April 29, 2022 • 61 mins
You will be very unpleasantly surprised to know how much waste we put out each day. Zero-waste lifestyle goes beyond reusable shopping bags, shampoo bars, eco-toilet papers, and glass jars. In fact, going for the zero-waste lifestyle seems very intimidating at first and does have some start-up costs. If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, this episode is perfect for you.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode two ten Tips to live zero waste frugally. Welcome
to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
host Jen and Jill. What What What What What What?
(00:26):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
zero waste living, why it's frugal, and how to do it,
maybe even more frugally than what you may see on
the internet. This is a new topic for me in
(00:46):
some regard. I'm aware that it exists. I've heard about
zero waste, generally the extreme version where someone keeps all
of their waste in a mason jar, and so I'm
just like, oh, well, that's not realistic for me. So
I'm just going to ignore that movement. But seeing more
and more how this actually can be woven into our frugal, minimalist,
(01:10):
simple lifestyle and how it can benefit us our finances,
our environment, our relationships, and yeah, just being a whole
lot more aware of my consumption and my waste. And
I'm excited to have this conversation because it's definitely been
on my mind a lot recently. Well, Yeah, So we've
(01:32):
been in our financial Freedom mentorship. April has been a
zero waste challenge for us. We had an interview on
Earth Day, so originally we wanted to do this episode
on Earth Day, but we don't like change, so we didn't.
So we're doing it a little a little late. But
we have been reading Zero Waste home and doing this
(01:55):
zero waste challenge and it's something that I It's probably
the challenge I've been most excited for because it is
the one I had to learn and change the most for.
So we're really excited to share what we've been learning
with you and um like just kind of demystify what
(02:18):
going zero waste has to be, especially the startup, because
that is what gets most people, is starting the zero
waste lifestyle, because it does have some startup costs, but
not actually as many as you would think. So let's
dive in, shall we, Jill, Let's do it. Yes. First,
(02:39):
this episode is brought to you by Mexico. When this
episode releases, I will be in Mexico, hopefully sitting by
a pool with a drink in my hand. Am I
going with my family? No Am I going with my husband?
No Am I going with Jill. I wish, but no,
it's going to be me and my other lady friends,
the two other friends that I have beside, it's Jill
(03:01):
and some other personal finance nerds because it is actually
a work retreat that just happens to be in Mexico.
And you know why I'm able to be in Mexico
right now because I saved for it. And you can
save for a trip to Mexico without your family too
by starting a sinking fund, preferably in a high yield
(03:22):
savings account. We like Access Bank for its point six
p y and no fees. So if you want to
leave your family on vacation, open a sinking fund. If
you open one at Access at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
slash a x O s every account open supports the
show at no cost to you. And if you're also
(03:45):
a human being who enjoys being with their family and
wants to travel, it's still a good idea to say
for your family vacations. Well, that's not to be Jill.
The substance brought to you by Okay, this about to
you by Mexico without that's I'm sorry. I apologize to
our sponsor. It's Mexico without your family, because that's the
(04:07):
real sponsors to show, not Mexico with your family. Mexico.
I hope we don't lose any fans pepill game him
friends understand sometimes it's nice to be away from your children,
exactly so if you are interested in sustainability and its
(04:29):
intersection with frugality, because we do believe that it is
an integral part not just being a good steward of
your financial resources, but being a good steward of your
natural resources. We do have some other episodes. You can
check out episode forty eight, Why Frugal is the New Green,
Episode one fifty seven we go a little deeper into
(04:50):
eco friendly frugality, and then episode one seventy three, Everyone
needs to cue this one up to play. After this,
we interviewed the author Ron Gonu, who is a pioneer
in the recycling world, on the financial and environmental benefit
of a circular economy. That was not one of our
most popular episodes. It is one of my favorite episodes,
(05:13):
and I just hope everyone will will go in and
hit play next. On episode one seventy three, that's not
gonna say about it, yeah, which I think just goes
to show that we as a collective society are not
talking about this that much. And it also takes a
lot for us to engage in something that we can't
(05:35):
see the immediate benefit to ourselves on. It is much
more easy to tackle the micro level than the macro level.
But I think in this conversation it's the pairing of
the two how the macro level can impact the micro level,
how we in our homes as we aim at zero
waste can benefit us and also are larger society and
(06:00):
context and environment. Absolutely, So let's get into our first article,
and this is straight really straight out of the book
that we've been reading for book club in the membership,
and if you want to check out the membership, you
can check it out at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
slash f fm. Even after April you'll be able to
(06:23):
get access to our zero waste challenge that we did.
But so this five rs is from the book we
were reading called Zero Waste Home, and we both we've
both like, really enjoyed that book. What have you thought, Jill,
It's really excellent. I think, like what you said, Jen,
this has been probably the most challenging challenge that we
(06:45):
have done yet. In that I really had to shift
a lot and be It raised a lot of curiosity,
a lot of problem solving, a lot of shifting. Whereas
a lot of our other challenges are so fruitful, beneficial, helpful,
I love them. This for me particularly raised some things
(07:07):
that I've never thought about before, where you know, and
no spend challenges like great, there's gonna be some challenging
parts to it, but it didn't didn't cause me to
actually think about the way that I live so much
as this challenge has. That's just me personally. So I
really liked it because I think she answered a lot
of questions, both in this article as well as in
(07:28):
her book for what to do with you know, the
various waste that we might encounter, or how we consume
and actually make this a realistic lifestyle, and the benefits
of it, some of the benefits that I not didn't
even think about previously. So yes, I really enjoyed it.
So you can tell I'm excited to talk about it. Yes.
(07:52):
So the website is Unsustainable Magazine dot com and the
book is Zero Waste Home by Bayat Johnson. So let's
you've heard of the three rs um But she takes
a little bit further with five hour. So let's get
into the first R, which is refuse, so say no
to what you don't need. And it's essentially she's saying,
(08:14):
learn how to say no and mean it. And I think,
as if you are a people pleaser or somebody who
loves free stuff, which should hit a hundred percent of
our listeners on either one of those, this is going
to be a really hard one, but it she says,
it's her favorite R because you have to be intentional
(08:37):
with everything that comes into your home and intentional about
the environmental impact of your actions. So I think this
is one of those boundaries things where we have we
have to Frugality is almost a practice in creating boundaries
between your family, between your friends, and even the greater
(08:59):
world at large. And that's what I really like about
this one. This one was very challenging for me right
off the bat. Yeah, it's amazing. One of those things
that she pointed out that I never really thought about
is how many things people are trying to give us
on a regular basis, even in a daily She gave
(09:21):
a really simple daily life example of you wake up,
you open your door and there's a flyer for lawn
service hanging on the door, so you pull that off.
Then you know, you go to the grocery store and
someone's handing your receipt. Then you go for food and
people are handing you straws and take out stuff that
ends up in the trash, and and then you come
(09:43):
home and your mailbox is full of junk mail. And
there's just like, there's so much coming into our life
on a daily basis, And this is the first step.
And I like how she really describes that. It does
go in order. So Jen and I are volleying back
and forth on what the five hours are, but you
do have to start here with refusing and then moving
(10:04):
into the rest of the four rs and and then
it's kind of like cyclical. But this refusing is really
where it starts as the ability to say no. And
of course that can even include refusing things that people
are wanting to give you that that we talk about
this a lot, refusing gifts, refusing extra things, which is uncomfortable,
(10:29):
but as we train ourselves we can get better at it.
One tip that Beia gives in her book is just
simple answers, not needing to give a long dialogue explanation
or feeling like you need to really defend yourself, but
just practicing the simple things. She is one of her
go toos is I don't have a trash can. Yeah,
(10:53):
like I would be lying if I said that. She's
not lying, but you know that was just like a
simple thing or you know where we are really simple
in our household. We don't have a place for this
whatever it is, but just a simple explanation. So there's
so much more to be said on that. But we're
gonna move on to the second are, which is reduced,
(11:17):
and this is partially that learning to let go once
we've refused. We also then want to move into reducing
how much we have how much uh yeah, we take
in is both in that reduction process. This one's quite
interesting to me because this is a clearing out, Like
(11:40):
to me, this is a wasting But I think with
this are we're being really specific about if there's things
we don't want in our home, we're not simply sending
them to the landfill. We're going to find another home
for them. So this is if you've got extra things
in your pantry or your closet or your toy bin
(12:04):
that you're not utilizing, we are giving it away. So
I see this reduce as part pairing with minimalism, where
we kind of go through this process what don't we need?
But then I think the idea with reduction is we
then don't bring in more. So it's almost like there's
this big process that we go through, but then after
(12:27):
that we learn what we what we actually need, what
we actually utilize, so we're not bringing in more. So
it makes the refusal even easier as we move forward. Yeah,
and I think this right here is like frugality in
a nutshell like this one are like, reduce your consumption,
(12:48):
reduce your spending, don't eliminate. We're not. We're not eliminating.
We're reducing down to what's best for us, what's best
for the environment, and finding the balance within that. And
and so I this is always been my true north
when figuring out what's frugal and what's not. Is like
(13:13):
not what can I get the best deal on? Do
I get it for free? Like stuff like that? But
is it a is it a reduction of everything? All
of the clutter and the noise that the world continuously
brings into my life? Does it somehow reduce that? Like
and I know that's kind of like bigger picture than
just zero waste, but I just have always been obsessed
(13:36):
with like the three RS. And so to find out
that the book was kind of based around five hours,
I was like, Okay, I didn't know this when I
started reading, but yeah, so I really believe that. And
we've said it before, you can't buy your way to green.
And so the first one is super challenging, like like
(13:57):
refusing things that are free I have a hard time with.
And I'm definitely going to give this episode to Travis
because he has an even harder time with that. But
this one I love and embrace so wholeheartedly. But yeah,
so like this one is I have nothing more to say.
This is great, but it also says like the life
(14:19):
you had before you were refusing all the things you accumulated,
those are things you're going to have to reduce. So
like all of the tiny little shampoo and body wash
bottles that you get from the hotels or the airbnb s,
those have to go. And uh I have I have
quite a few of them, but use them first. That's see,
(14:40):
That's where I like the zero waste like is kind
of hard for me because in the in the minimalism too,
like I have a junk drawer because I'm not just
going to get rid of things that I will use,
Like I know I will use body wash and shampoo.
