Speaker 1: Episode three seventy eight, Psychological Reasons Why we impulse.
Speaker 2: By Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn
Speaker 2: to save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts
Speaker 2: 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 talking psychology
Speaker 1: of spending. This is one of our favorite topics. This
Speaker 1: is kind of the reason that we are writing our book.
Speaker 1: It's very much the heart of it. And so today
Speaker 1: we are doing things a smidge differently. We're going to
Speaker 1: still do an article, We're only going to do one,
Speaker 1: and we're going to try to give actionable tips after
Speaker 1: every explanation, so not just the why, but also the how.
Speaker 3: Shaken everything up. We know a lot of people struggle
Speaker 3: with impulse purchases and sometimes understanding why can help give
Speaker 3: us the techniques to then combat it in some helpful,
Speaker 3: beneficial ways. But first, this episode is brought to you
Speaker 3: by curators, all of them like the ones for art, wine, furniture, music, botanicals, wildlife, literature, oddities,
Speaker 3: all the rest.
Speaker 4: Are they necessary? Probably not? Is it a dope job?
Speaker 3: Most likely they're the ones telling us what's worth our time.
Speaker 3: What's not They drank the bad wine, looked at the
Speaker 3: weird art, got bit by the wildlife, so we can
Speaker 3: drink the good stuff.
Speaker 4: Still look at the weird art, but hopefully not get bit.
Speaker 3: And if a Somalier for your finances is exactly what
Speaker 3: you need, help us curate the content for you by
Speaker 3: taking our buy annual mega survey. It sounds important because
Speaker 3: it is, but don't worry, it's not that long. Ten questions.
Speaker 3: Take the survey get better content from us, because it's
Speaker 3: how we curate what we give to you.
Speaker 1: Yes, nine multiple choice and one short answer. And when
Speaker 1: we mean short it means you're not allowed to give
Speaker 1: a long answer. So this is going out in the
Speaker 1: friend letter. You have until February ninth to fill it out.
Speaker 1: It's going to be in the friend letter all week
Speaker 1: in every email. So if you are not getting the
Speaker 1: friend letter, head to Frugal friendspodcast dot com. Get the
Speaker 1: friend letter so that you can be part of our
Speaker 1: curated content. I really like Somalie for your finances.
Speaker 4: Isn't that right?
Speaker 1: Love to be that?
Speaker 4: I think we are.
Speaker 1: We just be like given tastes of something out like
Speaker 1: free samps.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're just like swirl this around in your mouth.
Speaker 1: That's and we don't say it, no, not on a podcast,
Speaker 1: because it gives too many ways that you could shake
Speaker 1: that up in your mind. Okay, Anyways, psychology reasons that
Speaker 1: we spend. We've done this topic a lot in the past.
Speaker 1: We've got episode three point fifty one where we talk
Speaker 1: about impulse buying, what it is, how to stop, Episode
Speaker 1: two seventy nine Tips to avoid impulse spending. And so
Speaker 1: that's why we wanted to revisit it again with a
Speaker 1: few different types of maybe not so much of like
Speaker 1: the jargon of psychology, but maybe more of the actions
Speaker 1: that come from it, and then some tips to stop,
Speaker 1: some strategies. So when we pulled you guys, you guys,
Speaker 1: most of you, we pulled you and asked in the frontlinder,
Speaker 1: how many impulse buys that you're doing per week? And
Speaker 1: a lot of you guys were saying, you know, one, two, three,
Speaker 1: not a lot. Uh, But impulse buys do compound, and
Speaker 1: so I'm sure you've seen that, you know, TikTok or
Speaker 1: where it's like I think it's ten or thirteen bucks
Speaker 1: a day can end up being like a couple thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year that you're missing out on and so
Speaker 1: that could be a vacation, your emergency fund. And we
Speaker 1: don't think about our impulse purchases as impulse purchases when
Speaker 1: we're doing them right, like people are. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't spend thirteen dollars a day in impulse purchases, no way.
Speaker 1: But maybe I'm not doing it every day, but then
Speaker 1: once a week, maybe I'm doing a fifty dollars impulse
Speaker 1: purchase at a restaurant. So while it's maybe not so
Speaker 1: applicable in your day to day, a lot of you
Speaker 1: are saying, like, lunches on workdays, that's definitely thirteen dollars.
Speaker 4: Yeah, mostly lunches on workdays.
Speaker 3: And somebody else said that their impulse purchases are usually
Speaker 3: on Amazon and Instagram ads. We hear that from a
Speaker 3: lot of people. Grocery store impulse purchases. I mean, if
Speaker 3: we're going to the grocery store at least once a week,
Speaker 3: that whole place is set up.
Speaker 4: For impulse buys. Just they make.
Speaker 3: You walk through a lot of other offerings before you
Speaker 3: get to the milk and eggs, not to mention.
Speaker 1: The extra grocery trip that you make every week, but
Speaker 1: you don't schedule, but you inevitably make, and then you
Speaker 1: also get something in addition to the impulse buy that
Speaker 1: you made the extra trip for, you get something else.
Speaker 1: And that's the way you don't send your spouse because
Speaker 1: they'll get like five things extra.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for answering that pole. That's very similar to
Speaker 3: the Mega survey we are putting out. So obviously you
Speaker 3: all like answering questions about yourselves and what's going to
Speaker 3: be helpful for you. So just another reminder to take
Speaker 3: the Mega survey. But also thanks for answering these poles
Speaker 3: and the emails, because we're incorporating them into every episode now,
Speaker 3: which is fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we want to get like real time where
Speaker 1: are you at? And how can we best structure I mean,
Speaker 1: we come up with the topics and then ask you,
Speaker 1: so how can we best you know, structure this. That's
Speaker 1: kind of how we came up with this like a
Speaker 1: little bit altered format. So the article we're going through
Speaker 1: today is called nine Psychological Reasons Behind Impulse Spending, and
Speaker 1: so we are gonna I don't think I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna skip one. We're gonna go through eight of them
Speaker 1: once we go through the reason, we're gonna give you
Speaker 1: a kind of a tip to it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: very it's it's gonna be a little bit of service level,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna have some deepness to it, so stay
Speaker 1: with us.
Speaker 3: So this article comes from M two comms, and the
Speaker 3: first reason for impulse spending is emotional appeal. We will
Speaker 3: often shop to meet an emotional need, whether positive or negative,
Speaker 3: if we can kind of qualify it under one of
Speaker 3: those two categories, usually somewhere on the spectrum. So we
Speaker 3: might impulse purchase because we're really happy something went really
Speaker 3: well that day. We might have a treat yourself mentally,
Speaker 3: or we could impulse purchase because we're feeling stressed anxious.
