Speaker 1: Episode three point thirty three, How to prioritize paying off
Speaker 1: student loans.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 3: M h.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today is the day that
Speaker 1: student loan interest begins again on federal student loans. So
Speaker 1: if you have a federal student loan, this episode is
Speaker 1: for you. But we didn't want to do an episode
Speaker 1: just like on debt, like how traditional, how boring, so vanilla,
Speaker 1: so vanilla. We wanted to do an episode for everybody
Speaker 1: who's getting back to incorporating student loan payments into their budget.
Speaker 1: How do you prioritize it with maybe all the other
Speaker 1: goals you've had over the past several years, all the
Speaker 1: other goals that you have, now, how does paying off
Speaker 1: student loans fit into that picture? And that is what
Speaker 1: this episode is today.
Speaker 4: If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you
Speaker 4: know that our typical way of formatting episodes is to
Speaker 4: look at what is the top search on Google. We
Speaker 4: will typically ask this question to the internet and pick
Speaker 4: two of the top articles that come up and give
Speaker 4: our commentary on that, what do we agree with, what
Speaker 4: do we think might work better, And that's the typical
Speaker 4: format for our episodes. However, we're going to take a
Speaker 4: departure from that today because prioritization is one of the
Speaker 4: things that we feel we have enough to say without
Speaker 4: Google to run through our views fully, not just curated,
Speaker 4: but original thought on prioritization and how this fits in
Speaker 4: with looking at our student loans and maybe other financial
Speaker 4: goals that you have.
Speaker 1: And this is a topic that we cover pretty deeply
Speaker 1: in the book that we are writing, which will be
Speaker 1: out in early twenty twenty five. So this is something
Speaker 1: that we talk about a lot in values based spending,
Speaker 1: which is what the book is about, and we will
Speaker 1: touch on that in this episode. But because today is
Speaker 1: such I think, I don't want to say momentous, it's
Speaker 1: a significant day. If you have federal student loans, it's
Speaker 1: a significant day. We wanted to tailor this one especially
Speaker 1: for you. But before we get into the good stuff,
Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by even better Stuff,
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friend's Friend letter referral program. We need to
Speaker 1: give that a better name. Though, yeah, friend, we're workshopping
Speaker 1: that name. Basically, if you are one of our friends
Speaker 1: who gets the friend Letter every week. If you're not,
Speaker 1: go to Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash friend Letter three
Speaker 1: times a week. We send freebies, we save money saving tips,
Speaker 1: we send excerpts from the book that we're writing so
Speaker 1: about prioritization, values based spending, all that stuff. And now
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Speaker 4: Mostly because we couldn't sell it.
Speaker 1: So true. We have stickers, we have grocery tote bags,
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Speaker 1: one referral to get a sticker. Wow, just one. We
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Speaker 1: you using your other email address, we will be able
Speaker 1: to see that. I mean, if it's well done, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I get it. I would do that too. But if yeah,
Speaker 1: it won't go through. So definitely check the friend letter,
Speaker 1: start sharing your unique link, and start getting some fun
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Speaker 4: I'm here for the sweatshirt.
Speaker 1: Oh me too. All right, So student loans, if you
Speaker 1: are interested in a these types of unique episodes that
Speaker 1: we've been doing, which are a departure from our traditional
Speaker 1: type of episode, then definitely check out the other two
Speaker 1: we've done episode three twenty five, a step by step
Speaker 1: guide to values based spending and episode thirty what is
Speaker 1: the Radical Middle and how to live it? And then
Speaker 1: if you are interested in public service loan forgiveness, then
Speaker 1: check out episode two forty five. A little bit of
Speaker 1: the info is outdated, but the gist of it is
Speaker 1: still relevant. That is our interview with Nika Booth at
Speaker 1: de Free Gonna Be And you should definitely just follow
Speaker 1: her on Instagram too at Debt Free Gonna Be because
Speaker 1: you will get all the PSLF info you will ever
Speaker 1: need from her. So that's if you're doing that. If
Speaker 1: you have private student loans, you've already been paying them off,
Speaker 1: but this is still for you. This is still for you.
Speaker 1: And then federal student loans that you will not be
Speaker 1: able to get forgiven, especially for you. Yeah, so let's
Speaker 1: get into how to prioritize paying off student loans.
Speaker 4: Okay, so we're not going through the headlines as usual,
Speaker 4: but we are going to talk about just a general
Speaker 4: overview of what prioritization is because we think that this
Speaker 4: is important in a lot of areas of life. So
Speaker 4: doing a quick overview of that, then discussing debt, and
Speaker 4: then a discussion on how do we integrate both of
Speaker 4: those two. How do we integrate our understanding of priorities
Speaker 4: and our understanding of debt, And that'll be how we
Speaker 4: move through it before we get to our favorite midway
Speaker 4: part of the episode. You know what we're talking about, Okay,
Speaker 4: but first prioritization, Jen, what is it? How would you
Speaker 4: define it?
Speaker 1: So service level, it's deciding the level of importance or
Speaker 1: urgency that various tasks or goals get. For us, we
Speaker 1: use this refining, deciding question, whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 1: is what can I do now to make something else
Speaker 1: easier or unnecessary later. We didn't come up with this.
Speaker 1: We love the book The One Thing by Gary Keller,
Speaker 1: Kendra Adacci over it. Lazy Genies uses it. So this
Speaker 1: is something that is used in the business world, it's
Speaker 1: used in the home lifestyle world, and we are applying
Speaker 1: it to financial goals. So what is a financial goal
Speaker 1: or practice that I can do now that I can
Speaker 1: focus on now that makes other financial goals or tasks
Speaker 1: easier or unnecessary later. And so some things that can
Speaker 1: make unnecessary is when you pay off high interest debt,
Speaker 1: you eliminate the need for higher incremental raises at your job.
Speaker 1: So everybody should be getting raises at their job and
Speaker 1: going for an increase in income. But the longer you
Speaker 1: stick with your debt, the more you are required to
Speaker 1: get those races, the more those raises feel like a
Speaker 1: weight around your neck. And when you pay off high
Speaker 1: interest debt, and you eliminate those bills, then increases in
Speaker 1: income down the road are a gift, and you can
Speaker 1: see them as such. Well, they're not a gift. You
Speaker 1: work for them, but you can be thankful for them
Speaker 1: much more than when you have these higher debt payments,
Speaker 1: so making them almost unnecessary but still very welcomed and
Speaker 1: very necessary to pursue. So something like that great but unnecessary.
