Frugal Friends Book Club: 4 Minimalism & Simple Living Books to Read in 2024

Published Dec 26, 2023, 7:00 AM

Need something to freshen up your mind for the coming year? We've got you covered! In this episode, Jen and Jill deliver your requested book genre for the book club, which is all about minimalism, simple living, and cleaning up clutter.

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Episode three sixty six Frugal Friends book Club for Minimalism and simple Living Books to read in twenty twenty four.

Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.

Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill. And today we have another edition of our Frugal Friends book Club. And if you get the friend Letter, if you subscribe to our newsletter, the Friend Letter that comes out three times a week, we ask what genre do you want our next book club to be in? And overwhelming Lee, you said you wanted books on minimalism, simple living, clearing out the clutter in twenty twenty four fresh start all of that, and so here are four books with our proved method of selection, scientific method for you to read.

It cuts me every time. I don't know, We've done how many book club episodes, and I always forget what the method is until you say it at this point in the podcast and it makes me laugh. But yes, proven and scientific. But first, this episode is brought to you by skipping it, just just skipping it, because sometimes the absence of something is better than the presence of something, whether it was skipping school when you were younger, or skipping that those holiday get togethers this month, there's nothing that makes you feel quite as cool as skipping it. And if this feeling is something you want to hold on to, you want to keep trying this out, try skipping it with us in a no spend January. So basically, we're going to give you all the tips tricks that you need through the friend Letter to engage in a no spend January, to skip it, skip the spending, skip, skip all the unnecessary frills, and really hone in on your money and your spending plan in the new year. So sign up for the friend Letter to get this whole month of tips to help you reset your spending habits. Frugal friendspodcast dot com. Yeah, you can get it there forule friendspodcast dot com.

Yes, we are excited for no spend January. Jill will be documenting her journey in the friend Letter. I will be documenting my journey on Instagram and TikTok, at Modern Frugality and at Frugal Friends Podcast. We'll get it's the same. It's going to be the same videos throughout. Don't expect more from me than I'm capable of. But we are very excited because we know that so many of you do No Spend January, so many of you want to do No Spend January, and we literally want to walk through it with you holding your hand, knowing that you're not alone in what you're experiencing. There are ways through. These are the ways through. These are the ways that you take your experiences success and not and apply it to do better for the rest of twenty twenty four. A No Spend challenge is not about thirty days of saving money and then binging in February. It's about really honing in to improve your spending habits for the rest of the year. And that's the mindset we're taking in. So sign up for the friend letter, follow Modern Frugality and Frugal Friends podcast on Instagram and we'll see you there. But first, something we will be doing in No Spend January is reading. And if you want to pick up a book from the library reserve it in advance, then these are some really good ones. If by chum chance, you have read all of these, then hit up our other books our book club episodes. We do one every four months with four books to read. We've got episode three thirty four, which is four money psychology books, Episode three oh six four personal finance books, and then to sixty seven we got four more personal finance books to read, so those are all great. You can also find all of the books at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash books. That's our Amazon storefront where we have all the books. But seriously, get them from the library. It's fine, it's just an easy place to put them all. All right, we are ready and stay tuned to the end, and you get to hear Jen's fiction selections for the last four months as well, which is always a blast for me and chills how many children's books Chill has read over the last four months. But first, these are all nonfiction. So these are the nonfiction self help, self improvement, that sort of genre.

Uh.

And we'll kick it off with our scientific method. This is our method that we use every episode, every book club episode to select our books. And this is over the year has worked like a dream for us. You guys haven't emailed us or told us anything positive about it, but we only imagine that's because you are so busy reading the books and you are enthralled in them, not because you don't care or haven't recognized how good the method is. So let's start.

No, absolutely just neutral, it's just science, yes, all right.

Silence means everyone is executing.

Is sometimes better than the presence.

Right, exactly. Everybody is too busy executing the scientific manod to read their books. And that's it's great. So you can take this into any quarterly book goal. So here's the method. Our first book, something old or than five years, something new or than one year, something borrowed from our listeners or social media, some an idea that we got from someone else. And fourth, something with a blue cover, and that is the Frugal Friends methods on the cover. Normally, this is not going to be an entirely blue cover. We know that usually usually, but there is definitely a shade of blue somewhere on the cover. All right, let's get into it with our first book, something older than five years. This first one is good Bye Things, the New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki. It's an oldie, but a goodie in the minimalism space. And I know, maybe maybe you thought the first one was gonna be you know somebody else, but I actually really liked this one. It's a little extreme, but I like it. If they says, this is the quote from the description, Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo. He's just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn't absolutely need. And the effects were effects were remarkable. So again, we don't support saying goodbye to everything, but that's I mean, that's what books are for, is you get to read these extreme experiences, the positives, the negatives, and then learn from the wisdom so that you don't have to do it the extreme way. And I yeah, I really liked this one. It's a it's a really good it's a really good minimalism book. If you've already read Marie Condo, then it's a next step.

