Speaker 1: Episode fifty seven, When to Not be Frugal. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill Oh. Happy Memorial Day weekend, Frugal Friends.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, I'm over here. This is Jill.
Speaker 1: You know, we were going to talk about Memorial Day sales,
Speaker 1: because who doesn't love a good sale on a mattress,
Speaker 1: But instead we're going to talk about when to not
Speaker 1: be frugal. And so this isn't necessarily like not being frugal.
Speaker 1: It's more like a play on words. It's just like
Speaker 1: when to not be so critical about pinching your pennies
Speaker 1: and saving your money? Um so clification. Yeah, you've got
Speaker 1: a three day weekend coming up, so you know, take
Speaker 1: your time and figure out where it's good to spend more.
Speaker 1: And we'll let you know at the end what our
Speaker 1: community has to say about not being frugal, because for
Speaker 1: a frugal community, they had a lot to say. They
Speaker 1: this threat have a lot and awe yes, we're going
Speaker 1: to share that some of those at the end. So,
Speaker 1: but first our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you
Speaker 1: by hidden fees. What these these are free? Accepted them?
Speaker 1: Who let them in the door? These are fees we
Speaker 1: didn't tell you about, but you still have to pay them.
Speaker 1: You're probably here because we advertised a great deal, but
Speaker 1: you forgot to check the fees, and now you're too
Speaker 1: invested to go elsewhere. That's what we were hoping. Nobody
Speaker 1: likes fees. That's why we hide them, sometimes in the
Speaker 1: fine print, other times in the poor product we make,
Speaker 1: so you have to give us more money to get
Speaker 1: another one in a few years. Hidden fees squeezing every
Speaker 1: last time out of you. Since always I don't know
Speaker 1: what to think, so I'm laughing, laugh, so you don't cry.
Speaker 1: That is every every person's tricks. Since always laugh if
Speaker 1: you don't know, if you don't understand something, if you
Speaker 1: don't know what to do, just laugh. Like the mood
Speaker 1: we got. We got desperate over here, so we had
Speaker 1: to accept hidden fees. So yeah, we're desperate. But also
Speaker 1: it's worth stating that we are not doing this to
Speaker 1: you right now. We are not giving you hidden fees
Speaker 1: in case you're like in cause you're pulling off to
Speaker 1: the side of the road and you're like looking at
Speaker 1: your phone, like, wait, who am I listening to this
Speaker 1: through iTunes or what platform am I on? How much
Speaker 1: do I owe them? Now? Well, there's no hidden months
Speaker 1: and shipping. You're welcome to send that to us if
Speaker 1: you want, you know, Venmo, PayPal, whatever, That's fine, but
Speaker 1: that would be totally cool. We'll be fine. So, Jen,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about this episode, not because of the hidden fees,
Speaker 1: but not because this Memorial Day weekend. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: excited about the episode, but New Days on Tuesday. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's w're stealing my thunder. I'm sorry. It's already possible
Speaker 1: that you could be in the throes of labor the
Speaker 1: very day that this comes out, I know. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: we're not recording it live. Who knows. It is essentially
Speaker 1: anytime from this episode out. Um, I could have a
Speaker 1: child or be in labor. You all listening will be
Speaker 1: the first to know about it, have no fear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's the community group, will be first, the community group. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I mean. Get it on the community group.
Speaker 1: You'll be the first to know, like probably even before
Speaker 1: Travis her husband, probably not, but no, Travis will be first,
Speaker 1: Jill will be second, and everybody else here will be third,
Speaker 1: and then I'll tell my mom. Yeah boy, so before
Speaker 1: my water breaks, let's get into this first article, all right,
Speaker 1: And it is from to Love, Honor, and Vacuum, which
Speaker 1: this is a block name. I absolutely love. It's, you know,
Speaker 1: super encouraging. Yeah. Um, it's six things it's worth spending
Speaker 1: money on and not worth being frugal. Yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I loved this one. It's good. And I do like
Speaker 1: to preface all of this by saying that frugality is
Speaker 1: not being cheap. So while we're saying these are things
Speaker 1: to not be frugal on, there are still frugal options
Speaker 1: in this and spending money is not the antithesis of
Speaker 1: being frugal, So all of this still does fall under frugality.
Speaker 1: But these are the areas to where you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need to pinch pennies or figure out ways to not
Speaker 1: do them or yeah, you can be okay spending more
Speaker 1: and it's gonna vary for everybody. This is what this
Speaker 1: article says. I do like the two reasons that she
Speaker 1: gives for why you might spend more on something, and
Speaker 1: it's because one either it's going to cost you more
Speaker 1: in the long run or it will make a tremendous
Speaker 1: difference in your life if you do quote unquote splurge
Speaker 1: on this thing. Quick example of this. Eric and I
Speaker 1: just splurged on a burkey case. You don't know what
Speaker 1: that is. It's a water filtration system. Technically, you can
Speaker 1: put water from like a pond into it and it
Speaker 1: turns it into drinkable water. So I'm intending to do
Speaker 1: that at some point. But we got it because we
Speaker 1: lived in our V we and we were just going
Speaker 1: to be buying water. We have bought water pretty much
Speaker 1: every place we've lived at I don't like the taste
Speaker 1: of city water, and then we can't drink out of
Speaker 1: the faucets in our r V. But I priced it
Speaker 1: out and I realized that buying water, even in two
Speaker 1: and a half gallon jugs would cost me about four
Speaker 1: hundred fifty dollars a year. And the burkey we got
Speaker 1: I think for like three hundred or three hundred fifty dollars.
