0:00

Episode one, Home Renovations

0:02

on a Budget. Welcome

0:08

to the Frugal Friends podcast, where

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you'll learn to save money, embrace

0:12

simplicity, and live with your

0:15

life. Here

0:17

your host Jen and Jill. M

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m m m m m m m m m m mmm.

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Hello and welcome to the Frugal Friends

0:26

podcast. My name is Jen. Hi

0:28

friends, I'm Jill, and today

0:31

we are talking about home renovations,

0:35

which is something Jill knows a

0:37

lot about and I know a

0:40

little about nothing. You

0:43

know things, Jen, don't undercut yourself,

0:46

but yes, this is a very exciting

0:48

episode for me because I like talking

0:51

about this stuff. I told Jen before we started,

0:53

your like lobbying me this content.

0:56

And then I asked what does lobbing actually

0:58

mean? And we weren't sure.

1:01

So if you know, well, I'm

1:03

still on the fence. The soft, underhanded

1:05

throw, easy to catch, okay,

1:08

easy home run. So we are.

1:11

We are throwing you guys a home

1:13

run because this is something that you asked for

1:16

and we're going to provide. But

1:19

first we gotta thank our

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to you. Again, that's Frugal

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Friends Podcast dot com Slash

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a x o s.

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And this episode is also brought to you by trees,

2:24

the very tall ones that can fall on your

2:26

house and break your roof in multiple places.

2:29

They can make you paranoid every time you pass

2:31

one, or cause you to stereotype undeserving

2:34

trees just because they look

2:36

like the one that fell in your house. Trees,

2:39

they're pretty, but watch out. Ah,

2:43

that's the reality of living in

2:45

a hurricane prone area. That's

2:48

so true. I mean really anywhere with wind

2:50

anywhere. Yes, trees fell on houses

2:52

constantly where I come from,

2:54

and b I do, so yeah, and they require

2:57

home renovations when they do fall

3:00

on your house. So, if this is something

3:02

that you are interested in and you want to

3:04

queue up a few more episodes, we

3:07

haven't done one in a while,

3:10

so this is way way way in

3:12

the way back machine. Episode fifteen

3:14

we did one on like how to save money on home

3:17

decor um, and then episode

3:19

twenty three we had some d

3:21

I y home maintenance tips, so

3:23

I know those were very long time

3:25

ago. And still

3:27

this is a bit different because we're talking about renovation,

3:31

not just home repair decorating

3:33

your house, but what if we want to upgrade

3:35

it, we really want to

3:37

increase the value of our homes,

3:41

or we're living in an apartment so we're renting, but we

3:43

still want it to look pretty. What are some things we can

3:45

do? Although this is probably going to be more into

3:47

the weeds with actual repair,

3:50

so your landlord might

3:52

not let you do some of this stuff, but who

3:54

knows our landlord did We did it maybe

3:56

full on renovation in one

3:58

of the apartments we lived. Actually, we

4:00

realize every single place we've

4:03

lived we've done some version of a

4:05

renovation on that place. And we

4:07

only just bought our first home

4:09

this year, and we've lived in like nine other

4:11

places and we renovated all

4:13

of them. Our landlords just trusted us,

4:16

I guess. And this is why this is your

4:18

episode, Jill. So the

4:20

first one we've got,

4:23

this one is from Family

4:26

Handyman and it is

4:28

fifteen home renovations you can

4:30

do right now.

4:33

So these are the ones that you

4:35

can do yourself. You don't have to hire

4:37

out, and you will get back all

4:40

of the bang your buck put in, hopefully

4:43

maybe depending on if you do a good

4:45

job or not. I

4:47

will say from the start the way

4:49

that we save money on home

4:51

renovations is doing

4:54

it ourselves. That

4:56

is the majority of the costs that

4:58

you spend. I mean only materials

5:01

do cost money. That is a

5:03

big expense, just the materials that it costs.

5:06

But if you are able to do the work yourself,

5:08

you will save between thirty

5:11

to sixty per cent. That

5:13

that is the markup of home repair when you

5:15

pay someone to do it for you.

5:18

Certainly, and we'll talk about this, there are things

5:20

that you don't want to try if

5:22

you're not skilled in it, you don't have training

5:25

in it. But there are a lot of things

5:27

that I don't think we need to be as

5:29

afraid of doing as we might

5:31

be. It doesn't mean that we're going to do it perfectly

5:34

the first time the second time, but it is

5:36

a worthwhile skill set to build up

5:39

is doing things ourselves,

5:42

doing some of these home innovations ourselves. So I think

5:44

this is a great list what they list out

5:46

on the family handyman and

5:48

the first one I'll just start

5:51

us off is painting.

5:53

Pretty obvious, this is one

5:55

of the most easiest trades

5:58

to be able to pick up and do

6:00

yourself. Still, surprisingly

6:02

there's a lot of people who are not good

6:05

at painting, so definitely

6:08

no know your skill set,

6:10

know what you're good at. Watch some videos

6:12

beforehand. Thank goodness for YouTube,

6:14

there's so much we can learn and

6:16

watch people on how do they do it?

6:19

What is a good technique? They

6:21

even mentioned in here that one of the keys to a good

6:23

paint job is covering up nail

6:25

holes and cracks, So even being able

6:27

to do a little bit of speckling ahead

6:29

of time would filler

6:32

standing. Of course that is

6:34

next level. There's YouTube for that too, but

6:36

certainly painting a room, a couple

6:38

of rooms can really upgrade things. I

6:41

have painted cabinets. That

6:43

has been my frugal way of updating

6:47

bathrooms or even kitchens

6:49

is to be able to paint the cabinets. Again,

6:51

I would recommend doing some research, even

6:53

asking the people at the paint store

6:56

for what's needed.

6:58

Definitely don't skip that when it comes to cabinets

7:01

because there is a lot of wear and tear on them,

7:03

So doing a really nice base coat

7:05

that the paint will stick

7:07

to, and and so I would I would

7:09

go a little bit more high end with the paint

7:11

that you do get for cabinets, again just because

7:14

it's you're touching them so much,

7:16

but those types of things, paint can do

7:19

a world of difference on cabinets

7:21

and walls and molding and doors.

