Speaker 1: Episode four to twenty seven, how Caitlin paid off one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars of debt in eighteen months and got
Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars in scholarships.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live at 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 sharing Caitlin's story.
Speaker 1: If you are heading to school, have a child or
Speaker 1: loved one heading to school, this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: really good one for you because we're not only talking
Speaker 1: about a debt free story in our debt Free Summer,
Speaker 1: we are also talking about scholarships, and Caitlin got so
Speaker 1: much in scholarships, and we're we're just excited to share
Speaker 1: her story with you.
Speaker 3: I love, I loved all of the ones that we did,
Speaker 3: but this one particularly struck a chord with me hearing
Speaker 3: how she was able to essentially cash flow her doctorate
Speaker 3: program as well. So, Kaylin's real smart and she's got
Speaker 3: a lot of really cool smart So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: Yes, But first, this episode is brought to you by Vanity.
Speaker 1: I am vain, I am petty. These are things I
Speaker 1: would say about myself, and I'm proud of that. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that brings me the most joy
Speaker 1: in life are podcast reviews. For my entire life, my
Speaker 1: thirty five years of living. I've wanted to hit one
Speaker 1: thousand reviews on Apple Podcasts, and now we are less
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Speaker 1: view with one hundred dollars to leave a review. Not
Speaker 1: all sixty of you, but one person will win one
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Speaker 1: it takes like about a week for them to update
Speaker 1: onto the actual site, So we'll wait a week after
Speaker 1: July thirty first, and we will draw a winner for
Speaker 1: ae hundred dollars gift card, and normally we give out
Speaker 1: Amazon gift cards. But I'm gonna say you can have
Speaker 1: a one hundred dollars gift card to almost anywhere you want.
Speaker 1: You let me know, because I'm bribing you to do this. Vanity.
Speaker 1: It is unbecoming. But when you've become, oh you want
Speaker 1: to be, what's a little unraveling, it's a little unhinged.
Speaker 3: Wow. Ever since you were just two years old, this
Speaker 3: has been your goal. Huh, one thousand reviews.
Speaker 1: Do you think I'm thirty seven? I said thirty five?
Speaker 1: All thirty five years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But so that means that even when you were two,
Speaker 3: this is what you want before too, even baby, when
Speaker 3: I was bbet, yes, you didn't even know what to
Speaker 3: dream for, but this is what you were dreaming for.
Speaker 1: I just want to be. I just want people to
Speaker 1: say things about me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just going to reiterate that. Because it takes
Speaker 3: a week to populate. That's why you have to take
Speaker 3: the screenshop before you hit the submit button. There's been
Speaker 3: so many times that people have said, I left a review,
Speaker 3: but I can't find it. Take a screen shop before
Speaker 3: you hit submit and then submit and then.
Speaker 1: We will check after a week after July thirty first,
Speaker 1: to make sure the winner did actually hit submit.
Speaker 3: So it's complicated, but you know what, leave the complications
Speaker 3: to us. You just leave a review. Yeah, take a screenshot,
Speaker 3: email it to us. We'll handle the rest. You'll be
Speaker 3: on or to win.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it can be. It doesn't have to just
Speaker 1: be sixty. We can go over, you know, so don't
Speaker 1: feel limited. Please, only one will win, but everyone can
Speaker 1: leave a rating and review. Thank you from the bottom
Speaker 1: of my heart. All right, So, if you love debt
Speaker 1: free stories, we have been doing debt free stories all summer.
Speaker 1: We've got ten stories for you from listeners just like you,
Speaker 1: and they are running the spectrum of ways to pay
Speaker 1: off debt, whether in full, in part, with side hustles,
Speaker 1: with lowering expenses through student alone, forgiveness, through whatever. And
Speaker 1: so Caitlin's really unique story today is she got a
Speaker 1: lot of scholarship. So this is an addition to paying
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars in debt in eighteen months. So
Speaker 1: it included multiple jobs strategic budgeting, and then on top
Speaker 1: of that got two master's degrees, right, and was pursuing
Speaker 1: a doctor and when we talked to her, you know,
Speaker 1: small stuft.
Speaker 3: Right, little little baby steps.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, without further ado, let's share Caitlin's story with you.
Speaker 3: Let's do it. We've got a really fantastic guest and
Speaker 3: fellow Frugal Friends podcast listener sharing her and her family's
Speaker 3: story today. Caitlin, welcome, welcome, We're so glad you're here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you so much for joining us. So, Caitlin,
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about you, your family, where
Speaker 1: you guys live.
Speaker 5: Okay, So me and my husband we live in Hampton, Virginia,
Speaker 5: which is on the coast of Virginia.
Speaker 4: We have three children.