Speaker 1: So that's a big upfront cost, but in the long
Speaker 1: run it's going to save us money. So while most
Speaker 1: people look at that and be like, that's an expensive thing,
Speaker 1: Are you sure your frugal? Yeah, I'm sure, Cindy, it's
Speaker 1: saving me money in the long run. Stop emailing me,
Speaker 1: Cindy judging my burkey purchases. I'm sorry. If your name
Speaker 1: is Cindy, this isn't directly attached to you, for sure, Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially if you've emailed me ever, so sorry. Anyhow, So,
Speaker 1: the first one that she mentions on to love on
Speaker 1: her in vacuum is beds, specifically children's beds. She's not
Speaker 1: talking mattresses here, beds. And so she said that she
Speaker 1: had bought seven beds for her children through the course
Speaker 1: of their so far lifetime, which and there's still children,
Speaker 1: seems ridiculous. Well, I think the ones in college now.
Speaker 1: But anyhow, it was, you know, the c and then
Speaker 1: the toddler bed, and then the bunk beds, and then
Speaker 1: this bed made out a particle board, and then that
Speaker 1: one broke, so then it was another particle board bed
Speaker 1: until they finally landed on a decent, single bed, wooden,
Speaker 1: nearly indestructible bed that she was then able to take
Speaker 1: on to college. Okay, so agreed, right, because that's not
Speaker 1: saving you money in the long run if you're buying
Speaker 1: seven of them for your one child. But I would
Speaker 1: still say that you can find some good secondhand options
Speaker 1: on this, like you can find a wrought iron bed
Speaker 1: at or a wooden bed or a bed bed frame
Speaker 1: relatively inexpensively. So this is where we're talking just not
Speaker 1: not getting the cheap option, but don't feel bad about
Speaker 1: buying a bed that's gonna last you, right and not.
Speaker 1: I mean this is not just like children's beds. This
Speaker 1: is obviously adult beds as well. So having a good
Speaker 1: enough quality that you can use it forever, right, those
Speaker 1: things that you know you're always going to have, Right,
Speaker 1: You're you're always going to sleep, always going to need
Speaker 1: to sleep somewhere, so you might as well have something
Speaker 1: that's going to last you for the amount of time
Speaker 1: that you are alive and sleeping. Yes, and good pillows.
Speaker 1: There was a few people in our group that they
Speaker 1: do not skimp on pillows, so like the bedding stuff
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, because you're sleeping practically a third of
Speaker 1: your life, so if you're lucky, I like to sleep
Speaker 1: a third of my life. I love sleep too. Yes. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the next one on this list, and I will
Speaker 1: resonate with this, is good shoes. So my good shoes
Speaker 1: that I actually spend money on I wear all the time.
Speaker 1: And then my cheap shoes that are just you know,
Speaker 1: like those fashion throwaway shoes are like so done zo
Speaker 1: in a year. And then also they're out of style,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to wear them. Just getting good,
Speaker 1: solid shoes that are classic and timeless, they're gonna last.
Speaker 1: Keep saying these things, Jen, it's music to my ears.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the shoes, thank you, thank you for
Speaker 1: the permission. They'll help you with your posture and your
Speaker 1: back pain. So I'm going to wrap this one up
Speaker 1: with also number three, which is she recommends getting five
Speaker 1: good outfits. I would say a few, a few good
Speaker 1: whatever that means to you. A few good outfits. You
Speaker 1: don't have to go crazy. But similar to shoes, this
Speaker 1: is something that I am learning. I think in some
Speaker 1: regards that comes with age. It comes with maintaining a
Speaker 1: weight to write, Like when you're growing your your teenager,
Speaker 1: your early twenties, you may not you might not be
Speaker 1: at the weight or size that you're going to end
Speaker 1: up being. So we we might be accustomed to our
Speaker 1: experience might be that you do buy clothes every year,
Speaker 1: so don't spend a lot on it. But if you
Speaker 1: are now in a place of life saying, Okay, I
Speaker 1: know what I like, I know what fits me, I
Speaker 1: know what I'm going to wear, what I'm not going
Speaker 1: to wear. Now invest make the investment, and don't keep
Speaker 1: buying the way that you that the way that you
Speaker 1: bought when you were in ninth grade. Life is different.
Speaker 1: Now you're in your thirties, you're in your forties, you're
Speaker 1: in your fifties. I think I'm thinking that people in
Speaker 1: their fifties they already know this one. But if you're
Speaker 1: in your thirties, you're probably learning this one. Invest in
Speaker 1: the good stuff, figure out what you like, and it
Speaker 1: will save you money in the long run. And until
Speaker 1: you figure out what you like, just by all black Okay.
