What is Frugality Really? And Is It Right For You?

still one of our most downloaded episodes. It will expound on some of the topics and kind of give you the heart and the reasoning behind why we are doing our future of Frugal summit here in a few weeks, week and a half at one oh one, we're into one oh two. Soon we'll be graduating. Oh my gosh, I don't even think I'm ready for Frugality one oh three. I have to bring somebody on for that. We'll just move on to two oh one to oh one. Oh

is that what it's called? Two o one three oh one? Okay, Well, you could do on one oh one and one oh two this freshman year, first and second semester, and then we'll move into sophomore years. Okay, well, before we get into the next level, let's give a quick word to our sponsors, which today probably one of my favorite sponsors ever, the Future of Frugal Summits. So we are so insanely excited still about this. So many of you have been

giving us such great feedback. Registration is now open for our first ever Frugal Living Summit, and we believe that it's the first of its kind. I mean that specifically focuses on everything personal finance through the lens of frugality, and so the theme for this year is the future of frugal We genuinely think and believe that a frugal lifestyle is a solution to so many of the problems we face today, from overspending to overwhelm all the way

to climate change. And so we're bringing together twenty that's right to zero expert speakers over four days for this free you heard that right, it's free virtual event to help us make changes in our lives that promote choosing frugality enthusiastically, not just as a means to an end. Yeah. So the online summit takes place July nineteen through two. Each day's presentations go live at the same time, so you don't have to alter your schedule or your vacation.

So pa as this episode, go to Frugal Living Summit dot com, grab your free spot, your free goodie bag, join the free pop up Facebook group, and we will be giving away over a thousand dollars in prizes, including a five cash giveaway. So you'll also get an early bird discount on the all access pass because over half of our speakers have submitted products from budgeting courses to networth tracking, all kinds of great stuff from speakers you

already know and love. We've had them on the show before, so it's amazing. So again, that's Frugal Living Summit dot com. Pause the episode. We will wait. You're gonna want to see what we've been up to for the past couple of months, and it is all online in case we didn't mappin that already. You don't have to fly or drive anywhere. You can just join from the comfort of your own home for free and get goodie bags and a chance to win five dollars. So amazing. Also brought

to you today by definitions. Knowing the meaning of words can make all the difference, Like the difference between being frugal and cheap, raw and cooked carnivore and herbivore, safe and unsafe definitions can really be life savers. That's so true. I've been watching a lot of TikTok where there's people that actually make fun of words in human language, like bi weekly, Oh, that's going to mean twice a week?

What about every other week that's also bi weekly? And then the person taking down the notes on the language or like, are you sure you want to do that? Are you? Are you sure? It seems like a lot of people could be confused, and people still are. I am so confused when I see something as bi weekly. So, yeah, we're not doing that to you. We are going to give you rate. We're going to start out with our

definition of frugality. And it's really so this is the definition I have held the entire time we've been doing this show, the entire time I've I've been working. Modern frugality is the definition from Wikipedia. Literally, I googled frugality and this is what is on the Google page. And yeah, and this kind of inspired how we do the show too, because when I want to know something, I google it and I look at the first page, and so we also look at the first page of Google and kind

of parse through what's there. So this is the definition of frugality that kind of I hold to my standard, and it's frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption, in of consumable resources such as food, time, money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance. So it's far more than just saving money. Frugality to me is not about saving money for the sake of saving money. And if you've listened to the show for

any amount of time, you know that about us. And so the things that really stand out to me about this definition are like prudence, like conscious consumption including food and time, avoiding waste. It's just there's so many things that I love about this definition. It is a really beautiful definition. Yeah, I think in a lot of ways, this is the radical middle. This is the everything in moderation concept that we don't have to live in extremes.

But we could go in a streams either way. We could be so wanting to save money that we become cheap. We'll talk about that a little bit more or so extravagant that there's nothing left, there's no margin. We're harvesting to the edge of our fields and it's leaving us depleted. And this I really do feel like captures all of that. But I also love how it is describing the various

types of resources. Again, it's not just about money, which I've been thinking about this gen since you and I talked with Kat about motherhood and parenting and raising kids. You said something pretty profound that I've honestly been thinking about since that interview. I forget if we were still recording or not, but you just said, the way that you're approaching teaching Kai about money is to teach him that resources are not infinite. I'm just like, oh my word,

it's so simple. But I do feel like that can summarize basically everything in a lesson. We even into a adulthood, need to keep reminding ourselves of our capacities, our time, our energy, our money is not unlimited. And learning to manage all of that, well, that's frugality, and it will land us in a beautiful place if we practice that and walk that out. Yeah, And I think that's how frugality is customizable, Like it's very customizable. You can we are.