Speaker 4: It's interesting because I think we hear the word prioritizing
Speaker 4: and think what an elementary concept. And while we could
Speaker 4: probably pull anyone on the street and they could define
Speaker 4: what does it mean to prioritize, and yet this does
Speaker 4: seem to be one of the areas that many of
Speaker 4: us can struggle with implementation on. And I think that's
Speaker 4: what leads me to why is this important? Why is
Speaker 4: it important to not just understand prioritization but be able
Speaker 4: to implement it. And I think it's because everything out
Speaker 4: there around us, maybe in the world, but even our
Speaker 4: smaller world is fighting for our attention, but we don't
Speaker 4: have unlimited capacity or energy for all of it all
Speaker 4: the time. I like the definition that you gave Jen
Speaker 4: of deciding the level of importance or urgency, and it's
Speaker 4: important to be able to identify, well, everything might feel urgent,
Speaker 4: but what actually is of greatest urgency for me specifically,
Speaker 4: and when it comes to finances, this really pairs quite
Speaker 4: beautifully with this values based spending idea that we can
Speaker 4: value a lot of things, but prioritization is going to
Speaker 4: help us identify what is of greatest value and importance
Speaker 4: because we're not going to be able to meet all
Speaker 4: of our values all of the time to the highest degree,
Speaker 4: and being able to understand various degrees of importance and
Speaker 4: identifying that rightly and accurately is going to make a
Speaker 4: big difference in our personal finances. There are dozens of
Speaker 4: fantastic financial goals, including paying off debt, but different seasons
Speaker 4: of our life are going to support different goals as
Speaker 4: we move through that and we are allowed to change
Speaker 4: our minds and our seasons are able to change. But
Speaker 4: it's going to be this pairing of what season am
Speaker 4: I in right now?
Speaker 1: And that's going to.
Speaker 4: Include life seasons like being single, married, kids, no kids,
Speaker 4: but it's also going to be a more fine tuned
Speaker 4: season that we can look at as well of what
Speaker 4: is the actual weather season and what is that demanding
Speaker 4: of my life right now? What season of work am
Speaker 4: I in currently? Is there a lot going on for me?
Speaker 4: Or am I finding a little bit more margin. Those
Speaker 4: types of things are also going to help inform prioritization
Speaker 4: values to what degree we can meet our different values
Speaker 4: and our different financial goals, even if they're all really great,
Speaker 4: what's going to be the best one to pursue right now?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that you say that. This reason is
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of fantastic financial goals and
Speaker 1: different ones are supported by different seasons. Because that kind
Speaker 1: of leads into the next part of prioritization is like
Speaker 1: barriers to it, and a lot of times will take
Speaker 1: that definition or that importance and will use it as
Speaker 1: an excuse to simply not do it. I have young children,
Speaker 1: I can't pursue this financial goal. I'm single, I can't
Speaker 1: pursue this financial goal. That is the actual excuse I
Speaker 1: used to not pay off my student loans, to not
Speaker 1: even try paying off my student loans when I was single.
Speaker 1: And so we use these excuses when really they are pivots.
Speaker 1: They are okay, so I can't pay off my debt
Speaker 1: as extremely as I see these people on YouTube or
Speaker 1: Instagram or TikTok. But that's not an excuse to say
Speaker 1: that I cannot try or I cannot focus on it
Speaker 1: for a time. And so maybe you're on a limited
Speaker 1: income and it's not student loans time, it's not time
Speaker 1: for that prioritization. But maybe you have five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in credit card debt and it is time for that.
Speaker 1: We often look at the big picture of our debt
Speaker 1: and we think it's way too much to try to
Speaker 1: pay off. If I have to pay off all of
Speaker 1: this and I have to be totally debt free, like
Speaker 1: I'm just not going to do it, when reality, it's
Speaker 1: sections right. It can be different debts get prioritized at
Speaker 1: different times in different seasons, and that's totally okay. So
Speaker 1: the barriers that we are often faced with in prioritization
Speaker 1: it is simply just using our life circumstances, our life place,
Speaker 1: our season as an excuse to not do it. It
Speaker 1: can also be the inaccurate assessment of what's most important
Speaker 1: or what's going to help make something easier or unnecessary later.
Speaker 1: I think that question makes the top priority kind of
Speaker 1: non important. We think we want to pick the one
Speaker 1: hundred percent best financial goal at any given time, right,
Speaker 1: And we're like, I don't know what I should be
Speaker 1: focusing on what's most important. It doesn't matter what's most important,
Speaker 1: It matters what you've decided will make something easier or
Speaker 1: unnecessary later in your life. And so maybe math wise
Speaker 1: there is a right answer, but it's your life and
Speaker 1: math isn't always the right answer. So this question allows
Speaker 1: you to choose what you focus on, and there is
Speaker 1: no wrong answer when you use this kind of refining question.
Speaker 4: I get tripped up on that one a lot. In particular,
Speaker 4: I think I will often feel, at least in regular
Speaker 4: tasks throughout the day, that I'm going to be better
Speaker 4: off if I get these low level tasks done so
Speaker 4: that I can get freed up to do the bigger task.
Speaker 4: And in reality, the smaller tasks take up my whole
Speaker 4: day and I never make it to the big task
Speaker 4: that I was planning on getting too from the start,
Speaker 4: rather than being able to just set those tiny things
Speaker 4: aside and focus on what actually was most important. And
Speaker 4: I think this can happen with our finances too, Like, no,
Speaker 4: I'd rather just save up for this vacation that I
Speaker 4: want to take in a couple of months versus really
Speaker 4: going hard at my debt. I think we can apply
Speaker 4: it to a lot of different areas of life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we take away that fear of there's going
Speaker 1: to be a wrong thing to focus on. There is
Speaker 1: no wrong thing to focus on. But you can focus
Speaker 1: on things you don't actually want to be focusing on.
Speaker 1: So when we start to pursue goals that are not
Speaker 1: actually our own but they are other people's goals for us,
Speaker 1: that I think is when we can get it wrong.