Speaker 1: I like what she says about the few good outfits
Speaker 1: specifically too, in that when you are wearing something that
Speaker 1: fits you well, that you like, your confidence is going
Speaker 1: to grow, your motivation, your ability to do things well.
Speaker 1: It does. It just plays into it. If you feel frumpy,
Speaker 1: your motivation is low, how you feel about yourself is low,
Speaker 1: confidence is low, So then you're probably not going to
Speaker 1: do as good of a job on something or feel
Speaker 1: as confident. So It's important on a lot of levels.
Speaker 1: But again, you don't have to spend your entire life
Speaker 1: savings on this. Just got a few good outfits, then
Speaker 1: you're one step closer to that capsule wardrobe we all
Speaker 1: love talking about. Yes, So I also loved her stance
Speaker 1: on spending money when time is short. So this can
Speaker 1: come in with like house cleaning or food. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: particularly with meal planning. So meal planning sometimes is not
Speaker 1: quick for everyone. Some people really, I mean find it
Speaker 1: difficult to do and will spend significant time finding recipes
Speaker 1: that they can actually make and for different food preferences
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. And so one of our partners
Speaker 1: is cook Smarts and they do all of the planning
Speaker 1: for you in this article, is you know her things
Speaker 1: like food delivery, you know, like chef's plate or Blue
Speaker 1: Apron or something like that. But I think you could
Speaker 1: do well to just do the meal planning portion. It's
Speaker 1: less expensive than those things. There's less packaging and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. So just having somebody to at least do
Speaker 1: the hard work of like telling you what to cook,
Speaker 1: how to prep it so that you can cook it
Speaker 1: quickly throughout the week, and then using those those plans
Speaker 1: build on each other so that you could, you know,
Speaker 1: buy a bag of potatoes one week and you use
Speaker 1: them that week, and the next week there's a recipe
Speaker 1: that uses the rest of the potatoes from last week.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so sometimes it's worth if you could be
Speaker 1: making more money doing you know, a side hustle or
Speaker 1: doing your job, or you could be spending more time
Speaker 1: with your family. Sometimes it's worth paying an extra six
Speaker 1: or eight bucks a month to have somebody else plan
Speaker 1: your meals for you. Like, it's just worth it. And
Speaker 1: this goes along with her number six, which is hiring
Speaker 1: a housekeeper. She does expand that and I would agree
Speaker 1: with the expansion of this. Any service that you could
Speaker 1: technically do yourself could be worth it. This is if
Speaker 1: you have the money. Me so if it works within
Speaker 1: your budget to do these things, you don't have to
Speaker 1: feel bad. You're not You're not going against the grain
Speaker 1: of frugality to do these things. And I think we
Speaker 1: even talked about this in our very first episode Frugality
Speaker 1: one oh one, where it can be even economically responsible
Speaker 1: to give other people jobs that yes, you could do yourself,
Speaker 1: but that cost benefit analysis of but what could I
Speaker 1: be doing with my time. Do I have four little
Speaker 1: ones at home and I could paint my own living room,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna it's gonna take five weekends in a
Speaker 1: row to do that versus three days of having a
Speaker 1: company come in and do it and get it done.
Speaker 1: What is more important in your life right now? So yeah,
Speaker 1: d I Y is great, But sometimes it can be
Speaker 1: okay to hire somebody else to shovel the snow, mow
Speaker 1: the lawn, clean your house, detail your car, whatever it
Speaker 1: is for you. You don't have to feel shameful about
Speaker 1: making that decision for your life if you can afford it,
Speaker 1: and then feel good about giving that job to somebody else.
Speaker 1: That if you have the money, you can then provide
Speaker 1: income for somebody else by giving them, you know, that job.
Speaker 1: So these are all I would agree. These are fantastic
Speaker 1: things that you could be spending money on in areas
Speaker 1: that yeah, technically you could do that yourself, but there's
Speaker 1: benefit to not. Yeah, definitely. So those are great. And
Speaker 1: we also have some more practical things. So these are
Speaker 1: kind of like surface level, like you know, things you buy.
Speaker 1: And our next article from wallet hacks is for frugal
Speaker 1: tips that are completely not worth it. These aren't necessarily frugal,
Speaker 1: and we've already given that disclaimer frugal and the author
Speaker 1: even says frugal gets a bad rap these days because
Speaker 1: people will, you know, confuse frugal with cheap. But these
Speaker 1: are cheap things and are important. So these are big ones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's about being mindful and wise with your money.
