Speaker 1: Episode one hundred, how to maintain one percent effort on
Speaker 1: your financial journey. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and live
Speaker 1: with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill Do
Speaker 1: Do Do Do. Welcome to another episode of the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and it's episode one una Dread. What do you say?
Speaker 1: I said one hundred? I'm embarrassed. Anyways, we're into the
Speaker 1: dree digits on these episodes, and we got a good
Speaker 1: one for you. Yes, a hundred episodes and we still
Speaker 1: can't stay in sync. But it's what you love about us.
Speaker 1: It's why you've listened for one hundred days, hundred hours.
Speaker 1: So I mean, we're not bringing you anything different, but
Speaker 1: the best we kind of are. We are reading us
Speaker 1: something super unique in the Lightning Round. You are not
Speaker 1: going to want to miss it. You're gonna want to
Speaker 1: listen to everything about Lightning Round, especially the most insane
Speaker 1: Lightning Round we've had yet. So I'm just going to
Speaker 1: leave it there for then, though, we are sharing tips
Speaker 1: for motivation and focus for a long financial journey, because
Speaker 1: life is a financial journey. We're not just talking about
Speaker 1: paying off debt, saving an emergency fund, saving for a
Speaker 1: down payment. Like life is a financial journey, always going
Speaker 1: to be dealing with money. You're always going to have
Speaker 1: some goal you're trying to reach, hopefully. So these are
Speaker 1: tips for motivation and focus. But first, a word from yours.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is also brought to you by the couch,
Speaker 1: that comfy, wmpy cocoon calling your name after work on
Speaker 1: Saturday and all the other hours of the day that
Speaker 1: you're not in bed. Couches are designed to make you
Speaker 1: want to stay all day and binge those Netflix comedy
Speaker 1: specials you don't really care about. But you already finished
Speaker 1: the first season of The Witcher and you're waiting for
Speaker 1: season two, so it doesn't really matter. The couch. Don't
Speaker 1: do any of those things on your to do list,
Speaker 1: just sit. Oh oh, the couches just trying to pull
Speaker 1: you away from motivation. It's a comfy it is. Their
Speaker 1: word's not mine, hoard's not mine. It's so hard to
Speaker 1: get off the couch of your little cocoon and turn
Speaker 1: off your Netflix and actually do the work. Yes, So
Speaker 1: today we're talking about tips for motivation whether you're just
Speaker 1: trying to stay on track or maybe you've had a
Speaker 1: setback and you're trying to regain motivation, uh, to keep going.
Speaker 1: So today's first headline is from James Clear dot com.
Speaker 1: He's the author of Atomic Habits and uh, it's all
Speaker 1: on the scientific guide on how to get and stay motivated.
Speaker 1: What do you think of this one, jail? Well, again,
Speaker 1: it focuses on science and proven ways to be motivated.
Speaker 1: It's not just some frilly pep talk. It's not flattery.
Speaker 1: You know me if you've heard other episodes, I'm not
Speaker 1: into that. So this was super helpful to understand the
Speaker 1: psychology and science behind motivation. And I really like even
Speaker 1: just their definition of what is it. And of course
Speaker 1: a general definition is just a general willing this to
Speaker 1: do something. Yeah, okay, fantastic, But I like the way
Speaker 1: that this article digs deeper into it to describe it
Speaker 1: as the point when it becomes easier to change than
Speaker 1: to stay the same. And I feel like we all
Speaker 1: know what that point is, when the feelings of self
Speaker 1: loathing on the couch are greater than the difficulty of
Speaker 1: getting something done that eventually you stop just sitting on
Speaker 1: the couch, sorry, couch, and then you go do something,
Speaker 1: whether that's work out or make a healthy meal or
Speaker 1: get at any other type of goal that you feel
Speaker 1: is healthier for you, which is interesting. It also made
Speaker 1: me think about that concept of like hitting rock bottom. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's an extreme example, but I I I've even heard
Speaker 1: parents sometimes described that they want this for their kids,
Speaker 1: like I want my child to reach rock bottom. Of course,
Speaker 1: when you're in a really difficult situation. And I think
Speaker 1: it's speaking to this idea. Again, it's really dramatic. But
Speaker 1: if you when when you get to that point, we're
Speaker 1: staying the same is more uncomfortable than making the change. Yes,
Speaker 1: And I feel like if we understand the science behind motivation,
Speaker 1: that maybe we can just like hit like a feathery
Speaker 1: bottom before we start making changes. We don't have to
Speaker 1: wait until things are dire and we are in crisis
Speaker 1: to start making changes. And so we got I got
Speaker 1: a lot of questions about this, like day to day,
Speaker 1: like writing articles, and even in the course that I
Speaker 1: lead in January, this was a big question that came up,
Speaker 1: like how do you stay motivated even after the accountability
Speaker 1: and the lessons and all of that stuff is over
Speaker 1: and it really it really comes down to taking action.
Speaker 1: So it's a misconception about motivation that it comes before
Speaker 1: starting a new behavior, but it actually comes after. So
Speaker 1: you have to start taking action in order to get motivated.
