Speaker 1: Episode one two is episode goal Setting and Strategizing for
Speaker 1: the New Year. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here
Speaker 1: your host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill. And today
Speaker 1: we are re airing one of our most popular episodes,
Speaker 1: which happens to be about goal setting, and we strategically
Speaker 1: planned it to be right now, happy Christmas Eve. But
Speaker 1: we assume most of you will not be listening to
Speaker 1: this episode on Christmas Eve. Maybe you are right, Maybe
Speaker 1: you love us so much, we're such good friends, or
Speaker 1: you're driving to your parents house and it's like a
Speaker 1: you know, an hour drive and you're cool, you're listening
Speaker 1: to us. But we wanted to get this out a
Speaker 1: little bit before the new year so that you can
Speaker 1: plan and strategize for your goals. It's coming up, it's
Speaker 1: right around the corner. At that time when we just
Speaker 1: strategize and plan and set all the goals and then
Speaker 1: go back to it happens and and Phil. But so
Speaker 1: we don't want that to happen to you. So we
Speaker 1: are re airing this episode and this episode is also
Speaker 1: brought to you by our goal planning workshops, so we
Speaker 1: are going to help you plan your goals live. On December,
Speaker 1: we are doing a free planning and strategy workshop to
Speaker 1: help you break down your money goals into actionable month
Speaker 1: by month little goals and steps. So it's like an
Speaker 1: extension of this episode. We'll be doing it live together.
Speaker 1: Jill and I will be doing it too, So come
Speaker 1: with a goal in mind and let's break it down together.
Speaker 1: Space is limited and a replay will be sent out
Speaker 1: to reone, but grab your seat at Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. Slash Training. What a fun things in between
Speaker 1: the holidays just before the new year. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: Also brought to you by Whack them All, one of
Speaker 1: the best arcade and circus games out there next to
Speaker 1: skee Ball, of course, but their sponsorship was out of
Speaker 1: our price range. You can't win at Whack them All
Speaker 1: without a good strategy and a fair degree of rage,
Speaker 1: quick reflexes, and just an overall sense of urgency, kind
Speaker 1: of like what we're talking about in this episode. Whack
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Speaker 1: for all. So if you're ready to talk about rage
Speaker 1: reflexes and an overall sense of urgency and then stay
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Speaker 1: whack a mole. We'll talk about that later. So to
Speaker 1: days first article is from mind tools dot com and
Speaker 1: it is the Golden Rules of goal Setting. So five
Speaker 1: rules to set yourself up for success. And I love
Speaker 1: getting set up for success, so I really liked this one.
Speaker 1: How about you jail really good? Yeah? I always love
Speaker 1: the sccinct articles. You know, the list of thirty five.
Speaker 1: They're all fine and good, but you usually have to
Speaker 1: weed through them for the five good things, and this
Speaker 1: just cuts straight to the chase. Yeah, and usually so
Speaker 1: Google prioritizes thing articles that are longer, So that's why
Speaker 1: you see these lists of fifty. Um. But my tools
Speaker 1: is just a good website and so Google puts it
Speaker 1: up in the algorithm. And you'll see why when you
Speaker 1: read this article. So I like that they say, even
Speaker 1: before they get into the first the five things, is
Speaker 1: that it needs to start art with careful consideration of
Speaker 1: what you want to achieve. So before we just rush
Speaker 1: to set goals, set goals, sit down and actually think
Speaker 1: what are my priorities? I love that term careful consideration,
Speaker 1: probably because I love alliteration and rhyming. Will look at
Speaker 1: me and my timing. I don't know, Jen, save me. Sorry,
Speaker 1: let's start. Let's just start with Let's start with the
Speaker 1: five Golden Rules. The first one is set goals that
Speaker 1: motivate you. So definitely, once you determine that your goals
Speaker 1: are relevant, that they will get you to where you
Speaker 1: need to be, you want them to be big enough
Speaker 1: to motivate you. So not you know, just make a
Speaker 1: to do list, but you want them to be relevant
Speaker 1: and and get you closer to your goal. And that
Speaker 1: is going to motivate you. Yeah, you need to have
Speaker 1: a value for achieving it, and it has to be
Speaker 1: related to your highest priorities in life. And I know
Speaker 1: that general probably talk about goal competition because she loves
Speaker 1: talking about that, but this is related to that of
Speaker 1: where are the big rocks in your life as far
Speaker 1: as the things that take up the most space and
Speaker 1: are the biggest priorities, and look to set goals around
Speaker 1: those things first. Yes, so number two of the five
Speaker 1: Golden Rules. I know we said we weren't going to
Speaker 1: talk about it, but we are going through this article.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna put it out there for you set
Speaker 1: smart goals. So if you've been in this space for
Speaker 1: a while, you are familiar with what smart goals are.
Speaker 1: If not, I'll quickly run through it, but we won't
Speaker 1: spend a ton of time on this. It's what every
Speaker 1: single goal setting article, podcast, anything says because it's good.
