What exactly is simple living, and how might it benefit our lives? When it comes to frugality, saving money and cutting expenses; simplicity has a lot to teach us! Let's talk about what it looks like to live simply and some tangible steps to get us there!
Get full show notes here!
Episode one, Simple Living but make it frugal. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. M m m m m m. Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are talking about simple living, how we define it, how you can live it, and its role in frugality. Hot take, How we haven't. We haven't taken anything hot yet. Chill. Just you wait, even the title, you know, just yes, we're going to get into it. We will, but first we're going to get into our sponsors. So this episode is out to you by meeting in person. So again, do you live in the Austin, Texas area? Would you like to meet me? I'm the one with the curly hair. You can head to our instagram Frugal Friends podcast at Frugal Friends podcast and you can see which one I am and if you say, oh, yes, I would like to meet her and I am in Austin because she has curly hair, not the straight haired girl, the current haired girl, not the straight haired girl. But if you want to meet the straight haired girl and you live in Fairbanks, Alaska. Then send us a d M on Instagram if you're in Fairbanks, Alaska or Austin, Texas, because between September two, that's where we're gonna be, not together but separate. We're yes, and um, I don't know what my schedule is going to be. Like, Jill's a very busy woman, so don't count on her. But I would love to meet some of y'all if you're in Austin, Um, so send us a d M either at Frugal Friends podcast or at Modern Frugality. I'm on both and maybe we can meet up see how many d m s I get and what kind of shenanigans we can get into in Austin. So that's what we're brought to you by. There's so much in that sponsor that I want to dive into, but mostly I think I'm just gonna want the clip of your audio saying Jill is a very busy woman, so don't count on it. Like I want you you know those buttons you can get from Staples like that, I want one of those. I'll just pressed the button. Don't count on it, don't count on it. She's busy. It'll be my entryway into simple living. That doesn't what a segue, but still we have another sponsor, also brought to you by It's Complicated here to tell us that it's not just a relationship status we're trying to avoid. It's also a lifestyle we want to avoid. Use code, intentionality and communication for ten percent off. It's complicated complications. That is a complicated promo code. And I don't actually even know what it gets me? How do I do that? Conscious? That's Complex'll get there someday. So that is what we're talking about today, is simple living. And I think when I think about it, I think first of maybe like simple living home blogs or mom blogs telling you how to get your kids to go to bed or clean up their messy things and maybe cook better. So that's kind of like what I think of when I think, what do you think of with simple living? Jill am I weird. No, I'm just still laughing about the messy things, the kids messy things. I mean, I I have an association probably with the magazine. But yes, I think I picture somebody out in a field closing their eyes at peace simple life. Yeah, I mean I think of a stay at home mom. That's like you can do everything just like me, as long as you have forty hours a week to do it. And that's not us a spoiler alert if you've listened to the show for any amount of time, we we all know Jills a busy woman, don't so don't count on her. So don't count on it if that's what you're looking for. But Wikipedia has a better, I think definition. I get all my information from Wikipedia. Sorry to my high school English teacher. So simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they have have rather than want, and so I think that's really the heart behind the frugality that we talk about and that we want to live is to be individuals who are satisfied with what they have rather than what we want, but still looking, always looking to grow. So yeah, that's the thing. It's not stagnant, it's not. And that's where I say my image of what comes to mind when I think of simple living that's not obviously Actually it someone on a hill like closing their eyes and mine. As we're living, we don't want to just be there, but there is a contentment that can happen here. Yeah, So the opposite of simple, So that what we're trying to avoid our antonyms like difficult, hard, demanding, complicated, complex, elaborate, So those are kind of the words that we don't want to describe the things in our life. And so it's rare that any one thing in your life is going to be the opposite of simple, and that's how we create these complicated and demanding lives and elaborate, complex schedules. So it's important to view your life as a whole and to really be relentless in saying no to things that make the overall picture really difficult or complex or elaborate. And these articles that we've chosen today kind of go into what we like to think simple living is um and its connection to frugality, and then some tips on implementing it. So yeah, our first article is from Hearts Content Farmhouse and it's called the Ultimate Guide to Simple Living for Beginners. How did you feel this related to you, Jill? I thought this was super beautiful and I like the approach that they take and I know we'll get into it as we talk about the content a little bit more, but just the concept that there can be some things that might seem simple or promise to simplify or make your life more convenient, but when you look at the