Speaker 1: Episode one seventy nine, paying off thirty three thousand dollars
Speaker 1: of debt by living on half of your income with
Speaker 1: El Martinez. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll
Speaker 1: learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill O. Welcome to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jail,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking with El Martinez, longtime friend
Speaker 1: of the show, first time caller about her debt payoff story.
Speaker 1: It is we we love debt payoff stories and not
Speaker 1: only is a debt pay it's like a double whammy,
Speaker 1: like a boom boom debt payoff story and tips of
Speaker 1: how to live on less. So two things we know.
Speaker 1: One really packs a punch and els fantastic, so really
Speaker 1: excited to introduce her to you all. Yeah, and today's
Speaker 1: show it does focus on dual income households mostly for
Speaker 1: the strategy, but we talk a lot about how you
Speaker 1: can use it as a single person as well if
Speaker 1: you don't have a second full time income to help you.
Speaker 1: So regardless, you guys love a good death half story.
Speaker 1: A lot of tips in here, and it can be
Speaker 1: helpful for anybody who has relationships with people in general,
Speaker 1: people are in your life. Absolutely, yeah, there's there's something
Speaker 1: for everybody here. But first, our sponsors the seven Day
Speaker 1: No Spend Challenge. We love challenges, you know us. So
Speaker 1: if you feel like you spent a little bit too
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Speaker 1: else and you want to step back and reset your
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Speaker 1: change your life? Change your life. Today's episode is also
Speaker 1: brought to you by social media. Podcasts are very fun,
Speaker 1: but if we had a dollar for every time somebody
Speaker 1: mixes up, we'd be able to buy Jill a second
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Speaker 1: So it's thrilling. We are posting more regularly on Instagram,
Speaker 1: so but you can see your faces, but also sharing
Speaker 1: tips from these episodes, so that when you here's something
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Speaker 1: and then you go do stuff and you forget it,
Speaker 1: don't worry. Follow us on Instagram. We are going to
Speaker 1: be reminding you of those things, and then we're also
Speaker 1: going to tell you kind of where to find the
Speaker 1: lovely people who write the articles we talked about and
Speaker 1: all of this stuff. So if you are on Instagram
Speaker 1: and you want to see some reinforcement from these episodes
Speaker 1: in the form of short bids and infographics and just
Speaker 1: visual stuff that you can't really get on a podcast,
Speaker 1: follow us at Frugal Friends podcast on Instagram, and you
Speaker 1: know the occasional selfie of all the frozen pizza Jenn
Speaker 1: and I eat. Yeah, probably probably a lot of that too,
Speaker 1: if you're into it, even if you're not in it.
Speaker 1: So today, like we said, we're talking with El Martinez.
Speaker 1: She is a couple's money expert. She hosted the Couple
Speaker 1: of Money show for many years and now hosts the
Speaker 1: Simplify and Enjoy podcasts, which is very much aligned with
Speaker 1: all the stuff we talk about. On Frugal Friends and
Speaker 1: so we we just talked about simple living last week.
Speaker 1: She talks a lot about that. So she is also
Speaker 1: a longtime friend and great human being. So we are
Speaker 1: excited to share her greatness with you. So, without further ado,
Speaker 1: here's L Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. L. We
Speaker 1: are super stoked to have you on. Oh, I'm thrilled
Speaker 1: to be here, especially talking about my favorite subject, getting
Speaker 1: people on their debt free journey. Getting on the journey,
Speaker 1: being on the journey, rapping up the journey, starting a
Speaker 1: new journey. It's all good. I mean, there's so many things.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys feel this way, but
Speaker 1: I feel like if you could do that, if you
Speaker 1: could you know, take care of that high interest, didn't
Speaker 1: get that out of the way. There's so many opportunity
Speaker 1: movie set open up. It's like a load off your shoulders. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's ways so many ways to do it too.
Speaker 1: Like we we talked about getting on the journey and
Speaker 1: you know, being on the journey, but staying on and
Speaker 1: like making the habit changes on that journey that lasts
Speaker 1: far beyond paying off debt. We don't typically focus as
Speaker 1: much on those, and so I feel like your story
Speaker 1: really offers habits that can be used long after paying
Speaker 1: off debt too. Yeah, absolutely, because I feel like you
Speaker 1: have to appreciate the season of life you're in, whether
Speaker 1: that's what's going on with your family, but also personally
Speaker 1: with your financial goals. You know, there's times when you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to put the pedal to the metal and
Speaker 1: knock out that high interest it. But then when we're
Speaker 1: talking about low interest student loans, then there's a little
Speaker 1: more wiggle room how aggressive depending on what your holistic
Speaker 1: goals are do you want to be with those doubts?
Speaker 1: So so much freedom and permission in it. I love it,
Speaker 1: and we all, Jen and I our listeners are suckers
Speaker 1: for just a good debt free story, so we are
Speaker 1: so looking forward to getting into that. But then we
Speaker 1: also love all of the tips and other ways people
Speaker 1: approach finances just to help us look at it from
Speaker 1: all aspects and facets. So for so many reasons, we
Speaker 1: are just thrilled to have you today. And I'm wondering
Speaker 1: if we can just start with the nitty gritty, the who, what, why? When?
Speaker 1: How of your debt? What was it? How much? And
Speaker 1: what was the catalyst for you for deciding I'm going
Speaker 1: to get out of debt? All right? So I'll let
Speaker 1: you know, just straight off the bat, I had the
Speaker 1: trifecta of debt. I had the credit cards, I had
Speaker 1: the car loan and the student loan. And the catalyst
Speaker 1: was a conversation with my then fiance now husband when
Speaker 1: we got engaged. Now I realized how awkward wars was.