Speaker 1: It is good. It's just there's a reason recycled content.
Speaker 1: But smart goals talk to the type of goals that
Speaker 1: you need to set for them to be effective, and
Speaker 1: it's just a helpful acronym. So it stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant,
Speaker 1: and time bound. Your goals need to have each one
Speaker 1: of these categories checked off in order for them to
Speaker 1: be a really good, probably goal that you will achieve
Speaker 1: if you have looked at it from all of these angles.
Speaker 1: It's just a good tool to have in your tool belt.
Speaker 1: So it does fall under the golden rules of goal
Speaker 1: settings that a smart goal. But here's one place where
Speaker 1: you can get UM maybe set back with using the
Speaker 1: smart framework and uh, the framework makes sure that the
Speaker 1: goals are attainable and relevant, UM, but it it doesn't
Speaker 1: make that assure that they are challenging. So the smart
Speaker 1: framework allows you to make goals that are small um,
Speaker 1: and it can tempt you to do because you want
Speaker 1: to be able to attain it in a time sensitive manner.
Speaker 1: So yes, it will get you towards your goal in
Speaker 1: smaller increments. But I think we have to look outside
Speaker 1: of the smart framework and set stretch goals, so goals
Speaker 1: that aren't initially um, maybe seemingly possible, and then once
Speaker 1: you have your stretch goal, you make your smart goals
Speaker 1: around those. So they say the first one should be
Speaker 1: motivational um, and I would just translate that into being
Speaker 1: like a stretch goal, so something that you don't initially
Speaker 1: think you can achieve, and then try and make goals
Speaker 1: that will get you to that, and like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: might not achieve it, but you'll get so much further
Speaker 1: than if you had just been making smaller smart goals.
Speaker 1: So that's that's my only qualm with the smart framework. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it can sometimes set our mindset to only making it
Speaker 1: just super realistic, which helps us to form habits and
Speaker 1: maybe check off, like you said, these smaller things, but
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily the framework that's going to get us
Speaker 1: to those dream level type goals. We'll talk a little
Speaker 1: bit more about how to do that in the next article.
Speaker 1: Two nice Okay, Number three is right it down. Even
Speaker 1: you non type A people out there, write it down.
Speaker 1: There is so much power in putting something on paper,
Speaker 1: but not just that getting it out of your head.
Speaker 1: There there's something about our connecting from what's happening in
Speaker 1: our brain to putting it out in a tangible way.
Speaker 1: And this applies in a lot of other areas of life,
Speaker 1: not just goal setting, although I won't go down that
Speaker 1: rabbit trail, but there is something to actually getting it
Speaker 1: out of our heads and putting it down on paper
Speaker 1: with our hands. And with that, I like this tip
Speaker 1: that the article gives to watch your words. They do matter.
Speaker 1: So where we might be tempted to say I would
Speaker 1: like to read twenty books this year, instead I will
Speaker 1: And it puts this extra level of urgency, um discipline
Speaker 1: and determination to it. If we don't give ourselves that
Speaker 1: wiggle room of the words that we choose, it can
Speaker 1: just then carry a different weight to it. So be
Speaker 1: careful with the words that you put to it and
Speaker 1: write it down. Yeah, and further breaking that down into
Speaker 1: I will read a book every I will finish a
Speaker 1: book three two weeks. So breaking that down and giving
Speaker 1: yourself um an even more like specific time. That's that
Speaker 1: like going into that smart goal framework. Is giving yourself
Speaker 1: a smart goal for every single step of the bigger
Speaker 1: stretch goal. Yeah. Uh Four is make an action plan um.
Speaker 1: So this is where goal planning meetings come in. And
Speaker 1: every powerful couple that I see, they have goal planning meetings.
Speaker 1: This happens with very successful people have goal planning meetings
Speaker 1: with their spouse or partner, and very successful people if
Speaker 1: they're not married, have goal planning retreats or meetings just
Speaker 1: with themselves, like this is something they make a priority,
Speaker 1: they sit down and do. This was the main reason
Speaker 1: I created the Financial Freedom Planner that I have on
Speaker 1: my website. It is a planners just for a goal
Speaker 1: planning meeting UM. But we also have a free printable
Speaker 1: that you can use for a goal planning meeting. If
Speaker 1: you go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash goals
Speaker 1: so g O a l S you can get a
Speaker 1: free goal planning meeting worksheets. So it's going to have
Speaker 1: your one stretch goal at the top and then too
Speaker 1: smart goals that will help you get closer to that
Speaker 1: um and then at the bottoms and strategies you can
Speaker 1: implement to get closer to achieving those smart goals. And
Speaker 1: we'll talk about strategies later, but so that's kind of
Speaker 1: the format for having a goal planning meeting. You are
Speaker 1: establishing your stretch goal, you are deciding on one or
Speaker 1: two smart goals to use to start out with, and
Speaker 1: then you are figuring out the changes that you need
Speaker 1: to make to get closer to those smart goals. So
Speaker 1: that is you know your three step action plan for
Speaker 1: a goal planning meeting, and it's essential, like we do
Speaker 1: what we did it And when we were in Mexico
Speaker 1: last month on vacation, we didn't have a paper or
Speaker 1: scrap like any scrap paper, so we did it on
Speaker 1: the back of paper coasters. How we Yeah, we wrote
Speaker 1: our goals for for just January on the back of
Speaker 1: some coasters while you were at an all inclusive resort.