I love how you say, Jill. We our whole people, and we're all so different. And you can have a different version of frugality than I do, and the next person like you listening can have a different version than Jill and I And there is so much freedom in that. And I think as long as we keep kind of the tenants that we're going to talk about today in the back of our minds, then we can create a frugality with freedom, without guilt or second guests sing of

our purchases. And I think when we get away from the guilt and shame, we can do just live like really free lives and not have to think about our money all the time and still be considered frugal. Like not all frugal people think about money all the time. Yeah, it's not a certain type of person that fits into this mold. Yeah. Alright, So let's start out with our first article, and it is from US News and it's five major differences between cheap and Frugal and it's from

Stephanie O'Connell and we've we've definitely talked. We had one of our articles recently on the adding luxury to your frugal lifestyle. So what did you think about this one? Jill? I love this article. I think it's worth we will talk about just all five that they put into here, because I think all of them are really great. And again it highlights what is for reality because there are

so many definitions. Sometimes people will use it interchangeably with being cheap, and we're really trying to pull that apart and give people a foundation upon which to build. And so the first one on here I want to highlight because I love it. I feel like this aligns with what I've said from the very beginning. Would be one of my personal ways of describing the difference is that cheap and frugal both people love to save money, but frugal people will not do so at the expense of others.

So being cheap takes advantage of others, being frugal does not. I like the example that this article gave, super simple example, but a situation we all find ourselves in of you know, going out to dinner with friends and you know you might not get a drink or the appetizer or dessert, and you might even split a meal with somebody, but not at the expense of forgetting to tip the waitress.

I think the writer says that they'll never do less than eight unless the service was really really bad, or if splitting a check not accidentally forgetting about tax and tip, right, it's not cheating others out of money so that you can have more at the end of it. Absolutely, And this kind of comes down to, like, you should find your core values when you are looking to be frugal,

so you know what to spend on. But I think people should always be at the top of whatever your core values are, like in some capacity, people should be up there, and so always prioritizing your well being, your family's well being, and the well being of others like typically in that order, and so that comes before saving money. And so yeah, that is why we don't love buying fast fashion and or consuming the cheapest of everything, because

that's at the expense of people in sweatshops. It doesn't mean we don't shop on Amazon and Walmart like we're not perfect, but buying less allows us to make less of an impact in that area or contribute to that industry less. And so yeah, always people over money, always, And if any of these points are beginning to align with you as you listen. Then yeah, this could help answer the question of it's frugality for me. Yeah, I mean, spoiler alert, we think frugality is forever everyone if you

haven't figured that out yet, that's where our aims. So that's you know, I don't want to leave you to the end wondering that. So but yeah, so that's kind of how I love number one. Is I also love that one. So number two is frugality is about assessing the bigger picture and having the patients to cash in on simple saving strategies. And so she says, as an avid runner, I'm not willing to buy secondhand, worn out running shoes. I also agree with that. I buy brand

new running shoes. I'm also a runner. I work out a lot, so I also buy brand new gym shoes. And so yes, I understand I'm buying you know, Reebok or stuff like that. Like I know, I'm not the perfect, like non sweatshop buying person, but so I do that because I'm assessing the bigger picture. And then they're all of my clothes or secondhand, like my gym clothes, the

things I wear normally. So I'm looking at the bigger picture and I'm just comes down to that values based spending, like I have decided what are the things that I'm going to spend money on and what are the things that I'm not so And I love that they highlighted patients here, and I know that we've talked about that a bit throughout our podcast. Is that doesn't come naturally to most of us, but it's usually something that we

want to grow in. Write being more patient with the people around us, if people are part of that core value, and then patient and being able to get the best value, get a good deal again, not just scrimping for scrimping's sake, but identifying you know, he gave the example of I'm going to get good shoes, but it might be last year's model. That kind of concept and being patient, and that breeds a lot of even understanding and connecting to