I think it's really helpful to hear different people's perspectives on minimalism. It's interesting to me that he references Marie Kondo in his books Synopsis and saying and not quite like her. I guess that helps to narrow down what to expect, but that okay, if you connected with one thing or or not, it's worth identifying. Okay, well what else is out there? How have other people tried and made it work? Similar to what we do in the personal finance space, recognizing we're not for everybody and we are not the only voices that people should be listening to on personal finance, and so kind of bringing this collection of voices and practices and new ideas to help us think maybe even outside the box with how we've understood minimalism simple living. So we haven't at least I'll speak for myself. I've not read any of these. These are just our suggestions what we are curating and adding to our list of books. But I like it on this list for that reason.

Yeah, I do want to read one of the reviews. I think this is helpful if you're deciding kind of which og minimalism book to read, and they this one I think really sums it up. Of reviewer says I probably read seventy five books on decluttering, organizing and minima's minimum minimizing because they call me and uh, this is the first book to talk about your things, talking to you, not like in real life like noise, but but kind of like one year. Things will say I need washing or dusting, and something else says I need a new battery, and it's more mostly just like us thinking like, oh, I need to take care of this thing. I need to take care of this thing. I need to move that thing before my mother in law, friend, your neighbor comes. It's almost Halloween. Time to drag you know, me quote unquote the thing to me out once a year so everyone can see me. And all of the chatter that comes with owning things, because once you buy something, the dopamine hit is done. You've bought it, You've got what you were really after. But you continue to own that thing for much longer, and that thing will quote unquote tell you things you know like put me here, put me there, clean me like and then apparent and then eventually your toddler gets a hold of it and it's in disarray and it says I'm dying. So the more stuff you have, the more quote unquote chatter is going on in your house. And once you get rid of the chatter and the clutter, and once you stop bringing more clutter, into your house. Your house actually becomes quote unquote quieter.

Yeah hmmm, I love that synopsis coming from a review. Yeah, okay. The next category in the Scientific method something new or than one year is a slow living And here is the very extens subtitle, The Secrets to Slowing Down and Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere, decorating book for home bodies, happiness book. So whatever you're looking.

For, that's not on the book, that is keywords stuff title.

I'm looking at this stuff right now. That's true. Okay, it does stop at The Secrets to Slowing Down and Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere Okay, by Helena Woods. So the synopsis of this is that slow Living is for anyone looking to simplify life. Personal growth books for women tend to leave out men and children, but this book was intentionally crafted with everyone in mind. If you're looking for how to improve yourself, how to get into simple living, then this is the guide for you. For many, a slow European lifestyle seems out of reach, but with the direction in this book, readers are able to craft this lifestyle for themselves and anywhere anytime. They say that in it. Some of the key things that you're going to find is ways to value quiet moments which bring simple joys to your life. How slow living takes root when less becomes more in your home. A guide on how to simplify your everyday life for mental clarity, how to create routines that enrich your mind and feed your soul. So this is a little bit less about the stuff and a little bit more about lifestyle. How we can engage in a slower pace, cultivate contentment, some of the rhythms and routines that might serve us better. And I do like the cover. I'm not going to lie, I am, I'm here for it. I do think that at this stage for me personally, I have come to an understanding of minimalism with things, but I can struggle with a minimalism or simplicity in life overall. I think I can be drawn to busyness and distraction and not necessarily engaging in productive or beneficial rhythms and routine. So for me, I'm definitely drawn to this book for where I'm finding myself. So that's one of the reasons that this one's on the list for me.

Yeah, I think we're all looking for slowness, and I think we pursue it in destructive ways, like when I'm sitting in bed at night and I'm scrolling on social media or I'm browsing Amazon, Like, that's me searching to slow my brain down. But I think having books like this to give alternative ways to slow your brain down, that that's much healthier. And then that kind of carries over. If you can just do that one thing, like figure out healthier ways to slow your brain down, that can give you the capacity to slow other things in your life down. So yeah, I really like this book for people who feel like they just need to slow just take a pause.