Speaker 1: That's what frugality is about. And so you can be
Speaker 1: mindful and wise and still buy a three dollar burke Cindy,
Speaker 1: So Cindy, poor Cindy and ragged on today. You're a
Speaker 1: good woman, and Cindy, and you're beautiful and strong and
Speaker 1: you have a lot to offer anyhow. So these are
Speaker 1: four frugal tips, completely not worth it. So basically kind
Speaker 1: of the flip side of this things that people have said,
Speaker 1: do this to be frugal, and this article is kind
Speaker 1: of saying, but consider these things. So the first one
Speaker 1: on here is d I Y Repairs. We say that
Speaker 1: was stipulation, huh so, and we've talked about this already,
Speaker 1: uh in previous episodes and given this warning, so we're
Speaker 1: not totally anti d I Y. It's fantastic, but there
Speaker 1: is a fine line between money saving and downright dangerous
Speaker 1: as this article points out, and it could cost you
Speaker 1: more in the long run if you don't fix something properly.
Speaker 1: So primarily what we're talking about here is areas of safety.
Speaker 1: If doing the d I Y thing brings in safety concerns,
Speaker 1: or if doing the d I Y thing could potentially
Speaker 1: lead to catastrophe if done incorrectly and cost you more
Speaker 1: in the long run. So examples would be doing your
Speaker 1: own rewire of a house. No, have an electrician do that,
Speaker 1: changing a lightbulb definitely, don't pay somebody to come in
Speaker 1: and do that. So just navigating what is the d
Speaker 1: I Y thing that's worth it, what is not worth it,
Speaker 1: knowing your limitations or thinking that you fixed a leaky
Speaker 1: pipe but you didn't actually because duct tape is not
Speaker 1: a permanent fix, and now it has when your entire
Speaker 1: kitchen and you also have to replace all your cabinets,
Speaker 1: So there are times when it's it's just it's not
Speaker 1: frugal to do that. The rule of thumb that I
Speaker 1: would use is that so home depot has these like
Speaker 1: d I Y seminars. Well there they'll teach you how
Speaker 1: to do some d I Y repairs and improvements in
Speaker 1: your home. So essentially, if home Depot has a class
Speaker 1: for it, it's a d I Y you can do yourself.
Speaker 1: But if home Depot does not have a free class
Speaker 1: on how to do it, it's not something you should
Speaker 1: be doing yourself. So rule of thumb, check out your
Speaker 1: local home Depot to gauge what what you are capable of,
Speaker 1: especially you Mr fix It. Yeah, I mean, I'm realizing
Speaker 1: the most frugal thing I've done is marry a man
Speaker 1: who can actually do all these things. He is an electrician.
Speaker 1: He does do plumbing, carpentry, car fixes, all the RV things.
Speaker 1: So if you're like, no, I really want to d
Speaker 1: I Y everything, then marry somebody who already has those
Speaker 1: skills and you've got this thing in the bag, either
Speaker 1: Mary rich or Mary Capable. That's such a wow. That's
Speaker 1: right there. I mean the end of the episode, you're welcome.
Speaker 1: This is when we have our hidden fees. Yes, all right.
Speaker 1: So the next one is extreme cue pawning. And we've
Speaker 1: talked extensively about this in our episode Cuponning for extremely
Speaker 1: normal people. How much we don't enjoy extreme cumpawning. It's
Speaker 1: um it can it's usually a massive waste of time,
Speaker 1: especially in two thousand nineteen when we're living in a
Speaker 1: post extreme Cupawning TV show world where a lot of
Speaker 1: new rules have been put down for cuponning. So don't
Speaker 1: spend so much time or money investing in cupawning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just because, as she says, a potential pitfall of
Speaker 1: that is that even though you may not start out
Speaker 1: spending money, it might you could actually save you. It
Speaker 1: can because it requires so much time and energy investment,
Speaker 1: it can start to become addicting saving the money, and
Speaker 1: and so then you can get to a point even
Speaker 1: though you didn't start out in this place of purchasing
Speaker 1: things or collecting things that you don't actually need. So
Speaker 1: in that regard, it's not the best use of time, energy, money.
Speaker 1: It's not going to help you towards simplicity. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not to say that, you know, cupons are bad.
Speaker 1: I love good pupond but it's if I like, get
Speaker 1: it e mailed to me on a product that I
Speaker 1: regularly use, and we'll only use the name brand or etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: So legit cupons, yes, real cupons. Okay. Number three, Getting
Speaker 1: the cheapest or no insurance. So within the financial independence
Speaker 1: retire early community, this one's a debatable topic of how
Speaker 1: to save on insurance or not have insurance. This author
Speaker 1: is recommending to have insurance. They're definitely pro insurance in
Speaker 1: seeing the areas that it can protect. So while it
Speaker 1: sucks to pay that monthly insurance fee in the long run,
Speaker 1: especially for those who have experienced this, Like she speaks
Speaker 1: to her own experience of her mom not having a
Speaker 1: will or life insurance and the really sucky situation of
Speaker 1: paying for a funeral costs out of pocket, not being
Speaker 1: prepared for that, so that compounding grief is yeah, that
Speaker 1: that's not that's not a situation you want to be in,
Speaker 1: or to to have really low car insurance and actually
Speaker 1: then be in an accident and discover that nothing is
Speaker 1: paid for. So then you have paid for some money
Speaker 1: for insurance, but then none of it's covered, so now
Speaker 1: you have to pay for transportation while your car is
Speaker 1: out of service on top of paying for repairs. So yeah,
Speaker 1: these situations do happen, Like people do have medical emergencies,
Speaker 1: people do get an accident, so it's important to to
Speaker 1: be ensured. However, that doesn't mean that there can't be
Speaker 1: frugal options within this as far as negotiating to lower
Speaker 1: your bills, checking in with different providers, comparing costs. So
Speaker 1: there are options for you in this, but consider the
Speaker 1: potential risk of not having insurance. You can't not be
Speaker 1: insured on like health insurance and life insurance and car insurance.