Speaker 3: It's kind of a way to cope and it makes
Speaker 3: us feel better in the moment, whether or not we're
Speaker 3: completely attached to that being the reason. There can be
Speaker 3: an emotional thing behind us having the behavior of buying
Speaker 3: when we didn't intend to buy. And so one of
Speaker 3: the things that we can do when we are finding
Speaker 3: that this might be one of our primary reasons for
Speaker 3: emotional spending is to be able to have a plan
Speaker 3: in place. If we're identifying Yeah. You know what, when
Speaker 3: I did my ninety day transaction inventory, I found that
Speaker 3: the purchases that I made most often that I wasn't
Speaker 3: planning for, happened around emotional times. Maybe it was really
Speaker 3: late at night when I'm feeling a little bit more vulnerable,
Speaker 3: or when I'm doom scrolling and having emotional reactions to
Speaker 3: the people that I'm seeing on social media, or I
Speaker 3: was really sad that day and so I went out
Speaker 3: shopping to kind of help myself feel better, having a
Speaker 3: plan in place of what am I going to do
Speaker 3: when I'm feeling stressed, anxious, sad, tired, vulnerable, or on
Speaker 3: the flip side, happy, celebratory, joyful. What are some things
Speaker 3: that I can do that doesn't equal me spending money
Speaker 3: I didn't intend to spend. And so anytime that we
Speaker 3: stop a behavior that we don't want to be perpetuating,
Speaker 3: we have to replace it with another behavior that does
Speaker 3: feel more beneficial to us. So some people might choose
Speaker 3: that their coping skill is going to be I'm going
Speaker 3: to call a friend. I think that's actually going to
Speaker 3: meet the emotional need, is being able to connect with
Speaker 3: somebody and talk, Or maybe it's that I need to
Speaker 3: get energy out. Some of this me scrolling and shopping
Speaker 3: feels like it's something to do, but really what I
Speaker 3: need to do is go for a walk, breathe in
Speaker 3: some fresh air. And I'm going to do that instead.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm going to journal, Maybe I'm just going to
Speaker 3: pause and read a good book for five minutes. Whatever
Speaker 3: it is that for you that you think might work.
Speaker 3: Even writing these things down and having a place that
Speaker 3: you can go and say, what of these things could
Speaker 3: meet the need that I'm experiencing right now in place
Speaker 3: of buying.
Speaker 1: And it'll take some testing too write. So whereas for
Speaker 1: some people reading a good book for five minutes is
Speaker 1: really going to like take you out of body and
Speaker 1: be you know, rejuvenating for you, it's not going to
Speaker 1: be that way for everyone. And so this is a
Speaker 1: lot of There are going to be a lot of
Speaker 1: lame answers, and you're going to have to try a
Speaker 1: lot of things that don't work in order to find
Speaker 1: the things that do. I think so often we get
Speaker 1: caught up with these lists of like I saw Gosh Vanguard,
Speaker 1: I love them, but I was on social media and
Speaker 1: I saw they posted a carousel about ways to save
Speaker 1: money and I went through and I was like, oh, no, Vanguard,
Speaker 1: stay in your lane. So went through and it was
Speaker 1: just like those same tired you know answers that are
Speaker 1: really like the the what, but.
Speaker 4: Not the how.
Speaker 1: And so when we give you these like how's, you're
Speaker 1: going to have to try quite a few. And I
Speaker 1: would encourage you to write them down and kind of
Speaker 1: like journal like what you experienced. After there should be
Speaker 1: like a negative emotions list and a positive emotions liss.
Speaker 1: So like, how am I going to celebrate these things
Speaker 1: without going out to get a manicure, going for a
Speaker 1: shopping spree, the normal things that we do to celebrate
Speaker 1: something that involve money. Make a list of the of
Speaker 1: the things that are free that we can get the
Speaker 1: same dopamine hit without shopping or the negative emotions. I'm tired,
Speaker 1: I'm stressed, I'm anxious, I'm overwhelmed. There's there's more than
Speaker 1: enough reason to be overwhelmed. And when we are overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: we want to control something, and online shopping is something
Speaker 1: that you can really control and it's a really viable
Speaker 1: way to gain control. But we want you to make
Speaker 1: a list of like how can I gain back control
Speaker 1: in a way that doesn't involve shopping or spending money.
Speaker 1: So make both of those lists and just trial and error.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it will look different for you, even not
Speaker 3: just it's going to look different for every person, but
Speaker 3: depending on the circumstances, what you need in that moment
Speaker 3: will shift day to day, moment to moment, and that's
Speaker 3: where having that pause in place before we make a purchase,
Speaker 3: but also to check in with ourselves on what is
Speaker 3: the core need that's happening to me and what can
Speaker 3: I do that's going to be congruent to that core need?
Speaker 3: Is it a relational need? Meet it relationally? Is it
Speaker 3: an emotional need? Meet it emotionally? And so on and
Speaker 3: so forth, and identifying what are those activities that work
Speaker 3: for you and in each of these different categories like
Speaker 3: you've mentioned.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that don't meine hit leads us to our
Speaker 1: next and it is instant gratification. And so for me,
Speaker 1: this feels like shopping as a hobby or shopping as
Speaker 1: an activity. So you are looking for a quick fix
Speaker 1: of dopamine, it's pretty neutral. It's not emotional. You're just bored,
Speaker 1: you know, like we're bored, we're not doing anything, So
Speaker 1: we get up and we go to Target, to the mall,
Speaker 1: we go downtown. This is our instant gratification shopping. And
Speaker 1: so this is a momentary burst of instant gratification, but
Speaker 1: it is always short lived and it usually ends up
Speaker 1: with us having something permanently or losing something permanently that
Speaker 1: we wish we hadn't. So this is where we say, like,
Speaker 1: think about your why, but your why is a little
Speaker 1: far off right, and so this is where these internal
Speaker 1: and external motivators come in. Eventually you have to build
Speaker 1: up internal motivation to not make these purchases and not
Speaker 1: view shopping as a hobby. But in the short term
Speaker 1: you can reward yourself for not doing this instant gratification
Speaker 1: kind of thing. This is something that like hits close
Speaker 1: to home because when I was growing up, like shopping
Speaker 1: was a hobby. It's what we did every Saturday. And
Speaker 1: now that people are going to actual physical malls less,
Speaker 1: I think when we're bored, if maybe we're done scrolling
Speaker 1: social media. But social media in itself now is a
Speaker 1: shopping ad. But maybe we get tired there and we
Speaker 1: go to the Amazon app or even thread up or
Speaker 1: at like in No Spend January, a lot of you
Speaker 1: have been saying how difficult it is to pass by
Speaker 1: a yard sale or pass by a state sailing, not
Speaker 1: go in now, to pass by a thrift store and
Speaker 1: not make a stop, because these are things like you
Speaker 1: can't just go in later and expect the same things
Speaker 1: that we're there to be there. So like we have,
Speaker 1: you know, these altruistic motives and like I shop secondhand.