Speaker 1: So paying off all of your debt without thinking of
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, paying off your house without thinking of
Speaker 1: the bigger picture of your finances and your income, investing
Speaker 1: sixty to eighty percent of your income without thinking of
Speaker 1: the bigger pictures. So there are these goals that other
Speaker 1: people have that they say, oh, everyone should do this,
Speaker 1: and we think, oh, gosh, maybe I should be doing this. No,
Speaker 1: we have to go through an assessment of our own
Speaker 1: lives to decide what is the focus. But when you
Speaker 1: do that, you cannot focus on the wrong thing. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can reevaluate in a couple months and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: actually don't want to be focusing on this. I want
Speaker 1: to be focusing on this instead. And it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: those few months were a mistake. It means you needed
Speaker 1: them to gain the clarity to get to the better focus,
Speaker 1: and then a few other barriers are getting distracted. U
Speaker 1: Jill made a note on your mom's cleaning on TikTok,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what that means, but I'm sure
Speaker 1: they get distracted.
Speaker 4: So I mean, I don't even have TikTok, but reels
Speaker 4: I guess. I'll say a lot of times it's like
Speaker 4: reposted to Instagram from TikTok. But I feel like I'm
Speaker 4: getting all of these reels of moms showing their process
Speaker 4: of trying to clean through the house, and it's just
Speaker 4: this almost if you give a mouse a cookie, situations
Speaker 4: where they're like I went to go unload the dishwasher
Speaker 4: and when I went over, or I went to go
Speaker 4: put the dishes into the dishwasher, and when I opened
Speaker 4: the dishwasher, it was still clean. So now I got
Speaker 4: to unload the dishwasher, and as I started to do that,
Speaker 4: I didn't have any room on my counter to put
Speaker 4: the clean dishes. So then I started to clean up
Speaker 4: the paperwork, and when I picked up the paperwork. I
Speaker 4: realized that there's a registration for my kids' school that
Speaker 4: I got to do, and when I went to go
Speaker 4: talk to my kid about it, I realized that their
Speaker 4: room was dirty, so I started putting that away, and
Speaker 4: then I realized that I got to make a phone call.
Speaker 4: Like it just goes on and I can relate. I
Speaker 4: don't even have kids, But that getting distracted, I think
Speaker 4: can happen a lot, even with prioritization goal setting. It
Speaker 4: happens in the midst of our debt payoff plan or
Speaker 4: other financial goals. And it might not be because we're
Speaker 4: feeling scatter brained. We might get distracted because life circumstances
Speaker 4: are happening that interrupt as well, you name it. But
Speaker 4: getting distracted can be a barrier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm thinking this could especially be a barrier for
Speaker 1: anyone struggling with a neurodivergence. But again, not an excuse,
Speaker 1: just something to take into consideration when you are creating
Speaker 1: financial goals. And then the last barrier is not delegating effectively.
Speaker 1: So there are things on your plate. I'm going to
Speaker 1: go out on a lem and say it. There are
Speaker 1: things on your plate that should not be on your plate.
Speaker 1: Uh oh, and you probably know them. You probably know
Speaker 1: that you might even know what they are. So when
Speaker 1: we take on too much, then it makes focusing on
Speaker 1: our highest priority goal a lot harder. So not all
Speaker 1: the time are you able to delegate or give up
Speaker 1: this thing that should be on your plate but is not.
Speaker 1: But it should be something that you're aware of, and
Speaker 1: you're looking for opportunities to give up or delegate so
Speaker 1: that you can better focus on your goal, especially if
Speaker 1: some goals, so some higher priority goals are more i
Speaker 1: would say intense than others. So if you have ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in credit card debt that has a twenty
Speaker 1: percent interest rate, that goal pursuing it is more intense
Speaker 1: than in five years when your highest goal is saving
Speaker 1: for retirement or saving for a new car. They can
Speaker 1: be the highest priority goals at different times. But you
Speaker 1: are not going to work as feverishly to save for
Speaker 1: a new car as you are to pay off a
Speaker 1: debt that has twenty percent interest, and so you need
Speaker 1: to delegate differently depending on the intensity of your different goals.
Speaker 4: Okay, so in general, the way that we're going to
Speaker 4: go about this, when we're setting priorities is identifying the
Speaker 4: goals that you want to pursue. It's got to start there.
Speaker 4: Otherwise we are going to keep getting pulled in different directions,
Speaker 4: maybe based on our own whims or the whims of
Speaker 4: other people, and not really making any steady progress on
Speaker 4: any one thing because we don't really know what we're
Speaker 4: focused on, and we're not focused on the one thing.
Speaker 4: So identify what they all are. I would recommend actually
Speaker 4: writing it down, and when it comes to finances, think
Speaker 4: about it all. What are the financial goals that you
Speaker 4: have even in life. They could be short term, mid term,
Speaker 4: long term goals. They can include student debt payoff. They
Speaker 4: could include other types of debt payoff as well. Maybe
Speaker 4: it's investing, what type of investing, saving how much saving,
Speaker 4: what type of saving, sinking funds, long term emergency. Write
Speaker 4: it all down, then look through that list and determine
Speaker 4: the one on that list that by doing that one thing,
Speaker 4: accomplishing that goal might make others on the list easier
Speaker 4: or potentially even unnecessary going forward. That could include this
Speaker 4: is where we talk about paying down high interest debt first,
Speaker 4: because that's going to help catapult us in being able
Speaker 4: to pay down other debts or free up money for
Speaker 4: other future goals. And then from there, once you identify
Speaker 4: what that one thing is that you really want to
Speaker 4: focus in on that's going to make the other things
Speaker 4: easier or unnecessary, you focus on that one thing to
Speaker 4: the exclusion of the other goals for a set amount
Speaker 4: of time. That doesn't mean that you're not valuing your
Speaker 4: other goals. That doesn't mean that you won't pursue those
Speaker 4: hard for a time, but it is important to choose
Speaker 4: one at a time so that it actually gets a
Speaker 4: degree of concerted effort, so that you can actually see
Speaker 4: yourself chipping away at it, you see progress and hope
Speaker 4: full you accomplish it, and then can move on to
Speaker 4: the next that are on the list. Again, one of
Speaker 4: the biggest barriers to seeing prioritizing go well is that
Speaker 4: getting distracted or trying to do too many at once,
Speaker 4: and we ineffectively then move through those goals because it's
Speaker 4: not getting undivided attention.
Speaker 5: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: That's so important. The back burner theory is real, and
Speaker 1: when you pursue multiple goals at a time, and as
Speaker 1: somebody who loves to reach goals, who loves to accomplish
Speaker 1: things and finish things. The idea of not being able
Speaker 1: to work on multiple goals at a time when I
Speaker 1: want to transform my life is very annoying and something
Speaker 1: in my head where I'm saying, Nope, not going to
Speaker 1: listen to that. Not for me, it is for you.