Speaker 1: So this is a big reason why the Death Snowball
Speaker 1: is so successful because you get to see you get
Speaker 1: to take action and see results after a short period
Speaker 1: of time, and that is what creates motivation. So it's
Speaker 1: the same with anything. You want to just start moving,
Speaker 1: see the smallest win, and that gets you to keep
Speaker 1: going and win after win after win is what builds
Speaker 1: this momentum. It's like a fanning into flame, Like you
Speaker 1: start with a little spark and then you add kindling,
Speaker 1: and then you add some oxygen and it just kind
Speaker 1: of grows. Like, Yeah, you get the motivation as you're
Speaker 1: going because you see what it's producing. So yeah, if
Speaker 1: you take nothing else away from this episode, it's that
Speaker 1: the first step to being motivated is to take a step. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's that's an interesting one. You were we were just
Speaker 1: talking about this the other night over dinner, and it
Speaker 1: hit me how it is a little bit of a
Speaker 1: paradigm shift, Like you think I just need to get
Speaker 1: motivated while you're sitting on the couch. But the reality
Speaker 1: is you you grow in your motivation as you're doing
Speaker 1: and it can build and build and build upon itself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really important to understand that piece. Okay, so let's
Speaker 1: get into how do we actually do this. So if
Speaker 1: we're saying to grow motivation, you've got to start by
Speaker 1: doing something, then then schedule it. Like the first thing
Speaker 1: in this article is schedule your motivation, which sounds so silly,
Speaker 1: but otherwise we will find ourselves sitting on the couch saying, oh,
Speaker 1: I gotta get motivated, or waking up in the morning
Speaker 1: and saying, I hope I have motivation to work out today. Well, no,
Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. Then if you're just like
Speaker 1: sitting passively waiting for it to happen to you, it's
Speaker 1: not going to Rather, they are arguing to actually schedule it.
Speaker 1: Say I will do this thing at such and such
Speaker 1: a time. You are far more likely to do that
Speaker 1: thing than just hoping it. Motivation reigns down right from
Speaker 1: from nowhere. Yeah, we spend all this time looking at
Speaker 1: motivational quotes on Pinterest and Instagram and trying to cultivate
Speaker 1: this motivation before we start doing something, and the real
Speaker 1: motivation comes when you actually put pencil to paper or
Speaker 1: finger to iPhone and you put it in your schedule
Speaker 1: and you make a commitment to it. You don't just
Speaker 1: gloss over its place in your schedule, but you fulfill
Speaker 1: it and you you you honor that commitment, which leads
Speaker 1: to the next one, which is get moving. It's and
Speaker 1: it's just as simple as that, like actually moving towards
Speaker 1: your goal though, so it's not saying you're actually doing
Speaker 1: that thing immediately, but you're physically taking action towards it.
Speaker 1: And it can be as tangible as a physical thing
Speaker 1: like I am getting moving towards the gym, I am
Speaker 1: putting pen to paper, I am putting some sort of
Speaker 1: physical action to this thing that I have now scheduled. Yes,
Speaker 1: And one of the ways that we can do that
Speaker 1: is to use rituals. So this is this is one
Speaker 1: of the things that I am actually went through like
Speaker 1: a whole unit in my course about how to set
Speaker 1: up habits and how to use rituals to enter into
Speaker 1: setting up those habits. So it's like you a lot
Speaker 1: of people have a morning ritual. Um if you've ever
Speaker 1: heard of the miracle morning by how L Rod. That's
Speaker 1: very that's a ritual on steroids. UM, But yours doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be a whole acronym. It can just be
Speaker 1: something as simple as UM like putting the alarm clock
Speaker 1: on the other end of the room and buy a
Speaker 1: glass of water, and so you have to get up,
Speaker 1: turn the alarm clock off, and drink your eight ounce
Speaker 1: first an ounces of water immediately, and then you then
Speaker 1: that forces you out of bed, so you don't hit
Speaker 1: the snooze button seven times. And that can even save
Speaker 1: you money because then you have time actually to make
Speaker 1: breakfast home instead of stopping a dunkan Donuts. So it's
Speaker 1: these little things that we don't necessarily associate with saving
Speaker 1: money that actually do save us money kind of you know,
Speaker 1: by proxy. I love that. I love this term ritual.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's always connected with me and I
Speaker 1: won't get too far off on a tangent, but rituals
Speaker 1: are a low hanging fruit that when it comes to
Speaker 1: to making anything, UM more healthy or productive in your life,
Speaker 1: it's it's one of the easiest things to implement. And
Speaker 1: I know we're not talking about this here but I
Speaker 1: just want to briefly mention that when we are in
Speaker 1: times of transition or high stress, rituals are super important.
