Speaker 1: Episode five hundred and seven, how to Save Money on food,
Speaker 1: take out restaurants and more edition.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver a your life. Here
Speaker 2: your hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are continuing our
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five series on how to save money on
Speaker 1: food in different categories, and today is one of our favorites.
Speaker 1: It's not our most favorite thing to spend money on
Speaker 1: is food made by other people for us, and that's
Speaker 1: takeout restaurants.
Speaker 3: I'm especially excited to do this episode because just this
Speaker 3: morning you were chatchypting how to get free takeout? I'm tired,
Speaker 3: chat GPT said, we get it.
Speaker 1: Chat GPT. Yeah, I was doing a little last minute
Speaker 1: research for the outline and because it's good to test
Speaker 1: different ways of asking and that, I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm tired because when I get takeout, I'm typically tired.
Speaker 1: So will it customize for that? And it empathized artificial
Speaker 1: empathy AE.
Speaker 3: It's not real, but it works. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we have a lot of good apps websites and
Speaker 1: programs to get not like I mean memberships, to get discounts,
Speaker 1: to get free et cetera. Takeout and restaurants so you
Speaker 1: can have other people make you food for less money.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to you by our
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Speaker 3: It's so great. I mean, you know, I'm the one
Speaker 3: who really enjoys a spreadsheet, and a lot of this
Speaker 3: is kind of launching off of the spreadsheet that I
Speaker 3: have used and created. But it's like on steroids in
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Speaker 1: Yes, all right, And something you will be planning a
Speaker 1: lot of, I hope is take out and restaurants, because
Speaker 1: we want to enjoy eating out. We don't want to
Speaker 1: do it impulsively. Forget that we did it. Anytime somebody
Speaker 1: cooks me food and I don't have to do the dishes,
Speaker 1: I say a little prayer of thankfulness and I just
Speaker 1: I just enjoy that moment and we want that for you.
Speaker 1: So but definitely be sure to catch our previous food episodes.
Speaker 1: Saving money on groceries, We've got how to save money
Speaker 1: on takeout from episode two forty seven, So it's been
Speaker 1: a while since we did one that was all like
Speaker 1: takeout tips. We're not going to regurgitate those tips in
Speaker 1: this one. And then we have how to Save money
Speaker 1: on Coffee episode that was when we did all coffee. Again,
Speaker 1: not going to regurgitate those tips. We're not going to
Speaker 1: really talk about coffee in this episode.
Speaker 3: Okay, So we're going to go through how to save
Speaker 3: money on this category in these four ways, how to
Speaker 3: get it free, low cost, a deal, and guilt free.
Speaker 3: So we're starting off with how to get take out
Speaker 3: restaurant food for free, and our first recommendation is mystery shopping.
Speaker 3: We have not talked about this in a lot ever, well,
Speaker 3: both you and I have done this in the past,
Speaker 3: we haven't recently, but it does work, and it is
Speaker 3: a way to go out to eat for free.
Speaker 1: And we say free because you do have to pay
Speaker 1: for it and then you get reimbursed. So I never
Speaker 1: recommend mystery shopping as a way to make money, but
Speaker 1: we always used it as a way to be able
Speaker 1: to go out and have somebody cook for us for free.
Speaker 1: So that is really how we've always viewed mystery shopping
Speaker 1: and it is legit. It does take a little bit
Speaker 1: of effort, but if you're looking to go out more
Speaker 1: frequently on you know, a zero dollar budget, this is it.
Speaker 3: Some of the sites you can use and order to
Speaker 3: mystery shop include Market Force. They will give you mystery
Speaker 3: shop opportunities at places like Five Guys, Buffalo Wild Wings,
Speaker 3: Papa Murphy's. Kind of your your fast food, fast casual
Speaker 3: kind of thing. Then best Mark is also fast food
Speaker 3: or and sit down dining sometimes even hotels with room service.
Speaker 1: I like best Mark. Best Mark was one that I
Speaker 1: used a lot.
Speaker 3: Okay, Coil Hospitality this is actually the one that I
Speaker 3: had signed up for, and they are more upscale. I
Speaker 3: didn't realize this about them, but I guess I can
Speaker 3: say that this is true more your fine dining, sometimes
Speaker 3: even luxury hotel meals. I think we did a PF
Speaker 3: Cheng's mystery shop with through Coilt Callee we've done.
Speaker 1: We did Seasons fifty two a lot.
Speaker 3: We did a rooftop bar.
Speaker 1: On a beach at Saint Pete Beach at a hotel
Speaker 1: several times. They have really nice hotel stays. But you
Speaker 1: have to do a lot of the restaurant ones and
Speaker 1: make friends with your person at coil to get those.
Speaker 1: So you got to work work towards it. But they
Speaker 1: do have nice hotel shops.
Speaker 3: Yeah, then you've got secret shopper dot com. So that's
Speaker 3: a variety of different shops, including fast casual restaurants and
Speaker 3: then the brand group that would be fast casual and
Speaker 3: fast food like Taco Bell or Kudoba. So feel free
Speaker 3: to look into any of those. And again we're gonna
Speaker 3: have all of these linked in the show notes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm probably in the friend letter as well. Okay,
Speaker 1: so a few mystery shopping tips before we move on.