our own values what's actually important to us. It slows down the impulsive decisions and just spending for the sake of spend thing. A lot of these things than have these ripple effects of benefit to us and to our wallets. Yeah, and when you think long term and think bigger picture, you may spend a little more upfront to buy the thing that's going to last longer. I know someone who has a vitam mix that they love and that thing

will last forever. So yeah, I'm talking about you, Jil, thank you, and so yeah, you spent more upfront for that, but it is an amazing product that will last forever and has an amazing warranty for when things break. And so that means fewer blender replacing purchases, which means fewer blenders at the goodwill and eventually in landfills. So that's

bigger picture thinking, which is connected to number three. Kind of similar concepts, but they say here that cheapness uses price as a bottom line, whereas frugality uses value as a bottom line. I can't highlight and resonate with this enough. It's not just about how inexpensive is something, it's what is the value that it's going to bring to me? Uh. They give the example of the Extreme Cheap Skates episode on TLC. I don't know if anybody watches TV anymore

like actual like cable TV. It might be, but this guy ends up searching around his home for loose change and ends up coming up with seven dollars and loose change, but he spent an hour doing that. So like essentially he got paid seven dollars an hour to look around his house for loose change. And so it's kind of that idea of is it just about the bottom line of price and money or is my time valuable? Is

this thing that I'm going to be purchasing valuable? I know my grandfather would always go to CVS and get all of the candy that was on clearance, just like all of it. And he would always come home and say, like I saved money like pop ups, No you didn't. You spent a ton of money on candy that we're not gonna eat, Like we're not going to eat this candy. But it was just about price. He just looked at the dollar sign. I mean he did eat a lot

of Tootsie rolls, so those did get eaten up. But besides the point ultimately not just looking at the price of something, but the value do I need this? Is it bringing value to my life? Is it worth the time investment that it's going to take for me? In this there's there's just a mindset shift in being frugal versus being cheap. And yeah, my grandmother did something similar, but hers was toilet paper. Whenever toilet papers on sale, she'd buy a lot of it. So when she died,

I actually inherited toilet paper from her. Now see that you'll use and I did. Yeah, it was a little bit of money and a lot of toilet paper and that inheritance. So I feel very blessed. But on this, like on this topic of like price and value, it kind of comes back to our frugality one on one one A one episode where we're talking about the law of diminishing returns. So you can do all you can to save money, but at some point you are wasting your time, so really looking at the efforts that you

can put in. That will also back to our our Wikipedia definition is also being frugal or prudent with the consumption of time. So yeah, that's a big definitely a big one. And remembering the law of diminishing returns, you only have so much time. But eventually, like you can only do so much with the saving money as money as a resource, and so is your time and your

own emotional relational capacity. So it should all be approached with this perspective, all right, And number four cheat people are driven by saving money regardless of the cost frugal people are driven by maximizing total value, including the value of their time. So this is obviously we're super passionate about this one. But yeah, so I think trying to still live your rich life, live whatever that looks like for you, the total value you literally you only get

one life to live. So I see these people talking about extreme for galue, or they're saving fifty six of their income so that they can have some illusion of early retirement later on, and I'm like, you don't get these years back. I don't care how short of a time you're saving and how long of a retirement you're going to get. These years you don't get back in.

Those years aren't promised to you. So while we should still prepare for those years, I'm looking at the total value of my life, total value, not just in the future and not just right now, but the total value. So I want to be a good steward of all of it. Absolutely. I think that even gets into like retiring early and the things that that breeds of. Yeah, just eighty hour work weeks and breaking your neck to make a little bit of extra money so that you

can retire early. But you lose a lot in that time too, So everyone makes their own decision and that certainly, but looking at as you said, Jen, just total value, not just this is what I hope the future will bring. Yeah, like I like, She says, well, I haven't bought a new article of clothing in over a year. I'm vacationing in Mexico next week, and that's that's my Yeah. I could say the same thing though, I have bought some new clothing in last year, and I'm not going to

Mexico next week. So actually, something that's happening for you. I want to be able to say that that is my goal. Yeah, And that's making frugality work for you. Or you're going to spend on what you want to spend on, save where you want to save, so you can spend where you want to spend. Last, but not least Number five on here is being cheap is about spending less. Being frugal is about prioritizing your spending so that you can have more of the things you really

care about. So again, kind of saying similar things in different ways, it's it's not just about the money, it's not just about the price point of something. It's about is this actually something I want to spend on. Is this something I care about spending on, or is this something that my friends say that I should or I feel societal pressure to be aiming at rather than what

