Frugal Living Tips For Winter

has historically been not my favorite season. I was able to escape at a bit by coming down to Florida, only to realize that I didn't go far enough the South. Winter still has an impact here, nowhere near to what I'm used to. We don't get snow, but it does get cold, and the days are still shorter, it gets

dark early. So there's a lot of reasons that it can be a tough time of year, but there's also a lot of things that we can lean into and embrace and see the interconnectedness of that with some really great benefits for our budgets and wallets, and and then how to save on the areas that classically are going to have increased costs associated with it. In the winter, so lots of different approaches and hot takes in this one. No hot takes. Hopefully they warm you up hot takes

on cold days. First, let's talk about our sponsor, hunker and Down. It's a very special sponsor that we could only showcase in this very special winter episode. It's time to gather upboard up, cover up, button up, stash away and hunker down. And while we're inside, avoiding the cold and eating our way through the preserves and canned goods. You know, because it's nineteen o two, why not hunker down with us the Frugal Friends over on our Patreon.

We've got extra monthly episodes and additional frugal goodies at Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash Patreon hunker and Down with the Frugal Friends. Because the Internet still works even when it's cold out. You can tell you are from Pennsylvania because to me, hunkering down is a hurricane season phrase. In the winter, we go outside, I do not hunker down. We hunker down during hurricanes. I feel as though a good portion of the world needs to hunker down in

the winter. And we're gonna talk about that. You are correct, and uh, we're going to talk about it. So if you like episodes like this, than a few others to queue up. We got episode one forty which is our listener special and it is the Frugal Friends share secret frugal Tips. Not us, but you guys. You are the Frugal Friends and we share your tips. And then episode thirty three Frugal Christmas Fun, So we talked about free holiday activities, frugal traditions, all kinds of wintry goodness in

episode thirty three fun. Yes, alright, so let's get into our first article. This is from the Dollar Stretcher and this is going to be our practical tips article. So if you're here for the tips, this is your article and it is twelve frugal home winterrization tips. We're really going to focus on keeping our utility bills as low as possible because this is tis the season for them. And what do you think being somewhere from somewhere chill

that actually requires this? What do you think about these?

I think it's good. We're not going to go through all twelve, but as you can imagine, it focuses the majority of their twelve tips on how to save, primarily on heating costs, which for those who live somewhere in the north around the world, that is the biggest expense that happens in the winter is heating the home, trying to stay warm, doing all of the things to stay warm, so understandably, so a lot of the tips are are around that, and I do think that they're good tips

with some other ones kind of baked in of things that we can consider to kind of continue to keep this time frame and affordable time frame for us. Yeah, So the first one in the tips that I like is to invest in a programmable thermostat. And this is good if you are not getting like spending multiple hundreds

of dollars on a programmable thermostat. These programmable thermostats, these smart thermostats are much more affordable than they have been in the past, and that's why they're finally at a price point that justifies the money they save you as an as an offset, so and they just save you time to like, they save you peace of mind. So there's a lot of other reasons. Even if you're paying maybe what seems like a lot for one of these thermostats, they offer a lot more benefits than just the energy

saving parts. We had. We had one in our old house and we have yet to install the one in the new house, and it's so sad. But we got them on sale, so it was definitely worth worth the cost. I like this one because I think it's really similar

to automating savings or automating bill pay. It's the decision that you already want to make about how and what parts of your home to heat and cool and to what temperature, rather than needing to think about it and go over to the thermostat and manually do it every single time. Because we have many splits, we're we're able

to do that. But after having talked with multiple h VAC experts, it's pretty well understood and agreed upon that it is not good to turn off, whether in the winter or summer, to turn off your heating and cooling all the way. I know you'll read that in some of these articles, and I just disagree with that. I think it's better too. Maybe, you know, keep it out of cooler temp in the winter, not heat it super

super hot. But that's gonna be far better than turning off the heat altogether when you leave the house and turning it all back on. It's just this kind of snip snap seesaw exchange that is not actually going to save you much money in the long run. It's not great for your systems. It's not great for your home and the things in it to be going from that extreme of temperatures in the course of just twenty four hours.

