How to Utilize Buy Nothing Groups

we will say alternatives. Don't worry. Buy nothing groups are just a great way to get things for free and to pass on things you don't need, and we're excited to do a deep dive on them today. It is what it sounds like. It's buying nothing, spending money on nothing, but still getting things and giving things with our second favorite effort, which is free. Yes. But first, this episode

is brought to you by Debt Free Stories. So we are doing a project this fault to inspire our listeners paying off debt and celebrate those of you who have been listening and succeeding with your debt payoff goals. So, if you have reached a debt payoff goal, we want to hear from you. It's not gonna be anything intense. You're not gonna have to come on the podcast and do a full interview or anything. We just really want

to share your story from your own mouth. Celebrate you and you can be inspiring a bunch of other people trying to do exactly what you have done. So if you want to help us out, help other people out who are on the same journey, celebrate yourself. Please had to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash stories for more info and to fill out a short pre screen survey.

You know, we love to highlight our listeners stories and voices, which is why we've never given up the Bill of the Week segment absolutely and you all have sent in so many great submissions and this is like imagine Bill of the Week elevated, Yes to your debt free, debt payoff stories. Cannot wait to hear them because when we get requests for episodes, more debt payoff stories is always

the number one thing. So we're going all in. We are really going to try to go all in on these with the special project, and we want we want to hear them from you. We don't want to be highlighting people you've already heard from all the time. Uh so, yeah, please Frugal Friends podcast, dot com slash stories. So by nothing groups love them, some people don't love them. We're going to cover that alternatives ways to get through it.

Um if you are somebody who loves free stuff. We've even talked about by nothing groups in a while the last episodes we have our way back in the archives, like two hundred episodes ago. Yeah, so we've got episode thirty one, which is how to Get Everything for Free, So that's where we cover by nothing groups. We cover time banks, Craigslist, um, and we've got some updates on on that kind of in this episode any more. That's how old was four years ago. Uh So, no Craigslist

in this episode. But yeah, so how to get Everything for Free? And let us know if you'd like a singular episode on time banks, give us an email or a shout somewhere. Let us know if you'd like one on time banks too, because that's another topic we can dive into. It's really interesting. Um. And then episode fifty eight building a frugal culture in your community, which is what buy nothing groups are essentially here to do. Um. So that's episode fifty eight and it is time for

an update for sure. So here we are. Yes, uh, So let's dive into our first article. And this is called five reasons why I love by Nothing Groups. This is from simple by Emmy and uh and in quotation or in parentheses and you will to So, how how do you feel about this article, Jill? And how do you feel about buy nothing groups? It did get me excited and I think a desire to re engage and by nothing groups. I really love the concept of them. I am a part of my local buy nothing group.

I have maybe used it a handful of times to offload items in my home. I have not yet used it to s or anything free for myself yet, So I love them. I think I kind of ebb and flow in seasons too. How much I have the time to kind of give to donating things and posting pictures and answering questions and when I don't And then and this article mentions this, but how often maybe I want to actually sell an item versus giving it away for free?

And and both are possible. We're not advocating that to use it by nothing group means now you forever and always have to give things away for free. That's not the case, but there are plenty of things and I experienced this too that it just it's it doesn't feel worth my time for the amount of money I could get for the item to sell it, but yet it still is valuable and useful, just not useful to me anymore, And so I think it's it's a great way to serve the community. So all in all, I like them.

I can't say though that that like is attached to me utilizing it constantly. Yeah, it's definitely seasonal, and we'll talk about all of that through these next two articles. But yeah, we're gonna go through all five on this one because we really like all five. So for starters, the article does talk about just what by nothing groups are,

and the name does it. It's pretty self explanatory. It is a group online, usually local to your area, where you can post things for free and get things for free. You're buying nothing, but you are getting something out of being a part of the group. And so some of the things that they're highlighting in this article, and we'll go through them just to hype you up on this concept. Number one is that by nothing groups are hyper local, and this is my experience as well, meaning that you're

connecting with your actual neighbors. Most buy nothing groups, especially if you are in more populated area a city like we are in St. Pete, are by nothing groups are just a couple of miles that covered. I don't even think we're in the same by nothing we're not. And and in our area you're not allowed. And that's a pretty standard rule that you can be in multiple by nothing groups so that you're not getting like super grabby