Yeah.

One of the reviewers says, deeply inspiring Helena shares her unique vision for living a beautiful and intentional life. After reading this book, you will feel inspired to go out and connect with nature, pay attention to the little details of your life, and tune into your inner voice. All those things sound so lovely, especially at this time of year. I think this is something I'm craving, so I'm excited to hear more about her perspective through it.

Well, the topic of slowing down from social media. Our next pick is something borrowed from our listeners. Sometimes we'll kind of we'll do an Instagram you know, call be like, what are you reading? And that's kind of where we get these from. And a lot of the times when we do that call out, someone is reading digital minimalism. So this is I don't think a call to disconnect from technology or even like social media entirely, but this is practical tips on how to just clear the clutter of it, to have it and embrace it, but clear the clutter. So part of the synopsis is we're addicted to texting, Instagram, face book, and Twitter not because we're stupid or shallow, but because they provide real value in the form of connection, community, affirmation, and information. Instagram is how you see new photos and videos of your friend's baby. Texting is how you let your mom know you're safe. Twitter insert used to be how you hear about breaking news in your industry. But these tools can also disrupt the ability to focus on meaningful work and live fully in the present. So the question is, must we choose between one or the other? Spoiler alert The answer is no. But there are ways that you can put up barriers to protect your meaningful work time and your living fully present time to make the best of both worlds. And I love that about this book because it's from cal Newport and he if you are familiar with him, he's also the author of The Deep World, which is a book on really focusing and getting really meaningful work done. He has a lot of other books too, but I really like the Deep Work book. And so this is how can we get I think the biggest barrier to doing deep work is the digital clutter. The emails, the all the tabs, open, all the apps, like all of this stuff. I know that I will get into, like I will remember something and want to write it for an episode or an email, and I'll open it up because I saw it on Instagram. I'll open it up to look for it, and then I will get so distracted, like I forget why I'm even on there in the first place. Because this is what those apps are designed to do. Right, So there is a point where no amount of self discipline in the world is going to allow you to master yourself on social media because they are these apps are designed to keep you scrolling right there. They are in total conflict with what you want to do. So learning these barriers to put up, learning these alternative ways to practice social media alternative places like cleaning up everything on your phone, on your laptop, on your social media is going to help you do the best that you can with the mental energy and the cognitive energy that you have.

That's what I need to do specifically, it's just cleaning up my computer and my phone storage. But I also like the perspective of how can we be more intentional with the ways that we're spending time on these different platforms. It's interesting to me too. I didn't know this about Cal. He is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University. So interesting that he comes from that digital tech space, and so I think that that makes him even more of an expert to be able to speak on this topic of how do we minimize in a realistic way this day in society?

Yeah, I think so. One these all of these reviews are so long, but I will read you part from just parts from this very long review, because it has some good things and some bad things, not bad, but just a few criticisms that you should go into the book realizing. So my favorite thing about the book is that Cal's advice is immensely practical. He's no laed I, and he does not expect you to eliminate technology from your life. In fact, he urges you to embrace technology and strongly supports when it strongly supports the things you value most in life. Again, a values based use of time, and he doesn't argue against any specific technology, and this is where Cal's practical little advice shines. For instance, instead of instituting a blanket ban on social media, Cal suggests that those who use social media limit their use to their computer or tablet i e. No iPhone in order to eliminate boredom browsing. So one of the criticisms that they had was his advice on how to spend your free times a bit muddled. On one hand, he strongly stresses the importance of ample amounts of solitude, which he describes as subjective state in which your mind is free from input of other minds. He's definitely mit but he also stresses the importance of prioritizing demanding activities that often require strained mental effort. So I mean you need both. I don't necessarily agree with this criticism. Another critique is that towards the end of the book he discusses the emergence of act blocking software and quote unquote dumb phones, which I think they mean flip phones, and seemingly recommends that we adopt these paternalistic mechanisms to prevent us from being trapped into the allure of new technology. And I like that as well. I know, I follow millennial therapist on Instagram and she got a flip phone and that is now what she uses over the weekend. And she says, because her job is social media, it is on the phone that the lines between working and personal time were becoming blurred because her work was always in her hands. So she just got a flip phone to use on the weekends. And people like loved it. So there. If there are some criticisms, I they're not like big deal breakish for me. I loved the book. We talked about this book years ago and it has held up well.