Speaker 1: It's better for my wallet, it's better for the environment.
Speaker 1: But do I actually need to be shopping at all
Speaker 1: right now? And so I think our strategy for this
Speaker 1: is again a list like a dopamine hit list. Similarly
Speaker 1: for our emotional like how we want to reward and
Speaker 1: fulfill ourselves emotionally? How do I want to spend my
Speaker 1: time for free when I get bored? What am I
Speaker 1: going to do that gives me that hit of dopamine
Speaker 1: that is free.
Speaker 3: For me when it comes to because I'm hearing you
Speaker 3: on the thrift stores, the yard sales, the estate sales,
Speaker 3: because some of it is the hunt of it, and
Speaker 3: I have found for me this is gonna sound so silly,
Speaker 3: but I'm gonna throw it out in case it works
Speaker 3: for somebody else. Doing something like geocashing, where you are
Speaker 3: doing like a treasure hunt for free. For those who
Speaker 3: don't know, geocashing is an app I believe where you
Speaker 3: can find different like hidden buried treasures around your city
Speaker 3: in various parks and that kind of a thing, and
Speaker 3: people will leave behind little mementos or notes.
Speaker 4: It's actually how Travis proposed to Jen.
Speaker 3: He did not leave the engagement ring in the geocash spot.
Speaker 4: Which was smart on him.
Speaker 1: If you wanted to on our friend was like, you
Speaker 1: should not, Yeah, should just keep it on you.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Or also doing a hobby, doing something or learning a
Speaker 3: new skill, So it might for me Right now I'm
Speaker 3: in my sour dough era.
Speaker 4: That does provide me a dopamine.
Speaker 3: Hit for shirt when I'm pulling that fresh bread out
Speaker 3: of the oven that I've just made. It is doing
Speaker 3: something for me. So trying something new, doing something that
Speaker 3: you love. This could be some of the things on
Speaker 3: a dopamine hit list. Or create a treasure scavenger hunt
Speaker 3: for the kids in your life. That's also something I
Speaker 3: love doing for my nieces and nephews. So finding those
Speaker 3: ways that are free that hit.
Speaker 4: The thing that you're looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna seem a little corny at first, but
Speaker 1: these I mean, these things are really really fun. And
Speaker 1: so again just figure like make the list and figure
Speaker 1: out like what's working for you. Sometimes for me, it
Speaker 1: is playing Solitaire on my phone, Like it's the same.
Speaker 1: Instead of scrolling Amazon in bed on my phone when
Speaker 1: I'm bored, I open up the Solitaire app. So it's
Speaker 1: not I'm literally I don't have to physically move or
Speaker 1: mentally move. I'm just really replacing that smallest habit of
Speaker 1: opening one app and instead of opening that, I'm opening
Speaker 1: another app. So you don't have to think big picture. Right.
Speaker 1: If thrifting is something you love and it's the hunt,
Speaker 1: you can think of another hunt. And that's where the
Speaker 1: ninety day transaction inventory really comes into play because we're
Speaker 1: not looking at numbers on there, right, We're looking at triggers.
Speaker 1: We're looking at why did I spend this money?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 1: Instead of saying why, because that's where we're trying to
Speaker 1: get away from. What need was I trying to meet
Speaker 1: with this transaction and how can I better meet it
Speaker 1: without spending money?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Number three on this list or reason that we impulse by,
Speaker 3: is social influence. We've talked about this a ton of course,
Speaker 3: when it comes to the scrolling, everything is an ad
Speaker 3: but also the people in our lives. So there was
Speaker 3: research done out of the University of Florida and University
Speaker 3: of Tennessee that revealed that just the mere presence of
Speaker 3: a shopping partner can boost the likelihood of splurging on
Speaker 3: unplanned items. And this can happen when you are just
Speaker 3: out with a friend and if your hobby or activity
Speaker 3: is going out to the stores, both of you might
Speaker 3: bond together by egging each other on in making the
Speaker 3: purchase that you might not have made on your own.
Speaker 3: And so one of the things that we can do
Speaker 3: to kind of combat that level of impulse purchases is
Speaker 3: to retrain our brains and our thoughts around shopping as
Speaker 3: a hobby or an activity. To say that it's not
Speaker 3: shopping is not a hobby or an activity.
Speaker 4: It is I mean, I guess it's an activity.
Speaker 3: It is something that we do, but not necessarily something
Speaker 3: that we do for fun, to fill the space, to
Speaker 3: meet our boredom, to kind of solve the boredom that
Speaker 3: we might experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not a wait, it's not the best way to
Speaker 1: bond or build relationship if.
Speaker 3: You both need something and it's a nice way to
Speaker 3: be able to get out, that's great. But if you
Speaker 3: are identifying, you know what most of my impulse purchases
Speaker 3: are happening when I'm just going out to the store
Speaker 3: on a Saturday afternoon with a friend with no clear
Speaker 3: purpose or intention in mind, know that you are going
Speaker 3: to be more likely to buy in those situations. So again,
Speaker 3: we're not just cutting it out. We're not just depriving
Speaker 3: ourselves from being with friends, from bonding with others, from
Speaker 3: finding fun activities, but we're replacing them with something that
Speaker 3: is going to be more beneficial for us, maybe actually
Speaker 3: meet the need, actually be better for our wallet. So
Speaker 3: this is going to be identifying what do I like
Speaker 3: to do socially that doesn't have to involve me spending.
Speaker 3: Can you if it's just being out for a walk
Speaker 3: with a friend. Are there other things and activities that
Speaker 3: you can do? Can you find free activities on Facebook?
Speaker 3: Can you come up with an activity that you can
Speaker 3: do with friends? Can you host brunch at your home
Speaker 3: so you're not already at the store next to stores
Speaker 3: at brunch and then now you're buying and shopping, and
Speaker 3: so some of it, all of This is just an
Speaker 3: increased level of awareness of what are my triggers? Is
Speaker 3: it primarily social? What can I replace that with that
Speaker 3: is still social but doesn't lead me to spend money unintentionally.