Speaker 1: It's it's a fancy way of saying schedule and regular
Speaker 1: activities and intentional things that you've that you're doing, but
Speaker 1: they can bring so much stability into our lives, so
Speaker 1: much more consistency, which then creates greater health. So there
Speaker 1: there are far extending benefits of rituals that if we
Speaker 1: can be putting them into our lives. Yeah, it's going
Speaker 1: to help us stay motivated, it's going to help our relationships.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things that I feel within therapy,
Speaker 1: I can hand to people and say, put rituals in
Speaker 1: your life. Have a schedule, be intentional. Of course, that
Speaker 1: looks different for everybody, like we have. We all have
Speaker 1: different personality types, we all have different ways that we
Speaker 1: want to approach that. But learn what it looks like
Speaker 1: for you and implement that thing. It is a low
Speaker 1: hanging fruit and it's a tangible thing that can have
Speaker 1: phenomenal impact. Yeah, So a ritual's place in kind of
Speaker 1: like the timeline. So the couch would represent your mind
Speaker 1: at rest um so you're not thinking about your habits
Speaker 1: or anything. The habit would be the action that saves
Speaker 1: you money, so um, making food at home or making
Speaker 1: a debt payment, tracking your transactions, what have you. And
Speaker 1: the ritual comes in between. The ritual is super easy
Speaker 1: to start, doesn't require any motivation. So uh, like putting
Speaker 1: the pan on the stove, You just you get home
Speaker 1: and you take the pan out, you put it on
Speaker 1: the stove. You make the habit easier to start, and
Speaker 1: that's the ritual. So that's kind of an easy way
Speaker 1: you can start. You know, putting the phone on the
Speaker 1: other side of the room makes getting out of bed easier.
Speaker 1: So make the ritual something that's so stupid easy um
Speaker 1: to do that you don't need motivation. But it's not
Speaker 1: it will lead to the habit. The ritual isn't the
Speaker 1: habit itself, which leads to the next thing talking about
Speaker 1: habits and habit formation. And so if we are to
Speaker 1: make a habit out of some of these pieces that
Speaker 1: we want to be moving towards, like you just said,
Speaker 1: we have to make it easy. Make it so easy
Speaker 1: that it's more difficult to say no to. So for starters, Uh,
Speaker 1: I know that we'll get to this about talking about
Speaker 1: location of things. But if we put flows next to
Speaker 1: our toothbrush, right that, it makes it so much easier
Speaker 1: to form a habit out of that because it's right there.
Speaker 1: Make it so easy for yourself. Yeah, and floss is
Speaker 1: already cut. It would be a waste not to do it,
Speaker 1: you know, So you're going next level of the pre
Speaker 1: cut flaw pre cut pre cut, but you pay extra
Speaker 1: for that, or you can just cut it yourself and
Speaker 1: put it there. I don't know, no, no, that okay.
Speaker 1: But so these are all ways to just make the
Speaker 1: the actions easier because when taking action is easier, then
Speaker 1: motivation is easier to maintain. So habits keep us making
Speaker 1: good choices without thinking is hard about it. And while
Speaker 1: we're still having to think hard about it. Rituals make
Speaker 1: habits easier to form. So we're kind of just like
Speaker 1: working backwards. We're reverse engineering our motivation. If you want
Speaker 1: to be like you see about it and with habits,
Speaker 1: so you make it easy, you get moving on it,
Speaker 1: and you follow the same path earned every single time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, make sure that it it runs in a
Speaker 1: succinct order that you can keep doing that thing. And
Speaker 1: that's what makes it a habit. That's what makes it
Speaker 1: almost muscle memory, that you wouldn't think of doing anything
Speaker 1: else like it is now. I don't know you could
Speaker 1: describe this for me, whether it's a habit or a
Speaker 1: ritual that I drink coffee every single morning and we
Speaker 1: make it at home. It it rarely crosses my mind
Speaker 1: that I would actually go out and purchase coffee. It's
Speaker 1: just I already turn on the water to boil without
Speaker 1: even thinking about at this point. Yeah, So like the
Speaker 1: ritual would be already getting the water into the pot
Speaker 1: to boil um the night before, the night before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that all you have to do is turn it on.
Speaker 1: And for me, like I have a coffee maker, so
Speaker 1: it would be putting the grounds in there, putting the
Speaker 1: cup underneath it, and then getting ready. So all I
Speaker 1: have to do in the morning is press press play,
Speaker 1: and go press play. So let's talk long term motivation.
Speaker 1: Since you said you've got a lot of questions about that,
Speaker 1: and this article talks about it, tell me about the
Speaker 1: Goldilocks rule. So yeah, so James Clear made this up.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge James Clear fan. I like very much
Speaker 1: fan girl because I think he's he's very smart, and
Speaker 1: the ideas that aren't his. He just he has compiled
Speaker 1: all of the good ideas into one place. Um. So
Speaker 1: he talks about the Goldilocks rule. Um, Goldilocks is you
Speaker 1: know they you know, she goes in and like steals
Speaker 1: food from bears or something. Yeah, I'm I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but like the porridge, it's one is too hot, one
Speaker 1: is too cold, and then the last one's just right.
Speaker 1: Or like there's a bed in one of them where
Speaker 1: it's like one too soft, one's too hard, and the
Speaker 1: last one. She's always stealing from bears though, So I
Speaker 1: think that's really where she went wrong. Yeah, but the
Speaker 1: idea has nothing to do with bears. It's finding something
Speaker 1: that's not too hard and it's not too easy, but
Speaker 1: it's just right on the edge of your ability. It's
Speaker 1: challenging enough that you have to work towards it, but
Speaker 1: you will be able to attain it uh in in
Speaker 1: a reasonable amount of time, depending on your attention span.