whole of it, it actually makes it more complicated. Well, we'll talk more about that as we moved through the article, but I think that was what stood out to me most from this of Oh, we need to look under the surface, not just at cost of something or convenience of something, but how they all blend together in their total simplicity quotient. I might use that word in a lot time. I was really pleased that this was the first result on Google. So, for those of you that don't know, the way we pick our article that we go through is that we google the topic, see what comes up on the first page, and then we kind of go through what you would get if you did the same Google, and we kind of dissect it. We you know, we test Google in a way. And so sometimes it's not always the first article that we go with because it's just not my favorite, and this one was. And I was super pleased that this one was better than many others on the first page. So we're going to kind of go through what the author defines as simple living and then her like approaches to it. So I like her definition it's it's different. There's well, she says, let's avoid the cliche of giving the dictionary definition. That's why I went with the Wikipedia. And so typically, what simple living means to most normal people, if you're not me and Jill, is minimalism, old fashion living, which I don't. I don't know if I've heard that. Frugal living, yes, and self sufficiency and so I actually, I mean had forgotten about that. To me, self sufficiency seems more complicated because I'm just bad at that. But for some people, self sufficiency is simpler, Yeah, just even going through the motions of not needing to rely on the outside world. And it's not that it's that it is necessarily the most simple in its action, but I think it can bring about this sense of simplicity. And catharsis with that kind of theme, but she's saying it's it's not really any one of these things, the combination of them, right. I like she says, the pursuit of a simple life is about rejecting what is unnecessarily complicated. I just loved I love that line. What's uncomplicated? Yes, And I like the way she's summarizing. And you kind of mentioned this and you're beginning intro about Wikipedia versus the opposite of simplicity, the opposite of simplicity, and the reason she's saying that all of those other associations aren't necessarily simple living. They intersect with it, but it's not the opposite of modern or expensive or dependent. The actual opposite of simple is complicated. So looking at how do we make sure that it is as unnecessarily not complicated? Am I saying that rights as little unnecessary complication as poss There you go, thank you, because yeah, we do understand that sometimes there's going to be complicated things in your life. Um, but hopefully those complicated things are for a season, and there are things that you literally just cannot avoid. So now that we've said what we're not talking about, here's what we are talking about. The some of the basics, and of course this is not an exhaustive list, but rejecting what is unnecessarily complicated in pursuing people over things, living with less, learning to actually enjoy the small things, the simple pleasures. If you will no longer chasing after more and more and more, that's the next thing that I have to do. It's what will make me happy. It's what everyone else is doing and being happy or I might say content with what you do have already. So in some ways we're talking about perspective and mindset. And of course what what this list has just talked about does intersect with frugality and minimalism and maybe even old fashioned living, but it is not only about those things. It's kind of where all of these pieces combine. Yeah, the one thing I always like when I hear contentment, I always want to like remind people is that we're not okay staying where we're at. We're happy and we're grateful to be where we are, but we are always pursuing the opportunity for more. We're not chasing it. It's not more will not fulfill you. More will not take you to the identity that you are looking for. It's not going to fulfill your purpose. But I think things that stop growing are considered dead, and we should always be looking to learn and grow and refine ourselves. Um So being happy with what you have, but also looking for opportunities to capitalize on the talents and the gifts and all of that that you have to learn and grow. Yeah, it's holding that tension between not becoming stagnant, but also not being overtaken or consumed by whatever it is you think needs to happen next. Yeah, definitely. So then she talks about going deeper into simple livings. So, so's what do we mean here rejecting what is unnecessarily complicated? Does that mean making life as easy as possible? Um? Because that's another thing that sometimes people looking for simple living can go to that extreme to where they're looking to make life so easy that it actually becomes a burden for other people. And we know, as frugal people, we can do that same thing, looking to be so frugal and spend so little money that sometimes it comes at the actual monetary expense of other people. And so that is not what we are looking to do in simple living. So yes, is it going to sometimes be an inconvenience to the people in our life. Yes, because sometimes we're gonna have to say no, just like a hard stop no without a good explanation. But you can build that muscle to um enact that boundary. So yeah, that's a that's what I think. I think that's what she meant with this going deeper into simple living. Yeah, And I also like the example that she gave that it's not just