Speaker 1: There's nothing better to dream big than when on the beach, Yes,
Speaker 1: on our balcony of our suite on some coasters. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: So number five of the five Golden rules is stick
Speaker 1: with it, which doesn't sound super tangible, but it is
Speaker 1: related to numbers three and four of writing it down,
Speaker 1: having an action plan, and then sticking with it. That
Speaker 1: that is key. If you don't stick with it, then
Speaker 1: you're not going to accomplish your goal. That's just obvious us.
Speaker 1: So building in these activities, so the action plan, right
Speaker 1: what you just said, gen of having the meeting with
Speaker 1: your husband, but then continuing to meet from there and
Speaker 1: reevaluating how are we doing? Are there any shifts that
Speaker 1: we need to make? Is this still high priority and
Speaker 1: we accomplished the goal? Do we need to set a
Speaker 1: new goal like constantly re evaluating and having reminders, which
Speaker 1: I also think the tangible piece of that is number
Speaker 1: three of writing it down, because if it's written down,
Speaker 1: and if you have some sort of visual constantly, then
Speaker 1: it does make it easier for it to be at
Speaker 1: the forefront of your mind and for you to be
Speaker 1: able to stick with it. So if there's some way
Speaker 1: for it to be a regular reminder or a visual
Speaker 1: or even an alarm in your phone that goes off
Speaker 1: every two weeks, or a meeting planned every month, whatever
Speaker 1: it is, have a way that you know will work
Speaker 1: for you for you to be able to stick with
Speaker 1: that thing. Yeah, definitely, So that's all for this one. Um,
Speaker 1: So our next articles from James Clear. He's the author
Speaker 1: of Atomic Habits and he is a brilliant mind in
Speaker 1: the world of habit formation and I really enjoy his writing.
Speaker 1: So he has a really unique perspective uncles, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's that you shouldn't make them. But we're looking at
Speaker 1: his article on goal setting and it's called a Scientific
Speaker 1: Guide to Setting and Achieving Goals. So what did you
Speaker 1: think about this one, Jill? Oh, this spoke to my
Speaker 1: logical brain so much. And I do think that for
Speaker 1: those who are a bit more concrete thinkers, who aren't
Speaker 1: your dream board creators out of cut up pieces of magazines,
Speaker 1: this articles for you. It really breaks it down as
Speaker 1: far is what works when we understand the human psyche,
Speaker 1: what actually helps us to do the things that we
Speaker 1: want to do. And I wrote even in our outline
Speaker 1: Science and Strategy, what he goes into is talking about
Speaker 1: those two things and why it works and how to
Speaker 1: do the things to actually get at what we want
Speaker 1: to see achieved in our life. So love this perspective. Yeah,
Speaker 1: making a goal is the easy part. It is easy
Speaker 1: to make a stretch goal and make smart goals, but
Speaker 1: it's that final part of what are the strategies that
Speaker 1: you're going to use to actually do these goals? And
Speaker 1: I just love how he breaks that down and tries
Speaker 1: to change your mindset from a smart goal framework to
Speaker 1: a forget your goals and just focus on the systems
Speaker 1: that will take you there. And I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think you should forget your goals. I think you should
Speaker 1: still make goals, or we would be having a completely
Speaker 1: different episode topic right now. Um. But I think his
Speaker 1: view on focus focus on the strategies that get there, um,
Speaker 1: and you're going to have a much like higher percentage
Speaker 1: rate of reaching those smart goals. Yeah. So the first
Speaker 1: item that stood out to me in this article, and
Speaker 1: it is quite long. It's fantastic though, so feel free
Speaker 1: to check it out on your own time. But the
Speaker 1: first one that I want to highlight here is where
Speaker 1: he talks about stacking your goals, meaning to be super specific.
Speaker 1: And again, my more logical side of my brain loves
Speaker 1: this because he is pulling upon research, saying that research
Speaker 1: has shown that you are two to three times more
Speaker 1: likely to stick to your goals if you have a
Speaker 1: specific plan on where and how and what and why
Speaker 1: you're going to do the things that you're doing, which okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's kind of related to smart goals, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: even talk about smart goals, which is so fun. So
Speaker 1: they used within the research that he's talking about, they
Speaker 1: use the specific phrase, saying that if you fill in
Speaker 1: this phrase, you are so much more likely to actually
Speaker 1: accomplish it. So he gives the example of during the
Speaker 1: next week, I will partake in at least blank amount
Speaker 1: of time of vigorous exercise on blank day, at blank
Speaker 1: time of day, at blank place. So you can see
Speaker 1: how specific it's getting, like literally down to what time
Speaker 1: are you going to do this thing, and having written
Speaker 1: that out and being so specific actually makes you two
Speaker 1: to three times more likely to do that thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So just like if you have a goal to read
Speaker 1: twenty books this year, then I'm going to read for
Speaker 1: twenty minutes before I go to bed every single night,
Speaker 1: and I will read, you know, break your book up
Speaker 1: into pages and say I'm gonna read at least twenty pages,
Speaker 1: but no more than fifty. And so one of his
Speaker 1: things is like have upper bounds. That's that's the next one.