Speaker 5: So my stepdaf is fourteen, my daughter is almost twelve,
Speaker 5: and my son is almost eleven. My younger two are
Speaker 5: less than a year apart. And we are upon birthday
Speaker 5: season as well as Christmas. So December is the difficult
Speaker 5: month and our household when it comes to finances. And yeah,
Speaker 5: my husband and I we've been married for twelve going
Speaker 5: on thirteen years now and he is in law enforcement
Speaker 5: and my full time job, I work in human resources
Speaker 5: for a large Catholic health care system.
Speaker 6: Awesome.
Speaker 3: December sounds like a busy month for you, but I mean,
Speaker 3: spoiler alert, you're debt free now, so that's probably not
Speaker 3: as bad as December's might.
Speaker 6: Give it away.
Speaker 3: But can you tell us, like, okay, let's look back up.
Speaker 3: Can you tell us about the debt? How much was it?
Speaker 3: What was it comprised of? Just give us all the dates.
Speaker 4: It was a little bit of everything.
Speaker 5: So it was over one hundred thousand dollars, and that
Speaker 5: included eight credit cards, two personal loans, two car loans,
Speaker 5: twenty student loans, three medical bills, two cell phones, and
Speaker 5: a four to h one K.
Speaker 1: Loan and a partridge in a partrip exactly exactly. Okay,
Speaker 1: So how did this menagerie accumulate?
Speaker 6: Like, was this an instance?
Speaker 1: Was this an event that occurred where you had to
Speaker 1: take out a lot at once or was this more
Speaker 1: like overtime?
Speaker 5: It was kind of just a little bit of accumulation
Speaker 5: over you know, the first decade of our marriage.
Speaker 4: When we got married, I was quite young.
Speaker 5: I was twenty twenty two, twenty three, and we were
Speaker 5: both in very entry level roles within our career. So
Speaker 5: I think maybe our first year married, we made seventy
Speaker 5: thousand dollars combined income total. But we had three small kids,
Speaker 5: and they're so there's so close together that you know,
Speaker 5: they went to preschool together, and so all of those
Speaker 5: and then like the activity expenses all hit together. Looking forward,
Speaker 5: everyone will be driving around the same time. They'll all
Speaker 5: be going to college around the same time. So we just,
Speaker 5: you know, it just started very small, putting a little
Speaker 5: money on a credit card here, taking out a credit
Speaker 5: card there. We needed a personal loan for this home repairs.
Speaker 5: We did have a custody battle in there at one
Speaker 5: point where we paid a lot of money for a lawyer.
Speaker 5: So that was the bulk of the credit card debt.
Speaker 5: But then it just kind of compounded because we could
Speaker 5: never get out of the minimum payment cycle, and then
Speaker 5: we would put a little bit more and a little
Speaker 5: bit more and a little bit more, and then the
Speaker 5: student loan debt.
Speaker 4: Both of us were non traditional students.
Speaker 5: So I had started school college right out of high school,
Speaker 5: dropped out, started, stop, started, stopped a few times. My
Speaker 5: husband did not go to college right out of high school,
Speaker 5: decided to go back later.
Speaker 4: Once he was established in his career.
Speaker 5: We were not informed consumers when we started our education journey.
Speaker 5: We kind of just took the easy path, which was, Hey,
Speaker 5: here's these great schools that offer this great format, but
Speaker 5: guess what, those schools are really expensive, and we you know,
Speaker 5: student loans don't seem like real money in the moment,
Speaker 5: right because there's kind of that thought process that.
Speaker 4: Oh, well, I'll end up making more money in the
Speaker 4: long run and.
Speaker 5: I'll be able to pay it back. Well, fast forward
Speaker 5: ten years. I had spent sixty thousand dollars on my
Speaker 5: undergrad my husband had spent thirty thousand dollars on his,
Speaker 5: and we were getting to a point where we were
Speaker 5: going to have start making those payments. And when we
Speaker 5: hit this point in March of twenty twenty one. We
Speaker 5: had always been able to pay our bills. We were
Speaker 5: never behind, but it was always this anxiety of, oh,
Speaker 5: my goodness, are we going to be able to make
Speaker 5: our paycheck stretch.
Speaker 4: And meet all of these minimum payments? And we were.
Speaker 5: We were just paying minimum payments, nothing over and above,
Speaker 5: to really dig ourselves out. And then March of twenty
Speaker 5: twenty one, we were still in the student loan pause.
Speaker 5: But I knew we were going to have to do
Speaker 5: something because when those student loans came due, we were
Speaker 5: not going to be able to make those minimum payments
Speaker 5: because there was really there was too much what but
Speaker 5: did they say too much month at the end of.
Speaker 4: The page of the money right right.
Speaker 5: So that's when we just sat down and we had
Speaker 5: a really difficult conversation about what and we had come
Speaker 5: so far too, so we had both been advancing in
Speaker 5: our careers things of that nature, and we made too
Speaker 5: much money to not have any money. So we sat down,
Speaker 5: we listed out all of our debt, which it still
Speaker 5: makes me like, I have this breadsheet up right now
Speaker 5: and looking at it just makes me just so nauseous.