Speaker 1: Well, here's what really got me on this one is
Speaker 1: the recent study that highlighted family members, particularly parents and children,
Speaker 1: had an even more substantial impact in driving impulse purchases
Speaker 1: than significant others, close friends, or partners. And if you
Speaker 1: have ever shopped with a child, you know that the
Speaker 1: social influence is not positive. It is negative. And sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to choose your battles. Do I want to
Speaker 1: spend this money and avoid this tantrum? Or am I
Speaker 1: happy to live with the tantrum and at least willing
Speaker 1: to live with the tantrum. It's a choice you have
Speaker 1: to make in the time, and there's no there. Honestly,
Speaker 1: sometimes there's no way to avoid the tantrum. You have
Speaker 1: to handle it. You have to plan it or honestly,
Speaker 1: plan to shop with your children as little as possible.
Speaker 1: That's the only thing that helps me I avoid like
Speaker 1: the plague, going to a store with my children. That
Speaker 1: is that, and even with I mean with my mom sometimes,
Speaker 1: like when I was growing up, that's what we used
Speaker 1: to do on the weekends together, so it can definitely
Speaker 1: be a trick for me. And the thing is that
Speaker 1: she's never trying to get me to spend because she
Speaker 1: doesn't care about my money. She just and vice versa.
Speaker 1: I just I don't want to be the person any
Speaker 1: more than I already am. That's like, like, are you
Speaker 1: sure you need that? Because that if you do that
Speaker 1: to a friend, that that's uncomfortable, Like that is a friction.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, you're parentifying yourself to that, and so
Speaker 3: nobody wants to be like that, right, And so that's
Speaker 3: why our.
Speaker 1: Stress is we avoid it. Avoid it as much as possible.
Speaker 1: That's the best way. Avoid shopping with other people and
Speaker 1: then kind of building up those boundaries to be the
Speaker 1: voice that isn't like quote unquote parental, but make it
Speaker 1: about you just being like, oh, I don't really need
Speaker 1: if they're if they tell you I'm trying to spend
Speaker 1: less and then you're with them and they're trying to
Speaker 1: make an impulse by and this is probably gonna happen
Speaker 1: with a parent. And I'm so sorry in advance because
Speaker 1: I've been in this situation and you're like did, I mean,
Speaker 1: did you plan to buy it and don't like go
Speaker 1: in deep Honestly, it's like not your place. But if
Speaker 1: it triggers them to stop, then cool. If it doesn't,
Speaker 1: then it was not.
Speaker 3: We ultimately only need to worry about ourselves and our
Speaker 3: own triggers.
Speaker 1: But avoided as much as possible. And the fourth one
Speaker 1: is utilitarian motivations. So this is another one as a
Speaker 1: mom that really hits close to home, but you find
Speaker 1: yourself making impulse decisions on practical and functional items like
Speaker 1: toilet paper, batteries. My grandmother, no lie, she left me
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars when she died and also a thousand
Speaker 1: dollars worth of toilet paper, like to all of her grandchildren.
Speaker 4: And it's a decent inheritance. You will use that.
Speaker 1: And toilet paper, And yeah, I did. I was like
Speaker 1: in college, so I was like cool. But that's I mean,
Speaker 1: when we're buying stuff that we know we're gonna use,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like a bad impulse buy because we're
Speaker 1: saving money on it. But when you're trying to pay
Speaker 1: down debt that is increasing income and you've got a
Speaker 1: stockpile full of toilet paper, paper, towels, rice, all these
Speaker 1: things ready for the apocalypse going underground. That stuff is
Speaker 1: losing value. I mean, with inflation, it's not bad to
Speaker 1: keep a couple months, I would say, so my practical
Speaker 1: tip for this one is think three in three month intervals.
Speaker 1: If you have enough for three months of that product,
Speaker 1: then you do not need more right now. Even if
Speaker 1: it's on sale. We'll get into sales, but they're cyclical, so.
Speaker 4: That is a helpful metric.
Speaker 3: I did not know that this was a category of
Speaker 3: impulse spending until I read through this article, because I'm like, I,
Speaker 3: it's not a huge issue for me at this point
Speaker 3: in my frugal journey, and until I read that one,
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, that's me, And it never really strikes
Speaker 3: me as too much of an issue because I will
Speaker 3: eventually use it. But that is a very common one
Speaker 3: for me, extra rays or blades that I didn't intend
Speaker 3: to buy. Oh yeah, I might as well stock up
Speaker 3: on the deodorant right now. It's just so I don't
Speaker 3: even know if I get that much of a dopamine
Speaker 3: high from it, other than I just get to feel like, oh,
Speaker 3: I am prepared for the next thing that's happening.
Speaker 1: Well, on the surface, it's not bad, but as a habit,
Speaker 1: if this is not everybody struggles with this, but if
Speaker 1: you do, then eventually you get to the point where
Speaker 1: you're stucking up on so many things that by the
Speaker 1: time you need it, you've lost the thing that you
Speaker 1: stocked up on. And so that's when it becomes a problem.
Speaker 1: And that's when we want to say, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: the time where we want to focus more on decluttering
Speaker 1: and minimalism and have that sort of mindset so we
Speaker 1: can go back on this, you know, kind of semi
Speaker 1: hoarding on some stuff. So not everyone will struggle with this,
Speaker 1: but if it is something you've made a habit of,
Speaker 1: it's definitely something to kind of think in those three
Speaker 1: month intervals, specifically for yourself.
Speaker 3: The next on this list is number five, feeling of
Speaker 3: getting a deal. This is a big reason for impulse buying.
Speaker 3: I think touched on in all of these other categories.
Speaker 3: We can find ourselves in social situations. We can find
Speaker 3: ourselves wanting to stock up on necessities any one of
Speaker 3: them can intersect with and it's on sale, and when
Speaker 3: we can get that got a great deal, when we
Speaker 3: get get that double whammy of I'm hunting, I'm getting
Speaker 3: what I need and it's a deal. WHOOI That can
Speaker 3: be a big reason and sometimes just the feeling of
Speaker 3: getting a deal, and we would say that's kind of
Speaker 3: the lowest tier of helpful when it comes to impulse purchases.
Speaker 3: Great to get a deal on something that you need,
Speaker 3: but if you're just getting a deal, then it's not
Speaker 3: a deal, Like we're ultimately going to save far more
Speaker 3: money buying something full price that we actually need than
Speaker 3: getting two things we don't need on sale. So I
Speaker 3: think one of the things that we can do to
Speaker 3: combat this feeling if that's one of our main triggers
Speaker 3: of it's a red tag, it's on sale, this is
Speaker 3: way less than it typically is, it is being able
Speaker 3: to know that deals happen in cycles. So this is
Speaker 3: one of the things that we can remind ourselves of
Speaker 3: when we are seeing the red tags and the sales
Speaker 3: that are happening, know that they are playing off of
Speaker 3: a sense of urgency for us that I'm never going
Speaker 3: to find this deal again.
Speaker 4: I've hit the jackpot.
