How a No-Spend Month Can Help Your Finances

love it. Y'all spawned your own sub Facebook group off our Facebook group just about no spend challenges, Like y'all did that. You're s's a niche here, there's a hard niche going on. Yeah. So for those who maybe new listeners, um, we're not around at episode forty because clearly we're a hundred and twenty seven now. Um, we wanted to replay with old we are in in podcast age. We are super old. Uh, we're elderly. You could call us elders, elders,

elder podcasters. So just don't come to us for podcasting advice I have found, but we are bringing you this oldie so that hopefully maybe October is your next no spend month. It is the perfect time to do one, right before the holidays are coming up and you want to maybe save your Thanksgiving and Christmas money. You can do that in October, just do a no spend month. Perfect idea. Wow, just getting tips off the top of the episode. Yeah, it's kind of like I planned it to,

like play right here. Yes, but first, our sponsors. Today's episodes also brought to you by spending all the money you saved. Sinking funds are essential to afford big purchases like a home, a vacation, or new windows like we're getting right now after months and months of putting it off, because seeing all that money leave your bank account is really sad. But the energy you waste with paper thin windows from the fifties is also sad. So there's like

no joy here spending all the money you saved. I hate to see you leave, but I love to watch you lower my energy bill. Oh that's a mic drop right there. If I could drop it the mic, I would. It's already. Man. There's so many things to point out about that, but I think I'm just going to say well done and being an adult and buying new windows you when you have the money but like it leaves and it's just like it hurts so bad. It's like

that's what you're there for, but it still hurts. I'm hoping to help bring the joy back into your life. I know that you can, and I know this episode will bring it back to and I hope it will bring joy to your life as it has done for thousands and thousands of other people who have listened to it. So, without further ado, here is how a no spend month can help you with your finances. Hello everyone, I am Jen, I'm Jill. I'm still here. We are here with another

episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. And today is a topic that I'm obsessed with for really good reason. It is my bread and butter. It's my lifeline. It's no spend challenges and they don't have side anybody as much as me. And write about this in your sleep. You have written about it. Yes, I was awake the whole time I wrote it. But it is good. Yeah. It is my Amazon best selling book, The No Spend Challenge

Guide is on special for Amazon Prime members. We're going to talk about that a little later, but we thought because of that, it was the perfect time to do an episode fully dedicated to no spend challenges and how they can help you become more frugal. One challenge is clearly not going to change your life, but a series of them and incorporating them and the things that they teach into your life will change the outcome of your spending forever. Jill, have you ever done a no spend challenge? Um,

my whole life is a no spendale talk. I'm gonna be honest with you right now. Okay, I was married getting a master's degree to an unemployed husband. So yeah, I got in the bag and you wrote a lot of notes, whereas I wrote one sentence for each Jill. Jill wrote a novel, a small novel, So we're you're going to get a lot. Listen. You can write about it and live it. I will live it with my eyes closed. Yeah. I literally wrote a small novel about it,

so I didn't need to write that again. This is fun for me because it can make me feel like I'm doing something fun. I'm engaging in a challenge with other people, and it's not just like the sorry state of my life. Things are always more fun as a challenge. That is a solid fact. That's why we're in the middle of our declutter challenge. That's why we do not spend challenges, and so that is what we're talking about today. But first, UH, We're going to get into our sponsors.

But first I also wanted to mention I was looking at the podcasts on iTunes and I saw that we have so many reviews, So thank you guys so much for reviewing the podcast, But we don't have as many people asking uh sending in screenshots of their reviews to be entered into our free book giveaways that we do every month. And it may be because we mentioned them at the end of the podcast, or maybe because people don't realize that they don't post as soon as they

write them. So I just wanted to remind everyone. If you haven't, please head over to Stitcher or iTunes review the podcast. We really really appreciate them. We read one on every episode because we just love to laugh UM with all the funny things that you write and all

the ways that you mock us UM and didn't encourage us. Right, you do so so much of both, and we want we want you to also be eligible for winning UM the free books that we give away every month, So head over head over there and screenshot your reviews before you hit submit so that you can get over there and send them to Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com. We love to read them and we love to give away whatever book club book is every month. So that

being said, let's get into our sponsors. Our first one is modern frugality dot com. That is my website and uh, the shop at modern frugality is my shop with printables and e books and resources to help you reduce your spending, minimize your stuff, and organize your life. I have a ton of free printables, some paid like planner type of full sets of printables, so head over there and check them out. Got a lot on minimalism, meal planning, financial planning.