7:23

So start there. Love

7:26

that tip. Yeah, and I think when

7:28

so when you moved into your house, Jill, and

7:31

you brought your friend to

7:33

paint because you

7:36

were already anticipating, Like,

7:38

it's not just the paint that

7:40

is the big job on this one.

7:42

The painting is actually like the easy part.

7:45

It's all of the prep work that

7:48

is the real job. Out about the prep, Yeah,

7:51

yeah, don't forget to factor in prep work.

7:54

We can buy our paint cans and get our paint

7:56

brushes and think we're just going to dive in. But there's

7:58

so much that needs to happen at a time, like

8:00

the spackling, maybe even some cocking,

8:03

especially if you're going to be painting, trim and

8:05

cleaning it is so important.

8:08

I see so many people just wanting

8:10

to skip that part. But if

8:12

you're going to paint on a dirty wall, it

8:15

will show through. You're going to get a lot

8:17

of debris in the

8:19

paint, and sometimes you don't even

8:21

realize that maybe there's stuff

8:23

on the wall. I know that when we bought our house

8:25

there was like tape and stickers

8:28

and like gum,

8:30

yeah there were there were some teenagers

8:33

in some of these rooms. So

8:35

having cleaned it with you know, less

8:38

imperfections on the wall. Um,

8:40

So getting a good cleaner putting

8:42

in that prep time because it is going to make a world

8:44

of difference. Another

8:47

one on here is to add a

8:49

back splash. And while I

8:51

don't love the backsplash they chose

8:53

for the picture in this article, it

8:56

is something it's you can like splurge

8:59

to get a nicer tile or maybe

9:01

one that may be easier to lay

9:04

because it is a smaller area,

9:06

and you can also afford to make

9:08

a few mistakes because it's

9:10

a smaller area and things are typically

9:13

in front of the tile, like small

9:15

appliances or you know,

9:17

all of your clutter and stuff like that.

9:20

So this is something that can be a wow if

9:23

you are trying to change

9:25

up something for higher resale

9:27

value, or you maybe see a

9:29

backsplash in a house that you don't like, or you

9:31

have one you don't like and you want to

9:34

get a prettier one. I

9:36

would even add to this it doesn't have to

9:39

be tile. Tile does take a

9:41

next level skill, not that you couldn't learn

9:44

it, And for those of you go getters, I

9:46

would encourage you if you want to tackle a

9:48

tile job, do it. There's some

9:50

really nice tiles out there

9:52

that are, as you said, Jen, not

9:54

not even that expensive. I mean, thankfully,

9:56

subway tile has had its heyday and

9:59

it's very inexpensive. But

10:02

if you don't want to have to deal with tile

10:04

cutting, measuring, grouting

10:06

all of that, there are some really

10:09

awesome alternatives. I

10:11

don't like the picture that's shown in here either,

10:14

but there are these

10:17

essentially like stick on type

10:20

back splashes that you can get

10:23

that are easily cut out,

10:25

easy to kind of stick on your wall, super

10:28

wipe able. So checking out you

10:30

know, your local home depot,

10:33

lows, whatever, you

10:35

might be able to find some some

10:37

easily d i y solutions

10:39

for backsplashes. I've also seen I'm

10:42

gonna tread lightly here because it's is

10:44

a little bit going against my own grain. Eric

10:46

and I used to have a home

10:49

renovations business as like a side

10:51

hustle and our main hustle at one point,

10:54

so we're definitely all about some more high

10:56

end types of

10:58

home repair. But I have seen

11:00

this done and it can look decent. Is

11:03

getting a really high end, very

11:06

wipeable even wall paper

11:08

for a backsplash, So

11:10

definitely do some research. I think Etsy has

11:12

some really great options, um

11:15

or just doing a Google search of a

11:17

wallpaper that could be a backsplash.

11:19

Again, you're really gonna want it to be wipeable.

11:21

You're gonna want to make sure that the adhesive is

11:24

really good. I mean, there's a reason they call it a backsplash.

11:27

It gets wet, it can get

11:29

things splashed on it. But I've

11:31

seen people do that before and it's turned

11:33

out really decent. So definitely

11:36

roam the aisles of your local

11:38

home repair place. There are some really

11:41

great alternatives for those of us who want

11:43

to d I y this. The

11:45

next one on the list, which I like as

11:47

well, is even thinking about the exterior

11:50

of our homes. So improving

11:52

our entryway, whether that means

11:55

throwing a quick code of paint or

11:57

two or three doors usually need three,

11:59

let's be honest, on your front

12:01

door can make such a difference.

12:04

And even choosing a fun color

12:06

something that could make the front of your

12:08

house pop, and then

12:11

considering plants around the front

12:13

and that can be found at your local by

12:15

nothing group or propagated from

12:17

a friend's yard, you name

12:19

it. Again, this doesn't have to cost a lot of money. I

12:21

know. We've also talked in other episodes about lawn

12:24

maintenance that you could

12:26

even check your city for free mulch.

12:29

So finding some inexpensive, low cost

12:31

even freeways to make the exterior

12:33

of your home look nice. Yes, here's

12:36

one that you guys did, Jill that

12:38

I didn't even think about. But

12:41

when I saw, I was

12:43

like, it just really stood out

12:46

And it was new hardware. You got

12:48

new hardware like handles

12:50

for your doors, And I didn't even

12:52

think I wouldn't even think about that, but

12:55

you did it, and they were so beautiful,

12:57

and I can't imagine that you bought really

13:00

expensive hardware, but

13:02

it did make a difference. It can

13:04

be that is the surprising thing. Door

13:07

knobs, handles, pulls,

13:09

all of those things can really add

13:11

up. But like you say, Jen, it's something

13:13

that's easy to do ourselves and

13:16

does make a nice upgrade

13:18

to a home, especially when you've got mismatched

13:21

handles everywhere. And I always

13:23

feel really accomplished. I would not consider myself

13:26

like a contractor, but

13:28

I'm able to change out hardware

13:30

and so even that like sense of accomplishment,

13:32

like I used my screwdriver

13:35

and I put this in and it works

13:37

now, so that's fun and

13:40

having it all matched. So I wouldn't say

13:42

it was incredibly inexpensive, although

13:44

you can find that right there's plenty of

13:46

people getting rid of their old hardware on

13:49

Facebook market place. You can buy

13:51

used certainly, but depending on if

13:53

you've got a certain style in mind, you might

13:56

need to spend a little bit more.