The thing about it is it's good to not exist in an echo chamber. I think it is helpful and beneficial to surround ourselves too by voices that we may not entirely agree with, because that's how that's how we grow and learn and are accepting of other perspectives. So I think it's still worthwhile to read something that you don't align with one hundred agreed. The next and final book in our Scientific Method.

Has a fully blue cover. Hatchet does this time it does. You're right, You're right fully blue. I really I went in on it, and you know what, the new the paperback version of Digital Minimalism also has a blue cover, So I got two blues on this one, making up for previous previous.

I love it. Jen you are You're a warrior and a dime piece. So this is something blue. It's something entirely blue. And it is called Hooga Simplified, A Guide to Scandinavian Coziness, comfort and Conviviality. Oh that's a good word. I can't huga season. I use the word conviviality in my everyday language. But I'm going to start to now this and.

That is truly on the cover conviviality.

Yeah. Yeah. This one's by Tim ray Bourne and the synopsis of it is Houga has taken the world by storm, and now you too can find comfort and safety in the company of others as well as a loon at home. Unlike so much self help, Huga is fairly simple and straightforward, ranging from different lighting to storage and wardrobe. This lifestyle is about more than reducing clutter, however, it is about personal growth, so you are living a life of confidence and balance. Well. The principles of Huga are applicable to people in all phases of life. Start off with friends and family in their new home with this ideal housewarming gift in the synopsis, okay, happiness because here with hooga simplified. And you know you want to know one of the reasons that this is on here for me is because the holidays are over, and this is when we get into deep winter January February March. For many of us, it's cold and dark. People aren't doing much because they'd rather just hole themselves up in their house, and anything past five pm feels like it's happening at midnight. And you know, we're just eating soup, which is basically drinking water and just like waiting for the sun to come back out. Yeah right, And if you don't want to adopt the mentality that I'm describing right there, then this is going to be the book for you. This is this is what we all collectively need to help help us not just get through the wintertime or seasons that can be particularly difficult but to help us see the beauty and benefit of each and every season. I think that's this whole mentality of hooga, this coziness, comfort, how to find the simple pleasures in life that are most likely not going to cost us a lot of money, but really helping with our mindset mostly and then filling in the blanks from there. I'm really appreciative, Jen. I think you put together this outline you gave me to talk about the two books that I'm most excited about. I don't know if you talked about the two, but you're most excited about, Honest to goodness, these are so while I don't read a ton, I will listen to audio books. And so again this is your reminder to go to your library. Most libraries also have an app like Hoopla or Libby, and you can get you can rent the audio book through your library on those apps, get it for free, listen to it as you can. This one, I think is going to be especially helpful for this season. Yeah.

I just chose the two books that I have read before. So that was my divvying up, and so I'm glad that you got the ones that you were excited about. They're excited. They're all good ones. And we did an episode this year I think it was this year on is Huga the New Frugal? I think I said, is Huga the new Fruga. I don't know if I said that on the episode, but like I and you did behind the scenes, that's what I was saying, and people loved it. So definitely search back in our archives for our Hooga episode because this is Huga season right now, post holidays, dead of winter, this is it, and this is this is a time to be embraced, not fought against, and I think, uh, Hohoga is really the way to do that.

So let's just recap or wait, I were going to say that was episode two seventy seven, our Hooga episode. It was a hit. It slapped, Wow, it's slayed it. I don't know. We got a lot of feedback on that one.

So Jill has never said it's slapped.

I don't even know what.

It in her life, not just on the show.

But is it the same thing as saying it's slayed. I don't even know what that means either.

It was let's try to be something we're not. We are in solidly in our thirties all right, so let's recap. Let's spotify wrap this up. Goodbye Things by Fumiyo Sasaki really good og older than five years minimalism book. I love it for a differy I love Marie Condo. I love this for a different reason. I love it way more than the minimalists, so highly recommend. We've got Slow Living the Secrets to slowing down and noticing the simple joys anywhere, and that just came out in April of twenty twenty three. It's our new selection. We've got something borrowed from so many people, Digital Minimalism, and that's if you've never read it, it is, honestly I think required reading for everyone in their life. I think as we embrace technology more and more, we've got to know how. Two, we've got to know what the makers of these technologies are doing, what their intentions are behind creating the products and the apps they create, so that we know our capabilities and our roles for protecting ourselves. And then last we've got Huga Simplified, a Guide to Scandinavian Coziness, comfort and Conviviality, which is going to help your sad seasonal What is the a seasonal depression. I don't know. I live in Florida.