with all the stuff that's being posted. And one of the things that they say about this hyper local concept, like you're you're meeting you're very real neighbors that are just a few blocks away, is that the likelihood of people kind of flaking out on you or just sending a standard is this still available and then ghosting you isn't happening as much. There seems to be a little bit more higher level of engagement and respect for one another. Of course, when you take money out of the equation

that can also sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. But they're just saying that the follow through seems to be a little bit heightened within a buy nothing group, and it could be because it's hyperlocalized. Yeah, so my first complaint about buy nothing groups four and this is for bigger cities because we have so many buy nothing groups in St. Pete. It's that it can alienate some people.

So like the more expensive parts of town, you can't benefit from the nicer quality stuff that they are giving because you can't get into their buy nothing group. And so if you are in a lower income area, the quality does fluctuate. I've been into buy nothing groups not at the same time, and I've noticed a big difference the what I was in first before we moved. It was definitely higher income, definitely had better quality stuff. And if you are in a more spread out area you

may not experience this. But because we are so densely populated, we're the most densely populated county in the state of Florida, we experience this here. And so so you can only be in one group at a time, and they do ask you where you live, like not your address, but like if you're in the zones. But they're not going to check your tax records to see if you're lying or not. They're just going to check to see if

you're in another group. If you are, you've got to like either leave or be kicked out before you can join the other group. That's the vetting that they do, so you will have to undergo some vetting. So if you want to be in the and this sounds bad, but if you want to be in the buy nothing group on the rich side of town, you can't be in the one by you. The caveat that would come with that would be you can't do like a porch

pick up. If you're going to give something away, you'll have to bring it to that neighborhood because as of the hyperlocal nous of it um and same thing, if you want to pick something up, you're going to have to drive to that part of town for that. So something to be aware of. If you're in a densely populated county and there's a ton of fine stuff in our area, I would say try it in its purest

form first. And if you don't see success, but you see there's another group having a lot of success that's really busy, you don't have to relegate yourself to just yours. What I am preferring now, especially since I've left Facebook, for the most part, is the next door app. So it's like, so the buy Nothing group has released an app,

and we'll talk about that later. But I I like the next door app because it's not it doesn't have the segregation almost that the buy nothing groups on Facebook havep you can you get that wider area of of things. So yeah, that's just something to be aware of. Hyperlocal is great you get to meet your close neighbors, but

it can also have drawbacks. Yeah, I would just add the caveat that the purpose of a buy nothing group is reciprocity, and I know we'll get there, but just to that point of potentially exploring a buy nothing group that isn't actually in your area. Two, as you said, Jen, first begin in your area and actually see if it's active and working for you, and if not, still follow the rules of only being a part of one by

nothing group. But my strong encouragement would still be to be an active member who's also giving and not just receiving. Like I could see that being a draw to say, we'll let me go here so I can get like all of these better things just for myself. But the buy nothing group in the community that it creates is definitely one of reciprocity, giving and receiving. So I just

want to highlight that aspect, please keep that in mind. Yeah, well that leads into this second point is that buy nothing focuses on abundance, collaboration, and creativity rather than scarcity culture. And this is the ethos of the buy nothing group. It's not necessarily carried out by its members, but all of the admin for buy nothing groups are fantastic. They are very as long as you get they're very like

adamant about the ethos. If you get admin that are really adamant about the ethos, then it's a really great, positive, encouraging group and you can even ask questions. That's part of the collaboration and the creativity, and it's people giving out of abundance. You will sometimes see people asking for money out of need. It's typically rare though, if you've got a well maintained group, and those are usually monitored

by the admin anyway. So it's just it's a really good place where people are giving out of abundance, taking because they need not to resell, and just getting to know your neighbors um and even the language that they require that you use, it's like you have it's not like a buy sell kind of like language they require that you use plain language like you're talking to people, so there's no like I s oh, you know whatever,

where you're just looking for stuff. You have to recognize that that we're all people and we're all in this collaboratively. So like, yeah, this really does work based on the admin of the group. But if you've got good admin, then it really does just really like set a really good ethos for the group. Yeah, speaking of ethos, another reason that this article advocates for buy nothing groups and

