WEBVTT - Transform Your Budget in 30 Days CHALLENGE 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:08.160 Episode four ninety eight, Transform your Budget in thirty Days Challenge. 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.560 Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:20.160 save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your hosts, 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.200 Jen and Jilloo. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.479 Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.080 my name is Jill, and this is not a joke. 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:36.279 We are challenging you to transform the way you budget 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.120 for the month of April or for the next thirty 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.159 days whenever you're listening to this. 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.960 We love doing challenges. We think that there are some 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.240 of the best ways to kind of gamify our finances, 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.479 get us really focusing on one thing at a time 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.960 and can surface a lot about ourselves versus just not 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.480 doing a challenge. It's one of the things that we 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.480 do for our monthly membership. It's a ton of challenges 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.360 all to get you spending better, saving money, understanding your 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:10.880 own spending habits more. 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:13.560 But this one we think is going to be. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.520 Particularly helpful for you also, so why we wanted to 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:20.920 create a podcast around it to look at specifically your budget, 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.120 how you approach it, and help us all just to get. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:24.760 Better at it. 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.319 But before we get into that, this episode is brought 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:33.080 to you by before and after photos. Who doesn't love 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.160 a good transformation, especially the kind you don't have to 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.880 be a part of, like the year's long renovation someone 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.679 else on the internet did that you didn't even know 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.200 about till right now when they're showing you before and 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.680 after where you get to skip all the headaches, tears, injuries, 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.240 unforeseen problems in the late nights, just beautiful immediate results. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.080 Kind of like a high heeld savings account. You can 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.320 do your own before or after experience with your bank account, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.040 taking the money that you have right now and growing 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:10.160 it with interest, and just like looking at someone else's reno, 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.880 it's free from the overwhelmed, distress and fatigue that typically 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.040 comes from making money, like through your job. So transform 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.519 your money with CID, our current favorite high yield savings 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.440 account at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash CIT. Get 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.560 that before and after feel and baby. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.280 Yes, that is a that was great? Thank you for that? 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:34.480 Ye all right? 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:40.040 You know, we love talking about budgeting, not in the 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.600 specific term budgeting. We prefer to you spending plan, but 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:48.799 we'll talk about that later. But we wanted to propose 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.359 this challenge because it's always good once a year to 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.280 take some time and figure out if what I have 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:00.800 been doing is still working. So we have a couple 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.560 other episodes you can queue up for after this that 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.160 will also be helpful if you decide to take on 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:11.480 this challenge. They'll be very good ones to queue up throughout. 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:11.880 The thirty days. 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.560 So we've got episode four seventy one, which is budgeting 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.359 Tips for twenty twenty five, and episode two oh eight 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:23.200 Budgeting Basics. I think we also have one coming up. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.399 I'm not sure if it's in the challenge, but we're 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.440 going to talk about I think the fifty to thirty 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.000 twenty budget at some point. But we also just recently 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:39.320 did a zero based budgeting guide episode, so scroll back 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.200 you won't have to scroll back too far for that one. 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:46.160 So lots of budgeting episodes because the term budget is 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.520 the one we're all familiar with. So all right, let's 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:56.120 get into the challenge. So this episode will be unique 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.960 and you will start to see this more we'll talk about. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.920 So it's episode four ninety eight. In episode five hundred, 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.640 we are going to talk about some of the changes 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:10.240 that we're making to frugal friends that will be better. Sorry, 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.760 I'm not taking away the episode numbers because those are 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:16.000 for me personally. I like them. I know they don't 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.600 help you find the episodes. I know that's frustrating. So 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.320 that's one change that you've asked for that won't be coming. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.039 But there have been a lot of changes over the 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:33.240 last seven years, and with anything good that hopes to continue, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.080 we have to change as well. And one of those 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.279 changes is that we will be using fewer if any 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:47.239 articles as reference points for our episodes, so instead of 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:53.440 only because it's been harder and harder to source legitimate 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:58.520 articles from Google when we started the we'll go into 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.960 more depth of this in a week, but when we 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.040 started the podcast, it was to help you figure out 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.039 if what you were googling was real or fluff. Now 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.040 you can you can really just assume everything you google 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.760 on the first page is going to be fluff. It's 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.440 really hard to find that real stuff, a lot harder 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.320 than it was seven years ago. So instead we are 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.520 drawing on our you know, almost decade of experience studying 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:32.440 personal finance, and we are going to use our our 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.719 knowledge and googling skills as well as AI to help 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:42.400 us craft better episodes for you. And so today is 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.280 one of those episodes where we're not using an article. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.640 We've crafted our own challenge and we're going to walk 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.640 you through it, the importance of each step and how 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:53.760 to execute each. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.520 Just flying fast and loose over here. Yeah, and that's 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.000 that's what you can expect from us. 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.320 So that's a change you didn't ask for that is coming. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.359 I think we've always been flying fast and loose, but 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.200 now we're just like, all right, now we're going to 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.680 be ill with the internet, in with our minds. 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:13.160 Here's what we think. 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.240 Okay, so here's the challenge, and we're going to go through, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.680 day by day these steps that you can take. So 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:22.760 assuming you are doing this four thirty days, on day one, 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.440 Step one, throw away your old budget. Throw it away, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.920 that's right, crumple it up, get it out of here, 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.000 right into the trash can, the filing cabinet we call 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:36.480 the trash, or if you have your budget on a computer, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.600 you know, the metaphorical trash, or just hide it, or 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.080 if you're using an app, just abandon it for a 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:45.000 little bit of time. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.919 We're not saying the way you've been budgeting is not working. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:53.320 I'm sure it's working fine, but we want to visit 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.360 these extremes and try new things to make sure there's 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.040 not a better way to do something for us. There's 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.200 a bunch of different ways to budget, there's a bunch 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.000 of different ways to make spending plan, and you won't 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.920 know if there's a better way for you to do 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:13.000 something if you don't abandon what you've been doing for 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.600 at least a short amount of time thirty days and 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:17.680 try something new. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.320 So we're not saying that you may never come back 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.840 to it. So don't get rid of the app if 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.840 you found an app you like. Don't actually delete all 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.840 of your spreadsheets on your computer. But really, we want 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.600 to come to this challenge with the framework of we're 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.880 going to try something entirely new so that we might 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.080 be able to experience a transformation here. So day one 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.120 is kind of reorienting the mindset that we're starting fresh, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:44.600 blank slate, all right. 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.080 So days two through three, so this is a two 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:52.440 day process, is to do a ninety day transaction inventory. 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.080 If you haven't done one recently, this is the time 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.840 to do it because you cannot make a plan for 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:04.440 the future if you do not know the basis and 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.400 the path you have already been going on. You need 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.160 to know where you have been how you have ended 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.760 up right here in order to make a feasible path forward. 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.120 And so if you do not know what a ninety 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.880 day transaction inventory, it essentially is taking all of your 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:27.960 transactions that's discretionary bills, everything, debt payments, investing all of it, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.000 and you're going to literally copy and paste it from 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.319 either your bank account, credit cards. It's usually going to 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.480 be a combination of several And this is a really 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.960 good time to figure out how many cards you actually 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.760 have transactions going from, too, because sometimes we can track 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.320 our transactions, but we don't realize like, oh, I have 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:55.040 five credit cards all going like I should maybe reevaluate 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.360 if it's time to cancel one of those or not. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.400 So we're taking all of our transactions from all of 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.280 our accounts and putting them in one place so that 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.920 we can put them in a spreadsheet and look at 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.679 them by date. We're gonna sort them by date, we're 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.319 gonna sort them buy category. We're going to sort them 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.839 buy the actual transactions so the place and so we're 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.360 gonna look at them in different sortings so we can 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:26.920 see patterns like on Mondays, I am you know really 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.000 good about my budget, but on Fridays, I am always 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.080 getting takeout or I am always going, you know, to 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.680 Chipotle two or three times a week. I didn't realize that. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.560 Or maybe it's not a specific restaurant. Maybe it's just 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.599 takeout and I am getting like the category of takeout 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.440 like way more than I thought I was, or less. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.840 Sometimes we anticipate it to be really bad and we 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:53.720 look at it and it's not as bad. So maybe 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.400 it's you don't have to, you know, focus on that. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.080 Maybe it's something else you want to focus on. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.520 You did a great walk through of how to do 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.480 a ninety day transaction inventory. So if you've purchased our 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.240 book By What you Love Without Going Broke wherever books 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.280 are found, there's a free resources page attached to that 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.120 that you can go to and get that walk through video, but. 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.720 You and a template. You can get a template for 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.880 doing the inventory, and I walk you through how to 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:21.280 do it with a. 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.320 Template in your walk through video. 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.880 It was interesting you had an observation that you were 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:32.160 going out or getting takeout pretty regularly within the last 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.600 ninety days, but you also realize that it wasn't as 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.480 expensive as you thought and that there were times where 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.280 when you were in a really busy season, it actually wasn't. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.440 The worst idea to do that. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.079 So there's all sorts of things that we can realize 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.360 when we do a ninety day transaction inventory. So that's 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.800 what you're doing days two to three. Then you're moving 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.640 into days four to six where you are tracking every 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:01.640 transaction as you make it. So notice we're not making 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.160 you do this for the whole thirty days. We get 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.080 it that that would be a lot, but we really 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.120 want to be attached to the times that we are 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:14.320 spending and really have you have a full awareness of 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.880 this for at least those three days, days four, five, 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:22.200 and six that you're either having a mobile spreadsheet on 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.920 your phone or you've got a little journal pad of 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.240 paper that you're carrying around with you and marking down 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.080 every single time that you are making a purchase. And 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.640 so this would be you know, date, location, how much, 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.720 what was it, and of course, if there's any other 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.439 additional journal points that you want to be able to track, 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.920 like the emotions that you're having about that purchase or 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.200 kind of what prompted the purchase, you're reasoning for buying it. 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.840 This is going to get us a lot more aware, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:56.119 even beyond the ninety day transaction inventory, of the reasons 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.160 we buy, what we buy, how we feel about our spend, 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.320 kind of the money narrative that we're telling ourselves. There's 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:07.520 even more observations that can surface through that, which can 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.199 ultimately help to inform the way that we create a 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.960 spending plan down the road. But this we're not really 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.640 making any shifts. We are more or less just continuing 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.640 our observations as they happen. The important part here is 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.640 that you are doing it as the transactions happening. So 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.160 we're not saying, oh, by the end of day six, 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:28.760 you're going to go back and track it all. No, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.600 we're saying, in the moment we're writing it down, we're 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.200 putting extra action to those purchases. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.320 Yeah, and these days are chosen intentionally. So this release 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.360 is on April first, which is a Tuesday. So these 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.920 days four, five, and six are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.040 So gottam, Yeah, if you're doing this challenge on a 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:56.880 different month, try to align it so that your challenge 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.520 starts on a Tuesday, so these days can be on 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.680 the weekend. And so then days seven through twelve. We're 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:08.760 starting Monday. We're doing a no spend week. So after 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.200 you've done your ninety day transaction inventory and you've gotten 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:19.599 kind of savvy to your habits triggers where you're spending 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.760 what you maybe have been anxious about but isn't as 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.120 bad as you thought it would be. You've tracked every 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.079 transaction as you made it for a couple days. Now 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.720 we are going to abstain from all discretionary spending for 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.920 an entire week. Obviously, if your car needs gas to 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.400 get to work, we're putting gas in the car. That 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.160 doesn't count. If we have a bill due this week, 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.920 we are paying the bill that doesn't count. I'm talking 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.600 about discretionary expenses that are not necessary. So the extra 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.960 trip to the grocery shore, the takeout, the coffee out, 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.960 stuff like that. And you'll know what it is because 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:02.400 you just spent a week looking at those things. And 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.600 so this is where we pull back all together and 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.800 see what are the most difficult things to abstain from. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.559 Because right when you're doing a fast, all you think 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.440 about is food. Right when you can eat, I could 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.920 go all day, I can forget to eat all day. 