Speaker 1: We all have the same type of brain as humans,
Speaker 1: and our brains have capacity. All of our brains have
Speaker 1: a limit, a capacity, a limit for mental energy, and
Speaker 1: we use this to play with our brains, not against them,
Speaker 1: so that we can make more progress.
Speaker 4: Well, and I will say that that is a worthwhile.
Speaker 4: The parts of the goal and the prioritization that take
Speaker 4: concerted effort and thought is where we want to focus
Speaker 4: on the one thing. This can still mean that automatic savings,
Speaker 4: automatic investing is still happening while we focus on the
Speaker 4: one goal let's say it's debt payoff. It's not necessarily
Speaker 4: to the exclusion of that, it's just where our concerted
Speaker 4: efforts go should be singularly focused.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that kind of leads into our discussion on debt,
Speaker 1: specifically student loan repayment. So we'll talk just a bit
Speaker 1: about our views on debt before we talk about the integration.
Speaker 1: But I will say that it's easy to put automatic
Speaker 1: payments on your student loans. They make that real easy
Speaker 1: for some reason. So many things about student loan services
Speaker 1: are difficult, but auto pay does not seem to be
Speaker 1: one of them. So interesting. But it is the practice
Speaker 1: of creating margin that you have enough room for extra
Speaker 1: student loan payments that is the true difficulty here, And
Speaker 1: it's why we talk about prioritization, because in the day
Speaker 1: to day, when you are making decisions should I spend
Speaker 1: on this, should I do this to earn extra money?
Speaker 1: All of these micro decisions we make throughout the day
Speaker 1: will have an effect on our financial goals. And you
Speaker 1: could make one hundred micro decisions for ten different financial
Speaker 1: goals and make just a smidgeon a headway on all
Speaker 1: of them and see really no significant progress. Or you
Speaker 1: can focus on one and make a hunch undred micro
Speaker 1: decisions every day in the pursuing of that goal, and
Speaker 1: you will see progress much faster. Even if your progress
Speaker 1: is small, you'll see it faster, especially if your progress
Speaker 1: has to be small. You have to practice this because
Speaker 1: that psychological win, those wins that you get are necessary
Speaker 1: for sticking with it. So student loan debt is it good,
Speaker 1: is it bad? Well, we don't think any debt is
Speaker 1: good or bad. I was actually just on Instagram the
Speaker 1: other day following one of like the healthy people that
Speaker 1: I follow the gym. I don't know how wellness influencers.
Speaker 1: That sounds horrible. She's a personal trainer and she is saying,
Speaker 1: how we have told ourselves that there are good foods
Speaker 1: and bad foods, and that's how we get into this
Speaker 1: diet binge cycle because we eat the quote unquote bad
Speaker 1: food and then we binge and that's an unhealthy way
Speaker 1: to live. All food is neutral. Some has more as
Speaker 1: a higher nutritional density than others. Some is you know,
Speaker 1: near the floor, but some is really high. So that's
Speaker 1: the same way we look at debt. Debt is neutral.
Speaker 4: Some of the food we is from the floor looking
Speaker 4: at you hotdogs.
Speaker 1: So it's the same with debt. Some debt is beneficial
Speaker 1: to furthering your net worth, to increasing your net worth,
Speaker 1: like a mortgage, maybe like a student loan. It depends
Speaker 1: on the student alone. It could be beneficial or it
Speaker 1: could be again a weight around your neck because it's
Speaker 1: not doing as much for you as you thought you would.
Speaker 1: And a mortgage can increase your net worth, or it
Speaker 1: can be a weight around your neck if you find
Speaker 1: that you don't actually want to be a homeowner, or
Speaker 1: if you bought too much house and or now house poor.
Speaker 1: So that's why we do not say there's good debt
Speaker 1: and bad debt. It is really person specific. So you
Speaker 1: have to decide where student loans are for you in
Speaker 1: that realm, and that's just how you should think about them.
Speaker 1: That's not a strategy or anything, but that is a
Speaker 1: heart and mind move that you need to make to
Speaker 1: not view all debt is evil, yeah, but also not
Speaker 1: viewing people like some people love debt. We're not on
Speaker 1: either camp.
Speaker 4: This view of debt has been so helpful to me.
Speaker 4: It's just created so much freedom, not a freedom and
Speaker 4: a license to oh, let me go get myself in
Speaker 4: a debt. I still don't like it. I personally don't
Speaker 4: want to carry a lot of debt throughout my life.
Speaker 4: My goal is debt freedom. But to take out this
Speaker 4: emotional mental weight of it being this bad, wrong, naughty
Speaker 4: thing to do really helps me in making how informed, logical, healthy,
Speaker 4: helpful decisions for myself. And with this concept in mind,
Speaker 4: with us looking at debt as neutral, clearing the guilt
Speaker 4: and shame from it. This helps us to look at
Speaker 4: it with clear glasses, and so it is important when
Speaker 4: we're looking at it in that way to understand the
Speaker 4: different types of debt that we may hold. Again, it's neutral,
Speaker 4: but they do come in different shapes and sizes. So
Speaker 4: referencing back to us prioritizing and writing down all of
Speaker 4: our goals a part of that. If debt payoff is
Speaker 4: a part of that plan, you should write down what
Speaker 4: type of interest you have on those different debts that
Speaker 4: you want to pay off. You've got your high interest,
Speaker 4: your lower interest, and that's important to pay attention to.
Speaker 4: I did some simple math in preparation for this episode
Speaker 4: and looked up on a calculator a ten year simple
Speaker 4: interest loan of twenty five thousand dollars. So you've got
Speaker 4: this one loan over ten years twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: Let's say you took out that loan at three percent
Speaker 4: interest rate. You are going to pay three thousand, nine
Speaker 4: hundred and sixty eight dollars and twenty two cents total
Speaker 4: interest paid over the life of that loan. Versus if
Speaker 4: you take out that same exact loan for ten years
Speaker 4: twenty five thousand dollars at a seven percent interest rate,
Speaker 4: you're going to pay nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty
Speaker 4: two dollars and fifty four cents over the life.
Speaker 1: Of that loan.
Speaker 4: That's nearly double, almost double. Three percent to seven percent
Speaker 4: just paid in interest on that loan.