Speaker 1: So this could be different for everyone. Maybe somebody's is
Speaker 1: a year out, maybe somebody's six months. That has to
Speaker 1: do with your personality, like what your short term goals
Speaker 1: are so to maintain like long term motivation. You have
Speaker 1: to keep having these goals and working to form these
Speaker 1: habits that are just on the edge of your current ability.
Speaker 1: And that's why it's important always be reassessing because your
Speaker 1: ability is always changing, You're always hopefully learning new things, um,
Speaker 1: and your goals are changing, so the way that your
Speaker 1: motivation towards those goals looks will change. Okay, so there's
Speaker 1: a whole lot or in this article that we would
Speaker 1: absolutely point you towards. He's got some really good visuals
Speaker 1: and just really good content. But let's wrap it up
Speaker 1: on this article with just what do we do when
Speaker 1: motivation fades? Because we all know that happens. That couch
Speaker 1: is becking in. Yes, So when motivation fades, the first
Speaker 1: thing he says is your mind is a suggestion engine. Um.
Speaker 1: And he says, consider every thought you have as a suggestion,
Speaker 1: not an order. Um. He says, right now, as I'm
Speaker 1: writing this, my mind is suggesting that I feel tired.
Speaker 1: It is suggesting that I give up. It is suggesting
Speaker 1: that I take an easier path, and if I pause
Speaker 1: for a moment, however, I can discover new suggestions. My
Speaker 1: mind is also suggesting I'll feel very good about accomplishing
Speaker 1: this work. Once it's done, it is suggesting I'll respect
Speaker 1: the identity I'm building when I stick to the schedule.
Speaker 1: So he's essentially saying, like, you have power over your mind.
Speaker 1: Why you have power to think thoughts that are different
Speaker 1: from the ones that just pop up? What to say
Speaker 1: more ogin right, So the suggestions that come up in
Speaker 1: your mind are not orders. You can order your brain
Speaker 1: to think a different way. Which, if your brain is
Speaker 1: telling you you're tired, like, maybe that's when you should
Speaker 1: listen to It's probably not just your mind, it's probably
Speaker 1: your body. Right. But like other things like I want
Speaker 1: to scroll on Facebook rather than finish this article. My
Speaker 1: mind suggests that a lot, but telling it no. My
Speaker 1: mind suggests that I need like chocolate after every meal,
Speaker 1: and then I usually tell it no, usually yes, but
Speaker 1: I like that. And again, we could have episodes upon
Speaker 1: episodes of some of these very same concepts, and one
Speaker 1: of them is perspective. This is just a perspective shift
Speaker 1: to say that the thoughts that come into our mind
Speaker 1: our suggestions that we don't have to obey all the time,
Speaker 1: or that we can reason with, or that we can
Speaker 1: choose differently, or that we can negotiate with is holy smokes,
Speaker 1: that's powerful, Like no, I don't have to buy that thing,
Speaker 1: I just want to or no, I don't have to
Speaker 1: go to bed right now. I can in ten minutes
Speaker 1: and get myself to a good point. Like what whatever
Speaker 1: it is, we don't have to be a slave to
Speaker 1: just like whatever pops into our heads. Yeah, okay, Well
Speaker 1: moving on, what else to do? So, yes, that is
Speaker 1: a tangible. It's a perspective shift, but that's a tangible
Speaker 1: of what to do when when motivation WANs recognize what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? Because our thoughts lead to feelings, lead
Speaker 1: to behaviors. So catch it at the thought level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's some CBT therapy for you. Okay. Next is discomfort
Speaker 1: is temporary. This is again another place where we're catching
Speaker 1: it in our thoughts to be able to say, I
Speaker 1: don't like this. Right now, I'm running a lot and
Speaker 1: my legs burn. Uh, it's temporary. This too shall pass. Yes,
Speaker 1: this will end, and then you're gonna be so thrilled
Speaker 1: that you did this thing. So keep going. You know
Speaker 1: that it's temporary and you'll never regret good work once
Speaker 1: it's done. That's the next thing. You will. You know
Speaker 1: that you'll be proud of yourself. We all know why
Speaker 1: we're doing what we're doing. Like defining your why is
Speaker 1: the first thing you do when you're trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: reach a financial goal, but it's actually like doing the
Speaker 1: steps that get you there that are obviously difficult. Um
Speaker 1: So just like this is it's life and and you're
Speaker 1: gonna really love it when it's over, and getting good
Speaker 1: at this, all these things that we've described will only
Speaker 1: benefit literally every single aspect of your life that you know.
Speaker 1: The way that this article wraps up is just talking
Speaker 1: about life being a constant balance between giving into the
Speaker 1: ease of distraction or overcoming the pain of discipline. That's
Speaker 1: that's always in forever. So it's not as if we're
Speaker 1: ever going to arrive or do this perfectly. But this
Speaker 1: is the definition of what it what it means to live.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of definitions, but this is
Speaker 1: a good way of describing. This will always be present,
Speaker 1: so let's work to get good at it and actually
Speaker 1: be proud of the things that we're setting our hands to.