So just better to to maintain a lower temp and then raise it as you need when you're living in the space, and a program of both thermostats going to help with that. The next one I'll point out on here is number six, which is to make sure that your air filters are clean. This is a great time of year. I mean really we should probably be doing this that at least once a quarter, making sure that the filters are clean. It's a super simple job, easy to look up on YouTube for the specific types of

units that you have. But they do get clogged fairly quickly, and it really can have a big impact on our utility bills. If the filters are clogged, it's going to cause the unit to have to work harder longer, it might lessen the life of your heating and cooling unit, it's going to cost you more. So really simple thing, here's your alert if you've not done it yet this

year cleaner air filters. Yes, yes, speaking on this like topic of preserving your h back and preserving your systems, which is honestly where you're going to get the most bang for your buck effort in saving So I was just looking up what are the degrees that we can fluctuate? Did you talk to any h back people that gave you a range of up down, like with your system. I can't speak confidently to that. I mean, I don't think you're gonna want more than a ten degree range,

but I can't speak confidently. That's what it's saying. So the Internet says, um, if you're going away for an extended period of time, so like maybe more than twenty four hours or something, no more than seven to ten degrees to conserve energy. So depending on whether it's hot in the summer or cold in the winter, no more of the colder heat by seven to ten degrees um. In the winter, they're saying anywhere from fifth no colder than fifty five to sixty degrees in in the cold.

So if you want to put your if you want to go as low as as you can go, probably no lower than sixty degrees and that's only if it's like within seven to ten degrees of what you're comfortable with. So that's kind of what the internet is agreeing on to preserve your HVAC system. So there you go. Yeah, they say no lower than fifty and no higher than sixty. So yeah, they're pretty much all consistent on the fifty

to sixty in the winter. So there you go. Um, the next one, let's preserve all of that heating that you are doing in your house by caulking your windows, your eyelights, maybe your doors, any place where heat can leak. You want to be ceiling and that's just smart because you don't want condensation or liquid to get into your house either. You want your house to be like weather tight honestly. So that's a good reason to to save you money on your utilities, but also to preserve the

integrity of the structure, especially if you have a wood home. Uh, those are very I don't know how common those are up north, but yeah, that's definitely something that we do here once a year. We just make sure and you can I don't some people have tools where they can see where heat or cooling is being lost. Do you know how how you find that, Jill, No, I'm not certain about that. I mean, we just always did the draft test. Walk around where do you feel are pouring in?

That's tide are being sucked out. Sometimes you just have to go outside in the cold and see where the warmth is coming. You could do it inside to kind of where is the cold air coming in? I mean, yeah, really eliminating the drafts and it's it is going to be around your doors and your windows. That is where

the most heat loss happened, so between calking. If you've got really old windows but you don't have it in the budget yet to replace them, we've even in the past utilized it's almost like a saran wrap film you can put over your windows. Now, it's going to keep it from being opened, but chances are you're not going to be wanting to open your windows in the winter.

So things like that can buy you a few extra seasons before you need to replace or upgrade some of those pieces, which is worth considering if you've got very old drafty winters and you live in the north. But there are some really helpful solutions that I know Eric and I have done at various places that we've lived and really did make a difference and keeping the heat in and helping us to lower our heating bills. Yeah,

and skylights. Skylights always leak and when if you whether it's rain or snow, stuff gets in there and and you've got problems not just leaking inside your house, but like all the things that get wet around it. So always worth it to be checking if you have skylights to make sure those are are cocked and airtight. Number seven I liked dress appropriately for the season, just the conservative reminder, but in all truth, the highlight of layering.

I think we can often still despite all of the science and research, think just a big, bulky sweater is what we need to stay warm, when in reality, what we need is layers, thin layers over one over top of the other, and that's really going to hold in our body heat and keep us from that kind of not really thinking about it. I'm just so cold, let me go turn up the thermostat and then wait for

the bill and be shocked. I know oftentimes it's the parents to the children reminding them I'm not going to turn up the heat when you're wearing shorts and short sleeves. So there's definitely a training process in here, but training ourselves to to wear the clothes that are necessary, and and that can help too, because I think sometimes it's I don't want to wear a big bulky sweater and be walking around the house. I'd rather just have to

be warm in here. But if you're just layering up thin layers, that does more for us than usually even the big bulky thing. So just consider it. There's your other reminder that your brain probably already knew, but you're not going to be as likely to try and turn up the heat if you've got the right clothes on.