Speaker 1: It's just too important and people too often will go
Speaker 1: bankrupt because they are missing some type of insurance. And
Speaker 1: so it really is important to have quality insurances. And
Speaker 1: we talk about that in our Personal Finance one oh
Speaker 1: one episode two, like you can't skimp on insurance, it's
Speaker 1: too important. And a last point to completely frugal on
Speaker 1: is a rice and beans diet. So yes, you know
Speaker 1: the golden rule when you're trying to pay off debt
Speaker 1: is live on rice and beans. Beans and rice, but
Speaker 1: you should probably have something green in there. And I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about beans that are going bad. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about some than that is legitimately born green, like kale
Speaker 1: or green bean or something some some veggies in there. Yes,
Speaker 1: and the goal is to eat healthy on a budget.
Speaker 1: Don't sacrifice your health and your diet. And this is
Speaker 1: something I wish we had focused on more when we
Speaker 1: were paying off debt. We really let our diets go
Speaker 1: a little bit, a lot of bit. I wish that
Speaker 1: we had focused more on making wise decisions with our food,
Speaker 1: even if it cost us a little bit more. That's
Speaker 1: interesting to hear you say that, having looked back and
Speaker 1: like things that you would do differently. And this isn't
Speaker 1: to say cut beans and rice out. I mean, of
Speaker 1: course beans and rice. If you genuinely are in a
Speaker 1: position of poverty, then yes, they will sustain you. But
Speaker 1: if you're not, then this doesn't this isn't necessarily the
Speaker 1: area to be cutting. And that could mean that, yes,
Speaker 1: rice and beans are still a base. But you do
Speaker 1: a little bit of a protein, you do some veggies,
Speaker 1: you you get some nutrients in your diet. Yeah, don't
Speaker 1: starve yourself. Don't starve yourself, be healthy because then that
Speaker 1: also helps you in the long run with your with
Speaker 1: your health and wellness, and that will save you money
Speaker 1: down the road as well. So that's another point the
Speaker 1: writer makes. Yeah, bottom line, we are walking a tight rope,
Speaker 1: right because it seems like in every episode we have
Speaker 1: to clarify frugality versus being cheap and how to save money.
Speaker 1: But you can still live your life. It's a tight rope.
Speaker 1: It's it's not black and white, and so be careful
Speaker 1: of falling into cheap territory or territory that's going to
Speaker 1: end up costing you more in the long run. Just
Speaker 1: because you think you're being frugal or it makes you
Speaker 1: feel better in the moment, Really be mine full of
Speaker 1: the decisions that you're making. That's frugality. That is frugality, y'all.
Speaker 1: That's important to differentiate. And something that's else that's important
Speaker 1: to differentiate is between the headlines and our favorite time
Speaker 1: of the week. It's the week that's right, it's time
Speaker 1: for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a
Speaker 1: baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you've
Speaker 1: paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're
Speaker 1: happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's
Speaker 1: built buffalo bills. Bill Clinton, this is the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. Hey guys, it's Lucy here. I'm calling from Austria.
Speaker 1: You're up so you're having listeners all over the world,
Speaker 1: and I want to tell you about my favorite bill
Speaker 1: of the week, which was actually a not bill, uh
Speaker 1: and it happened in the food store called bill as
Speaker 1: so it's a bill with an A at the end.
Speaker 1: So that's also quite funny, I guess. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: tend to go there only if I need a lot
Speaker 1: of vegan options because I'm living a plant based lifestyle,
Speaker 1: and um, they have like a great offer of you know,
Speaker 1: Almont milk and Cashu yogurt and all these things which
Speaker 1: are not easy to get here in Austria and also
Speaker 1: tend to be bit more expensive for your little country. Um,
Speaker 1: only eight million inhabitants in total, so and not many vegans.
Speaker 1: And yet that's where I go. And I knew that
Speaker 1: the bill would be higher because I stopped up on
Speaker 1: all these things And then when I was finally there
Speaker 1: to pay, suddenly like there was music playing and then
Speaker 1: the cashier lady was congratulating me, and I was like,
Speaker 1: what's happening. Then she said, yeah, we have like this
Speaker 1: anniversary special you read Villa, and you don't have to
Speaker 1: pay because you're like our hundred customer today, And yeah,
Speaker 1: that was super great. I felt totally grateful. It was
Speaker 1: a super good moment because I was saving all this
Speaker 1: money and so I totally had to call you and
Speaker 1: tell you about my favorite bill of the Week, which
Speaker 1: was not built at so guys, Bye bye, all the
Speaker 1: best from Austria. Bye Lucy. Oh my gosh, you should
Speaker 1: see our faces right now. We are so stoked, both
Speaker 1: of us, mouths wide open on this one. I mean,
Speaker 1: for so many reasons for calling us from Austria and
Speaker 1: for sharing your bill with us, and for it being
Speaker 1: so amazing. The fact that you even got the fact
Speaker 1: that you were a winner was because you even my word,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, I can't even get my thoughts out.