Speaker 1: Now that is double. That's over double. Yeah, it's four
Speaker 1: thousand to ninety eight hundred right, yeah.
Speaker 4: Right, oh yes, thank you, nath It is more than double,
Speaker 4: which is why. And in some instances we can't totally
Speaker 4: control the interest rate that we get the lucky lucky
Speaker 4: those who got the interest rates when they just plummeted,
Speaker 4: and sometimes we just don't have a choice. But all
Speaker 4: the more reason to pay off that higher interest debt first.
Speaker 4: If you're wondering how to prioritize, just there you go,
Speaker 4: ding ding ding. That's something we can tell you. Yes,
Speaker 4: here's a blueprint other things, very values based and flexible
Speaker 4: in freedom, but pay off your higher interest debt first.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And as in an aside, nothing to do with
Speaker 1: student loans per se. But a simple interest loan is
Speaker 1: something you get like on a mortgage or a car.
Speaker 1: It's not what you would get on a student loan,
Speaker 1: But twenty five thousand dollars is kind of what you
Speaker 1: would pay for a car, so a car loan and
Speaker 1: seven percent is about what you're looking at for an interest.
Speaker 1: So you're paying ninety eight hundred dollars in interest on
Speaker 1: a car. If you go with a fifty one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars car, you're going to be paying almost twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in interest.
Speaker 4: You're doubling that even if you can afford the monthly payment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is something to think about. Like, we
Speaker 1: have a whole episode on how to be smart about
Speaker 1: taking out car loans. Jill and I both have car loans.
Speaker 1: We paid off all of our debt, became debt free,
Speaker 1: and then we both got car loans because we're not
Speaker 1: against them, yeah, because that's neutral. But we also made
Speaker 1: very wise decision to keep that car debt low. Jill
Speaker 1: and Eric have one car. We put I mean, we
Speaker 1: spent half as much as normal minivans would cost. We
Speaker 1: made sure that we bought used, we got a really
Speaker 1: good deal, and we went to a dealership that didn't
Speaker 1: have superfluous fees. So we made intentional decisions to keep
Speaker 1: those loans low, so that we're not paying ten thousand
Speaker 1: more in interest than we need to be. So making
Speaker 1: this decisions like that is also what's going to help
Speaker 1: you have more margin to pay off your student loans
Speaker 1: and your high interest loans and debt. So what do
Speaker 1: we mean by high interest, Well, obviously credit cards are highest.
Speaker 1: Typically you know payday loans up there too, hopefully nobody
Speaker 1: has those. But as a rule of thumb, this is
Speaker 1: just a rule of thumb, This isn't a rule. Anything
Speaker 1: over ten percent we now consider high interest. When interest
Speaker 1: rates were super super low, you may have heard us
Speaker 1: say anything over five percent. If you've read anything by
Speaker 1: David Back, you've read anything over five percent payoff and
Speaker 1: we still think that that is a goal that is
Speaker 1: definitely something to pursue. But right now, anything over ten
Speaker 1: percent is first priority, and then you can reevaluate your
Speaker 1: goals and if you want to continue to focus on
Speaker 1: debt in some capacity, then shoot for that five percent range.
Speaker 1: So a lot of student loans, it will depend on
Speaker 1: where your student loans are. Graduate loans, private graduate loans
Speaker 1: probably going to be up there for you undergrad. Federal
Speaker 1: might be below five percent. You may have gotten lucky
Speaker 1: but it's probably going to be above five percent nowadays,
Speaker 1: So that's kind of if you want a math, But ultimately,
Speaker 1: emotional considerations of your debt is going to be what
Speaker 1: we think is most important. How is it affecting you?
Speaker 1: Forget the math. Do you feel like your debt is
Speaker 1: a weight and you want to be rid of it,
Speaker 1: pay it all off, get rid of it, simplify your finances,
Speaker 1: and just get all of that off. Do you not
Speaker 1: really care? Do you make a high enough income where
Speaker 1: these low debt payments and low interest rates aren't really
Speaker 1: affecting you? Leave it, Leave it and pursue investing in
Speaker 1: some other financial goals. The emotional consideration of your debt
Speaker 1: is really what we think is most important, and it's
Speaker 1: however you interpret it. But we'll throw out the math
Speaker 1: for you just to so you can get a gauge
Speaker 1: of how the math maths. This is girl math, This
Speaker 1: is real girl math.
Speaker 4: And that would be a helpful additional part of the
Speaker 4: evaluating what all of your goals are? That part where
Speaker 4: we're writing everything down and we're writing down all of
Speaker 4: our debts. You could even have another column on that
Speaker 4: piece of paper or document on your computer where you
Speaker 4: can write out how does this make me feel? What
Speaker 4: emotions are associated with seeing this goal on the paper,
Speaker 4: and that would be an indicator sign too, of how
Speaker 4: you value it and where to place it in order
Speaker 4: of priority.
Speaker 1: And don't say you don't want to pay off debt
Speaker 1: because you don't think you can. That's not how we
Speaker 1: set these emotional considerations up. Really think about how the
Speaker 1: debt makes you feel. And if you feel nothing, move on.
Speaker 1: If you feel heavily, move in and respect other people's decision.
Speaker 4: The one that feels most overwhelming is probably an indicator
Speaker 4: of it being top priority.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's something that you value and respect what other
Speaker 1: people value. Don't judge other people for having different values
Speaker 1: than you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, Now we integrate the two. Now that we
Speaker 4: understand prioritization and what that process looks like, and we
Speaker 4: understand that debt is neutral, but we want to pay
Speaker 4: it off. How do we integrate these two things. What
Speaker 4: if everything's important?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So, what if everything's important? Because everything is told
Speaker 1: to us that it is important, it is the most important,
Speaker 1: and everybody wants to be the person that says, oh
Speaker 1: they told you this was most important. It is not
Speaker 1: important at all. This is important. I see those ads
Speaker 1: like somebody told somebody that's how YouTube ads are made,
Speaker 1: because that's however YouTube ad is. But they're all wrong.