Speaker 5: When we put it all down, because it was like
Speaker 5: we thought we had everything, and then we were like, oh, well,
Speaker 5: this debt and this debt, and it just kept ticking
Speaker 5: up and ticking up and ticking up. And then when
Speaker 5: it hit over one hundred thousand dollars, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 5: we're going to stop. We're going to make a plan,
Speaker 5: and we're going to do something about that. So that's
Speaker 5: really how we ended up starting the journey.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: I can so feel all of those different layers that
Speaker 3: you're describing of young family, young kids, trying to advance
Speaker 3: in a career not currently making a lot of money,
Speaker 3: and there's just a lot of reasons for debt accumulation
Speaker 3: in addition to maybe not being informed consumers.
Speaker 6: As you've described.
Speaker 3: But what a common story of how you found yourself
Speaker 3: collecting the Monogoya basurie of debt.
Speaker 6: So totally understand it.
Speaker 3: But can you share a little bit about how long
Speaker 3: then did it take you to pay off this debt?
Speaker 5: Took us about eighteen months to pay everything off. I
Speaker 5: will say, so we started this journey with the same
Speaker 5: guy that everybody typically starts this journey with, so you know,
Speaker 5: and those principles really did help us, and I was
Speaker 5: really thankful for that kind of start to the journey.
Speaker 5: And as we progressed through it, I was able to
Speaker 5: incorporate more perspectives and opinions and my own kind of
Speaker 5: process or all of this.
Speaker 4: But we use the snowball method, but I call it like.
Speaker 5: The modified snowball because when we listed everything out, we
Speaker 5: did have a little bit of cash in the bank,
Speaker 5: so we had about five thousand dollars and instead of
Speaker 5: going for the smallest step first, I went for where's
Speaker 5: the biggest impact on my monthly budget first, so we
Speaker 5: were able to kind of start the snowball rolling a
Speaker 5: little bit more than we could have if we had followed.
Speaker 4: That particular protocol, because we had a couple.
Speaker 5: Payments that were like like a three hundred and fifty
Speaker 5: dollars payment that had three thousand dollars left on it,
Speaker 5: So that got our snowball rolling. And then I think
Speaker 5: I was able to pay off another one hundred and
Speaker 5: fifty dollars minimum payment, so that got us up to
Speaker 5: five hundred.
Speaker 4: So that really pushed us forward.
Speaker 1: On our journey.
Speaker 5: And then my husband worked an amazing amount of overtime.
Speaker 5: I don't even he must have worked some weeks one
Speaker 5: hundred hours, I don't think there.
Speaker 4: I think there were days that he went without sleep.
Speaker 5: It was it was a lot, and I feel very
Speaker 5: blessed that he has that opportunity. So law enforcement does
Speaker 5: not make a lot of money when you look at
Speaker 5: base pay, but the opportunity to earn is there. And
Speaker 5: then I actually picked up I picked up one side
Speaker 5: job and then I ended up I ended up with
Speaker 5: three jobs at the end of this and I.
Speaker 4: Still have all three jobs.
Speaker 5: So well, one of those jobs I ended and then
Speaker 5: I started a different job, so we definitely took advantage
Speaker 5: of every opportunity that we could to increase our income
Speaker 5: just to knock the stuff out.
Speaker 1: Wow, what was that experience of working all of those
Speaker 1: hours and doing all that, because that is something that
Speaker 1: does worry people and trade debt free journey?
Speaker 6: Did you find benefit in that?
Speaker 1: Obviously during the journey, but like now, what was that experience?
Speaker 4: Like, I wouldn't change any of it.
Speaker 5: I think we ended up even though we didn't see
Speaker 5: each other a lot, the more time, the time we
Speaker 5: were able to spend together, it was very meaningful. Our
Speaker 5: children saw us working really hard, and now they ask
Speaker 5: really open, like we have open conversations about earning.
Speaker 4: And education and bills.
Speaker 5: Actually, this morning, I was just talking to my middle
Speaker 5: school or her and her best friend want to get
Speaker 5: an apartment when they turn eighteen, and when we talked
Speaker 5: about how much an apartment was, they have a different
Speaker 5: plan now, which maybe involves everyone moving into my house.
Speaker 5: But I'm not quite sure how that's amazing. May have
Speaker 5: backfired a little bit, but they really they understand the
Speaker 5: value of hard work, and it's just it was tough
Speaker 5: for a while, and I know physically It was very
Speaker 5: hard on my husband because his job is not easy
Speaker 5: where my.
Speaker 4: Job is difficult.
Speaker 1: But all of well two.
Speaker 5: Of my jobs are remote. So my full time job
Speaker 5: is remote and I teach. I'm an adjunct instructor for
Speaker 5: a local university online and then I do teach a
Speaker 5: leadership class in person once a month. But so I
Speaker 5: was lucky enough to be here and I have flexibility,
Speaker 5: so we didn't have to childcare was never an issue
Speaker 5: for us because they're all in school. This wouldn't I
Speaker 5: don't think this would have been as easy when they
Speaker 5: were younger and they weren't all in school. But yeah,
Speaker 5: it's definitely it's been a journey and we learned a
Speaker 5: lot in the process.