13:58

But again, yes, it's that we're not talking thousands

14:00

of dollars by any means, and it does

14:03

make a big difference. It does make

14:05

a big difference. The next

14:07

one is cock. I

14:10

love this one again. It's it is one that

14:12

requires a bit more skill.

14:14

But you don't have to be a trained construction

14:17

worker to be able to cock something and

14:20

shout out YouTube. But cocking

14:23

can what's the

14:25

term, um, do your

14:27

best cock the rest? That is a

14:29

construction workers saying for

14:32

those who are not as

14:34

great with all of the joints

14:37

of would work. But

14:40

when we see gaps in the

14:42

molding, in the ceiling,

14:44

anywhere where you've got wood that's

14:47

meeting up with each other, or

14:49

wood meeting up to a wall, and you've got

14:52

gaps, Cocking those

14:54

gaps can it just

14:56

may give it such a more clean look.

14:58

That's another one of those minor

15:00

things. But once it's done, you realize

15:03

what a big difference it can make when you're

15:05

not seeing all these gaps everywhere,

15:07

gaps around the windows, gaps

15:09

along the molding, door trim.

15:12

So getting some cock and

15:15

cocking that again YouTube it.

15:17

It can take a little bit of time to figure

15:19

out. My best tip is do a

15:21

smaller cut at the end of the nozzle

15:24

of the cock tube. Then you can

15:26

get a finer beat of cock

15:28

along your lines. And

15:31

edges. So don't don't chop

15:33

off a ton at the end of the cock gun, because

15:35

then that's when you get just a whole mess.

15:38

It's like what do I do with all those clocks? So make

15:40

sure it's You can always cut more off,

15:42

right, It's like a haircut. You can always cut

15:44

more off, but you can't add more to it. So

15:46

start really small with how much you cut

15:48

off at the tip of the cock gun. That's

15:50

a good tip, and then you can paint

15:53

over it. So just do a quick beat of cock.

15:55

I would even say changing out

15:57

the cock on your tub, So scraping

15:59

it out if you're starting to notice, hey, just

16:02

cleaning is not getting rid of some of

16:04

this mold that's starting to happen,

16:06

or the soap scum that's building up, scrape

16:09

that out. You're gonna want silicone because it's

16:11

water right, water is going to touch it.

16:13

But changing out the cock in the tub,

16:15

that was another thing that we did that just made

16:17

it look so much more clean. Just a white

16:20

cock around it. Especially when

16:22

bleach isn't isn't get into it,

16:24

that's when you got to replace that redo

16:26

it. Those are great tips. Here's

16:28

another one in my house, that I

16:31

didn't realize it's so little,

16:33

but it did. It was such a kind of

16:35

wow factor for me when we were buying

16:37

our house. Is actually one

16:40

of the outlets was

16:42

UM like a brand new outlet that also

16:44

had like USB, like built in USB

16:47

UM outlet in it. So this

16:49

one is replaced outlets and switches so

16:52

they're not super expensive. You

16:54

don't have to do every single outlet,

16:57

but maybe so ours is

16:59

the one right by our our

17:02

couch. Is has one

17:04

plug and then two USB courts

17:06

so that we can plug in our phones while

17:08

we're sitting on the couch and that's super

17:11

easy. And it's not even like you

17:13

can't just plug in

17:15

an outlet, you know, regular

17:17

outlet thing to charge your phones. But it's

17:20

just unique and it's something that

17:22

stood out to me when we were buying our house

17:25

that I thought was a really cool personal

17:28

touch. I don't know why that just that

17:30

was really cool for me. And yeah,

17:32

doable to install. Yeah, that

17:34

is one of the first things that we do

17:37

Eric and I when we when we move into a new place.

17:40

I love this list so much because it is it

17:42

feels like all of the things that we will come

17:44

in and do to a place immediately

17:47

before we start knocking out walls and

17:49

completely gutting things. These are some

17:51

of just the aesthetic pieces that

17:53

will do that do make a big difference. And so

17:56

houses that might have ivory

17:58

outlets and covers everywhere we'll

18:00

switch out for white. Again,

18:03

that's a minor electrical

18:05

job that you could learn to do.

18:08

As far as actually changing out the outlets

18:10

itself, the g f I

18:12

s maybe you'd want to hire

18:14

somebody to do that if you're not, if

18:17

you don't want to learn how to do that yourself,

18:19

But certainly the covers, changing

18:21

out the covers is very easy

18:23

and that doesn't involve any electrical work, So that

18:26

does make a big difference. And then, like you said, Jen,

18:29

with even some of those higher

18:31

end things just being able to plug in a USB

18:33

or more more up to date technology

18:36

wise. This next

18:38

one, this is another we call

18:40

it the Eric and Jill special.

18:43

Like when we will come in and upgrade

18:45

a bathroom, just a quick refresh

18:48

of a bathroom. Like I've already

18:50

mentioned, it would be the changing

18:52

out of the light fixtures, new

18:55

handles, and then

18:57

painting the cabinets and this on

19:00

changing out the faucet and sink so

19:03

rather than before we jump

19:05

to buying a whole new

19:07

vanity, considering can

19:09

this be just updated

19:12

in a way that looks nice,

19:14

but I don't need to replace the whole thing, and oftentimes

19:17

those minor changes can do that. So

19:19

just getting new faucets, and thankfully

19:21

faucets can be really inexpensive

19:24

on Amazon. You

19:26

can even find them at places

19:29

like Restore. That's habitat for

19:31

Humanity Is. It's essentially like a

19:33

thrift store, but they've got a lot of home

19:37

reyno things. They're like vanities,

19:39

faucets, tile, So that's

19:42

one of our favorite places to go. So

19:44

just replacing the faucet again that that is

19:46

a simple plumbing job that with some YouTube

19:49

you could tackle as a homeowner

19:52

and can make a big difference. I

19:56

also like this is

19:58

one that I'm capable of. Uh,

20:00

it's swapped the deck, which is

20:02

just clean, clean the deck, clean

20:05

the outside of your house, clean it, clean

20:07

it. Sometimes that's all speaking

20:10

of that, Yes, cleaning it and even

20:12

pressure washing. So whether you

20:15

borrow from a friend or you

20:17

rent one, pressure washing

20:20

is one of my favorite things to do, and it makes a

20:22

big, big different satisfying

20:24

for the exterior of your house. Yeah.