Speaker 3: I got to buy it now, and to give ourselves
Speaker 3: the pause and be able to say no, actually sales
Speaker 3: happen in cycles. This sale will come around again if
Speaker 3: I need it then, and again that reminder of even
Speaker 3: if it doesn't happen on sale, when I finally do
Speaker 3: need that thing, it's going to be better to pay
Speaker 3: full price than to pay lower than that now on
Speaker 3: things that I don't actually need, things I wasn't planning
Speaker 3: on spending on.
Speaker 4: So again, most of this is.
Speaker 3: Going to be creating that pause before the spending. That's
Speaker 3: going to be the tip that flows throughout all of
Speaker 3: these impulse spending categories and the psychological reasons behind it
Speaker 3: is wherever we can create just a five second pause
Speaker 3: to identify what is it about this that's drawing me
Speaker 3: in right now, and what is a solution that I
Speaker 3: can implement right now? And for this one, it's this
Speaker 3: sale is giving me a sense of urgency that doesn't
Speaker 3: need to be there right now. It will be on
Speaker 3: sale again if I really want it, I'm going to
Speaker 3: put it on my list. I keep a list of
Speaker 3: things that I want to purchase and give it time,
Speaker 3: so I keep a notes app in my mind phone,
Speaker 3: and if it's on that list when I come across
Speaker 3: a deal, then I can give myself permission to buy it.
Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm waiting twenty thirty forty five days before I'm
Speaker 3: actually making a purchase on something. But put it on
Speaker 3: the list, and that can also solve for some of
Speaker 3: that I really want to do something about the fact
Speaker 3: that I saw this thing. It's drawing me in, I
Speaker 3: want to buy it. Put it on the list. The
Speaker 3: list doesn't go in anywhere, and you can circle back
Speaker 3: to it if you still want it in a week,
Speaker 3: two weeks, three weeks from now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and here's another tip that goes a step further.
Speaker 1: If it's worth buying to you, then it is worth
Speaker 1: taking the time to research online the times that it
Speaker 1: has been on sale before. The internet is magical and
Speaker 1: it keeps score, it keeps receipts on what is on
Speaker 1: sale and when. You could go look at Blackfriday dot
Speaker 1: com and see every Black Friday ad that's ever been
Speaker 1: on the internet. Right, So the sales are very easy
Speaker 1: to find if you research them. If it's worth buying
Speaker 1: to you, then it'll be worth you doing the research
Speaker 1: to see when was the last time is on sale,
Speaker 1: when is it going on sale again, and then you
Speaker 1: can buy it. And if it is not worth you
Speaker 1: doing that, research, then you don't really want it. Then
Speaker 1: you know it's an impulse buy, and you can go
Speaker 1: right on past. And you can even do it on
Speaker 1: your phone in front of the item, so you don't
Speaker 1: have to wait. You can't. You can't be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I can't wait till I get home, because then I'll
Speaker 1: miss out. I can't wait to this research. You can
Speaker 1: do it right on your phone. So if it's not
Speaker 1: worth doing that and researching the sale cycles of the
Speaker 1: store that you're in the sale history of the item
Speaker 1: you're looking at, it's an impulse buy and you don't
Speaker 1: really truly want it. So the next one, I love
Speaker 1: this one. I love this one so much. Cognitive biases, Jill,
Speaker 1: you like this one. So cognitive bias. I know I
Speaker 1: said we wouldn't use like psychology dark, but so cognitive
Speaker 1: biases also known as heuristics. There this one, Yes, that's
Speaker 1: not in your So there are shortcuts that our brains
Speaker 1: take to help us make sense of things around us
Speaker 1: that are complicated, that require thinking right, and so cognitive
Speaker 1: biases allow us to make decisions quickly and without thought.
Speaker 1: So it's like, if you've heard of the book thinking
Speaker 1: Fast and Slow, your cognitive biases are your fast thinking,
Speaker 1: and so shoppers that are driven by their confirmation biases
Speaker 1: tend to seek out information that confirms their desire to
Speaker 1: purchase the product. That's rationalization, your rationalizing, and so this
Speaker 1: comes again it very much combines with the with buying
Speaker 1: for utilitarian reasons. I think this one utilitarian sales and
Speaker 1: cognitive biases. These ones come at you at a like
Speaker 1: triple whammy, right, They're all there at the same time,
Speaker 1: and you can really easily rationalize why you are buying
Speaker 1: the thing that you are impulsively buying. And so I
Speaker 1: think the solution for this one might be, like, your
Speaker 1: reality isn't always the realist. It's knowing that sometimes the
Speaker 1: information that you're processing you have a confirmation bias towards
Speaker 1: You're trying to get to that answer. Not all the time,
Speaker 1: but you have to kind of be real with yourself
Speaker 1: and be like, I want this to be true. I
Speaker 1: know I want this to be true, and is it
Speaker 1: going to cause me to buy it or am I
Speaker 1: gonna say I'm going to put it back because it's
Speaker 1: not the it's not the realist.
Speaker 3: And if this topic does intrigue you, if it doesn't
Speaker 3: skip on past it.
Speaker 4: That's totally fine.
Speaker 3: But if you do want more of these kind of
Speaker 3: psychological urns, what are the cognitive biases? There are so many, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there are so so many. One of the ones that
Speaker 3: I do want to highlight is an anchoring bias. And
Speaker 3: so this one has to do with believing that the
Speaker 3: first piece of information we've received is the most accurate,
Speaker 3: and we're going to compare everything else back to that
Speaker 3: first piece of information, whether or not it is actually accurate. Now,
Speaker 3: the thing about cognitive biases is that they're not actually
Speaker 3: bad in and of themselves. They can be really helpful.
Speaker 3: But being aware of them again, putting in that pause
Speaker 3: to know when they're at play and when they might
Speaker 3: not be helping you but instead hurting you, is going
Speaker 3: to be helpful. And so even being able to name
Speaker 3: some of these biases can be fruitful for us. So
Speaker 3: when it comes to shopping, this is one that's at
Speaker 3: play a lot. I actually witnessed it. This was many
Speaker 3: years ago, but I was out with my mom at
Speaker 3: a crafts market and there was this. It wasn't even
Speaker 3: a press. It was like a garlic tray with little
Speaker 3: nodules on it that you could like, shave down your
Speaker 3: garlic in the bowl.
Speaker 1: I have a cutting board that has that on it
Speaker 1: and a knife sharpener.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they were really beautiful and but yet you
Speaker 3: could tell these weren't handmade. They weren't handmade by them.