Speaker 1: That we got engaged. We were in college, so we're
Speaker 1: both the typical broke college kids. I mean, we knew
Speaker 1: all the happy hour specials, the fifty cent tacos, the
Speaker 1: half all drinks everywhere, and we did that. So we thought,
Speaker 1: this is going to be an easy conversation. And we
Speaker 1: had talked to friends who were happily married, you know,
Speaker 1: years ahead of us, and they kept saying, have you
Speaker 1: talked about the money? And I thought, all right, we'll
Speaker 1: do that. So we set a date like did you know,
Speaker 1: thinking this was going to be a quick thing, and
Speaker 1: we discovered very quickly how different we approached our finances
Speaker 1: and what was going on with our debts. So on
Speaker 1: my side, like I mentioned, I had those three types
Speaker 1: of debts all together, was over thirty thou dollars. I
Speaker 1: think it was like thirty three in the end, thirty
Speaker 1: three tho dollars. And my husband had one day. It
Speaker 1: was one semesters of student loans and he was going
Speaker 1: to pay it off after the six month grace period,
Speaker 1: so he was completely on a cash system, like no
Speaker 1: credit cards. Even to this day, he doesn't have a
Speaker 1: credit card to his name. That's just you know, different,
Speaker 1: right for him. Yeah, I mean, and it was not
Speaker 1: that we're old, but I mean it was different than
Speaker 1: we stayed in Stay and we really had the supporter
Speaker 1: of for family, which we're grateful for. That helps lower
Speaker 1: some of the expenses. Scholarships and we hustled like crazy
Speaker 1: for scholarships. But even on my side, I had about
Speaker 1: twenty thousand was the actual student loans. So that was
Speaker 1: the catalyst was we need to get this done. And
Speaker 1: so I immediately set a goal to pay off at
Speaker 1: least the credit cards by the time we got married,
Speaker 1: so that was less than a year. I had to
Speaker 1: get that knocked out. I felt like maybe it's a
Speaker 1: competitive side of me. I was like, oh no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be that person. I'm going to
Speaker 1: get this knocked out and that's how you know, I
Speaker 1: started discovering personal finance blogs and at that time there
Speaker 1: were only like single guys that were talking about it,
Speaker 1: which you know, it's great to get those tips. But
Speaker 1: then I started journaling and and that kind of you
Speaker 1: know run way me into being a personal finance author
Speaker 1: and writer. Amazing was was your fiance at the time,
Speaker 1: I mean husband? Now? Was he a motivating factor for
Speaker 1: you when you kind of realized, oh, he's not bringing
Speaker 1: as much debt to the table as I am, like
Speaker 1: that competitive side. Is that what you're saying, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was interesting because again it's two people coming together
Speaker 1: and we had different financial situations. So I was raised
Speaker 1: by a single mom and she wasn't heavy into debt,
Speaker 1: but it was you know at times where she would
Speaker 1: put something on the credit card, pay it back at
Speaker 1: a certain point, but it was if you could afford,
Speaker 1: you're okay. And he came from a family where they
Speaker 1: had a family business and so they were more conservative
Speaker 1: because they had employees that you know, we're relying on them,
Speaker 1: and so it was a different mindset. But I will
Speaker 1: say on my side, I was doing a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything. So yes, I had debt, but I also
Speaker 1: started investing one of my first jobs while in college.
Speaker 1: They offered that opportunity and I took it, and yes
Speaker 1: it was small, but it was something that I was
Speaker 1: contributing towards. And I was at that time earning more
Speaker 1: money than him. He had an internship and then eventually
Speaker 1: got a job right out of college, but I was
Speaker 1: working part time at a doctor's office, making decent money,
Speaker 1: but more than him. So we just came from two
Speaker 1: different financial backgrounds and situations. But yeah, that competitive side.
Speaker 1: I was like, no, no, no, no, I got I gotta,
Speaker 1: I gotta change this. And it's funny, you know, I
Speaker 1: have a podcast. I didn't realize until years later when
Speaker 1: I interviewed him about it because he was so calm. Well,
Speaker 1: we did that talk and he was like, I didn't
Speaker 1: know you had that debt, and I was like, what
Speaker 1: am I getting myself into? But he he said he
Speaker 1: appreciated that I was open about it and it wasn't
Speaker 1: like it was gambling debt or you know, something that
Speaker 1: was a red flag. It was mostly student loans. But
Speaker 1: that was an eye opener for him as well. That's
Speaker 1: so similar to our story because I had more debt
Speaker 1: than my We waited till we were engaged to have
Speaker 1: the talk. And I don't know if my then fiance
Speaker 1: now has been knew how much debt I had, but
Speaker 1: I had about I had over fifty between student loans
Speaker 1: and a car, and he was bringing in like just
Speaker 1: twenty four and he was like committed he was going
Speaker 1: to pay it off as soon as the grace period,
Speaker 1: like was that he was going to pay it off.
Speaker 1: And I was like, mmm, I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: I want to live my life. Um, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean very quickly obvious Slee. I changed my story. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that was super super similar story. Yeah. Same, I had
Speaker 1: all the student loans. Yeah you did too. Yes, oh boy,
Speaker 1: where we start a club? Yes, but now look at us.
Speaker 1: You know it's awesome. It's great on this side, Yes
Speaker 1: it is. It stands out to me just the transition
Speaker 1: period and how that allowed for room for reflection if
Speaker 1: we let it. I think sometimes we can blow past
Speaker 1: some of those milestones and I don't really want to
Speaker 1: look at that. It's not necessary, like where this is
Speaker 1: a high point in my life. I don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about how hum things. But allowing some of those milestones, transition,
Speaker 1: pivotal points to be that reflective time to look at
Speaker 1: is there anything that I want to shift? Are we
Speaker 1: both good with this? How do we readjust and realign?
Speaker 1: So there's definitely a peace in there that I think
Speaker 1: we can all take with us of how can we
Speaker 1: look at these things, at these different markers throughout life
Speaker 1: and allow them to make room for growth and change
Speaker 1: and a little bit of competition maybe yeah, especially you know,
Speaker 1: my situation was my fiance. But if friends, you know
Speaker 1: I in your circle of friends, you can have these
Speaker 1: conversations and it is eye opening because we approach money
Speaker 1: so differently and how we look at debts. I have
Speaker 1: friends that are definitely where my husband was years ago,
Speaker 1: where it's like I don't even mess with that, it's
Speaker 1: just too much trouble, and others who are in the
Speaker 1: same boat as myself. So, you know, having these conversations
Speaker 1: about how we feel about money and how we handle
Speaker 1: about money, I know feels awkward at first, but it's
Speaker 1: been eye opening. And you know, I have conversations with
Speaker 1: my friends. Probably I'm a little more engaged since this
Speaker 1: is what I do, but you know, we always appreciate
Speaker 1: bouncing ideas off of each other too. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: gives people permission to be different with their money, because
Speaker 1: some people want to be different, but they think, oh,
Speaker 1: this is the way everyone is. It's impossible to be different.
Speaker 1: But when we have those conversations with our friends and
Speaker 1: maybe family, but definitely friends, and for sure, if you're
Speaker 1: dating somebody seriously, maybe have the conversation before you get engaged.