Speaker 1: Never pay to join. So these aren't the only mystery
Speaker 1: shopping sites out there. There are definitely more, and it's
Speaker 1: not just restaurants. They have activities as well, mini golf, movies,
Speaker 1: all kinds of things. Never pay to join. All legit
Speaker 1: mystery shopping companies are free to apply to. You do
Speaker 1: have to pay at the restaurant and then you get reimbursed,
Speaker 1: usually via check from the mystery shop company. Stay organized.
Speaker 1: You will need to remember details like employee names, cleanliness, timing.
Speaker 1: I would set timers on my phone and take screenshots
Speaker 1: of times so that I could get the most accurate things,
Speaker 1: because that's what these that is what you're going in
Speaker 1: to do. You're working, So that's why the five dollars
Speaker 1: you make above and beyond your meal, that is truly
Speaker 1: payment for work. So that's why I don't view mystery
Speaker 1: shopping as a way to make money. Turn around. You
Speaker 1: have to get your report in pretty quickly. I think
Speaker 1: they want it within twenty four hours, and then they'll
Speaker 1: reimburse you, usually within a few weeks, sometimes faster and
Speaker 1: some companies I've never done this, but some companies will
Speaker 1: let you claim same day or next day. Shops a
Speaker 1: lot of them will email you. I still get emails
Speaker 1: from mystery shops same if they have a last minute
Speaker 1: thing or they have a extra boost in pay because
Speaker 1: they're having trouble finding someone. So yeah, so those are
Speaker 1: some mystery shopping tips, and that I think is our best.
Speaker 1: We could go off and list freebies, like you know,
Speaker 1: birthday freebies at places and stuff, but you know all
Speaker 1: those we spent over a year in the friend letter
Speaker 1: giving them to you every single Monday. We have like
Speaker 1: so many options that we've told you about, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've already heard, So that's what we're gonna I
Speaker 1: think harp on for the free part.
Speaker 3: Of this episode. Yeah, okay, So let's move into how
Speaker 3: to get restaurant food, takeout food at low cost so apps.
Speaker 3: There are some really great apps and new apps coming
Speaker 3: out pretty regularly, so worth staying on top of. But
Speaker 3: some of our favorites include Too Good to Go. So
Speaker 3: that is an app where usually bakeries, restaurants, some of
Speaker 3: your local eateries will give away food at super low
Speaker 3: cost that they weren't able to sell that day. It
Speaker 3: might be stuff that maybe they'd have to throw away
Speaker 3: that night or the next day. It's not bad, but
Speaker 3: it might be close to expiring, and so you can
Speaker 3: get it at a steep discount. So definitely worth looking into,
Speaker 3: especially if you are in just like an urban or
Speaker 3: suburban area. For instance, I went on the app last
Speaker 3: week and there was a bag full of food from
Speaker 3: a local Jamaican restaurant for five ninety nine. Now, the
Speaker 3: thing with Too Good to Go is oftentimes you won't
Speaker 3: actually know what you're getting. They'll just say a bag
Speaker 3: of maybe this type of food mystery bags, yeactually, and
Speaker 3: so like if it's a bakery, a lot of times
Speaker 3: it'll be a bag of croissants, maybe bread bagels, that
Speaker 3: kind of a thing. At this Jamaican restaurant, they kind
Speaker 3: of alluded to, you know, whatever meat and rice and
Speaker 3: beans were left over at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: and then they'll state how much that would typically go for,
Speaker 3: so you can kind of get an idea of portion size.
Speaker 3: So I think it said this would typically retail for
Speaker 3: twenty dollars the amount of food that you're getting for
Speaker 3: five ninety nine. It is one of those last minute
Speaker 3: things like you'd want to check it during the day
Speaker 3: if you plan to pick it up that evening, order
Speaker 3: your bag online and then be sure that you can
Speaker 3: swing by. They usually give you a timeframe like between
Speaker 3: five to seven pick up your bag for this amount.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw one. There's one of our favorite Indian restaurants.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a bag available, but they had recently had
Speaker 1: a bag of Indian food for five ninety nine. And
Speaker 1: this is like a very nice not a nice fast
Speaker 1: casual Indian restaurant, but I love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, five ninety nine for takeout can't go wrong.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So then also we've talked about flash food before in
Speaker 1: our grocery episode. So this one is helped. Like you
Speaker 1: get fifty percent off groceries at you know grocery stores
Speaker 1: across the country, and they will often have like.
Speaker 3: Pre made foods as well.
Speaker 1: So I zoomed out in the state of Florida and
Speaker 1: found a grocery store that had a lot of like
Speaker 1: pre prepared foods that it was putting on flash food
Speaker 1: so sandwiches, salads, stuff like that a great way, like
Speaker 1: if you did if you're near one. This particular one
Speaker 1: was like in the Orlando area, and a great lunch option.
Speaker 1: Pick it up and then there's your lunch for the
Speaker 1: next day or your dinner for that night. They have
Speaker 1: like very very generous like pickup options. I think my
Speaker 1: last one, I had a couple days to pick it up.