a re isn't I really like it too. I've noticed this in mind by Nothing group number three is that group members are encouraged to slow down and let post simmer for at least twelve hours, which really does make the giving and receiving process less frantic. That reduces this high sense of urgency and and just makes it more in a more enjoyable process. And I love this especially for some of your more high ticket items. And that's usually where I'll see it is somebody posts Let's say

somebody posts a vitam X mixer. I don't know why they would ever do that, But let's say someone posts a itemics blender. A lot of people are gonna want that. Who wouldn't you know, and so rather than making it a first come, first serve like we might be accustomed to in a Facebook, market place or or yard sale kind of situation, this is really a matter of giving everybody an opportunity to be able to you have access

to this thing by letting it simmer. And it's not just given to, you know, the person who yells the loudest or his quickest on the draw letting something simmer, and sometimes it's it's up to really the giver to decide who it's going to go to. Sometimes they'll do a random like spin the wheel of names. Sometimes they'll just get to choose who they wanted to go to.

But what I think this also reduces is the same person constantly getting the things just because that's all they're doing is sitting at home and seeing all these posts and having access to it. And also a really good admin is going to make sure that that's not happening either, that you've got your one person who's always asking for stuff, always the first to take stuff. That there really is this culture of reciprocity that is really encouraged in the group.

And it's a reason I love it too, because sometimes especially on Facebook, marketplace. I can see something that Yeah, I would really love to purchase that thing, but there's already fifty comments, so forget about it. But with something like a buy nothing group, there could be fifty comments. But if it's not given away yet, you could still have a chance to be able to get that thing. Not everything is like a hot ticket item like that.

But I really love that simmer approach. Yeah, and and those posts will be marked like this is a simmer post. I like it when they say a time when they're going to come back and check that way, you know, like if it's done simmering or not. Um. But I love the ones that are like I'm gonna let this one simmer. Post your funniest meme and I'll pick my favorite,

or post your best dad joke or GIF something like that. Um. But I also just like I'm gonna put the copy and paste the names into a wheel and pick the one that comes up. But I really, I really like the ones that are funny memes and gifts because then everyone just gets to like scroll, everyone benefits. Even if you don't get it, you still get to scroll through a bunch of funny memes and gifts. Uh. So Yeah, I love the simmer post and it means you don't

have to be babysitting Facebook, which is another complaint. A chief complaint that people have about by nothing groups is that you have to babysit it to get the good stuff. But when you've got good admins, when you've got good participants in the group, and you get these simmer posts, then you feel better. Like if you're checking it once a day and you've missed something, you feel okay about it because the next day you're going to hit on a simmer post that you're going to get, so it's um,

it's really good. Fourth is too is buy nothing groups allow you to live more sustainably by thinking second hand first. And you know that is something that we personally love is thinking second hand first. It not only saves you a ton of money, but it helps the environment because when you are throwing away stuff, you pay for your city's dump Like in your utilities, you pay for that. And so the more space your city has to use to throw junk away, the more property they have to

buy elsewhere, the more you pay for that. So thinking secondhand first isn't just an environmental choice, it's actually a double sided money saving choice. And this is really another part of the ethos of buy nothing groups is that you are instead of also just giving something to goodwill, that good will, if they don't sell, will also just throw away. You know, you're giving it to somebody who actually wants it. And so this is it takes out

the middleman of thrift stores. Um, it is not that much extra work for the giver, and it saves a lot of people money. I love the example that they given here too, and I've seen this as well, that there can be some borrowing that happens and buy nothing groups it's not always just about giving and never seeing that item again. Sometimes there's opportunities or someone just wants something for quick use but doesn't need it long term,

and what a more sustainable way to approach things. The writer gives the example of wanting a chocolate fountain for a brunch meeting that they were doing, and before buying it on Amazon for bucks, they checked with the buy nothing group and someone was willing to just let them borrow their's which was awesome because they didn't need a chocolate fountain long term, they needed to use it for the brunch meeting. So I also love that that possibility

within the buy Nothing group. Yeah, I see that all the time. And this is a place where that hyperlocal, which is why you should try the hyperlocal pure local group first, is that you can create these relationships with people where you know you can borrow their stuff, they can borrow your stuff, and you're just creating these relationships that are really important to using resources that are not money to get things that you would normally spend money on.