about convenience, because you could decide I'm going to stop cooking because that doesn't feel simple to me, or life giving. It feels complicated. I'm going to go out for every meal, But then there's a cost to that. You'll and she mentions this too, you'll likely find yourself and poor health and potentially credit card debt. I mean hopefully not credit card debt for meals. But you never write. If we're just saying we're gonna go out for every meal and avoid all other peripheral impacts of that, you you can't. It will take over another area. So it's not just about convenience, it's not about avoiding all complication. But again that unnecessary complication piece, So and again she digs into this more. And I think this is helpful. Some things in life that are complicated and would likely be rejected by someone looking for simplicity. So these are things that are typically touted as this will make your life better, more enjoyable, maybe even more convenient. But let's go through them. She lifts off potentially a high stress job with a long commute, or an expansive home renovation that requires you to take out a loan that you can barely afford, or a new designer wardrobe that's dry lean only, or sports car that requires expensive maintenance. I've never even heard of a wardrobe, by the way, that only requires dry clean. I hate that many authors are just very extreme when they give examples and it's not actually practical. Typically you, it's hard. It's gonna be hard to see in your own life where these things happen, because they're they're not obvious. Like these things, they're subversive. You have to really look at what in your life is complicated, and it may not be the same across the board. So then but she gives like alternative to these, So she's like, what about a job that pays less but it is in walking distance to your house and has a nice boss. Well, you may not get both of these. You may have to choose do you want walking distance or do you want the nice boss. So it's gonna be a given take on this stuff, too write so too small, but it's easily affordable. Uh it could be or is you know, maybe a further drive from your job or maybe closer to job. I I don't know, it's probably gonna be one or the other clothing that's comfortable and can be washed at home. Honestly, I don't think anybody's in our audience is going to have a problem with this, but it could be uh taking the extra time. I mean, this is where thrift ing kind of gets involved for me because, like, to me, thrift ing can be a little complicated. Um, and so I tend to pay a little bit more to go to threat Up, which is the online thrift store, because that feels less complicated to me. Online shopping feels less complicated to me. So it gives and takes on that too, right, Yeah, and everybody's answer to that is going to look different. What feels simple to me is not going to feel simple to you. Case in point, the way Eric and I approach our calendars. I think it is much more simple to have a pen and paper calendar. And he's like, why aren't we sharing calendars and in grading this and that. I was just like, maybe you think that's simple, but not for me. Yeah, Travis and I need to figure out something. When he had an iPhone, we used to share a calendar and he would just always know when things were happening. And now he's got an Android and we can no longer do that, and so it's always like what are we doing? And I was like, maybe we need a paper calendar or something. I don't know, that's off topic. I'm so sorry. Um. But the last one is to buy a used, reliable station wagon that's good enough. I do agree with that one. Don't get your dream car, get a car that's good enough. Yeah, But at the same time, if you've got a car that is old and just good enough, sometimes it puts you in precarious situations. And I am speaking from very real and raw and recently your car was not good enough. Your car, your car was about to be deaf on wheels, So that's not good enough. That was That was a situation where we were like, Jill, please get a new car, because is you are be on the edge of being unsafe. So I'm saying, not one with all the top of the You don't need all the top of the line luxury things just because the dealers telling you to test drive it and it looked pretty and so great. And believe me, I want Alexis who doesn't, but I gotta, I gotta hun day because it's good enough. Alexis does don't even looking that nice anymore. So that be all right, We'll all be all right, all right, whatever used to tesla? Al right. So, and just to summarize too, I like how she wraps up this portion of the article by talking about looking at these pieces holistically. That a lot of times there is a price beyond the money of time and stress that can complicate your life. So we are not just looking at one of these components how much how much time does it take me, or how much money does it cost me, or how much stress is involved. We've got a look at all of them and identify what's the most simple option when I take all of these factors into consideration, because there's always going to be an alternative peace, uh, the cost benefit analysis of it in all of these areas. Yeah, it is harder to do that because we want a set of rules that we can just live by and follow for everything. And we can kind of do that when you find your core values and you can live by those, those are a good filter. But still for for big things, we have to look at the picture holistically. And if I mean our life obviously is one of those big things. Our schedule, our time, our money, those are big things that we have to look holistically at to really inspect how we can execute simple