Speaker 1: So that is a really good option to keep you
Speaker 1: out of the grocer regular grocery store where you could
Speaker 1: pick up you could be browsing and pick up other
Speaker 1: things you don't need.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I mean, speaking of the grocery store. One
Speaker 3: of the things that is a little adjacent to adjacent
Speaker 3: to this, but I think worth stating is considering getting
Speaker 3: some pre prepared meals from the grocery store. I think
Speaker 3: that that is an alternative to take out where you're
Speaker 3: not actually cooking the things, but you're spending less than
Speaker 3: you would at a restaurant or taking out from a restaurant. So,
Speaker 3: whether that's just a frozen pizza or a completely marinated
Speaker 3: cooked chicken that you just have to reheat, you know,
Speaker 3: something in that kind of grab and go section of
Speaker 3: your local grocery store could be a good option when
Speaker 3: you are just feeling too tired to cook. It's maybe
Speaker 3: more than your groceries, but again less than what you'd
Speaker 3: spend at a restaurant. Also, you've got a wholesale club
Speaker 3: membership like Costco or Sam's Club. You know the hack
Speaker 3: of them hot dogs. Okay, they're always inexpensive, they're always
Speaker 3: low cost, but they also have other things too, like
Speaker 3: that kale salad that you love so much. From Costco,
Speaker 3: you can also get as a smaller takeout portion through
Speaker 3: their kind of like pre prepared food line.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a flash food then look a
Speaker 1: foodhro dot com. That's another app. It's similar to flash food.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I have been getting more and we just
Speaker 1: did a video on this for the month or for
Speaker 1: the weekly money move of buying a more expensive pre
Speaker 1: prepared meat but saving overall if it helps avoid takeout
Speaker 1: or feels like takeout without going out. So next is deal,
Speaker 1: So how can we get a deal on things? And
Speaker 1: this one I found a few new options that I
Speaker 1: really liked. I haven't tried yet, but I just learned
Speaker 1: about them. So these two are similar. First, it's called
Speaker 1: Seated and you book a table through the app, you eat,
Speaker 1: you upload your receipt and you can get thirty percent
Speaker 1: back and give cards to like Amazon, Starbucks, stuff like this.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they have other choices, but it's an app that
Speaker 1: gives you kind of like an elevated cash back. The
Speaker 1: other app that I really liked is called Offline, and
Speaker 1: this isn't super widely available. It's in big cities, but
Speaker 1: it's a subscription based dining club designed to help members
Speaker 1: discover and enjoy local restaurants. So it's fifteen dollars a
Speaker 1: month and you will get up to two credits for
Speaker 1: restaurants and the credits give you We'll give you ten
Speaker 1: to thirty dollars off of your bill, and so you
Speaker 1: can go in there. You can book up to thirty
Speaker 1: days early, so you can make sure you can nab
Speaker 1: those thirty dollars ones, but you get to take advantage
Speaker 1: of it two restaurants per month, and if you don't
Speaker 1: save fifteen dollars, then they refund you your like membership
Speaker 1: fee essentially at the end of the year. I think
Speaker 1: they'll refund you the excess. I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 1: But you can also bank credits, so if you don't
Speaker 1: use it one month, those credits will roll over. You
Speaker 1: can bank up to six So yeah, it's let's get
Speaker 1: offline dot com. You can find out if it's in
Speaker 1: your area. So those are the two new things that
Speaker 1: I found that like, Yeah, thirty bucks off at a restaurant.
Speaker 3: That'd be great. Yeah. Some of the other sites that
Speaker 3: I like forgetting discounts on food include group on and
Speaker 3: Living Social. These sites, there's a lot that you can
Speaker 3: book on there, from activities.
Speaker 1: Lep on, vacation.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 1: We keep saying it it's old and feels dated, but
Speaker 1: it's still there and thriving.
Speaker 3: It's one of the places that I check and whenever
Speaker 3: we have guests in town, if we want to go
Speaker 3: out and do an activity. So many times there's deals
Speaker 3: for breweries and activities, but also local restaurants if they're
Speaker 3: just trying to get people in the door honestly too,
Speaker 3: spa services, massages, laser waxing, you name it.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, your birthday present that I got
Speaker 1: you was a Groupon. It was that distillery tour.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, yeah, yep, even that too. Yeah. But since
Speaker 3: we're primarily talking restaurants here, definitely check out Groupon and
Speaker 3: Living Social for that. Something else you can do is
Speaker 3: if you already use or have the Yelp app, if
Speaker 3: that's a way that you like finding restaurants and being
Speaker 3: able to look at the ratings and such a lot
Speaker 3: of times Yelp will have deals on different places is
Speaker 3: that you might be going.
Speaker 1: You don't even have to have the app, they can.
Speaker 1: They just do it on the website too. It's like
Speaker 1: a buy a fifteen dollars gift car. It's a gift car,
Speaker 1: but it's virtual and you're getting thirty dollars for fifteen
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 3: So there was a time actually when we were visiting
Speaker 3: Florida before we moved here, I was just looking on
Speaker 3: Yelp for a place to go eat and they and
Speaker 3: I wanted to try key Lime Pie. So I found
Speaker 3: this place that said they have great key lime pie.
Speaker 3: Then through Yelp it said, if you order like fifteen
Speaker 3: dollars worth of food, you get a free slice of
Speaker 3: key lime pie. Like that is perfect. Yeah, you just
Speaker 3: have to activate the deal if you are doing it
Speaker 3: through the app.