I just haven't yet. So that's why there's this like
it's not either or it's just finding the synergy of
(15:03):
all of it. Well, there is a tough tension because
I think that some zero waste sters, if I can
put a title to it, some zero wasters will go
the direction of just keeping everything to keep it out
of a landfill. That can be a picture in our
mind of people who go zero waste. At one end
of the spectrum is we utilize everything. If it's a
(15:27):
paper plate, we're not throwing it away. We're going to
somehow figure out how to wash and dry that paper
plate and keep using it. And we're going to have
containers everywhere cluttering everything. And so I think what what
we're advocating for, and this article is advocating for, is
the pairing of zero waste with a minimalist lifestyle. So
(15:49):
you have less, you're bringing less into the home, you're
not just maintaining your lifestyle, and yet not throwing anything
away because that that's what moves to words hoarding, and
that's not a lifestyle that we want to advocate for
just for mental and emotional and physical health. So there
is but there is a tension there because as you
(16:11):
begin this, there is gonna be a certainly a startup
cost and a waste startup, if that's a word like.
There is gonna be a lot that you're getting rid
of in this process. But then the hope is that
that's not the lifestyle that you keep living of bringing
in a ton of stuff that just needs to find
(16:32):
its way to the landfill. Mm hmm. Yeah. So let's
move on from refuse and reduce to reuse. And this
is maybe the one that I have the second hardest
time with. I do love reusable water bottles, reusable cloth, napkins.
(16:54):
There are some things that I do use a lot
of reusables, and then there's just some that I like,
I am not the person that has the cabinets full
of old glass jars from foods and and that's kind
of the minimalist in me, because I have what I
have and I just I will recycle the rest. But
(17:15):
so I was challenged in that instead of just getting
single use plastic to get more things that come in glass,
because glass is much easier to recycle than plastics, because
not all plastics are recyclable. I keep learning that, like
and not eat one plastic that's recyclable here isn't recyclable there,
(17:38):
but the glass is. And so that was one thing
with the reuse that I have been inspired to do.
But there are a few other things. So like she
gives some examples, So paper tissues can be replaced with handkerchiefs.
You can get straight edge razors instead of disposable razors,
(17:59):
cotton closs and set of dish sponges, loose tea and
set of tea bags. Um. I actually did not buy
coffee filters for my coffee maker. I just reused a
reusable It already had a reusable filter in there. I
just kept a filter on it because I liked it,
(18:20):
didn't like the residue at the bottom, and then I
was like, Jen, you're grown up, get over it. So
there have been some things that I've been challenged to
like do more of, and I think that's that's great.
We do things in steps and stages, and we continually
taken knowledge and surround ourselves with people that challenge us
to just be a little bit better every year. Yeah,
(18:41):
I love this list. This list is an excellent place
to start. And there's so many things that I see
on here that I can shift in my own lifestyle.
What's one thing that you're going to shift? Okay, that
I will shift. Yeah, I'm putting you on the spot, Jill,
(19:01):
I know, yeah, I'm looking at it. So the paper
and plastic bags. I definitely bring my own bags to
like all the or Trader Joe's because they forced you
to do that. But let's say I shop at Walmart
or anywhere else. I don't and I just didn't ever
think about it, Like I think, oh, well they have bags,
but here's a store that they don't have bags. So done. Now,
(19:25):
any time I go into any store, I have my
reusable bags in my car, like they're already there. For
those other grocery stores, I'm going to start utilizing that. Now.
Here's my one barrier, because we're going on a side
tangent now, apparently, is that I will use those bags,
the plastic ones from Walmart or Home Depot for trash
(19:46):
bags in my bathroom. But then that's what brings up
that whole other issue of what if I stopped making
as much trash, But I think it's not really I'm
going to make trash. I'm not. I'm know that I'm
not going to be the person who ends up with
their annual trash and a Mason Mason jar. But then
I would have to figure out an alternative trash bag
(20:08):
for my bathroom. Well, I think also there's always going
to be people trying to get rid of their plastic bags.
So if you are ever in a pinch where you
need plastic bags like grocery bags for your bathroom, you
can just go on and buy nothing group and say
I'll take these off your hands. Or you go to
the grocery store and they have recycling bins for those
(20:29):
bags because they're not recyclable in regular recycling bins, and
you just stick your hand in there and pull some out.
And I'm at least for using it, giving the life
of the thing a little bit longer, more uses, which
I think is also a part of that reuse. Sometimes
it does end up getting thrown out, but how much
(20:51):
more life can we get out of any kind of
product also helps. And and you, Jill, you're the one
that taught me about like always think of the third option.
There's always a third option. There's the yes and the know,
and those are usually very obvious, but if you sit
down and just think about it a little bit longer,
(21:14):
there's always a third option. And sometimes there's you know,
four or eight options, but you just have to think
about it a little long. And that's the same with
what we say about frugality. It's not inconvenient, it's not
it's just not the most convenient. You just think about
sit down, think about it for a few minutes or
a few days, and and see find what the third
(21:36):
option is. I think that is what's so challenging about this,
But I like it. I enjoy the creativity, the problem solving,
the curiosity that this challenge has created of Okay, I
could do this, then what what's the ripple effect of that?
How can I solve for that? What might else need
to change and shift? Where could I make more shifts?
(21:58):
And it just it's been this like really rich challenge.
Mhm alright, let's get to the fourth are. The fourth
R is recycle, and we only get to the fourth
ARE once we've made it through the other three. So
recycling is for the things that we can't refuse, reduce,
(22:21):
or reuse. And I love how Beia highlights this. She
shares how often she people are aware of her zero
waste lifestyle and they're like, oh, yeah, me too, I
recycle everything, and she's like, that's totally not it. I
mean like she's excited for them with like where they're
(22:42):
at in their process and journey. But we don't want
to stop there. It's not just oh great, we recycle,
because there's so much to be said about the recycling
industry and how much has not been solved for how
unaware we are as a society of how to recycle. Well,
there's a lack of or like businesses, corporations, companies who
(23:04):
are utilizing recycled material, there's a lack of consumers buying
recycled material, like once it has been recycled into something new,
we have a problem with not actually purchasing those recycled items.
Were still buying the single use items. So there's there.
It's not as if we can just put our recycling
out by the road and be like pat ourselves on
(23:26):
the back, done deal, I did my due diligence. No,
there's so much more that goes into it, which is
really disheartening for me because I was in that camp
of yeah, I recycled, I'm like, I'm doing such a
good thing. And then there's this whole myth around recycling.
So we only do this once we've exhausted the first
(23:48):
three rs and and then we need to do our
due diligence and doing it well, well, what can be recycled,
make sure our recyclables are cleaned out, making sure that
we're not recycling a ton of stuff off because again,
we don't have a system that can actually support the
way that we're doing recycling right now. Yeah, and if
you are not recycling and this is where you need
(24:11):
to start, that's fine, that's absolutely fine. You know, whatever
you have in your refrigerator right now that you can
recycle when you're done using it, start with that and
then start to refuse and reduce and reuse. Whatever you
can start with today is good enough. But yeah, there
(24:32):
are so many people that just sit on that and
be like, oh, I did the one thing I did,
I did eco sustainability, and it's really recycling is much
more confusing. It's it actually makes me angry every time
I go to recycle something because I'm like, I either
have to do a lot to get it to be
(24:53):
recyclable or I just don't and I just put it
in and I'm like, I don't really know, and then
i end up I don't want to contaminate the recycling,
so I throw it away, like unting is a common
experience for me when I recycle, Like anytime I go
to my recycling bin, I it is paired with a
(25:14):
feeling of uncertainty, and that's not the greatest, right, which
is why I think reducing is again the key, Like
reduce what you buy and you reduce what you recycle,
and if you can rethink, like when I'm now purchasing
(25:34):
instead of my next move is like so I've I've
switched to like mayonnaise only in glass jars, and so
now I'm just gonna move my condiments, like when I rebuy,
I'm gonna try to do everything in glass, because I
know glass, like clear glass, definitely recyclable, and just things
that I don't have to be so confused about, like
(25:56):
the paper around the glass might not be I think
true recycling as you have to pull it off, you've
got to clean it really well, get the glue as
much as possible. Yeah, yeah, which I can do that enough.
But but yeah, so recycling is not what we want
to rest on. It's definitely the reducing and reusing as
(26:19):
much as possible, and that takes us to our last
are which I actually I like and Jill very much likes.
But it's rot and that is compost it. Yeah, so
Jill actually likes it because she does use the compost.
I it just makes me feel better about not wasting.
(26:41):
I don't do anything with the compost, but it is
a way to use your food scraps. And I actually
learned you can use a lot more in compost depending
on the type of compost you have. You use a
lot more, put a lot more in there than I
thought you could. Um dryer forgiving dryer land, hard bores. Yeah,
(27:07):
I had even putting food like like animal waste. I
guess she has like a special compost. I don't know
if it's special, but yeah, she is not a vegan
by any means, Like, so she puts her animal waste, um,
not her animal like pet waste. She said, even there's
(27:28):
time you could Yeah, so it's it's vast. Yeah, yeah,
I've got to learn more about that. For me, I've
got to but because I know that if you put
animal waste into like food scraps into your compost, that's
when you can get pests. So there definitely is a
way to go about that in a in a way
(27:50):
where you wouldn't have rats around your garden that's not mine.
And if you are not a gardener, if you have
a black thumb, then you can create composts and maybe
trade it with other people who do have it for
their fresh veggies that they have, like when stuff whatever
is in season that are they're trying to get rid of.
(28:12):
So that's an option if you do not want to
grow your own food, um, that can be a way
to kind of use the compost and still get some
of the benefits of people who do know how to
garden and grow things. Yeah, that's a great list. We
encourage you to try it. But we also want to
(28:33):
move into talking about how we compare frugal tips with
zero waste. So we are talking about frugal zero waste.
So this next article we're getting into is seven easy
frugal tips that are also sustainable. So this is from
(28:56):
Rainbow Vegans Rock dot com. I'm very much I very
much like that you are l Rainbow Vegans rock. Here
we go. So the first tip on here is to
buy second hand. And you all know this this list
if you've been listening to frugal friends for a long time.
Nothing on this list is going to be new to you.
(29:18):
But we're looking at it from the perspective of sustainability
and zero waste, or at least reducing waste. I mean,
even Bia in her book describes that zero waste is
nearly impossible in the culture that we live in, but
we're aiming at it. It's something to aim at. And
so when we buy second hand, this continues to keep
(29:38):
things out of the landfill. It allows us to reuse
and almost kind of recycle or up cycle things. Of course,
we still want to be aiming at reduction in this process.