I actually want. Like to go back to number four where it was talking about I haven't bought clothes in a year, and I'm gonna go on vacation, right, so I would be I'm learn that way traveling is a priority. I will cut in other areas so that I can spend on that, where somebody else might say, no traveling scary, I'd rather have new clothes. Okay, great, to each his own, but make sure that it's actually aligning with your values

and that you can afford it, right. A lot of this is making sure that we are stewarding our resources well so that we're not going into debt to be able to have all of the things, but saving where we can to spend where we want. Yeah, this is a big mindset part of frugality. She says. Those who are cheap are often afraid to spend money. That's scarcity mindset.

And I feel like a lot of frugal people may say they are frugal, but they're living in this place of scarcity mindset because they're afraid to spend money, so they're really just cheap by circumstance. Frugality is intentional. You intentionally choose to be frugal for the benefit of yourself and others, not out of fear or the way you were raised or the way people say you should be spending your money. Frugality is really conscious consumption of everything.

I think this is a hard pill to swallow, but I would even go so far as to say that being cheap can cross over a line into just being greedy, where you're not spending on anything, you're taking advantage of others, you're hoarding just to save some money, just to not spend, and even if it doesn't actually amount to a lot of money, the motivation behind it can be greed. So there is a strong even warning in this as we

talk through why aim at frugality and why avoid being cheap. Yeah, and not even greed out of like malicious intent, But there are so many people in poverty that have to rely on the here. They have to think solely about here and now because that's where they are, and it can cross over into that because they're not being intentionally frugal. So it's not even, it's not malicious, it's not negative.

And if you feel like you have like a if you're living in scarcy mindset, that does not mean you are a bad person or you are doing frugality wrong. I struggle a lot with scarcity mindset, Like it is something have struggled with and struggling with, will continue to struggle with. You may never be able to get over it, honestly, like I don't know, I don't know if I will. It's just that when you are aware of what you are doing, then you can make small steps to change it.

And we don't think like anybody here would be malicious in their cheapness, but like it is so limiting. It is a limiting belief. And when you can make small, intentional changes, then you can develop a growth mindset that may not I mean frugality. We set it right off the bat in our first episode Frugality will not make you rich. Frugality is not the solution to your money problems. It is a tool that goes beyond money. It is

a life. It's not a tool. It's a lifestyle that goes beyond money, and it can be freeing when you practice it. But obviously we we recognize that there are other factors that play into it, but we still think that it can alleviate some of the burden if you are dealing with a very low income. Absolutely for sure. So that that was a great, great article from Stephanie

O'Connell on US News. And really, when we were searching for our second article, I was having a hard time finding something that really spoke to what we wanted to get across in this episode, because this was this is kind of more of our who we are episode, not just going over what other people say, because we want you to get the heart behind this summit that we're producing. And so the next articles from me, no one else could give me the words I wanted, so I am

going to use my own words. That's great. Yeah, So Jill, what do you think about it? Jen? I mean, the biggest fan, probably one of the biggest friends, So I think it's great. I mean, you write such extensive articles and they're always expert and they give great ideas. I mean, I don't need to convince probably any of our listeners of this. So we're only even looking at the first portion of this article because it goes into so much

you give two hundred frugal tips in here. But the first portion does lay out some of the tenants of frugality and some of the benefits, which I think are beautiful. So yeah, let's talk about it. Yeah. So this is literally a ten thousand word article that I did turn into an e book. So, but the first part really lays the foundation for what the four tenants we believe our brand of frugality is. And so the first is minimalism, so buying less will always save you more money than

a great deal. And we really believe that frugality is a minimalist way of life. Frugality is not minimalism and vice versa. But I mean, it's not about getting the best deal and the lowest price on stuff you don't need. I love a good Black Friday, a Prime Day sale. I don't have Prime, but I do appreciate them if I have planned for something that I want to buy and cannot find second hand. So it's not against these, you know, the consumption of stuff, but it is pro

conscious consumption. Yeah. And again, because minimalism can look so different for every person and frugality can look so different. But there is a really nice blending of the two. It's not stockpiling. I like how you're saying it's not stockpiling. It's not extreme group on NG people can do those things, but sometimes that can just add so much clutter. I think I just coined a term. But like minimalism and frugality is not anti consumption, but it's conscious consumption, and