Speaker 1: So they have deals like that on the app. And
Speaker 1: then they also have kind of like restaurant dot com
Speaker 1: where you buy the you know, twenty dollars and you
Speaker 1: get a thirty dollars gift card sort of thing.
Speaker 3: And similar to that again if you have a wholesale membership,
Speaker 3: if you're part of a wholesale club, then a lot
Speaker 3: of times you can get gift cards to different places, restaurants,
Speaker 3: even movie theaters for usually at least five dollars off.
Speaker 3: There's usually always something, you know, here's a fifty dollars
Speaker 3: gift card for forty five dollars. I think at one
Speaker 3: time Eric and I really wanted to go to a
Speaker 3: top golf just to try it out. Thought that that
Speaker 3: would be kind of a fun date night activity. And
Speaker 3: Costco had one hundred dollars gift cards for eighty dollars,
Speaker 3: so a good twenty percent off. We went with friends,
Speaker 3: so they paid us half of that gift cards. We
Speaker 3: were able to get, you know, fifty dollars worth of
Speaker 3: stuff for forty dollars, which felt worth it because then
Speaker 3: we also went on a half off night before for
Speaker 3: a certain time. Oh yeah, we hacked the whole thing
Speaker 3: than Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but there's plenty of ways to
Speaker 3: get discounted gift cards too, which is also something to
Speaker 3: think about, especially around the holidays when all these restaurants
Speaker 3: are offering steep discounts on their gift cards. Something you
Speaker 3: could kind of plan ahead for, not just for gifts,
Speaker 3: but for yourself, your future takeout loving self.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's if you want to use search or AI
Speaker 1: to find like, there's gonna be some kind of hopefully
Speaker 1: local service that does this. They they go with local,
Speaker 1: They find local restaurants and partner with them to offer
Speaker 1: deals like buy you know one hundred dollars or buy
Speaker 1: it you know for eighty dollars you get one hundred
Speaker 1: dollars e.
Speaker 3: Gift certificate sort of things.
Speaker 1: So definitely search to see if your local area has
Speaker 1: something like that and if not, costco great option.
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk guilt free spending full track out
Speaker 3: and restaurants because eventually we get there. We love going
Speaker 3: through this list, how can I get it for free,
Speaker 3: low cost deal? But eventually we're spending full price and
Speaker 3: we don't care. We love it. We are not guilty
Speaker 3: or ashamed of it because we know we're making good
Speaker 3: values driven decisions. And usually that's going to include first
Speaker 3: looking to local, sustainable options, so considering how we can
Speaker 3: eat ethically and healthy, and a lot of that's going
Speaker 3: to be going to your local restaurants. So even if
Speaker 3: you can't afford to sit down at these restaurants, take
Speaker 3: out at that take out.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing, you don't have to be thinking
Speaker 1: about everything at once. When you choose local. Your local
Speaker 1: restaurants are going to be more likely using local produce
Speaker 1: which is sustainable than your national chains. So you can
Speaker 1: hit two birds with one stone and you don't even
Speaker 1: have to think about the other bird just by making
Speaker 1: that one choice. We love efficient choices, So supporting your
Speaker 1: local restaurants. If you can't support them, and I sit
Speaker 1: down ones, you can choose takeout, you can choose fast casual.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go one hundred percent. I know
Speaker 1: that some of these small, local, independent, you know, sit
Speaker 1: down restaurants are very expensive, so if you need to
Speaker 1: go with the national change change for sit down, then
Speaker 1: choose commit to your fast casual, your fast food. All
Speaker 1: of all of that lower cost stuff being local.
Speaker 3: You can also opt for breakfast and lunch dates instead
Speaker 3: of dinner, so that will absolutely be lower cost. Breakfast
Speaker 3: is less expensive than lunch, Lunch is less expensive than dinner.
Speaker 3: A lot of times there's specials during these times. You
Speaker 3: can also look into whether your local restaurants have early
Speaker 3: or late night specials, like an early happy hour. So
Speaker 3: many places are doing happy hours, so take advantage of that.
Speaker 3: Also consider splitting. This is something that allows Eric and
Speaker 3: I to go out more often is to find the
Speaker 3: places that are serving the healthy portions and we can
Speaker 3: split a meal, or we might opt to not get drinks,
Speaker 3: or we'll share just a couple of appetizers. There's kind
Speaker 3: of different ways to be able to hack it or
Speaker 3: both get a meal, save half of it for the
Speaker 3: next day for lunch. But a big bought a boom.
Speaker 3: We've solved two meals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we like to look for kids eat free specials.
Speaker 1: That's really nice. It's usually one per entree, so we
Speaker 1: get two kids meals two entrees too good to go.
Speaker 3: To You know what, what's also too good to go like?
Speaker 3: We're never getting rid of it despite minimal.
Speaker 1: They don't even charge us five ninety nine for it.
Speaker 5: No, this is free the bill of the week.
Speaker 6: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 6: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 6: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 6: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 6: that bill anymore. Touch bills, Buffalo bills, bill clean. This
Speaker 6: is the bill up the week.