We don't want to go buy second hand just because
it's a deal and bringing more things into our house
(29:59):
that we may not need and might find its way
to the trash can quicker. But when we do need something,
this is the first place we should be going to.
Whether it's an actual physical thrift store or it's Craigslist
or Facebook, marketplace or eBay, these are the spots that
(30:19):
we should be going to to find the items that
we need again to take from somebody else who's not
going to be using it anymore, to put that thing
to use, to keep them from throwing it away. And
this is also a solution for us, not just in
buying second hand, but when we don't need something anymore.
These are the places we should be going to to
(30:41):
be donating or selling. Yeah, and we went thrift ng
this weekend, Jill. We did. We got some. I was
looking for things for our frugal friends party. Didn't find
what I needed, but I did find Actually I found
this shirt. I needed more. I found this. Sure needed
another look at us. We're so excited to wear our
(31:03):
new shirts. I realized I don't have any like professional
short sleeve shirts. I always it's either like a dress
that I wear or a lightweight long sleeve or sleeveless.
But I only have one other short sleeve shirt, so
I got a second one. So now I have two
professional short sleeve shirts. So you're either going to see
(31:24):
this or my black one. Love that? Uh? Yeah, and
so I don't particularly love thrift ng like I. We
went to one thrift store and afterwards I was like exhausted.
So typically I do most of my thrift ng online.
Um we use thread up. We have a promo code
for ten dollars off thread up at for Girlfriends podcast
(31:45):
dot com slash thread up No. A. And then posh
Mark eBay. I love eBay. Their prices are usually cheaper
than posh Mark and it's the same exact things they
post them in both places. And then this one also
says deep pop um or Facebook Marketplace, So there are
plenty of places to get secondhand that are not a
(32:07):
thrift store too. The second one on this list is
bulk buying. Uh. And so when Jill and I were
originally talking about this, she thought I meant like Sam's
Club Costco bulk buying, and then I was like, I
want glass containers for bulk buying, and she didn't know
(32:28):
what I was talking about. But this is like at
your health food store where you're filling up your own
container of shelf stable like products. Um. And so that's
something that I'm going to try and move towards and
trying to bring instead of using the plastic bags they give,
trying to bring my own glass containers that are uniform
(32:52):
in size. I'm just not here for bringing seven different
types of jars and getting them all teared and then
going to fill them up. I'm here for for simplicity,
So I might just start with one maybe brown rice.
I think I'm due for a brown rice refill. So
but yeah, I I am very interested to try this
(33:15):
and see the price difference. See yes, there, as with
some other things like minimalism, eco friendly, sustainability, zero waste,
there is a version of this that could go not
(33:36):
super frugal. We can, in anything, spend a ton of money,
although if it's within our values and something we really
want to aim at, then it can be frugal living.
But again that intentionality with our finances, with our lifestyle.
So I think we all have to find what is
(33:58):
what's gonna work for us, because going to seven different stores,
spending all of the time and energy to make your
own laundry detergent, butter men clothes, like to do all
of the things as if we were living in fifteen
twenty two might not work for everybody. So there is
(34:20):
definitely a lot of room in here to figure out
what how does this pair with your version of frugality,
And like you said, Jen, just being doing a little
bit better each day towards the goals that we have stated.
I will say this article does highlight bulk buying in
your large what is it, the big box stores like
(34:43):
your Costco or your Sam's Club. Now we've also still better,
We've all yes, I guess it reduces waste in the
sense that you're not throwing out five tiny bottles, You're
throwing out one slightly larger bottle, and you're probably reducing
the waist. I don't know, I would guess by that's
(35:05):
I'm just throwing that out there. I'm not great at numbers,
but that would be my guest. But then you've also
got the alternative where sometimes that isn't minimal and we
may not it might not be financially sustainable for us
to be spending a ton of money on these like
larger bulk items. So that's one of those that can
(35:28):
kind of go either way, and we'd have to determine
what will we buy bulk, how will we buy bulk?
Is it worth it to us to be going to
all these different stores to do this? So yeah, there's
the bulk buying is one that I'm I'm curious about.
I'm a little bit on the fence with because yeah,
it does reduce the cost per ounce, but you have
(35:49):
to be selective. So instead of getting everything bulk, you
choose maybe three things. We choose three things that we
buy in bulk. We go to one store, we go
to the store has all of them, or we choose
the store that's closest to them and whatever store, whatever
they have. That's what dictates our bulk. Because driving around
(36:10):
all over also has an environmental impact and it has
a time impact, and we're not about that either. So
sometimes you do have to let your location and what's
available to you dictate what you keep in bulk, and
don't get you don't need to get everything in bulk.
So like, I'm just gonna start with brown rice because
(36:31):
I use brown rice every week and I love that.
Baia said that she keeps a jar on a rotation
of like unique like grains or whatever she wants to try,
so she doesn't have like twenty containers with all these
different bulk things, which can be expensive. She has her
(36:51):
set and then she has one jar or one container
that if there's something interesting that she wants to try,
she'll fill it up and she to use all of
that before she can get something else that she wants
to try. So I actually love that too, Yes, agreed, alright.
This next one, which I am all for, where we
(37:13):
compare frugality with zero waste, is mending our things. So
if something is broken or torn or ripped, we look
at mending and fixing. Mending to me kind of seems
very fabric clothing specific. I would take it a step
further and just say fixing things if something gets broken,
(37:36):
rather than throwing it away, tossing it to the side,
putting it in a junk drawer, how can we make
this thing useful again, work again, serve its purpose again,
and picking up a new skill set in this regard,
I don't think we have to all become seamstresses. But
if there's a hole in our clothing, is there, could
(37:57):
we mend it before we go out and buy new
and just throw it away. So I'm I'm all about
sewing on buttons, patching up our clothes, fixing the things
that are broken, which is going to also mean that
we buy quality things that's worth fixing, that's going to
last us a long time. That's a whole other part
(38:18):
of this. When we do buy that it's quality and
then we can be fixed. Yeah. And and some things
are created to not be able to be fixed. They're
just created cheaply. So that is something we also have
to be intentional about buying. Like the author, Yeah, the
(38:40):
author of this article, did you hear my story about
my nutribullet? Is that what you were bringing up to
Everyone has a story about a nutribullet not and throwing
it out, And I went through two or three. I've
got other friends who, well, Nutribuleet will never sponsor us
because I think that they make crap products, at least
the one the bullets and the rubber like melts away
(39:05):
and it smells, and there's no like, how are you
going to fix the rubber that melts away? Can't I tried? Wow, Well,
I'm glad I'm not the only one. Listen, if you
work for neutro bullet, okay, just let him know. Um.
But this author of this article talks about trying to
return a dehumidifier that didn't work and to the manufacturer instead,
(39:30):
and her husband was like, did you, like, are you
returning that to be fixed? And she didn't even realize
that that's what she would be doing. She just thought
she was going to get a new dehumidifier and she's like, well,
I could try. I could just try to repair it myself. Um,
and I don't necessarily try and recommend trying to repair
something that might be like defunct or just a lemon,
(39:53):
but definitely anything that maybe could use it do a repair,
just trying you to bit I. We had a listener
who just she was listening to us and then she
said that her oven went out or something and she's like,
you know what, I'm just gonna try. I'm just gonna
watch YouTube. Or maybe it was her husband or something,
(40:13):
I don't remember, but they they watched YouTube and it
ended up being like a fix, like to fix. And
and it's not something like if you realize that it's
you're in over your head once you watch the YouTube video,
go get it fixed. But if you don't try, you'll
never know if it's the easy fix or the hard fix.
(40:34):
I will say we've also gotten really great deals on
things that we've been willing to fix that other people
are getting rid of. So, for instance, we've been wanting
this really high end in wall microwave oven combination for
the kitchen that we're renovating. At our house. It's very expensive.
It's like four to five thousand dollars new, and we're like,
(40:56):
we're never doing that. Well, one popped up on Facebook
Marketplace broken for a fraction of that cost, and we
snagged it and Eric is fixing it and we're gonna
have like we're going to keep that out of the
landfill because the manufacturer eventually told this person like, we're
just replacing it, so do what you want with it,
like meaning just like go ahead and throw it out,
(41:18):
this massive appliance. And so them, good on them that
they decided not to just throw it away and find
a new home for it. And then if you do
have some of those problems solving ability to fix things,
now we'll be we'll be able to give it a
new life. We got a great deal and it's gonna
make our kitchen look amazing. So win win, win, win, win,
(41:41):
win win win. When you mend and fix, yeah, and
or if you're not handy like that, you have a
friend that is you can see if they will like
do it for money. Some people like to just toy
around with those things or be helpful and be like, hey,
like I have this, if I got this for or whatever,
(42:01):
would you fix it? I'll pay you And that could
be a thing too, So many options. There's always a
third option. Yes, The next one is probably one of
our favorites, if not our ultimate favorite. It is mindful purchases. Uh,
And that's kind of what we're all about. Intentional spending,
(42:24):
conscious consumerism, mindful purchase, whatever you want to call it,
but realizing what your values are and then making sure
you're all of your spending, not just your discretionary, but
like your your mandatory quote unquote spending as well, is
(42:45):
aligned with those values. I think the hardest part in
that equation isn't making the mindful purchases, it's actually figuring
out what your core values are. Because we are our
core values are so often influenced by media, friends, family,
co workers, jobs, whatever. It's very hard to figure out
(43:07):
what do I actually want to have in my life,
what do I want to live in, What do I
want to acquire, have not have. It's hard to figure
that out, and that's what you need to do in
order to be able to make mindful purchases. And that
on the flip side with also being aware of the
(43:28):
impact behind the things you are consuming. So the journey
that it took to get wherever you are. So this
is some I mean, we're mindful purchases is not just
a tip on some article. It is the foundation of frugality.