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:20.760 But when I'm fasting. It's all I think. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.200 It's like, all of a sudden, I RT breakfast. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.160 And so that's kind of the concept. We're thinking, what 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.320 are these mind things that come up with the no 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.800 spend week, and so we're trying to get that. Just 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:33.720 like we threw away the budget on day one so 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.160 that we could find something else that may work or 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.680 or know that it doesn't, we're kind of doing the 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.040 same with a no spend challenge. So for one week, 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.440 you're pulling all the way back, You're visiting the extreme 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:52.720 of extreme frugality so that afterwards we can find our 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.640 radical middle more easily. 0:14:55.680 --> 0:15:00.240 Next is days thirteen to eighteen. This is may a 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.960 meal plan and stick to it. So this is since 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.760 meal since food really is one of our highest expenses 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:14.240 every month, you know, next to housing and transportation, it's 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.600 one of the areas that we have the most control 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:21.200 over when it comes to decreasing expenses and really being 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.400 able to kind of rain in our spending. And so 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:30.000 there's so much alignment between revamping and transforming our budget 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.960 and revamping and transforming the ways in which we feed ourselves. 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.520 So taking this nearly one week little less than that 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.880 to primarily look at food. Creating a meal plan, trying 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.440 to stick with it for these about five days can 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.520 also really help us know what's possible in the future. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.600 And this one again, if you're doing it in May, 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.680 the thirteenth is a Sunday, so that allows you that 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.720 day to create the meal plan on that Sunday, maybe 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.720 do any shopping if needed. Of course, the meal plan 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.960 should include items that you already have in your pantry, 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.000 in your freezer, in your fridge, and create the meal 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:17.040 plan based off of that. Honestly, AI is so helpful 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.640 with this. You can just go to chatchypt and be like, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.040 make me a meal plan with these ingredients for five weeks. 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.960 Include this many lunches, this many dinners, all of that. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.240 So make that decide what you want to eat, make 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:32.320 it yummy. 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.880 Like actually something that you're going to want to eat 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.560 and not feel super bummed about that you're doing this 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:43.320 challenge and try your darnedest to stick to that plan 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.960 for the thirteenth to eighteenth. 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.800 And then we get into the nineteenth and twenty, which 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.880 are a Saturday and Sunday, and we want to do 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.920 a free activity maybe two maybe you do a free 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:01.280 activity each day, but we want to start to exercise 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:07.240 our free activity muscles so that we interrupt our usual 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.800 weekend patterns of going shopping, going to the farmer's market, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.440 going to a movie, going out to eat with friends, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:19.840 things that cost money. We want to reprogram into seeking 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:25.720 free activities first. So that might start with getting your 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:32.400 city's weekly email or monthly. My city is technically a municipality, 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.840 and they still send out a weekly email with all 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.000 the things going on, like over the next several weeks 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.840 in the municipality, So I'm sure your city sends something 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.880 with free activities. You can also check Facebook and event bright. 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.720 These also have free activities that are maybe from smaller 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:56.760 retailers and places. Check your favorite places to go that 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.320 might sometimes spend money or cost money and see if 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:05.199 they're having any free days, you know, like museums or 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.600 like indoor playgrounds stuff like that. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:13.399 Also a lot of times local venues will give free 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:17.280 tickets to maybe concerts or comedy shows if they haven't 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:19.159 sold out all of their tickets. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.080 And these are going to be big names, obviously they're 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:22.120 gonna be local apps. 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.200 Yeh yeah, yeah, but that's something to look into. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.240 What are your local venues and join their mailing list 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.120 or check out their website and just see if you'd 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:35.640 be able to score some last minute free tickets. Okay, 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.720 So days twenty one through twenty three, this is going 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:44.359 to be all about assessing our subscriptions, looking at our 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:49.280 fixed expenses and identifying what can be dropped, what can 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.720 be shifted, what do we want to keep the same. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.240 So now that we've entered kind of the tail end 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.399 of this challenge, we're starting to look at the ways 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.760 in which we want to re build our spending plan 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.600 going forward. So this is going to include dropping the 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.040 things that we no longer need. So really considering now 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.720 at this point in the thirty days, do I really 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:19.000 need to have three different entertainment subscriptions? Do I even 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.560 really read that newspaper or that magazine? 