I would also be prepared for a teachable moment because your kids will ask you to turn up the heat, because I was a child once and I asked that and my parents only ever said no, but didn't tell

me why. So take it upon yourself to like pre prepare, know the rate of usage, know how much, know the math behind what you were saving by keeping it as at a certain temperature, so that you can tell them by keeping it this for this number of hours, we save this much, and so we can take once we've saved it this much, we can take that and we

can go do something fun as a family. Or I can turn up the heat and we can sacrifice this fun outing but make it a I mean, it's a great opportunity for a teaching moment that nobody ever used with me. But like you just assume that your kids will get it when they're adults, but they can get it when they're not adults. To you just have to tell them. The kid might say, I don't want to go do that thing anyway, turn up the but yeah, you're still the adult. Eric and I as adult children.

We got married very young. We decided when we had one of our first apartments, we're going to do things different. I don't care if it's going to cost us more. I want to be warm, like I want to be warm in the winter. We're gonna put the heat at at a temperature that feels good for us. Until we got that first bill and it was close to like five dollars for that month, and like our hearts fell out of our chests. Were like, nope, it is time to be grown adults. But the childish ways behind us

layer up and turn that sheet down. We get it now, yes, and Travis, So this is still like a point of contention between Travis and I Travis would have it at sixty degrees. He'd keep it at sixty. No, I mean sixty is a compromise for us. He'd keep it below that, he'd keep it at like fifty. But I want to not be miserable, so we keep it at like, gosh, sixties sixty seven. I think I may go down like a degree every year because my body gets more numb

every year that I'm married us. So I don't know what that says, but yeah, I am not one to be miserable in my house. But I am gonna wear layers and do that and keep it lower to be able to save that little bit of money. Well, and you can get back by your next tip. Absolutely can heat up your next You can heat it up more with number nine. Bake. I was so in the summer, I do not use my oven because it heats up

the house and it's so hot in Florida. So in the winter, I'm using that baby all the time, Like I am bacon that this says bake to your heart's content, and I'm like, yes, let me bake pizza, let me bake muffins. I'm a bake. I'm gonna bake casse roles, bakes, bakes, and bake bakes. I'm gonna make bakes and let that heat from the oven warm up the rest of the house.

So keep it open once it's off, and just kind of enjoy that heat and let built up the warmth of the comfort food warm you from the inside and emotions too. I lost my muffin ten though, so I'm not making muffins this year. Oh no, I don't know where it went. There's no way to get a new muffingtin either, God forever you don't have a muffintin either. Okay,

no muffins this year, sorry, mama. Man. The last one I'll point out is comparison shop, So if you're still feeling like your utilities are too high, you know, shop around, figure out if there's another way that you can get a lower rate, whether you've got options for your provider, or if it's worth beginning to consider different types of ways of heating and cooling, whether you know you're going your central h VAC system or mini splits, or if

sometimes not all the time, it's more advantageous to do keep your heat at a really low point if it's really expensive and for the room that you're in for a few hours, just put a little space heater buy you. It's not always going to be the best solution for everybody, but kind of trying out a few different things when it comes to these utilities, compare, see where the savings might be, and know that springtime is coming. Yes, most Yeah, I don't think most people will have an option for

their utilities. But like comparing appliances or like Jill said, many splits versus central, uh, comparing some of these other options you do have or you you may have can be really interesting because maybe you already have centrally. See, you're not going to spend the money to switch to many splits, but if you move, you might have to make a choice, and so then you'll already know the facts. But stuff like that, it doesn't hurt to be educated

about your options. Yeah. Oh, John, this next article I'm actually really excited about. You picked this one. Jill picked this article, And normally Goldie will pick the articles and I will like vet them, But this one's Jill, and I'm very into the idea behind it. I'm so glad you're on board with this. So when when John and I were talking about this episode, and considering what we

wanted to say about winter. It sparked for me some recent conversations and ponderings I've been having about the seasons and how I was just talking with my sister recently, how I wish that our lives could fall in step more with the seasons. I do think that there can be something really beautiful about winter, the shorter days, some of what the cold can bring, the dormancy, the stillness.