Speaker 1: But we give we give people permission to be different,
Speaker 1: to be who they want to become if that's something
Speaker 1: they've been waiting for. So it's not just beneficial for us,
Speaker 1: it can be beneficial for the other people as well,
Speaker 1: especially with paying off your debt. There's so many different
Speaker 1: ways you can approach it. And I know there's the
Speaker 1: you know not mention the names the gazelle intense, and
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a time and a season for that.
Speaker 1: But sometimes depending on you know, what are your career goals,
Speaker 1: what's going on with the family, and what type of
Speaker 1: debt you're dealing with, you might choose a different route. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be intense like intense animals the
Speaker 1: whole time or at all last for long. I just
Speaker 1: learned recently lions sleep about twenty hours a day as
Speaker 1: much as slots sleep. But they're productive and the productive
Speaker 1: in hours, but they sleep as much as slots. This
Speaker 1: blew my mind. I'm a changed woman now. She really is.
Speaker 1: She really does. So speaking of being productive in the
Speaker 1: four hours a day that you are awake, if that
Speaker 1: is you so like for you, L what made the
Speaker 1: most significant impact when it came to paying off your dad?
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many different things in our situation,
Speaker 1: you know, with the credit card. The next one was
Speaker 1: taking care of the car loan. I had gotten a
Speaker 1: bad car loan. So I will tell you this. I
Speaker 1: got a car loan because I felt like I deserved it.
Speaker 1: I worked hard. I was doing school, full time, working,
Speaker 1: you know, volunteer, you're taking care of my grandma. I
Speaker 1: was like, I need a reliable car. The interest rate
Speaker 1: was ridiculous, double digits, and I needed a co signer,
Speaker 1: which was like the sign you should not get the
Speaker 1: car low. So to give you an idea of why
Speaker 1: I felt like this dept was definitely had to go
Speaker 1: a S A P. We talked about it and for us,
Speaker 1: we decided that we were going to shift how we
Speaker 1: approached our finances. And we were gonna live off of
Speaker 1: one income and then use the second one towards our goals.
Speaker 1: And there were two reasons for that. One was the
Speaker 1: debt itself, but then two through again, what's the real
Speaker 1: life situation you're going through. I had gotten a great
Speaker 1: paying internship, which is rare, but I didn't know when
Speaker 1: it was gonna end, if it was going to continue
Speaker 1: beyond the semester. Thankfully it did. So we wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure could we cover our expenses if that internship
Speaker 1: ended at the end of the semester or you know,
Speaker 1: maybe the next one. And I have to say, looking back,
Speaker 1: that was the biggest change that we made that made
Speaker 1: a huge difference. It forced us to get creative with
Speaker 1: our expenses, like where are we going to live? We
Speaker 1: actually found this adorable. I say adorable. Now our friends
Speaker 1: are like, this had no amenities, But get this. We
Speaker 1: were in Norfolk, Virginia. We were across the street from
Speaker 1: the Chesapeake Bay. It was a one bedroom. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: little shabby, but we literally could walk to the beach,
Speaker 1: just cross the street and be at the beach. And
Speaker 1: that's really what we needed and wanted, you know, we
Speaker 1: wanted that low key vibe, and it kept our expenses
Speaker 1: low instead of being maybe closer to downtown where they
Speaker 1: had a ton of restaurants. Again, could be a ton
Speaker 1: of temptations, So you gotta look at the situation from
Speaker 1: your perspective. That was a huge help. But even if
Speaker 1: you're not married, I would say again, looking at the
Speaker 1: income streams, you could have a nine to five that
Speaker 1: you keep all are necessary and essential expenses. But if
Speaker 1: you pursue side hustles like I did at the time
Speaker 1: at various times off and on, that could be dedicated
Speaker 1: towards your financial goals, whether you know it's paying off
Speaker 1: debt or saving up for something that you really really want. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the ways that the strategy can be shifted
Speaker 1: to accommodate for people in different situations. And that's just
Speaker 1: it's creativity. It's looking at where is their money coming in,
Speaker 1: where's their room to make more, How can we decrease expenses,
Speaker 1: and how can we really strategize where that money is going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's we used a similar um. I don't
Speaker 1: think we even set out right like, oh, we're going
Speaker 1: to live on one income and use the other to
Speaker 1: path debt. That's kind of just how it happened, but
Speaker 1: it served us so well, especially when we bought our house,
Speaker 1: because we were still in this mindset. So while we
Speaker 1: both who start like income to you know, qualify, we
Speaker 1: only used the one income to decide how much we
Speaker 1: wanted to spend. So we are still in this living
Speaker 1: on one income mindset. And it's how like, even after
Speaker 1: paying off debt, I was able, like when I lost
Speaker 1: my job, I was able to just not get another
Speaker 1: and to just do like freelance writing full time and
Speaker 1: to be able to like build that up into another
Speaker 1: full time income. And like how we don't worry about
Speaker 1: paying for daycare now because all of our expenses are
Speaker 1: on one income. So I could, you know, use use
Speaker 1: mine to pay for daycare if I wanted to, But
Speaker 1: it's we still live on one income. And so it's
Speaker 1: just gives you so many possibilities so far after paying
Speaker 1: off debt. And I love that it's not just reserved.
Speaker 1: It's obviously easier when you have like a full time
Speaker 1: second income, but you can use it in a you know,
Speaker 1: a one person household and just on a smaller scale
Speaker 1: with a side hustle. It's definitely a cool like challenge
Speaker 1: every month to see, Okay, how much can I put
Speaker 1: towards my debt. I'm only going to put what I
Speaker 1: can make my side hustle and doesn't motivate you like
Speaker 1: a you know that competitive side to see if you
Speaker 1: can do more, like how to alter your income to
Speaker 1: get yours? Yeah, like and I there's a lot of
Speaker 1: similarities between your and my story. But yeah, having a
Speaker 1: purpose for your money and especially like side hustles. I
Speaker 1: love that because it was felt great. One of the
Speaker 1: side hustles I did was again I try to balance
Speaker 1: not just making money but enjoying it. Was working at
Speaker 1: a local AMPI theater so I could go and you know,
Speaker 1: listen to the concert in the music and I worked
Speaker 1: with the food department and it was great because the
Speaker 1: manager would let us come in a little bit early
Speaker 1: sound check. You know, so your favorite bands, as long
Speaker 1: as you weren't being a creeper, you knowing a little
Speaker 1: too long. That's the rule, creeper, It's so far in life.