Seasonal effective disorder.

Oh see, okay, thank you, yes, seasonal effective disorder. I'm so sorry. I grew up in Florida. All right, So those are our four Yeah, and that was a burn.

I know.

I'm sorry, quick Grant. Ninety percent of our listeners do not live in Florida. So I we're here. We're here for all of you, Jill especially.

I'm ah, I'm right here for you. Let's hooga this thing. You know what else we can do to this thing that is helpful? And I think in the spirit of Huga, I.

Think also it is maybe it is a treatment, not a cure, but a treatment for sad.

It's going too far. The bill of the week.

That's right, It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.

Howdy, chill, sub jin. My name is Meg and I have worked in FMB my entire adult life, and something I have found through that is that larger companies will hire out smaller companies to audit to make sure that all their locations standards are up the snow. So I found out how easy it was to apply for this and totally made a date night out of it.

Basically, we have.

To take notes to make sure that the bartender was doing everything that she was supposed to do, and then just wrote a report. Events ended in So I just want my reimbursement back. So in addition to a three seventy five dollars meal, they pay us fifteen dollars. So we were able to turn a date night whose you know, money was already in the budget. We would reimburse through that and we got to type up a little report together. So that's my bill of the week. And the best dinner is the free dinner. Love you guys, thank you for changing mindset and lives and kill it keep it up.

Thank you.

Meg.

I used to do this all the time, Travis Knight. This is on our debt free Journey. Literally every month this was our date night. It was some kind of restaurant auditing mystery shopping thing. We did so many restaurants that we would have never been able to go to for free and got paid, you know, like you said, ten to fifteen bucks. I love it, and they still do. It's it's a thing will as long as there will be restaurants, there will be like secret shopping, mystery shopping auditing.

Yeah. I love this. I love this as a date night idea. I like that you even highlighted that writing the report together was a part of the date night and an enjoyable aspect. It is something new to try together. The only pitfall that I'll mention for any other listeners out there is you do float the money like you pay for it and don't get your re mbursement, typically for about sixty days, so you do have to be willing to put that money out and wait for your reimbursement. But otherwise it's an awesome way to ultimately get some free experiences, and I couldn't agree more meg. A free dinner is the best dinner I am here for that. If you all listening have a bill about getting some free food, we love that. We love that almost as much as we love hearing from people named Bill. Whatever, whatever your name is, wherever you're at, whatever you have that's loosely related to Bill or Being Bill. Visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill. We can't wait to hear it. And now it's time for.

All right, our lightning run. Which minimalism book would you suggest to a friend beginning their minimalist journey and why so, Jill, I do like yours, but I think I really would do the life changing magic of tidying up Marie Condo. I mean, I really do love that book. I don't like I don't ever feel like I need to subscribe one hundred percent to whatever anybody tells me. So that's never been I've always like, take what works, leave what doesn't. But I found a lot of things that work for me in that. Like I've never picked up something and said, like, does this spark joy? That's not me, but it has helped me with with recognizing sentimental things and realizing their place in the decluttering ecosism ecosystem.

That's fun.

Yeah, is different than items that do not carry as much emotion behind them. I fold my clothes in the Marine Condo method, have four years, love it. Travis always makes fun of me and says it takes too long, but I fold his laundry the way he likes it and my laundry the way I like it, and they both take the same amount of time.

Yeah, so I think you just get good at a technique and it doesn't take so long anymore.

Yeah. I don't fold my socks like she says, or if she says, don't like fold them together, and I do because I just need them to be together. But I so, I'm yeah, take what works, leave what doesn't. But I have taken a lot of things from life changing Magic of Tidying Up.

You do love that book. I remember the first time you talked about it. It sounded wild to me. You were discovering it, like there's no way you actually really love this this much? And then it did. It grew on me too, mostly because you've grown on me. No, you had me yet. Hello, I'm just kidding. What am I saying? All right? So for me true to my own minimalist nature, I've only read one book on this topic and I did like it. I do recommend it. It's The More of Less by Joshua Becker. I think it's great. I think it is an entry level book for someone just starting out on the journey because he kind of describes his own path what led him to a more minimalist, simple life. He shares stories of other people, so I think it's really easy to be able to find yourself in the story of at least one of the people he talks about throughout his various chapters. So really enjoyed the book. We interviewed him probably back in them, like oh, fifties, like earlier, fifty something, thirty something.

