Speaker 1: Episode to see our best money saving tips for Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: 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're going rogue again with a special special edition. I
Speaker 1: think we're going to call this a special edition. Normally
Speaker 1: we will go through articles, but today we actually looked
Speaker 1: at the best money saving tips articles from around the web,
Speaker 1: and uh, we thought a lot of them were trash
Speaker 1: just dumpster fires. Dumpster fires on the internet. You've never
Speaker 1: heard of that before, right, So no, I don't want
Speaker 1: to say dumpster fires. They were the same regurgitated money
Speaker 1: saving tips that you have heard time and time again.
Speaker 1: And if you want to read them, there's great. There's
Speaker 1: like fifty of them on every article. They're all the
Speaker 1: same Google best money saving tips. We have a we
Speaker 1: haven't free ebook with two hundred of them that you
Speaker 1: can download at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash e book.
Speaker 1: So we're not going to bore you on this episode
Speaker 1: with all of those regurgitated tips. What I can promise
Speaker 1: you is in this episode, you will hear things that
Speaker 1: you have not heard before. You will hear things that
Speaker 1: are not talked about in these articles or on other
Speaker 1: podcast episodes, probably our podcast episodes. If you've been a
Speaker 1: long time listener, you will have heard them. If you
Speaker 1: are new, welcome, We're going to try and share things
Speaker 1: with you you haven't heard before. That's our goal. Big promises,
Speaker 1: and you know us, we love to overpromise and under deliver,
Speaker 1: right And if you've actually listened to us for any
Speaker 1: amount of time, you know that that's a lie. We
Speaker 1: like to under promise and moderately deliver, and that's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do today, hopefully over deliver, because this is
Speaker 1: what we're I mean, this is what we're passionate about,
Speaker 1: this is what fires us up, and so much so
Speaker 1: that in addition to this episode, we are also going
Speaker 1: to be running a free one week spending makeover challenge,
Speaker 1: So we are hosting January two through six, a free challenge.
Speaker 1: We're going to be offering daily live lessons in a
Speaker 1: pop up Facebook group so you can have some community
Speaker 1: during the week and to your inbox. So if you
Speaker 1: don't have Facebook, no problem, or if you're listening to
Speaker 1: this after January six, no problem, you can still get
Speaker 1: it to your inbox. You get the replace. Uh. So
Speaker 1: the goal for this challenge is to help you save
Speaker 1: money in but not through methods that are going to
Speaker 1: save you three dollars here, ten dollars there. We are
Speaker 1: going to give you in a week or less, well,
Speaker 1: you're gonna give yourself in one week or less, a
Speaker 1: clear picture of your past spending, a foundation to turn
Speaker 1: your spending from either mindless impulsive, however you would describe
Speaker 1: it two values based spending that you can feel really
Speaker 1: good about that also doesn't bankrupt you. And then you're
Speaker 1: going to create a plan to move forward with values
Speaker 1: based spending in a way that works for you, not
Speaker 1: in a way that someone says should work for you.
Speaker 1: And so that is a lot and that's what we're
Speaker 1: going to give you the framework for in this free challenge.
Speaker 1: So if you want to, we're gonna give you a
Speaker 1: little introduction today with these money saving tips. If you
Speaker 1: want more, then head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash ake over uh and if you're listening to this
Speaker 1: when it airs, we're doing the Makeover Live January two
Speaker 1: through six. If you're listening to it after don't worry
Speaker 1: still go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Makeover,
Speaker 1: get the replay of the entire challenge to work on
Speaker 1: and really just make three a year that you take action.
Speaker 1: It's a great way to start the year off looking
Speaker 1: at finances, and it's free. This whole thing is free,
Speaker 1: which yeah, I love that word. It's my second favorite. Absolutely. Yes.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of favorite efforts and that's one
Speaker 1: of them. So if you are looking for other episodes
Speaker 1: to queue up after this, there are a lot. I
Speaker 1: think my favorite one would be episode one, our Best
Speaker 1: Money Hacks with Lisa Rowan. That's actually a replay of
Speaker 1: the original interview that we did with her. It's one
Speaker 1: of our most popular episodes because she does give some
Speaker 1: really great money saving ha acts and money making hacks.
Speaker 1: The hidden money one is I think we get more
Speaker 1: emails about that one than any other thing that we
Speaker 1: talked and we've talked about with the guest. Uh so
Speaker 1: one is a really great one to queue up for
Speaker 1: after this. And this is the time where we normally
Speaker 1: go into our article headlines, but we don't have we
Speaker 1: don't have articles this week, last week, we even had
Speaker 1: articles we were going rogue with articles. This week we've
Speaker 1: got nothing, and I looked, I wrote on this outline,
Speaker 1: no articles going rogue can't stop me. I'm pregnant. And
Speaker 1: this is where we are because we're making up our
Speaker 1: own best money saving tips. These are straight from the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends, uh, and they were not in any other
Speaker 1: article that we looked up. I love, so we're just
Speaker 1: gonna give give them to yourself. Your pregnant brain is
Speaker 1: a wonderland and I'm here for it. So here's our
Speaker 1: best tips, kind of a survey of the best the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends has to give to you. And the first
Speaker 1: one is follow the principle. For those of you who
Speaker 1: aren't familiar, that's the Peretto principle where we talk about
Speaker 1: how oftentimes of your efforts represent eight of your results.
Speaker 1: So why not focus on the rather than kind of
Speaker 1: peddling away. In the way that this principle applies to
Speaker 1: our finances is instead of focusing not that these are
Speaker 1: bad things, these are fine things to be considering, but
Speaker 1: rather than focusing all of our precious time and energy
Speaker 1: on the one hundred hacks that save us three dollars.
Speaker 1: Here and ten dollars there. Why not focus on the
Speaker 1: decisions that have the biggest impact, the heavy hitters, the
Speaker 1: ones that can save us a hundred dollars here, ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars there. These are the areas that we're going
Speaker 1: to see the biggest impact to our finances. It's great
Speaker 1: to find coupons for free coffee, we do love that.