Speaker 1: Just don't be a creeper. You'll have so many wins
Speaker 1: that way. So, you know, it was a way for
Speaker 1: me to instead of paying money for a concert ticket,
Speaker 1: I got to see a little bit behind the scenes
Speaker 1: and earn some extra cash on the side, so you know,
Speaker 1: being creative with side hustles as well. And then at
Speaker 1: the end of the night, I had an extra you know,
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars or whatever with tips that's going towards
Speaker 1: you know, my goal knocking out that car Loan. It
Speaker 1: felt like a double win. M hmm. We're both really inspired.
Speaker 1: I think about with this and well, I think to
Speaker 1: something that I want to highlight with what you're saying
Speaker 1: is it sounds like a shift from what you did
Speaker 1: for your nine to five job. It was something that
Speaker 1: is enjoyable but also brings in money, and what a
Speaker 1: great comba, what a win win. Those are the types
Speaker 1: of scenarios that, man, if we can get them with
Speaker 1: a side hustle, fantastic because then it's not going to
Speaker 1: feel like we're working ourselves to the bone. If we
Speaker 1: get to exercise a different aspect of our personhood, get
Speaker 1: to engage with new people, or get to see free
Speaker 1: concerts and be a part of people's after work life,
Speaker 1: but yet being paid. So I love all of the
Speaker 1: thinking outside of the box things that you're describing, and
Speaker 1: and some of the transitions that you that you made
Speaker 1: in the midst of your transition into marriage. And I'm
Speaker 1: curious what you would describe as some of the biggest
Speaker 1: impact ones. And you talked about your housing situation. I'm
Speaker 1: curious if there's any others and what was most helpful
Speaker 1: to you in this step payoff journey. I would have
Speaker 1: to say definitely kind of gamifying it and focusing on
Speaker 1: the big ones. You know, you hear like watch the lot.
Speaker 1: Who cares about the lot? The latte is not killing you,
Speaker 1: it's the bigger expenses. How can you optimize again finding
Speaker 1: that balance of what you enjoy while you know, keeping
Speaker 1: those expenses reasonable. So my husband and I are foodies.
Speaker 1: We enjoy good food, and yes, we still go out. Actually,
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, we spent more eating out because we
Speaker 1: wanted to support local businesses. And you're not grateful, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're grateful to be in that position, right, We're grateful
Speaker 1: to be now in a position where we can maybe
Speaker 1: you know, spend more still within reason. But then we
Speaker 1: found ways to improve our cooking skills at home because
Speaker 1: when we eat out, we go all allow apps to
Speaker 1: deserve we want the experience. But then there were times
Speaker 1: we realized, you know what, we're going out, we're really
Speaker 1: not getting much out of this, So maybe we need
Speaker 1: to cut out certain types of like going out to
Speaker 1: lunch at those fast food places. It's not really giving
Speaker 1: us the joy or you know, the winds. We feel
Speaker 1: like having friends over and my husband um smokes ribs
Speaker 1: or he smokes duck or you know, poured whatever, having
Speaker 1: them over and we're having like ten people over and
Speaker 1: we're doing different styles. Hey, we just saw this, you know,
Speaker 1: on online. It's like this Mediterranean herby kind of smoke flavor.
Speaker 1: We're gonna throw that on there, like upping our cooking
Speaker 1: skills to the point, like we want to be foodies,
Speaker 1: but we want to be frugal foodies, so not sacker.
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna tell anybody like, Okay, just eat
Speaker 1: bread and butter and you'll be fine, or you know,
Speaker 1: cut it to the bone. I'm saying, find the joys,
Speaker 1: like the things you enjoy spending and is there a
Speaker 1: way to be smarter about it? So we eat less meat,
Speaker 1: but we eat better cuts of meat. So Rebby's when
Speaker 1: they're on sale, we grab them. So we have friends
Speaker 1: over there getting ribby versus and you know when we
Speaker 1: first started with the sirloin steakes or the fajita states
Speaker 1: and so forth. So looking at your three biggest expenses housing, food,
Speaker 1: and transportation and then making sure that we're we're spending
Speaker 1: a lines with our values. I mean, it sounds kind
Speaker 1: of cliche, but I think that's made the biggest impact.
Speaker 1: And for every family it's going to be different. So
Speaker 1: that's why I don't tell people this is what you
Speaker 1: need to cut out, this is what you need. It's
Speaker 1: more like, here's what worked for us, and why how
Speaker 1: does that translate to you? But it does help to
Speaker 1: hear you describe. Listen, we enjoy food. We enjoy going out,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean we enjoy all food and all
Speaker 1: going out. Sometimes it is better to eat at home
Speaker 1: and have friends over. My goodness, ell, are you my
Speaker 1: kind of frugal friend rugal food? I love it. If
Speaker 1: you lived right down the road smoking ribs, I'm there.
Speaker 1: We make few friends there, and we also homebrew from
Speaker 1: time to time. We've homebrew time to time. Some beer.
Speaker 1: We love Kraft beer. That's sure what the scene is
Speaker 1: where you guys are at, but it's a big thing
Speaker 1: in Raleigh. So that's what we love to do. And
Speaker 1: for one of my friend's wedding gifts years ago, I
Speaker 1: actually didn't need, which is a honey wine and it
Speaker 1: sounds like it'd be super sweet, but it's like a
Speaker 1: dry white wine wine. And I gave that as one
Speaker 1: of her wedding gifts. It was custom blend. That sounds great,
Speaker 1: just like it's thing, that's the thing. It wants to
Speaker 1: get married again. I know, end me your your anniversary
Speaker 1: date because I need I need about like six months
Speaker 1: to get it right, so perfect. If you want a beer,
Speaker 1: it's it's a month. So let me know. I love that,
Speaker 1: and I love I love that you're you. You touched
Speaker 1: on values based spending and how you discovered what a
Speaker 1: hundred percent values based spending not just like this kind
Speaker 1: of fits with my values. Like you noticed, Yes, we
Speaker 1: are foodies and so we love going out to eat,
Speaker 1: but maybe going out to lunch that fits. It's maybe
Speaker 1: like fifty pcent fits and fulfills it fift So we
Speaker 1: can get rid of that so that we can have
Speaker 1: more experiences that truly a hundred percent fulfill the value
Speaker 1: and that saves money, and I think that's something people
Speaker 1: often get caught up with in values based spending. They're like, well,
Speaker 1: if I'm spending them of values, I'm gonna be overspending
Speaker 1: every month. But you don't value as much stuff as
Speaker 1: you think you do. So it's really like worth it
Speaker 1: to do the hard task of figuring out, okay and
Speaker 1: dissecting your expenses, Like what in this is really fulfilling
Speaker 1: one of my core values, one of my greatest pleasures,
Speaker 1: And what about it is not? And how can I
Speaker 1: get everything I want in this expense and not any
Speaker 1: of the things that I don't care as much about? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that kind of reminds me. That's one of the
Speaker 1: things I love about money challenges is that you experiment
Speaker 1: because you're not going to know until you test certain
Speaker 1: things out, like do I miss this or is this
Speaker 1: something I can't live without? Like the no spend challenge
Speaker 1: is really helpful because then you realize, well, I really
Speaker 1: like the social part of eating out, um, so maybe
Speaker 1: I can have friends over and I love good food.