So the money is not ultimately the thing we ever want. It's the thing the money gets us. And if we can get those things without the middleman, so to speak, without the money, then why wouldn't we? And the way we normally get those things without money is through relationships, and that's what we're building. That's the capital, uh, that we're building through these hyperlocal relationships, and that's just that's

a mindset shift to to live that way. Um and the buy Nothing group is kind of this facilitated way when you've made this mindset shift and you're like, Okay, where do I go? Now? Do I just like walk up to my next door neighbors and offer them a cup of sugar? Like I don't know? The buy Nothing group gives you away to work out this mindset and build those relationships with other people who have also made

the mindset shift. Yeah, because it might take a little more time to do this than it would just to one click buy something on Amazon. But when we've made that mindset shift that it's valuable to connect with our community, it's valuable to go second hand first and to reuse what's already out in the world, than than the additional time that it takes suddenly become so much more worth it. The last one on this list is that number five. Generosity is a cornerstone of buy nothing groups, and we

love this. We love the tenants of generosity, the way that it can be woven into a frugal lifestyle, of values based lifestyle. And what we can also see happen is when we give and we see the impact of that giving, it can spur us on to want to give more. And there's the benefit, as we've already said,

of giving and receiving. Others are also being generous within the buy nothing group, but I could see this having an additional benefit of maintaining less clutter, maintaining some more of your minimalist or simple living lifestyle when you've begun to approach your home as I'm not going to keep everything just because it's already here, or I'm sentimentally attached

to it, but I'm not using it. If this could serve someone else better, there's kind of that that other thing that we can click into of generosity to say, I have this, it's just sitting around, I never use it, and rather than throw it away, throwing it away it could benefit somebody else. And then now I've got even less clutter in my home that's not being used. So

there's just a lot of really beautiful things that can happen. Yeah, I love that thought for those things that are a little harder to give up to imagine them going into somebody's home versus just the you know, a box at Goodwill or the or the dump. It can't help you get over that hump to get rid of an item you've needed to get rid of but have been holding onto because you just don't want to see it go to the wrong place. That's a really good one and

I love their gratitude posts. Again, this comes down to the ethos of the group and the admin and the participants. But um, you're encouraged to post gratitude posts with the things that you've received, and it's just like a really positive good space. I love that not every group has done that. My old group did that more so than this one, but it is um it is really sweet

to see. Like I got all of my baby stuff for Kai from the buy Nothing group and I remember just like posting the bags of clothes because I I just posted, oh my gosh, if you're having a baby, this is probably the biggest. When we did our like frugal parenting episode, I was like buy Nothing group, man, that's that's where it's at. And so I just I said, I'm having a baby boy, and I have nothing. Please

anything anyone is trying to, you know, pass on. Please. Also, I know nothing, so tell me what I need, right. So I just got all these like bags of clothing. I got a crib. I didn't even go there for a crib, but I went there for clothing. And she's like, actually, we have this crib that we're not using. Do you need a crib? And I'm like, yes, I need a crib. I I met I had nothing when I said so, so we got so much stuff and I and I posted a gratitude postum to the lady I got the

crib from. And it's just really great. It's a really great place. And if all of this is just making you super antsy to get on or by nothing group, but you don't have one in your area, we're gonna talk about how you well, first of all, how you can find one, and if you don't have one, how you can start one if you've got the gumption for it, and if you have one, how you can participate well in it too. Um And this is from share able dot net and this is this is an updated um thing.

We're going to go through all six of these steps, whether so this is whether you don't have one or you do. We're gonna give you some useful tips for using it. And if you're not on Facebook, we'll we've in some tips for next door and then buy nothing app. So the first step, if you don't have one, actually make sure that one doesn't exist. So the easiest thing to do is to search Facebook for buy nothing groups and if you see one, just try to join it.