Speaker 1: But if we're talking about how do I save big money,
Speaker 1: and we're looking at kind of the full year, right
Speaker 1: it's the beginning of the year, so we're looking at
Speaker 1: this and kind of a bigger broader scope, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be those larger decisions, those more heavy hitters that we're
Speaker 1: going to want to focus on. And so those are
Speaker 1: the big five? What are the big five? Housing, transportation, groceries, taxes,
Speaker 1: and healthcare. These expenses, these five expenses make up approximately
Speaker 1: for most of us seventy two of our monthly spending.
Speaker 1: And often these are the areas that are untouched, overlooked
Speaker 1: when it comes to people's quest to save money. But
Speaker 1: why not? Why are we not looking at the bulk
Speaker 1: of what makes up our monthly and annual spending, and
Speaker 1: so when we can find ways to cut expenses or
Speaker 1: save money on our housing, on our transportation, on our groceries, taxes,
Speaker 1: and healthcare. That's when we're going to see the actual
Speaker 1: massive impact that we want to see. It's not gonna
Speaker 1: be in the coupon clipping and the saving a few
Speaker 1: dollars here and there. It's gonna be when we actually
Speaker 1: take a good hard look at what's making up the
Speaker 1: majority of my spending and what are some creative ways
Speaker 1: that I could decrease those expenses. Yeah, after almost five
Speaker 1: years of hosting Frugal Friends, we definitely do get the
Speaker 1: questions about groceries the most. And that's why you'll find
Speaker 1: the most episodes of these five on groceries, because it's
Speaker 1: the one that people ask for the most. But if
Speaker 1: you're looking at how much you spend monthly on groceries,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be right up there, if not maybe a
Speaker 1: little less than what you're paying monthly for housing or
Speaker 1: what you're paying monthly for transportation or taxes. Nobody really
Speaker 1: thinks about the ability if you are on a standard deduction.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't think about paying their taxes
Speaker 1: because they're like, oh, I can't write this stuff off.
Speaker 1: I just take a standard deduction, but there are things
Speaker 1: you can be doing to legally and ethically reduce your
Speaker 1: tax liability and healthcare. Health insurance is for many families
Speaker 1: one of our largest expenses and something that should be
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, once a year, usually in November.
Speaker 1: We had a we interviewed Eileen Doherty about how we
Speaker 1: can make sure that we're paying the right amount for
Speaker 1: health insurance, that we're not paying too much, that we're
Speaker 1: not paying too little. So stuff like that is looking
Speaker 1: at these big expenses first, and we're not just looking
Speaker 1: at them, but we're trying to look at them first
Speaker 1: because so many of them are taken for granted. And
Speaker 1: these are the ones when you're looking to like shave expenses,
Speaker 1: which most of us are. You can only cut so much,
Speaker 1: and we know that, like we're the frugal friends, were
Speaker 1: not advocating for you not spending money at all. It's
Speaker 1: not a race to the bottom. That's why we take
Speaker 1: these things that may not fall directly into our values,
Speaker 1: you know, like the mortgage bill and the car loan,
Speaker 1: and we look at how we can shave off of
Speaker 1: those instead of trying to shave off the things that
Speaker 1: we do care about and that's definitely something we can do,
Speaker 1: but we believe it's secondary. It's easier to make that
Speaker 1: secondary to these Big five. And so you will find
Speaker 1: in our backlog episodes on how to save money on housing,
Speaker 1: how to save money on transportation, especially our interview with
Speaker 1: the Car Check on say money on your car purchase.
Speaker 1: We haven't done a lot on taxes because we're not
Speaker 1: specifically tax experts, but it is something that we want
Speaker 1: to do more of. But if you listen to any
Speaker 1: investing episode we do, we always always emphasize the tax
Speaker 1: advantaged accounts and you can find you can definitely find
Speaker 1: that stuff in our membership Frugal Friends Club. We have
Speaker 1: courses on that um but it is something we want
Speaker 1: to cover more on the show in the future. And
Speaker 1: then on healthcare, that episode with Eileen on health insurance.
Speaker 1: It's not open enrollment right now, but if you are
Speaker 1: switching jobs or have an event where you need to
Speaker 1: change health insurances, that's definitely one to listen to. So yes,
Speaker 1: start start with the big five, start with the and
Speaker 1: when you keep the twenty principle in mind, whenever you're
Speaker 1: looking to save money, it can make your decisions a
Speaker 1: lot easier. To make when you have the decision to
Speaker 1: do I spend time clipping coupons, which I don't see
Speaker 1: anybody clipping cupons anymore, but scrolling rebate apps and clipping rebates.
Speaker 1: Do I spend my time there? Or do I spend
Speaker 1: my time looking for a bill to negotiate or looking
Speaker 1: it away? Maybe I can get rid of some of
Speaker 1: the stuff in my house so I can downsize to
Speaker 1: less square footage and save money. That's kind of that's
Speaker 1: the decisions we're trying to head into the direction of.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's the first one principle. The next one
Speaker 1: is something we talk about constantly, and if you are
Speaker 1: a listener of frugal friends, this will not surprise you.
Speaker 1: The next tip, for biggest tip for saving money is
Speaker 1: to figure out what you value, because when you know
Speaker 1: what you value, you can spend without guilt on those
Speaker 1: things and say no to things that you don't value
Speaker 1: or that you may not be able to afford to
Speaker 1: value in this decision, just like with the role, making
Speaker 1: it easier to make these decisions. Knowing what you value,
Speaker 1: knowing your core values the expenses you value, makes making
Speaker 1: decisions a lot easier. Yeah, I love how this what
Speaker 1: we're going through here feels like a survey of what
Speaker 1: we've learned in the last five years of doing frugal
Speaker 1: friends patting almost five years coming up on it, and
Speaker 1: this right here, to me personally, is and has been
Speaker 1: the biggest pivot point in my own understanding of frugality.