All that shop dot modern frugality dot com or just modern frugality dot com to see the blog. Frugal Friends listeners get fifty off whatever you purchase at the shop with code frugal Friends nineteen and that code never expires, so it doesn't matter when you're listening to this and another completely legitimate sponsor. Driving the speed limit. Similar to following all of the other rules of the road, driving the speed limit is the most sure fire way to

avoid spending unnecessary money on fines. Just like finds an interest for late payments on your credit card makes it pointless to have one, So speeding and getting tickets make it pointless to drive. Keep your money in your pocket where it belongs, and drive the speed limit. Driving the speed limit one lass reason for the cops to pull

you over. That's right. There could be plenty of other reasons that that the cops might pull you over, like you're swerving, you're blowing through stop signs, you're ding forgot

to change that sticker on your on your tag. Yeah, we would get pulled over all the time because we had tinted windows in a little red car and a license plate was ZEROS instead of OHS, So the cops would plug it in and they think that we were driving like a stolen vehicle because it came up as a Triumph a motorcycle and they're like ha ha, we got you, and we're like, no, actually, you typed it

in wrong. So don't be like Jill, who doesn't need another reason for the cops to pull I don't need one more reason for the cops to be after mate. Drive this be limit because also you can avoid whatever else they're trying to get you for. If they get you for speeding and then they find out that registration and inspection and what, what's that open bottle of whatever in your passion, you probably need to reevaluate how you drive.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying Jill. So, but if you are like Jill and you do get ticketed for some shady stuff, you could do a no spend challenge to cut down on your spending and be able to afford that ticket, and hopefully you won't need to Hopefully you can put that savings towards something beneficial. But it's an option. I do drive the speed limit because it is like I refuse to pay money I don't need to pay. Paying because I was going too fast is

ridiculous to me. It's not happening. I do feel the same way. Travis tends to speed and I drive the speed limit because I refused to pay that ticket. Yep. But our first article today is from the Balance and it's called the no spend Challenge. Should you consider a spending fast So they call it all kinds of things, spending fast, zero day challenge, no spend, but whatever you call it, it's spending nothing. It's a it's a very complex top it's it's a concept that's complex. It's spending nothing,

and you get to decide what nothing is. So whether that's just no personal spending, no spending on anything. You pay all your bills on a on a day one and then the next thirty nine days you spend nothing, so you can kind of decide what works for you. But the challenge is to just spend nothing. It's not that complicated of a concept, really, And it's amazing how much is written on it and how long we're going

to talk about it for. But it reminds me of that snl skit that and I'll post a link to this with Amy Poehler and Steve Martin and there they just can't get the concept of not buying stuff particular literally that they can't afford. But all of you frugal friends listeners would enjoy it. It's it's really really funny. But it made me think of that, what don't spend money? But what but what about if I see something that I really like and I have to have it, don't

spend money? No, anyhow, I love that skip. Yes, if you haven't seen it. Any color doesn't way better than me. Go figure. But so this article is helping you cansider doing a spending fast and it's asking you should you but the answer is already yes, and I'll just tell that to you. But there are different ways that you can do it, and so it's helping you kind of consider which way is best for you. What do you

think about this article, Jill? I liked some of the reasons that they gave as to why to do this, and just to lay more of a foundation for all of us. I think that there's even more reasons. And just to reach a savings goal or to pay down debt. I think, like you said, Jen, the answer is yes, do this practice this because I think it helps. It can help to rain in spending, It can assist in

identifying priorities. It could help you reach a giving goal, maybe not just a savings goal, but if there's something that you particularly want to donate money to, or as we said at the top of the show, the just the sheer challenge of it. It could be fun to see can I do this? What might I learn about myself? Why not other people are doing it? Uh? So, I think there's there's so many reasons, and it can help

to detox after a lot of spending. We are just coming off of the holidays right now, so it could be a nice thing for your bank account or to prep for upcoming spending, like a vacation. If you've got something that you know is in the near future, then this could be a great way to prepare for it, have less guilt about spending when you do go away or whatever it is that you're preparing for. So so many more reasons than just what the article stated. So