They'll ask you for confirmation of where you live. And if there's another one that's a better you know, that's more hyperlocal. The admin knows. The admin will tell you actually, this is your group. So if you don't see one specifically for you, just join the closest one. You'll go through the filtering process. It'll be fine. But if there is actually not one for you, then you can go to buy Nothing Project dot org. You also, so there's a list that Buy Nothing Project dot org too, but

I would trust the Facebook more first. Um, and you can contact the administration through the website and follow the protocol because buy Nothing Project is trademarked. Like we said, there's an ethos, there's steps, there are guidelines and stuff, so there are things to follow. It's absolutely not a free for all, and that's one of the things that makes being part of a buy nothing group and in joyable experience. It can also be an annoyance for some people,

but ultimately the guidelines, they're very strict guidelines. Ultimately that's a good thing for these groups because there's so many people, so many ideas, so many walks of life. The only thing they share in common is an is an address location area. So yeah, definitely search ask admin and then if you really want to start one Buy Nothing Project dot org. So then the second step just regarding so if you do end up setting one up, is talking

about setting clear boundaries. Some of this is related to the borders of where the buy nothing group is kind of what what roads, what miles, kind of demarket where that buy nothing group is located. And of course, if there's not much in your area, then it might be a wider range, a larger geographic area where the buy nothing group exists. If it's more city, you might need

to really hone it in a lot more. And sometimes you might start with a wide radius and then break off over time if the group starts becoming too large and if it's covering too much surface area within within

your location. But then this also gets into some of the other sets of rules that you just talked about jen regarding what buy nothing groups say is and isn't allowed, the boundaries and the policies that they've set up, and recognizing that it's going to make it a better experience for everybody if we are recognizing and adhering to the rules of not being a part of more than one at a time, of identifying the best location of these ideas of reciprocity and generosity, and not asking to sell

things on the platform or being too greedy the things that are being given. So there's it's really important for if you're a joining one to make sure that some of these things are in place, that the admin is running it in a really um ethical, beneficial way for everybody, and if you are starting one, that you're setting these clear boundaries and policies from the start to have a

really good experience for everybody. Yeah, and you can always ask the Buy Nothing Project like administrators the other email or other local admin that maybe a little further away from you, maybe there's a group that's getting bigger. So usually it about thousand people, groups will split off. They'll split Like the reader or the writer said, when the group started, hers was a wide swath of Philadelphia, and as by Nothing Project has gained notoriety, more people have joined.

Now her group is less than one square mile. So that happens to groups are always breaking off, so they are more manageable. They try not to have more than a thousand people in a group at a time, and so once they get to that, then they'll start to break off. So maybe your group is approaching that and you want to say, hey, I'm willing to you know, start another one because we're quite far away from you whatever. So that's also something you can be open to doing.

And you can ask the admin of that group, like, what's been your experience, what do you think by boundaries should be? So ask for help for sure. Third is to give freely from your own abundance and only take what you can use. Uh. So this is not a place where people are keeping score. Giving is not based on financial need. It's not a scarcity mindset. It is a sharing mindset. Sometimes giving is based on the best meme,

you know, Like, that's what I love about this. The best SOB story does not win, like the This is not where we're trying to prove that we are the poorest person so we get the best stuff. This is a place where we give out of abundance and generosity.

I love that. That's a helpful reminder for me. I And as I'm hearing you describe this step, it's highlighting for me that I think this might be one of the barriers for why I don't use it very often is I think I constantly have this thought surface and me of I don't want to take something from somebody who might need it more than I do, which I don't want to totally get rid of that idea, but it is a little bit of a mindset shift to say, but everyone is sharing and sometimes yeah, anybody who's a

part of the group could have access to receive that thing. It doesn't just have to be the person with the biggest need to be able to receive, especially if you're giving. If this is sometimes you post things for free and sometimes you're able to get things for free, it's it still feels like a little uncomfortable for me, But I do appreciate needing to look at that reality that when you're a part of this sort of sharing, generous community, it doesn't have to always be based on who has

the most acute need. We can just give to one another. Well, that is the biggest thing from the last articles that we don't give out of scarcity, We give out of relationship, the desire for relationship and the desire to connect with people, because this is what we have lost in the age of social media, is the face to face connection with our neighbors, and that is ultimately what the buy nothing

group wants to build. That's why there's a high emphasis on hyperlocal, a high emphasis on giving out of abundance, because we're giving out of relationship, so giving freely from your own abundance. And if you're starting one, it will start slow. Uh so don't be afraid of that. I know there's all kinds of tricks you can use to like build up a buy nothing group, and that's definitely

over on the Buy Nothing project dot org website. But it does start slow, and if you're starting when, you'll have to start with giving of your own stuff stuff first. But yeah, and and just so, the way we make sure that we don't like take too much and play into that like need needy scarcity is that you only take what you can use as well, but if you can use it, don't be afraid to ask for it. Yeah. I like that too, that you can ask for things

in the buy nothing groups. I didn't really realize that until I was in Mind for a couple of months and started seeing both say does anyone happen to have fill in the blank. I'm like, oh, that's another cool way of approaching the group, rather than just waiting for the potential thing. It's possible someone has the thing, you just need to ask for it. Yeah, And something like admins. I have seen delete or people that are just like