Speaker 1: This is how you do it. So the problem when
Speaker 1: everything seems important is that nothing's really important. And that's
Speaker 1: also the problem of living in the extremes. It's an
Speaker 1: extreme way of life to think everything is important and
Speaker 1: you are required to do everything or to be everything,
Speaker 1: when really there is someplace in the middle. And then
Speaker 1: there's sometimes we think, oh, nothing is important, I don't
Speaker 1: want to do anything, and that's probably something that you
Speaker 1: should seek extra help on outside of finance. Yea, there
Speaker 1: is a middle ground. It's in the radical middle. So
Speaker 1: if everything is important, investing, saving, paying off debt, buying
Speaker 1: a house, buying a car, saving for kids college, all
Speaker 1: of that is good, all of it is important. But
Speaker 1: what's the most important right now? What is the thing
Speaker 1: that I can do right now that is going to
Speaker 1: make other things easier or necessary in the future. So
Speaker 1: another example of that is investing. If I invest a
Speaker 1: little bit now every month versus if I wait ten
Speaker 1: years and invest triple or quadruple that every month going forward,
Speaker 1: there are instances where I will never catch up. When
Speaker 1: you start small now and continue small throughout your life,
Speaker 1: you will and this isn't guaranteed because the stock market
Speaker 1: is vital, but based on the history of the stock market,
Speaker 1: you will end up with more money at retirement than
Speaker 1: if you start later and invest more per month. So
Speaker 1: investing a little bit now is one of those things
Speaker 1: that you can do to make saving for retirement life
Speaker 1: later easier because in twenty years you're going to still
Speaker 1: be saving that three four hundred dollars a month versus
Speaker 1: the thy fifteen hundred you would have to save otherwise
Speaker 1: to not even get to the same amount saved. You
Speaker 1: can save over one hundred thousand dollars by starting small
Speaker 1: now with investing, So that's another one of those examples
Speaker 1: used in the investing and with debt, if you are
Speaker 1: making small payments towards your debt just a little bit
Speaker 1: over into the principle versus doing nothing and staying in forbearance,
Speaker 1: while this student loan interest pops back up, you won't
Speaker 1: be able to catch up because student loans are not
Speaker 1: a simple interest loan. The interest increases. So that's why
Speaker 1: we think that paying off debt is one of the
Speaker 1: most important things that you can do early in your
Speaker 1: financial journey. So do the math is one of the
Speaker 1: ways that you can see that not everything is important.
Speaker 1: Do that heart check, that headcheck, but really consider why
Speaker 1: you think everything seems important. Who's telling you everything's important?
Speaker 1: Is it anxiety? Is it your family? Is it influencers
Speaker 1: on social media? Because everything is not important right now?
Speaker 1: There are certain goals that you have that are more
Speaker 1: important than others. You have to identify those.
Speaker 4: And this plays right into well, then how do I
Speaker 4: say no to the things that feel important when everything
Speaker 4: feels important? And I think this pairs beautifully with prioritization.
Speaker 4: We are more easily able to say no to everything
Speaker 4: all at once when we know we've got a plan.
Speaker 4: And again, prioritization isn't just so that I only do
Speaker 4: one thing. It's so that we can do one thing
Speaker 4: for a setain amount of time and move on to
Speaker 4: the next thing on the list. We're going to have
Speaker 4: so much more success that way versus trying to collect
Speaker 4: it all, hold it all, do it all at the
Speaker 4: same time. And this then is where we can also
Speaker 4: integrate the concept of boundaries, which we're all learning about regularly.
Speaker 4: All of the time with relationships and money and you
Speaker 4: name it. But yes, boundaries also have a place here
Speaker 4: where we can place boundaries on ourselves as we relate
Speaker 4: to the world around us, within our finances. And I
Speaker 4: use boundaries in a very flexible, freedom oriented kind of way.
Speaker 4: Boundaries in a way of it creates an idea of
Speaker 4: where's their space to play within these fences, not a
Speaker 4: restrictive kind of manner. And so when we have a
Speaker 4: set plan, when we've done the work of I've identified
Speaker 4: and listed out everything that is important to me, then
Speaker 4: I did some of the soul searching of what is
Speaker 4: most valuable for me right now or will make my
Speaker 4: life easier in the future. We're then more easily able
Speaker 4: to say no to the other things or not right now.
Speaker 4: And that's boundaries, that's boundaries one oh one, because then
Speaker 4: we're not so overwhelmed by even the social media influencers
Speaker 4: who are saying you need to be putting eighty percent
Speaker 4: of your income towards your retirement savings and investing. When
Speaker 4: we're able to say, oh, I see you, very glad
Speaker 4: that you're doing that. Actually, I have a plan for
Speaker 4: my finances and it's to pay down my high interest debt,
Speaker 4: or you name it. And it's easier to say no
Speaker 4: to this person telling you to be doing something when
Speaker 4: you already know I've got a plan in place, I
Speaker 4: understand my values, my financial goals are based around that,
Speaker 4: my spending is based around that, and I am living
Speaker 4: within these boundaries that I have set. It makes everything
Speaker 4: else so much easier to say no to mm hmm.
Speaker 1: And this applies to not just financial goals, but personal
Speaker 1: goals as well, career goals, any goals that would take
Speaker 1: your attention really have to be set aside if this
Speaker 1: is your most important, if you've decided this is your
Speaker 1: most important, So if you're trying to get a business
Speaker 1: off the ground, or lose weight, or any number of
Speaker 1: goals those compete. Just because they're in a different category
Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're not competing for your attention. So you
Speaker 1: really have to be aware and draw boundaries so that
Speaker 1: you can keep focused on that one goal at a
Speaker 1: time and keep it your highest priority, especially if it's
Speaker 1: a debt payoff, because like I said earlier, that's a
Speaker 1: more intense, more urgent, maybe not intense, but a more
Speaker 1: urgent priority goal than something else down the road may be.
Speaker 4: That is considering your life season and the context that
Speaker 4: that's happening. I mean, Jen and I both have examples
Speaker 4: of we're going hard focused on one thing and then
Speaker 4: life interrupts it. You get pregnant, you move, jobs change,
Speaker 4: and you can't prioritize that goal in the same way
Speaker 4: that you did before because life season has changed. And
Speaker 4: so I think that's where permission to pivot comes into place.