Speaker 1: You know, it could be sushi, it could be brasili,
Speaker 1: you know, Brazilian barbecue, whatever you like. And so experimenting
Speaker 1: with different challenges and not all of them are going
Speaker 1: to work, or you might do a challenge for two
Speaker 1: weeks and you're like, yeah, I realize this is way
Speaker 1: too important to for me to give up. But then
Speaker 1: you get a value out of that because then you
Speaker 1: know this is where I do want to redirect my money,
Speaker 1: and you can use that as motivation, like once I'm
Speaker 1: deat free, Look how much money can go towards us. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it can build a skill for you. You've like you said,
Speaker 1: you gained more cooking skills for others. That might happen
Speaker 1: in another area as you get creative, but you still
Speaker 1: honor your values. So so watch good stuff in this
Speaker 1: thank you. We love we love challenges. We're borderline obsessed.
Speaker 1: So um L, all right, let's get real in this
Speaker 1: last question. If you could go back and change anything
Speaker 1: about your debt payoff journey, what would it be, If anything,
Speaker 1: I feel like I felt I had to go to
Speaker 1: the bone, like cut my expenses to the bone, and
Speaker 1: that's what I did with the credit cards, Like I
Speaker 1: did my side hustles and I cut my expenses. I
Speaker 1: also had the wedding. You know, we're contributing towards the wedding,
Speaker 1: but you've got to consider like the journey should be
Speaker 1: as good as the destination or that what you're going for,
Speaker 1: and understand that if you want something sustainable, it's better
Speaker 1: to have that that buffer within you. Don't you don't
Speaker 1: want to burn out either. You know you're working too much.
Speaker 1: You don't want to mentally be sick and tired of
Speaker 1: cutting your expenses that you just quit and then you
Speaker 1: go overboard. You want to find a pace that matches
Speaker 1: you and it is be comfortable. It's going to shift
Speaker 1: like in certain season of life. Oh yeah, I can
Speaker 1: go hard on you know, working as much as I
Speaker 1: want to. But now that I have two kids, I'm
Speaker 1: looking for opportunities like within my business, what can I
Speaker 1: expand services. I'm not looking to you know, leave the
Speaker 1: house and spend time commuting and so forth, ignoring the pandemic. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, situation. This is what's important to me, which
Speaker 1: is at the end of the day, you know, beyond
Speaker 1: the numbers, beyond paying off the debts, it's building a
Speaker 1: habit so that your life revolves around the people in
Speaker 1: projects that you love, because it's about the time, not
Speaker 1: about the money. So many quotable quotes. The journey should
Speaker 1: be just as good as the destination, find the page
Speaker 1: that works for you. Absolutely. Yeah, because we're talking about
Speaker 1: your debt payoff story that was it sounds as though
Speaker 1: pre children and resolutely that's going to shift if if
Speaker 1: you're still in the midst of debt payoff wall having kids,
Speaker 1: or you're starting it with kids, it looks different. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make different choices. Um, and we we appreciate that,
Speaker 1: like we love that. We're at a point, you know,
Speaker 1: the motivation to payoff debt is I can build a
Speaker 1: business from home. You know, my husband is a software interrogewer.
Speaker 1: He actually likes working with an office. I know, like
Speaker 1: in the Internet people are like, oh no, you can
Speaker 1: need to be an avoid the nine to five. He
Speaker 1: loves it because he just wants to program. He doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be, you know, managing and wearing the different
Speaker 1: hats you do as an entrepreneur. But he gets to
Speaker 1: work from home doing that. So you know, you get
Speaker 1: this leverage, you get these options, and then you can
Speaker 1: put the pieces in place however you want, you for
Speaker 1: your family or you know, if it's just you just
Speaker 1: you know, your life mm hmm. You know what else
Speaker 1: puts all the pieces into place. Every single week, every
Speaker 1: single week. It is the building block of my life,
Speaker 1: at the cornerstone that we 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've 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 bills,
Speaker 1: Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: L Every week we invite a listener or our guest
Speaker 1: of honor to share with us there bill, and we
Speaker 1: would love to hear yours. Okay, okay. So this kind
Speaker 1: of connects to what we've been talking about, like the
Speaker 1: options that open up after you pay off debt. I
Speaker 1: checked this month, and you know with our bills are
Speaker 1: electric bills. They'll tell you compared to last year, how
Speaker 1: much it was, and it was lowered dramatically. So let
Speaker 1: me tell you the story. Uh. I know, Jen, you're
Speaker 1: in Florida, but you understand you Okay, you under you.
Speaker 1: Guys understand like hot like air conditioning here is necessary,
Speaker 1: Like it is going to be past a hundred with
Speaker 1: the heat indecks. So every summer we have an older house,
Speaker 1: it just would be you know, and I did all
Speaker 1: the tricks, you know, insulated everything, and the bell would
Speaker 1: be so high. Well, living off that one income and
Speaker 1: then with the pandemic, stay at home and then the
Speaker 1: tax benefits, we went ahead and replace like half the
Speaker 1: windows in our house. Like it's a sixty year old house.