Speaker 1: I've got a very close friend, one of my longest, long,
Speaker 1: longest running friend. Can you say it that way? Jenna
Speaker 1: Ball shout out to you who who's been listening to
Speaker 1: the podcast from its inception, and she noticed it too.
Speaker 1: She's like, there's been a bit of a pivot in
Speaker 1: the way that you all are talking about frugality. I
Speaker 1: don't totally see it, because it's I'm in it and
Speaker 1: the changes are happening for me as well. But the
Speaker 1: shift from just how do I decrease as many expenses
Speaker 1: as possible or just make money and hoard it, this
Speaker 1: kind of concept that typically is associated with frugality, versus
Speaker 1: how do I create freedom for myself to spend in
Speaker 1: the areas that I want to spend, to afford the
Speaker 1: things in the lifestyle that is meaningful and valuable to
Speaker 1: me and ruthlessly say no to the rest has given
Speaker 1: so much more freedom and permission and just a redefinition
Speaker 1: of frugality that I love. It has so resonated with me,
Speaker 1: with us, with I think our listeners as well, and
Speaker 1: it's not that kind of one size fits all and
Speaker 1: and it also eliminates judgment on ourselves and on other
Speaker 1: people when we're able to give room for Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can spend as much as you want on going out
Speaker 1: to eat. I'm not going to judge you. It may
Speaker 1: not be my value, like aligned with my values, may
Speaker 1: not be what I spend money on, but there's there's
Speaker 1: not this kind of competition or judgment or shaming when
Speaker 1: when it's not cookie cutter, when it's freedom and flexibility
Speaker 1: to define your values and make a spending plan around that.
Speaker 1: It's this has been a mind a pivotal mindset shift
Speaker 1: for me that I love. Yeah, Because when we started
Speaker 1: it was frugality really seemed like a race to the bottom.
Speaker 1: How can I get my spending too as little as
Speaker 1: possible so I can reach this arbitrary financial goal as
Speaker 1: quickly as possible. And that was really where we started
Speaker 1: the podcast, and and it has shifted to be this
Speaker 1: to really, like, all, what other instance do you define
Speaker 1: like mastering something by not doing it at all. Like
Speaker 1: other than spending, people think spending well means either you
Speaker 1: spend everything you have plus maybe more, or you spend
Speaker 1: nothing at all, and that is being good at spending.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I mean and this is why
Speaker 1: we we talk about the radical middle so much. It's
Speaker 1: not either or it's somewhere in the middle. Spending money
Speaker 1: well means that you feel good about what you see
Speaker 1: on your bank statement and that it aligns with your
Speaker 1: current income, and that you are your content with it
Speaker 1: without becoming complacent, that you are working on always aligning
Speaker 1: your spending to what you value, always either you know,
Speaker 1: trying to increase or decrease your income to what's enough
Speaker 1: for the things that you value, and really asking yourself,
Speaker 1: can I look at my bank statement, Can I look
Speaker 1: at my checking account statement and say that I'm really
Speaker 1: I'm really happy with it. It's it's really what I want.
Speaker 1: And if you can't say that, then frugality is for you,
Speaker 1: Like it's frugality is a skill that you should consider mastering. Uh,
Speaker 1: Spending is a skill that everyone should consider mastering. And
Speaker 1: some people think as spenders that you know that they
Speaker 1: are spenders and that means they have mastered spending. But
Speaker 1: but really everybody spends money and everybody should be saving money.
Speaker 1: So like we're not defined by what we do with
Speaker 1: money or what we have done with money. We are
Speaker 1: whole people like Jill, you say a lot, We are
Speaker 1: whole people. We spend, we save. The difference is um
Speaker 1: It's it's positive when you're doing it in alignment with
Speaker 1: your values, and it becomes limiting when you're not paying
Speaker 1: attention to your values and you're just spending in alignment
Speaker 1: with what social media is selling, or what your friends
Speaker 1: are doing, or what your family may be pressuring you
Speaker 1: to do. So when we let those outside factors influence
Speaker 1: where we spend money and not what we value, what
Speaker 1: our family, you know, what our immediate family values, that's
Speaker 1: where it becomes limiting. And so these are these are
Speaker 1: things we talk about in our spending Makeover Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash makeover is how to establish this
Speaker 1: values based spending because it it is it sounds like
Speaker 1: a great idea, but like it's easier theoretically than it
Speaker 1: is to implement practically. Yeah, yeah, how do I identify
Speaker 1: my values? How can I even make my money align
Speaker 1: with that? How does that help me long term? All
Speaker 1: these questions are great questions and and working through it
Speaker 1: will help us immensely. I think one of the biggest
Speaker 1: barriers for people oftentimes with finances is that, oh, it
Speaker 1: feels constricting if I were to budget or have to
Speaker 1: look at my money like, I would just prefer to
Speaker 1: do the things that I love. I don't want to
Speaker 1: have to say no to myself constantly, or I don't
Speaker 1: feel good at understanding finances. It feels over my head.
Speaker 1: Like those two things combined, I think keep us from
Speaker 1: looking at it, and then we get this rush at
Speaker 1: the new year of But I do still spend money,
Speaker 1: and I gotta make money decisions, So how can I
Speaker 1: do better? And I think this whole thing that we're
Speaker 1: talking about is what are some anchors, some principles that
Speaker 1: we can hold onto and then find the freedom to
Speaker 1: play and be flexible within that. There isn't We are
Speaker 1: not moving towards rigidity. We are moving towards freedom and
Speaker 1: saying yes to those things. I think that's what's so
Speaker 1: amazing about the values based spending is it's not about
Speaker 1: cutting extensively and depriving yourself of all of these things.
Speaker 1: It's about figuring out intentionally with the knowledge and understanding
Speaker 1: of what's coming in and what's going out, and how
Speaker 1: can we say yes to the things that that we love.