Speaker 1: You can choose to sit on the couch like that's fine,
Speaker 1: Just sit on the couch watch Netflix. You can do that?
Speaker 1: Is that the best use of your time? It's your
Speaker 1: it's it is your life, but spend it in a
Speaker 1: way that's going to make you feel proud. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: and sometimes there are times where you need rest, you
Speaker 1: need that self care. But finding balance is a constant struggle.
Speaker 1: You're always going to be looking like to where do
Speaker 1: I need to rest? And to where do I need
Speaker 1: to work? So we can't give you the answer to
Speaker 1: what that ratio is for you, but just be self
Speaker 1: aware and and take a note of your time, keep
Speaker 1: track of your schedule, not your ideal schedule, but what
Speaker 1: like what your time and actions actually look like on
Speaker 1: a day to day basis, so that you can begin
Speaker 1: to gauge whether you are um resting too much or
Speaker 1: working too much so or being even when you're working,
Speaker 1: if you're being productive in that time or not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just do the next best thing, the low hanging fruit,
Speaker 1: what's right in front of you, and that'll that'll lead
Speaker 1: to bigger things. So let's talk about fantastic article. Let's
Speaker 1: move into our next one. It comes from Stunning Motivation
Speaker 1: and it goes through ten tips on how to change
Speaker 1: your environment for greater motivation. So I love what this
Speaker 1: is talking about because again, more tangible. I always love
Speaker 1: the tangibles, Like, okay, but what does this mean for me?
Speaker 1: What do we gotta do? And so there's ten. We're
Speaker 1: not going to go through all ten, but we've picked
Speaker 1: some of our favorites. So what do you got? What
Speaker 1: stood out at you? Jen on this one? Yeah, after
Speaker 1: reading James's article on motivation, something he made clear is
Speaker 1: that what comes what your success comes down to, is
Speaker 1: less of your actions and more of your environment. So
Speaker 1: your environment sets up your how you are prone to
Speaker 1: act and whether you reach motivation. So this is really
Speaker 1: how do we build an environment that supports our action
Speaker 1: and motivation? Do it next to a crib? Do it
Speaker 1: next to a crib. That's what we're doing right now.
Speaker 1: This is our urgency because I know my child is
Speaker 1: going to come home soon, and I work faster. I
Speaker 1: do work faster now that I am a parent, Like
Speaker 1: I only have like fifteen minute increments here and there,
Speaker 1: or like a gap of time wisely, Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Jenn and I are recording this podcast together. We're in
Speaker 1: the same room, which is amazing and also in the
Speaker 1: same if you're watching us on YouTube, you'll see where
Speaker 1: we're at. So go check us out there if you
Speaker 1: want to see behind the scenes YouTube channel. So the
Speaker 1: first part to building a motivational environment is to improve
Speaker 1: your overall physical environment. So it could be as simple
Speaker 1: as creating a vision board, maybe some inspirational posters, whatever,
Speaker 1: something to trigger what reminds you of, like why you're
Speaker 1: doing a picture of your family. Um. A study has
Speaker 1: discovered that while a messy and disorganized desk promotes creativity,
Speaker 1: a clean and organized desk promotes productivity and focus. So
Speaker 1: that's a quote from the article, and it's another reason why, uh,
Speaker 1: we think like minimalism and simplicity is so important because
Speaker 1: when you have left fewer things, it is easier to maintain,
Speaker 1: um a clean and organized space, and that is what
Speaker 1: produces productivity and focus. Interesting about the creativity, though, you
Speaker 1: could have a messy space and that would promote creativity.
Speaker 1: I see that you can just there's so many things
Speaker 1: to look at to be inspired by. But if you
Speaker 1: were trying to get at just productivity and focus, that's yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not what you need. To get more organized. I
Speaker 1: like number two on here, which talks about staying away
Speaker 1: from distraction ends, so finding a place where you can
Speaker 1: kind of bunker down and not get pulled in a
Speaker 1: lot of different directions. Which I realized this one firsthand
Speaker 1: when we started renting our office space. I used to
Speaker 1: work out of the camper, and some days I still do.
Speaker 1: But I didn't realize how much I would get pulled
Speaker 1: away from little from my work by little tasks, like
Speaker 1: I'd get up to throw something out, and then I'd
Speaker 1: be like, I wouldn't even think about it. I would
Speaker 1: already be up and walking around. So now I saw
Speaker 1: something else on the floor, and I'm pulling out a
Speaker 1: paper towel and I'm wiping that up, and then that
Speaker 1: leads to putting the clothes away that are laying out
Speaker 1: on my bed, and I'm like, how did I get here?
Speaker 1: I have to do work right now, But when I'm
Speaker 1: in my office space, that does not happen because I
Speaker 1: am in the zone where I work. Now. We all
Speaker 1: don't have like dedicated spaces for that, but we can
Speaker 1: take those concepts and say, you would it would it
Speaker 1: have been better for me to just put up a
Speaker 1: sign like where you going? What are you doing? Like
Speaker 1: something that would work for me as just a barrier
Speaker 1: to those things that I might just do without even
Speaker 1: thinking about it. It is just distracting. So finding a
Speaker 1: space where where you can also they suggest playing like
Speaker 1: a little like some background music, or getting up earlier
Speaker 1: and making sure that the space is free from distraction.