Speaker 3: That's so great. So can you share some of those
Speaker 3: things that you've learned that you're taking with you now.
Speaker 5: So one of the big takeaways from this was when
Speaker 5: we sat down and looked at our student loans and
Speaker 5: I paid sixty thousand dollars for my undergrad it really
Speaker 5: made me sick. So during all of this process of
Speaker 5: him working, me working all of these jobs, I earned
Speaker 5: two master's degrees, and because of information that I heard
Speaker 5: on podcasts like Yours and others. I actually ended up
Speaker 5: profiting eighteen hundred dollars off of those two master's degrees,
Speaker 5: completing them both in under fourteen months. And now I'm
Speaker 5: on a journey to complete my doctorate for zero dollars,
Speaker 5: and so far I have been.
Speaker 1: Successful, Woway, And this is something you would have never
Speaker 1: known was available or to pursue without starting this journey, right, Nope.
Speaker 5: I didn't know how to be an informed consumer. I
Speaker 5: mean I worked for I worked for a bank for
Speaker 5: a really long time in lending, and you know everybody
Speaker 5: asked their financial questions to a bank. Well that's not
Speaker 5: the people you should be asking, right Like you have
Speaker 5: to You have to research on your own and get
Speaker 5: independent thoughts and consult multiple sources. And I took that
Speaker 5: information and applied it to going back to school and
Speaker 5: I was able to find programs that allowed me to
Speaker 5: maximize my education benefits that offered scholarships.
Speaker 4: I found independent.
Speaker 5: Scholarships and I just asked questions, like for my doctorate.
Speaker 5: They gave me the tuition, and I have great education
Speaker 5: benefits at my employer as well, but it wasn't enough
Speaker 5: to cover it. And I just made friends. But the
Speaker 5: financial aid officer and said, Hey, is there anything you
Speaker 5: guys can do? And she emailed me back a day
Speaker 5: later and was like, hey, we have this grant you
Speaker 5: qualify for it, like here's the money, And had I
Speaker 5: not asked, I would have.
Speaker 1: Been paying more.
Speaker 5: And it was an incredible feeling, like cause the worst
Speaker 5: they can say is no, right And in this case,
Speaker 5: I ended up getting a lot of money for just
Speaker 5: asking the right question. But I think that's a challenge
Speaker 5: for a lot of people because people don't know the
Speaker 5: right questions to ask. They have no idea where to start.
Speaker 6: Well done. Yeahlynn, this is so inspiring to hear.
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't know what we don't know, but
Speaker 3: as we kind of endeavor on this journey and we
Speaker 3: learn from others and we listen to podcasts, we watch
Speaker 3: YouTube videos to get inspired, then we can know to
Speaker 3: just ask the questions right, Like what was the downside?
Speaker 3: And the upside is being able to get your doctorate
Speaker 3: degree at no cost and what you were able to
Speaker 3: see with your two master's degrees, magodness, you are an
Speaker 3: accomplished human being and this is so encouraging to hear
Speaker 3: what you've been able to find with the financial component
Speaker 3: of that as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and I think what a debt free journey does.
Speaker 1: It's not only it kind of brings you to net zero,
Speaker 1: but it really gives you the opportunity to find what
Speaker 1: questions to ask. That's like an added benefit that you
Speaker 1: don't really think of, Like the paying off the debt
Speaker 1: isn't the solution to your all of your financial problems,
Speaker 1: but it is this amazing foundation that gives you space
Speaker 1: to get to that net zero and to start to
Speaker 1: discover those right questions. So congratulations for asking the exact
Speaker 1: right questions to get two masters and a doctorate.
Speaker 6: That's mind blowing.
Speaker 3: Thank you. So, in this debt payoff process, did you
Speaker 3: use any large sums of money like an inheritance or
Speaker 3: the selling of property or lump sum savings. Did you
Speaker 3: use any large chunks of money to hack away at
Speaker 3: the debt?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 5: Really, the only thing we had was that five thousand
Speaker 5: initial in our savings. Everything else, like we kept. We
Speaker 5: have a boat, and it would have been really easy
Speaker 5: to sell our boat, but our boat got us through
Speaker 5: two summers with our family with not having to spend anything,
Speaker 5: so that kind of ended up benefiting us, right.
Speaker 4: But really we didn't have anything to sell.
Speaker 5: Our cars are a decade old, and we're just kind
Speaker 5: of average normal people. So I mean, we sold a
Speaker 5: few small pieces of furniture on you know, Facebook marketplace,
Speaker 5: just stuff, But that actually came with because in the
Speaker 5: middle of the debt payoff, we also started more of
Speaker 5: a minimalistic journey too. You know, our home we moved
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty into a larger house, and around the
Speaker 5: same time as our debt payoff, we started looking around
Speaker 5: and going gosh, we moved into a bigger house and.