Speaker 1: I'm getting out of order. I am going to talk
Speaker 1: about the other one I want to talk about, but
Speaker 1: the next one, the next one is to have upper bounds.
Speaker 1: So we say I want to read, um, you know,
Speaker 1: twenty pages a night. So his thing is, instead of
Speaker 1: just saying I want to read at least twenty pages,
Speaker 1: say I want to read at least twenty pages, but
Speaker 1: no more than fifty. So giving yourself that upper bound,
Speaker 1: it motivates you. It subconsciously motivates you to go beyond
Speaker 1: your minimum, and you want to go further to that
Speaker 1: upper bound. Versus if you know, my goal is to
Speaker 1: do at least five push up today, I'm doing five
Speaker 1: push ups. But if my goal is to do at
Speaker 1: least five push ups no more than twenty, I'm more
Speaker 1: likely to go for twenty or at least eighteen or something.
Speaker 1: Personally I will go for none. But that's kind of
Speaker 1: that's the psychological effect, just those simple words and that
Speaker 1: simple phrase has on our action. But what he's also
Speaker 1: arguing about the upper bound is that it does have
Speaker 1: a cut off in that sometimes we could say I
Speaker 1: want to read fifty pages tonight, but if we don't
Speaker 1: set the upper bound, then we might get carried away
Speaker 1: and read five hundred pages. But then now what because
Speaker 1: then the next day it's like, well that's I read
Speaker 1: so many we might feel like that's what I need
Speaker 1: to do now now that I've proven that I can
Speaker 1: do that, and it creates unsustainability that that's not going
Speaker 1: to have much longevity to it then, And so he's
Speaker 1: arguing that there really is this specific area where we
Speaker 1: experience the maximum achievement or our maximum potential, and if
Speaker 1: we push too far beyond that, then it's no longer sustainable.
Speaker 1: So finding where that happy medium is of where you
Speaker 1: achieve the most, but it's also creating longevity. So there's
Speaker 1: there's multiple purposes for the upper bound. Super interesting concept. UM,
Speaker 1: encourage you to try it out. Yeah. Another one that
Speaker 1: I am passionate about is ruthlessly eliminating your goals. And
Speaker 1: this comes back to goal competition. UM. I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of the book The One Thing by Gary Keller,
Speaker 1: and it states if you focus on one thing at
Speaker 1: a time, you're more likely to um reorganize your priorities
Speaker 1: and commit to that one thing, like more fully, with
Speaker 1: less decision fatigue and less goal competition, and so you
Speaker 1: reach goals faster, more efficiently. UM into a higher degree
Speaker 1: than you would have if you're going for multiple goals
Speaker 1: at the same time. So that's why there's only one
Speaker 1: stretch goal on the goal planning worksheet UM, and you
Speaker 1: can have a few smart goals that point to that
Speaker 1: stretch goal, but even those goals that point to the
Speaker 1: main goal, you shouldn't be working on a lot of
Speaker 1: them at the same time. UM. I wouldn't do more
Speaker 1: than two, because once you have the smart goals, then
Speaker 1: you have to work on changing your lifestyle and your habits.