Speaker 4: Keeping a pulse on what is happening for me? Can
Speaker 4: I stay so singularly focused on this in the same
Speaker 4: way I was able to a year ago. Or do
Speaker 4: I need to put this on the back burner? Does
Speaker 4: something else need to move into place as my main
Speaker 4: priority right now because there's other things that are actually
Speaker 4: vying for my attention in new ways that I need
Speaker 4: to pay attention to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we've thrown a lot at you and this
Speaker 1: topic of prioritization student loans debt, prioritizing your student loan
Speaker 1: debt payments. But I just wanted to do like a
Speaker 1: quick wrap up. Do I don't want to put anything
Speaker 1: else on your brain? And the wrap up is that
Speaker 1: our brain needs shortcuts. That's it. If this feels heavy
Speaker 1: or like a lot. Yeah, it is deciding your priorities
Speaker 1: and rearranging your life to support prioritizing that priority. It's
Speaker 1: a lot, but when you do the hard work up front,
Speaker 1: then it's easier later that decision what can I do
Speaker 1: now that makes other things easier or unnecessary later. This
Speaker 1: is one of those things. Prioritizing the right goal at
Speaker 1: the right time, or whatever goal you say is right
Speaker 1: at the right time is what your brain needs, and
Speaker 1: prioritizing is just one of those shortcuts. Routines, habits, motivators,
Speaker 1: Those are other shortcuts that we're going to be talking
Speaker 1: about in the coming months. But know that this is
Speaker 1: just one tool in your tool belt to reach your
Speaker 1: financial goals. It's a really good one. It's why we
Speaker 1: did a whole episode on it. And it applies not
Speaker 1: just to financial goals but also with spending. So when
Speaker 1: you're going to make your budget, your income may not
Speaker 1: be able to cover meeting everything you value in the
Speaker 1: way you want to value it, in the way you
Speaker 1: want to meet it. So prioritizing can help you set
Speaker 1: those And obviously it's not just one thing that you
Speaker 1: can spend money on. You can have multiple things you value,
Speaker 1: but it can help you prioritize what ways you're going
Speaker 1: to be meeting your values. So where am I getting
Speaker 1: the most bang for my buck, so to speak, in
Speaker 1: my spending. What kind of event or product or service
Speaker 1: can meet most of my values in one time? Stuff
Speaker 1: like that you start to optimize. But this we thought
Speaker 1: it was really important for introducing the student loan topic.
Speaker 4: And my wrap up in it is to be kind
Speaker 4: to yourself in it that there is freedom to do
Speaker 4: debt payoff different from someone else who's paying down debt,
Speaker 4: and there's ability to still be investing while you're paying
Speaker 4: off student loan debt or just going heavy at student
Speaker 4: loan debt, but being kind to yourself as you move
Speaker 4: through it, and permission to go hard on the gas
Speaker 4: pedal with it or to let off and maybe even
Speaker 4: break sometimes because life season demands it. And you know
Speaker 4: what else our life season demands in every episode.
Speaker 1: That we put the foot of the pedal and aglare
Speaker 1: it every time.
Speaker 6: The bill of a week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 6: the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 2: Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 6: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 2: Maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 2: to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 6: Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 6: of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jill, this is my bill of the week.
Speaker 5: I recently went in for an oil change to a
Speaker 5: mechanic that has been seemingly transparent in the past, and
Speaker 5: spent almost four hours at this place for just an
Speaker 5: oil change and a car report that listed around twenty
Speaker 5: eight hundred dollars worth of quote unquote necessary expenses plus
Speaker 5: a potential leak. I asked for a list of the
Speaker 5: urgent items and estimates for everything listed so that I
Speaker 5: could get a gauge on priority items. The highest on
Speaker 5: their priority list was also the most expensive, around eleven hundred.
Speaker 5: I was feeling so defeated, and then I reached out
Speaker 5: to another mechanic. This mechanic diagnosed my car and reported
Speaker 5: back to me in less time, and I was relieved
Speaker 5: when he explained that the items the other mechanic had
Speaker 5: reported were not urgent after all, and we're mostly recommended maintenance. Also,
Speaker 5: my car did not have a leak. This mechanic helped
Speaker 5: me to distinguish priorities and those items that were not
Speaker 5: emergencies after all. Further, he completed a couple maintenance items
Speaker 5: the same day of my appointment, and get this, what
Speaker 5: I would have paid nine hundred dollars for at the
Speaker 5: first mechanic ended up costing me four hundred dollars. I
Speaker 5: also got a quote for the top priority item from
Speaker 5: the first mechanic, and this expense will be three hundred
Speaker 5: dollars less with the second mechanic, and I can schedule
Speaker 5: this later in the year. Not urgent after all, I
Speaker 5: am thrilled to have sought this second opinion, which saved
Speaker 5: me time, panic, confusion, stress, and almost fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 5: of unnecessary expenses.
Speaker 3: We do not listen to these bills of the week
Speaker 3: before we play Wildlight Zone. I wonder if Goldie put like,
Speaker 3: listen to it first and put it in here. But
Speaker 3: it's too perfect that Gabby, that you are talking about
Speaker 3: priorities in this episode.
Speaker 1: Well done getting that second opinion. That's it, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's how you do it.
Speaker 4: We cannot highlight second opinions large enough and being able
Speaker 4: to have that clear mind to decipher what is urgent.
Speaker 4: I even like quoted you in our show notes. Not
Speaker 4: urgent after all, and sometimes it takes some weeding and
Speaker 4: teasing apart to identify what's urgent, what needs to be
Speaker 4: done now, what can wait? How can I plan for
Speaker 4: the next thing that's on my list that will eventually
Speaker 4: need to happen. And you have saved money by consulting
Speaker 4: and getting a second opinion and really giving yourself margin
Speaker 4: and taking a breather in the midst of it all.
Speaker 4: I think if you you didn't have the wherewithal this
Speaker 4: for another person, they could have received that been like, ooh,
Speaker 4: my car's going to fall apart. Okay, here's all of
Speaker 4: my money. Do the twenty eight hundred dollars worth of repairs.
Speaker 4: But your ability to pause, say, wait a second, this
Speaker 4: might not be accurate. Let me get a second opinion,
Speaker 4: let me make a plan for how to tackle these
Speaker 4: problems in order of urgency. Well done, Gabby, You saved
Speaker 4: yourself money, You've learned about prioritization, and you've turned around
Speaker 4: and taught the rest of us.
Speaker 1: And this is a great lesson in other areas of
Speaker 1: life too, because sometimes it takes a second opinion from
Speaker 1: somebody who is a neutral party to help you see
Speaker 1: what is not important, what can be delegated. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: you know, you want to consult with a financial expert,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it just takes a close friend get second opinions.
Speaker 1: When you think something can't be done, ask somebody around
Speaker 1: you how they think it can be done. They're going
Speaker 1: to give you ideas that you didn't come up with.