so that that flows into your minimalism too. Like you can have a little, you can have stockpile, you can have a reasonable stockpile. I have a packet drawer, which I've been saying is packet drawer for so long, but I have to be honest. It's a pack bag. Yeah, that sits on top of the fridge. Yes, it's a packet bag. And I it's just people. No packet drawer mimes a gallon bag. The next one on here is frugal living is simplicity, right, Aiming at a frugal lifestyle

will also bring about simplicity. There's a nice blending of this is another tenant of frugality. It doesn't mean that we do it well, we do it perfectly, or we do it all the same. But as we're looking at how can we define what are the tenants. This is one of them that it's not going to be in similar to minimalism, it's not going to be overwhelming, clutter too much. You even say in this article there's a list of two hundred tips, but it doesn't mean you

have to do all two hundred tips. It doesn't mean you have to do everything that every financial expert says. It doesn't mean that you have to get the cheapest possible deal on every single thing. It's simple. It's simplifying to the things that are important to you and pushing

aside the things that aren't. Is prioritizing in all aspects of life as it relates to our time, energy, and finances, aiming at what is going to bring about some simplicity, which goes hand in hand then with bringing about peace inside of our minds, inside of ourselves to be able to live out of that place. Then yeah, when I think simplicity, I think the book The One Thing by

Gary Keller. It is one of my favorite books, and basically the whole book can be summed up in this phrase, what's the one thing I can do that by doing that one thing makes everything else easier or unnecessary. So it's essentially focusing on the bigger picture things, the bigger ticket items that will help you not have to do all two things on the list, the things that are in your wheelhouse, um, and the things that are sustainable for you. So for me, I focus on meal planning

and cooking at home. That is my one thing that which by doing it, I don't have to focus so much on not buying lattes or doing a bunch of like the rebate apps and stuff. So to me, that simplicity, like what are the few things I can focus on in my time, in my schedule, in my place of living that by which I don't have to worry about

or as much about all the other stuff. Yeah, and that, and so you'll see, like in our summit, we've we've got like a few meal planning things, Like for me, that was important because I think that's a lot of people's one thing, or it should be a lot of people's one thing. But we also have a few other experts on saving money. What they're one things were or few things were to save significantly. So we've we've included a lot of that. On day two of the summit.

On day one of the summit, we've included a lot of minimalism and sustainability, because the next one is frugal living is environmentalism. So going back to our Wikipedia definition that frugality is the wise stewardship of resort consumable resources. It says food is number one, and that's a part of our environment. That's a huge part of our environment.

But consumable resources also is not just like what you consume in your body, but like on your body or you know, everything that has to do with living on the earth that we live on, an avoiding waste to protect it. So, yeah, I am not perfect in doing this, I will say it. I'm not zero waste. You're not going to see me on any sustainability podcasts telling you how to be sustainable. But it is always setting all

your trash and one small container. But it is something I'm conscious of keeping the back of my mind and make decisions based off of absolutely. And I think as we zero in on our values and our consumption and being good stewards of all these things, we do become more connected with this. And I like how you say here too. Sometimes we can think of environmentalism is like buying the expensive products, but so much of it is

back even further than what is glamorous. Now. As far as what environmentalism looks like, it's the second hand, it's the reducing waste. It's the not leaving the water running constantly like, that's being environmentally friendly. Yeah. And the fourth, ten, fourth and final is frugal living is values based spending. You've heard us say this so many times and especially just on this very podcast, but it is again saving money in some of these different areas, finding the one thing.

Practicing minimalism, aiming at simplicity so that you are able to purchase the things that actually matter to you. Doesn't mean that you have to purchase the least expensive thing. It might be the most expensive thing. But if it brings about value, if it makes life more simple, if it does lead into a more minimalist approach, than great, that's frugal living. Yeah. I mean, I'll just read exactly what I wrote. But it's discovering what truly matters to you.