I think that's that is when someone asks us to
(43:51):
define frugality, it is some version of mindful spending then
being intentional with or resources. That's it. So done. Yeah,
if my mic was not on a stand, I'd drop
it right now. Yeah, well you could. You could throw
it on the ground if you want, just to prove
(44:12):
your point. No, I love, I love my mic. Just
leave it here. So the article also mentions as a
tip in this space free activities. It might seem at
first like it doesn't fit, but as we engage in
free activities, generally we're not engaging in purchasing things, collecting things,
(44:36):
gathering things, and so there can be a pairing of
engaging in fun free things that means zero waste. So
when we enjoy time on the weekend with friends with
family in things that are free, and we also are
able to implement the refuse, reduce reuse mentality, then this
(45:02):
is a helpful kind of frugal zero waste pairing. MM
and the last one on this list re using containers,
So definitely, if you want to do this, get your
glass jars or look at your thrift stores. I am
still in the market for some more glass containers that
(45:22):
look aesthetically pleasing. I have open shelving and I care
about that stuff, so but uh, there are some pretty
good looking glass containers that food comes in, so be
on the lookout for that. And if you have any suggestions,
d m s on Instagram and let us know what
we should be what food we should be consuming to
(45:43):
get those cool glass jars that or yeah, finding them
second hand. Definitely will not be buying them used. And
I like the tips that they give for how we
can reuse some containers. One of my go two's for
glass jars is to keep hold on to some of them. Again,
this is where it bumps up against my minimalism. I
(46:04):
don't want to have an entire cabinet dedicated to glass
jar empty glass jars. But if I give flowers as
a gift to somebody, or sometimes I'll make like an
anti pasta or an appetizer of some sort, and that's
an easy way to give it to people and not
require them to be giving back the container, So I'll
(46:26):
kind of keep some things around so that I can
gift things to people and not have to purchase containers
for it or be putting the pressure on them to
get my container back to me. Absolutely, but you know what,
there's never any pressure to give back to the people,
and always always does give, never, never, hardly resists zero
(46:48):
waste for sure. That's right. It's time for the best
minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
and his name is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
(47:11):
maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
to pay that bill anymore. US bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
this is the bill of the week. Hi Jen and Jill.
My name is Amy. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
and my bill of the week is my dad, William
but known to everyone else as Bill. My dad was
(47:35):
a minimalistic, frugal, simple living, non materialistic person before it
was cool. He's content with living a simple life, and
so when my brothers and I tried to pick his
brain for potential birthday or Christmas gifts, his response is
usually I could use a new fish filter for his aquarium,
and they cost like ten dollars. So I just want
(47:58):
to say cheers to my dad who keep things simple
but frustrates those of us who want to buy in
presence because he does not care for material things. Thanks ladies,
keep up the good work. Love the show, Oh, Amy Mrie,
I am I am in love with your dad, Bill.
He sounds like the best. Bill sounds so great. Bill.
(48:23):
Thank you for paving the way for your family and
this minimalism, contentment, simple living that doesn't require much. But
you also just sound like an amazing person with rich
relationship with those around you, which I think is what
this can lead to. Like it can be a byproduct,
(48:45):
this minimalism, simple living can lead to contentment, which leads
to Yeah, it can better relationships with people and just
time enjoyed together. And how amazing Amy to hear how
much you enjoy and admire your dad And this well done.
And thanks Bill, what a great Bill. If you want
(49:06):
to submit your bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends
podcast dot com slash Bill to leave us your dad Bill,
your duck Bill, your man Bill, any Bill, And now
it's time for this is uh. This is the part
(49:32):
of the show where our podcast manager Goldie asks us
a question to get us vulnerable. I no longer make
up the questions because Jill feels attacked and I like,
you know too much typically before. Yeah, so now Goldie doesn't.
And now it's fun because I don't see the question
(49:54):
until right before it comes. So this week's question, what
are your comm promise items? So like, not zero waste
but still eco friendly, go for a chum? What is it? Yeah,
you kind of took mine. Um, so can you go
first so that I can think of another one? Um?
(50:16):
I don't know if this is ego friendly, but toilet paper,
I can't give that up. That's mine. That's my no
compromise item. I don't know that there's ever going to
be a time when I say no to toilet paper. However, well,
hold on as I'm thinking out loud, and that problem
solving creative juices are blowing. What's the third way? The
(50:39):
third way is a bad day when it rhymes to
their way is the bidday. That's a lot. That's a
big transition. People who have those Oh, I'm sure they
do have a bidet love their third way. If I
(51:04):
am squirming thinking about it, I, oh, what is my compromise? Yeah? No,
I'll never give up toilet paper. Okay, so here, Okay,
so this isn't zero waste, I guess, but I actually
I like I have to have a certain hair care product,
(51:25):
like shampoo and conditioner. I have heard all of the
ideas and the shampoo bars and the all of the
apple side of it. I've heard all of the ideas.
But if you had my hair, which is very curly
and very thin, you would know that I am fighting
(51:47):
a battle and I can't. I can't go zero waste.
If I had your hair, I'd be ten percent happier.
I mean, but you know what the gift to me
is that I get to look at it. Yeah, and
and my son has the same hair and everyone's always
(52:07):
trying to touch it and complimenting it, and I feel
complemented by proxy because nobody does that to me. But yeah,
but so I think the I do always recycle the
plastic containers that they come in, and I think next
time I will see if I can buy a larger
(52:30):
size than what I currently have. I think those are
my alternative. And okay, so also, I only shampoo my
hair once a week. All the other times I will
condition it, and I only condition it maybe like two
or three times a week. All the other times, I
just like wet it because I do work out most mornings,
and sometimes I'll just either not wash it or just
(52:53):
wet it. So that's a zero waste thing that I do.
But I gotta have I gotta have the right haircre
oh and rest assured. This is not the only area
where where our lives need improvement. There's so many other
shifts and changes we can be making. But I think,
like we said at the beginning, we'll say at the end,
(53:15):
it is about making small adjustments as we go and
as we can see the low hanging fruit of what
needs to shift. Like I got stressed yesterday about the
junk mail that's coming. It's like, well, this shouldn't be
my first step. If I'm also still using paper towels,
I shouldn't be hunting down and spending a ton of
time making sure the local Catholic church doesn't send me
(53:38):
like flyers all the time. It should be what am
I doing in my own personal life currently. Yeah, that
that could be a drastic shift, more drastic than the
flyers that come to my door. Absolutely, Well, thank you
so much for listening to this episode. I hope you've
got some helpful tips that might help you conserve and
(54:02):
steward wisely your natural resources. Thank you for your kind
reviews like this one comes from Brittany says Real Discussions
happens to be five stars. She says, I'm so mad.
I just found this podcast a few days ago. Wish
I would have found it sooner. I thought I was
(54:23):
the only person who obsesses with money every day, all day,
every purchase, every bill. This episode paying Off Debt and
Mental Health with Melanie is amazing. She's so vulnerable and
shared her anxiety related around money O c D anxiety
and I felt all her thoughts. I appreciate this podcast
very much. Thank you, Brittany. Brittany, I love the aggressive
(54:45):
way that you are giving us five stars. It's really beautiful.
You are kindred, spared restinates with Kindred, bad with you
that you just found this podcast. We also want to
thank our friends who share these episodes on social media.
So when you share the latest episode on Instagram, we're
(55:07):
adding you and giving We are adding you to our
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(55:29):
dot com, and don't forget to tag us on social.
See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Syrian Okay, Jen zero waste is blowing my mind and
(55:56):
it's it's invading my life and it's good. It is. Yeah,
And I think I had said this a while ago
when I lived in a tiny home. It got me
so much more connected to my consumption, my waist. I
love that I did learn a lot through that, and
I still have so much to learn. And I don't
(56:17):
know if the main thing that's drawing me to this
movement is just the challenge of it and the creative
problem solving, like I do care, but I honestly think
that like the challenging portion is like the majority of
what is like magnetizing me to it. Yeah, I mean
(56:40):
that's a lot for a lot of people. Here's the
thing that I am realizing. I think to embrace this
lifestyle more, I think it's going to cause me to
be ten percent less clean. Explain I like, I like
I came to that conclusion yesterday, it might not be
(57:02):
like a final conclusion. Well, so I've admitted this before
and it still is a problem. I do have paper
towels in my home, and I do use the paper
towels because I feel like it keeps my hands cleaner.
I'm able to get a better clean on some of
(57:22):
the things in my kitchen and my bathroom and then
get rid of it. Versus if I'm like cleaning things
and I'm using a reusable rag, that either means that
I like, once I use the rag on something that
I perceived to be like dirty, it has to immediately
go into the washer that's not super sustainable, or like
(57:46):
I have to be okay with it just kind of
being more dirty, just you know, like okay. So, for instance,
you were over the other day and I've got one
of those like sink clean out things in my kitchen sink,
and it does collect some debris. I try and scrape
off as much as possible, but there's still like some
food scraps and stuff. And I'm the type of person
(58:07):
who will use like a quarter of a paper towel
to like clean to scrape out what's in there into
the trash can, because it's not always just like this great,
It's not just like the food scraps. It's also some
of the like scum that can start to build up
and so, okay, in the past two days since you've
been over, I'm like, all right, what if I were
(58:28):
to try life without doing that? And so I'm just
doing it with my hands. I'm just like scraping it
out with my hands, and it just feels dirtier, it
feels like a more gross process. I can get okay
with it, but it's just I think that's my realization,
like life just has to be My standards for cleanliness
need to decrease by ten percent in order for me
(58:52):
to engage in this lifestyle. Yes, what if you use
an old toothbrush? We keep an old tooth rush at
our sink because sometimes if you don't want to use
your nails, okay, it just gets into those crevices um
and that is a is a small Yeah, that's a thing.
I do have an old toothbrush under the sink for cleaning.
(59:14):
That's good. That's good. This is good. This is we're brainstorming.
This is good. I'm glad we're finding your third way
so well. But then also then then and then I
used a rag, I'm like, all right, we're pulling out
the rag. The other thing about rags is they're often
too thick, so like I also like paper towels for
(59:36):
how thin they are and how I can get into
crevices easier with how thin it is. I know you're
probably gonna say, use a T shirt, but I don't
the material of a T shirt. But I was gonna say, okay,
that's too thin. So there are these new um they
dry like hard almost and when you get the wet
(59:56):
they are malleable like a paper towel, and then you
just rinse them off and dry them. And I forget
what they're called, but they are like a paper towel
like when wet. And then maybe I could have because
what I also found was all right. Because I was
using a rag, I wiped down the counters and I'm like, oh,
there's a spot on the floor I want to get up.
(01:00:18):
So then I use it on the floor. But now
I'm like, well, I'm I can't use the rag that
I just used on the floor back on the countertop,
So now it's ready for the wash. But the third
way could be that I have one for my countertops
and like you know, my more clean spaces, and one
for my more dirty stuff like wiping the lid of
(01:00:39):
the trash can or the floor boom. Jen look at this,
and and these reusable like paper towel things can just
be rinsed off, maybe with a little bit of soap,
and then dried and it's ready, so you've just washed
it like a soap is supposed to clean things, so
it's like I hand washed it once. I theoretically, ah yeah, okay, wow,
(01:01:03):
I feel energized. I'm gonna go not throw things away.