Speaker 4: Hi you too, I'm excited to have a bill of
Speaker 4: the week to share. This week, I went to get
Speaker 4: an eye exam at one of those stores that advertise
Speaker 4: two pairs of glasses for a pretty reasonable price. When
Speaker 4: I finished up with everything, the price they gave me
Speaker 4: was two hundred and eighty three dollars for one pair
Speaker 4: of glasses. I asked them, wouldn't it be cheaper to
Speaker 4: just do it without insurance and go with the rate
Speaker 4: that you advertise. So they ransom numbers and it turns
Speaker 4: out that I ended up getting two pairs of glasses
Speaker 4: for two hundred and twenty five dollars. Still kind of pricey,
Speaker 4: but that's what happens as the years go and you
Speaker 4: need progressive lenses. All in all, I think that was
Speaker 4: a pretty good win. I love listening to you guys.
Speaker 4: Keep up the good work. And also I just ordered
Speaker 4: my pre order book today. Can't wait to read it.
Speaker 1: Yay Abby, thank you so much for pre ordering the
Speaker 1: book by what you lovebook dot com buy what you
Speaker 1: Love withot going Brown.
Speaker 3: That's nearly my favorite part by it. But also so
Speaker 3: thrilled at what you were able to do with getting
Speaker 3: glasses for less expensive breaking it through.
Speaker 1: It is so interesting with insurance, and I would say
Speaker 1: this is especially applies to optometry and dental work that
Speaker 1: even if you have coverage to always ask them to
Speaker 1: run numbers with any promotions they're doing for self pay.
Speaker 1: So that's always worth it to ask. And even gosh,
Speaker 1: like care if you're I'm not gonna say anything weird.
Speaker 1: If you're near the end of the year and you
Speaker 1: have not met your deductible and you will not, you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna have to pay for something on your
Speaker 1: health insurance, that would be a good time to ask
Speaker 1: then as well, like, can I see what this would
Speaker 1: be as self pay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they can allow you to choose that or not. Right,
Speaker 3: they're still getting paid either way. They might even get
Speaker 3: paid more with your self pay than what they're going
Speaker 3: to get from the insurance smpoldies.
Speaker 1: It always, but especially with optometry and dental for sure
Speaker 1: worth asking and look for. These are the ones that
Speaker 1: are running specials. You're not getting special at the family
Speaker 1: health practice, right, but dentists and optometrists are always running spy.
Speaker 1: So go and if they're trying to, if it seems
Speaker 1: like they're trying to scam you out more money, ask
Speaker 1: them to run some numbers. I always ask, always hurts
Speaker 1: to ask, run it through that filter. Can I get
Speaker 1: this for low cost? Can I get a deal on it?
Speaker 3: I mean not in like a cheap way, not just
Speaker 3: to be cheap about it, but if you know that
Speaker 3: there's a deal out there, a discount out there for you,
Speaker 3: like why not? Why spend more than you.
Speaker 1: Need to ask inquisitively, not rudely, not like you deserve it,
Speaker 1: but you truly want to know, because that is the
Speaker 1: heart that we are asking these questions with. I don't
Speaker 1: know what I don't know, and we want to offer
Speaker 1: you questions to ask to find out.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much, Abby for sharing your bill
Speaker 3: about that. So glad you have two new pairs of
Speaker 3: glasses that they look adorable. If you all have a
Speaker 3: bill that you want to submit, if it's about self
Speaker 3: paying for less, if it's about deals and discounts, or
Speaker 3: your name is Bill and you just want to call
Speaker 3: to check on your frugal friends, visit frugal friendspodcast dot com,
Speaker 3: slash bill leave it for us. We cannot wait, and
Speaker 3: now it's time for.
Speaker 1: Okay, when do you eat at restaurants or order delivery
Speaker 1: slash takeout? And I am really interested at your answer, Jillian,
Speaker 1: tell me about it.
Speaker 3: I am. I eat out at least one time a weekend,
Speaker 3: at least at least okay, but that's always in the plant. Yeah,
Speaker 3: always always in the plan, at least because.
Speaker 1: It seems like the amount of money you spend per
Speaker 1: month on takeout restaurants.
Speaker 3: Really, I do restaurants far. I don't okay, hot take
Speaker 3: I really don't love takeout. It's not my favorite thing.
Speaker 3: I feel like every time my order gets messed up,
Speaker 3: the food is cold. I much prefer to sit down experience. Yeah,
Speaker 3: well you're fully all the way out.
Speaker 1: You don't have Hellians running around making your experience miserable, right,
Speaker 1: I like to contain them in the cage I call
Speaker 1: a house. But I would love to go to restaurants
Speaker 1: too otherwise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but even I mean fast casual is a super
Speaker 3: common thing. I love five guys I do. I love burgers,
Speaker 3: so I love hot dogs. Everyone knows this about me.
Speaker 3: But you know what, I also love a good burger
Speaker 3: you can eat real fast. And if I said this
Speaker 3: on the mic, You've said it on the mic. You've
Speaker 3: said it that if I ever were to do a
Speaker 3: talent show, like if someone was like, what would be
Speaker 3: the thing you get up and do, it would be
Speaker 3: me eating a burger super fast. I never put it down.
Speaker 3: I just inhale it.