Speaker 1: So if I were to still be working in the camper,
Speaker 1: I think what I would have to do is wake
Speaker 1: up earlier, get all the dishes done prior prep lunch,
Speaker 1: and then get into my work. Uh And on the
Speaker 1: days when I do work for my camper, I'll even
Speaker 1: try to make it have like a coffee shop vibe,
Speaker 1: Like I'll light a candle, I'll turn on some music
Speaker 1: and make sure that what is in my visual in
Speaker 1: my vision is clean, and then I'm like done, boom,
Speaker 1: I'm in the zone. Lucky for me, I'm really good at,
Speaker 1: um like, not paying attention to mess when I'm working. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what's such good coworkers. I folded laundry last night
Speaker 1: that had been sitting on my floor for since the
Speaker 1: last time I did laundry, So I'm just very good
Speaker 1: at ignoring that. But okay, so my next favorite one
Speaker 1: on this is to change the environment by mixing with
Speaker 1: the right people. And this is sometimes a controversial one,
Speaker 1: at least for me, because I had to stop hanging
Speaker 1: out with certain people while I was paying off my
Speaker 1: debt because they were not interested and they were not
Speaker 1: in the season where they wanted to pay off debt,
Speaker 1: so they were spending money on doing you know, going
Speaker 1: to expensive places and eating out and doing all of
Speaker 1: these things, and it would tempt me to spend money.
Speaker 1: So I I couldn't change them because they weren't interested
Speaker 1: in being changed, so and that's not my place. So
Speaker 1: I had to find new friends. And so this one
Speaker 1: isn't just about cutting out. It's not even toxic people.
Speaker 1: It's just like people that aren't on the same page
Speaker 1: with you in your season right now, But it's actually
Speaker 1: finding people that are all on the same page with you.
Speaker 1: And I think the debt Free community on Instagram is
Speaker 1: such a powerful hashtag because it brings people together that
Speaker 1: are all doing the same thing. And maybe you're not
Speaker 1: in the same place physically, although a lot of people
Speaker 1: are and they have meetups, um, but we can like
Speaker 1: come together on the internet and support and encourage each other.
Speaker 1: So it's not just about cutting out people that might
Speaker 1: cause you to spend more, but finding people um to
Speaker 1: encourage you and keep you accountable. Yeah, it's not just
Speaker 1: about cutting out, it's about feeding into like, and that's
Speaker 1: only if you're realizing it is really knocking you off
Speaker 1: of your motivation or getting at your goals. Like. You
Speaker 1: can absolutely be friends with people who are not trying
Speaker 1: to pay off their debt, as long as it's not
Speaker 1: causing you to go into further debt. So that's where
Speaker 1: the line is. You can hang out and be friends
Speaker 1: with people who don't exercise, but if they're giving you
Speaker 1: a hard time about exercising, then that's when you're not
Speaker 1: even a hard time. They're just like, hey, we're going
Speaker 1: out for a pizza, come on, skip your work out.
Speaker 1: It's fine, but that's somebody you have to cut out
Speaker 1: of your life for a season. And here's the thing
Speaker 1: with the with the friends that have specifically that I'm
Speaker 1: talking about, they we remain friends. I just had to
Speaker 1: you know, block them on social media and not physically
Speaker 1: hang out with them. But then now that we are
Speaker 1: paying off our debt, they are in a season where
Speaker 1: they are paying off debt and so they are being
Speaker 1: physically responsible and now we hang out a lot, and
Speaker 1: so it's not something where you need to cut people
Speaker 1: out of your life. You just need to be honest
Speaker 1: with where you are and where they are and be patient.
Speaker 1: And it's it may not be forever, and maybe forever,
Speaker 1: but it might not be okay. I like number four
Speaker 1: on here too, which is use the location hack. So
Speaker 1: I mentioned I referenced this a little bit with the
Speaker 1: first article, but again making things as easy as possible
Speaker 1: for yourself. So this is where they use the example
Speaker 1: of floss. If you want to form a habit to
Speaker 1: flosh your teeth, if you want to be motivated to floss,
Speaker 1: put floss next to your toothbrush, but precut floss next
Speaker 1: to your toothbrush. If you want to be drinking more water,
Speaker 1: put water in a water bottle right next to you
Speaker 1: at your desk. Don't make it difficult to have to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you are watching us on YouTube, Jenn and I
Speaker 1: both have our waters there. Yeah. I make it's stupid easy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: accessible like that that was within reach, so I'm able
Speaker 1: to drink a ton of water. I'm also real thirsty.
Speaker 1: It's it's warm in Florida. Doesn't make you drink water.
Speaker 1: I'm always thirsty. Though, what else did you like on here?