I'm going to have to find it now. Okay, it was thirties, I think, Yeah.

Which was exciting too, But that was a good it was a good breed. I recommend it.

Yeah, oh thirty two. Whoa thirty two?

Good job? Yeah?

Yeah. I met him at a conference and I was like, will you be on my podcast? I did one of those, and he was like yes.

Oh and then I think I remember you telling me that you tried to give him like a bookmark. That's what you were giving out at the time at that conference. You're trying to give out the book mark. And he, in his very the less of more, was like, I don't take things like you're better off holding on to it. But he still came on the shop.

Forgot about that. Yes, oh my gosh. Yeah. When we first had. I mean, we've had the Frugal Friends book Club since episode one, and so our first ever merch was is a bookmark that looked like it was a It was a real bookmark, but it looked like there was a sticky note taped on it that said, uh like proud member of the Frugal Friends book Club. And of those, yeah, I still have some.

We should get some people who do the friend letter referral program like stickers, and some of our old they have our old they have our old podcast.

Art on them. Yeah, which is why don't we really give them away anymore?

But if we've got listeners who have listened for this long into this episode and they're true readers, they're going to want that. So yeah, get the friend Letter Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Then refer a friend and just one friend we'll send you.

I'll start including them with the with the tote bags tote bags. If you get a tote bag, you'll also get a vintage Frugal Friends pot Talk self select book Club old school out of print bookmark.

Perfect.

So that is that's that. But well, okay, so Lightning Round Part two.

What oh question?

What fiction are you reading or listening to anything, Jill, have you, like, forwared somebody listening to something?

I love that you are asking this just so you can answer it yourself. No, I'm looking at my bookshelf to try and see, like I want to answer you.

Podcasts in the last four months.

Only of those who either we've been on their podcast or they're coming on our podcast.

Do you listen to your own?

Nail?

Oh? Wait, no, I did someone recommended a podcast? No? No, Like, if we're going on someone else's podcast, I'll listen to their podcast what I'm in store for, or if we're interviewing someone else who has a podcast, I'll listen to their Okay, I can know, yeah, one of us should. I listened to an episode of the Judges, But that's not what is that that fictional? It's just people. Uh, they're just talking about I think the one that I listened to, it was just stories that people had written in about their real lives, and then the judges comment on it and they judge, they.

Judge things, Jillian, that's what you're listening to.

No.

I listened to one episode because I wanted to experience life outside of like only doing things for work, and I think I only made it halfway through, but it was funny. But I think that their gen z and so part of how they talked I couldn't understand.

I couldn't understand.

All right, Jen, your turn to answer the question that you clearly want to answer.

Well, it's I've been and it's like one of those things that when you're dreading it, you just have to get it over with. I have. I'm kind of I've been dreading this one for the past four months. I was like, I'm gonna have to talk about this in our book club AP I have to. But okay, well, okay, so you're not going to understand, but I will talk about a mutual friend of ours Elena. You know Alena, I used to I worked with her for years. She is like a she majored in literature, so she's like high level, like books, you know, book nerd. And so I go in to see her. We've been friends for over a decade. And I went in to see her for an acupuncture treatment and I brought my headphones and I was like, oh, I'm going to listen to an audio book during my treatment. And she's like, oh, what are you listening to? And I was so embarrassed, kind of like right now, it's like because I know how you know she's she reads right, and I'm like embarrassed to tell her, like what I'm listening to, and she's like, oh, don't be embarrassed. I read I read the Court of Thorns and Roses series this year, and I was like, so did I. So that is what I read the last four months. But that wasn't the actual book that I was listening to and said treatment it was Iron Flame, which means I also read Fourth Wing in the last four months. So I read are these Yes, it's so you still love me because you don't know what the books are, right, right? But right, so I feel safe with you.

But I google is a thing, right yeah?

Yeah.

What wasn't it called Thundered.

Wings thunder Yes, yes, Thunderwings thundered So no, I read it started with Fourth Wing, okay, and then I then I finished it and I was like, I feel that was not what I was ready. That's not what I wanted to read. I wanted to read the Hunger Games with some Game of Thrones, and what I got was Game of Thrones but with teenagers as main characters, like all all of.