Speaker 1: And you win because no one no one would be impressed,
Speaker 1: but everyone would just be like so weirded out, But
Speaker 1: it would be the best, Like you will you will
Speaker 1: deliver on.
Speaker 3: You, I will deliver Yeah on the hatch inhaled gone.
Speaker 3: I just sometimes a burger just hits. So those are that.
Speaker 3: That's a common thing. But pretty much every Sunday for lunch,
Speaker 3: I'm eating out. We're out to a restaurant.
Speaker 1: And you spend two hundred dollars on Sunday lunch.
Speaker 3: No, we must be I mean we are going. I'm
Speaker 3: just saying, yeah, no, we spend about I'll just be
Speaker 3: transparent with you all because I know we're all wondering
Speaker 3: how much is normal this. I don't think this is
Speaker 3: normal because it is much above the national average. But
Speaker 3: we do spend about five hundred two six hundred dollars
Speaker 3: a month on food that is not groceries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think is I think is closer to
Speaker 1: the average than the average that we're hearing. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think the data might be a
Speaker 1: little skewed for some reason.
Speaker 3: We're Eric and I. I will say, sometimes, for whatever reason,
Speaker 3: we're buying for other people. I'm not looking new in
Speaker 3: the eyes as I say that, But that's what it is.
Speaker 1: It's you're not look me in the eyes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because they feel like you're gonna be like, why
Speaker 3: are you paying for people? Oh?
Speaker 1: No, I thought you were saying like you're paying for me.
Speaker 1: I was like, sometimes we're paying for people.
Speaker 3: No, not you.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: No. If we don't get out together, we use the
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends card.
Speaker 1: We buy each other exactly, lunch exactly.
Speaker 3: Okay, what about you, Jen, We do eat out once
Speaker 3: a week.
Speaker 1: We spend about I would say three to four hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: Honestly.
Speaker 1: The only takeout we get is pizza. We'll do pizza
Speaker 1: two or three times a month, and we'll do torchiese
Speaker 1: tacos two or three times a month. And that's really it.
Speaker 3: There was a time where you were going to Torcheese
Speaker 3: every Tuesday or was it Wednesday? Because it was it
Speaker 3: was kids Eat Free.
Speaker 1: No, that was Tiwana Flats and that was we went
Speaker 1: one time.
Speaker 3: I love to make up sorries.
Speaker 1: We have a retraction, folks, we don't because there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of kids Eat Free promos, at least in
Speaker 1: places I want to go to.
Speaker 3: Grandaucianda has kids Eat Free.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's a sit down, like you don't want
Speaker 1: to do that. It's just very difficult with like we went,
Speaker 1: where were we the other day? Oh, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: this is a great story. I'm not even to say
Speaker 1: it for the after show. This we're at PetSmart because
Speaker 1: we got a dog.
Speaker 3: Okay, maybe that's what we'll talk about. Happy, Yeah, and
Speaker 3: that's why you're saying it like, and that's where my
Speaker 3: head's been at.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: So we were at pet Smart getting treats for the
Speaker 1: dog because we need more treats because she's in training,
Speaker 1: and the dog's not even there, and my two children
Speaker 1: are running around the store. Atlas is screaming through the
Speaker 1: store and he's got these shoes that have like squeakers
Speaker 1: in them, so he's squeaking running through the store. Kai
Speaker 1: has found a squeaky toy and he's running through the
Speaker 1: store squeaking it. And I am actually standing in line
Speaker 1: to buy the treats and I'm behind two people and
Speaker 1: Atlas flies by. Travis is running after him, and I say, man,
Speaker 1: I feel sorry for that kid's mom. Oh no, and
Speaker 1: the guy Travis kind of hears me, but the guy
Speaker 1: like looks and he's like, and I'm thinking this is
Speaker 1: a joke. Only a mother it would make right. The
Speaker 1: guy in front of me didn't know that, and he
Speaker 1: like just kind of looks, you know, awkward. So Travis
Speaker 1: comes through and he's like, did you just say you
Speaker 1: feel sorry for our family? Like not knowing, not connecting
Speaker 1: the dots, and this guy's he's like, oh man, this
Speaker 1: this middle aged father with a two year old and
Speaker 1: this woman holding the bag of treats are about to fight, yes,
Speaker 1: and he and then Travis is like, you're his mom.
Speaker 1: And so then this man gets it, like the thing
Speaker 1: has come full circle and he's dying laughing. He has
Speaker 1: had an epiphany and he loves it. And so I'm
Speaker 1: walking out and this guy like walks past me, and
Speaker 1: you could tell he's been thinking of a follow up
Speaker 1: response like the whole time, you know, And so he
Speaker 1: walks by me and he's like, I feel sorry for
Speaker 1: that guy's wife. And I was like, oh, man, you tried.
Speaker 3: I mean, he wanted in on the show. He did.
Speaker 1: He wanted like a Quippi like fire follow up and
Speaker 1: he he tried. Wow, But that's like the thing and
Speaker 1: the kid's still running around right Like I do feel
Speaker 1: sorry for that guy's wife, But that's what my life
Speaker 1: is like what And I like to think that I'm
Speaker 1: an adequate mother, you know, But this is still how
Speaker 1: young boys act. I guess some young girls do too.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just the age or the personality.