Speaker 1: I mean it's really cute. I love it, a little
Speaker 1: minut mid century style, but like those windows just were
Speaker 1: falling apart. Our bill went down like seventy five compared
Speaker 1: to last year in one month just with that. So
Speaker 1: it's it's great like having the habit of paying off
Speaker 1: debt morphed into having a habit of saving. And so
Speaker 1: when there's opportunities that come up, whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: tax credit or just the fact that you're saving. There
Speaker 1: was a deal with window. And of course you also
Speaker 1: know how to like do research. That's one of the
Speaker 1: skills when you do, you know, deet payoff your research
Speaker 1: and you call and you get estimates. I'm really happy
Speaker 1: with this. And it's better from the environment too. M
Speaker 1: such a good long term thing. Just insulation and no
Speaker 1: matter which way you look at it, for for bugs
Speaker 1: not getting into your home, for cooling, for heating, because
Speaker 1: I imagine there are some months where you would use
Speaker 1: some heat. So yeah, just for so many reasons, it's
Speaker 1: not great to your home. Now that is going to
Speaker 1: bring more value to it. Yeah, and seventy five might
Speaker 1: not seem like a lot, but if you think about
Speaker 1: about six months of the year, the winter in the summer,
Speaker 1: that is just the dollars of savings which we might
Speaker 1: use for vacation or you decide I'm going to bruise
Speaker 1: something different, like you have so many options that fancy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's so funny. We also got new windows um last year,
Speaker 1: and yeah, we did the Travis did all of the
Speaker 1: calling all of the window companies in the county and
Speaker 1: every and brought all of them over at different times
Speaker 1: and literally they would always ask without fail, and I
Speaker 1: was actually super surprised and impressed and took notes. He
Speaker 1: would they would ask what did the last person quote you?
Speaker 1: And he would say and they would quote under literally
Speaker 1: every single time. And I was like, just keep having
Speaker 1: them over, come on, like we could do this funny
Speaker 1: thirty times. Yeah, so we and we went to this
Speaker 1: with the second lowest, so not the lowest, but the
Speaker 1: second lowest because because you got to ask around because
Speaker 1: sometimes the person that's the lowest doesn't understand, like there's
Speaker 1: certain things that may be different about your house. Like
Speaker 1: we have an older house, so there's certain the materials
Speaker 1: are different. You know, we had wood windows which were beautiful,
Speaker 1: but they were rotting on the outside. We discovered, you know,
Speaker 1: so getting someone who's knowledgeable. Yeah, but like that is
Speaker 1: a fantastic tip if you have your own house, just
Speaker 1: call at minimum three. Every always amazes me. It always
Speaker 1: like how different it could be. When we finished our
Speaker 1: basement to become an office space. I'm talking about there's
Speaker 1: a difference of eight thousand for the estimates or from
Speaker 1: the first from the very first quote we got got
Speaker 1: it down to almost half of that. Yeah, take the time,
Speaker 1: it's worth it. And that was a I mean, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a tip everyone can use. That's a tip
Speaker 1: and a bill. I promise you that will save more
Speaker 1: than the latte. Absolutely absolutely. And but here here's the
Speaker 1: second tip of the week, and Jill is to thank
Speaker 1: for this one. I ordered a cappuccino yesterday, which is
Speaker 1: cheaper than a latte. So I'm calling this financial freedom
Speaker 1: and financial intelligence is going to now in my mind
Speaker 1: be referred to as the cappuccino factor, a little bit
Speaker 1: less than the it's just a little bit less. You
Speaker 1: got a brand that you put it on a T shirt.
Speaker 1: David Back would be totally fine with that. I think
Speaker 1: is a little bit less milk. But it's basically a latte.
Speaker 1: It's a hot cup of milk. Yeah. Uh So, if
Speaker 1: you want to submit your bill of the week, visit
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. Whether it is
Speaker 1: your cappuccino factor or your latte factor, we want to
Speaker 1: hear about it. And now it's time for learning right
Speaker 1: And I love doing this with guests. It's the best.
Speaker 1: So you always it always starts out like you know,
Speaker 1: relatively professional, and then we just end by yelling at
Speaker 1: you and it's it's all good. Well mean, I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm with friends, you know. By the end of it,
Speaker 1: like I get you start doing, you develop into weird.
Speaker 1: We found a good pay goes and the journey was
Speaker 1: as good as the destination, I hope. Yes. So for
Speaker 1: today's round robin lightning round, we are each going to
Speaker 1: go around and say kind of one income increasing thing
Speaker 1: that we did to pay off debt. Maybe it was
Speaker 1: the most impactful. Maybe it was had you know, most money,
Speaker 1: or maybe it was the most fun. But yeah, an
Speaker 1: idea that somebody else who's paying off debt now might
Speaker 1: want to think about trying. So l we always um
Speaker 1: allow our guests to go first. Thank you. I feel special.
Speaker 1: So kind of what I mentioned with the amphi theater,
Speaker 1: Like sometimes seasonal jobs, especially in the summer spring. Look
Speaker 1: if not an amphitheater your city, Like, what social activities
Speaker 1: do they have downtowns? They have a lot of festivals
Speaker 1: here and Raleigh. What organization parks and wreck that you
Speaker 1: can do as a side hustle that kind of allows
Speaker 1: you to enjoy what makes your community special and at
Speaker 1: the same time get paid. I feel like working with
Speaker 1: the Amphitheater, I got tips and it was fantastic. If
Speaker 1: you're looking for really good paying one and they do
Speaker 1: it not just every ten years. Is the census like
Speaker 1: you just happened, but yeah in between, yeah, in between
Speaker 1: we did that too. Again, like side hustles for purpose.
Speaker 1: When we bought our first house, we had to buy
Speaker 1: the fridge and a couple of other items, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Nope, I'm gonna hustle this. How can't wait?
Speaker 1: I was like, hustle. I know, I'm like removing in January,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna earn it, And it was like the fall,
Speaker 1: and it gave me motivation. So I think being creative
Speaker 1: and looking for seasonal work where you can kind of
Speaker 1: blast at it, enjoy it, and then you're done can
Speaker 1: be a huge one. I love that idea. People don't
Speaker 1: think about seasonal work a lot, but it's great. They
Speaker 1: just don't want to get a side job because it's
Speaker 1: so consistent, but seasonal is amazing, and it often pays
Speaker 1: more because it's not sustainable, so not as many people
Speaker 1: want the seasonal jobs. Yeah, yeah, I mean sometimes some
Speaker 1: of them were paying like twenty an hour, you know,
Speaker 1: back in the day, whereas if you get like a
Speaker 1: retail job, it was, you know, eight an hour. So boom,
Speaker 1: big ones goes towards your goals. It's a double double
Speaker 1: one for me, Jill well ill of the high impact things.