living, not just by a set of rules that maybe somebody else creates, um, but by a set of rules that we ourselves create. So next article has nine tips for executing simple living, and I liked that these were not just uh maybe cookie cutter. They are simple, but they do um. They caused me to think a little harder. How do you feel about them? Chill? Such good tips here, and I think within this list there's at least one actionable items. So I'm excited to go through all nine of them because I think and hopefully more than one we can each take and and implement. Yeah, so the first one was quiet the digital noise. This makes me feel personally attack but I agree with it. I think I'm discovering like more a d h D tendencies in myself and knowing that I can't my brain just can't sit still, like I'm trying to get off social media more and I have just replaced it with solid tear. I feel like I've mentioned this before. I actually watched this happen real time in the car driving Jen is both having a conversation with us and playing solidaire. It's it's been a very big struggle for me to turn my mind off. But I know my mind and my eyes for that matter, really do need this simplification of existence. Uh, and not so much bombardment from digital noise. And so well, I mean one of the ways that she says dedicated time of the data, reply to emails. I actually my assistant now does all the emails for every inbox we have, So that has been a really great simplification strategy for me. Well, she does give some really helpful tactics. Sometimes it's like you feel thrown to the wolves. If I know, I got to be off this phone more, but how And so yeah, unsubscribing to things, dedicating time to reply to emails, removing social media apps from your phone, making regular times for digital detoxing, turning off non essential notifications, not sleeping with your phone next to you, right, And you don't have to do all of these things, and some of it can just help the brainstorm and get started, but there are some really specific ways that we can do this. Yeah, I took Facebook off of my phone, which is a little inconvenient sometimes but for sure worth it. And then Also, I've turned off pretty much all notifications, So those have been my major things. I haven't done everything on this list, but definitely the Facebook one and the notifications. I don't think all of them are realistic for everybody, and certainly not even long term. It's kind of one of those things that you put into practice to retrain yourself to make better decisions about what you do want to let back in. So some of it there's a rhythm to some of it is just determining the best way to live and operate. It depends on the type of business that that you're a part of or running, or the way that you work. So, but just being more intentional about it and knowing and recognizing the space that it can take up to have all of these things vying for your attention constantly. Number two on here is to watch less TV. This one can feel like a personal attack too. And they say, and I wouldn't disagree with this, although there's some parts of it that I might push back on, but that watching TV isn't actually going to provide rest to us. I think sometimes we think, oh, I just I just want to sit and watch a movie, and and that's okay. We're not saying, and I don't think this article is saying like cut it all out always in forever, but that you probably would have an experience better benefit if you've got some time in the evening and you choose to do some stretching or engage in the hands on hobby, then just sit and binging TV? Like what is actually going to produce life inside of you? Now, I will say finding a good show can absolute produce some disconnection, but I will absolutely agree with like not binging things constantly, but finding something else to do with your time that can bring life. Absolutely Yeah, But my a d H D mind douzled to vedge on a TV show at night, especially if it's about cults. Is this something Jen and I definitely bond over beyond all the other things we bond over is cult information on cults, you know, joining cults, starting our own call we love it um No, not really, We just like cold doc docu series. Just yeah, they're they're super intriguing to me. Uh So. The third one is to live in accordance with your means, And obviously we very much promote this UM So, don't spend what you don't have on things you don't want that is the first sentence. But again, we we love to say stuff like that, but in the moment, it is hard um to keep yourself from not wanting things. We love instant gratification, and so we just have to be more committed to this simple lifestyle and know the things that it can bring for us, know what living within our means can give us, so that we have incentive to say no to things like I love being able to work for myself twenty five hours a week, and we don't rely on my income, and so in order to maintain that we have to just live on we choose to just live on traps his income. So I mean that idea, the beauty of this lifestyle I've built is a bigger motivation to spend within our budget than anything any external motivation could be. So yeah, yeah. The next one on here, number four is to de clutter your home. I could not agree with this more and I know for some this is We're all going to have different standards of this, right. Some of us naturally want very few things in our living spaces, and others of us prefer more eclectic style, and we like to keep things around and tinker I definitely fall in the former category. I just don't want things around and I never have, so I don't I don't want things. I'm busy, I'm a busy