Speaker 1: Because you value your health and that was a decision
Speaker 1: that you're willing to make, that you're willing to spend
Speaker 1: money on healthy food because that is a frugal decision
Speaker 1: for you, and then you get it for free like
Speaker 1: this this special cherry on on top of it's so great.
Speaker 1: We are so excited for you. And who doesn't love
Speaker 1: winning stuff? And the store's name is Billa, Like I
Speaker 1: love that and I love being thought of. Like when
Speaker 1: you won this, you're like, oh, I have to share
Speaker 1: this bill of the week. I love that that we
Speaker 1: that you thought of us. Thanks for thinking of us,
Speaker 1: and best to you from Pennsylvania and Florida all the
Speaker 1: way to Austria. I love it. If you have a
Speaker 1: bill of the week you want to share with us,
Speaker 1: please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and
Speaker 1: you can leave us a speak pipe message on your
Speaker 1: laptop or a Google voicemail on your phone. And we
Speaker 1: really want to hear about your bills. We love them
Speaker 1: and we don't ever listen to them before we play
Speaker 1: them in the episode, and then somehow they just fit
Speaker 1: in perfectly, which is why you get me fumbling with
Speaker 1: my words and not being correctly in front of the
Speaker 1: microphone when I'm responding, because it's it's my true response. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was totally organic. So next up we have Jill's
Speaker 1: second favorite time of the week, the lightning Round. She
Speaker 1: gets more intense every time she says it. Sing. So today, um,
Speaker 1: we want to share with you some of the things
Speaker 1: from the Frugal Friends community on Facebook. If you're not
Speaker 1: a member, you've got to go to Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot COM's group and find us. We asked the question
Speaker 1: what are you not frugal on and y'all have some
Speaker 1: great y'all have a bunch, a big old bunch of
Speaker 1: things that you're like, this is no problem for me,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drop that cash. Yes. And by the way,
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends Community Group, we I don't know if
Speaker 1: we specify this enough. It is different from our podcast
Speaker 1: facebook page. You actually have to become a member of
Speaker 1: our Frugal Friends Community group. So both are great. You
Speaker 1: can interact with us both on our page and within
Speaker 1: our group, but when we're talking about all of these
Speaker 1: things and the g i f s that are shared
Speaker 1: and where people are responding to us, it is our
Speaker 1: private group. We're not super exclusive. We just want you
Speaker 1: to be chill chill in the group and then we
Speaker 1: let you in. Yes, yeah, that's it. Those our only requirements.
Speaker 1: Um Jill, what was your favorite thing on this list? Oh,
Speaker 1: you're putting me on the spot, Jen, I am. I
Speaker 1: already have a few favorites. You do, Yeah, you go first, Okay,
Speaker 1: so probably my my first favorite one is um Lacy,
Speaker 1: who says her pole dancing equipment and clothing, especially the shoes.
Speaker 1: I did pull dancing pull dancing class ones and it
Speaker 1: was so fun, so I totally get why you would
Speaker 1: want to do it a lot. Kate cheese. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: she likes food in general, but fancy cheese I'm with
Speaker 1: you those charcootery boards with some cheese and meat, or
Speaker 1: just just straight up cheese, like melted cheese and cheese
Speaker 1: on cheese, like hard cheese with soft cheese. And she
Speaker 1: wasn't the only one that said cheese. I also said
Speaker 1: she I can almost get us riled up about cheese
Speaker 1: is a kind about butter. So I'm with you, Kate,
Speaker 1: like ditch in frugality for some cheese. Mm hmmm um.
Speaker 1: Date night dinners out, that's from sage. I love a
Speaker 1: good date night anytime I don't have to do the
Speaker 1: dishes after I eat. Good time for me, totally worth it.
Speaker 1: What else? Layla? Her scuba hobby scuba diving. So sometimes
Speaker 1: you gotta splurge on those hobbies because it makes you
Speaker 1: really cool and it gives you something to do. So yeah,
Speaker 1: keep up with the scuba. So as any pictures if
Speaker 1: you are actually scuba ng in open waters and you
Speaker 1: come across whales or something, I'd love to see that
Speaker 1: or any cool scuba photos. No, just whales, okay. Um.