But I think what leads a lot of us to not like winter is the fact that our lives still demand a similar pace to what we're doing in the summer, and it's not kind of leaning into some of the natural rhythms of life, and maybe what what we might be more built for, and how I feel like I might have enjoyed winter more, even in the North, if I had been able to lean in more to what winter almost demands of us, rather than trying to keep pace with something that the summer can support, with the

longer days and the warmer weather. But but we just that's not how life is set up. We still maintain our jobs, we still maintain our schedules. But it got me thinking, what if in the areas that we can control and bear influence on we were able to embrace a little bit more of simplicity and stillness, and so this article references that, and I think there is a congruence of convergence of being a really kind of like frugal, simple money saving, more intentional with our money spending that

can happen in the winter months. And so this article comes from I've never heard of this blog before. It's called ever Violet, and it's talking about the wisdom of winter, rest and renewal. And I do think that that is what winter can be, is this time of rest and renewal. And if we're able to lean into that, we're going to see cost savings, we're gonna see simplification in our lifestyles.

And I love what they say here about winter, that there's these phases of dormancy and stillness that are essential to flourish. And the darker months can be the counterpart to the bloom that we see in springtime and summertime. And so what if we allowed ourselves to engage in that. That's kind of the question that we're asking with this article of what if we approached winter as a time of rest and renewal, a simplification. Yeah, I think that's so beautifu full it is, I mean, and it's just

practical too. So like for someone like you who travels a lot, travel is much more inconvenient in the winter and demands a lot more uh not just clothing, but just demands a lot more like time. And so this is something that you may be able to maintain very easily in the summer and in the spring, but it's it's time to slow down and travel less in the winter as the climate kind of demands. And so there's all all kinds of different little practical reasons for leaning

in to the season. And we talked about seasons, like in your life, you have a busy season or not busy season, but these seasons are they can correspond with the actual weather seasons really closely. Uh so, And there's a lot of stuff going on in the winter, but a lot of it is like family stuff. A lot of it is designed or should be designed for rest and rejuvenation. So I'm very excited to talk about all these,

especially the first one, which is sleep. It says winter is an ideal time to slow down our pace and catch up on all the rest that we missed throughout the year, and catching up on sleep is a myth, but mentally you can feel like you've caught up. Uh, and and this is a really great time to try and do that with the earlier darkness. I know, I am very It doesn't even matter. I will get into bed when the sun is still out, but it just feels better when the sun is down and I get

into bed. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Oh. They use so many references to why sleep and yeah, well you can't catch up on a night mist of sleep. I do think that they're is this deeper concept of what sleep can do, or a season of rest can do, for maybe the ways that we might have just exhausted ourselves in this in the summer and fall, and the ways in which sleep can regulate our pulse, lower, lower our heart rate, blood pressure, allowing ourselves and our immune system

to recover. That it's great for just repairing of our muscles and organs and cell structure, and it's great for hormone regulation and detoxification. Just sleep is good for us. And if you know, the sun setting sooner allows us to be able to go to bed a little sooner than lets embrace it. Yeah, and even I love it, says. Researchers believe non rem sleep is when our brain stores long term memory and clears out information we don't need, which is super important when you're trying to create better

spending habits, which means free. Good thing you do to build up spending habits is a stored in your long term memory. Better when you get more non rem sleep and information that you don't need, so maybe impulse purchases you were going to buy, or worry or stress about something that you don't need to be worrying or stressing about like that leaves. So the more sleep we can get, the more opportunity our brains have to take advantage of their natural processes that help us to build habits and

clear out unuseful information. And here you go to tie it into finances. When you're sleeping, you're not spending. So true, we don't talk about it a lot. We could probably do a whole episode on sleep just how you do not typically spend money in your sleep. But also if you're getting the adequate sleep that you need, there is

going to be health benefits to that. And we know that the healthier we are, the more we can help our bodies get what they need, then, the less money we're going to be spending on all of the remedies for the fact that we didn't sleep well and we didn't give our bodies the time that they needed so to go to bed early. The next one on here and a little teaser. We're gonna be talking about this more in depth and a future episode, but it's worth

chatting about right now, this concept of houga. It's the Scandinavian concept of coziness and convivial feelings associated with a deep sense of contentment and well being. And so from our Scandinavian neighbors and friends, they certainly live in quite a cold climate, but we can take their lead in really embracing the season rather than pushing against it and

wishing that it weren't. Instead, what does this season allow us to embrace or what can we engage in during this season, especially for those of us who might deal with seasonal effective disorder or those of us who just don't do well with the sun going down at five PM and it being dark for like the next five hours before bed, and so really anything that brings joy and comfort to you is a step in the right direction,

and it doesn't have to be massive things. And so this again is where simplicity frugality are great pairings with this concept of huga of you know, do you have just a comfy, cozy blanket that you love cozy up with that read a book, take the opportunity to kind of catch up on things that maybe you didn't have time to get to in the busier months. It might be enjoying a really great glass of wine or pulling out your favorite scented candle. Like it's just the really

kind of slower, more simple parts of life. This is also of course bringing people together, so the winter could be a time of engaging in more regular rhythms. I know summer is awesome, but I think a lot of us find that our routines and schedules are out the window. The kids are out of school, people are traveling every which way, But the winter, most people are staying put.