It's developing a sense of self and spending within it. I'm reminded of the interview we did with Nicole Victoria that airs on Day one, where she works with women and the first thing they do is try and get a sense of Okay, what do I want from life? And then how do I Then we work on the finances to build that. So we're reverse engineering. And when

they're asked they don't know what they want. They know what they're supposed to do, they know what's expected of them, and they know the path that they're on, but when asked what they really want, they're embarrassed or they don't know. And it's developed like this can develop a sense of self in you, and then you can spend within that sense of self. Again, so many ripple and peripheral effects that are beneficial. Again, it's if you haven't heard it already,

it's not just about the money. Are we bring our whole selves into all of this, all of these decisions, and we would argue that as we're on this path of frugal living, we will discover more about ourselves, our core values, what matters to us, where our values lie, How to get at that, the behavioral and life changes we need to make to do that, and then how to incorporate and implement some of these concepts in other

areas beyond finances. It will inevitably impact all areas of our personhood, and I would say, bring about benefit in all areas of our personhood. Yeah, I believe that frugal living allows you to stop going with the herd pause and think about what you really want, what you value, which leads into this next part of the article. Just the benefits. We've talked about some of this already. There's so many more than what's even listed here, but just to name a few, it will free up more of

your income. Just to put it bluntly, right, if we are more intentional about how we're spending, if we're looking at where we can cut costs and where we can spend on things that matter to us, and then when we can press the pause button on spending because we have what we need, it's going to free up income to then make further decisions towards the goals that we

have in our life. It will help us to be able to handle emergencies the way that I would define this as being proactive rather than reactive, responsive rather than reactive, that we're not just caught off guard, shocked and surprised by an emergency, but able to handle it with relative ease and peace because we've got the money for it. We've anticipated this, We're not being reactionary to it. We're actually able to respond to an emergency financially and otherwise.

And it can help us to say for retirement, which is not something that we often think about, especially in our twenties, thirties, sometimes even forties. But my goodness, will we thank ourselves and will if we have children, will our future children thank us for it that we're not putting that burden onto other people. But we've been able to future think. Again, It's what frugality allows us to do is goal set and future think, not your reactionary,

but responsive. And when you future think, you can think more about increasing your income and investing to save for retirement, to invest for retirement like those are things that you can't think about if you're caught up in the stress and minutia of spending outside of your means, or even just trying to get the best deal and save as

much money as possible. So both ends of that spectrum, if we find a simple version of frugality that really fits with your life, frees up your mental capacity to focus on making money, to learn about investing and funnel money there. That's being a good steward of resources is putting money into investments that can grow so that you have more money to do good things with. So yeah, even frugality goes outside of saving money and spending less.

That's why the second half of the summit is all about earning more and doing it efficiently, and building wealth and protecting it. So it's really all of that through the lens of frugality. And I mean every single speaker we asked them the same question at the end. That is the most important question. It's what's your fillo 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 Bill Buck little Bills, Bill Clean, this is the bill of the week. Hey, Jen and Jill, this is Brooke from Fort Worth, Texas. I love you, guys, I love the show calling about my favorite bill of the week. I have the most amazing, beautiful, wonderful four and a half month old daughter. I'm obsessed with her.

I work full time from home and care for her full time, and I pay fifteen dollars a month to an app called Huckleberry, and Huckleberry allows me to log my daughter's sleep patterns and eating patterns, and then once a month I send that information off to an actual sleep expert who then sends me a customized sleep plan based on her age and her sleep patterns and our

family's schedule and needs. And that has allowed her to start sleeping through the night at two and a half months old and give me nice long naps and fall asleep independently so I can work while she's napping and play while she's awake. I'm so grateful for it. I get to sleep, my husband gets to sleep. It's a joy. There is a free version for all you moms out there, it just doesn't have the customized plan. And for me, that three a month is the best money I spend.

Love you guys, Brook, you may have just saved some live I wish I'd known about that in the infancy of my child. I would have paid anything. I would have paid anything for that. She really would have given her left arm. She was yeah, Jill was here, she knew she was. Um Brooke, I feel like you have

also just summarized value is spending for us. Yes, this is worth it because of what it gains you sleep in your child's infancy, your own sanity, your own sleep, your own understanding of your baby, your own understanding of your own values. Because you have so many other things on your plate that this is valuable for what it brings to the table and it's worth spending fifteen dollars a month on well Don Brooke, and I'm so glad that this works for you. I'm so excited about it.