Speaker 1: Jesse says mental health, and I love that it's super
Speaker 1: important for her to spend money there and even like
Speaker 1: a cheaper therapist isn't cheap, but super important for her
Speaker 1: to spend money on that. I love that Rebecca says travel,
Speaker 1: which I totally agree Rebecca. And this is one thing
Speaker 1: that one of the articles, I think it was the
Speaker 1: the one article the author was saying how travel and
Speaker 1: vacations are overrated, and that's one area that she is
Speaker 1: frugal in, but there are other areas where she's not
Speaker 1: frugal in. And I'm like, to each his own, because
Speaker 1: vacations are overrated? What are you talking about? I just
Speaker 1: have to one friendly disagree, right, it's just an unpopular opinion,
Speaker 1: and I am friend another opinion to the table that Rebecca.
Speaker 1: I I'm with you wholeheartedly get that travel. Don't feel
Speaker 1: bad about it. Yes, yes we all came, but there
Speaker 1: are frugal ways to travel, as we've talked about on
Speaker 1: the show before. So you know that um Carmen says tithing.
Speaker 1: I love that one. Yeah, definitely continue to do that one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and partedly tithing literally means ten percent, so there isn't
Speaker 1: a skimping on ten percent. Literally, it just wouldn't be
Speaker 1: called a tie anymore, would be called giving and generosity.
Speaker 1: But don't skip on the generosity. Then yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: great area to be like. This is a commitment of
Speaker 1: mine to give. Also, shoes, we talked about this. So
Speaker 1: many people say shoes. Cs W says shoes. Who else
Speaker 1: Ha's shoes? So many people, I gotta give credit recredits.
Speaker 1: Do all these shoes good shoes in here? Good shoes
Speaker 1: in this group? Choose I want to see pictures of
Speaker 1: your shoes. Show me, show me your shoes. That show
Speaker 1: was not feet. That'd be weird. Don't show me pictures
Speaker 1: of your feet shoes. I'm normal, I'm still normal. I'm
Speaker 1: a version of normal. Um Amber says her Disney addiction,
Speaker 1: and I would agree with that. I love Disney. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't have an annual pass or anything, but I
Speaker 1: do love following Disney instagrammers and watching their stories when
Speaker 1: they are at Disney, and then I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: at Disney. Yeah. Um. Also, lots of people said pets,
Speaker 1: Catherine Amber Leah and I would say, so, I know
Speaker 1: that it's been and I'm not we will probably do
Speaker 1: this in the future. But people have been requesting, you know,
Speaker 1: how to save on pet expenses and and yeah, there
Speaker 1: are ways to be frugal, but also feel as though
Speaker 1: if you're going to have a pet, it comes with
Speaker 1: a territory like it's not as if you can have
Speaker 1: a pet and then not have it cost you money
Speaker 1: like it does. And so just know that. So I
Speaker 1: appreciate that in this group to hear that, yes, pet expenses,
Speaker 1: buying them, food, taking care of them, there's not really
Speaker 1: if you have a pet, there's not really a way
Speaker 1: to to say no, you don't have to do that anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and when you skimp on them in the short term,
Speaker 1: you pay more in the long run in vet bills
Speaker 1: and stuff. So yeah. Um. And then the last one,
Speaker 1: which I love, Brandy says, running shoes and Dr Pepper.
Speaker 1: Can't see that's a brand name you cannot skimp on.
Speaker 1: If that's what you like, you got to get the
Speaker 1: brand that do like me some Dr Pepper too. For me,
Speaker 1: it's gum that is just forever and always. You do
Speaker 1: love gum. It's a thing. I spend money on it.
Speaker 1: You know. It's better than cigarettes, it costs less, It's
Speaker 1: better for me. I think it's why I don't have cavities.
Speaker 1: I go to the dentist about once every five years,
Speaker 1: and they always tell me not to tell people that
Speaker 1: I don't have dental problems, although here I am telling
Speaker 1: thousands of people that I don't have dental problems, And
Speaker 1: the thought occurred to me the other day. I wonder
Speaker 1: if it's because I chew gum. I mean, there's other
Speaker 1: issues that come up with that, like I've got you know,
Speaker 1: my jaw hurts sometimes because I'm chewing so much gum.
Speaker 1: But I don't have cavities. Yeah, maybe a minor TMJ.
Speaker 1: But he has nothing a little break from the gum
Speaker 1: can't solve. Yeah. Mine is definitely coffee. I I like coffee.
Speaker 1: I have been drinking it throughout my pregnancy. I have
Speaker 1: to be careful because it's I'm more sensitive to it.
Speaker 1: But when I can and when my body tolerates it,
Speaker 1: I want some good cold brew or like a nice
Speaker 1: cup of mild coffee. I just I love it. And
Speaker 1: Travis will never understand why, and he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: because I love it. Don't drink it nice? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: well that's all we have for you on this uh
Speaker 1: lightning round today. Yeah, well, folks were coming to the end.