20:26

We pressure washed our driveway, our sidewalk,

20:29

our entire house, all

20:32

of it and it looked brand new,

20:34

like where I thought, Oh no, we're going to need to paint

20:36

this place again soon. I just pressure

20:38

wash. I'm like, oh, it's that color

20:41

excellent. That'll do for now. And

20:44

surely you have a friend who has a

20:46

pressure washer, or you can go on the buy

20:48

nothing group and be like, hey, does any have a pressure

20:51

washer? I can borrow and

20:53

find one if you don't want to buy one. Yes. The

20:56

next one is lay your

20:58

own floor. They specifically say

21:00

tile. Um. I would say,

21:02

there's certainly other types of flooring

21:04

that is pretty user friendly.

21:07

I know some of the new laminate

21:09

floorings is like this clicking lock

21:12

system. There's certainly cuts

21:14

and measurements that you'd have to make,

21:16

depending on and especially depending on how complicated

21:19

a room is. This is

21:21

again it's one of those next level

21:24

types of projects. But certainly for

21:26

the go get or somebody who wants a

21:29

challenge, wants to try their hand

21:31

at something. This would be

21:33

a home renovation that I

21:35

would say we can do on

21:37

our own. Maybe you'll

21:39

need to call up a friend who's good at it.

21:41

Again, check out YouTube, But I

21:44

wouldn't say that this is two above and beyond

21:47

laying our own floor. Yeah, I

21:49

mean it would definitely take some time

21:51

depending on how much you're doing. But

21:55

if you want to try, start with something small,

21:57

like a like a bathroom or something and

22:00

see if you are good at it, if you

22:02

like it, or if you're absolutely

22:05

not having any of this. Yeah,

22:07

starting the room you don't go too very often where

22:09

you can close the door if it doesn't go that well, oh

22:13

yes, that's that's great. This

22:15

one is probably the last one on the list for

22:18

me that I really liked. Its upgrade

22:20

your lighting that is super

22:22

easy to do. Amazon has a ton of

22:24

lighting fixtures, and I know I

22:26

listened to like kind of

22:28

fix and flip podcasts, like real

22:30

estate podcasts, and I was like

22:33

they always say like, Okay, where do you get your

22:35

stuff? Um, and they're like, well, you could

22:37

go to home Depot or lows, but like, we just

22:39

go to Amazon because they've got everything

22:41

and they've got free returns and two day

22:44

shipping and so we just go there.

22:46

So yeah, I mean check fixing

22:48

out light. That was another thing in our house when we went

22:51

in, it had unique lighting

22:53

fixtures. And that was something that stood out

22:56

for us and was a big selling

22:59

feature. And it's not it's like they're

23:01

just lighting fixtures that I wouldn't

23:04

think to buy on my own, and

23:06

that's kind of what made them unique

23:08

and that I liked them. Yeah,

23:11

and thankfully with buy nothing

23:13

groups, Facebook, market Place, yard

23:15

sales, estate sales, you name it,

23:18

we can find some really cool

23:20

lighting. And again I'll shout out Restore.

23:23

We have found some really great lighting fixtures

23:26

at places like Restore,

23:28

So check out if you've got one of those Habitat for

23:30

Humanity thrift stores in

23:32

your area. I will also

23:34

add to the lighting piece. Eric used

23:37

to be an electrician before we even had

23:39

our home innovations business together. Super

23:41

great skill to have. He hated it, but

23:43

it was great skilled and he still utilizes

23:46

it in the places we live. One of the

23:48

things he would often do and encourage homeowners

23:51

to do that we don't often think about

23:53

but usually makes such a big difference would be under

23:55

cabinet lighting. And there's some really

23:58

great systems that you could absolutely do

24:00

yourself. Of course, you could go higher end

24:02

and it might be a little bit more of skilled labor

24:04

work, but putting

24:07

in some sort of lighting under

24:09

the cabinets in your kitchen really

24:12

does a number on not only providing extra

24:15

lighting for what while you're working, but

24:17

also really great aesthetically

24:20

pleasing lighting for

24:22

when you're maybe like you want all

24:24

the lights in your kitchen off, but you can turn on

24:26

the under cabinet lights and it just looks really

24:29

nice, especially after you've done that backsplash

24:31

in your kitchen. So that's another

24:34

inexpensive upgrade that

24:36

really makes a big difference. And

24:39

the last one on here that I want to talk about

24:41

is they mentioned spray painting

24:43

your cabinets. I want to be clear,

24:46

they don't mean cans of

24:48

spray paint. Please do not get

24:50

cans of spray paint and make your kitchen

24:52

countets. It will look awful. What

24:55

they mean is like a paint sprayer.

24:58

Again, this is something that you could ren maybe

25:00

a friend has one. Check out your buy nothing

25:02

groups. If you get a good sprayer,

25:05

it can go quickly and you

25:07

can you know you're not going to get those brushstrokes

25:10

and that kind of a thing if you're going to

25:12

paint your cabinets. I will say it is an incredible

25:15

upgrade I've done. This is another

25:17

one of my like kitchen rehnot specials.

25:19

I've painted so many kitchen cabinets in my

25:21

lifetime. I recommend taking

25:23

the doors off, laying them

25:26

all out, whether you take them to a basement or

25:28

a garage or something and something

25:30

where you're not going to get like, don't just take them outside,

25:32

you're going to get debris in them. Take

25:34

it to a place that you know you're not gonna

25:36

have a lot of wind or debris falling on it.