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:25.080 Do I need that. 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.040 Clothing subscription still? Or do I now have a good 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.640 understanding of the types of clothing that I want to wear? 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.520 And maybe now I'm going to go more secondhand with 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.479 my shopping. There's a lot of new ways that we 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.399 can look at how we want to live life, the 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.000 type of lifestyle that we're taking on that it doesn't 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.399 have to look the same as it did in the 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.320 previous thirty days or the last year of our lives. 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.200 This could be where we even bring in new challenges 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.399 for ourselves of what if I just went down to 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.240 one entertainment subscription, or what if next month we decided 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.440 no entertainment. We're int bring into some really beautiful springtime 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.880 weather and we would rather just spend our evenings outdoors 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.879 or cooking together or learning a new skill, and I 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.760 really want to try less screen time for myself. There's 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.399 all sorts of things that you could decide here, but 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:19.320 going back through that ninety day transaction inventory can help 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.879 you to highlight what subscriptions do I just want to 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.760 get rid of try out life without them, and what 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:32.240 fixed expenses might I possibly be able to drop or 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.440 shift or change. You're going to talk about the next 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:38.560 thing that you can do with your fixed expenses, but 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.520 just know that everything is. 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.680 Up for debate. Even where we. 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:46.639 Live now, we're not saying that at the end of 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:48.960 thirty days, most people are going to say I'm going 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.520 to go move somewhere. But I think we often don't 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.520 question our fixed expenses. We don't look at, well, is 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:57.760 there a way to get my utility bill lower? Or 0:20:57.960 --> 0:20:59.879 what if I did live in a lower cost of 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.920 living area, I didn't even realize how much my home 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.960 is actually costing me month to month. So just allow 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.680 yourself to explore what we would typically consider fixed, see 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:12.520 if there's any creative alternatives. 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:17.280 Yeah, and then the next two days twenty fourth and 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:22.199 twenty fifth is negotiate something. So after you've looked at 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:27.400 your subscriptions, your expenses, now it's time to choose one. 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:33.000 Call up the provider negotiate your rate. So this works 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:36.240 a lot better when you are closer to your renewal 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:44.320 so auto insurance, phone, internet, stuff like that. If you 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.600 are not near that, if you're not in a good 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:51.040 time to negotiate, look on Facebook marketplace. Think of something 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.439 that you are going to buy new and try to 0:21:53.520 --> 0:22:00.880 find it on Facebook, Marketplace, poshmark eBay, whatever, and see 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.280 if you can negotiate it down and then get an 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:09.000 even lower price than the secondhand price. Negotiation is a 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:14.240 muscle and we need to be exercising it. Really every 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:18.200 month we need to be negotiating something just to remind 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:22.280 ourselves that we can get I often get into this 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:27.040 thing where like I don't think I deserve discounts or 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.080 to pay less and so I don't ask for it, 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.439 and I don't know what that says about me. But 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:40.479 I need to practice negotiation and just assume that everything 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:45.600 can be negotiated so that I remember that that is available. 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.600 I need to intentionally go in and do things like that. 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:52.800 So on other times when I clam up and I 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.480 don't think I deserve it, I am reminded, hold on, 0:22:57.040 --> 0:22:59.320 I am doing this all the time in this area. 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:03.679 It is worth it for me to try to see 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.639 if it applies in this area, and so often it does. 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:10.359 Yeah, that is one of the things. 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:13.199 I am not the greatest at carving out time to 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:16.480 do this, but most people are successful in one way 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:18.320 or another when it comes to negotiating. 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:20.560 And this is small. This isn't spending, but it has 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:28.040 a greater impact when we are negotiating business deals, sales, promotions, salaries. 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.159 This is where this skill is going to make a 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:36.679 big difference. But we need to practice with the small 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:40.040 things if we're going to have a chance succeeding the 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:40.679 big things. 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:45.359 Yes, okay, so day's twenty six to twenty seven. Once 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:48.840 you've done all of the other things we've listed out, 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:51.560 now we're gonna declutter. 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.919 And twenty six and twenty seven, that's another weekend. So 0:23:54.320 --> 0:23:56.800 it's right, last weekend of the challenge. 0:23:56.960 --> 0:23:59.359 Only two days, so we are not saying this is 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:02.199 an over hall of our entire living spaces. 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:04.400 It's two days. So let's be realistic, not. 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.359