Speaker 4: We still have no room.
Speaker 5: And you know, we learned that our home is not
Speaker 5: a storage facility, it's a place to live. So we
Speaker 5: started just kind of moving stuff out that way too.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Yes, amazing, Yeah, that is wisdom takes notes,
Speaker 1: all right. So do you have any remaining debt and
Speaker 1: if so, why are you holding on to it?
Speaker 5: So we have just a little bit of student loan
Speaker 5: debt left, less than ten thousand dollars and we have
Speaker 5: not paid that off only because the government is doing
Speaker 5: whatever it's doing. And you know, I do I feel
Speaker 5: personally responsible for the debt that we took out. But
Speaker 5: if we can get a little bit that's going to
Speaker 5: help us kickstart our children's college savings. So just trying
Speaker 5: to be wise stewards of our of our money. We
Speaker 5: do have it in savings just in case something goes awry,
Speaker 5: so that we could pay it off and just be
Speaker 5: done with it.
Speaker 4: But that's what we have left.
Speaker 3: Excellent, Yeah, I can understand that. So can we talk
Speaker 3: a little bit about income some of the nitty gritty.
Speaker 3: What were you making at the beginning of the debt
Speaker 3: payoff and then as you kind of collected these jobs
Speaker 3: along the way between you and your husband, how much
Speaker 3: money did you end up or where are you at now?
Speaker 3: How much did you accumulate over the course of the payoff.
Speaker 5: So we had a combined income of one hundred and
Speaker 5: fifteen thousand just our base salaries when we started, we
Speaker 5: moved up to about one forty base salary, and then
Speaker 5: with everything else, overtime, extra jobs, we're probably at about
Speaker 5: one seventy five for this last year.
Speaker 1: So nice, and have you gone down any with the
Speaker 1: extra income taking your foot off the gas at all?
Speaker 5: Just a little bit on my husband's over time, especially
Speaker 5: because he was working so much, but he's still like
Speaker 5: he worked over time last night picked up some hours
Speaker 5: here and there because we are we still have some
Speaker 5: large financial goals that we're trying to hit. We are
Speaker 5: saving for upgrading our vehicles, and then we are obviously
Speaker 5: saving for an emergency fund as well. But we're back
Speaker 5: to investing in our four oh one ks. We have
Speaker 5: started small college funds for our kids.
Speaker 4: So and we also we took a huge.
Speaker 5: Vacation to celebrate in September, and we loved it so much.
Speaker 5: We will be taking the same vacation next September, so
Speaker 5: we're saving for that as well. Matter of fact, we
Speaker 5: were in Orlando for the hurricane at the end of September.
Speaker 6: YEP.
Speaker 5: We celebrated at Universal Studios for six days. Two of
Speaker 5: those days we were in our hotel room, hoping and
Speaker 5: praying that everything was going to be okay, which it was.
Speaker 6: Sorry on behalf of this.
Speaker 5: Okay, you know what, I live in a hurricane prone
Speaker 5: area too, so I knew exactly what I was doing
Speaker 5: when I booked when I booked that vacation.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's so amazing to kind of know where you
Speaker 3: want to be next, what the goals are with your income.
Speaker 3: How does this feel from where you were at the
Speaker 3: beginning of debt payoff to where you are now.
Speaker 5: It is it's just relief and there's no pressure, and
Speaker 5: it just feels like there's just a lighter air in
Speaker 5: our household, like there's no I don't want to say
Speaker 5: there's no worry, because there's always some worry, but there's
Speaker 5: you know, we're not stressed like we used to be
Speaker 5: or panicked.
Speaker 4: We can go and do like we're like, we're loose budgeters.
Speaker 4: We're not like strict budgeters.
Speaker 5: We have an idea, but we budget like I budget
Speaker 5: in fun, so my kids know what to expect and
Speaker 5: we're not missing out on anything with them. I just
Speaker 5: it feels really good. And now I'm on a journey
Speaker 5: to help other people. Part of my full time role.
Speaker 5: I'm kind of like a career coach in a in
Speaker 5: a sense, so trying to help people make better educational
Speaker 5: choices and better career choices so that they can stay
Speaker 5: debt free and get qualified for the roles that they
Speaker 5: dream of.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so great. I too, am a loose budgeter.
Speaker 1: I love the flexibility, so I get it. So what
Speaker 1: would you say to somebody or to yourself who was
Speaker 1: where you were at two years ago and wants to
Speaker 1: have this feeling that you found. Who wants to accomplish
Speaker 1: the schal that you've accomplished. What words of wisdom would
Speaker 1: you give them?
Speaker 4: Oh, my gosh, so much.