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's probably a whole big old combination.
Speaker 1: Big old combo.
Speaker 3: But so yeah, I will do.
Speaker 1: We'll do We'll order in pizza, we'll pick it up
Speaker 1: so we don't have to pay delivery, and uh, we'll
Speaker 1: do torchies tacos because I am I love for about
Speaker 1: Like since it opened in Saint Petersburg, which has probably
Speaker 1: been like over a year, there are very few other
Speaker 1: places that I will go. Yeah, it's not a huge chain.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Something else I'm judgmental about for me to be
Speaker 3: honest with your people in general is you can be
Speaker 3: honest is pizza. So I am accustomed to and I
Speaker 3: didn't realize this until I moved to Florida. Good pizza.
Speaker 3: There is a pizza place pretty much on every corner,
Speaker 3: like an Italian, locally owned pizza shop on every corner
Speaker 3: where I grew up, and it's all just great pizza,
Speaker 3: like New York style pizza. And then I come down
Speaker 3: to Florida and they just don't exist. And everyone here
Speaker 3: seems to do like Papa John's Dominoes. What are the others?
Speaker 3: I don't even know, but they hurt my belly. Pizza. Huh. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we got a slice of Gulfport shout out Gulfport, Florida.
Speaker 1: Nice and it's fantastic. Oh, that's good, that's our thing.
Speaker 3: Nice. So in my judgment, though, I do frozen pizzas here. Actually,
Speaker 3: like the pendulum swings so far that if I'm doing pizza,
Speaker 3: it's frozen pizza. And I just wait till I go
Speaker 3: up to PA to get myself better take out pizza.
Speaker 3: But you know what, everything else is better here, So yeah,
Speaker 3: there's that.
Speaker 1: I guess if you're local to the Tampa Bay area
Speaker 1: and you've got a good pizza place, let us know.
Speaker 1: But I do. I like Slice of Golf. But also
Speaker 1: I don't know any better.
Speaker 3: You have to be from the northeast, Yeah, to recommend
Speaker 3: a pizza place, okay, in the Tampa Bay area, that
Speaker 3: is because.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything different. And even when I was
Speaker 1: in New York and I had bagels, I didn't really
Speaker 1: notice a difference. So and I had pizza in New
Speaker 1: York City quite often, and I didn't really notice a difference.
Speaker 1: So like, I don't know if I'm just numb, like
Speaker 1: I have no feelings anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I was young then too, and we have
Speaker 3: found a decent place actually near us. I just I
Speaker 3: don't think about it too often now that I'm down
Speaker 3: here and now pizzas are like thirty bucks. They are
Speaker 3: You're a whole pie. It's not even I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: you can still feed four people, so still it is
Speaker 3: relatively inexpensive. It just feels like I'm getting strangled. Oh
Speaker 3: now I want pizza. I am getting hungry. Thanks so
Speaker 3: much for listening, everyone, and thank you for leaving us
Speaker 3: such kind reviews of the book. You all are showing
Speaker 3: up and telling us how much you love by what
Speaker 3: you love without going broke, and I'm here for it.
Speaker 3: Like this review from Lily about the book five stars says,
Speaker 3: I have been listening to Jen and Jill on the
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends podcast for a couple of years now, and
Speaker 3: every time I listen, I feel as I'm just sitting
Speaker 3: down and chatting with friends, no judgment. There's kindness and
Speaker 3: so much fun. I have tried several approaches to finances
Speaker 3: over them years, and it wasn't until I came across
Speaker 3: these awesome ladies that I felt like I was finally
Speaker 3: figuring it out as a real life person who struggles
Speaker 3: to stick with financial plans that don't feel like they
Speaker 3: are practical to attain. The concept they introduced of the
Speaker 3: radical middle was awesome. I have a husband, pets, and kids,
Speaker 3: and learning to tailor a budget and goals that still
Speaker 3: allow me to live and make mistakes was a game
Speaker 3: changer to actually staying on track. And then these lovely
Speaker 3: ladies dropped a book. It was amazing. I love that
Speaker 3: it felt like tuning into the podcast like I was
Speaker 3: chatting with my friends. It was so fun to read,
Speaker 3: and the personal touches and stories are what makes it
Speaker 3: enjoyable and relatable. Love the approach to finances. Facts and
Speaker 3: numbers are a part of my financial picture, but incorporating
Speaker 3: a new viewpoint has taught me to focus on what
Speaker 3: I love and my dream just added a whole new
Speaker 3: level to my financial understanding and journey. So grateful for
Speaker 3: these ladies who really get it understanding that finances are
Speaker 3: so much more than numbers. Love the book. Highly recommend
Speaker 3: any of your friends, whether they are frugal or not.
Speaker 1: Yes, Lily Sames, we have a similar life track and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you felt seen with this one. If
Speaker 1: you have read the book by What you Love without
Speaker 1: going broke, we would love if you would leave a
Speaker 1: review on Amazon. It's where even people who get it
Speaker 1: from the library go first to see if a book
Speaker 1: is worth reading. So even if you got it from
Speaker 1: the library, if you could go to Amazon or interview,
Speaker 1: that would be so appreciated. If you haven't, head to
Speaker 1: buy what youlovebook dot com get a copy of the book.
