because you're also giving back, so there's a lot of good things there all. Also Emerald in our

community group. She's also a personal friend of mine, so I love this for so many reasons. But she had some amazing ideas, so here we go. She's one of the more creative ones on this thread. Dreaming like literally dreaming, you could just sit and dream. Has a hobby that's free. Thanks Emerald singing playing the piano. This is also another favorite, again still from Emerald, screaming just screaming and you just want to go the Emerald scream scream. Why do you

like it? So? Why not Jen, because it's a hobby. Screaming up by cleaning looking at houses. I enjoyed this one too. I mean, we're just she's more so just listing off like free things that you can do. I don't know if like looking at houses as a hobby, but maybe uh, looking at houses that could be online, that could be in person. It is fun to go to open houses, even if it's not in the housing market.

You get some of those free cookies. Anyhow, Also thinking about what she would do with a million dollars, was just thinking about it playing Facebook games with her sister, video chat cooking with her brother, which was awesome. That is awesome. I actually have watched her. She's done a couple of Facebook live videos of her cooking, and that has been a fun frugal activity for me to just sit and watch her cook because I feel like I

get to hang out with her. But then I also might learn something new and then and then I also get hungry, and I'm like, oh, maybe I should go cook for myself. And that's a great idea that if you like to cook. Yeah. Um. Staring at her baby, my favorite, is enjoyable. I got to see Mr doing beauty recently. Yeah, that's good. That's going to be my hobby this summer is just staring at my baby. That is a hobby. Staring at it. Oh Um. Okay, So

that's all the treasures Emerald has. Thanks Emerald. Also, Christina likes hiking local reservations. Angela makes quilts out of old clothes, which is an awesome idea because quilting can get expensive, so uh. And I've even seen people do this with

old sweatshirts or old T shirts. And it's also a good way of keeping memories, Like if you keep a lot of T shirts just because of the memories that they're associated to, making them into a fun blanket is a great way of preserving that, but also not cluttering up your drawers. Yeah, and keeping clothes out of landfills, because not every time you donate something does it go to someone else. Sometimes you can go to a landfill or something, So doing with old clothes is awesome idea.

Leah also had a whole list. She does rock painting, which there's actually an organization in St. Petersburg that does that, and they leave them all around the city so people will take pictures with them or move them, like replace them with their own rock and move the other one to different places. It's kind of cool. Language learning, lots of free apps and YouTube bids for that. Baking, crocheting with recycled plastic bags. I don't know how you do that,

but that sounds very cool. I think we talked about oh in one of our episodes. I'm not can remember which one. But plastic bags was one of our fake sponsors, I mean real sponsors, and I talked about how people will weave them together to be matts for the homeless. So this is another one that can be combined. Yeah, as like a volunteer give back thing and a hobby because they actually offer some pretty decent insulation and a

bit of padding. I mean, blankets are great too, but you can actually weave these into mats, and especially for the homeless community up north, they can be a fantastic thing to lay down on the ground underneath blankets to offer a bit of like cushion and insulation. That's awesome. And because those bags are not recyclable, so they end up in landfill, so if you can find a better place for them, that is ideal. Um. She also likes walking her dog and making maple syrup because she's Canadian

and she can do that. I don't. I can't do that, but I know you can do it, like Vermont and New Hampshire and stuff. We even have some in p I some trees. Yeah, I'm jealous of you all for that, but it's it's fine. I'll just buy my maple syrup at the grocery store like every other Floridian and enjoy the sunshine and enjoy the sun. I'll take the sun. Alex makes art and she started a business out of it, so her hobby can pay for itself, so that's really cool. Um.