Speaker 5: But I'll go with when you first start, it might
Speaker 5: seem overwhelming and like there is no end in sight,
Speaker 5: but there is. You just have to keep moving forward.
Speaker 5: I forget who says it, but the only way out
Speaker 5: is through, so just making those small goals and not
Speaker 5: you know, when I looked at our debt and it
Speaker 5: was over one hundred thousand dollars, that was so overwhelming.
Speaker 5: But when I was able to break it down into
Speaker 5: just smaller wins, like how much can I put towards
Speaker 5: our debt this week? Or you know, what can we
Speaker 5: pay off this next month, it was a lot easier.
Speaker 5: And I talk to people all the time. When I,
Speaker 5: you know, put out on social media that we achieve
Speaker 5: this goals, people are constantly messaging me going how do
Speaker 5: you do it?
Speaker 4: How do you do it?
Speaker 5: And I'm like I tell them exactly how we did it,
Speaker 5: and they're like, well, we could never do that. Well
Speaker 5: I was in that place too one time, where I
Speaker 5: thought we could never do it. Until we actually just tried,
Speaker 5: like you just have to try.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's so true. It can seem so so daunting.
Speaker 3: If we just are only focusing on the final goal
Speaker 3: or final destination, but breaking it down into these small, manageable, tangible,
Speaker 3: approachable steps, that's where the progress is going to happen
Speaker 3: and we can find ourselves on the other side, similar
Speaker 3: to yourself, Caitlin, where we say I did it. I
Speaker 3: thought I couldn't do it, but I did it because
Speaker 3: I just took it one step at a time.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're so right. There's so many people that are
Speaker 6: like I could never do that. I could never do that.
Speaker 1: And maybe your journey like doesn't look like Caitlin's or
Speaker 1: like ours, But if you're focusing on these like getting
Speaker 1: one percent better sort of like tiny changes, then those
Speaker 1: snowball and that's yeah, that is really the secret to success.
Speaker 1: It's not sexy, but like that's it. Thank you all right, Caitlyn.
Speaker 1: We have come to the time in the episode where
Speaker 1: it is time for you to celebrate your big accomplishment.
Speaker 1: This is one hundred thousand dollars of debt in eighteen months,
Speaker 1: making one hundred and fifteen thousand up to one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty five thousand working, feverishly, tiredlessly tired, Lee. And
Speaker 1: so now we want you to be able to celebrate
Speaker 1: in whatever way you want to celebrate.
Speaker 6: So how is that going to be?
Speaker 4: I don't I don't really know.
Speaker 5: I think it's celebrating enough just to share the story
Speaker 5: and encourage other people along the way.
Speaker 6: You can maybe give us a little chair spin, it's.
Speaker 4: A little twirl.
Speaker 1: Hold on, let me make sure I.
Speaker 3: Don't Yeah, I don't know if we've got.
Speaker 6: Swivel with ye. Congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for sharing your journey, Caitlin. It
Speaker 3: is such a pleasure and motivation and encouragement as usual
Speaker 3: to hear stories like this, you all, you and your
Speaker 3: husband Travis.
Speaker 6: You really crushed it that.
Speaker 1: I was great to play again. I think Caitlyn's journey
Speaker 1: really shows the importance of being an informed consumer asking
Speaker 1: the right question when it comes to education and finances,
Speaker 1: and that's what led her to find scholarships and grants
Speaker 1: and ultimately profit from her master's degrees and get that
Speaker 1: doctorate for free.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It reminds me in some ways of what we talked
Speaker 3: about in Nika's story. A couple weeks ago, last week,
Speaker 3: and just how much research and looking into resources available
Speaker 3: to you can really help, not just in debt payoff,
Speaker 3: but in avoiding future debt. I think a lot of
Speaker 3: times we go into debt that may not be necessary,
Speaker 3: and we don't always know that when we signed up
Speaker 3: for these college loans at eighteen years old, seventeen years
Speaker 3: old some of us. But now we can be implementing
Speaker 3: some of that knowledge. We don't have to feel bad
Speaker 3: about the decisions we previously made. We can take actions
Speaker 3: now to get ourselves in a place that we want
Speaker 3: to be in. But if we want to be person
Speaker 3: doing higher education or paying down debt, there are ways
Speaker 3: that we can do that and still be investing, like
Speaker 3: we've talked about another debt paying off stories, or still
Speaker 3: potentially buy a house if that's what you want, or
Speaker 3: still travel, but finding some of these really resourceful ways
Speaker 3: of going about it, spending on what we value, paying
Speaker 3: down the debt. I just love the creativity and the
Speaker 3: resourcefulness that we're seeing in all of these people, including Caitlin.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I loved all of the peripheral things too,
Speaker 1: so like the working extra, the dedication, the team work
Speaker 1: that between her and her husband was great. And then
Speaker 1: like also they didn't have like large sums of money
Speaker 1: to throw at this. They didn't sell anything extra. It
Speaker 1: was just small, consistent payments. And I think that is
Speaker 1: so boring, Like, but progress come in. What's boring?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: We don't want to be doing this forever. But I
Speaker 1: think when you start taking your mind off of the
Speaker 1: bigger goal, start taking it off the destination, and start
Speaker 1: embracing the journey, embracing the day to day like what
Speaker 1: the struggle has to teach you, then you can live
Speaker 1: in these like small moves and like that is what
Speaker 1: ultimately breaks down the debt into manageable goals and actions
Speaker 1: are what keep you motivated. Not like you know, coloring
Speaker 1: the thermometer to reach debt freedom or or the debt
Speaker 1: payoff sheet grid is fun. But if you're not also
Speaker 1: tracking actions and really focused on those those small everyday things,
Speaker 1: the seasons you can't color in as much are not
Speaker 1: as devastating.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: We feel like when we can't when we're making great product,
Speaker 1: that's very motivating, but we're not making great coloring progress
Speaker 1: on our pretty charts that can be pretty rough. So
Speaker 1: when we stop taking stop thinking so much about the
Speaker 1: destination and start embracing more of the day to day journey.