I'm I'm excited about it. I'm excited to keep doing I'm I'm happy that this is a lifestyle for me and other people can join in. So this is just a real good thing. Yeah, the article encourages you to choose a length and time to determine what you can spend on, just like we said, but I really liked in the middle it goes towards like trying to reduce

your essentials. So we always we make our budgets and we decide what we can spend on what we can't, and we have this like quote unquote like essentials category, and sometimes we don't consider enough about reducing those essentials and I know there were so many things for me, like before I started taking my money seriously that were essentials. And it was through no spend challenges that I evaluated what really are my essentials? Like? Are these really my essentials?

And I got to think about it every time I missed doing something or ended up in a like buy a drive through line about to go in and be like, oh wait, I have a choice. I can keep following my no spend challenge or I can drive into this drive through get those Checkers fries. They're so good. But I I love that the writer like slips that into to evaluate that's like one of the things that you should do when you're trying to determine what you can

spend on. That's an important thing. Yeah, that you can incorporate that trying even the things that you have decided you will spend money on, how low can you go

with that? So this article and others like it talk about can you use up the food that you already have in your home and even reduce your grocery budget for that month as well, which it's amazing to realize how how many can goods and things in the freezer that and condiments that we have that we could utilize when it feels like there's no food, It's like, actually, there's ten different meals you could probably prepare. So that

could be a fun challenge in and of itself. So this definitely isn't the month to or an excuse to say, oh, well, I'm not spending a ton of money, so increase the grocery budget. It's reduced everywhere. It could even be cut off Netflix or um some similar things, Spotify whatever for a month and just really even pare down as much as you can and see how that feels. Yeah, And the great thing it's a challenge. So not only do you determine how long it goes, but it does end

at some point. It doesn't go on, you know, longer than you plan it too. So if you're giving up these things that are do end up being important for you, and you do determine our essentials, then you get those back at the end of the challenge, and then you know for sure that those are things you value. UM another thing that I liked. She's she's basically just dispelling every myth when you're like, should I can should I

do a spending fast? Should I do a challenge? There are so many excuses that can come up that say, oh, no, I shouldn't do on this weekend, or no, I shouldn't do one this month, I've got this or whatever. So she says to plan ahead for exceptions, and which is something I always tell people to do. You're never going to find the perfect month, even though if you're going to get close to a perfect month. The perfectest month I can find is February because it's the shortest month.

I'm petty, uh, and there's not much going on. There's Valentine's Day, but if you've been in a relationship for a long time, like who celebrates Valentine's Day, and so it's really the perfect month where not a lot is going on, You're still saving for your summer travel, you still might have some gift cards left from Christmas that you can use up, so it's really but even still, there are going to be times in February where friends coming into town and you want to go to dinner

with them, or it's your mom's birthday or something. So plan for those exceptions. And those are not an excuse to just not do a challenge. It is my mom's birthday in February, and my sisters and my niece and nephew. They just really all planned it out for February. Yeah. Yeah, it's like they knew they'll be my exceptions. Yeah. So that's that's where this idea of planned versus impulsive comes in,

So you can make exceptions. You're the one creating this challenge, so as long as it's something that's planned for, then then fine do it. What what we want to avoid during a no spend challenge is impulsive purchases that would be reflective of how you would typically spend money. So, and this is listed in one of the pitfalls to like, don't delay necessary spending just because it's a no spend

challenge month. If you can get something at a less expensive rate now versus if you put it off next month just so you don't have to see it come out of your bank account this month, you're you're winning nothing. So if you know, okay, I meet in the next three months, I need to get a winner coat. Okay, plan for that. Um, I need to get a oil change. Do that. Don't just put that off until March just so that you can feel like you've saved money, Like you will have to get an oil change. Do it