Speaker 3: They were just selling them and for like forty bucks
Speaker 3: a pop. And my mom really loved them, and I
Speaker 3: thought they were really cool too, And I'm like, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: look that up on the internet and see how much
Speaker 3: these are. And sure enough, the same exact ones for
Speaker 3: fifteen dollars to be found elsewhere. Again, like same ones,
Speaker 3: they weren't handmade. I would understand if they were handmade
Speaker 3: and at higher price than buy local, but this was
Speaker 3: not the case here. So I'm like, I love it,
Speaker 3: but I think I'm gonna go for the less expensive
Speaker 3: option if I'm even gonna buy it. I did not
Speaker 3: end up purchasing it, but that's that. And for her,
Speaker 3: she was just like, no, but I found it here first,
Speaker 3: and I think it's a great idea, And they were
Speaker 3: the ones to introduce me to this idea, and that's
Speaker 3: the anchoring bias in that moment of this is where
Speaker 3: I first learned about it.
Speaker 4: So this is where I'm going to purchase it.
Speaker 3: So keeping those things in mind again, lots of other
Speaker 3: cognitive biases that we could be talking about, but recognize
Speaker 3: when they're at play and when they are influencing your
Speaker 3: purchases for the better or the worse at that time. Okay,
Speaker 3: the ninth and final category that we're going to go
Speaker 3: through we did skip over to is environment. So our
Speaker 3: environment has so much to do with our impulse purchases.
Speaker 3: This can be environment literally the space and location that
Speaker 3: we are in in that exact moment. It could also
Speaker 3: be environment of what's happening in the world around me,
Speaker 3: what's going on with the economy, and just the political landscape,
Speaker 3: you name it that might be influencing some of my
Speaker 3: impulse purchases and just the physical environment. So let's say
Speaker 3: you're out shopping the appealing displays and the tempting offers
Speaker 3: like Joanna Gaines Target, Yes, the Joanna Gaines section of Target.
Speaker 3: I know we've talked about this before. A really good
Speaker 3: solution in those situations is take something out of the
Speaker 3: Joanna Gaines display section and walk it on over to
Speaker 3: the trash can section and see if that item still
Speaker 3: looks good in the trash can section of target, because
Speaker 3: that's probably going to be more accurate how the thing
Speaker 3: looks in your own head.
Speaker 1: We post We talked about this on another episode, posted
Speaker 1: that clip onto Instagram and it is one of our
Speaker 1: best performing reels. People love the idea of the trash tests.
Speaker 3: Not saying that your house is trash or my house
Speaker 3: is trash, but just that an item taken out of
Speaker 3: the esthetically pleasing environment gives the impression of what the
Speaker 3: actual item looks like apart from its surroundings. And I
Speaker 3: have been disap pointed myself. I'm like, why doesn't this
Speaker 3: thing look like it did there in my home now?
Speaker 3: And it's because it's not set up the same. Sometimes
Speaker 3: these items only look good in the milieu of the
Speaker 3: other things. So recognizing when your environment is at play,
Speaker 3: when you're kind of basking in the essence of the
Speaker 3: aesthetic of the place and you just kind of want
Speaker 3: to be a part of that esthetic by purchasing to
Speaker 3: be able to pause and say, I can enjoy this
Speaker 3: aesthetic without pulling out my wallet, to be able to
Speaker 3: lean into this right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have something like that in your house right now,
Speaker 1: hanging on the ceiling probably should have been next to
Speaker 1: a trash can.
Speaker 3: You gotta test out lights to know what's gonna work
Speaker 3: in your space.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Jill takes risks, and it is. You
Speaker 1: can still be frugal and take risks with your design elements,
Speaker 1: but you have to all so be willing to return
Speaker 1: it when it doesn't Maybe you take it home and
Speaker 1: you're and you're like, oh, it doesn't look as good
Speaker 1: next to my trash can, and you've got to be
Speaker 1: willing to return it.
Speaker 3: I love returning stuff. That's actually there is a coming
Speaker 3: back from impulse purchases, and it's called returning things. So
Speaker 3: I know that it's an extra trip to the store,
Speaker 3: that it's extra time and energy spent, but getting money
Speaker 3: back and being able to reclaim some of those purchases
Speaker 3: that you didn't actually mean to make or doesn't meet
Speaker 3: your need entirely is the best.
Speaker 1: Right you can. You can fail in the moment and
Speaker 1: still win overall. Let's be clear about that. You can
Speaker 1: fail in the moment and still win overall. It's called returning,
Speaker 1: and we're not girl mathing here. When you return it,
Speaker 1: you leave the store, right, you know, say oh now
Speaker 1: I have now I made money something else and it's
Speaker 1: basically free. No, we're we're here, We're in it to
Speaker 1: win it.
Speaker 3: Even if it's a gift card, you hold onto that
Speaker 3: gift card until you need something from that store.
Speaker 1: Or you're planning your impulse purchase and be like, I
Speaker 1: set aside fifty bucks this month just for impulse purchases.
Speaker 4: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: We're not trying to fight against our what our brains
Speaker 1: want all the time. Right, If you are budgeting for
Speaker 1: an impulse buy, then that's great, spend the money. But
Speaker 1: we also want to train our brains to not immediately
Speaker 1: go there when we're having emotional response, or we're bored,
Speaker 1: or we're with someone. So that's the purpose of going
Speaker 1: through all of these But ultimately we want to say,
Speaker 1: if you do make the impulse buy, you can always
Speaker 1: come back over ninety nine percent of the time. If
Speaker 1: you ate, you know what you bought, you can't come
Speaker 1: back from that.
Speaker 3: Do you want to know what a good replacement for boredom?
Speaker 3: Hier desire to spend.
Speaker 1: Everybody's list for instant gratification.
Speaker 5: The bill of that way, that's right, it's tough for
Speaker 5: the best minute of your entire week, Maybe a baby
Speaker 5: was born and his name is William.
Speaker 2: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 2: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 2: Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill clion. This is the bill
Speaker 2: of the week.
Speaker 6: Hey there, Hi, Jen and Jill love your podcast. My
Speaker 6: name's Anna. I was just calling because I have an
Speaker 6: awesome bill of the week. My husband has been a
Speaker 6: cardio patient since the day he was born. He's been
Speaker 6: treated at our local children's hospital for basically his whole life,
Speaker 6: and we had some reasons that we wanted to leave.
Speaker 6: One of those being that his after insurance, our reliable
Speaker 6: portion during COVID jumped to four thousand dollars. That was
Speaker 6: after our insurance was applied. So we decided to look
Speaker 6: into other doctors, and we found a really awesome one
Speaker 6: who's a great fit and it's outside of the hospital
Speaker 6: and his echo is done in a separate lab. And
Speaker 6: the bill just never showed up. So I was getting
Speaker 6: a little bit nervous that it was like sent to
Speaker 6: his email or something. So I called the doctor's office.