Speaker 1: Which the flip side of that is this third thing.
Speaker 1: This another really fantastic tip, This anchor, this pillar is
Speaker 1: then drawing the line in the stand on what you
Speaker 1: don't value. So first of all, it is that the
Speaker 1: second thing that you mentioned gen finding out what you value,
Speaker 1: aligning or spending around that. But then next is what
Speaker 1: don't I value and how can I ruthlessly cut and
Speaker 1: quote unquote deprive myself of those things? But it's not
Speaker 1: actually deprivation because you don't care about those things. But
Speaker 1: what we see happening often is we will spend money
Speaker 1: mindlessly on things that we don't actually value. It's that
Speaker 1: dollar section at Target, it's the going out for expensive
Speaker 1: meals with friends, it's the I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1: I'm not giving a list like this is everyone's list.
Speaker 1: We all have to figure that out for ourselves individually.
Speaker 1: But oftentimes we're doing things because it's been sold to us,
Speaker 1: or it's that kind of cookie cutter approach of this
Speaker 1: works for most people, so it will probably work for you.
Speaker 1: Or it's the social media telling you the next thing
Speaker 1: that you need and this is going to make your
Speaker 1: life better and happier and more efficient. But that might
Speaker 1: not be true for you because you're your own individual.
Speaker 1: You're your own person who has different values, different needs,
Speaker 1: different ways that you want to set up life, And
Speaker 1: what works for Sally, Joe, Sue who down the road
Speaker 1: is not going to be the same thing that works
Speaker 1: for you. Like, for instance, I don't value vehicles. I
Speaker 1: like to get from point A to point B, but
Speaker 1: it's not a value of mind to have a luxury car,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to have a car payment on
Speaker 1: a luxury vehicle. I don't value brand name clothing, so
Speaker 1: it's not going to be something that I'm going out
Speaker 1: with a friend for an activity to go shopping on clothing.
Speaker 1: What I do value is going out to eat. For me,
Speaker 1: I love that, So I have figured out the ways
Speaker 1: to not buy on all these other things so that
Speaker 1: I can spend on going out to eat with friends.
Speaker 1: Going out to eat with my husband, that's totally different.
Speaker 1: I know you've talked about this. Jen of you like eating,
Speaker 1: but it's not a big deal to go out. So
Speaker 1: rather than that, let's do take out, let's do pot looks.
Speaker 1: Let's still get together with friends, but it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be in this one specific way. And so that's
Speaker 1: what we're talking about when we're saying, identify what you
Speaker 1: value and then allow that to also inform what you
Speaker 1: don't value, so that that's the area you cut. We
Speaker 1: don't cut the areas that are the most important to us.
Speaker 1: That's like when we downsize or minimize, we think we
Speaker 1: got to go to the most special memorabilia first, rather
Speaker 1: than our junk drawer. Like what, no, go to the
Speaker 1: junk drawer first, go to the stuff that you're not
Speaker 1: using and get rid of that first before you try
Speaker 1: and hack away at the things that are most valuable
Speaker 1: for you. And just that is an amazing pivot, like
Speaker 1: don't cut the thing you love, cut the thing you
Speaker 1: don't love, and experience the results of that. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so that that of course requires, I think a step
Speaker 1: that we often don't take. We love to talk about
Speaker 1: what makes me happy, what makes me fulfilled, what makes
Speaker 1: me this, what makes me that? Yeah, do that, and
Speaker 1: then say what doesn't make me happy? What promised fulfillment
Speaker 1: but came up short. What tool or resource or hack
Speaker 1: was I sold on is going to really shift the
Speaker 1: way I live my life? And turns out it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Then get rid of that. There's been plenty of things
Speaker 1: that I've subscribed to because a lot of my friends
Speaker 1: are doing it, only to realize I don't actually like it.
Speaker 1: It was like field hockey for me. All my friends
Speaker 1: were doing field hockey in middle school, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I just want to be with my friends. I valued
Speaker 1: my friends, but I hated field hockey. I only lasted
Speaker 1: three days. I like this, I'm out. So it's like
Speaker 1: that your friends might be doing it, but you might
Speaker 1: hate it because you can't actually hit the ball that
Speaker 1: far if the grass isn't mode yeah, or it might
Speaker 1: just be like a halfway, like not a hundred percent
Speaker 1: fulfillment of your values. So I like, this is gonna
Speaker 1: sound so horrible. I like alcohol, like I love a
Speaker 1: good cocktail, the occasional glass of wine, but I have
Speaker 1: found I don't like beer. I just I'm not a
Speaker 1: beer drinker. I like the atmosphere, I like the idea
Speaker 1: of people who drink craft beer, and I would like
Speaker 1: to be one and have found that I don't like
Speaker 1: beer enough to be that person. So that was one
Speaker 1: of the lines in the sand for me. I'll take
Speaker 1: a good craft cocktail, I'll do the occasional glass of wine,
Speaker 1: but only at home, like I don't like it enough
Speaker 1: to order it out. But I will not buy beer.
Speaker 1: I will not if my friends are going to a brewery,
Speaker 1: I'll skip it, especially if I know that they're going
Speaker 1: to brunch, you know, like next month. I love brunch,
Speaker 1: so I will I'll skip a brewery if I do
Speaker 1: end up there. I just won't buy anything. That has
Speaker 1: been a line in the sand for me. So that's
Speaker 1: like a small thing that like, yes, I love you know,
Speaker 1: a good happy hour, but the beer is just not
Speaker 1: a pcent fulfillment. It's like a it's like a deceptive
Speaker 1: fulfillment of my values. And so and you'll get there.
Speaker 1: It's much easier, uh to start, like like we said
Speaker 1: with principle, with these bigger things that you know are
Speaker 1: not directly connected to your values, or you can see
Speaker 1: like directly how things are not connected to your values,
Speaker 1: much easier to start there. And then the more you
Speaker 1: get acquainted with yourself because this is like a journey
Speaker 1: to self exploration as much as it is to getting
Speaker 1: control of your spending and improving your your income and investing.