That consultation is free. Maybe
Episode two ten Tips to live zero waste frugally. Welcome
to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
host Jen and Jill. What What What What What What?
(00:26):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
zero waste living, why it's frugal, and how to do it,
maybe even more frugally than what you may see on
the internet. This is a new topic for me in
(00:46):
some regard. I'm aware that it exists. I've heard about
zero waste, generally the extreme version where someone keeps all
of their waste in a mason jar, and so I'm
just like, oh, well, that's not realistic for me. So
I'm just going to ignore that movement. But seeing more
and more how this actually can be woven into our frugal, minimalist,
(01:10):
simple lifestyle and how it can benefit us our finances,
our environment, our relationships, and yeah, just being a whole
lot more aware of my consumption and my waste. And
I'm excited to have this conversation because it's definitely been
on my mind a lot recently. Well, Yeah, So we've
(01:32):
been in our financial Freedom mentorship. April has been a
zero waste challenge for us. We had an interview on
Earth Day, so originally we wanted to do this episode
on Earth Day, but we don't like change, so we didn't.
So we're doing it a little a little late. But
we have been reading Zero Waste home and doing this
(01:55):
zero waste challenge and it's something that I It's probably
the challenge I've been most excited for because it is
the one I had to learn and change the most for.
So we're really excited to share what we've been learning
with you and um like just kind of demystify what
(02:18):
going zero waste has to be, especially the startup, because
that is what gets most people, is starting the zero
waste lifestyle, because it does have some startup costs, but
not actually as many as you would think. So let's
dive in, shall we, Jill, Let's do it. Yes. First,
(02:39):
this episode is brought to you by Mexico. When this
episode releases, I will be in Mexico, hopefully sitting by
a pool with a drink in my hand. Am I
going with my family? No Am I going with my husband?
No Am I going with Jill. I wish, but no,
it's going to be me and my other lady friends,
the two other friends that I have beside, it's Jill
(03:01):
and some other personal finance nerds because it is actually
a work retreat that just happens to be in Mexico.
And you know why I'm able to be in Mexico
right now because I saved for it. And you can
save for a trip to Mexico without your family too
by starting a sinking fund, preferably in a high yield
(03:22):
savings account. We like Access Bank for its point six
p y and no fees. So if you want to
leave your family on vacation, open a sinking fund. If
you open one at Access at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
slash a x O s every account open supports the
show at no cost to you. And if you're also
(03:45):
a human being who enjoys being with their family and
wants to travel, it's still a good idea to say
for your family vacations. Well, that's not to be Jill.
The substance brought to you by Okay, this about to
you by Mexico without that's I'm sorry. I apologize to
our sponsor. It's Mexico without your family, because that's the
(04:07):
real sponsors to show, not Mexico with your family. Mexico.
I hope we don't lose any fans pepill game him
friends understand sometimes it's nice to be away from your children,
exactly so if you are interested in sustainability and its
(04:29):
intersection with frugality, because we do believe that it is
an integral part not just being a good steward of
your financial resources, but being a good steward of your
natural resources. We do have some other episodes. You can
check out episode forty eight, Why Frugal is the New Green,
Episode one fifty seven we go a little deeper into
(04:50):
eco friendly frugality, and then episode one seventy three, Everyone
needs to cue this one up to play. After this,
we interviewed the author Ron Gonu, who is a pioneer
in the recycling world, on the financial and environmental benefit
of a circular economy. That was not one of our
most popular episodes. It is one of my favorite episodes,
(05:13):
and I just hope everyone will will go in and
hit play next. On episode one seventy three, that's not
gonna say about it, yeah, which I think just goes
to show that we as a collective society are not
talking about this that much. And it also takes a
lot for us to engage in something that we can't
(05:35):
see the immediate benefit to ourselves on. It is much
more easy to tackle the micro level than the macro level.
But I think in this conversation it's the pairing of
the two how the macro level can impact the micro level,
how we in our homes as we aim at zero
waste can benefit us and also are larger society and
(06:00):
context and environment. Absolutely, So let's get into our first article,
and this is straight really straight out of the book
that we've been reading for book club in the membership,
and if you want to check out the membership, you
can check it out at Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
slash f fm. Even after April you'll be able to
(06:23):
get access to our zero waste challenge that we did.
But so this five rs is from the book we
were reading called Zero Waste Home, and we both we've
both like, really enjoyed that book. What have you thought, Jill,
It's really excellent. I think, like what you said, Jen,
this has been probably the most challenging challenge that we
(06:45):
have done yet. In that I really had to shift
a lot and be It raised a lot of curiosity,
a lot of problem solving, a lot of shifting. Whereas
a lot of our other challenges are so fruitful, beneficial, helpful,
I love them. This for me particularly raised some things
(07:07):
that I've never thought about before, where you know, and
no spend challenges like great, there's gonna be some challenging
parts to it, but it didn't didn't cause me to
actually think about the way that I live so much
as this challenge has. That's just me personally. So I
really liked it because I think she answered a lot
of questions, both in this article as well as in
(07:28):
her book for what to do with you know, the
various waste that we might encounter, or how we consume
and actually make this a realistic lifestyle, and the benefits
of it, some of the benefits that I not didn't
even think about previously. So yes, I really enjoyed it.
So you can tell I'm excited to talk about it. Yes.
(07:52):
So the website is Unsustainable Magazine dot com and the
book is Zero Waste Home by Bayat Johnson. So let's
you've heard of the three rs um But she takes
a little bit further with five hour. So let's get
into the first R, which is refuse, so say no
to what you don't need. And it's essentially she's saying,
(08:14):
learn how to say no and mean it. And I think,
as if you are a people pleaser or somebody who
loves free stuff, which should hit a hundred percent of
our listeners on either one of those, this is going
to be a really hard one, but it she says,
it's her favorite R because you have to be intentional
(08:37):
with everything that comes into your home and intentional about
the environmental impact of your actions. So I think this
is one of those boundaries things where we have we
have to Frugality is almost a practice in creating boundaries
between your family, between your friends, and even the greater
(08:59):
world at large. And that's what I really like about
this one. This one was very challenging for me right
off the bat. Yeah, it's amazing. One of those things
that she pointed out that I never really thought about
is how many things people are trying to give us
on a regular basis, even in a daily She gave
(09:21):
a really simple daily life example of you wake up,
you open your door and there's a flyer for lawn
service hanging on the door, so you pull that off.
Then you know, you go to the grocery store and
someone's handing your receipt. Then you go for food and
people are handing you straws and take out stuff that
ends up in the trash, and and then you come
(09:43):
home and your mailbox is full of junk mail. And
there's just like, there's so much coming into our life
on a daily basis, And this is the first step.
And I like how she really describes that. It does
go in order. So Jen and I are volleying back
and forth on what the five hours are, but you
do have to start here with refusing and then moving
(10:04):
into the rest of the four rs and and then
it's kind of like cyclical. But this refusing is really
where it starts as the ability to say no. And
of course that can even include refusing things that people
are wanting to give you that that we talk about
this a lot, refusing gifts, refusing extra things, which is uncomfortable,
(10:29):
but as we train ourselves we can get better at it.
One tip that Beia gives in her book is just
simple answers, not needing to give a long dialogue explanation
or feeling like you need to really defend yourself, but
just practicing the simple things. She is one of her
go toos is I don't have a trash can. Yeah,
(10:53):
like I would be lying if I said that. She's
not lying, but you know that was just like a
simple thing or you know where we are really simple
in our household. We don't have a place for this
whatever it is, but just a simple explanation. So there's
so much more to be said on that. But we're
gonna move on to the second are, which is reduced,
(11:17):
and this is partially that learning to let go once
we've refused. We also then want to move into reducing
how much we have how much uh yeah, we take
in is both in that reduction process. This one's quite
interesting to me because this is a clearing out, Like
(11:40):
to me, this is a wasting But I think with
this are we're being really specific about if there's things
we don't want in our home, we're not simply sending
them to the landfill. We're going to find another home
for them. So this is if you've got extra things
in your pantry or your closet or your toy bin
(12:04):
that you're not utilizing, we are giving it away. So
I see this reduce as part pairing with minimalism, where
we kind of go through this process what don't we need?
But then I think the idea with reduction is we
then don't bring in more. So it's almost like there's
this big process that we go through, but then after
(12:27):
that we learn what we what we actually need, what
we actually utilize, so we're not bringing in more. So
it makes the refusal even easier as we move forward. Yeah,
and I think this right here is like frugality in
a nutshell like this one are like, reduce your consumption,
(12:48):
reduce your spending, don't eliminate. We're not. We're not eliminating.
We're reducing down to what's best for us, what's best
for the environment, and finding the balance within that. And
and so I this is always been my true north
when figuring out what's frugal and what's not. Is like
(13:13):
not what can I get the best deal on? Do
I get it for free? Like stuff like that? But
is it a is it a reduction of everything? All
of the clutter and the noise that the world continuously
brings into my life? Does it somehow reduce that? Like
and I know that's kind of like bigger picture than
just zero waste, but I just have always been obsessed
(13:36):
with like the three RS. And so to find out
that the book was kind of based around five hours,
I was like, Okay, I didn't know this when I
started reading, but yeah, so I really believe that. And
we've said it before, you can't buy your way to green.
And so the first one is super challenging, like like
(13:57):
refusing things that are free I have a hard time with.
And I'm definitely going to give this episode to Travis
because he has an even harder time with that. But
this one I love and embrace so wholeheartedly. But yeah,
so like this one is I have nothing more to say.
This is great, but it also says like the life
(14:19):
you had before you were refusing all the things you accumulated,
those are things you're going to have to reduce. So
like all of the tiny little shampoo and body wash
bottles that you get from the hotels or the airbnb s,
those have to go. And uh I have I have
quite a few of them, but use them first. That's see,
(14:40):
That's where I like the zero waste like is kind
of hard for me because in the in the minimalism too,
like I have a junk drawer because I'm not just
going to get rid of things that I will use,
Like I know I will use body wash and shampoo.