Speaker 1: And you can't change your habits and lifestyle drastically UM
Speaker 1: at any given point in time, so you have to
Speaker 1: further it down and only pick a few things from
Speaker 1: your life to change at a time. So it all
Speaker 1: kind of works in tandem. And so that's why I
Speaker 1: am passionate that you should just be focusing on as
Speaker 1: few things as possible at once UM to to ensure
Speaker 1: that you reach them, and you reach them well, that
Speaker 1: you're not just floundering. Yeah, which I think relates to
Speaker 1: actually setting goals, not just things you're already doing. I
Speaker 1: think sometimes we can get confused with that of something
Speaker 1: that I'm already doing and maybe I just want to
Speaker 1: do it a little bit more. Okay, that's that's kind
Speaker 1: of doable without sitting down and doing an entire action
Speaker 1: plan and constant follow up meetings. Don't cloud all of
Speaker 1: your goals with just something that's already a part of
Speaker 1: your rhythm. That that's not what we're talking about. We're
Speaker 1: talking about these big goals that's going to take effort,
Speaker 1: that's going to take sacrifice, that's going to take determination
Speaker 1: an area of life that you have lacked motivation, but
Speaker 1: it's really a big priority to you. That's we're talking about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and having too many goals at the same time, Like
Speaker 1: your goals could change over the years, they will change
Speaker 1: over the years, And if you are working at too
Speaker 1: many things right now, then you're gonna you're gonna inevitably
Speaker 1: work towards things that in a few months or years
Speaker 1: won't be your goal anymore. And so you're gonna make
Speaker 1: progress to something that doesn't matter anymore. And I have
Speaker 1: done that so many times in my life. Um and personally,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's wasted time. Like in in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of things, it's not no time working towards
Speaker 1: the goal is wasted, but I feel like I could
Speaker 1: have been investing in something um better, um that got
Speaker 1: me to my niche goal. So that's another reason I
Speaker 1: love the story he tells about rose bushes, and it's
Speaker 1: he says, as a rose bush grows, it creates more
Speaker 1: buds than it can sustain. And if you talk to
Speaker 1: an experienced gardener, they'll tell you that a rose bush
Speaker 1: needs to be pruned to bring out the best in
Speaker 1: both their appearance and performance. So, in other words, if
Speaker 1: you want a rose bush to thrive, then you need
Speaker 1: to cut away some of the good buds so the
Speaker 1: great ones can fully blossom. And it is a mantra
Speaker 1: to live by that you're not just pruning away bad
Speaker 1: stuff out of your life. You're pruning away good stuff too,
Speaker 1: but it's in order for the great stuff to fully blossom.
Speaker 1: Such a helpful illustration, especially if you've gardened before. If
Speaker 1: you haven't, then kind of take some explaining. But I
Speaker 1: learned that with tomato plants that you've got, yeah, you've
Speaker 1: got to take snap off, snip off some of the
Speaker 1: buds to get some really amazing juicy tomatoes. So you
Speaker 1: might get less, but you'll get better. Yeah, tomatoes. I
Speaker 1: don't garden, so I don't know anything about that, but
Speaker 1: I just told you about that, So now you can
Speaker 1: apply it to your life if you want like a
Speaker 1: rose shaped life for a tomato shaped life, follow these mantras. Um.
Speaker 1: The last thing that I want to point out in
Speaker 1: this article, and it really is good. You should definitely
Speaker 1: read it. Anything by James Clear I'm a big fan
Speaker 1: of is how to align your environment with your goals
Speaker 1: because I feel that is the biggest barrier that we
Speaker 1: have to to meeting our goals and to changing our
Speaker 1: lifestyle and implementing strategies to achieve our goals. Is our environment. Um.
Speaker 1: So he gives some like smaller, smaller examples. So, if
Speaker 1: you sleep with your phone next to your bed, then
Speaker 1: checking social media and email as soon as you wake
Speaker 1: up is likely to be your default decision. If you
Speaker 1: walk into your living room and your couches and chairs
Speaker 1: all face the television, watching television is likely default decision.
Speaker 1: If you keep out call in your kitchen, drinking consistently
Speaker 1: more likely to be default decision. It's like he's at
Speaker 1: my house talking to me. If we're being honest, um
Speaker 1: and then, so he says, so figure out ways to
Speaker 1: make your default decision healthier. Um, so if you keep
Speaker 1: a dumbbell next to your desk at work, then pumping
Speaker 1: out some quick curls is more likely to be your
Speaker 1: default decision. I don't know in what world curls girl,
Speaker 1: I don't know in what world that would ever be
Speaker 1: my default decision. But if you carpet in your office,
Speaker 1: then doing push ups is more likely to be your
Speaker 1: default decision. Sure, um, here's what I can get on.
Speaker 1: If you keep a water bottle with you throughout the day,
Speaker 1: then drinking water rather than soda is more likely to
Speaker 1: be the default decision. Um. If you place floss in
Speaker 1: a visible location, like next your toothbrush, flossing becomes more
Speaker 1: likely to be a default decisions. So it's figuring out
Speaker 1: what it takes to achieve your smart goals and setting
Speaker 1: up your environment um to be more conducive to that.
Speaker 1: So for me, so this is not a bigger level
Speaker 1: and it may not be for everyone, but relationships was
Speaker 1: a big uh factor in keeping me in debt. I
Speaker 1: wanted to maintain relationships with people that wanted to go
Speaker 1: out all the time, and so I needed to make
Speaker 1: my environment more conducive to paying off debt and I
Speaker 1: had to make new friends, which for an introvert is
Speaker 1: super hard. Um, but I had to make new friends
Speaker 1: that didn't want to spend money. And it's not that
Speaker 1: I like forgot the ones that did, but I just
Speaker 1: I couldn't hang out at the places they wanted to
Speaker 1: hang out. So instead of being a lonely hermit, you know,
Speaker 1: decided to make do the hard thing to make new friends.