woman. I'm busy. But in all seriousness, and wherever you fall on that spectrum, I will say that for all of us, it is helpful to have less again wherever we're starting from. Clutter in our spaces and our physical spaces can correlate to clutter in our minds and bodies, And sometimes it happens in our minds and bodies first, and what we see in our homes and living spaces is reflective of that. So where we're able to declutter, it can also produce this weightlessness. It can remove some of the burden and free up capacity and emotion and mental space when we don't feel so physically weighed down by everything that our eyes are looking at and drawn to. It's like competing for our attention. Absolutely, and you can have one or two things that you collect. It does not mean you can definitely consider yourself of minimalists. Definitely, definitely, you know, practice simple living if you like to collect things, it's just not like twenty different things. But like I know, a lot of people, especially in our frugal friends community, love books and love to just have a wall of bookshelves and books, or if they don't have it, they dream about it. So that is, you don't have to get rid of something you love to practice simple Just know that your collections will collect dust. That's so true, and we'll talk we'll talk about about cleaning. Your collections will collect. As you collect, they will collect. But beyond that, you can love things and still practice minimalism, still practice simple living. Uh, just can't love everything you know you don't have them. You won't be able to walk in your right. You don't have the capacity to love everything like you can like a lot of things. But you have to find what you love, keep that and be willing to discard the rest. So the lext one is I love this one. I love it so much. Single task. Who hates multitasking? Who can multitask? Nobody can fully multitask? It's not actually, it's no. And when you try to do it, you only create stress in your life. And then that stress becomes guilt and shame because you can't multitask in the same way all the other moms or gen ze ears are multitasking on TikTok and Instagram, So stop and just single task. Choose your one thing, and everyone knows I'm obsessed with the one thing. The book they also have a podcast and it's the theory is just what can I do now? What is the one thing that I can do that by which everything else becomes easier or unnecessary. So that just means finding your highest r o I tasks throughout the day and and really focusing on the things that are most important and either delegating out, hiring out, or just saying no to the things that are not high r a I Right, And then I think we can be more satisfied with ourselves when we give ourselves permission to have the one task versus I'm trying to juggle at all and none of it's going well, and then it all just feels like a failure. Which relates to number six, which is set realistic goals and reward yourself. And I just want to read this first paragraph under the number six. I think it's helpful. The author says we often underestimate how long a task will's cake, and then we beat ourselves up over not making enough progress, or we expect too much of ourselves when trying to embrace a new lifestyle. Then we tell ourselves were just too busy or not motivated enough to make a change, and the self fulfilling prophecy comes true. So I think connected to this idea of single task is setting realistic goals and then celebrating afterwards. Again, that then correlates to how we view ourselves, the permission that we give ourselves along the way setting realistic goals achieving them. Doing them with a singular focus is not only less complicated, but also actually produces beneficial results rather than complicated, messy results, the messy things that you're trying to get picked up. And yeah, so I love this. I love the like single tasking in goal setting and like having fewer goals and shorter goals. And it so also single tasking doesn't mean you're like focusing on just like one thing a day and forgetting all your other responsibilities. We're talking about this along with your goals in a reasonable you know, something that fits with the responsibilities that you are actually obligated to. But like, so for me, it really rears its head when I'm trying to clean the house and I'm trying to I'll do one thing, and then I'll get distracted and start to clean another thing, and then I'll get distracted clean another thing, and then I'll go back to the original thing because I'm like, oh no, I mean for me, like having the goal, maybe setting a timer and being like, Okay, I'm gonna do this one thing. I can only do this one thing for as long as the timer is going off, and then I can move on even if I haven't finished it. Typically, once the timer goes off, I'm I'm far enough into it that I want to finish it. And so that's a very basic example, but it can apply to other things in our lives as well, and then it gamifies that, yeah, gamifies it. But yeah, so all of this is within reason seven is appreciate the little things and practice gratitude. I love this much more than like contentment. But I love gratitude because it really the more grateful you are, the less you want. Like you still want to achieve more and you still want to serve the world and the people around you more, but it's not out of a sense of just trying to achieve or get more. It becomes the sense of like I am so thankful for what I have and what I've done, and I would love to serve the world more with more of that. So she recommends like a few prompts to experience gratitude. I love gratitude journals, but she's like, you