I just haven't yet. So that's why there's this like
it's not either or it's just finding the synergy of
(15:03):
all of it. Well, there is a tough tension because
I think that some zero waste sters, if I can
put a title to it, some zero wasters will go
the direction of just keeping everything to keep it out
of a landfill. That can be a picture in our
mind of people who go zero waste. At one end
of the spectrum is we utilize everything. If it's a
(15:27):
paper plate, we're not throwing it away. We're going to
somehow figure out how to wash and dry that paper
plate and keep using it. And we're going to have
containers everywhere cluttering everything. And so I think what what
we're advocating for, and this article is advocating for, is
the pairing of zero waste with a minimalist lifestyle. So
(15:49):
you have less, you're bringing less into the home, you're
not just maintaining your lifestyle, and yet not throwing anything
away because that that's what moves to words hoarding, and
that's not a lifestyle that we want to advocate for
just for mental and emotional and physical health. So there
is but there is a tension there because as you
(16:11):
begin this, there is gonna be a certainly a startup
cost and a waste startup, if that's a word like.
There is gonna be a lot that you're getting rid
of in this process. But then the hope is that
that's not the lifestyle that you keep living of bringing
in a ton of stuff that just needs to find
(16:32):
its way to the landfill. Mm hmm. Yeah. So let's
move on from refuse and reduce to reuse. And this
is maybe the one that I have the second hardest
time with. I do love reusable water bottles, reusable cloth, napkins.
(16:54):
There are some things that I do use a lot
of reusables, and then there's just some that I like,
I am not the person that has the cabinets full
of old glass jars from foods and and that's kind
of the minimalist in me, because I have what I
have and I just I will recycle the rest. But
(17:15):
so I was challenged in that instead of just getting
single use plastic to get more things that come in glass,
because glass is much easier to recycle than plastics, because
not all plastics are recyclable. I keep learning that, like
and not eat one plastic that's recyclable here isn't recyclable there,
(17:38):
but the glass is. And so that was one thing
with the reuse that I have been inspired to do.
But there are a few other things. So like she
gives some examples, So paper tissues can be replaced with handkerchiefs.
You can get straight edge razors instead of disposable razors,
(17:59):
cotton closs and set of dish sponges, loose tea and
set of tea bags. Um. I actually did not buy
coffee filters for my coffee maker. I just reused a
reusable It already had a reusable filter in there. I
just kept a filter on it because I liked it,
(18:20):
didn't like the residue at the bottom, and then I
was like, Jen, you're grown up, get over it. So
there have been some things that I've been challenged to
like do more of, and I think that's that's great.
We do things in steps and stages, and we continually
taken knowledge and surround ourselves with people that challenge us
to just be a little bit better every year. Yeah,
(18:41):
I love this list. This list is an excellent place
to start. And there's so many things that I see
on here that I can shift in my own lifestyle.
What's one thing that you're going to shift? Okay, that
I will shift. Yeah, I'm putting you on the spot, Jill,
(19:01):
I know, yeah, I'm looking at it. So the paper
and plastic bags. I definitely bring my own bags to
like all the or Trader Joe's because they forced you
to do that. But let's say I shop at Walmart
or anywhere else. I don't and I just didn't ever
think about it, Like I think, oh, well they have bags,
but here's a store that they don't have bags. So done. Now,
(19:25):
any time I go into any store, I have my
reusable bags in my car, like they're already there. For
those other grocery stores, I'm going to start utilizing that. Now.
Here's my one barrier, because we're going on a side
tangent now, apparently, is that I will use those bags,
the plastic ones from Walmart or Home Depot for trash
(19:46):
bags in my bathroom. But then that's what brings up
that whole other issue of what if I stopped making
as much trash, But I think it's not really I'm
going to make trash. I'm not. I'm know that I'm
not going to be the person who ends up with
their annual trash and a Mason Mason jar. But then
I would have to figure out an alternative trash bag
(20:08):
for my bathroom. Well, I think also there's always going
to be people trying to get rid of their plastic bags.
So if you are ever in a pinch where you
need plastic bags like grocery bags for your bathroom, you
can just go on and buy nothing group and say
I'll take these off your hands. Or you go to
the grocery store and they have recycling bins for those
(20:29):
bags because they're not recyclable in regular recycling bins, and
you just stick your hand in there and pull some out.
And I'm at least for using it, giving the life
of the thing a little bit longer, more uses, which
I think is also a part of that reuse. Sometimes
it does end up getting thrown out, but how much
(20:51):
more life can we get out of any kind of
product also helps. And and you, Jill, you're the one
that taught me about like always think of the third option.
There's always a third option. There's the yes and the know,
and those are usually very obvious, but if you sit
down and just think about it a little bit longer,
(21:14):
there's always a third option. And sometimes there's you know,
four or eight options, but you just have to think
about it a little long. And that's the same with
what we say about frugality. It's not inconvenient, it's not
it's just not the most convenient. You just think about
sit down, think about it for a few minutes or
a few days, and and see find what the third
(21:36):
option is. I think that is what's so challenging about this,
But I like it. I enjoy the creativity, the problem solving,
the curiosity that this challenge has created of Okay, I
could do this, then what what's the ripple effect of that?
How can I solve for that? What might else need
to change and shift? Where could I make more shifts?
(21:58):
And it just it's been this like really rich challenge.
Mhm alright, let's get to the fourth are. The fourth
R is recycle, and we only get to the fourth
ARE once we've made it through the other three. So
recycling is for the things that we can't refuse, reduce,
(22:21):
or reuse. And I love how Beia highlights this. She
shares how often she people are aware of her zero
waste lifestyle and they're like, oh, yeah, me too, I
recycle everything, and she's like, that's totally not it. I
mean like she's excited for them with like where they're
(22:42):
at in their process and journey. But we don't want
to stop there. It's not just oh great, we recycle,
because there's so much to be said about the recycling
industry and how much has not been solved for how
unaware we are as a society of how to recycle. Well,
there's a lack of or like businesses, corporations, companies who
(23:04):
are utilizing recycled material, there's a lack of consumers buying
recycled material, like once it has been recycled into something new,
we have a problem with not actually purchasing those recycled items.
Were still buying the single use items. So there's there.
It's not as if we can just put our recycling
out by the road and be like pat ourselves on
(23:26):
the back, done deal, I did my due diligence. No,
there's so much more that goes into it, which is
really disheartening for me because I was in that camp
of yeah, I recycled, I'm like, I'm doing such a
good thing. And then there's this whole myth around recycling.
So we only do this once we've exhausted the first
(23:48):
three rs and and then we need to do our
due diligence and doing it well, well, what can be recycled,
make sure our recyclables are cleaned out, making sure that
we're not recycling a ton of stuff off because again,
we don't have a system that can actually support the
way that we're doing recycling right now. Yeah, and if
you are not recycling and this is where you need
(24:11):
to start, that's fine, that's absolutely fine. You know, whatever
you have in your refrigerator right now that you can
recycle when you're done using it, start with that and
then start to refuse and reduce and reuse. Whatever you
can start with today is good enough. But yeah, there
(24:32):
are so many people that just sit on that and
be like, oh, I did the one thing I did,
I did eco sustainability, and it's really recycling is much
more confusing. It's it actually makes me angry every time
I go to recycle something because I'm like, I either
have to do a lot to get it to be
(24:53):
recyclable or I just don't and I just put it
in and I'm like, I don't really know, and then
i end up I don't want to contaminate the recycling,
so I throw it away, like unting is a common
experience for me when I recycle, Like anytime I go
to my recycling bin, I it is paired with a
(25:14):
feeling of uncertainty, and that's not the greatest, right, which
is why I think reducing is again the key, Like
reduce what you buy and you reduce what you recycle,
and if you can rethink, like when I'm now purchasing
(25:34):
instead of my next move is like so I've I've
switched to like mayonnaise only in glass jars, and so
now I'm just gonna move my condiments, like when I rebuy,
I'm gonna try to do everything in glass, because I
know glass, like clear glass, definitely recyclable, and just things
that I don't have to be so confused about, like
(25:56):
the paper around the glass might not be I think
true recycling as you have to pull it off, you've
got to clean it really well, get the glue as
much as possible. Yeah, yeah, which I can do that enough.
But but yeah, so recycling is not what we want
to rest on. It's definitely the reducing and reusing as
(26:19):
much as possible, and that takes us to our last
are which I actually I like and Jill very much likes.
But it's rot and that is compost it. Yeah, so
Jill actually likes it because she does use the compost.
I it just makes me feel better about not wasting.
(26:41):
I don't do anything with the compost, but it is
a way to use your food scraps. And I actually
learned you can use a lot more in compost depending
on the type of compost you have. You use a
lot more, put a lot more in there than I
thought you could. Um dryer forgiving dryer land, hard bores. Yeah,
(27:07):
I had even putting food like like animal waste. I
guess she has like a special compost. I don't know
if it's special, but yeah, she is not a vegan
by any means, Like, so she puts her animal waste, um,
not her animal like pet waste. She said, even there's
(27:28):
time you could Yeah, so it's it's vast. Yeah, yeah,
I've got to learn more about that. For me, I've
got to but because I know that if you put
animal waste into like food scraps into your compost, that's
when you can get pests. So there definitely is a
way to go about that in a in a way
(27:50):
where you wouldn't have rats around your garden that's not mine.
And if you are not a gardener, if you have
a black thumb, then you can create composts and maybe
trade it with other people who do have it for
their fresh veggies that they have, like when stuff whatever
is in season that are they're trying to get rid of.
(28:12):
So that's an option if you do not want to
grow your own food, um, that can be a way
to kind of use the compost and still get some
of the benefits of people who do know how to
garden and grow things. Yeah, that's a great list. We
encourage you to try it. But we also want to
(28:33):
move into talking about how we compare frugal tips with
zero waste. So we are talking about frugal zero waste.
So this next article we're getting into is seven easy
frugal tips that are also sustainable. So this is from
(28:56):
Rainbow Vegans Rock dot com. I'm very much I very
much like that you are l Rainbow Vegans rock. Here
we go. So the first tip on here is to
buy second hand. And you all know this this list
if you've been listening to frugal friends for a long time.
Nothing on this list is going to be new to you.
(29:18):
But we're looking at it from the perspective of sustainability
and zero waste, or at least reducing waste. I mean,
even Bia in her book describes that zero waste is
nearly impossible in the culture that we live in, but
we're aiming at it. It's something to aim at. And
so when we buy second hand, this continues to keep
(29:38):
things out of the landfill. It allows us to reuse
and almost kind of recycle or up cycle things. Of course,
we still want to be aiming at reduction in this process.
We don't want to go buy second hand just because
it's a deal and bringing more things into our house
(29:59):
that we may not need and might find its way
to the trash can quicker. But when we do need something,
this is the first place we should be going to.
Whether it's an actual physical thrift store or it's Craigslist
or Facebook, marketplace or eBay, these are the spots that
(30:19):
we should be going to to find the items that
we need again to take from somebody else who's not
going to be using it anymore, to put that thing
to use, to keep them from throwing it away. And
this is also a solution for us, not just in
buying second hand, but when we don't need something anymore.