25:39

Lay them all out and either

25:41

spray I will roll, or get special

25:44

cabinet rollers some the

25:46

really high end cabinet paint. This

25:48

does make a big difference, and

25:50

and I would recommend this as

25:53

a way to upgrade your kitchen. All

25:57

Right, So now that we've talked about the things you

25:59

can do, let's talk about

26:01

what you should do with the money

26:04

you save from doing these things

26:06

and the things that you should not

26:09

d I y um. And So there's only

26:11

five things on this list, but they

26:13

are five very

26:16

important things. So Jill

26:19

take it away with this first one. The

26:21

first one, do not d

26:23

I Y electrical work. Yeah,

26:27

if you have not been trained in

26:29

electrical work, if you do not

26:31

know what you're doing, it is better

26:34

to just pay someone to

26:36

come and do this work for you. That

26:38

doesn't mean that you have to, I mean it

26:40

is a cost right, Like this is skilled labor

26:43

people who have invested a lot of time and energy

26:45

into learning this trade. So yes, let's

26:48

pay them a good living wage, but

26:50

also shop around, find a

26:52

good electrician, find a fair electrician.

26:55

But please don't do this yourself. There

26:57

is a lot that can go wrong

27:00

this you don't. Yeah,

27:02

my husband is an electrician and he gets shocked

27:04

all the time. That

27:07

just happens with electricians. He comes to a

27:09

family with electricians and that happens,

27:12

and so, my goodness, how much more shocking

27:14

if you don't know what you're doing and you

27:17

can get really, really hurt

27:19

and injured. It's amazing to me because I'm I don't

27:22

have as much of a fear about it because Eric

27:24

does it all the time and has done it

27:26

at you know, for employment. But

27:29

he will still often be like, Okay, no, don't

27:31

get close to me. Okay, no, don't touch

27:33

those two things together. Okay, I'm walking away,

27:36

but don't touch that wire. And it's like, oh,

27:38

like, there is a real danger to this. Sometimes

27:40

I can become like just too accustomed

27:42

to it, like, yeah, there's an exposed wire, Like,

27:44

don't worry about it because I know. Okay,

27:47

Eric's got it covered, but he takes it

27:49

very seriously and it is like, don't

27:51

go near it. So yes, please

27:54

be aware, and if you are

27:56

concerned, just tire someone. Yeah.

27:59

The next one is don't d I y a garage

28:01

door repair. And this is because

28:04

it's uh not a job that can be done

28:06

with tools you have lying around the house.

28:09

The tools are specialized,

28:11

and you don't want to spend money on

28:13

specialized tools that you'll only use

28:15

once. So if you have a

28:18

garage door to install or

28:20

fix, or you want to change out a garage

28:23

door for curb appeal,

28:25

Also, those things are like a hundred pounds,

28:27

so you don't want to you don't want to drop

28:29

it and be liable for that. So

28:31

this is just something that you definitely

28:34

want to get somebody who

28:36

knows what they're doing. This one was an interesting

28:39

one. I think this came up on a previous list

28:41

in one of our episodes as well, and

28:43

I remember asking Eric about it, like really,

28:45

just like a garage door, what what's

28:47

with that? And he offerd He's like, no,

28:50

they can be really dangerous, mostly because

28:52

of the springs. The springs are really

28:54

big and hold a lot of tension, and

28:57

people have gotten really injured

28:59

trying to do this themselves without the right

29:01

tools. But I think it's mostly the

29:03

spring that's the dangerous part of

29:05

it. Um And there's specific

29:07

methods to be able to do this, So yeah, hire

29:09

someone for that. And the

29:12

next one, don't d i

29:14

Y roof repair. Again, if

29:16

this isn't something that you know how to do,

29:18

you have experience with you

29:20

are up at high heights

29:23

and can absolutely fall

29:26

off of that high height, And

29:29

not to mention, roofs are really

29:31

important and we can do

29:33

ourselves a big disservice if we

29:35

don't know what we're doing and cause more

29:37

damage, or we you

29:39

know, pop a nail where it shouldn't go and

29:41

now we've got a leak. So yeah,

29:44

there's a lot of risks involved between falling off

29:46

and causing more

29:49

damage than what you're trying to fix.

29:52

Just get someone else to do it. Yeah. The

29:54

next one is don't

29:56

d i Y tree remove all.

29:59

So, if there is a tree somewhere

30:01

on your property and you would like

30:03

to remove it to make your property

30:06

more beautiful, don't

30:08

necessarily do that yourself because

30:10

you can't well, I mean,

30:13

some people can calculate the landing trajectory

30:15

of a falling tree, others cannot.

30:18

Other homes are just magnets for trees,

30:20

so it doesn't matter like they'll just the

30:22

tree will be falling one way and then the house

30:24

just it's gravitational pull will be like

30:27

nope, um, come here, and

30:30

then the trees on your house. Uh

30:32

So definitely, especially

30:35

for tall trees, get

30:37

professionals to do it now once

30:39

the tree has already fallen, and

30:42

maybe you can get a deal with someone

30:44

where they take the tree down and

30:47

you chop it up and

30:50

you know, put it on the side of the road. We

30:52

actually did that, not because we were trying

30:54

to get a deal, but because it was a hurricane

30:56

and they had hundreds of trees to do. They

30:59

were like, Okay, we're gonna take it off of your house

31:01

and then it's a free for all. You

31:03

do what you want. You have to figure it

31:05

out from there. Yeah. Um, So that could

31:08

be a way maybe if you wanted to save

31:10

money and you have skills with a

31:13

you know whatever. Those room room things

31:15

are chain sauce, chain sauce

31:20

that may be a way to possibly save

31:22

some money, but don't take the tree down.

31:25

I am having so many flashbacks

31:28

just to like all of my childhood,

31:31

my dad trying to remove

31:33

trees himself. Usually

31:37

when okay, but there were

31:39

always nailed by her moments, and

31:41

it was usually when like one of his brothers

31:43

would come in town or some friend who's

31:46

just like, yeah, we can do this, and they

31:48

never did fall the direction that they

31:51

thought it was going to fall. Thankfully, I grew up

31:53

on five acres and so it never

31:55

really landed on anything other

31:57

than maybe another tree. But yeah,

32:00

this is like if you don't

32:02

know what you're doing and it definitely is

32:04

not going to go the way that you anticipated to

32:06

go. There's a lot of room for error. Trees

32:09

have a mind of their own that they do. And

32:12

then the next thing on here, this

32:14

isn't as much of a danger thing

32:16

as much as it is maybe like a skill thing.