I s, oh my gosh, what is it. Somebody asked for a laptop like I s l a working laptop, which sure, that's fine the brevity of it and not like just viewing people as things with stuff to give. That's the problem versus the actual like you need to probably buy that on Facebook marketplace, Like you're asking a little too much. That that was my problem with it.

That's not a buy nothing problem. You totally have the freedom to ask for a working laptop, but if you're going to do it, you need to have a really good story. You need to do you need to need to be you need to sell me on what I should give you my free working laptop. But sometimes people have one and some and that's what I'm saying. Like I instantly judged, but then I was like, you know what, that is in their right. Somebody may have that, but you didn't sell me well enough on why you deserve

my laptop. They're not and they might not be asking to take your laptop jen they're not like that. I would have been much much better, Like if you're like I have a I have a meeting like that for these people that are really important, and I'm looking for a chocolate fountain to make it special. Anyone got one I can borrow or anyone who got this thing that I can have. Sometimes you do need the story, you need the you need. It's not a SOB story. You

don't need a SOB story. There's a difference. I'll make them cry talking to people like they are humans versus only things that can offer you something. That's the differentiation. Okay, So another thing step forward. Won't use the buy nothing platform to buy or sell things standard because it's in the name buy nothing. So yeah, there's plenty of other groups for that. And and also make sure that you're reading kind of well the post whatever someone's posting, some

of the pin documents, basic rules of group decorum. Make sure that you're aware of how the group is asking that you engage. But definitely one of the biggest no nos is trying to buy or sell things, which is it can seem like one is worse than another, like trying to sell something is worse than trying to buy something,

but both are equally frowned upon that. Do not try to offer money for something, because that too elevates you above somebody else to receive something because you're offering money. So it's kind of like two ends of the spectrum, Like it's not about the most needy person, and it's also not about the most wealthy person. All are equal and the buy nothing group and we give out of

generosity and relationship and abundance and creativity. Yeah, and if somebody sees something from the buy nothing group on Facebook Marketplace, you will get banned from buying nothing groups in general in your area. Oh, like you went and took something for free and then then tried to set That has happened, I have seen it. You will get banned, not just kicked out of your group, you will get banned from

all the support. Yes, please do. Somebody will find you out because the same people browsing there buy nothing group are browsing Facebook Marketplace. You know that you Yeah, you will be found. Can run, you can hide, but you will be caught. Yeah. So step five is to share your skills. That's another. You don't have to just give things, you can give skills. This is actually a big thing

in time Bank. So if you're looking to share skills and receive service in the form of skills, definitely see if your city has a time bank, because that's really all time banks do instead of things, its services. And lastly number six. We've talked about this already, but show appreciation and I love this. It also makes it enjoyable for others who are scrolling the group, but certainly for the person who gave the item to go back and

leave a thank you. Even pictures, but just a simple thank you can go a really long way and continues to motivate the group. Provides a little bit of that follow up of you having received the thing putting it to use. This is just good practice. I think in general that we've gotten away from a following up with a thank you. Whether you're going to buy nothing group or you're just a person trying to be a good friend or a good employer or partner, following up with

a thank you, it's just good life advice. Man. You know what else is good life advice? And I'm really grateful for it. I usually do follow up with a thank you. I never forget it. 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. To bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clint, this

is the bill of the week. Hi, Jen and Jill, this is Michelle from Chicago. My bill of the week is actually two bills, one for each of my children, medical bills that collectively totaled almost d dollars. And these bills were unexpected it and they were burning a hole in my heart. So I just took the plunge and I paid both of them in the same day, paid

them off completely. It tightened us up a little bit for the month, but I am so glad that I did it and that I was able to do it, and now we can move on from these two medical situations. My children are beautiful and healthy, and I'm just so grateful that we're able to put this behind us. Thank you so much for the podcast. I totally love it. It's become one of my all time favorites in a very short amount of time. So keep up the great work and I can't wait to keep listening. Thank you,

Thank you, Michelle. That is amazing. And as someone with the day uh and one on the way, I totally know the feeling of that. Just having that weight off of your child. It's so good. Yeah, connecting these medical bills with them every time you see them, you're minded. Just any bill that is hanging over us. Just being able to get it gone out of the mind move on with your life feels like a major relief of from the to do list, but also the financial weight

lingering over you. So first of all, so glad you had the money to pay it off. It sounds like it made the month a bit tight, but all worth it for the freedom that you experience with those bills gone. Happy to hear your children are healthy, Michelle, this is awesome.