I'm so happy for you. Slightly jealous. Kay sleeps through the night now, but congratulations, that is a major People, you don't have a child, and a child is sleeping through the night at two and a half months, like that is a that that deserves an award. You deserve, deserves, everybody deserves an award. She hacked it. Imagine what she's able to accomplish now too, because she's getting sleep. Brook, Okay, Brook, thank you for that one. All right, here is our

next bill of the week. Hi, frugal friends, this is Sophie from Germany. I want to tell you about my favorite a little the week today. UM I found about thirty and fifty Deutschemak, the old currency in Germany and it's hard to exchange it now because it's gone for about twenty years. However, I found a small shop downtown that sold me fancy chocolates for it, and well they taste great. Steel. Hey. I love that because I would probably be the person to be like, oh my gosh,

there's no way and anyone is to take this. I'm so sad that it's just a waste. And then you found a way. You did not say I can't spend this. You were like, how can I spend this? And you did it and guilt to right actually cost you anything like it. I love that. Well done, Sophie, I love that. Yeah, thanks so much, guys for these were fantastic and quite appropriate bills of the week for this episode. They're always appropriate. They're always some sort of frugal or off the wall

and it's just always great. Yeah. If you want to submit your bill of the week, please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and leave us a bill and we will celebrate with you. And now it's time for so today we are talking about what does frugality mean to us individually? Because Jill and I each have our own version of frugality. We're definitely different people, though we do have many similar interes lists like pools, like

swimming in pools. We love pools. But we have a little bit different versions of frugality, and so there's freedom in that, and that is what we're going to just touch on a little bit. So for me, frugality means less budgeting and more freedom. So I am not the biggest fan of budgeting. I track my transactions just to make sure I am not being hacked, essentially, that is the only reason I tracked them. So I mean, yeah,

I mean that's it. But we are at a point where we are so intentional about our spending and we're making the same amount of money and we're spending I mean, it's just really we've honed it down. It's down to a science almost. I won't say that we're not that specific, but I mean we kind of have our habits and patterns and spend within our values. So I don't really budget anymore like that has been That's been a several year journey beyond debt freedom. All we have is our mortgage.

So yeah, and I don't feel anxious about it. Sometimes I feel guilty about it because I feel like these are outside perspectives. As a personal finance expert, I should budget, but I don't let that get me down. I don't feel any guilt or shame when I make a purchase because I know I can afford it, because there are so many other things I am not buying. And I am very intentional with the purchases I make because I want to be intentional with the things I bring into

my home, because I realize my home is finite. It is not growing. We are not building any addition on So every time I'll bring something to house, it has to have a place, has to have a purpose, or it has to be replacing something. So yeah, I mean that's kind of I can't say that's the same version of reality Travis has, but that's his version I have. You're working towards it. He spends a lot less than I do. He just brings more things into the house.

I spend more money on things that either don't come into the house or don't stay in the house. Not budgeting is not synonymous with spending frivolously, though, Like you've said, you you know what your expenses are. You've got a lot on automatic payment, You've cut some of these variable costs like grocery shopping. You know how much you make every month, so you are aware of what you can and can't spend. And then there's just the reality that

you're just not spending a lot. So it's not to say like I don't budget therefore, or that means I'm just buying whatever. And yeah, there's still intentionality to it. Years budgeting years every month and being very intentional about it. And now we are at the point where we feel like we've honed in on who we are a lot of self discovery and when you're married, it's or or have a partner, it's discovery of your partner as well. So a lot of like selves discovery and once you've

got a rhythm. We haven't mastered it, but once you have a rhythm then yeah, yeah, So that's what frugality affords me. I am a personal finance expert who doesn't have a monthly budget. I love it. So this is where we overlap. I would also say that frugality means freedom for me also, I think this lifetime as far as my adulthood lifetime, and being intentional about where I'm spending,

where I'm saving, how I'm utilizing resources. Has brought about a great deal of freedom because there is excess finances at this point. Again, because I've identified my values and because I've been aware of money coming in and money going out, it has helped me to be able to identify how can I bring more in? And then that creates freedom to know that I can spend where I want to spend and save where I want to save.