Speaker 1: That's that is such a key part of Kaitlyn's story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that part is what resonated with me. Breaking down
Speaker 3: the debt into those manageable goals being key to sticking
Speaker 3: with it making progress. I think when I was in
Speaker 3: my debt payoff, looking at this big, lofty, tens of
Speaker 3: thousands number that feels so unreasonable, but to then be
Speaker 3: able to break it down and say, but what could
Speaker 3: I reasonably do this month, this week today, That is
Speaker 3: what helped me personally get through, similar to what Caitlin described,
Speaker 3: just even if it's a small amount weekly or monthly,
Speaker 3: being it like you're saying, track those action steps that yeah,
Speaker 3: here's what I was able to do, or even if
Speaker 3: it wasn't okay, I could throw twenty bucks at it,
Speaker 3: but I did make some shifts this week that we'll
Speaker 3: be able to free up money later in the month,
Speaker 3: whether that's with food or activities that I ended up
Speaker 3: participating in. So I think we're seeing that across the board.
Speaker 3: It always looks different for everybody, but how it's kind
Speaker 3: of broken down into more manageable pieces is what got
Speaker 3: these people to this final stage of being able to
Speaker 3: say I did it, Because it wasn't in this one
Speaker 3: heroic action. It was in all of the daily decisions
Speaker 3: and monthly actions that were taken that finally led to
Speaker 3: this point.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we do have an update, Yeah, Caitlin, she says,
Speaker 1: we are still debt free, aggressively saving for retirement, college
Speaker 1: savings for our three teens, and paying down our mortgage.
Speaker 1: Our net worth has gone from negative one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars at the start of our debt free journey in
Speaker 1: March of twenty twenty one to half a million dollars. Today.
Speaker 1: I completed my doctorate. I paid zero dollars for it.
Speaker 1: I did leave this as a bill of the week
Speaker 1: earlier this year. My husband has gone back to school
Speaker 1: to finish his degree in criminal justice, and we found
Speaker 1: a way for him to complete it for free.
Speaker 3: Whoa again, she's just getting these free degrees.
Speaker 1: She is it. He recently was promoted to sergeant and
Speaker 1: if he wants to go for the next rank and
Speaker 1: a few years, a bachelor's degree will be required. If
Speaker 1: you recall my quote on my Bill of the week, Yes,
Speaker 1: there is a difference between paying for a college experience
Speaker 1: and an academic program. And this is a prime example.
Speaker 1: Get the degree only if it's in need. We vacationed regularly.
Speaker 1: Now we found a great cadence of a short Disney
Speaker 1: trip at the beginning of the year with the kids,
Speaker 1: and my husband and I are now going to Disney
Speaker 1: by ourselves for anniversary each year in May so we
Speaker 1: can eat, drink and ride what we want and then
Speaker 1: we do a big trip to Universe still in September.
Speaker 1: What can we say? We love Florida, you know, you
Speaker 1: know we partial of Florida.
Speaker 3: Do we should do a meet up on your anniversary?
Speaker 3: Hey here.
Speaker 1: So fun? We will will buy you knives like as
Speaker 1: an anniversary gets. We love buying knives for people. But yes,
Speaker 1: I don't Okay, I don't remember which episode her Bill
Speaker 1: of the Week was in, but I do remember the
Speaker 1: Bill of the Week Goldie probably, Oh, Goldie linked it
Speaker 1: for us again, so maybe we'll play it? Should we
Speaker 1: play it?
Speaker 3: We have another Bill of the Week.
Speaker 1: We don't have another Bill of the But why don't
Speaker 1: we play people?
Speaker 3: Should we play Caitlin's bill?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: I love pulling an audible look at us? Okay, we're
Speaker 3: just making decisions. Because it's our.
Speaker 1: Podcast, We're going to play it right now.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is the week.