can write in the evening in detail about three things you're grateful for that day, even small things. Or you can list three things that you value and appreciate about your partner or family, and you can do that, maybe with a different person every day. You can. I love this one. Describe a challenge you've dealt with recently and what you learned from the experience. I think we reframing your personal finance journey, especially with budgeting. I think so many people think when they mess up with budgeting or they have a challenge with budgeting, that is actually a failure, but it is They're just surprises that come up and you can't help them. And so when you can view these bumps in the road as challenges and then reflect on what you learned from the experience and be grateful that you went through it and that now you have something that you have learned from it, that makes budgeting takes it something that you hate to something that you love because it allows you to learn more about yourself. And so the last one is right about three people who have made the biggest positive impact in your life. It's beautiful. I love gratitude. I love what it produces short term and long term. Number eight on here is embrace the white space. And they don't just mean like find yourself in a white room and enjoy yourself. But and I would even term this margin like if you're looking at a piece of paper, you know that the space of the paper that you're not supposed to write in or or could be used for some notes, or the side of the road that gives you a little bit of wiggle room to be able to pull off like not filling it up, not so filling every single space of your life, and not not only not filling it, embracing it and fostering gratitude for those times and identifying how you want to engage in those times of just really slowing down. This article talks about doing nothing. I would probably push back on that a little bit. I think that there are things that we can quote unquote do that our life giving that are slower pace, that help us to engage in our full personhood. I don't think it necessarily means we have to just sit and let our minds go blank. And they talked to about letting yourself experience boredom might might be a decent thing. I will say that is healthy. I don't know that I have, and we've talked about this. I talked about this with a friend and Eric too. I don't know that I've ever felt bored since maybe middle school possibly for that and and I don't Yeah, it's probably not a great thing, but it's an interesting realization. But I don't know that like boredom is the sign that you've now embraced space. I think you don't have to just be like I don't know what to do with myself. There could be things that you do that aren't just meaningless. They give the example of taking a hike or wander your neighborhood on a walk with no real destination in mind just and I like the example they give to if you've ever been in the shower and had a great idea, then you can understand the benefit of giving yourself space to just let your mind wander. It's kind of that idea, doing something cathartic. Yeah, just not not feeling the pressure of filling space is one practice that could be really helpful. Embrace the white space, embrace the margin, make room for a margin. Yeah, I will say that having a young child really forces you to do this because there's only so much blippy I can watch before I'm just like staring into the white space. That's probably why I play so much solidaire. But I think it would be helpful maybe if you are like me and you have a hard time turning your brain off, to set a timer to just give yourself ten minutes to sit in the white space and you know, let your mind wander, so that way you're including it, but it doesn't feel like it's indefinite or will cause you anxiety because you don't know when it's gonna end. So the last one is don't expect miracles because the simple living will improve your life, it can improve it even drastically, but it will not prevent stress or grant you unlimited happiness and fulfillment, which is so unfortunate. But with most good things, it's not perfect, and so it just creates. It's like having an emergency fund. Emergency funds don't prevent emergencies from happening. But when you have one, emergencies no longer feel like emergencies. They just feel like, oh, it's this expense that I really don't want to have to pay, but I have the money for it, So they become annoyances is what happens. But when you don't have the money to pay for something and you need it, that is an emergency. That's a crisis, and so that's going to take way more stress than than when you have the emergency fund. And that's the same thing simple living does it. It turns what can become crises, eliminate them completely or just turn you know, complicated situations that you can't avoid, turn them into annoyances. Yeah. Yeah, it just says with anything, nothing's going to be a magic wand but it can get us closer to experience and saying deeper satisfaction and benefit. Yeah, turning crises into annoyances. I like the goal and you know what gives me margin and kind of like is some white space in my day. It's not magic, but it is the goal. It is great 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's build Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the Bill of the Week. Hello, Jenn and Jill. This is Molly from Nebraska and I, I don't know, discovered your podcast back in January and it's been one of the biggest resources for me as I've been learning more about personal finance. And I am calling about the Bill of the Week because I just paid off my credit cards two days