Speaker 6: And our responsible portion this year is zero dollars. Our
Speaker 6: insurance covered at one hundred percent, so I just want
Speaker 6: to encourage your other listeners. You know, you don't have
Speaker 6: to stay faithful to a certain doctor or a certain hospital.
Speaker 6: You're able to go shop that out and look for alternatives.
Speaker 6: So I highly recommend doing so. Thanks again for the podcast.
Speaker 7: I really love it, oh Anna so good and saying like,
Speaker 7: there's definitely space to keep doctors we love, but there
Speaker 7: are so many good.
Speaker 1: Doctors out there. It's also like, just because refrugal doesn't
Speaker 1: mean we need to use the cheapest doctor that we dislike,
Speaker 1: but it does give space for experimenting for sure, and
Speaker 1: healthcare that can be one of the big three if
Speaker 1: you're dealing with a chronic illness like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've talked about chronic illnesses what we did an
Speaker 3: interview in the past, and I think especially in those circumstances,
Speaker 3: it's important to be able to shop around, but also
Speaker 3: to be able to give yourself permission to stick with
Speaker 3: somebody who's trustworthy and reliable. But just for anybody too
Speaker 3: to recognize, I think there can be this idea for
Speaker 3: those who may not go to the doctor that often,
Speaker 3: that the price is going to be the same across
Speaker 3: the board, Like this is just how much hospitals cost.
Speaker 3: This is how much the kope is always going to be,
Speaker 3: this is how much the doctor is and it's just
Speaker 3: not true. Even in a ten to fifteen mile radius.
Speaker 3: Different establishments can charge various amounts of money. Insurance is
Speaker 3: going to cover various amounts at these different establishments, So
Speaker 3: calling around can be such a headache and very time consuming,
Speaker 3: but can also save thousands of dollars. And I'm so
Speaker 3: thrilled to hear that this was able to work out
Speaker 3: for you and your husband and that you were able
Speaker 3: to find a trustworthy person, because, yeah, going to one
Speaker 3: place for so long, it can be really difficult to
Speaker 3: make that change. But it sounds like a celebratory thing
Speaker 3: for the two of you, and I'm very glad to
Speaker 3: hear it. Thanks for the bill. Yes, if you all listening,
Speaker 3: have a bill about shopping around and getting a deal.
Speaker 3: If just your name is Bill and you do or
Speaker 3: don't shop, or just literally anything related to Bill.
Speaker 1: If you are Bill and you're getting the bill, and
Speaker 1: deb's get in the package. I can't tell you how
Speaker 1: many people have sent us that reel from ring.
Speaker 4: We'll hear about it again. We love to laugh.
Speaker 3: Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill, leave us
Speaker 3: your bill. We're ready for it, and now it's time
Speaker 3: for providing around.
Speaker 1: All right, your most common impulse by and the steps
Speaker 1: you're doing to fight the impulse. So food, close home tools.
Speaker 3: I'm the impulse versus sing circular sauce.
Speaker 4: I mean plumb bobs. Oh, I love me a good
Speaker 4: plumb bob. You don't, I.
Speaker 3: Actually do love plumbobs. I don't know if they like
Speaker 3: they really get me.
Speaker 4: I want to put it on a necklace.
Speaker 1: I don't know what a plumbbob is.
Speaker 4: Well, look it up, okay, but don't impulse buy it.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. I don't know what that is, Okay.
Speaker 1: For me, it is definitely food. I think if you
Speaker 1: don't say food, I don't know if you're listening to
Speaker 1: the right podcast.
Speaker 3: If you or at least if you don't already know
Speaker 3: that we're both going to say food, yeah.
Speaker 1: Then you don't know us listen to the podcast more
Speaker 1: until that answer is not a surprise to you. So
Speaker 1: for me, it is definitely take out coffee. And it
Speaker 1: was the things that were on my nose bend January,
Speaker 1: take out coffee and quick service food. I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem like impulse going to restaurants because I have children,
Speaker 1: and again I try to take them as few places
Speaker 1: as possible that they're going to ask for money. And so,
Speaker 1: but I do I do love a drive through, a
Speaker 1: Starbucks drive through. Actually, I am disillusioned with Starbucks right now.
Speaker 3: Oh I know, Oh, pinky up, I spill the tea.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, there's so many other good places. Cariboo
Speaker 1: Coffee came to Saint Pete. It's their first location in Florida.
Speaker 4: Oh, Caribou is. I'm not this Caribou Is. I mean,
Speaker 4: I know Cariboo, I didn't know that they were in
Speaker 4: Saint Pete.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they make my favorite latte. So I'm like, why
Speaker 1: would I even go to Starbucks? Like it's I don't
Speaker 1: want this anymore when I have this. Yes, so but Caraboot,
Speaker 1: I mean the closest one was in Atlanta before and
Speaker 1: now it's down.
Speaker 3: So you used to be driving up to Atlanta right
Speaker 3: right all the time. Wow, So it saves you money
Speaker 3: on gas too, perfect.
Speaker 1: So that and I plan for the quick service once
Speaker 1: or twice a week. But I think the impulse comes
Speaker 1: in that I will not go on the day that
Speaker 1: I plan, I will just it'll get to a certain
Speaker 1: time and I'll feel a certain way and just be
Speaker 1: like mat, ma'm I'm not doing this. So I have
Speaker 1: been simplifying my meal plans even more lately, especially well
Speaker 1: so we're still on no spend January as we record this,
Speaker 1: and so I've gotten even simpler as the month is evolved.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, those are my biggins and that's kind
Speaker 1: of I make. So the number one thing that I've
Speaker 1: done to stop the drive through spending on coffee is
Speaker 1: I will take my mug with me in the car.
Speaker 1: So when I am out, when I want to go
Speaker 1: through the drive through, I cannot because.
Speaker 4: I there's no room.
Speaker 1: There's no room. I had wheel in one hand and
Speaker 1: coffee mug in the other.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's how I.
Speaker 1: Look so silly with an open mug in the car.
Speaker 1: But it works for me and I'm not covered in coffee.
Speaker 1: That's a skill. You have to fill the coffee mug halfway.
Speaker 1: So that's just a tip if you're going to do that.
Speaker 1: And then is those stupid simple meal plan things cereal
Speaker 1: for dinner, leaning into cereal for ting in and sandwiches.
Speaker 3: I respect that for me, it's food. It's always gonna
Speaker 3: be food. It's all of our answers. So and even
Speaker 3: impulse shopping, impulse food buys at the grocery store, that's
Speaker 3: I can use my words. So one of the ways
Speaker 3: that I am solving for this is by taking inventory
Speaker 3: before going shopping. So a common impulse buy for me
Speaker 3: is duplicates of something that I already have and I
Speaker 3: just don't remember. So I'm getting more canned chicken, more
Speaker 3: shredded cheese, more flour and rice, you name it. I'm
Speaker 3: getting the things and I didn't actually have to buy
Speaker 3: it on that trip.