Speaker 1: And it's so freeing to be able to say no
Speaker 1: to to know yourself well enough of I actually don't
Speaker 1: like that, So I don't feel any pressure to spend
Speaker 1: on that because I'm not going to enjoy it. It
Speaker 1: is the most freeing thing to say when we feel
Speaker 1: so confident in that no. Yeah. It is quite empowering,
Speaker 1: and it is quite difficult because in this age, everything
Speaker 1: looks important, everything is the next best thing. If it's
Speaker 1: working for someone else, it has to work for me.
Speaker 1: Like that is what everybody and everything is telling us,
Speaker 1: and it's just untrue. Like we need to be saying
Speaker 1: no as often as we say yes, not for deprivation,
Speaker 1: but to empower ourselves to know more about ourselves. Because
Speaker 1: if you're saying yes to everything, these the most special
Speaker 1: things lose their specialness. They just become the same as
Speaker 1: everything else. In order for the things in your life
Speaker 1: that you spend money on to be very valuable, to
Speaker 1: be very special to you, you have to be saying
Speaker 1: no to as many, if not more things by choice,
Speaker 1: not by obligation. M mmm mmm m m m m
Speaker 1: m mmmm. Talk about power, influence and control, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: the good kind, the healthy control it. Yes. So we've
Speaker 1: talked about the principle for you know, saving on big
Speaker 1: things and then values can help you get more focused
Speaker 1: on that rule two, so knowing what you do value
Speaker 1: and using that to determine what you don't value. So
Speaker 1: the last big tip that I think will help you
Speaker 1: save money in and beyond is to simplify, simplify to streamline.
Speaker 1: And so if you think about it, the more complex
Speaker 1: a project is, the more time it takes to accomplish.
Speaker 1: And when that project is your life finances can often
Speaker 1: feel like you're just constantly spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.
Speaker 1: And I know this from experience that it is something
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: have felt. If not now, then there are seasons in
Speaker 1: your life where you have felt like you want to
Speaker 1: get in control of your money and you want to
Speaker 1: be better financially, but there's so much else going on
Speaker 1: that is stopping you from doing that. And some of
Speaker 1: that may be mental, some of that maybe our own
Speaker 1: mental blocks, but a lot of it is actually physical
Speaker 1: things that we need to simplify, or non physical things
Speaker 1: that we need to simplify. Yeah, I love this concept
Speaker 1: of really it's very similar to that values piece of
Speaker 1: how can we really hone in on and identify what's
Speaker 1: most important that's really going to bring a lot of
Speaker 1: clarity to where our time, energy and attention can be going,
Speaker 1: and then give the permission to cut out the other
Speaker 1: things that might just be fluff or distraction or obligation
Speaker 1: or placed on us by someone else, but we don't
Speaker 1: actually want it. This is not a quick process. This
Speaker 1: is a self discovery, a curiosity with ourselves that we
Speaker 1: can learn and grow in that. I love what you're
Speaker 1: describing here that when we are able to simplify all
Speaker 1: aspects of our life, that doesn't mean we have to
Speaker 1: focus on them all at once. We can pick and
Speaker 1: choose which one we want at which times. But it
Speaker 1: can then have positive impacts on our financial situation. Like
Speaker 1: you're describing, simplifying of our physical space can help us
Speaker 1: to identify what do we actually need, what's actually important
Speaker 1: to us, and then we're not then spending much money
Speaker 1: going forward on continuing to add things into our physical
Speaker 1: space or needing to spend a lot of time, energy
Speaker 1: and attention on cleaning our physical space. If it's simplified,
Speaker 1: or if our processes are streamlined, it frees up our
Speaker 1: time to then go do something else that might save
Speaker 1: us money or make us money. Like, there are so
Speaker 1: many benefits to this simplification process. That's not a one
Speaker 1: size fits all either. Doesn't mean that your house needs
Speaker 1: to be bare of anything to call it simple, but
Speaker 1: it is a matter of what are the basics. How
Speaker 1: can I get back to the basics of what's most
Speaker 1: important to me and then fill in the cracks around
Speaker 1: that rather than just chaos all around me, swirling in
Speaker 1: my head, swirling in my space, swirling in my schedule,
Speaker 1: but really hone in on how do I want to
Speaker 1: live life, and then experiencing the benefits financially, emotionally, mentally
Speaker 1: as a result of that. Yeah, simplification isn't necessarily elimination.
Speaker 1: Certainly it will involve that for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: just because we are so overly stimulated and so overly
Speaker 1: packed in our physical space, in our schedules, our time,
Speaker 1: our digital spaces, our mental spaces. We are so packed
Speaker 1: by everything. It's very hard and I think I mean,
Speaker 1: if you have ever tried to meditate. I'm not a
Speaker 1: big meditator, but I'm sure if you've ever tried it,
Speaker 1: you realize that even even taking five minutes to simplify
Speaker 1: your thinking is almost impossible. If that is so hard,
Speaker 1: then sure as heck everything else is overpacked as well.
Speaker 1: And so when we are focusing on uh, taking a
Speaker 1: year to simplify our you know, our physical spaces, to
Speaker 1: save money on all the physical products, to simplify your schedule,
Speaker 1: to save on takeout and the cleaning services and all
Speaker 1: of that stuff, to simplify our digital lives, so we
Speaker 1: make fewer online purchases. We're paying we're not paying to
Speaker 1: store digital files. We never look at UM or subscriptions.
Speaker 1: We forget that we have that we just keep paying
Speaker 1: for because we don't realize we have UM and our
Speaker 1: mental space, so that we're limiting the decision fatigue that
Speaker 1: causes us to make impulsive spending decisions or emotional shopping.