before your car breaks down. Yeah. I highly recommend Kate flanders book The Year of Less, because she did this for two years and so she's a really great example of planning a list of things she knew she would need to buy and giving herself the freedom to buy those things when they were on the best sale or when she physically needed them. And and that's the same concept on a smaller scale, Like you're not going to need to buy a mattress in your no spend month

like she did. That's yeah, don't do that. But it's the same concept that you are setting yourself up to identify what you truly value of and will spend money on, and to just step back, like take a step back from your impulse purchases and and think, think for longer than ten seconds to rationalize that like coffee or candy bar that you're picking up at the convenience store. Yeah, and we interviewed Kate Flanders, so feel free to check

out that episode and read her book. It's great. I also like the other tips that were given in this article of getting buy in from family members no pun intended, but make sure that they're on board if you do live with other people who are involved in your budgeting and spending. It's not gonna be effective or successful on any level if they're not on board with you. Could lead to bitterness, resentment, fights, anger. That's not the goal.

So make sure that make sure that they're on board, and obviously maybe not obvious, reduce the temptations, like don't unsubscribed from emails that are that may be tempting to you, of offering sales and wanting to go purchase. Um, maybe take a different route so that you're not passing that coffee shop you always go into all the time. So

that's just another little tip. But then I also appreciated this list of pitfalls, and so we talked about this already of delaying, not not delaying, on not delaying necessary spending, but also to be careful of overspending before and after both ramping up too and coming off of this no spend challenge. That does not give license to like go

crazy with your finances. Like the goal is to save or pay down debt or to give more to a certain cause or person or whatever it is that your is your financial goal, but it's it defeats the purpose if you're like oh my word. Next month is the no spend Challenge. So get everything that I ever thought that I ever would want, so that I don't want anything. That's not the point. The point is to work through the wanting and the thinking that you need something and

to figure out where your priorities are. Like, that's a good process to go through. Don't try to protect yourself from that. Yeah, So that that's pretty much this article. So to recap, should you consider a no spend challenge? All of the things that you have going on in your life and everything that the people around you have going on in your life, and all the things that

could go wrong? Should you consider one? Dude? Dude, dude, what is yes you should if you answered yes to that question every listening to us for the last fIF two minutes, what is everyone should participate in a no spend challenge? Yeah, at least once and report back. You don't have to do them a lot, that's the point. You do them, uh frequently or occasionally for a period of time, and then you learn your lessons and then there's not a need for them, And that's that's the hope,

that's the goal. Uh So, now that we are convinced that we should be practicing no spend challenges regularly or at least occasionally. How do you do one? And I can't read my entire book on this episode, but I want to. I know, I wanted to read an excerpt from it, which is actually, um, it's a loose excerpt. It's from my blog Modern Frugality dot com and it's called how to do a no spend Month that will

improve your finances. Because I am not as great of a storyteller as Kate Flanders, so my book is very actionable. That yeah, And it's essentially this is what it is. This is how to do it. This is how to fill your time when you get bored because you're not spending money. Um, and this is uh, these are the constructive things you can do with your time to to you know, fill it up. So, um, yeah, Jill, did you read this article? I did. Thanks for forcing me

to do that. No, it's fantastic, Jen. I'm a big fan of yours. So I really appreciate even though you think that you're not a good storyteller, you do connect it with your own life experiences and saying that in growing up you were conditioned to think that spending money was a hobby. It's it's something that you do. It's

an activity, it's a form of entertainment. Even if you don't need things or even want things, you just you go to the mall and you go to Target, you stop by the grocery store, and you just spend money. And to some degree, yeah, I can understand that. It can sometimes be like, oh, what do we do? I don't know, let's go to a store where Target is a big thing. I see a lot of my friends is just oh, I don't have anything to do. Well, I'm going to go to Target. It's not unique to

just me. Um, but it's a problem with a lot of people. So we'll skip. We can skip the section that tells you why you should do a challenge because we just went through that. So once you have decided how long you want to do, obviously this article is about doing a no spend month, but if you don't feel capable of that at first, that's totally fine. You can start with a weekend or um, oh like five

week days or a whole week or something. Start where you feel comfortable, Start where you feel like you can have a quick win, so you can continue to build on that, and then once you decide that, you're going to want to figure out what do you want to spend on. And it is totally possible to do a no spend month without spending any money on groceries. I want to repeat that for you. It's totally totally doable to do a no spend month without spending any money