Speaker 1: There is even instructions on that page on how to
Speaker 1: request it at your library if they don't carry it.
Speaker 3: See y'all next time.
Speaker 1: May. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All Right,
Speaker 1: I think it's time to talk about it. Okay, I
Speaker 1: got a dog.
Speaker 3: You got a puppy. I got a puppy, which is
Speaker 3: still a dog, but it's a very specific kind of
Speaker 3: thg when it's puppy. All Right, I'll just have we
Speaker 3: not said this yet.
Speaker 1: We alluded to it, we've alluded to it, but I
Speaker 1: haven't really gone into the situation behind how we got it.
Speaker 1: My mom got a dog and couldn't Ah, she ended
Speaker 1: up with the dog.
Speaker 3: I think she was kind of.
Speaker 1: Persuaded into, yeah, into getting the dog.
Speaker 3: She didn't have to pay for it.
Speaker 1: It was kind of gifted to her and so she
Speaker 1: got it and she was like, none, this dog is crazy.
Speaker 1: And she also lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment
Speaker 1: with her fiance.
Speaker 3: Oh she works full time and work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she works full time, just not able to Actually
Speaker 1: they're always going out. They have a vibrant social life.
Speaker 1: So she returns it to her boss, who is who
Speaker 1: gifted her this puppy, and the boss takes it to
Speaker 1: work every day, and so my mom sends me pictures.
Speaker 1: She's like, I've you know, I hate seeing this reminder
Speaker 1: of you know, what I couldn't do, and I was.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's a cute dog. It is a
Speaker 1: all black standard poodle what we think might be a
Speaker 1: giant poodle because apparently the dad was one hundred pounds
Speaker 1: pure bread, so a victim of hurricane flooding and.
Speaker 3: From a breeder.
Speaker 1: So we go in to like visit with the puppy
Speaker 1: to look at it, and we I'm home with it
Speaker 1: unbeknownst to us, Well you were considering, We were considering
Speaker 1: with you, but not that day. We were just there
Speaker 1: to look at it, and they sent us home with it.
Speaker 1: I guess her boss has six dogs already, and so
Speaker 1: the boss's husband was like, no more dogs, and she
Speaker 1: wasn't going to get rid of it, but she would
Speaker 1: get rid of it to us because then she could
Speaker 1: see it more. I think that's why she gave it
Speaker 1: to my mom in the first place. So we since
Speaker 1: February have had this puppy and she's crazy.
Speaker 3: She's super cute.
Speaker 1: She's very cute. She's very crazy. I still don't like puppies.
Speaker 1: I'm not a big pet person.
Speaker 3: But the kid's lover. Have they become acclimated because I
Speaker 3: know she was like, you know, puppies talk with their
Speaker 3: mouths and that can be scary to kids. Yeah, they
Speaker 3: know that.
Speaker 1: They still don't like being bit. You know, they don't
Speaker 1: enjoy it, but they understand it, at least Kai does.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it also came.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you this was the real reason we
Speaker 1: brought her home. We needed to repair our fence from
Speaker 1: the hurricanes, and hurricanes like hurricanes have brought up fence prices.
Speaker 1: I mean they've doubled, and we just haven't been able
Speaker 1: to find room in the budget or the motivation to
Speaker 1: find room and the mushet to repair the fence. And
Speaker 1: my Mom's like, I will pay for half of your fence.
Speaker 3: Repair if you take this dog will cost money. That's
Speaker 3: the thing. The dog will cost you money.
Speaker 1: She said that, and I was like, I think that's
Speaker 1: how that dog ended up going home with us that day.
Speaker 1: I sometimes look at her and I'm like, it wasn't
Speaker 1: enough money.
Speaker 3: Okay, and real, real talk, how is it? How has
Speaker 3: it been going? You made this decision a little bit
Speaker 3: on a whim. The kids love her.
Speaker 1: I she has gotten us outside more, which I know
Speaker 1: you don't get a dog to do that. You you know,
Speaker 1: have that lifestyle and then a dog companies, but we
Speaker 1: kind of did have that lifestyle, and so being outside
Speaker 1: even more, having the kids like out of off of
Speaker 1: the TV has been really fun. And we've been training
Speaker 1: her and so we know like once we put the
Speaker 1: work in to train her. Even the people at the
Speaker 1: dog training place were like, she's really smart, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm glad somebody thinks so. But yeah, So if you
Speaker 1: have any tips for standard poodles El Jen at Frugal
Speaker 1: friendspodcast dot com, Jen and Jen only Jen at Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com. You can respond to any of
Speaker 1: the friend letters. They go to me and yeah, I had.
Speaker 1: The thing that has been keeping me going has been
Speaker 1: I heard one thing on Reddit and they said, the
Speaker 1: puppy you have is not the dog you'll have yeah,
Speaker 1: And I was like, god, I hope.
Speaker 3: So it just is, you know, you're buckling up because
Speaker 3: they are puppies for two years.
Speaker 1: I know, and we got her at six months, so
Speaker 1: we'll have, you know, eighteen months sixty I don't know.
Speaker 3: I have lost the cook. We don't even know what
Speaker 3: day it is, math. We just know we're hungry. Yeah,