Speaker 1: When when you are focusing, when you're ticking those things
Speaker 1: off one at a time over the year, you are
Speaker 1: going to find that that saves you more money, not
Speaker 1: just in the next year, but throughout the rest of
Speaker 1: your life. And that's what really what we're going for
Speaker 1: here is we want to create opportunities where we can
Speaker 1: change habits and we can change thought processes that yeah,
Speaker 1: might save us some money now, hopefully we'll save us
Speaker 1: money now, but will be those savings routes that over
Speaker 1: ten years will save ten thousand dollars And maybe they
Speaker 1: only save a hundred bucks in the first year, but
Speaker 1: they will compound on each other. And they're the same
Speaker 1: principles that you can take into your work life when
Speaker 1: you are trying to get raises and promotions and increase
Speaker 1: your income. It's the same philosophies that you can take
Speaker 1: into investing for retirement that create that that consistency and
Speaker 1: that kind of innate wisdom in how you invest. And
Speaker 1: so it starts we talk about spending because we feel
Speaker 1: like that's the lowest barrier to entry. Learning how to
Speaker 1: save money very quick, very easy, you know, much easier
Speaker 1: than opening a roth ira or negotiating for a raise.
Speaker 1: Like you it's gosh, it should be easier to open
Speaker 1: a roth ira, but very it's quite confusing, and you
Speaker 1: probably can't go to your boss tomorrow to negotiate a
Speaker 1: raise successfully. But today, you can google how to save
Speaker 1: money and you can implement a tip, or you can
Speaker 1: take what you've learned from this episode and you can
Speaker 1: make one small change that can have a ripple effect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because we're not just talking about saving because we don't
Speaker 1: make a lot of money that maybe some people's experiences
Speaker 1: and and frugality can help in that, But it's also
Speaker 1: a lifestyle that can follow us regardless of our income,
Speaker 1: because we are talking about freedom within our finances and
Speaker 1: we're talking about setting up our lifestyle spending included in
Speaker 1: a way that aligns with our values and that follows
Speaker 1: us throughout. So this isn't just a concept for people
Speaker 1: trying to live on minimum wages. This is for literally
Speaker 1: anybody at any place in career, life stage, because it
Speaker 1: goes deeper than that. I think the concepts of frugality
Speaker 1: touch on more than just our finances. It's that whole
Speaker 1: personhood piece because we're talking about simplification and of of mental, emotional,
Speaker 1: physical space, which yes, has great benefits on our finances,
Speaker 1: but there's this this whole person approach that I think
Speaker 1: we're talking about here in these overarching, bigger, kind of
Speaker 1: macro level tips that are going to benefit us, not
Speaker 1: just in one purchase like a coupon could, but this
Speaker 1: entire kind of mindset shift that really aims at well
Speaker 1: being in a lot of ways, which is why we
Speaker 1: are able to talk about this for five years on
Speaker 1: a podcast, and with no end in sight, we're going
Speaker 1: to keep talking about it. Our lives have shifted, some
Speaker 1: of our mindsets have shifted, some of our views and
Speaker 1: perspectives on things have shifted, and frugality follows us. So
Speaker 1: I just love that. Yeah, And if you want to
Speaker 1: be frugal, if you want to spend money, those things
Speaker 1: are not mutually exclusive. I think that's my biggest pet
Speaker 1: peeve when talking to people as they're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: love to spend my me I'm not frugal, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I love to spend money too. There are
Speaker 1: just some things I know I don't love to spend
Speaker 1: money on, and I choose to spend money on the
Speaker 1: things that I love. And so if you can't say
Speaker 1: that with confidence, then shifts can happen. Spending is a
Speaker 1: skill that you can get better at, and not in
Speaker 1: the way that means you spend more unless you need to,
Speaker 1: unless you're on this race to the bottom to invest
Speaker 1: your income and you need to learn how to spend
Speaker 1: a little more it can go. It's it's for everyone.
Speaker 1: It is for those with little money, it is for
Speaker 1: those with lots of money, and it's for those in
Speaker 1: the middle, which are most of us. Uh, your hosts
Speaker 1: included our best tips came with a solid pitch just
Speaker 1: for frugality and and you know what else is a
Speaker 1: solid pitch that you all usually swing at and we're
Speaker 1: going to keep doing it all the week. 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 paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That build Buffalo Bill, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi, Jenn and Jill, This is Lindsay here,
Speaker 1: and I've been listening to your podcast for the last
Speaker 1: couple of months and really enjoying it. It's going to
Speaker 1: have a community of frugal friends to rely on. UM.
Speaker 1: I wanted to tell you about a bill of the
Speaker 1: week that has been really important to me over the
Speaker 1: last three months. I figured out as I started listening
Speaker 1: to your podcast that I was spending about twelve hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a month on groceries, whether that was subscription meal
Speaker 1: services or whether that was just shopping at Whole Foods
Speaker 1: for all of my groceries. Um, things really added up.
Speaker 1: I really revamped what I was doing, just started going
Speaker 1: to a regular old grocery store locally and really watching
Speaker 1: my spending and trying to buy in bulk. And I've
Speaker 1: gotten it down from month to four and sixty five
Speaker 1: a month on average for the last three months. So
Speaker 1: that's been really exciting for our family and I wanted
Speaker 1: to share it with you. Thanks. Keep up the good work. Wow, Lindsay,
Speaker 1: that is a big cut, and that's one of the
Speaker 1: big five. It's it's amazing that we can. And I've
Speaker 1: heard this time and time again, especially with groceries and food,
Speaker 1: is that you think you've cut everywhere, you think you've
Speaker 1: do you think you've done it, and then you sit
Speaker 1: down and you tally everything up and you realize you're
Speaker 1: spending money that you didn't realize and it's not even
Speaker 1: and changing it. Getting creative doesn't mean forgetting what you value.