32:18

They recommend not d I y ng

32:20

your molding Like crown

32:23

molding. It does require a

32:25

lot of more precise cuts

32:28

than one might think as you're

32:30

trying to have corners meet up

32:32

with each other. So again

32:34

it's more about appearance. The

32:36

other ones are about safety, so

32:39

definitely higher out this

32:41

one. Like I don't know, I mean, I

32:43

don't know how much I try

32:45

it. You're definitely probably are not

32:47

going to be that great at doing your room molding,

32:49

but it's not a safety issue,

32:52

okay. And everything else feel

32:55

free to do yourself. I guess yeah.

32:59

I mean, these are the things that we

33:01

save money in order to be able to pay

33:04

for the things that we

33:06

shouldn't do ourselves, or maybe

33:08

the things that we just can't make

33:11

the time for or don't want to make the time

33:13

for. So stuff like crown

33:15

molding might be that for you.

33:18

You know what I do like to make the time for.

33:20

Oh my gosh, I would never source this out the

33:24

bill. That's

33:36

right, it's time for the best minute

33:39

of your entire week. Maybe

33:41

a baby was born and his name is William.

33:43

Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe

33:46

your car died and you're happy to not have

33:48

to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills,

33:50

Buffalo bills, bill claim. This

33:53

is the bill of the week. All

33:56

right, today, we have two bills

33:59

for you. Let's hear

34:01

the first one. Hi, Jenna,

34:03

Jill. My name is Melissa, and I'm especially

34:06

excited about my Bill of the Week. In

34:08

September, I applied for a thousand dollar

34:10

grant to help pay for my son's speech therapy.

34:13

He attends weekly speech therapy and I

34:15

have a fifty dollar copayment every time

34:17

through my health insurance, which runs up to

34:19

two hundred dollars in months. Thanks for

34:21

this thousand dollar grant, I will be saving a thousand

34:24

dollars over nearly six months. I

34:26

plan to use the money that I am saving to pay

34:28

off one of my student loans, which I

34:30

have an aggressively paying down using the snowball

34:32

method. After this student loan is paid

34:34

off, I have just one more left to go. I

34:37

love your podcast and who has motivated me to

34:39

become even more frugal than I already was

34:41

and focus on saving more money and paying

34:43

off debt. Keep off the great work, Melissa.

34:46

Thank you so much for calling in and sharing

34:49

that. Now what an amazing thing

34:51

that you were able to receive that grant for that

34:53

co pay and that you

34:56

have your sights on how you're going to utilize

34:58

that money save You've rather than is saying

35:00

okay, well money saved, so now go do what I

35:02

want, this shift

35:04

in saying well that's fifty

35:06

dollars I was intending to spend and

35:08

I'm going to put it towards my debt

35:11

and some of these payoff goals. So

35:13

well, Don Melissa, thanks for sharing.

35:15

Yes, that is so awesome. And

35:18

now our next bill. Hey

35:20

Jen, Hey Jill. It's Jenna

35:23

in Michigan. I wanted to tell

35:25

you about my bill of the week. UM.

35:28

It happens to be my internet bill.

35:31

And because I've been having just issues

35:33

whenever it snows or rains

35:36

or whatever. UM,

35:38

I happen to call my internet

35:40

provider and explained my

35:44

issue, and they sent

35:46

out someone to replace my entire

35:48

neighborhood's line. But in addition, I

35:50

asked, because I do work from home and

35:53

don't have tables, so I only use streaming

35:55

services other people streaming services,

35:58

that's one bill I don't pay. UM, I

36:00

was asking if there was a discount, and she ended

36:02

up refunding me twenty dollars of

36:04

my fifty dollar bill by

36:06

doing associated me a credit for next month.

36:08

So I'm really looking forward to paying

36:11

less on my internet bill for February.

36:13

I think ladies love the podcast have a

36:15

great day. By well,

36:18

you can tell how far behind we are on bills.

36:20

She was going to be saving money

36:22

in February. But this

36:25

is amazing Jenna and just highlights

36:27

again what can happen when we

36:29

just call and ask. I mean, I'm

36:31

impressed they actually came out and replaced

36:33

your line that's

36:36

the neighborhood. Yeah, I really

36:38

did this. You're superhero,

36:41

super frugal hero. And

36:43

then asking for a

36:45

deal because of all the troubles and

36:48

actually receiving a credit. So well

36:50

done, and thanks for inspiring the rest of us

36:52

to just ask yes.

36:54

You get zero percent

36:57

of the things you don't ask for m

37:00

yes. So if you want to submit

37:02

your bill of the week, whether you saved

37:05

the neighborhood or you just

37:07

save some money that you're going to put

37:09

towards debt, please visit Frugal Friends

37:12

podcast dot com slash bill and

37:15

leave us your bill. Today's

37:18

bill is brought to you by another podcast.

37:22

If you like podcasts, you'll definitely want

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to subscribe to Frugal Living. It's

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sponsored by Brad Steals, one of the longest

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37:30

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37:46

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37:51

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37:54

because scams still happen. You'll

37:56

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who talks about dumpster diving. Travis

38:02

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38:05

And you'll hear from consumers just like you,

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as well as industry experts

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38:14

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Deals, and is available anywhere you listen

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to podcasts. So subscribe to join

38:23

the conversation and learn something new about frugal

38:25

living. And

38:28

now it's time for the

38:30

learning round Choo

38:33

choo choo.

38:35

And now is the time of the show where we get honest

38:38

and vulnerable and share our lives

38:41

with you. So today

38:44

we are going to share our home rehno,

38:46

the good, the bad, the

38:49

ugly, but first the good.

38:52

So Jill tell us

38:55

what's your good and bad. I'm

38:58

honestly gosh,

39:00

I'm like going through this rolodex

39:03

of renovations and I've

39:05

got to say, we have

39:07

a really good experience with

39:10

doing renovations. I guess it's partly why

39:12

we started, aside hustle doing it, because

39:15

we enjoy it, usually looks good, we can

39:17

do it inexpensively. Our

39:19

most recent renovation certainly

39:21

include on our home a lot of the things that we

39:23

mentioned in that first article of painting

39:26

and replacing simple things. Pretty soon

39:28

we're going to be doing a lot of demo tons

39:31

of we love demoing.