ago. Yeah, I had a lot of credit card debt and I just paid it off the last one. So thanks so much or earlier, all right? Bye? Oh my god. Yeah, congratulations. I'm so glad that we could be on this journey with you doing this awesome thing. M I've been together since January and already got the credit cards paid to hop the hat is legit. Congratulations. So, if you have a Bill of the week, whether it's a paid off credit card or any other kind of debt or something completely unrelated to Bill, you like to pay a bill, you hate paying a guy I named Bill. We just really love the ambiguity of the segment. We love listening to you all, So submit your bill at Frical Friends podcast dot com slash bill. We're excited to hear it. Absolutely and now it's time for Wound. So we are going to share complicated things in our life that we have simplified because we are not immune to them. They happen, and I will be fully transparent. I will go first, thank you. I'll be fully and embarrassingly transparent. So everyone knows that I do like personal finance. Educating is my full time job. This podcast and writing and all of that, that is what I do for a living. And in it I tell everyone focus on one thing at a time, whatever that is, whatever order you do it in, do what's right for you. Do one thing at a time, you know, very much like what we were talking about earlier. And so in my business, I at one point I was doing maybe six different things at a time. I was doing this podcast, I was doing TikTok YouTube, freelance writing, trying to build a blog, and maybe that's it, but there's probably more, honestly, and I and somebody had to point it out to me that I was, um, I hadn't chosen my one thing. I was trying to do so many things because I have the scarcity mindset that I'm always dealing with, because I thought, if I just choose one thing, I eliminate i've income streams and I lose four fifths of my money, which is untrue. You can do it for a little bit, but long term, like a lifestyle and a business like that is unsustainable. And so this summer I decided to just do one thing, which is this podcast. I stopped doing everything else except for a little bit of freelance writing because I do actually enjoy that, but just a few articles a month. And I really had to take my own advice because it was easy for me to do it in one area of my life and my personal finances in my living, like the things. I wasn't being hypocritical about the things I teach, but it was just I hadn't I'm like, not a business person. I don't teach business. I don't know that side. Like it's just I am constantly learning that and I didn't see it just crept up, so it wasn't obvious. I had to have somebody who didn't know me tell me, like, this is what you're doing. Do you see this? Oh? No, I didn't see that and so that was a simplification I made over the summer. Well, I'm super excited about it because this podcast is our our little love child. That's not the right word, but it's what came to mind, our baby. So that's fun for me. But I will also say I think it's a consolidation. Like from my perspective, it's not as if now all of these other things are no longer. It's just under one umbrella. So yeah, there's still an Instagram account and a YouTube channel and this and that, but in the podcast, but it's not as disjointed, which I think in that Yeah, it's not like a now it's just super simple, easy, but it is less complicated. Absolutely nice. Gen Well, I mean that was beautiful. My examples are nowhere near that that complex or involved or insightful or in depth. Uh. And maybe that means that I need to look at my life more or maybe it just means you've mastered it more than I have. Oh No, there's still edits that need to happen, for sure. I think some of the things that come to mind. So just a couple of different examples, like for me, exercise like that related to the nine tips, and that last article that that we were talking about, like focusing on one thing or single task or setting small realistic goals. Exercise was always something that I knew I wanted to do, but the way that everybody else did it was never super attainable for me. Like I try this and I'd get disc ridged and I'd be bummed. I didn't see the results that I wanted to see, and it just became really complicated until now I figured out what works for me, and it is a short amount of time every morning with YouTube, and I've been doing that for like six months now, so I know, all right, I think I found it. I think I found the sustainable, simple at home thing for me. Some other things and again these are just more just like lifestyle tips, but for me, it means so much. I clutter is overwhelming to me. Paperwork in particular. I mean I have so much already automated. But whatever does come into my home, I immediately deal with it, or I put it if it's the weekend, because I also have pretty strong boundaries amount around my weekends, they're really sacred to me. I put it on my desk, close the door, and come back to it. If it's an important piece of paper, I take a picture of it and I keep it in my phone in certain files of what that falls under, but I just I don't keep paper around, and that is something complicated that feels more simple to me. Now, Yeah, I feel like choosing the few things that are very important to you that make the have the biggest effect on your mental health. I think that's the greatest place to start. So, like when we were paying off debt, we did everything to save money. We just did everything. And now that we're not, now that we're living in sustainability, really the biggest thing we do is wei meal plan. That's the biggest thing that we can do to keep