on groceries. WHOA explain that? Are you mooching off of everybody else? No, it's replacing some of your fresh produce with frozen and then choosing fresh produce that has a longer shelf life. And some of the I didn't write down the vegetables that have like a longer shelf life, but onions, carrots, those tend to be uh, some very versatile vegetables that have a longer shelf life inside the fridge, so you can do your research on that. I will

say that carrots do go bad. This is completely aside tangent, but it's worth knowing. When carrots go bad, they smell like a main easing sweet vanilla. It smells so fantastic and then you put it in your mouth and it's rancid. I found that one out the hard way. I had some shredded carrots in the fridge, and I'm like, they look fine. I was about to put them on my salad and I smelled it. I was like, oh wow, that smells amazing, But that's not what carrots typically smell like.

And so then I tried it and it was so bad. I don't they must have been in the fridge for forever. I've never experienced that with carrots, Like you are telling a true story that they have a long shelf life, but that comes to an end with some sweet, smelling, rancid carrots. So if you experience that, don't put them on your salad or anything. But you can get away with some vegetables longer than others. And you know what

those vegetables are. You have kept them in your in your refrigerator for over a month and they're still fine. So would that be for you gen a ramping up to some degree of you would stockpile a bit beforehand so that you don't have to spend that month on groceries. Yeah, because another way that you don't have to spend money on them is to prepare some freezer meals in advance.

So you would take maybe the amount that you predict you would spend on produce for that for each month um and maybe spend a little less and just get it all, prep it and make a batch of freezer meals. This also helps because freezer meals really limit the number of times that you will go out to eat. They are life savers, so this is kind of like a

double whammy. You're not having to make trips to the grocery store, like multiple trips through the month, and you're less tempted to go out because everything is already prepped and ready for you and you just have to put it in the slow cooker or the instant pot or the oven whatever. I would love a recipe guide or meal guide. Do you do that? We should do that for the month? Yeah. I do have some obviously, like meal planning freezer things in my other book, Meal Planning

on a Budget. But there's so many things online like once a Month Meals. That's a really big freezer meal website. I find that soups and stews and really anything that I can put in the instant pot or slow cooker that's what tastes best. I haven't had a lot of success with like oven meals for the even if I defrost them and then put them in the oven. Maybe

my fridge is just really cold. But so people that aren't as familiar with freezer meals don't make the same mistakes I did with starting with like casse roles, start with soups, stews, anything that you can put in the slow cooker. You're going to get really really nice from freezer meals because freezing vegetables makes them softer in the end anyway, So you definitely want something where the end result is going to be soft vegetables, like anyway. So

but those are just groceries. So other things that you can decide not to spend money on transportation if you really love your bike. Transparation is never something that I have included in my nosepend challenges because I live in a driving city and I could bike, and I choose not to. It's never been one of my enjoy pleasure activities. But one that I always do give up is entertainment, and that was the last one on the list, and I have entertained by a a wide variety of things,

and that's what really trips me up. Would you include going out to eat under entertainment, Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah, So personally, I I will spend money on fresh produce. I'll still go to all the and buy those things, but I'll try to do pantry challenges. Like if you've listened to this podcast, you know I'm a horrible cook and or just don't enjoy it. So I'm not super creative in the kitchens. So I really rely on recipes and stuff which have me buying more produce every week.

But since I did my last no it's been challenge, which was a while ago, I have gotten better at freezer meals, so that is has been one improvement for me and why I'm so passionate about them. Yeah, I think they're fantastic because if you do end up doing something else going to somebody's house, no problem. It can stay in the freezer. You're not wasting food either, it's

just sitting there right and waiting ready for you. Yes, So so this is where this article ends, but since I know the rest of the story, I can go on. So once you decide how long you're doing it, what you're spending on, and what you're not spending on, then comes the actual task of doing it, and and that is obviously the hard part and the two things that are important that I try to include in in each of my no spend challenges. Um, I guess there's three