Speaker 1: I mean that was that was it for me? Did
Speaker 1: you have anything else? That's it? You know what that means? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: it's time for the week. That's right, it's time for
Speaker 1: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 1: was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid
Speaker 1: off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy
Speaker 1: to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's built
Speaker 1: buffalo bills. Bill Clinton, this is a build of the week. Hey,
Speaker 1: my name is Lorna. This may seem totally trivial, but
Speaker 1: I had to make a reprint of a photograph, so
Speaker 1: I scanned it and then sent it to CBS. Its
Speaker 1: original price was thirty three cents would be, but I
Speaker 1: happened to have a Honey app and Honey took it
Speaker 1: down ten percent to a quarter. Well, I also have racketin,
Speaker 1: so I'm getting four cash back for that. Plus I
Speaker 1: have I Bota, So I scanned my receipt and got
Speaker 1: twenty cents. So my thirty three cent photo reprint came
Speaker 1: down to da da da. Oh wait, I forgot the
Speaker 1: tax it was twenty cents, so it came out to
Speaker 1: five cents total. Anyway, I know that's crazy, but using
Speaker 1: all those gadgets online can really save you some money.
Speaker 1: If this was a much bigger ticket item, Oh, Lorna,
Speaker 1: that spots to show if that was a bigger purchase,
Speaker 1: then she could have saved like significant money, right, But
Speaker 1: I love that she saved significant money proportionally. Right. We've
Speaker 1: talked about this, what you do with little, you'll do
Speaker 1: with much. Lorna is doing with little what we all
Speaker 1: could also be doing with much. And she's made it
Speaker 1: easier for herself to save money because she's got the
Speaker 1: apps on her phone. She has I bought a and
Speaker 1: racketin already there, so it does it will show you,
Speaker 1: like what your savings will be. So she doesn't have
Speaker 1: to do she doesn't have to do a lot of
Speaker 1: effort looking for savings. She set up systems that savings
Speaker 1: almost come to her. Yeah, And so I think that's
Speaker 1: a rate kind of segue um from what we've been
Speaker 1: talking about with motivation and and just into this bill
Speaker 1: of the week where Lorna has not even heard this
Speaker 1: episode and she's already taken the steps to make the
Speaker 1: rituals to make the promit of savings easier. So thank you, Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks Lorna. It's not silly, that's so funny. Picture well done.
Speaker 1: If you have a bill of the week you want
Speaker 1: to share with us, no bill is too trivial, get
Speaker 1: that out of your head. We love them all. Please
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and you
Speaker 1: can leave us a speak pipe or Google voice and
Speaker 1: we will play it on air. And now it's time
Speaker 1: foring wound. You guys, we told you that, we we
Speaker 1: told you just way for the lightning Round. It's going
Speaker 1: to be the most exciting thing ever. And here's what
Speaker 1: we got for you, girl. I'm about to pay off
Speaker 1: my debt. Jill's gonna do her debt free scream. She's
Speaker 1: gonna pay off the debt and do the debt free scream.
Speaker 1: I'm going to pay off my doll on this podcast
Speaker 1: episode because it's episode one hundred, because we're video recording it,
Speaker 1: because my husband's right here, and because I got the
Speaker 1: window up and the money to spend debt free. Not yet,
Speaker 1: not yet, Okay, Eric's gonna come over and he's going
Speaker 1: to be on the podcast for a minute. Definitely check
Speaker 1: this out on YouTube. Too, if you want to see, Um,
Speaker 1: here we go. We're making our last payment on our debt,
Speaker 1: and then we will be Thatt free. In these final moments,
Speaker 1: automatically yeah you think, do you want to click it together?
Speaker 1: This is cute. I mean it was. It was all
Speaker 1: mostly my debt. Should I yeah? Yeah, you gotta press
Speaker 1: over here too. This is like cutting the cake one
Speaker 1: to three guys. Congratulations you guys. Yeah, oh, and I'm
Speaker 1: to yeah, okay, you guys. So I wanted to share
Speaker 1: that with you because, honest to goodness, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of the reason that we are at this point
Speaker 1: is because of this community. Certainly we had this goal previously,
Speaker 1: but I think I went harder at it than I
Speaker 1: would have without this podcast, without this community. So when
Speaker 1: I realized that we were close to paying off her dad,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, I want to do
Speaker 1: it on the podcast with our immunity present and listening.
Speaker 1: So thanks for sharing in this with me. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm so many feels. Yeah, this is so exciting. I am.
Speaker 1: I am excited, You're excited. I can't believe. It was
Speaker 1: a great lightning round. This is probably my favorite lightning
Speaker 1: round that we've ever done. I don't know if anything
Speaker 1: we'll be able to top it. Like we're all congratulations.
Speaker 1: If you please get into our Frugal Friends comedie on
Speaker 1: Facebook and give Jill some love. If you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 1: please give Jill some love in the comments. And we
Speaker 1: would love to know how much you are, how much
Speaker 1: debt you're trying to pay it too. So I actually
Speaker 1: also this is what's going to just make this lightning
Speaker 1: round even better. I want to pay it forward, and
Speaker 1: Eric and I have talked about this. We're both on
Speaker 1: the same page with it. Uh. I have an incentive
Speaker 1: for you. If you are currently on your debt payoff journey,
Speaker 1: I want to give you a small boost. So here's
Speaker 1: how you do this. Subscribe to our Frugal Friends YouTube
Speaker 1: channel because now we're on video. So go to our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button and
Speaker 1: then comment on this video. It's episode one hundred with
Speaker 1: how much debt you're paying off. I'm going to select
Speaker 1: one winner by March to get a fifty dollar Amazon
Speaker 1: gift card, So fifty dollars on Amazon so you can
Speaker 1: spend it on something you might have already purchased. And
Speaker 1: then put that fifty dollars towards your debt. Right, but
Speaker 1: I can't figure out a better way to kind of
Speaker 1: send you some money, so it will be a fifty
Speaker 1: dollar Amazon gift card. Again, I'm just gonna pick one
Speaker 1: person because I'm paying it forward. But I'm not rich.