Speaker 1: You know, me, I am a little bit obsessed with
Speaker 1: lions and lionesses and to learn that they sleep most
Speaker 1: of the time is really freeing to be but then
Speaker 1: really high impact four hours and so for me, I
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of like here's the little tips
Speaker 1: that I did because I really was like, where's the
Speaker 1: big expenses? And housing was that, especially in the area
Speaker 1: that we used to live in the Northeast, and so
Speaker 1: we did a lot of different things for housing. I know,
Speaker 1: our long time listeners have heard this before, and nothing's
Speaker 1: changed for me. You're going to keep hearing the same
Speaker 1: thing over and over again. But we house sat, so
Speaker 1: we didn't actually pay for our living expenses. We house
Speaker 1: that in a cabin for people who needed to go
Speaker 1: away for two years for work to Ireland, but they
Speaker 1: didn't want to sell their house and they also didn't
Speaker 1: want to rent it out because they wanted to be
Speaker 1: able to come home on their vacation, so that we
Speaker 1: just paid the electric bill there. We also lived in
Speaker 1: a tiny home, so that saved us a ton of money.
Speaker 1: I got my master's degree, so that increased my earning potential,
Speaker 1: while we also cash floated because of the low housing expenses.
Speaker 1: We lived with my grandmother for a time now that
Speaker 1: was to care for her, but it did have the
Speaker 1: peripheral impact on our finances of not needing to pay
Speaker 1: to live somewhere because we were caring for her while
Speaker 1: we were living there. So those high impact things, you know,
Speaker 1: sleep twenty hours, worked for four was actually just sitting
Speaker 1: at a at a house. You were house sitting. That
Speaker 1: was a cool house. Oh the cabin You've got to
Speaker 1: see most of the houses we've lived in, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a log cabin in the woods. I mean
Speaker 1: it was stunning. It was awesome. That was nice. So
Speaker 1: for us, some of these, I think our most impactful
Speaker 1: ones actually happened after we finished paying off debts, So
Speaker 1: I would think I would say Airbnb our guest room,
Speaker 1: airbnbing our guest room. It was the easiest money that
Speaker 1: we made, and it was fun to have strangers in
Speaker 1: our house and like get to see people from all
Speaker 1: over and they were just a different type of people.
Speaker 1: Somebody who's willing to sleep in a house with other people.
Speaker 1: They're just there to get the cheapest room. They're not
Speaker 1: there to hang out at the house. But there are
Speaker 1: also fun people that are down to travel in whatever
Speaker 1: way they can. So they were all really cool people.
Speaker 1: And we were able to make quite a bit of
Speaker 1: money that we use it to pay for my car.
Speaker 1: We put on my car in cash, and I started
Speaker 1: a T shirt business that we used to pay for
Speaker 1: an r V that was supposed to be another income
Speaker 1: producing project that did not work. Not everything works, um,
Speaker 1: and that's okay learning experiences, but I would say the Airbnb,
Speaker 1: if you can do it, if you live in an
Speaker 1: area that's air b and viable, then definitely that's what
Speaker 1: the company was designed for, as to share your home
Speaker 1: with other people. And so I really would love to
Speaker 1: see more people like bringing that feel back to Airbnb
Speaker 1: and making money because of it. Yeah, I gotta get
Speaker 1: my husband on that. Um, he's like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like we have a bait like it's a it's a
Speaker 1: nine square foot basement and has its own entrance with
Speaker 1: the car poord in its own you know, bathroom and
Speaker 1: set up. Just gotta finish up some things. But you
Speaker 1: remind me, like we love doing Airbnb's. We went to
Speaker 1: Asheville this summer. It was like the perfect Airbnb spot.
Speaker 1: It was a mom, single mom with the little girl
Speaker 1: and she had this like basement apartment. She's an interior designer,
Speaker 1: so I'm not I'm not gonna lie, Like I was
Speaker 1: taking pictures and notes how does she how does she
Speaker 1: partition this? Like it really flowed well and it was
Speaker 1: within two minutes of some fantastic take food places downtown Asheville.
Speaker 1: And it was a great deal. I mean it wasn't
Speaker 1: the cheapest, but it was had everything we need, plus laundry.
Speaker 1: And when you have kids, that's a consideration in a yard,
Speaker 1: you know. That's another reason when you have kids on vacation,
Speaker 1: they need a place to run, so you can actually
Speaker 1: they lay down and rest, and you when you stay
Speaker 1: with somebody who's a local, you have a live in
Speaker 1: guide to tell you what to do there. There's just
Speaker 1: so many positives. The money is just one of them. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, Elford. Like hanging out with us
Speaker 1: and sharing your wisdom. Where can people get more from
Speaker 1: you in your awesome voice on your podcast? Well, thank you.
Speaker 1: I started off with a couple of money, so if
Speaker 1: you're looking specifically for marriage and money tips, that is
Speaker 1: a couple of money dot com. But then also about
Speaker 1: enjoying the journey to financial freedom and the destination Simplify
Speaker 1: and Enjoy, which is also the podcast I have now.
Speaker 1: I think all of our listeners wh would really enjoy
Speaker 1: Simplify and Enjoy. It's very similar themes to Frugal Friends. Yea,
Speaker 1: and yeah you did note her her voice, your voice
Speaker 1: on simplify and enjoy I mean even now too. But
Speaker 1: it's just a really nice listen to. Oh thank you,
Speaker 1: don't don't laugh. I started it, like I mentioned, I
Speaker 1: just had a baby and so I've read record during
Speaker 1: her naptime. And so then that became a thing. And
Speaker 1: my friends who discovered when I published my book, I
Speaker 1: I kind of dissouded myself and they're like, you sound
Speaker 1: really calm. You're not like that. I'm like, I am calm.
Speaker 1: I have my compliments, they're just all on my podcast
Speaker 1: and I can't get out. Yeah, and now it's like
Speaker 1: that vibe and I feel like when I tried to
Speaker 1: be excited and I tried that last year with video
Speaker 1: and I can't do it. It's just not it's oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, and yes, what is what is your book?
Speaker 1: And where can people find your book? Oh? It's jump
Speaker 1: start your marriage and your money and you can find
Speaker 1: it all. Aren't a noble Amazon um Indie bound? I
Speaker 1: believe as well. And it's basically four weeks to kind
Speaker 1: of reset your relationship and your finances so that both
Speaker 1: of you are happy with where you're going with your money.