our spending in check. So that's like the only thing we focus on um And granted, those two years of paying off debt did train us in good habits and we needed that, but it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle. And so now we choose our you know, the one thing that we focus on, and that's a version of simple spending. Sometimes it is in these smaller areas of life that can produce so much breathing room for us. Sometimes it's the big things, but oftentimes it's identifying these little things that can work for us. That is that margin, that white space. It's also interesting to think about this topic and see the irony of it too. I know that we've we've touched on this a bit, but as I think back on my life and some of the edits that I've made over time, you know, you would think tiny living, Oh, that produces simplicity, that's simple living because you don't have a lot, you don't need a lot, you don't have a lot of expenses. But having done it, I realized, yeah, part of that's true, and then part of it is it becomes super complicated the second that the weather hits below freezing or the second that your pipes aren't working to get your black water tank, and yeah, look it up. It's what you think it is. It's your actual physical body waste that you've got to interact with. Like there's so many piece is to it, and where do where do I park this? And where do I stay? And what happens if I get a flat tire on my home? So there is a give and take, I think to all of it, and that really identifying and trying things out. I think, you know, we we also it's been a goal of mine to have one vehicle, and we're there, and I love it. And for the most part, it's simple and it's less expensive to only have insurance on one vehicle, to only pay for the maintenance on one vehicle. But when that one vehicle breaks, it causes a storm all around. Now, how do we get from point A to point B to get our groceries? Now we've got to rent a car. Now we've got to do this and that, and that just happened. So just just for permission that even when we identify the things that we believe are simple or the world defines as simple, there's always gonna be consequences to it, alternatives to it. And we're doing the best we can to look at all aspects in its entirety and the whole of it. What is going to ultimately lead to the least amount of complication. And when we do come upon complication, how can we make room for margin, for opportunities to rest. Because sometimes our days require eighteen hours from us, that's okay, But learning to be able to recognize the days where it only requires six hours of our time, energy and effort and rest in some of that margin and look for that margin I think that's my summary. Okay, great, Yeah, I mean it's uh, it's worth it. I think all is all I had to say. The simple living is worth it. I think it's uh, it's fulfilling, and uh, you can't love everything, So let's find the things we do love. And thank you for simply listening to the show and simply being present with us. We want to thank you for your kind reviews, sharing on social media all the things that help more people find Frugal Friends podcast and give us a try so that they can hear these tips and this message as well. So like this particular review that we got from Alpine, Emmy says, these ladies got me motivated. Five stars. Thanks for the great podcast. I've been listening to all the episodes and trying to take action or at least notes on how to apply to my own debt free journey. I'm a ski instructor slash rec center instructors, so I have to learn about a regular income side, hustling, budgeting, etcetera. While I was already minimalists by force of living in an expensive area, Jen and Jill have encouraged me to pursue creative new avenues to make sure, I'm financially advancing myself. Great energy and fun. Thanks again, lovely, I mean thank you, Emmy. That was beautiful. I love to know when we are part of people's motivation or something like that extra boost that's needed. That's what we hope from having frugal friendships. Yes, well, we also want to thank our friends who are sharing these episodes on social media. So when you share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we add you to our monthly drawing. Here's what it is. For every five tags and reviews we get each month, we give away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook, So definitely leave us a review and send the screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com to get yourself entered into that drawing, and don't forget to tag us on social and that will also enter you in to see the Frugal Friends work quick which is best a bunch of one week challenges to more simple living to send Julian financial freedom, more gamifying stuff. All right, see you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. How have you simplified me all planning? I use cook smarts? Ah, yes, I mean point Blank, Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash cook Smarts. It didn't mean for our post role to be up, but it's reality great yeah, um yeah, did I tell me what to make? If I don't like it, I'll pick something from the archives, add it all to my Walmart, uh, pick up grocery, pickup and h I'll add like a frozen pizza or something frozen for like one day, then eat out twice a week. I love it. That's about it. Just really yeah, I don't scheduling your life. I mean, there's obviously flexibility in that, but to know what to expect to take out the decision making so good. Yeah. I love it when I don't have to make decisions. Um, it's really it's really great. I love to be told what to do in some areas, only in some areas, right,