These are the places we should be going to to
(30:41):
be donating or selling. Yeah, and we went thrift ng
this weekend, Jill. We did. We got some. I was
looking for things for our frugal friends party. Didn't find
what I needed, but I did find Actually I found
this shirt. I needed more. I found this. Sure needed
another look at us. We're so excited to wear our
(31:03):
new shirts. I realized I don't have any like professional
short sleeve shirts. I always it's either like a dress
that I wear or a lightweight long sleeve or sleeveless.
But I only have one other short sleeve shirt, so
I got a second one. So now I have two
professional short sleeve shirts. So you're either going to see
(31:24):
this or my black one. Love that? Uh? Yeah, and
so I don't particularly love thrift ng like I. We
went to one thrift store and afterwards I was like exhausted.
So typically I do most of my thrift ng online.
Um we use thread up. We have a promo code
for ten dollars off thread up at for Girlfriends podcast
(31:45):
dot com slash thread up No. A. And then posh
Mark eBay. I love eBay. Their prices are usually cheaper
than posh Mark and it's the same exact things they
post them in both places. And then this one also
says deep pop um or Facebook Marketplace, So there are
plenty of places to get secondhand that are not a
(32:07):
thrift store too. The second one on this list is
bulk buying. Uh. And so when Jill and I were
originally talking about this, she thought I meant like Sam's
Club Costco bulk buying, and then I was like, I
want glass containers for bulk buying, and she didn't know
(32:28):
what I was talking about. But this is like at
your health food store where you're filling up your own
container of shelf stable like products. Um. And so that's
something that I'm going to try and move towards and
trying to bring instead of using the plastic bags they give,
trying to bring my own glass containers that are uniform
(32:52):
in size. I'm just not here for bringing seven different
types of jars and getting them all teared and then
going to fill them up. I'm here for for simplicity,
So I might just start with one maybe brown rice.
I think I'm due for a brown rice refill. So
but yeah, I I am very interested to try this
(33:15):
and see the price difference. See yes, there, as with
some other things like minimalism, eco friendly, sustainability, zero waste,
there is a version of this that could go not
(33:36):
super frugal. We can, in anything, spend a ton of money,
although if it's within our values and something we really
want to aim at, then it can be frugal living.
But again that intentionality with our finances, with our lifestyle.
So I think we all have to find what is
(33:58):
what's gonna work for us, because going to seven different stores,
spending all of the time and energy to make your
own laundry detergent, butter men clothes, like to do all
of the things as if we were living in fifteen
twenty two might not work for everybody. So there is
(34:20):
definitely a lot of room in here to figure out
what how does this pair with your version of frugality,
And like you said, Jen, just being doing a little
bit better each day towards the goals that we have stated.
I will say this article does highlight bulk buying in
your large what is it, the big box stores like
(34:43):
your Costco or your Sam's Club. Now we've also still better,
We've all yes, I guess it reduces waste in the
sense that you're not throwing out five tiny bottles, You're
throwing out one slightly larger bottle, and you're probably reducing
the waist. I don't know, I would guess by that's
(35:05):
I'm just throwing that out there. I'm not great at numbers,
but that would be my guest. But then you've also
got the alternative where sometimes that isn't minimal and we
may not it might not be financially sustainable for us
to be spending a ton of money on these like
larger bulk items. So that's one of those that can
(35:28):
kind of go either way, and we'd have to determine
what will we buy bulk, how will we buy bulk?
Is it worth it to us to be going to
all these different stores to do this? So yeah, there's
the bulk buying is one that I'm I'm curious about.
I'm a little bit on the fence with because yeah,
it does reduce the cost per ounce, but you have
(35:49):
to be selective. So instead of getting everything bulk, you
choose maybe three things. We choose three things that we
buy in bulk. We go to one store, we go
to the store has all of them, or we choose
the store that's closest to them and whatever store, whatever
they have. That's what dictates our bulk. Because driving around
(36:10):
all over also has an environmental impact and it has
a time impact, and we're not about that either. So
sometimes you do have to let your location and what's
available to you dictate what you keep in bulk, and
don't get you don't need to get everything in bulk.
So like, I'm just gonna start with brown rice because
(36:31):
I use brown rice every week and I love that.
Baia said that she keeps a jar on a rotation
of like unique like grains or whatever she wants to try,
so she doesn't have like twenty containers with all these
different bulk things, which can be expensive. She has her
(36:51):
set and then she has one jar or one container
that if there's something interesting that she wants to try,
she'll fill it up and she to use all of
that before she can get something else that she wants
to try. So I actually love that too, Yes, agreed, alright.
This next one, which I am all for, where we
(37:13):
compare frugality with zero waste, is mending our things. So
if something is broken or torn or ripped, we look
at mending and fixing. Mending to me kind of seems
very fabric clothing specific. I would take it a step
further and just say fixing things if something gets broken,
(37:36):
rather than throwing it away, tossing it to the side,
putting it in a junk drawer, how can we make
this thing useful again, work again, serve its purpose again,
and picking up a new skill set in this regard,
I don't think we have to all become seamstresses. But
if there's a hole in our clothing, is there, could
(37:57):
we mend it before we go out and buy new
and just throw it away. So I'm I'm all about
sewing on buttons, patching up our clothes, fixing the things
that are broken, which is going to also mean that
we buy quality things that's worth fixing, that's going to
last us a long time. That's a whole other part
(38:18):
of this. When we do buy that it's quality and
then we can be fixed. Yeah. And and some things
are created to not be able to be fixed. They're
just created cheaply. So that is something we also have
to be intentional about buying. Like the author, Yeah, the
(38:40):
author of this article, did you hear my story about
my nutribullet? Is that what you were bringing up to
Everyone has a story about a nutribullet not and throwing
it out, And I went through two or three. I've
got other friends who, well, Nutribuleet will never sponsor us
because I think that they make crap products, at least
the one the bullets and the rubber like melts away
(39:05):
and it smells, and there's no like, how are you
going to fix the rubber that melts away? Can't I tried? Wow, Well,
I'm glad I'm not the only one. Listen, if you
work for neutro bullet, okay, just let him know. Um.
But this author of this article talks about trying to
return a dehumidifier that didn't work and to the manufacturer instead,
(39:30):
and her husband was like, did you, like, are you
returning that to be fixed? And she didn't even realize
that that's what she would be doing. She just thought
she was going to get a new dehumidifier and she's like, well,
I could try. I could just try to repair it myself. Um,
and I don't necessarily try and recommend trying to repair
something that might be like defunct or just a lemon,
(39:53):
but definitely anything that maybe could use it do a repair,
just trying you to bit I. We had a listener
who just she was listening to us and then she
said that her oven went out or something and she's like,
you know what, I'm just gonna try. I'm just gonna
watch YouTube. Or maybe it was her husband or something,
(40:13):
I don't remember, but they they watched YouTube and it
ended up being like a fix, like to fix. And
and it's not something like if you realize that it's
you're in over your head once you watch the YouTube video,
go get it fixed. But if you don't try, you'll
never know if it's the easy fix or the hard fix.
(40:34):
I will say we've also gotten really great deals on
things that we've been willing to fix that other people
are getting rid of. So, for instance, we've been wanting
this really high end in wall microwave oven combination for
the kitchen that we're renovating. At our house. It's very expensive.
It's like four to five thousand dollars new, and we're like,
(40:56):
we're never doing that. Well, one popped up on Facebook
Marketplace broken for a fraction of that cost, and we
snagged it and Eric is fixing it and we're gonna
have like we're going to keep that out of the
landfill because the manufacturer eventually told this person like, we're
just replacing it, so do what you want with it,
like meaning just like go ahead and throw it out,
(41:18):
this massive appliance. And so them, good on them that
they decided not to just throw it away and find
a new home for it. And then if you do
have some of those problems solving ability to fix things,
now we'll be we'll be able to give it a
new life. We got a great deal and it's gonna
make our kitchen look amazing. So win win, win, win, win,
(41:41):
win win win. When you mend and fix, yeah, and
or if you're not handy like that, you have a
friend that is you can see if they will like
do it for money. Some people like to just toy
around with those things or be helpful and be like, hey,
like I have this, if I got this for or whatever,
(42:01):
would you fix it? I'll pay you And that could
be a thing too, So many options. There's always a
third option. Yes, The next one is probably one of
our favorites, if not our ultimate favorite. It is mindful purchases. Uh,
And that's kind of what we're all about. Intentional spending,
(42:24):
conscious consumerism, mindful purchase, whatever you want to call it,
but realizing what your values are and then making sure
you're all of your spending, not just your discretionary, but
like your your mandatory quote unquote spending as well, is
(42:45):
aligned with those values. I think the hardest part in
that equation isn't making the mindful purchases, it's actually figuring
out what your core values are. Because we are our
core values are so often influenced by media, friends, family,
co workers, jobs, whatever. It's very hard to figure out
(43:07):
what do I actually want to have in my life,
what do I want to live in, What do I
want to acquire, have not have. It's hard to figure
that out, and that's what you need to do in
order to be able to make mindful purchases. And that
on the flip side with also being aware of the
(43:28):
impact behind the things you are consuming. So the journey
that it took to get wherever you are. So this
is some I mean, we're mindful purchases is not just
a tip on some article. It is the foundation of frugality.