Speaker 1: I'm not that rich, right, You can, though, and I
Speaker 1: want to share this excitement with you. And I know
Speaker 1: that it takes a lot of work and motivation, So
Speaker 1: I hope that my energy and excitement can provide you
Speaker 1: some motivation. And I also hope to encourage one of
Speaker 1: you out there with just a small boost towards your
Speaker 1: debt payoff. Story. Yes, so if you're listening to when
Speaker 1: this goes live on March, you have until March um.
Speaker 1: We will be selecting a winner at seven pm Eastern
Speaker 1: Standard time, So please head to Frugal Friends on YouTube, subscribe,
Speaker 1: leave a comment on this video, and Jill will select
Speaker 1: a winner in on a Thursday. Yeah cool. Yes, So
Speaker 1: thank you all again for being here and listening to
Speaker 1: this podcast for god hundred hundred no better way to
Speaker 1: celebrate a hundred of the sand. Thanks for being here
Speaker 1: for me. You guys, you are so much of the
Speaker 1: reason that I paid off my debt. So I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful and we I am so grateful as well. This
Speaker 1: podcast has changed our lives and we don't say that inconsequentially. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talked about motivation. Community is a lot of that motivation,
Speaker 1: So please do connect with us on our Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Community Facebook group. Um, there's so much just energy and
Speaker 1: people talking about this kind of stuff, which also helps
Speaker 1: to produce motivation. Yes, and we do appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: sharing the podcast and leaving reviews. It helps people find
Speaker 1: us so that we can keep doing this and we
Speaker 1: can get better paying sponsors so that we can maintain
Speaker 1: this without going broke. So to show our thank you
Speaker 1: to you, UM, we just want to read one review
Speaker 1: today and it's uh from Cara Saw. She says, I
Speaker 1: appreciate Karaco. I think that's how you pronounce it well, TBD.
Speaker 1: I appreciate this podcast so much. I get my frugal
Speaker 1: dose in while listening to two fun ladies. I need
Speaker 1: more fun frugal friends in my life as a military
Speaker 1: spouse and a stay at home mom before, I am
Speaker 1: always looking for ways to enjoy life frugally. We're currently
Speaker 1: stationed on the very expensive island of Curosau or Carraco.
Speaker 1: I think it's carros How and your podcast have brought
Speaker 1: needed direction and joy into my day. Thank you. You
Speaker 1: are welcome. Yes we are thanks, Yes, we love it.
Speaker 1: So we also want to thank all of our friends
Speaker 1: who share these episodes on social media. So when you
Speaker 1: share the latest episode has to be the latest one,
Speaker 1: tag us on Facebook or Instagram. We will add you
Speaker 1: to our monthly drawing. For every five tags and reviews
Speaker 1: we get each month, we're giving away one ten dollar
Speaker 1: Amazon gift cards. You're getting all kinds of to be
Speaker 1: megan some money for is getting our money, and we're
Speaker 1: giving it to you. Yes, So keep leaving us those reviews.
Speaker 1: You can screenshot them and email them to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast at gmail dot com, and keep tagging us on
Speaker 1: Instagram and Facebook, and we'll be giving away those little
Speaker 1: tokens of our gratitude and appreciation to you. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: hundred hundred episodes, hundred more to go and we're done.
Speaker 1: See your next morning. Crugal Friends is produced, edited and
Speaker 1: mixed by Eric Syria. Okay, I'm looking up how to
Speaker 1: pronounce it cras So how did you say it cure
Speaker 1: us out? Oh? Wow, it's curous out. What's carraco? Then
Speaker 1: craca or caracas? Venezuela Morocco? You've you've combined Morocco and corracas. Whatever.
Speaker 1: I'm zet three now whatever, it's episode I'm de free.
Speaker 1: Right after two and a half years of being debt free,
Speaker 1: you'll start caring about other people's countries where they live. Again,
Speaker 1: it's an island. It's a country though, too, right, is it? Wow?
Speaker 1: Ask ten people, you'll get ten different pronunciations. Well, somewhere
Speaker 1: out there there's somebody. We're giving us a nice review
Speaker 1: and paying off debt. But do you know how I
Speaker 1: know that it's curosow? Tell me because that's where blue
Speaker 1: caros ow comes from the liquor. I just always would
Speaker 1: have called it blue caraco. Yeah, that's what I want.
Speaker 1: Drink right, turns things blue. How are we going to
Speaker 1: celebrate Oh my gosh, how are we going to celebrate
Speaker 1: blue drinks? Let's do something. Let's let's um, let's go
Speaker 1: to the beach. Okay, fine, we import Let's go to
Speaker 1: the beach.