things really. So it leaves you a lot of time to fill, right, because you're not spending money to fill your time, so you have to find other ways to So I will try to make money and my no spend challenge, I'll spend that time either doing a side

hustle or writing or whatnot. I will declutter, which we've been on that kick all month, and uh so it's the perfect time when you're not doing anything out to stay at home, especially on a Friday night when all of your friends are busy, to stay at home and and just clean out everything, do that Kunmori method. Start with your clothes and just go down the list. And then the last thing if you are just sick of

staying in the house, is to find free activities. And we will we'll talk about that in a few minutes. But I think the hardest part about doing a no spend challenge is filling your time because you don't want to put the same triggers in your life that we're there before. So you want to change up your routines and do different things. And yeah, there's a lot of mindset things when you just happen to find yourself at

a store wanting to impulse by. But it's really important to not put yourself in that situation at all and practice saying no so you can say yes to better things. Yes, still, do you have do you have anything to say? Since it's just been the Gen Show? I like the Gen Show. This is nice. I took a map. I took a real quick map. Lucky no j K the I think it's all fantastic. I think that what it can do for us is great. What it the room that it creates for us, and you even listed it to even

more reasons. It can break addictions, It can help you build healthier emotional habits. It can help you find less expensive things that you can carry on into your nose you're spending life, and even find healthier ways to manage stress or decompress or enjoy time with others. You You could find that you love writing, or you love reading, or you love doing something that you had no idea that you liked doing because you had to find something that was free. Yeah, and you have the time to

think about it. We don't give ourselves enough time to think about new things. And this spending detox is a space for you to give yourself time to really consider other options and new ideas and all of that. So I I love I love no spend challenges, and I can't say enough about them. What else do we love? I feel like there's something else coming up that we really love. I mean sometimes I think about up. That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week.

Maybe a baby was born in his name, miss Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your card died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bill bills, Bill clin this is the bill of the week. My favorite bill for the month is our monthly subscription for massages. My husband and I both work

full time jobs. We have five children ranging from age thirteen all the way to two, and my husband works as a cross this case worker and I work as an administrator for a clinic, and so we tend to get a little stressed and carry it in our shoulders and such, and so it's nice to be able to have that time for us to be able to unwind, so we can be and and just have that moment to ourselves UM and get a massage and relax so that we can be better parents and better UM employees

as well. So that is my favorite one. Wow, that is from Humanistic Nick, and that's a great email name and a great bill. I love it on so many levels. I like that you don't mind spending on this because you know what it's providing for you. I always see self care as putting on your mask for first before assisting others with theirs, like what they tell you on the flight, like yes, you're not going to be a

good mom or a good employee. I love that you even care about that being a good employee if you are not taken care of and you don't have wellness inside of you. So fantastic that you have created space in your budget in your life for this. My goodness, we can all take a page out of that book. I get maybe one massage a year, and every time I get it, I love it. But we just got massages on Sunday. Actually was our annual massage, and it

was so relaxing. I have to say that I got a It was a prenatal massage and it was much more comfortable than regular massage positioning. So if you are uncomfortable being on your face or back, just tell them you're pregnant, and then you get a bunch of pillows and you get to be on your side and it's really good. That's amazing. Yeah, it doesn't matter who you are. I just say you're pregnant. They'll make it. They'll make

it more special for you, so much better. Yeah. If you have a favorite bill that you want to share with us, please head over to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill leave us your favorite one. We are looking forward to so many new and funny bills this year. We love them all. Definitely nice. All right, Wow, moving on to our lightning fire thunder around, lightning around. I just learned a new term today. It's thunder snow. I'm pretty sure it's made up, right. Yeah, that's what I

said too, because I wonder. I had this thought last night. It was it was thunder and lightning outside, and but yet it's the time of year where it could snow, And I thought to myself, has it ever snowed and lightning and thundered? Or are those two separate types of climate conditions that need to be present? For that to happen, and so it would never happen. And then I heard that no it can. It's called thunder snow. I still have to look it up because it sounds really made

up and unoriginal and not real. Well, I look forward to hearing about it. If I ever experienced it, I'll definitely take a video. First it was then it was bomba Genesis, then bomb cyclone, not at No. One is thunder snow. What do I do during a thunder snow? I don't even know if I could get the bread of milk thunder snow. Oh my God, help me, help