Like you're saying, Jenn, I didn't really think about that, but I don't do a ton of travel in the winter because it's just a headache to have to deal with all the delays because of snow on the ground wherever I might be going, and so being able to engage in a rhythm of that. There was a time a few winters in a row where we would do Sunday dinners with our friends every single Sunday. We were able to do that in the winter. The other months

it couldn't really happen, but we would get together. Everybody would bring a pot luck, so that certainly saved all of us money. Kind of coming together for that. It was enjoyable time of connection with each other, away to pass the evening by when you couldn't really be productive in other ways. So just kind of leaning in and finding what can I embrace that's enjoyable, even though these

other things might not be an option for me right now. Yeah, if you are looking for ways to hang out with your friends that are not at bars or restaurants or coffee shops, this is the season in which to do it. Just not having to walk around outside, being able to put on some comfy clothes and go to a friend's

house and drink wine or have a pot luck. This is the season where that is most doable, and so that can get you in community, not spending as much as you might in the spring, summer and fall months for sure, And this all sounds great. These are all great examples, but in order to act on them, you have to give yourself this next one, which is permission to do less. And we often think of this time is the most almost one of the most stressful times of the year, where we are doing the most. But

you have to give yourself permission to do less. And there's this I have this like new rule where if a mom says she's not doing Christmas, to never believe her or a holiday in general. She's like, I'm not I'm not doing Thanksgiving this year, I'm not doing Christmas this year. We're just we're going to go low really low key. What that means is that she will do nothing. At the last minute, she will think, oh my god,

I have to do something. The holiday will collapse if I don't do something, and so at the last minute she will throw something together, expect everyone to be on board, like this was the plan the whole time, and she will not understand if you've made other plans and this is not. This is something that I have experienced, but

then I have also seen other people experienced. And I have already had a friend who is a mom who said I'm not doing Thanksgiving this year, and I was like, stop it, don't say that, because you know you will, and she was she felt attacked. Um. But but it doesn't have to be either or right. It doesn't have to be the extremes. I think we can pay attention to that feeling inside of us like this is too much. Right, it might be too much. That doesn't mean that it

all needs to be thrown out the window. Maybe that means you just don't need to do as much. That permission to do less. Yeah, so a the lesson is, don't listen to a mom when she says she's not doing a holiday and be if you are that mom. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Just give yourself permission to do less, keep what works and lay down what doesn't and that's and that's it, and then you can sleep and have good quality family time. And yes, just like the bears, and you know what do we

just talk about this? No bears? Bears? Yeah, bears go into hibernation, right, they do way less and they love to sleep, and they give birth in their sleep. They give birth wall hibernating, and then they wake up to their cubs there and just ready to go having already nursed off of her. She just slept through it. Give it a try, Jen. I know, I know you're do to give birth this winter. I'll ask my dad, I'm getting birth in the spring, so I think, oh, yeah,

I guess March is like on that cusp uh. Well, alright, this next one is time with family and friends. That we've referenced this already, but this is a great opportunity because we can't be doing all of the projects and the clean outs and the whatever it is the travel that we're doing in the spring, summer, maybe even fall winters, just it demands us to slow down. But it also can be great for connection. So this is again what's

worth repeating. Eat food together, have a cup of tea, coffee, wine together, share stories, catch up, laugh, just deep conversation into the nights, so you don't even know it's dark outside because you are busy with your cozy Houga with your besties in the winter. I will also mention here it's reminding me I had I got a It's like a non game, but a game of cards called Houga, and it's a bunch of cards with questions on it.

The box says for cozy conversations not sponsored by them, but that's a fun thing to like get or look up on the internet some like questions that might spark conversation and have people over for a nice hardy bowl of chili and enjoy some cozy conversations with your friends. That sounds wonderful, doesn't it. So you know what, if like our hearts are like yearning for this, why not lean in then embrace it. This really does make me

look forward to like shorter days. Like okay, so I can't do a ton of renovations on my house, all right, I'll have my friends over and we'll eat Chilian chat chilian chat. And that leads us to the next one, the last one replenishing the spirit and winter. It says winter is the season to nourish our creativity, stiller months off or time to turn inward, make space for new projects, activities.