Speaker 1: It just means getting creative with how you achieve it
Speaker 1: like organic groceries can be purchased at al D and
Speaker 1: you don't have to go to Whole Foods for all
Speaker 1: of them. Maybe you spend a little more to go
Speaker 1: to you know, your public so you can get everything
Speaker 1: in one place, but you have choices to switch back
Speaker 1: in fourth week to week, etcetera, etcetera. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: a massive cut, lends a month to four sixty five,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like it wasn't even too much of
Speaker 1: a hit to your ability to eat more. So you
Speaker 1: just implementing that creativity of oh I could buy this
Speaker 1: in bulk, I could still get the things that I
Speaker 1: want and enjoy it. Just don't value spending that much
Speaker 1: money my groceries and to look at one of those
Speaker 1: heavy hitter categories of discretionary spending. But that's necessary. This
Speaker 1: is incredible. But I also want to add the caveat
Speaker 1: here that this doesn't necessarily need to be the case
Speaker 1: for every person. It's not what Lindsay said, but I can.
Speaker 1: I don't want people walking away thinking like we're just
Speaker 1: all about slicing and dicing everything. For me personally, my
Speaker 1: food budget, well for me and Eric, it's just two
Speaker 1: of us. It is about a thousand dollars a month,
Speaker 1: but that's what I have chosen to spend. It gives
Speaker 1: me room to be able to go out to eat
Speaker 1: and go to the grocery store. But when we realize
Speaker 1: that what we're spending in those categories is more than
Speaker 1: we meant to spend, or we don't value actually spending
Speaker 1: in those areas, then it's fantastic to look to cut
Speaker 1: and you did some amazing It sounds like you've got family,
Speaker 1: like more than just two people in your house, and
Speaker 1: to be able to cut it that much is a
Speaker 1: huge feat. Well, don lindsay yes absolutely if you all listening,
Speaker 1: happened to slice and dice some bill, whether it's your
Speaker 1: grocery bill, or your housing costs, or your utility bill
Speaker 1: or you know a person named Bill, and we love those.
Speaker 1: We love bills. I don't even think we've had an
Speaker 1: actual bill call in yet. Would love for that to happen.
Speaker 1: You know the drill, it's vague, it's fun. Visit Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill.
Speaker 1: We are dying to listen to it. And now it's
Speaker 1: time for learning round you all right, So in this
Speaker 1: week's Lightning round. We're getting vulnerable. We're going deep jen
Speaker 1: Love's vulnerability. I love it. I love protection. We I
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say anything about protection. We are sharing
Speaker 1: our three financial goals, and if we ever do replay
Speaker 1: this episode, I can't wait for us to revisit these
Speaker 1: and and talk about the season that we were in
Speaker 1: when we were talking about these goals, because we've been
Speaker 1: dalking about that first. I know anytime we do a
Speaker 1: recap on goals or things we hope to accomplish, were
Speaker 1: usually a little bit disappointed. So I really hope that
Speaker 1: doesn't happen with this one. The end is in sight, though,
Speaker 1: um here we go. You all know it. If you've
Speaker 1: listened to this podcast for a long time, you could
Speaker 1: fill in the blanks on my answer. But just one
Speaker 1: day for those of you, one episode. Those of you
Speaker 1: are just tuning in, this is your very first Rugal
Speaker 1: Friends exposure. Welcome. Eric and I bought a house in
Speaker 1: Florida two years ago. It needed a lot of work.
Speaker 1: We have over the last almost two and a half
Speaker 1: years now been renovating it. The very first thing we
Speaker 1: said that this house needed was a kitchen. The kitchen
Speaker 1: was literally falling apart two and a half years in
Speaker 1: a dumpster fire. Jen loves to call it a dumpster fire.
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with her. Two and a half years in,
Speaker 1: I still do not have a kitchen. And that's not
Speaker 1: for lack of trying. We have blood, sweat and tears
Speaker 1: did over here as tears to verb. I'm making it
Speaker 1: one and I know, and then they've had to paint
Speaker 1: over the tear stains and the blood stains, and we've
Speaker 1: done a lot of work. It all has made sense.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna spare you all the details, but we've been
Speaker 1: cash flowing all of these renovations. That's part of it.
Speaker 1: We've been doing the renovations ourselves, literally with our blood,
Speaker 1: sweat and tears. Airbnb and kitchen is what we are
Speaker 1: working on in our home, and I anticipate it is
Speaker 1: my hope that we will pay for and complete both
Speaker 1: of those major renovation sans adding an Airbnb to our
Speaker 1: home and completing the kitchen. And by the way, that
Speaker 1: is one of those big five that kind of a
Speaker 1: D twenty principle with our house. When we look at
Speaker 1: housing costs, one of the things is how can we
Speaker 1: cut costs on our housing. But another thing is how
Speaker 1: can we make money on our housing? And so we've
Speaker 1: got a spot in our house with a separate entrance
Speaker 1: that's essentially like a hotel room, full bath bedroom that
Speaker 1: we will airbnb out. We live very close to the water,
Speaker 1: we've got kayaks. We really hope people give us their
Speaker 1: money to stay here, and so that's the hope. The
Speaker 1: financial goal is to cash flow that, get it finished,
Speaker 1: get short term renters and make money and at least
Speaker 1: recoup the cost of that part of the renovation. Is
Speaker 1: what I hope happens in What about You? Jen? Yes?
Speaker 1: Uh similar? So yes, we took another on the approach housing.
Speaker 1: So our last year goal was to get an income property.
Speaker 1: And after a lot of sweat and tears and potentially
Speaker 1: blood because there were times where I was going to
Speaker 1: punch somebody, we did get a home, but it was
Speaker 1: not an investment property per se. So we left our
Speaker 1: home that we lived in and got another home that
Speaker 1: we now live in that as a fixer upper but
Speaker 1: is large enough to split to make the back half
Speaker 1: an airbnb. But we're going to go for the mid
Speaker 1: term rental. It's a two one, so we're targeting like
Speaker 1: traveling nurses, snowbirds, students, that sort of thing, because we're
Speaker 1: very close to us um A University. So we have
Speaker 1: been working on that since we purchased this house in May. Uh.