Speaker 4: So even if I don't.
Speaker 3: Have time to be digging into all my shelves and
Speaker 3: writing everything down, I'll just take pictures. If I'm on
Speaker 3: my way out the door, I know one of the
Speaker 3: errands that I'm gonna run is to the grocery store.
Speaker 3: I'm taking pictures of my fridge, taking pictures of my pantry,
Speaker 3: and then I can look through them when I'm at
Speaker 3: the store to remind myself do I have pasta on hand?
Speaker 3: How much what's in my freezer? And that has been
Speaker 3: super helpful. But then beyond that, when I can find
Speaker 3: those spaces regularly. I usually meal plan every two weeks,
Speaker 3: so that has been a big one for me, and
Speaker 3: I meal plan both our lunches and dinners to be
Speaker 3: able to reuse ingredients. So really sticking to the list
Speaker 3: has been helpful. But I also make room in my budget,
Speaker 3: in my spending plan for some of those impulse purchases,
Speaker 3: because that's what makes it fun. If I'm going to
Speaker 3: be eating at home, like more than I'm eating out,
Speaker 3: then I need to have things that are enjoyable for me.
Speaker 3: I need to be able to get the chocolate if
Speaker 3: I want to get the chocolate. So leave a little
Speaker 3: bit of room for something to strike your fancy and
Speaker 3: it just won't feel like deprivation all the time.
Speaker 1: Yes, if you love spontaneity and hate planning, there is
Speaker 1: still space for you in frugality. There is still a
Speaker 1: way that you can limit your impulse purchases and still
Speaker 1: get the things that make you happy and the surprises
Speaker 1: and that impulsivity. We're looking at the eighty twenty world.
Speaker 1: We're looking to do it right eighty percent of the
Speaker 1: time and do whatever the heck we want the other
Speaker 1: twenty percent of the time and not feel guilty about it.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for listening. I hope that
Speaker 1: strikes your fancy. We love reading your kind reviews, especially
Speaker 1: this one from Wham eighty five. I wrote you a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago and would like to update. Uh oh,
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends have shifted their tone to focus on grace,
Speaker 1: personal finance and environmental sustainability and values based spending. I
Speaker 1: love this approach and that the content is presented with
Speaker 1: levity and humor.
Speaker 3: Who that's a beautiful review. It makes me wonder what
Speaker 3: the previous review was. But we're here for this update you.
Speaker 3: If you've been listening to us for a while and
Speaker 3: you feel like you need to update your review in
Speaker 3: like a positive direction, go for it.
Speaker 1: Yes, and yeah, please leave us a review on Spotify
Speaker 1: or Apple Podcasts or both. It really does help people
Speaker 1: figure out if this is the right show for them,
Speaker 1: because yeah, we have shifted, I mean over six years,
Speaker 1: we not the same it a little yeah. So so
Speaker 1: thank you, mellas.
Speaker 4: Next time, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Oh, Jill, I
Speaker 1: have something salacious. Oh my gosh, this could ruffle some feathers, okay,
Speaker 1: and it could demote me from average mom to mom
Speaker 1: I don't want to, you know, mom, nobody wants to
Speaker 1: be like so this week, this week is the Scholastic
Speaker 1: Book Fair.
Speaker 4: I love book Fair week, do you I?
Speaker 1: I hate it?
Speaker 4: Well, as a kid, I loved it.
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll say here's that's that's where we're yep. I
Speaker 1: hate it's you have to buy books. It's inside a
Speaker 1: library where all the books are free, but they want
Speaker 1: you to buy books. And then we have other libraries
Speaker 1: where I can get even more books for free. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the only thing that he's going to want to
Speaker 1: buy is cheap plastic stuff that doesn't that will not
Speaker 1: last more than thirty.
Speaker 4: Why is that? It was my favorite part?
Speaker 3: But like the book fair, what I always wanted were
Speaker 3: like those slap bands that you slap it and then
Speaker 3: it like you know, goes around your wrist, and then
Speaker 3: the erasers and the pencils.
Speaker 1: I don't want more of that in my house. I
Speaker 1: don't want to buy it. But now I am also
Speaker 1: pushing that on my four year old. And my four
Speaker 1: year old doesn't have the same values values of the
Speaker 1: environment and frugality that I do. And so I am
Speaker 1: at this crossroads and I have to think, like, I
Speaker 1: can't just send him with five dollars either. It's now
Speaker 1: they're using e wallets. I have to load an e
Speaker 1: wallet online.
Speaker 4: No you don't.
Speaker 1: And so I'm at this at this really tough spot,
Speaker 1: like do you? And that's where that social influence is.
Speaker 1: It's the children that get you to spend. So I
Speaker 1: didn't send He's four, So I don't think I'm going
Speaker 1: to traumatically like mess him up this week more than
Speaker 1: I already have. I'm testing it much easier to test
Speaker 1: it four than at seven. Right, Yeah, Okay, you're judged
Speaker 1: for your lack of slap bracelet.
Speaker 4: Right, so what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Nothing? I gave him no money, okay, Yeah, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to see what happens this week. Did I devastate him?
Speaker 1: And my solution that I'm already planning is if he's
Speaker 1: very sad, I'm going to take him to get a
Speaker 1: cake pop at Carabo consumable A consumable. Yeah, So I'm
Speaker 1: just going to pivot and spend the same amount of
Speaker 1: money I would have or potentially no money.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I feel like there's a way to explain it. I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't know how much a four year old's can
Speaker 3: understand it.
Speaker 4: But I feel like you really connected the dots for me.
Speaker 3: The books and things they're selling are in the midst
Speaker 3: of books and things that are for free, and so
Speaker 3: we've got some hard earned money here that we're gonna
Speaker 3: be a little bit more judicious about spending. And I
Speaker 3: think you should use that word with him, judicious. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think you're giving him a gift there in vocabulary.
Speaker 1: He has a wide vocabulary. So yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna be. It's stressful.
Speaker 3: What if it turns him to stealing?
Speaker 4: What if?
Speaker 3: What if he's like, fine, Mom, I'm gonna find my
Speaker 3: own way and I'm gonna steal the things that I
Speaker 3: want from my friends. What my friends are getting all
Speaker 3: these things that I want, and so now they're mine.
Speaker 1: Oh now I am.
Speaker 4: I'm saying what I don't want to know. I don't
Speaker 4: want to anymore.
Speaker 3: Well, controlling the recording