Thanks for phoning in from Chicago. If you all listening to us, have a bill that you want to submit, whether it has to do with your beautiful, healthy children that you pay off their medical bills for, or just literally and anything else you literally ran into a duck bill and a lot of offenses. There's probably a lot of options there. Yeah, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill. We're ready for it, just sitting over here waiting. We got nothing else to do.

Now it's time for road alright, So today's lightning around question from our podcast manager Goldie. What's the And I like how she denotes this, what's the best material thing that you've gotten for free? Because we all know the best things in life are free, But what's the bestial thing from my husband? Try again, that's not free. Also, it's not some sort of exchange there. Um okay, so this it doesn't have to be through it by nothing group right? No? Absolutely, Okay. I've got some really great

ones I have gotten. We have gotten my husband and I who freely gives me his love a car, a vehicle, and a hot tub. Nice hot tub. There's other things, but those are like probably some of the biggest ones that I can think of. It is a good hot time like that. Now, I will say, yes, they were free. Both of those things were a bit of exchanges, kind of a trading of goods and services, but no money was exchanged. Yeah, and I love that. Okay, that's great.

That's that still counts. You're getting what you want without exchanging money um or bodies. Yea for the car, we install the backsplash for good friends. Kevin and Chelsea. Shout out to you guys, you're the best holding it down, we installed the backsplash, They gave us their car and

with the hot tub. H it was our neighbors. He was getting a new one's who was looking to get rid of the old one, and he also needed a place to park his trailer his smoker that was on a trailer, So we let him park his smoker on a trailer in our backyard for about six months and we got his hot tub. Fair trade. Yeah, I mean I still think we got the better end of that deal, but that is a trade. I would do the trade. Yeah, absolutely, that's a trade I would do if anybody wants to

give me their hot hot tub. I have a lot of land in Gulfport to park things on which cannot be said around here. Here's the thing. There are a lot of people who are trying to get rid of their hot tubs, but a lot of times it's because they need work. Don't be fooled. Because we were burning on this. Eric and I in our very younger, younger years, were so excited about this hot tub, and essentially what we ended up being was free junk removal for these people.

There was no way that the hot tub was ever going to work again. But I don't. I don't know. We were young and naive and two nice that we still ended up taking it from them. And then the next few weekends were spent saws alling it into tiny little pieces so that bit by bit we could throw it away. And that was silly. We were just yeah, we just did a service for for someone. They were elderly. We felt bad and so we were free drunk removal

for the day. Don't do that. Don't recognize a lot of people trying to get rid of their hot dubs. It's not because they're in perfectly working conditions. Yours isn't working, yes, and it's fantastic. What about you? Okay? Um, So I would say the crib definitely, all the baby stuff that we got mostly free. I didn't have like a nesting instinct where I had to decorate a nursery. I had as like, how do I get this baby into this house like sort of my body and into the house.

What is the minimum I have to do to get there? How do I do the least? And I think, unfortunately that comes from my many years of working in Foster Karen group homes, where I'm like, it doesn't take much, So what's the minimum, and I did that minimum to give my son a very cushy life, a very cushy crib. He's got all the things he needs. Yeah he does. Yeah. Now he has like a full sized memory foam mattress, and he still chooses the floor beside my bed to sleep.