39:34

We started in the laundry room, the laundry rooms

39:36

demo and got to rebuild that, then demo

39:38

the kitchen. The good is

39:41

that we've been able to make

39:43

a lot of our places that we've lived

39:45

in look really beautiful for really

39:47

inexpensive, again because

39:50

we did the work ourselves. So from

39:52

motor homes that we've lived into,

39:54

apartments that we've lived in, now our new

39:56

home, we were able to purchase and

39:59

affordable a home that needed

40:01

work because we can do the work ourselves.

40:03

So there's a lot of really good, amazing

40:06

things to it. The bad

40:08

parts, I would say, I don't have like a specific

40:11

to say other than with

40:13

any project, you run into

40:15

barriers. So there are times

40:17

and I would say it's usually in the middle

40:19

of a project that I reached this like

40:22

irritation, exhaustion, pull my

40:24

hair out point, how are we going to get around

40:27

this? On my goodness, there's

40:29

water still leaking out of that pipe.

40:31

Uh, plumbing, it's always plumbing.

40:34

Actually, it's always plumbing. Plumbing.

40:40

Wasn't on that don't do it yourself list?

40:43

Yeah, that is true. There

40:45

are a lot of things that can go wrong

40:48

with it, as much as there's these like quick connect

40:50

and clamps and pieces,

40:53

that just seems like it usually takes a

40:55

couple of rounds to finally stop

40:57

that drip. Thankfully,

41:00

Eric is a problem solver and

41:02

determined and doesn't give

41:04

up easily. That is something you

41:07

need if you're going to do this yourself. Grit

41:09

an ability to not give up easily.

41:12

Eric's far better at that than I am. That

41:14

there's we always reach this point of

41:17

it seems like there's an overwhelming problem

41:19

that we're not going to be able to get beyond, and

41:22

then somehow we figure it out rainstorming,

41:24

problem solving, walking away, coming

41:27

back to it. Just know that that's part

41:29

of this part of d I y Reynolds. But

41:32

we're here for you, join us in the Frugal Friends

41:34

Facebook community and talk

41:36

about it with us, and we'll help you through

41:38

it, even if it's just moral support. I

41:41

was thinking for your story, is um

41:43

your pinky story, which I

41:46

guess isn't a reno

41:48

related, but yes

41:50

it is. Yeah,

41:53

I mean, thanks

41:55

Jutting probably just blocked it out.

41:57

These just awful memories. Injuries

42:01

happened. Yeah. Absolutely,

42:03

we've learned that super glue covers

42:06

of multitude of sins. That we

42:09

were doing a renovation

42:12

that on a shirt. Yes,

42:15

it's so true. This

42:17

is how frugal I am. Here you go, Jen,

42:20

you love this vulnerability. This is and

42:22

this might even cross over into cheap Honestly,

42:25

we were doing this kitchen renovation and because

42:27

of that, there wasn't a sink in the kitchen

42:30

at the time, and so we were washing dishes in the

42:32

bathroom sink and I dropped

42:34

a glass and

42:36

and it broke, and I went to

42:38

dive for it with my

42:41

hand and just really

42:43

sliced myself up. Blood

42:45

everywhere this was in. This was actually like

42:47

a client's home that I mean, it was

42:50

a friend, but it was a renovation we were doing

42:52

for them. Blood everywhere.

42:55

They happened to be a Physicians

42:57

Assistants p a S. So they had a lot

42:59

of background. They weren't home at the time. Eric

43:02

was his He was also a musician. I

43:04

had him like drum on my leg

43:06

to keep me from passing out because there's just like

43:08

so much blood everywhere the I'm like, I'm going to pass

43:11

out. So he just starts like drumming on my

43:13

body to be able to help me not pass

43:15

out. That did work, and

43:17

then we called our friends and They're

43:20

like, you should probably get stitches,

43:22

and I'm like, no, I don't have health

43:24

insurance. I can't do that. I can't go to the hospital

43:27

anyhow. We just superglued it. And

43:29

I've got a really nasty scar on

43:31

my pinky and it's been about four years

43:34

and it's still is like numb in

43:37

certain spots. But you know what, I

43:39

avoided a medical bill and

43:41

then I was cleaning recently. Yeah,

43:45

this isn't sending me endorsed, but

43:47

it is a story that we can tell and look

43:49

back on with wisdom in hindsights.

43:52

Have someone drum on you so you don't pass

43:54

out, get super glue instead

43:56

of stitches, you know, save

43:59

yourself some money. Moving on, you

44:03

wanted vulnerable. This

44:05

is what it looks like I did

44:09

was the ugly so for my

44:11

good. Um. So, whenever

44:13

you find somebody on Facebook marketplace

44:16

to do something, you always take a chance. Sometimes

44:18

you get Florida man coming up into your house

44:21

to look at a boat and he just

44:23

wants to take a beer on there and not fix

44:25

it. But sometimes you get really lucky.

44:28

And we found some guy to

44:30

do our driveway, to

44:32

do pavers, and he

44:35

just brought a few guys and they

44:37

did it in a day and it was fantastic

44:40

work. So that was kind of our good

44:43

And I don't know how Travis found them, so I

44:45

can't tell you how to recreate our

44:47

success. But we

44:49

just had a good feeling like when they got

44:52

there, and so I can say maybe a little bit

44:54

of it is intuition, like if they

44:56

get there and you don't have a good feeling, then

44:59

you can ask to leave. Maybe I'm not

45:01

sure unless you signed a contract. Don't sign a contract

45:03

if you don't have a good feeling. That is the only

45:05

advice I can give. On the bad,

45:08

we did not renovate our home. It was flipped,

45:11

and so the only bad

45:14

thing, like sometimes I mean, this was an

45:16

amazing flip and I'm looking,

45:18

I'm looking back at it like you can see me looking. But

45:21

the tile in the bathrooms

45:23

was painted, and that was

45:25

something they did to save money, and we

45:27

couldn't tell, Like we had

45:30

never had that before, so we didn't know what to expect.