Speaker 1: No need to be sad though, because it's may so
Speaker 1: that there's one reason to be happy. And we're reading
Speaker 1: The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist, So we're continuing
Speaker 1: on with this book club thing, so there's another reason
Speaker 1: to be excited. So join us in our book club
Speaker 1: over on our Frugal Friends community group. Read this book
Speaker 1: alongside of us, engage in the conversation, grow in your knowledge,
Speaker 1: wisdom in sight, and yeah, get a free copy. If
Speaker 1: you don't already have one, there's another thing, or if
Speaker 1: your library doesn't have it, or it's already checked out
Speaker 1: by another Frugal Friend. So if you want a free copy,
Speaker 1: you can enter our monthly giveaway. All you have to
Speaker 1: do is leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher,
Speaker 1: screenshot the review, and send it to Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. And we select one winner for
Speaker 1: every five reviews at the end of the month. So
Speaker 1: that's pretty good odds. Yeah, and if you want an
Speaker 1: opportunity to get this free book, again, you've heard this before.
Speaker 1: It's going to be used, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: good quality, same content, very good quality. If you're an
Speaker 1: amazing yes, if you would like an opportunity to get
Speaker 1: a free book, then then do this. And if you're like,
Speaker 1: oh but but how how exactly. You've given me some tips.
Speaker 1: But what is this look like? Well, generally it looks
Speaker 1: like a really beautiful five stars and kind of like
Speaker 1: this one from Layla, who says love this podcast as
Speaker 1: a forever frugal few friends and family get my lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Love their alliteration, Leyla, great job. How refreshing it is
Speaker 1: to hear from Frugal Friends. Wow, short, sweet, to the point,
Speaker 1: plenty of alliteration, and she's in the running review. She's
Speaker 1: in the running for a free book. So yes, So
Speaker 1: if you want to leave us a review where every
Speaker 1: word starts with F, we would love that. Be careful,
Speaker 1: we would yeah most words, you know, But we would
Speaker 1: love for you to subscribe to the podcast and keep
Speaker 1: hanging out with us. Join us over on Facebook at
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends community, And until then, we will see
Speaker 1: you next week. See in next week. Got Bump Bump Bum.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Seian. No,
Speaker 1: we are not breaking out a song. I know that
Speaker 1: could sound like we would. It felt like an Oprah moment,
Speaker 1: you know, where you're just like singing everything. It comes
Speaker 1: with the territory of giving people free things. I think
Speaker 1: you know like we're in that position where we're just
Speaker 1: passing out free books. We're doing book clubs, we're doing reviews,
Speaker 1: we're talking with friends, we're giving people tips on life.
Speaker 1: It's it's the Oprah effect. Little do they know that
Speaker 1: I'm actually charging them twenty cents to listen hashtag hid fees.
Speaker 1: You you won't. You won't even know the money's gone
Speaker 1: and will be getting getting rich off them hidden fees. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to Chipotle with my hidden fees. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get me some Chick fil A sauce with
Speaker 1: my hidden fees. You could just go, you could just
Speaker 1: ask for Chick fil A sauce. They would give it
Speaker 1: to you for free. All right, I'm gonna get a
Speaker 1: chicken sandwich and dip it in my free Chick fil
Speaker 1: A sauce with my hidden fees. I love that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't know how to get all the free condiments. You're like,
Speaker 1: you stash it up over there. Oh did you see
Speaker 1: on our Frugal Friends community group that my mother in
Speaker 1: law gave some tips on what to do with those condiments. Yes,
Speaker 1: Travis also saw that and he appreciated it. Well. I
Speaker 1: can attest to the fact that it is a fantastic
Speaker 1: rib sauce. When you do that, she her ribs are
Speaker 1: out of this world, dynamite, fantastic. On some of those
Speaker 1: free condiment sauce packets just oh my word, whatever like
Speaker 1: catch up mustard, jams, jellies, so just literally whatever you
Speaker 1: have with some jelly and and then rub it all
Speaker 1: over those rips. Her name is Linda, right, Linda, Yeah, Linda.
Speaker 1: If you could please post your packets recipe for ribs
Speaker 1: in the group, we would love that. Listen. She doesn't
Speaker 1: have recipes. She literally she's like Mary Poppins in her kitchen.
Speaker 1: It can look like there's nothing in her kitchen. It
Speaker 1: can also look like she's not doing anything, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, there's dinner. There's like a five
Speaker 1: course dinner. And it's like, I literally was talking with
Speaker 1: you this whole time. I would well, I had eyes
Speaker 1: on you this entire time. Where did those ribs come from?
Speaker 1: Where did that fried rice come from? Oh? What is
Speaker 1: that fried chicken over there? What is that cheesy mashed potatoes?
Speaker 1: What? What What? What? It's amazing and I'm literally watching it happen.
Speaker 1: But I still couldn't explain to you how it happened.
Speaker 1: But honestly, her response would be like, just whatever you
Speaker 1: have in your fridge, like just get your sauce packets
Speaker 1: and put it out and just whip it together and
Speaker 1: then it never turns out that way for that gift. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't have that gift, So just record, maybe
Speaker 1: take a picture of her sauce packet drawers so we
Speaker 1: know kind of what she's working. I'll try, but like
Speaker 1: I said, it's like Mary Poppins, it's hard to it's
Speaker 1: it's hard to capture the magic while it's happening. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: If I catch it though, along with that leper con,
Speaker 1: I'll show you a picture let us know. Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: And that's enough talking