Them for anyone else? And again, yeah, and the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon Riders. What just came out of my mouth? What am I reading in that one's?

And Jill, I'm going to need you to refrain. This is the vulnerability round and I need you to continue to be a safe space for me. It's so it started there and I was like, what did I just read? But actually I didn't hate it? And then that made me judge myself. And so that's when I started reading the Akatar series, a Court of Thorns and Roses series, and I listened to all of them. I didn't listen to the novella that was a short one that was I passed by that one. But I listened to all of them. And then Iron Flame came out and I used a thirty day free trial of Audible to listen to that because it was like a six month wait on Libby and Hoopla and I'm like, I can't, I can't. I have to know what happens.

Is iron Flame like adjacent to twin Flame? Is it like the next tier of twin No?

No? But it wasn't good. I'm so sorry, Like they are not good pieces of literacy. It's not Kristin Hannah, it's not Taylor Jenkins read like, it's not even Hunger Games like. It's it relies on the clickbait. I'll say that, but I couldn't put it down like I had to know what happened. And that's how that's why I made it through, because it's one of those like sunk Costs. I gotta know sunk costs, yep, and I went through all of them, and so that is what I've spent the last four months doing.

I wonder what the judges would have to say about it.

I don't know. I don't want to ever listen to that podcast. That's horrible.

Okay, we need to wrap this up, because.

Yeah, thank you for listening to this podcast. If you are like me and you read smutty nonsense and then judge yourself for it, or if you're like Jill and you don't listen to any books or pie casts, you're just effervescently cool. We hope that you will find an episode somewhere in the archives that will be for you. But we hope you'll check out some of these minimalism and simple living books too, because we really like them, and if none of the above apply to you, we would really love if you just like would leave a kind review of what does apply to you, like this one from Harper one sixty six, who says great encouragement. Being frugal can seem a lonely path. It's awesome to have frugal friends to make it fun and seem so achievable.

Thanks Harper one six six. Thank you all for listening again. If you haven't reviewed the show yet, please do. It helps us find other people who are like minded, or you know, maybe some of you out there are like Jen, some of you out there are like me. You can find yourself and maybe one of us, if not both of us or none of us. But you've just gone here for the personal primance from the book government you.

Yeah, you're leaving now, don't leave a review.

Also get the friend letter that's going to be important in January. Goruglefriendspodcast dot com See you next time. Bye.

Gorugle Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

Okay, Jen, yeah, I'm not going to circle back to the book thing. We're not going to do please don't, kay, don't ever, But what I will circle back to is related to digital minimalism. I last time I think off the pod said to you that I think that the current smartphone I have is the first one I purchased.

And I told you, there's no that's you said, there's.

No way that's true. I conferred with Eric, it's true. I think I got this. We purchased this phone in twenty seventeen, and I still it's still the one that I have in twenty twenty three. I should say that quieter they're listening in. My phone's probably gonna break soon, but there is a there is a caveat to it that prior to that, for a little less than a year, I had used an old phone of one of my parents, like they did an upgrade, and then I used one of their phones. That was my first smartphone. So I didn't get a smartphone until No, here's what happened. I got my first smartphone from my parents in twenty seventeen, and then bought this one in twenty eighteen. Okay, but before that, I had one of them what do they call did they call it a dumb phone? Flip phone? I didn't have one until twenty seventeen, which felt late to the game at the time, but you're I and then you know what. It's part of the reason why I don't understand all Instagram works.

Yeah, my phone is from twenty twenty. It's an iPhone ess. I like the small phone, but I don't I can't see I know it's from twenty twenty, but I can't see the year on it. I thought you could on the computers you can, so I don't know. Oh can I tell you? Actually, I made a purchase for the business that I didn't tell you about.

And you want everyone else to know too. You know we're recording, okay, Yeah, because it doesn't feel safer if everyone else is listening.

Uh huh, it's safer this way.

Okay.

Speaking of technology, I bought us an iPad on Black Friday.

Oh do we meet that?

Mm hmm.

Was that something we can use it?

I had ideas for it, okay, especially for no spend January say more. That's all I'm gonna say right now. I think you got to get the friend letter and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.

To know how we're going to use the iPad. The iPad, Yeah, well that's okay because I have a purchase I'm going to make and everyone will just have to stay tuned for what that's going to be on the company card.

Oh, I'm excited to read about it in the newsletter.

Yes,

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