You know, you can give him the world and they'll choose the floor. Yeah. I played with buttons as a kid. I had toys, but what I wanted were the buttons in a jar. So there you go. So that's why I do the least to the least, and Travis gets so many free things he does, I can't even begin to say, oh, the free thing, So I think the last one I will just say one of the most

recent ones. So we are redoing the back of our house to be a mid term rental, and the upstairs everywhere needs flooring, but the upstairs part of the rental, we were going to just do the same flooring as

throughout the house. And Travis was taking something to the dump and this was unique because it costs like eleven or twelve bucks to dump a load, so he usually just takes things in small amounts to his work and dumps them at the airport, and that day he just went to the dump and paid the eleven twelve bucks. But what he got was a contractor who was dumping a ton of flooring and he found literally the perfect amount of flooring that we needed for the upstairs for

free at the dump. I love it. So he got he cleared out the bed of his truck with the things that were not salvageable, and came home with plenty that was salvageable. So we played like twelve bucks for the flooring in the rental, but we weren't paying for the floor and we're just paying for the dump. So that was the most recent really cool free thing that

Travis got. Mm hmm. That's things like this can happen outside of buy nothing groups too, just when your eyes are open and you're sniffing about when you are engaged in your community. It happens because Travis is very engaged, uh in where he's at, Like I'm I'm kind of like tunnel vision. I'm like a get in, get out kind of person. And wherever Travis is, he fully is um. He'll talk to people, he will engage, and he gets stuff for free. It's a gift. So if it's not you,

Maybe it's your partner. Yes, see which one of you can sniff it out to be an active community member. Well, everyone, thanks so much for listening. We hope that this inspires you to be a part of your by nothing group, give and receive and just enjoy being a bigger part of your community. Many of you know we have a private community where we do monthly money challenges and offer accountability groups, and right now we want to take this time to congratulate one of our members for a big win.

This comes from Brittany, who literally titled it debt payoff win exclamation mark, exclamation mark. I was able to pay an extra three hundred eighty dollars to debt this month. Exclamation work exclamation mark. It's hard to say a bunch of times back. That's it. That that's the one sentence, and that is the massive win. What was our goal, like at least put an extra hundred forwards challenge last month? It was do something to make an extra hundred bucks

to put towards debt. That was the challenge, and she quadrupled her debt Like that goal. She exceeded it by nearly quad Well, Brittany is a winning. She's of society, and I was going to say she's a savage, but not positive for me. It's not positive for everyone. But Brittany also leads our open accountability groups. So for for anybody who doesn't have an accountability group, we have an open group that meets once a month that you can

join in. Brittany leads that. So Brittany Russian, I'm so excited. Thanks for listening. If you want to check out our monthly challenge community had to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club to see what challenge we have coming up next. See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriannie oh oh Jen, Yes we're in person. We didn't mention that we did right now. You won't know unless

you listen. Yeah. I wonder though, if like are really astute listener would be able to tell, like there's something different about the dynamic. We look more at our laptops and we do at each other. We still do, but because it's vulnerable to just like stare at each other's eyes. But then also I can get so lost in what you're saying when really I do need to be ready with like what I'm going to be saying, Max, that's part of it. I don't know if that's the case

for you too, but I'm like, wait a second. I can't just only be a listener. I have to be an active participant and talk too. So that's sometimes why I have to like break focus and look at my laptop so that I'm on the ball and not just like lost in your eyes. That's a lot to take in. I don't listen when you talk. I just focus on what I'm going to say. That's kind of what I'm saying. I'm still listening and just like preparing for the next thing.

It's such a It is a different way of interacting when you're on the mic, Like, yes, it's a conversation between you and I, but we're we are more aware of the process of creating something together and giving something of value that it can't just be this how hum convo where we are actually listening to each other when we're just having a conversation. Nobody would want to hear that.

Nobody wants to hear our conversations. Maybe that's hear us when we're actually listening, when we're not talking, when we're not talking with an outline like giving each other life updates. Our life updates are good though, so they're so good actually people would want to listen to them, but they should not be repeated. That's probably what I meant, is that they should not be recorded or repeated. That's why

we don't post much behind the scenes stuff. Yeah. I did have the idea though, because when we got together, we hung out last night, and it made me think that it could be a fun thing to do sometimes, like give a three bullet point life update, so it's just like real quick, like three things. You could choose follow up questions or not, just like like three bullet

point life update now. No, no, no, I'm not prepared in the future like our post posts that like hardly anyone knows about, just like really quick boom boom boom, and like be as vague or specific. Well, I would have to be relatively vague and simple. That'd be kind of fun. Let's try it out in a vague on purpose. I like that. Yeah,