Speaker 1: And that was something that so my default decision was
Speaker 1: to do free activities. That's how I changed my environment
Speaker 1: to align with my goals. I love the science and
Speaker 1: strategy in this and the simple things that he gives
Speaker 1: here of creating visual cues, having simplicity with it. Right,
Speaker 1: that does sound so simple? Carry around water, You're more
Speaker 1: likely to drink water. Just recognize that as humans, that
Speaker 1: is what we are most likely to do. The thing
Speaker 1: that is most readily available, the easiest, most accessible, the
Speaker 1: thing that we hardly even think about. We just do
Speaker 1: because it's right there. Look at those aspects of your
Speaker 1: life and how can you create minor changes there that
Speaker 1: will help you towards your larger goals. Good word? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what else? Is a good word? Always a
Speaker 1: good word. It's the Bill of the Weed. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your card died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That bill, Bill, Bill Clint, this is the Bill of
Speaker 1: the Week. Hi, Jen and Jill. This is Ellie and
Speaker 1: I'm contacting you from Brisbane in Australia. I just want
Speaker 1: to say how much I love your podcast. I've just
Speaker 1: discovered it a couple of weeks ago and I've been
Speaker 1: really enjoying it, so thank you. UM. I also was
Speaker 1: inspired to send my own bill story because I really
Speaker 1: love your Bill of the Week section. So my Bill
Speaker 1: of the Week story for you is actually for me,
Speaker 1: a Bill of the Year, and it's about my power bill.
Speaker 1: So we have solar panels on our roof, and because
Speaker 1: of that, we only get one power bill every year
Speaker 1: in winter when we don't generate a whole lot of
Speaker 1: our For the rest of the year, we actually get
Speaker 1: credit back from our power company because our solar panels
Speaker 1: generate enough power to meet our own power needs, but
Speaker 1: the excess power that we don't use goes back into
Speaker 1: the grid and the solar the power company pays us
Speaker 1: for that, so that's really fantastic. Um. And the reason
Speaker 1: that we were able to get solar panels on our
Speaker 1: roof is that we're really frugal and many years ago
Speaker 1: we were. We saved up and we also used a
Speaker 1: government grant a rebate to be able to get the
Speaker 1: solar panels, which has been fantastic. So we've had really
Speaker 1: low power expenses for years now. Anyway, thanks for your
Speaker 1: podcast and for validating my frugality. I didn't realize frugality
Speaker 1: was a thing until I discovered your podcast. UM, So
Speaker 1: thanks very much and keep up the great work. Really
Speaker 1: enjoying it. Thanks by Oh my gosh, Alie, that's amazing, Allie,
Speaker 1: thanks for calling in from US Trail. Yeah, I've never
Speaker 1: been there, but that is on my bucket list one
Speaker 1: of the places I'd love to go. So so fun
Speaker 1: to have a frugal friend in Australia. And how amazing
Speaker 1: not all I mean, this really is the quintessential of
Speaker 1: frugality what you're sharing with us of not just how
Speaker 1: you saved up to be able to buy the solar panels,
Speaker 1: how it saves you money, but also how environmentally friendly
Speaker 1: that is and eliminating your energy usage because you are
Speaker 1: tapping into the sun and your yearly bill just everything combined,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Thanks so much for sharing that. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: we yeah, we do a lot of solar panels here,
Speaker 1: but they're not really they're not super affordable for what
Speaker 1: you get. Um, so I love that you just you
Speaker 1: saved up. You you you took advantage of a grant
Speaker 1: and I think that's so cool. So thank you, Ellie.
Speaker 1: If you have another cool bill to share with us,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill and leave
Speaker 1: us a bill and we will be excited about it
Speaker 1: with you. We're always excited about these things. We are
Speaker 1: so excited like and we don't feign it at all.
Speaker 1: We are legit. We keep talking about sharing the video
Speaker 1: at some point, because Jen and I do video calls
Speaker 1: with each other, because there's so much that you miss
Speaker 1: out on with what our faces and our bodies do
Speaker 1: while we're recording. There's real excitement something happening, which yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't watch a lot of YouTube, so I don't
Speaker 1: understand it, but apparently a lot of people do, so
Speaker 1: some day maybe that will be on the Frugal Friends goals.