45:32

But several years in it did

45:34

start peeling and it is still I

45:36

mean, it's still peeling. So we're definitely gonna have to redo

45:38

the tile in our bathroom

45:41

and possibly like the

45:43

tubs too. Yeah, they painted

45:45

the tub. It was bald and it worked

45:48

for a time. I'm sure it made it look good,

45:50

but yeah, it did. But so it's,

45:52

um, it's getting pretty bad. So

45:54

we will have to redo the tile

45:56

in both bathrooms and the

45:58

tub in our gas stroom. But they

46:01

did tile our shower in our

46:03

room, which is still doing good, but

46:05

just the bottom though, So

46:08

yeah, that's that kind of bad. So don't

46:11

paint tile, That's what I have to say

46:13

about that. M you

46:16

can, it probably wouldn't be advised in

46:18

the shower, like where it's going to get wet

46:20

or where you're going to be touching

46:23

it a lot, And you do

46:25

need a very specific type of paint to paint

46:27

tile, so it can be a quick upgrade.

46:29

But yeah, like you're saying, it only lasts

46:32

a certain amount of time and it

46:34

buys you sometime and then

46:36

you're going to have to think about in a more longer

46:38

term solution set up a sinking fund

46:40

for it. So

46:43

thanks guys for listening. I

46:45

hope you've got something out of

46:47

this. If you are either looking

46:49

to buy home, maybe this is giving you a little bit

46:51

of courage to overlook some cosmetic

46:54

things that might turn others away and say,

46:57

oh no, I can do this stuff or

46:59

save you money when you find out there's electrical

47:01

electrical problems, uh, and you

47:04

decide not to d I y that, or just

47:06

upgrading the home that you already live in and

47:08

making it a little more special. Yes,

47:11

well, thank you all so much for listening.

47:13

We want to thank you for your kinder views on

47:15

iTunes and Stitcher, like this swan from

47:18

Kim Woe she happens

47:20

to give us five stars and says

47:22

love these girls. Let me start

47:25

by saying, I've never enjoyed podcasts.

47:27

I've tried to get into them multiple times and never

47:29

found one that I loved. And then I listened

47:31

to Jen and Jill. Every time I pressed

47:33

play, I feel like I'm sitting down with a couple awesome

47:36

friends who just happened to have amazing

47:39

advice, fun, chill, hilarious, totally

47:41

relatable, and I always come out

47:43

of it learning something new. I think my husband

47:45

is getting tired of me starting conversations

47:47

with so on my podcast today.

47:50

Hello, Well that's

47:54

on my podcast and I

47:56

can relate to that so

47:59

much of our converse aaans Jen do come

48:01

up in conversation with Eric

48:03

later on? Yes, thanks so much

48:05

for this kind review. It's so it's such

48:08

a gift to be able to read this encouragement,

48:10

and I think also helps other people know

48:13

what they're expecting when they tune into the

48:15

podcast and helps people

48:17

to find us. So yes, please

48:19

keep leaving us these reviews, especially

48:22

if you like the podcast. If you don't like the podcast,

48:24

tell us privately, praise us publicly.

48:26

Yeah, we also want to thank our friends

48:28

who share these episodes on social media.

48:31

So when you share the latest episode and

48:33

tag us on Facebook or Instagram, We're

48:35

going to add you to our monthly drawing. For

48:37

every five tags and reviews we get

48:39

each month, we are giving away a

48:41

copy of the Frugal Friends workbook,

48:44

So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or

48:46

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48:49

of that review that you leave to our

48:51

email for Goal Friends Podcasts at gmail

48:53

dot com, and don't forget to

48:55

tag us on social We see you there, yeah,

48:58

and we'll see you next week. I Cugal

49:02

Friends is produced by Eric Cirian Jill

49:16

jen. My birthday

49:19

is two days from the airing of this episode.

49:22

Happy Happy Birthday, Happy

49:25

Happy Birthday. That's

49:27

my rendition. We always forget to like

49:30

celebrate timely things or

49:32

talk about timely things because we record

49:35

these episodes so far ahead of time.

49:38

Um, what are you gonna do? Well, it's also

49:40

Mother's Day. Mm

49:43

hmmm. So I've always I've I've always

49:45

waited like this is the day I've been waiting

49:47

for. Is the day because every

49:50

few years my birthday just falls on Mother's Day

49:52

and I had to share it with my mother. But

49:56

now I'm a mother and my

49:58

birthday falls on Mother's

50:00

Day, which is also now my day,

50:02

and I don't know what I'm

50:05

gonna do. So it is actually

50:07

on Mother's Day this year. Travis

50:09

is actually on call for working.

50:12

You already know that. Yeah,

50:15

So I don't know, like what should

50:17

I do? Like it is my Di Da

50:20

Da day.

50:22

Yeah, you've got the convergence

50:25

of two two things.

50:28

I think it should be more about what are other

50:30

people canna do for you? Do

50:35

what you want. I will say

50:37

one of the things I'm enjoying lately.

50:40

You can decide if this is for you or not. Would

50:42

be like getting a massage or a facial.

50:44

It's definitely a luxury, but it is

50:47

definitely so so

50:49

nice. I don't know if you'd

50:51

enjoy that or not. But I like pedicures

50:54

like the like the deluxe deluxe

50:56

pedicure with the paraffin wax.

50:59

Oh I've never had that. What do

51:01

they do with that? They put your legs

51:04

in plastic bags that have wax

51:06

in them, and then they then want

51:08

to sit there with the wax and then do

51:10

they rip it off? They know,

51:13

I mean they pull it off and it's not like you're

51:15

getting getting wax. Um.

51:19

It's like a warm hug

51:21

on your legs and

51:24

that's nice. Yeah, And so maybe

51:26

I'll do that. Should I come

51:28

do that with you? You should present

51:31

it's my birthday too, and

51:33

then like we can get those cocktails that come

51:36

in a can and go to

51:38

the beach. It sounds like

51:40

you have your perfect day planned. I'm

51:42

excited picks to

51:44

come. Let's do it.