I think that's that is when someone asks us to
(43:51):
define frugality, it is some version of mindful spending then
being intentional with or resources. That's it. So done. Yeah,
if my mic was not on a stand, I'd drop
it right now. Yeah, well you could. You could throw
it on the ground if you want, just to prove
(44:12):
your point. No, I love, I love my mic. Just
leave it here. So the article also mentions as a
tip in this space free activities. It might seem at
first like it doesn't fit, but as we engage in
free activities, generally we're not engaging in purchasing things, collecting things,
(44:36):
gathering things, and so there can be a pairing of
engaging in fun free things that means zero waste. So
when we enjoy time on the weekend with friends with
family in things that are free, and we also are
able to implement the refuse, reduce reuse mentality, then this
(45:02):
is a helpful kind of frugal zero waste pairing. MM
and the last one on this list re using containers,
So definitely, if you want to do this, get your
glass jars or look at your thrift stores. I am
still in the market for some more glass containers that
(45:22):
look aesthetically pleasing. I have open shelving and I care
about that stuff, so but uh, there are some pretty
good looking glass containers that food comes in, so be
on the lookout for that. And if you have any suggestions,
d m s on Instagram and let us know what
we should be what food we should be consuming to
(45:43):
get those cool glass jars that or yeah, finding them
second hand. Definitely will not be buying them used. And
I like the tips that they give for how we
can reuse some containers. One of my go two's for
glass jars is to keep hold on to some of them. Again,
this is where it bumps up against my minimalism. I
(46:04):
don't want to have an entire cabinet dedicated to glass
jar empty glass jars. But if I give flowers as
a gift to somebody, or sometimes I'll make like an
anti pasta or an appetizer of some sort, and that's
an easy way to give it to people and not
require them to be giving back the container, So I'll
(46:26):
kind of keep some things around so that I can
gift things to people and not have to purchase containers
for it or be putting the pressure on them to
get my container back to me. Absolutely, but you know what,
there's never any pressure to give back to the people,
and always always does give, never, never, hardly resists zero
(46:48):
waste for sure. That's right. It's time for the best
minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
and his name is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
(47:11):
maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
to pay that bill anymore. US bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
this is the bill of the week. Hi Jen and Jill.
My name is Amy. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
and my bill of the week is my dad, William
but known to everyone else as Bill. My dad was
(47:35):
a minimalistic, frugal, simple living, non materialistic person before it
was cool. He's content with living a simple life, and
so when my brothers and I tried to pick his
brain for potential birthday or Christmas gifts, his response is
usually I could use a new fish filter for his aquarium,
and they cost like ten dollars. So I just want
(47:58):
to say cheers to my dad who keep things simple
but frustrates those of us who want to buy in
presence because he does not care for material things. Thanks ladies,
keep up the good work. Love the show, Oh, Amy Mrie,
I am I am in love with your dad, Bill.
He sounds like the best. Bill sounds so great. Bill.
(48:23):
Thank you for paving the way for your family and
this minimalism, contentment, simple living that doesn't require much. But
you also just sound like an amazing person with rich
relationship with those around you, which I think is what
this can lead to. Like it can be a byproduct,
(48:45):
this minimalism, simple living can lead to contentment, which leads
to Yeah, it can better relationships with people and just
time enjoyed together. And how amazing Amy to hear how
much you enjoy and admire your dad And this well done.
And thanks Bill, what a great Bill. If you want
(49:06):
to submit your bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends
podcast dot com slash Bill to leave us your dad Bill,
your duck Bill, your man Bill, any Bill, And now
it's time for this is uh. This is the part
(49:32):
of the show where our podcast manager Goldie asks us
a question to get us vulnerable. I no longer make
up the questions because Jill feels attacked and I like,
you know too much typically before. Yeah, so now Goldie doesn't.
And now it's fun because I don't see the question
(49:54):
until right before it comes. So this week's question, what
are your comm promise items? So like, not zero waste
but still eco friendly, go for a chum? What is it? Yeah,
you kind of took mine. Um, so can you go
first so that I can think of another one? Um?
(50:16):
I don't know if this is ego friendly, but toilet paper,
I can't give that up. That's mine. That's my no
compromise item. I don't know that there's ever going to
be a time when I say no to toilet paper. However, well,
hold on as I'm thinking out loud, and that problem
solving creative juices are blowing. What's the third way? The
(50:39):
third way is a bad day when it rhymes to
their way is the bidday. That's a lot. That's a
big transition. People who have those Oh, I'm sure they
do have a bidet love their third way. If I
(51:04):
am squirming thinking about it, I, oh, what is my compromise? Yeah? No,
I'll never give up toilet paper. Okay, so here, Okay,
so this isn't zero waste, I guess, but I actually
I like I have to have a certain hair care product,
(51:25):
like shampoo and conditioner. I have heard all of the
ideas and the shampoo bars and the all of the
apple side of it. I've heard all of the ideas.
But if you had my hair, which is very curly
and very thin, you would know that I am fighting
(51:47):
a battle and I can't. I can't go zero waste.
If I had your hair, I'd be ten percent happier.
I mean, but you know what the gift to me
is that I get to look at it. Yeah, and
and my son has the same hair and everyone's always
(52:07):
trying to touch it and complimenting it, and I feel
complemented by proxy because nobody does that to me. But yeah,
but so I think the I do always recycle the
plastic containers that they come in, and I think next
time I will see if I can buy a larger
(52:30):
size than what I currently have. I think those are
my alternative. And okay, so also, I only shampoo my
hair once a week. All the other times I will
condition it, and I only condition it maybe like two
or three times a week. All the other times, I
just like wet it because I do work out most mornings,
and sometimes I'll just either not wash it or just
(52:53):
wet it. So that's a zero waste thing that I do.
But I gotta have I gotta have the right haircre
oh and rest assured. This is not the only area
where where our lives need improvement. There's so many other
shifts and changes we can be making. But I think,
like we said at the beginning, we'll say at the end,
(53:15):
it is about making small adjustments as we go and
as we can see the low hanging fruit of what
needs to shift. Like I got stressed yesterday about the
junk mail that's coming. It's like, well, this shouldn't be
my first step. If I'm also still using paper towels,
I shouldn't be hunting down and spending a ton of
time making sure the local Catholic church doesn't send me
(53:38):
like flyers all the time. It should be what am
I doing in my own personal life currently. Yeah, that
that could be a drastic shift, more drastic than the
flyers that come to my door. Absolutely, Well, thank you
so much for listening to this episode. I hope you've
got some helpful tips that might help you conserve and
(54:02):
steward wisely your natural resources. Thank you for your kind
reviews like this one comes from Brittany says Real Discussions
happens to be five stars. She says, I'm so mad.
I just found this podcast a few days ago. Wish
I would have found it sooner. I thought I was
(54:23):
the only person who obsesses with money every day, all day,
every purchase, every bill. This episode paying Off Debt and
Mental Health with Melanie is amazing. She's so vulnerable and
shared her anxiety related around money O c D anxiety
and I felt all her thoughts. I appreciate this podcast
very much. Thank you, Brittany. Brittany, I love the aggressive
(54:45):
way that you are giving us five stars. It's really beautiful.
You are kindred, spared restinates with Kindred, bad with you
that you just found this podcast. We also want to
thank our friends who share these episodes on social media.
So when you share the latest episode on Instagram, we're
(55:07):
adding you and giving We are adding you to our
monthly drawing, so four every five tags and reviews we
get each month, we do then give away fifty dollars
for you to spend in the Frugal Friends shop. So
please keep leaving us reviews wherever you listen to podcasts
and sending the screenshots to reviews at Frugal Friends podcast
(55:29):
dot com, and don't forget to tag us on social.
See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Syrian Okay, Jen zero waste is blowing my mind and
(55:56):
it's it's invading my life and it's good. It is. Yeah,
And I think I had said this a while ago
when I lived in a tiny home. It got me
so much more connected to my consumption, my waist. I
love that I did learn a lot through that, and
I still have so much to learn. And I don't
(56:17):
know if the main thing that's drawing me to this
movement is just the challenge of it and the creative
problem solving, like I do care, but I honestly think
that like the challenging portion is like the majority of
what is like magnetizing me to it. Yeah, I mean
(56:40):
that's a lot for a lot of people. Here's the
thing that I am realizing. I think to embrace this
lifestyle more, I think it's going to cause me to
be ten percent less clean. Explain I like, I like
I came to that conclusion yesterday, it might not be
(57:02):
like a final conclusion. Well, so I've admitted this before
and it still is a problem. I do have paper
towels in my home, and I do use the paper
towels because I feel like it keeps my hands cleaner.
I'm able to get a better clean on some of
(57:22):
the things in my kitchen and my bathroom and then
get rid of it. Versus if I'm like cleaning things
and I'm using a reusable rag, that either means that
I like, once I use the rag on something that
I perceived to be like dirty, it has to immediately
go into the washer that's not super sustainable, or like
(57:46):
I have to be okay with it just kind of
being more dirty, just you know, like okay. So, for instance,
you were over the other day and I've got one
of those like sink clean out things in my kitchen sink,
and it does collect some debris. I try and scrape
off as much as possible, but there's still like some
food scraps and stuff. And I'm the type of person
(58:07):
who will use like a quarter of a paper towel
to like clean to scrape out what's in there into
the trash can, because it's not always just like this great,
It's not just like the food scraps. It's also some
of the like scum that can start to build up
and so, okay, in the past two days since you've
been over, I'm like, all right, what if I were
(58:28):
to try life without doing that? And so I'm just
doing it with my hands. I'm just like scraping it
out with my hands, and it just feels dirtier, it
feels like a more gross process. I can get okay
with it, but it's just I think that's my realization,
like life just has to be My standards for cleanliness
need to decrease by ten percent in order for me
(58:52):
to engage in this lifestyle. Yes, what if you use
an old toothbrush? We keep an old tooth rush at
our sink because sometimes if you don't want to use
your nails, okay, it just gets into those crevices um
and that is a is a small Yeah, that's a thing.
I do have an old toothbrush under the sink for cleaning.
(59:14):
That's good. That's good. This is good. This is we're brainstorming.
This is good. I'm glad we're finding your third way
so well. But then also then then and then I
used a rag, I'm like, all right, we're pulling out
the rag. The other thing about rags is they're often
too thick, so like I also like paper towels for
(59:36):
how thin they are and how I can get into
crevices easier with how thin it is. I know you're
probably gonna say, use a T shirt, but I don't
the material of a T shirt. But I was gonna say, okay,
that's too thin. So there are these new um they
dry like hard almost and when you get the wet
(59:56):
they are malleable like a paper towel, and then you
just rinse them off and dry them. And I forget
what they're called, but they are like a paper towel
like when wet. And then maybe I could have because
what I also found was all right. Because I was
using a rag, I wiped down the counters and I'm like, oh,
there's a spot on the floor I want to get up.
(01:00:18):
So then I use it on the floor. But now
I'm like, well, I'm I can't use the rag that
I just used on the floor back on the countertop,
So now it's ready for the wash. But the third
way could be that I have one for my countertops
and like you know, my more clean spaces, and one
for my more dirty stuff like wiping the lid of
(01:00:39):
the trash can or the floor boom. Jen look at this,
and and these reusable like paper towel things can just
be rinsed off, maybe with a little bit of soap,
and then dried and it's ready, so you've just washed
it like a soap is supposed to clean things, so
it's like I hand washed it once. I theoretically, ah yeah, okay, wow,
(01:01:03):
I feel energized. I'm gonna go not throw things away.
That consultation is free. Maybe
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