I think it has also meant minimalism for me. I have found a good deal of peace and freedom in being content, in having a little identifying what is helpful, what's convenient, what is going to bring value to my life, like my blunder, you know me. But beyond that, I don't have a lot of junk because that's stressful to me. So minimalism. Thank you for gality and minimalism. I think it's also brought a lot of d I Y like

do it myself problem solve mentality. I have worked to be able to identify where can I hire out, where can I delegate? But those tenants haven't left me. I still paint my own home. Eric does all of our renovations, which helps us to be able to cash flow renovations

and not go into further debt for that. And finally, and probably most importantly, I don't know why I put it last, but frugality has allowed a good deal of generosity for us, for Eric and I, and that is if we were to talk about core values, it's very important to me, uh, well, generous in anything, whether it's time, money, you name it. When we didn't have a lot of money, I think we're very generous with our time. Now we've been able to be a little bit more generous with finances,

and now it's kind of finding that happy medium. Both Eric and I had a recent conversation like we're we miss volunteerism, like we want to give of our time again. Of course, COVID interrupted a lot of that community and ability to spend time with others, but that's an incredibly important thing to me. And being able to save money spend intentionally has freed up money and then freed up money for my why, which is to be able to

give to others. So so grateful for that. Yeah. I mean we didn't even touch on the contentment and generosity portions of frugality, but it really Yeah, it gives you a contentment where you feel like there's a line and then you can like give generously beyond that line. So yeah, I love that. Well, thank you so much for kind of listening to our manifesto. This has been an episode I've looked forward to and it's been really life giving

to do this. I love our episodes, but this subject especially, I mean more than like saving money on moving, you know, like this gives me life and I love to talk about this topic. So please let us know your thoughts in the Summit Facebook group. If you are already signed up for the Summit, let us know why you're frugal, what does frugality mean to you? And let's come alongside you and you can find your tribe of people like Jill and I have found in each other, because that's

so important. So thanks for listening, and thank you also for your kind reviews like this one from c K f V and f V the best. These women are great. Just happens to be five stars. They make a podcast that's smart, funny, authentic, relatable, helpful and kind. I work alone in my pottery studio and I look forward to my Friday eating with Jen and Jill when the podcast drops. Even if the topic appears to be something that doesn't pertain to me. I listen and learn and absolutely enjoy

the banter. Thanks what a kind review. Thank you for saying all those nice things about us, and so thrilled to join you in your pottery studio every Friday if you happen to be this is just a side note. If you happen to be in our Frugal Friends community group on Facebook, love to see some of the work that you create. I have this growing affinity for pottery. I drink from a handmade mug every morning my coffee. So anyhow, that's that's just for me because I like pottery,

all right. 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 add you to our monthly drawing. So here's how it works. For every five tags and reviews we get each month, we give away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook. So this month, not only will you get a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook, You're also going to get a copy of the all access pass for

the summit. And so actually one of the things to enter into winning. You don't have to do this, but one of the ways to enter and to win our giveaways is to leave a review. So if you're entering in a giveaway, please just take a screenshot of the review on either iTunes or Stitcher and you can send the screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com.

You'll be entered to win our giveaways. At the Summit, you'll be entered to win an all access pass and if you buy one, will give you a refund should you win, and a Frugal Friends workbook. So yeah, so please don't forget. I'm gonna I'm gonna review us. Yeah, yeah, don't forget to share, leave a review whatever. Sharing also is on is one of the ways to enter, So literally any of these things. Yeah, just leave a review, share us on and stuff and you'll be entered. And

there's so many opportunities to win, so much stuff. So giving away this month which generosity Oh you know, you know we like that, all right, Friends, See you next week by Cugal. Friends is produced by Eric Sirian. Yeah, Jill, I have been going through some of these Summit videos and you never you always leave an interview thinking oh that was real good, but then later You're like, was it good? Did I just have a fun time hanging out?

Are people going to get something out of this? So I've been going and re listening to these interviews and I'm like, yes, this makes sense. This is act noble, this is gold. Like, these are things that all coming together are in one place, and it would take you years to google everything that you're going to get in four days. It's like a greenhouse for growth. You just kind of immerse yourself into all of this. And yeah, I mean there's at least one big takeaway from every speaker,

so you can talk about twenty speakers. There's so much richness to absorb in that, and I appreciate the combination. It's a variety of topics. It's not just saving money. It's so many different things saving money, making money, spending money, how to do that wisely, how to be environmentally friendly with our frugality and minimalist and just like there's something forever one, just like frugality, it just is attainable and approachable for everybody. So I literally can't wait. I think

it's the best thing we've done yet. It is absolutely the best thing we've done. I mean, the podcast is really great too. We've been doing that for over three years. Yeah, but it has led to us being able to do this on a scale that yeah, that that we wouldn't have been able to do without the podcast, but this is definitely something gosh, yeah, it's just great. So frugal Living summit dot com. We're gonna end this so you can go