I think also just time to reflect, time to catch up with people who you have not had the opportunity to be in relationship during the busy the rest of the busy year. So I think that this can be if you let it. If you let it, winter can be really replenishing to the spirit. With all the things that we just listed off, and all the things that we just talked about cost little to no money, little to no money. Right, it's a simpler time, and simplicity does not cost a lot of money. So this is

reconnecting with people. That's free. Staying home, that's free, doing cozy things that's free. Sleeping that's free. Yeah you know what else is free? Oh yeah it is and it is cozy, so cozy and replenishing to the spirit the love 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. Tough bills, Bufalo bills, bill clean.

This is the bill of the week. Hygiene and Jill Love the Show. My bill of the week is my first severance payment from my former employer. I've been very unhappy in that job for a while now, and last week I had a job interview on my lunch break, and when I got back to work, my boss had found out that I've been looking for a new job and fired me unexpectedly. Apparently, Tennessee is an outwell employment state, and you can fire for any reason, but I did

and expect to ever get fired. But I'm grateful for this answer to prayer. He offered me two months of my salary and severance payments so I can just enjoy the summer, explore some new interests, and hopefully get a new job. So I'm celebrating these next two months and I'm grateful for how everything has turned out. So thank you guys so much for what you do, and keep up the great work. Oh free, Okay, severance, that's amazing. I hate that for you, and I also love that

for you. But I think I when I got let go, not for that. Well, it's also for a bogus reason, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, like career wise, uh so I hope it's also the best thing that's ever happened to you. Well done and recognizing that and choosing your perspective and outlook on this.

I mean, it had to have been really difficult to be let go of your job just because they hear that you're might be looking for something else, but to embrace that as an opportunity to rest and explore new ventures and find another job that might be better for your well being. It's amazing and I'm so glad that they at least offered you those two months severance in

their decision to let you go. And really it's your perspective that's standing out to me as quite remarkable, because those shifts and pivots and unexpected things can really wipe us out. But depending on how we approach it it that is the true make or break for a lot of us. How are we going to approach that. What's the decision we're going to make in light of decisions that were outside of our control. So well done, So thrilled for you. Sounds like this happened in the summer.

I hope things are looking up for you as we're entering in to the window. If you are listening the week, yeah, haven't. If there's anything unexpected that happened for you, whether welcomed or unwelcomed. If there's bills you like, bills you don't like people bills, you know the Drill Frugal Friends podcast, dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill. While while yes we're backed up in some regard, we're also coming to a tail end on some of them so we

could use a replenishment. We actually do need a replenishment, so please leave a bill of the week, and because we are scheduled all of them, which is the first time that's ever happened in Frugal Friends history. But I guess after six months of doing twice a week, we are there. So please please think of any bill seriously, any bill. Yikes. It's like a challenge and a threat. And now it's time for like me around. I am very excited about this question. I don't know and now

I'm just like even more thrilled this. That last article got me so thrilled. Uh So, Goldie's question for us this week the thing you're most looking forward to this coming winter, and mine is warm drinks. I love warm drinks, and that is there's a feeling of a warm mug or a warm cup, just warmth into my body. What kinds of what kinds of warm drinks are you gonna embrace this winter? Of course, coffee, poh, but I love a good cider. I'll do a good hot chocolate tea

just like a warm drink. Lover mm hmm. Yeah. And you cannot have warm drinks in the summer here I mean, I guess you can, but who are you and just to have have those back? Yeah, I will say I think the last article did get me excited for some things that I might not have said previous to that article. For this lightning round, I think staying put is holding

a little bit of excitement for me. I at this point, I don't have travel plans for January and February, so just kind of being able to enjoy my house in a new way and not be constantly leaving it. I think there's there can be pros and cons to this, but I do kind of appreciate the fact that it

getting dark earlier means I can't be outside working. It just really limits the amount of exterior work I can be doing on the house, which is almost like a nice bare year for me, where otherwise I would just go, go, go and not listen to my body and maybe some of the slower pace that it's desiring. Um And I think then with that more time with people, like filling up that space with community and connection. I think definitely reading through that last article got me excited for some