And then Mary Kate loves writing. Writing is one of my I mean writing started as a hobby for me and it became my full time job, so that's great. And Brooke is like, do budgeting and paying off my debt count? I love that one. I laughed so hard. It does become its own thing that it can take up I mean it does. It takes up time. When I have free time, I do I sit down and look at my budget. I do. Yeah, And I'll make plans for like savings and stuff. So yes, Brooke, that

does count. You are a super nerd. But you were in good company. And Catherine walks and jogs with her dog and she's also a gigging musician and voice teacher, so that's fun on the side. And another Katherine in the group loves working out, gardening, cooking. She's in a blue grass band and wouldn't you know it, marn also says playing bluegrass music is her hobby man, we're surrounded by some musicians blue grass musician grass specifically, frugality and

blue grass gotta be correlation. I know you're gonna explore that one a little deeper. It's probably yeah, I don't know, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hypothesize on that one. Now. Yeah, Emily crochets and she sells that on her Etsy shop. Aaron is a birth duelah, which brings in a little bit of that money on the side, but she spends a lot of time researching and learning new things for that. So clearly, the sky's the limit on identifying hobbies and

even how they're used. Whether like a hobby can also be paired with giving back, a hobby can be paired with side gigs, a hobby can be paired with learning something new, like do like it can be paired with connecting with other people. So there's so many good reasons for this. And if it can be paired with a purpose, man, that's amazing, go get it. Yes, yes, you know what else?

I mean? Reading? Reading is the best frugal hobby. And that's my transition into our outro because we it's May and so we're starting a new book for book club, and so if you're looking for a frugal hobby, we're reading The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist and you can go get it from your library and it's free and just take some time and read with us. And if you don't get it from your library, there is an opportunity to get yourself a free copy from us, your Frugal Friends. All you have to do is leave

us a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Then you take a screenshot of that review and email it to us at Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com. We will pick one winner for every five reviews that are submitted to us. So your chances are pretty high of getting yourself a free book. Pretty good, pretty good. And if you need to hear an example of a really great review, then I'm going to read one for you. And this

one's from Brandy. It's called love this Podcast. It's five stars and it says I came across this podcast while searching for ways to save money and budgets and I'm glad I did. I feel like Jen and Jill are might be f f and we're so all about being your bfs are, especially from our the comfort of our homes, so Jen can just sit there and lean back with her pregnant belly and b r BFF. Yes, and I'm literally resting my microphone on my belly. This is such

a good look. It's what I'm doing. And I'm just reading these reviews and loving them and loving spending time with you. So if the audio goes in and out for Jen, it's because the microphone is on her pregnant belly. It's pretty stable. I think. Oh, thanks so much for that great review, and for showing other people how they can review us with their five star action and words that help us keep going and help others to find us, help our community to grow, help us to get more BFFs.

And if you like what you're hearing and you want more of it because you're so bummed that this episode is about to end, you can head on over and join us in the conversation and give sharing back and forth. That's g I F sharing back and forth on our Frugal Friends Facebook community. There's always action going on there. It's also where we discuss these books, so there's always something to do that could be your hobby, even just posting to the Frugal Friends Facebook community group and seeing

what kind of responses you get like relevant. All right, y'all, we'll see you next week. Have a good week. Next Week by Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Seria. Um. What are you afraid people are going to post in our Frugal Friends Facebook community Jen, I don't know, and that's the fear. I hope that they post pictures of them playing in their bluegrass band. I hope that too. I hope they post all kinds of

things about their hobbies. And you know, I can't they love a bad post other than someone just coming on and straight being rude. I think that I am open to whatever anybody wants to share. I mean, clearly, look at our bills of the week. We we get tips on how to care for your teeth. I'm open to all of it. So true, Jill Well, I mean, if somebody wants to post something bizarre in the group tag, Jill, I'm I'm gonna be into it, Like whatever it is,

I'm gonna be straight into it. Yeah, I'm gonna be trying to reach for my phone so it'll take me a while to see it. Unless of it's like hard, offensive or rude. I'm sure I'll be into it. Well. Rule number two for joining the group is stay chill in the chat. That's right. I do like that, So we stay chill in the chat. You gotta you gotta stay chill or you campion. Have we had to kick anybody out? No? I didn't think so. I haven't. I mean to take some posts down, but haven't kicked anybody

out nobody. It hasn't seemed like anybody's been testy. Have you had to take offensive or well because they are self serving? Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's why you're so open to this, because you know I monitored the group. You're welcome do it for my entertainment and Jen's monitoring. That's it. I get it. Now. Well, we'll see what happens. We will see what happens. Better to beg forgiveness then ask permission. You know what I mean? Life motto. Put that on a bumper sticker.