Speaker 1: That is one of the great values of having community
Speaker 1: on your side in this journey is that you can
Speaker 1: seek them out for second opinions.
Speaker 4: If you've got a bill that effortlessly and flawlessly coincides
Speaker 4: with our exact episode topic that week, or your name
Speaker 4: is Bill, visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill leave
Speaker 4: us your bill about all the things now it's time.
Speaker 1: For That's a hint at one of those merch things
Speaker 1: you can get if you join the Frugal Friends friend
Speaker 1: letter referral program. We're definitely gonna come up with.
Speaker 4: A better Yeah, there's going to be a better name,
Speaker 4: but you're still going to have to describe it. And
Speaker 4: ultimately it's referring people to the friend letter. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: as you refer people get there, you get merch.
Speaker 1: Yeah. If you want to come up with the name
Speaker 1: for the referral program, DM me on Instagram at modern
Speaker 1: frugality because I'm open to it. Friends please and stuff please. Friend.
Speaker 1: It's called friends getting stuff and.
Speaker 4: Stuff for free.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Friends telling friends about free stuff and getting free things
Speaker 4: in return.
Speaker 1: It seems just as long. Yeah, I don't think we're improving.
Speaker 4: Well, it's a lot of fs though, and that's more fun, okay, Jen.
Speaker 4: What was your most effective strategy in staying motivated and
Speaker 4: focused while paying off student loan debt.
Speaker 1: I'm going to let you go first, actually because your
Speaker 1: name is first on the list. So that's the only
Speaker 1: reason why I'm going to let you go first, that's
Speaker 1: for sure, because I think absolutely not because of that.
Speaker 4: Oh, for me, it was gamifying it in a way.
Speaker 4: Not that the entire thing felt like a game for sure, No,
Speaker 4: that didn't, but creating a challenge in I had making
Speaker 4: it like a challenge. For the most part, that challenge
Speaker 4: was how much can I throw at my debt this month?
Speaker 4: So I had a baseline for sure, like I wanted
Speaker 4: to be paying at least three fifty a month, and
Speaker 4: that was part of my spending plan at the time,
Speaker 4: and alongside what I hope to spend on groceries and bills,
Speaker 4: and you name it, three point fifty every month was
Speaker 4: going to go towards debt. But of course then I
Speaker 4: had a challenge every month to throw as much extra
Speaker 4: as possible. So those were the years when if someone
Speaker 4: even gave me twenty bucks for my birthday, that was
Speaker 4: a ding ding ding celebratory that's going straight to my debt.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying everyone should do this, because there should
Speaker 4: be permission to be able to spend on yourself and
Speaker 4: celebrate along the way, But for me.
Speaker 1: This is what worked.
Speaker 4: I actually loved being able to say, at the end
Speaker 4: of every month years how much extra I was able
Speaker 4: to put towards it, and here's the amount of money
Speaker 4: that decreases over time, or the amount of months that decreases,
Speaker 4: how long we're going to be paying this debt off
Speaker 4: for because we were able to throw more at it.
Speaker 1: I am going to go back to the community point.
Speaker 1: It was the camaraderie partnership with Travis that really helped
Speaker 1: me stay focused. And I have seen for single people
Speaker 1: it's social media. So having a special social media account
Speaker 1: or maybe just your personal one where you just switch
Speaker 1: the focus to being all about whatever goal you're trying
Speaker 1: to reach and meeting other people on social media with
Speaker 1: the same goal. I love seeing those people in there.
Speaker 1: It's really a delight to see people using what social
Speaker 1: media was intended to be, like bringing people together to
Speaker 1: help each other reach similar goals. But also for me,
Speaker 1: I wasn't on social media like that back then. I'm
Speaker 1: still not on social media like that. Having Travis debt clutch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is the flip side of social media. I
Speaker 4: think where sometimes it can feel just this obligatory shoulds
Speaker 4: you should be doing X, y Z. But if we
Speaker 4: can curate our social media to the types of things
Speaker 4: we want to be focused on, then it can be
Speaker 4: a motivator and it can feel like other people are
Speaker 4: doing this too. I'm not the only one. Okay, stay
Speaker 4: the course. Speaking to stay in the course, thanks for
Speaker 4: hanging with us for this amount of time. As we
Speaker 4: don't go through articles, you just hear our brains spill
Speaker 4: out verbally. Many of you know we have a membership
Speaker 4: for our listeners who are paying off debt where we're
Speaker 4: doing monthly money challenges. Speaking of gamifying and staying motivated
Speaker 4: and having community. There are accountability groups in there, and
Speaker 4: we want to congratulate one of our members for a
Speaker 4: big win. This comes from Emmer's end that says declutter
Speaker 4: challenge when there was a book club book about minimalism
Speaker 4: and it really resonated with me. I'm trying to look
Speaker 4: at it as lessons learn for the things I can't sell,
Speaker 4: but knowing that it's taking up space that isn't needed
Speaker 4: and that someone else can use as a huge motivator.
Speaker 4: For me, this challenge helped spark my excitement again heart
Speaker 4: emoji beautiful love motivation.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Congrats Emmers.
Speaker 4: Thank you all for being here. If you want to
Speaker 4: check out our membership where we do have courses, interviews, challenges,
Speaker 4: and so much more, head to frugalfriendspodcast dot com slash
Speaker 4: club to check it out.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 4: Jen. Halfway through that recording, my ear popped and I
Speaker 4: can hear again.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, because when we started you couldn't hear
Speaker 1: out of one ear, and then I muted my mic
Speaker 1: and I talked accidentally, and you thought you'd lost all hearing.
Speaker 4: Yes, I did, yep. I thought that my left ear
Speaker 4: went too, and that was going to be really tough
Speaker 4: for recording. I went swimming yesterday yeah.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 4: As much as it is about talking, it's also about listening, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I had gone swimming, got water in my ear. It
Speaker 4: wasn't that bad until I got home and all of
Speaker 4: a sudden plugged up for now like eighteen hours. But
Speaker 4: now I can hear in both ears.
Speaker 1: But now all the talking you just did cured you. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think just an argument, talk more, listen less.
Speaker 4: I have right, Well, I think it was. It happened
Speaker 4: while I was listening, though. It was while you were
Speaker 4: talking about prioritizing debt payoff, which is what this episode
Speaker 4: was about you. Yeah, I was like, oh boom, Mike drop.
Speaker 1: Oh your pears, Mike drop.
Speaker 4: Ear pop