well in our thunder snow around today. Uh So, the No Spend Challenge Guide is actually free right now on Amazon for Amazon Prime members through the Prime Reading program um and that is now through March. So if you are an Amazon Prime member and you have Prime Reading, go ahead and search for the No Spend Challenge Guide, or you can head to our show notes and get the link there, but it's free. The Kindle version is free right now, So that's why we wanted to talk

up No Spend Challenges. And there's also a bonus that comes with the book, and that is fifty two free activities to do on a no spend challenge because there are so many guides. It infuriates me. So many guides with like a hundreds something free things to do, and a lot of them actually include you have you need to purchase things for them right and or there you have to purchase things later before, like start a new hobby that's not free depending on your hobby, so vague.

So I compiled the list of fifty two so one for every weekend, and they are genuinely legitimately free, and that is a free bonus that you get with downloading the book. But frugal Friends listeners don't even have to purchase the book even if you don't have Prime, because I'm gonna give you that you are or else where. You can download that right now. It's at modern frugality dot com slash No Spend Guide. That's easy enough. But

we'll also have it in our show notes. Yes, and we are going to just go over some of our favorites from that list, so you can see if if you even want to download it at all. Yeah, it is a really good list, gen and I love all the suggestions. But as I read through it, I realized that I work too much. I'm like, yeah, all these things sound great, but I'm not looking for something to do, Like I apparently don't have free time to do these things. So it's really not a matter of oh, I've freed

up time by not spending I do. I just work. So I think this is really pointing out to me that I need to engage in more fun. I do say in the book that the best way to not spend money is to spend time making money. So that's how I got through a lot of my nose spend challenges is just picking up extra shifts, working on extra things, and just working a lot. Like I'll be totally honest, that's kind of how I made it through. But yeah, if you don't have that as an option, Jill, what

was your favorite or two favorite things whatever? I really like visiting open houses. I think I've mentioned this and the other Eric really doesn't like to do it with me, but when when I'm able to get him too, it's fun. I just like touring houses. I think it's fun. I

don't know why, I just do. Also, I think the decluttering my house, that's that's what I do when I have downtime, is I mean and it basically goes along with like getting my life back in order because I'm working so much and traveling so much that but I enjoy it. It then freeze up my mind and allows me to breathe. I don't know if I'm breathing before that, but I like that. How about you know, what are your favorites on your own list that you created? Uh?

So other than starting like doing a side hustle? Um, I love Um. This is gonna sound really weird, but wash your car because who has time to wash their car? I never washed my car, and if I am literally looking for something to do because I can't spend money, that is the only time my car is going to get washed. So that's probably it's it's not as fun,

but I like looking at this time as doing practical things. Certainly, there's a lot of fun things on this list, but there's also practical and even efficient and frugal things like NU call your service providers to negotiate your bill get a lower price. My goodness, what a good use of your time instead of spending instead of not spending money, you cannot spend money and save money, so why not

I love it? Yeah, I also love the use up any like spa or facial or bath products that are hiding in your bathroom closet, because I do have those. They're like ones that normally I'm really quick to get rid of things when I get a gift or something that I just know I'm not going to use. But then there are some things where like, oh I would really actually like to use it, but I just put

it in the closet and it sits there forever. Uh. And so I added it here because this is a time to actually get those things out and like do your little facial or put in your bath bomb or something. It's fantastic. Yeah, those are just a few. There's fifty two. Again, it's at Modern Frugality dot com slash No Spend Guide, and you can get that without even getting the book, though I would love for you to head to Amazon and get the No Spend Challenge Guide, available in kindle

and paperback forever. Yeah, it is fantastic. Jen's a great writer and she goes really practical tips if you haven't picked that up already on this podcast. Yeah, I mean a hundred and fifty eight reviews that are almost five stars, can't be wrong, almost time. I don't even know hundred and fifty eight people, so you know that that's a lot. The last time I checked, which feels like a few days ago, there were reviews, so people really kicked it into high gear. There. I know it's been this prime