Speaker 1: It makes me sad sometimes because we left a fully innovated,
Speaker 1: beautiful home that I loved and moved into this place.
Speaker 1: Lots of wallpaper, wallpaper that I found out very quickly
Speaker 1: I personally cannot remove because I am pregnant and there's
Speaker 1: lead base paint underneath. So yeah, I there are so
Speaker 1: few things I can do, and they whittle down and
Speaker 1: down and down. Uh. So I am hoping that we
Speaker 1: will have this rental area done and rented out very
Speaker 1: soon because we are renting out our old home that
Speaker 1: is a rental property and we are making income on
Speaker 1: that and with the income from the back half rental,
Speaker 1: that should cover both mortgages. So we will be mortgage
Speaker 1: payment free when that happens. So it's really it was
Speaker 1: really a case of getting creative with Okay, I how
Speaker 1: do I mean, I'm okay with the amount of square
Speaker 1: footage I have A three two is great for me,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to reduce there. So now what
Speaker 1: can I do to reduce my mortgage payment. Well, this
Speaker 1: is something I can do. Uh So, so that it's
Speaker 1: just a constant. There will never be a time where
Speaker 1: you master saving money. There will always be ways of
Speaker 1: getting creative to do it. And not everything is right
Speaker 1: for every person, but you don't know that until you try.
Speaker 1: Like I am not a real estate investor, I have
Speaker 1: found I have learned that that is not something that
Speaker 1: I'm going to be doing to optimize my income further.
Speaker 1: Once we are done with with this, I think I'm done,
Speaker 1: but I'm certainly glad I did it because it's going
Speaker 1: to Yeah, I'm not going to make money from real estate,
Speaker 1: but it's going to cover my mortgage and that's good
Speaker 1: enough for me. That's good. I'll make money in different
Speaker 1: ways and I'll save money in different ways after this.
Speaker 1: Uh So, that's the biggest goal for this year, and
Speaker 1: having a baby in March. Hopefully having a baby in March,
Speaker 1: and to not go bankrupt. I know I can't really
Speaker 1: control that the what it costs um but and you know,
Speaker 1: so it's not really a goal. It's just a hope
Speaker 1: that everything goes well. But we are planning for that. Man.
Speaker 1: I hope this was inspiring to anyone who's listened and
Speaker 1: stuck with us this long to make your own goals.
Speaker 1: What are your financial goals for? If you need help
Speaker 1: with that, Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Makeover. That's
Speaker 1: a free week long opportunity to really get focused and
Speaker 1: get some clarity on what you want your to look like.
Speaker 1: We know it's not going to look like ours, so
Speaker 1: identify it for yourself. Yes, thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1: Many of you know we also have a private community
Speaker 1: where we do monthly money challenges. We offer accountability groups.
Speaker 1: It's a whole thing where we like gamify finances and
Speaker 1: get to chat with other frugal friends. It's awesome. We
Speaker 1: want to shout out to one of our members for
Speaker 1: a big win. Recently, Vanessa she shared one thing I
Speaker 1: love about being more conscious of marketing tactics. You can
Speaker 1: give credit to the marketing team, but resist the urge
Speaker 1: of making impulse purchases. A greenhouse nearby organized a scavenger
Speaker 1: hunt for kids. They were getting free herbs as a prize.
Speaker 1: That's fun, but parents had to walk every single aisle
Speaker 1: with their kids to find the hidden objects. I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, well done. Nice marketing tactic. I do want
Speaker 1: to buy all the plants and decorations around me, but
Speaker 1: I didn't because I get most of my plans for
Speaker 1: free on my buy nothing group and I have enough
Speaker 1: Christmas decorations. Vanessa, talk about knowing yourself, being wise to them,
Speaker 1: marketting tactics, spending on what you want, saying no to
Speaker 1: the rest. This is the epitome of what we've described
Speaker 1: in Vanessa has been a long time Frugal Friends listener
Speaker 1: and she is a member, and she knows all this
Speaker 1: stuff and she is becoming expert. Well done, Vanessa. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love that that marketing is not the enemy, but
Speaker 1: it is a tool that can be used against you
Speaker 1: if you don't know how it works. And just knowing
Speaker 1: how it works can have you taken advantage of free
Speaker 1: herbs for your kids without spending money you don't need.
Speaker 1: So congrats, Vanessa, thank you all for listening. If you
Speaker 1: want to check out this monthly challenge, if it sounds
Speaker 1: interesting to you, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash club. You can see what challenge we have coming
Speaker 1: up next. If it's going to be helpful for you,
Speaker 1: check it out. See you next time. Frugal Friends is
Speaker 1: produced by Eric Syrianni h Gen. Big Hopes, bigg Big,
Speaker 1: big hopes for my children. They're going to be a
Speaker 1: family of four. Yes, we are going. I'm going from
Speaker 1: one son to two sons. You think we'll find out
Speaker 1: in March. I think we could be more than one.
Speaker 1: It could be female. Nope, I mean could be koala
Speaker 1: mm hmm koala. Not how science works, Jill, It's not
Speaker 1: how science works. Just saying we never known, so we
Speaker 1: can see it with our eyes and then sometimes you
Speaker 1: can't see it with your eyes. And now, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to meet that little nugget. Either way, it's
Speaker 1: going to be a nugget. I know. I can't wait
Speaker 1: till he has a name that'll come that'll come on
Speaker 1: when you see him. Yeah, maybe I hope that before that.
Speaker 1: If all else, I mean, we always have Bill. He
Speaker 1: would be the Bill of the century. We'd we'd probably
Speaker 1: get away with like we do away with the segment
Speaker 1: and just shout out your son every week. We would
Speaker 1: never know never Alright, Happy New Year, Happy New Year.