Speaker 1: We should set frugal friends goals. We should Well, it's
Speaker 1: just occurring to us now, so cool. We should have
Speaker 1: a goal planning me Jill, with the two of us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it could be like my podcast, wife and we
Speaker 1: are in power, negotiate and everything. Yeah, we did set
Speaker 1: some individual goals, which we will talk about now in
Speaker 1: our lightning round. Yes, so, Jill, you recently had a
Speaker 1: goal planning meeting with Eric and you saw that. I
Speaker 1: did see it, of course I follow you. I'm watching always. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's um, it's yes, it's a goal planning meeting. I
Speaker 1: guess we could call it that. I don't call it
Speaker 1: that because I think Eric would never participate if I
Speaker 1: called it that. Well, that's a thing you have to
Speaker 1: call You have to call it um whatever your spouse
Speaker 1: will participate in. What do you call it? Oh, just
Speaker 1: looking back on New Year's Eve predictions, I don't know
Speaker 1: why we call it. You made us let's drink coffee
Speaker 1: on New Year's Day? So yes, Eric and I have
Speaker 1: done this for the past. Oh. I guess this is
Speaker 1: our fourth year, so since two thousands seventeen. It started
Speaker 1: just on paper, we've moved to online because it's now,
Speaker 1: but where we talk about what has happened in the
Speaker 1: past year. We we did make some changes, but this
Speaker 1: is how it started. What has happened, what we think
Speaker 1: will happen in the coming year, and what we hope
Speaker 1: will happen in the coming year. This year we got
Speaker 1: rid of the what I think will happen column. That
Speaker 1: was probably even after I posted on on our Facebook group,
Speaker 1: but I realized part of this idea of okay, almost
Speaker 1: smart goals versus stretch goals, of the realistic what I
Speaker 1: actually think, but then the more stretched like what I
Speaker 1: actually hope will happen. So we just moved into just
Speaker 1: stretch like what we just hope is going to happen. Um.
Speaker 1: So we do this every year, but we do it separately.
Speaker 1: That's something I mention on social media. He does his
Speaker 1: and I do mind, so we don't even so that's
Speaker 1: probably where it shifts a little bit. There's more of
Speaker 1: a fun element to it, and then we put it
Speaker 1: away and we don't look at it until the next year.
Speaker 1: So the goal parts I do keep at the forefront
Speaker 1: of my mind, but there's aspects to it that are
Speaker 1: just somewhat prediction, somewhat I'm not sure what's going to happen,
Speaker 1: and it's not that important to me what happens. I'm
Speaker 1: not explaining it well, but anyhow, it's fun. So but
Speaker 1: as far as goals go, so we're sharing goals, right,
Speaker 1: individual goals. So this year, I want to and this
Speaker 1: is gonna sound so so small and so attainable, but
Speaker 1: you've got to understand, I really don't read that often,
Speaker 1: but I do want to read this here. So I'm
Speaker 1: setting a goal of reading three books, which for me
Speaker 1: is a lot because I read zero this past year.
Speaker 1: I skim, I take little snippets. It's like this awful
Speaker 1: strategy that I developed through undergrad and grad school where
Speaker 1: I don't actually read start to finish. So read three
Speaker 1: full books. For me, I want them to be across
Speaker 1: a variety of topics, mostly probably professional, like aligning with
Speaker 1: my profession. I want to practice Spanish more. That's been
Speaker 1: a long term goal of mine, to learn the Spanish language.
Speaker 1: So I've got some specific things related to that about
Speaker 1: how I'm going to do that. And then I also
Speaker 1: want to draw more. So for me that will probably
Speaker 1: look like drawing two times a month. I'm going to
Speaker 1: do it when Eric is recording, because his goal is
Speaker 1: to record his own album this year. So I'm seeing
Speaker 1: that I could kind of align my time with his
Speaker 1: when he's doing that, I could pull out my my
Speaker 1: pencils and pens and and draw again. That's awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: kind of hobby related goals. I'm excited about them. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I you could just go to Cancun to learn Spanish.
Speaker 1: We were probating Spanish over there. I was like, we
Speaker 1: need to go back more so we can speak more fluently.
Speaker 1: I have kicked around the idea of a Spanish immersion program,
Speaker 1: so maybe I I think I realized I was going
Speaker 1: to do it in to Guatemala attend like the Spanish
Speaker 1: Acquisition program. But I realized that if I'm not doing
Speaker 1: it consistently here in the States already, and I'm not
Speaker 1: forming those habits, then it's going to do nothing. I
Speaker 1: have to if I go and I invest that time
Speaker 1: and money, I've got to have the ability to keep
Speaker 1: it up. And I think I have to prove that
Speaker 1: to myself now before I go. So that's the plan. Nice.
Speaker 1: So my goals, um, I have. My goals are all
Speaker 1: pretty stretched in the past have only made professional goals,
Speaker 1: and I've realized more this past year that I want
Speaker 1: be more well round it. So I don't want to
Speaker 1: sacrifice my personal growth. I don't want to grow professionally
Speaker 1: um at the expense of my personal growth. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's something I'm really taking to account this year
Speaker 1: because I go, go go. I took like a four
Speaker 1: week maternity leave and then I was back to work,
Speaker 1: like I just can't sit still. So that's a big
Speaker 1: working is a big problem for me, and I just
Speaker 1: I want to continue to thrive, but also make some
Speaker 1: goals outside of that. So my first goal is professional.