reading thing. It is crazy. All right, Well, we have another challenge going on to Jill. How are you doing with our thirty one day declutter challenge? Oh, Jen, I have not been home, but I've been thinking about it a lot. I am excited. I might start tonight. Eric gets home from Texas tonight, but who knows, he might just find me with my clothes all over the bed. Yeah, not in a sexy way, in a degluttering way. Yes, I'm gonna jump back on the bandwagon um this weekend

because I have fallen behind. But you know what, there's there's grace. You do it however you want. Now that Marie Condo has given us all permission to take upwards of six weeks to do the Konmori method, we can. We can do it. So I love it when she gives me permission to do things. Oh my gosh, she's so cute. I have started to watch the Netflix special. It's fun it is. It's it's actually a very good special,

and so it's kind of humanizes the book. The book makes her sound very weird for lack of a better term, and the show really humanizes her, and I love that because her method is so practical. I love it and it's a great way for everyone to declutter. So definitely go check that out. That was a good throwback, and now I'm excited to hear about how everyone implements those tips in October and then even the residual benefits of

it come holidays. Let's do this thing. I am ready that, I am ready to do it, and now that I've lost all of my window money, it's probably time for me to do one just to make my bank account feel a little better. Yeah, she's getting pretty lonely all her dollar bill friends have left. Well, I'm sorry that your bank accounts lonely, but we're not lonely because we got friends, and we got friends we wanted. Fis like all you listeners who leave us kinder views on iTunes

and Stitcher like this one. It happens to be five stars from Jersey. Nick all right, I used to live in PA, so I feel like we could be friend. I'm going to say it in a Jersey accent. Don't because I will offend somebody. So it's gonna be my regular, my regular Jill voice financial Freedom, but make it fun. Did I say that it was five stars because it is? Thanks Jersey Nick. I love these two girls. They complement each other perfectly. Different topics are disgusted each week. I

love the topics they choose. Even if I feel a topic doesn't apply to me, I still listen and get nuggets of information. Please keep doing the pod. Thank you for fun financial content. A Jersey Nick will keep drinking nuggets. I do like nuggets, all kinds of nuggets, all the nuggets. We also want to thank our friends who share these episodes on social media. So when you share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we are

going to add you to our monthly drawing. Every five tags and reviews we get, we are giving away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook, and we do share. We do reshare your whenever you share us on social we'll reshare it. So keep leaving us. Those reviews on iTunes are Stitcher send us the screenshot. That's right. You can email us Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com

and tag us on social both ways. Enter you to win fantastics both and we will see you next week with a fresh episode, brand new, spanking new with all them just as good. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syrian. I cannot handle when you said nuggies nugis. I was like, yeah, do you know where that's from? Okay, so I don't know originally, like I don't know who said nuggies for the first time ever,

mom ever getting their child chicken nuggets. But like I saw a baby Yoda meme and it had like chicken Nuggies on it, and I was like, this is everything, this is everything. It's right up there with Taco Bell. Yeah, but I think Baby Yoda, like baby Yoda meme with like I don't even know what the context was. Yeah, I am not. I know little to nothing about Star Wars um, but I can still get on board with with what char song, Jill. I'm literally searching it right now.

There is a song, let me see. Okay, I'm not going to do this to you can't do it. We can't infringe rights on this podcast, Okay. I'm just gonna have people's rights. I'm gonna see what happens. It's just a minute in forty seconds, and I'm going to give credit to whoever this is when they come up her fugs Dicky Okay, weirdest episode ever, weirdest outro after the outro ever of them, credit um, thank you her fuchs

like hair fuchs Um. Baby Yoda Chicken Nuggets song. It's weird. Yeah, Like right now, Baby Yoda's driving a car trying to get I guess some chicken nugg ees. This wasn't the thing that I saw, but it's just so interesting. I cannot handle you say chicken nuggets, Chicken nuggies. Well, you know what, that's what we bring to the financial podcast world. We like we like the Baby Yoda Chicken Nuggies of

Personal Finance podcast. This meme says it's got Baby Yoda very sad, and it says, when you don't get any chicken nuggies, because there's food at home. That is the frugal answer. Always there's food at home. May the Lord bring you many many Baby Yoda memes in your future, m hm, and to you also