hosting possibilities. I'm thinking girls night with some warm drinks and I can pull out my hooga game and we can have cozy conversation. That'd be so fun. I am excited for that. I can't wait. Let's do it, yes, So thank you so much for listening. We hope that you got excited for winter and figure it out some ways that you can kind of alter your lifestyle in this season to not just save money, but also rest and and rejuvenate yourself. So I hope it was practical

and inspiring for you. And I wanted to change it up a little bit, try new things, um and share a really kind email we got recently in case anybody else feels seen by it, and this one's from Lisa. She says, I just want to say I felt totally seen while listening to the podcast on cake Bo when Jill said that cash was easier for her to spend more freely because it's not necessarily tracked and there's no

record of it. I've been feeling this way for years now, and I've never heard anyone else one say this or to some up my feelings so precisely. I am thrilled to know that I am not alone, even if it's only me and Jill feel this way. That said, I almost never have actual cash on hand, which means I don't spend much of it anyway. But when I do finally use that random five dollar bill in my wallet, what a carefree feeling. Keep up the good work, Jen

and Jill. That's amazing. I'm so glad you felt seen, Lisa, and you're not alone. I think there's more of us out there. I don't think it's just you and me, but recognizing that in yourself, I think that is worth celebrating in some regard. Knowing how you approach money where you're more likely to spend or save, and leaning into that or not whichever direction is going to be better for you, rather than taking what everybody else says as oh yeah, this is the way it works for everybody,

because it just doesn't. There's so much flexibility and fluidity in frugality and our personal finances. So thanks Lisa for the encouragement and sharing that tidbit about yourself. Amen. So thank you for listening. We love hearing how the episodes impact you because it influences what we do, what we talk about, how we talk about it. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your kind words. Whenever you send them to us, see you next time.

Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Cirian. I am really looking forward to cozy conversations. Wouldn't that be fun? Yeah? I love a good girl's night, like with sweatpants and wine, or maybe like just fake wind for me right now, cider, warm cider, yeah, warm cider, warm drinks. I'm just baked. Just a sucker for it. Oh, baked goods. Yes, I'm just a sucker for it. We're gonna have to get it on the calendar. I will, I will plan it. I will host that. I like coasting. Yeah, you had

a really legit Christmas party last year? Yeah I did. You came? We had fun, Yes, we did, and you gave me a drink that was accidentally drunk. Oh that's right. That was that time I promised I won't do that again. Did we talked about that in one of these episodes? Didn't? I don't know if we did. Oh, man, it have been too fresh. Well, here's what it is, you know what it's. It's the new vulnerability around at the very end,

and hopefully we don't. Here we go. I was growing in my garden what I thought was mint and made a mohedo, because let's be real, the winter here is still relatively warm, so like a mint mohedo can still make sense in the winter. And yeah, and I did drink it and it sounded good, so I made it, only to realize a while later when my mother in law came down and saw the plant, she was like, this is now I'm blanking on what it's called blue

something and it is edible, but it's a hallucinogenic. It is not meant And I remember you saying like this taste, this taste like you know, interesting, and then you felt funny that night after having one of them. But you didn't tell me. No, I was never going to tell you.

I was like, I don't know if I should drive home, but like I only had one, Like I surely I am fine, and so like I was like, I must be in my head it must be like something because like one mohito has never done it for me, and and so, but I was never going to tell you that. The thing I wasn't going to tell you is that you gave me a gift and I couldn't remember the

next day. Yes, that's where the gift came from or what you had given me like I just kind of put two and two together, like, oh, I don't know where this came from. I don't remember what Jill gave me. It must be this um salvia. That's the name of it. I thought it was meant and it was salvia and it is a hallucinogenic. And I gave it to Jen. Oh my gosh, that was girl's night gone wrong. I didn't.

I yeah, And so I don't think you hallucinated, but you feel a little funny, more funny than you went on ment right, and so I, um, yeah, I wasn't going to tell you that until you told me that you gave me hallucien and I was like, oh my god, that's what it was. It was that. And then I was like, oh my god, I should not have driven home. I was. I was on a hallucinage. And then I

was like, oh my god, what have I done? I had like, alright, this time around, we will stick to cider and mold spices, perfect oh man and cozy conversations. We won't go as hard as we did last year. We were different people that we were younger, more in the hard. Did they see Ouch drinking one mohito each I'm just going wild. Yeah, keep it. We'll keep it clessing this year. Obses