Ep. 606: What We Learned from “Do-Spend September,” Plus What’s Safe in the Microwave & Try a Day Pass

Gretchen Rubin (0:05)

Hello, and welcome to Happier, a podcast where we talk about cutting-edge science, the wisdom of the ages, lessons from pop culture, and our own experiences about how to be happier.

This week, we'll talk about what we learned from Do Spend September, and we talk about the confusion that many of us feel about, what can you actually put in a microwave? I'm Gretchen Rubin, a writer studies happiness, good habits, human nature, the empty nest transition. I'm in my little home office in New York City, and joining me today from Los Angeles is my sister, Elizabeth Craft, and Elizabeth, I would say that you and I both show great caution about putting things into a microwave.

Elizabeth Craft (0:48)

That's me, Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer living in LA. And Gretch, I am careful with a microwave, but I have to say I got the air fryers smoking the other day, so things do happen.

Gretchen Rubin (1:00)

Things do happen. Before we jump in, there's a reminder. We have our book club episode with Harlan Coban coming up. Of course, Harlan Coban is the number one New York Times bestselling author. I don't know, 20 of his books have been made into film and TV.

We are going to be talking about his new book called Plot Twist, Life, Craft and the Messy First Draft, which is a memoir of his life and about writing. It's all about process. Get your book and start reading and sending us your questions and your comments, because we are really looking forward to our conversation with Harlan.

Elizabeth Craft (1:35)

Yes, and we're extra excited because we both know him personally. You've been friends with him for many years. I worked with him on a project several years ago for ABC, and he is just such a nice guy.

Gretchen Rubin (1:50)

He's such a great guy. It's going to be such a fun conversation.

Then we got this note from Gina, and she sent it to us. It was very sad, of course, to hear of Dolly Parton's death, which we talked about. Many listeners did point out that we had recently talked about Dolly's and how much we liked the word Dolly. And then there was all this conversation about Dolly Parton. And Gina told us about her own Dolly story.

Elizabeth Craft (2:15)

Yes, she said, I just listened to 601 and I have to chime in with my own whimsical Dolly story, which feels particularly timely. We used to have a cunning little open top cart that could be converted into a Dolly by adjusting the position of the handle. We named it Dolly Carton, a play on Dolly Parton.

Gretchen Rubin (2:35)

Yes, C-A-R-T-I-N apostrophe, carton. Yes. A Dolly that carts.

Elizabeth Craft (2:40)

Yes.

One weekend we loaned Dolly Carton and another Dolly we owned to some friends who were moving patio stones under the condition that they were referred to Dolly Carton by name during use. They did that and more. When they returned our equipment, they informed us they'd christen the other Dolly, Patsy Incline. After the country music singer, Patsy Cline, referring to our yard equipment by those whimsical names made the effortful work so much more fun each time we had to move heavy things. More whimsy.

Gretchen Rubin (3:12)

Yeah. I mean, I love this Dolly Carton and Patsy Incline. I mean, that is just really, really fun.

Elizabeth Craft (3:18)

Amazing.

Gretchen Rubin (3:19)

This week, our Try This At Home suggestion is to reflect on Do Spend September. Of course, we had No Spend February, and we felt like we learned a lot from No Spend February. But the opposite of a profound truth is also true. So we wanted to do Do Spend September when we really pushed ourselves to spend on whether that was taking advantage of things like points and gift cards, spending out, which meant using things up.

Elizabeth, I think you took loose change to be turned into actual cash.

Elizabeth Craft (3:52)

Yes.

Gretchen Rubin (3:52)

So it's always good though to stop and say, okay, what lessons have we gleaned from intervening in our habits in this way?

Elizabeth Craft (4:00)

Yeah. So Gretchen, what have you been doing? How did you make it happen?

Gretchen Rubin (4:05)

Well, one thing that I did was I realized if I know that there's a gift that I really know that I want to buy for somebody, just go ahead and buy it. I have a place where I put gifts that are coming up for birthdays and holidays and stuff. Just go ahead and do it.

I write it down and then I try to get it later, but then you lose the list and then you forget who recommended it. Just go ahead and buy it now. Just spend the money now if it's a gift. One way this came up recently, Elizabeth, I was listening to you and Sarah on Happier in Hollywood, and Sarah was just rhapsodizing about this bread knife that she loved. So much better than the other bread knife she had. It was so much more expensive. It was the Mercer Culinary Bread Knife. And as I listened to it, I was like, I should really get that for Eliza. That's exactly the kind of thing that Eliza would really enjoy having.