Speaker 1: Awesome and we will have links to all of those
Speaker 1: in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for hanging
Speaker 1: out with us, L, and we'll see you later. This
Speaker 1: is a blas thank you. Oh that was so good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope I wasn't. Well, I was. It's okay,
Speaker 1: I was fan girling hard. I think, just on all
Speaker 1: of her knowledge. It's so interesting you fan girled on
Speaker 1: this one harder than I did. It's like a fair
Speaker 1: girl about the conversation. I think I'm not necessarily like, oh,
Speaker 1: I've followed you for a long time and I'm fan girling.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I like what you're saying right now,
Speaker 1: and I can't not get stoked about it and say
Speaker 1: how I want to put this on a bumper sticker.
Speaker 1: So lovely. Yeah, and L has this like, if you're
Speaker 1: in the A s MR. You want to listen to
Speaker 1: her podcast because she has a soothing voice and you'll
Speaker 1: like what she's saying to Yeah. It's something that a
Speaker 1: lot of female podcasters get ragged on for is their voices.
Speaker 1: We have personal experience with that. But L does have
Speaker 1: a nice and soothing voice. So don't leave her a
Speaker 1: bad review for that reason. Actually, don't leave any podcast
Speaker 1: or a bad review for that reason, comment on their content. Okay,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening everything. You hope that you
Speaker 1: enjoyed listening to l in her Tips as much as
Speaker 1: we do. We love sharing interviews with you all, and
Speaker 1: we also really enjoy and appreciate you listeners and all
Speaker 1: of you who have left us kind reviews on iTunes
Speaker 1: and Stitcher like this one. It's listed from Eliza Bravely
Speaker 1: Love Love Love is the title with five stars attached
Speaker 1: to that. I love Jen and Jill and I'm so
Speaker 1: happy to be able to hang out with them every week,
Speaker 1: dance to their theme song, and get both inspiration and
Speaker 1: super tangible actionable tips. They help me stay on the
Speaker 1: frugal path. Yay, this is such a such a kind review,
Speaker 1: and I love the visual of us dancing together because
Speaker 1: that is actually what we do, even though you can't
Speaker 1: always see us. However, this interview we did video record
Speaker 1: and it is up on YouTube, so feel free to
Speaker 1: check that out and you can definitely see us dancing
Speaker 1: and fun with Yes, we will be putting our interviews
Speaker 1: on YouTube now as well as our regular episodes, but
Speaker 1: you won't be able to see those in a we're
Speaker 1: really trying to show you our faces more and we
Speaker 1: want to connect with you. We like to see your
Speaker 1: faces and our Frugal Friends community on Facebook, and so
Speaker 1: we want you to see ours as well. So thank
Speaker 1: you to everyone who tunes, in, leads, reviews, and also
Speaker 1: shares these episodes on social media. So when you come
Speaker 1: follow us at Frugal Friends Podcasts on Instagram, share the
Speaker 1: latest episode in your stories or in a post and
Speaker 1: tag us and we'll enter you into our monthly drawing.
Speaker 1: For every five tags and reviews we get, we give
Speaker 1: away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook and it
Speaker 1: is a great little workbook with six different weeklong challenges.
Speaker 1: And actually next month is the last month we are
Speaker 1: giving this particular workbook away, So if you wanted to
Speaker 1: try it out, please submit a review or tag us
Speaker 1: on social So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher,
Speaker 1: send us the screenshot to our email Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Also tag us on social All
Speaker 1: of these are the ways that will enter you to
Speaker 1: win this prize of our workbook. Yeah, say hi to
Speaker 1: us on on Instagram, let us know you're there, that
Speaker 1: we are not alone and we will see you there
Speaker 1: and you will hear us next week. Bye. Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: is produced by Eric Sirian Jen. Yes, would you consider
Speaker 1: yourself to still have a side hustle? Do you have
Speaker 1: side hustle? Um? My main hustle is so all encompassing
Speaker 1: that my side hustle is probably raising my child because
Speaker 1: that takes a lot of hustle. Yes, and hopefully you
Speaker 1: see high returns on that investment. Actually, no, I do
Speaker 1: have a side hustle, and now my side hustle's freelance writing. Again,
Speaker 1: it was my main hustle and now Frugal Friends is
Speaker 1: my main hustle. But I still like to pick up
Speaker 1: a few freelance projects every month because I'm a nerd
Speaker 1: and I like to research and write about obscure financial
Speaker 1: products and um things like that. It probably that's what. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it keeps my mind limber, keeps me in touch with
Speaker 1: things outside of just frugality and spending psychology and all
Speaker 1: of that. Like this is my passion, this is what
Speaker 1: I love to do. But I also like to stay
Speaker 1: in touch because some people, some people have questions that
Speaker 1: are outside of like the realm of saving money. Um.
Speaker 1: For us and especially in terms of investing, insurance stuff
Speaker 1: like that, And I'm not a licensed professional in either
Speaker 1: of those, but I do write about them extensively and
Speaker 1: have for years. So I like to stand top of that.
Speaker 1: Isn't that I mean, well, seemingly the goal to bring
Speaker 1: more focus into our lives and not have to fill
Speaker 1: every hour of our time with making money. However, I
Speaker 1: think for some diversifying what we're involved in and what
Speaker 1: we can bring income from might always be the case,
Speaker 1: Like it's always good to have multiple streams of income,
Speaker 1: like as much passive income as possible, though, and I
Speaker 1: do have I have, I have passive income as well,
Speaker 1: so that I don't. I guess it could be considered
Speaker 1: a side hustle, but I don't hustle for it because
Speaker 1: I already hustled, big girl, So I don't hustle anymore
Speaker 1: for it. Yes, you catch me sleeping hours a day
Speaker 1: because I worked twenty hours a day. Then, so now
Speaker 1: I can sleep twenty hours a day. Oh yeah, talk
Speaker 1: about moving up the food chain. Chill, do you have
Speaker 1: a side hustle? Oh yeah, this is my side hustle.
Speaker 1: This is your side hustle. Okay, yeah, and then we're
Speaker 1: working on our next side, hustle. We're not quite there yet,
Speaker 1: but Airbnb is what we have our sights on. We
Speaker 1: still have to build out for Airbnb. Oh, he's always
Speaker 1: been on board. He just our timelines have been different
Speaker 1: of when we're going to make this reality. But as
Speaker 1: I show him the money or the lack thereof, he
Speaker 1: gets on board. More show me the money, show me
Speaker 1: the empty bank. I love it. There you go. We
Speaker 1: we I don't know that we'll ever just where our
Speaker 1: well and maybe as our energy levels decrease, but both
Speaker 1: Eric and I just have well. We like being involved
Speaker 1: in a lot of things diversify those income streams.