Speaker 1: It's to earn six figures. That is definitely a stretch
Speaker 1: goal for me. I've never come anywhere close, but I've
Speaker 1: made some smart goals and I've put some strategies in
Speaker 1: place where that will be attainable. So it'll be hard
Speaker 1: but attainable. So that is this dual income or just
Speaker 1: just me, I know, I know. So it's definitely gonna
Speaker 1: be a year where I'm really investing in my business
Speaker 1: and into that next tax bracket. Yeah, I'm moving out up. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So my second one is to read the Bible in
Speaker 1: a year, I downloaded an app it's called Daily Audio Bible,
Speaker 1: and they have the podcast. It's in podcast version too,
Speaker 1: but he reads the version like the amount that you
Speaker 1: would read because I've had trouble reading the Bible in
Speaker 1: the past, but listening I can do. And then he
Speaker 1: talks about it afterwards, which is helpful. It's like a
Speaker 1: forty five minute podcast, but only thirty minutes of it
Speaker 1: is the actual reading. And then to work out three
Speaker 1: times a week. I am super bad at fitness, if
Speaker 1: you couldn't tell from all of the comments I make
Speaker 1: about fitness. Um, but I do have a cross fit
Speaker 1: membership and I do use it regularly, and I want
Speaker 1: to be even more consistent in it so that I
Speaker 1: can actually see progress and uh lose that baby weight.
Speaker 1: That's where I'm going with that. So those are my
Speaker 1: big goals for the year. Yeah, and then pretty soon
Speaker 1: we'll have to set for girl friends. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: we're almost at half a million downloads and so I
Speaker 1: think we could get to which by the time this
Speaker 1: episode releases probably will be there. We might be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so maybe seven downloads for the year, that would be lovely.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to the replay of
Speaker 1: this episode. We hope that you are going to have
Speaker 1: a great little break this weekend, kind of like we're having.
Speaker 1: So we thank you so much for listening and for
Speaker 1: your kind reviews on Apple podcasts like this one from Bonjeur.
Speaker 1: It's me, Charlotte. I imagine maybe that's maybe what how
Speaker 1: she's saying, but it says Jen and Jill are frugal queens.
Speaker 1: Happens to be five stars. She says, I've been listening
Speaker 1: to Jen and Jill for over a year and should
Speaker 1: have posted this review a long time ago. As a
Speaker 1: grad student unlimited income. The golden nuggets of information in
Speaker 1: this podcast have been life changing over the past year. Also,
Speaker 1: most of my real life frugal friends are men, so
Speaker 1: it is such a breath of fresh air to feel
Speaker 1: like I have frugal lady friends by listening to this podcast. Bravo, ladies,
Speaker 1: and thank you for all the hard work that goes
Speaker 1: into making this podcast. Charlotte, thank you. I love the
Speaker 1: golden nuggets of information. What a cool image that is
Speaker 1: for me, just like Wendy's chicken nuggets in the heart
Speaker 1: shape that are golden, like raining down beautiful frugal information.
Speaker 1: We also want to thank our friends who share these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media, So when you share the latest
Speaker 1: episode on Instagram, we add you to our monthly drawing.
Speaker 1: For every five tags and reviews we get each month,
Speaker 1: we're giving away fifty dollars five zero for you to
Speaker 1: spend in the Frugal Friends shop. So keep leaving us
Speaker 1: reviews where ever you listen to podcasts and sending the
Speaker 1: screenshots to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to tag us on social See you next week.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian all right, whack
Speaker 1: them all or whack a mole? Right? So I have
Speaker 1: never heard of whack them all? And I said, Jill,
Speaker 1: you are wrong, And I said, but I don't think
Speaker 1: I am. Maybe we're both right, and the Internet has
Speaker 1: said we are both right. So whack them All is
Speaker 1: a game, an arcade where you try and whack them all.
Speaker 1: You get as many points as possible by hitting the
Speaker 1: moles with your hammer through strategy, chaos, urgency, quick reflexes,
Speaker 1: and a bit of rage. So it is whack a
Speaker 1: mole and whack them all? And isn't that just the
Speaker 1: truth about goal setting and strategizing and the new year.
Speaker 1: I think, isn't it that all life? Isn't it about life?
Speaker 1: Where you're initially like, oh, no, that's wrong because I
Speaker 1: know this for a fact to be true, and then
Speaker 1: you turn to the Internet and the internet all truth is,
Speaker 1: and the Internet says no, You're both right. This is
Speaker 1: a beautiful way to start the year. It's a beautiful
Speaker 1: way to head into Christmas, to celebrate our friendship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you're both right. Know that you have the gift
Speaker 1: of just because you're right doesn't mean somebody else has
Speaker 1: to be wrong. You can both be right. What I
Speaker 1: love that relativism. So whack a ma all, whack a mole,
Speaker 1: whatever you choose to do, get at that goal, strategize
Speaker 1: about it, and know that you are right. And sign
Speaker 1: up for our goal Planning and Setting live workshop on
Speaker 1: December twenty seven, Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash training.
Speaker 1: And if you write whack a mole to get whack
Speaker 1: them all together, it almost looked like you were writing
Speaker 1: whack email. So we're going to send you some whack
Speaker 1: email with a link which is like email shop that'll
Speaker 1: help you. Yeah, whack in the best sense of the word.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get them all, let's whack them all.