Speaker 7: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 7: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 7: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 7: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 7: that bill anymore. Tough bills, Buffalo bills, Bill clion, this
Speaker 7: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hey, Jed and Jill, this is Caitlin.
Speaker 5: I'm a longtime listener and I was actually featured on
Speaker 5: your Debt Free YouTube series in early twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: I shared a little bit about my.
Speaker 5: Journey with student loan debt and then getting my master's
Speaker 5: degree where I actually profited money. I had just started
Speaker 5: on my doctorate at the time of that recording, and
Speaker 5: now I am back to share my bill. My final
Speaker 5: tuition bill for my program was paid and then reimbursed
Speaker 5: by my employer. So between comparing and price shopping degree
Speaker 5: programs for value, an institutional grant and tuition reimbursement from
Speaker 5: my employer, I am super happy and proud to share
Speaker 5: that my total out of pocket expense for my doctorate
Speaker 5: in education was zero dollars.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 5: I got an advanced degree for free. I just finished
Speaker 5: writing my dissertation and I'm preparing for the final defense.
Speaker 5: I hope by the time this airs, I will officially
Speaker 5: be doctor Caitlin. And since my program is pay per term,
Speaker 5: I have time left in my term to finish a
Speaker 5: post doctoral certificate in organizational leadership, so I will definitely
Speaker 5: be taking advantage of this extra freebee. This is just
Speaker 5: a reminder that a quality education does not have to
Speaker 5: be expensive, and there is a difference between paying for
Speaker 5: an educational experience and paying for an academic program. Thanks
Speaker 5: for all you do, girl, Yeah, it.
Speaker 1: Was worth it to hear that again. It was so
Speaker 1: worth it, Doctor Caitlin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, congratulations. And I know we've commented on this previously
Speaker 3: in whatever episode we aired if Your Bill on before,
Speaker 3: but I really want to highlight what you specifically talked
Speaker 3: about in this bill of the tuitional reimbursement and the
Speaker 3: scholarship and grants that you looked into. I think this
Speaker 3: is really important for all of us to consider if
Speaker 3: we're looking at higher education, and specifically that tuitional reimbursement piece.
Speaker 3: If you're thinking about going back to school looking for
Speaker 3: jobs that offer this as part of the benefits package.
Speaker 3: I know we've talked about that in other episodes when
Speaker 3: we talk about increasing our income or negotiating our income
Speaker 3: or benefits within our current employer. If we're not looking
Speaker 3: to job hop, are there things that we can be
Speaker 3: asking for beyond just a raise. Could we be asking
Speaker 3: for more vacation time, better medical benefits, or tuitional reimbursement.
Speaker 3: If this is something you already want to do, and
Speaker 3: that can then put you into potentially a higher income
Speaker 3: earning bracket. So I love that specific tip. I think
Speaker 3: it's one of the things we often don't consider when
Speaker 3: looking for work, and it could even be a reason
Speaker 3: to go back if your employer offers it. Maybe you
Speaker 3: weren't thinking about getting your next degree, but if your
Speaker 3: employer does offer it might as well. It could really
Speaker 3: help you in the future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially if you're feeling maybe stagnant in your position,
Speaker 1: then you may want to go somewhere else or do
Speaker 1: something different within the company. Then this could be a
Speaker 1: really good thing. And if they offer it, that is
Speaker 1: essentially money on the table that you are telling the employer, no,
Speaker 1: you don't need to pay me that that's fine. I
Speaker 1: don't need that money granted this one. So it's not
Speaker 1: like the four oh one K match where you really
Speaker 1: do need not need to do anything to get that money.
Speaker 1: You should be getting that money. This does take time
Speaker 1: and so it's not the right season for everyone to
Speaker 1: do this. But like Caitlin, she had team, you know, children,
Speaker 1: so they don't want you in your life, you know.
Speaker 3: So maybe Kaitlin's awesome. I'm sure her teens love being
Speaker 3: around here. She takes into Disney, I know.
Speaker 1: Right, so that would that would win mom points if
Speaker 1: there's any reason to pay off your debt so you
Speaker 1: can win your child's affection through Disney.
Speaker 3: So well, yeah, thanks so much, Caitlin. If you want,
Speaker 3: and if you all listening, want to submit your bill
Speaker 3: of the week, if it has to do with higher
Speaker 3: education for free tuition, reimbursement, scholarships and grants, just your
Speaker 3: own debt payoff journey or your name is Bill and
Speaker 3: you want to talk about a day in the life,
Speaker 3: We love to hear it. Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 3: com slash Bill leave it for us. We can't wait.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for the lighting around Okay, So
Speaker 3: this question came from Goldie and it's related to this
Speaker 3: debt payoff story from Caitlin because one of Caitlin's advice
Speaker 3: tips was to ask for help in the debt payoff journey.
Speaker 3: So Goldie wants to know who gave you the biggest
Speaker 3: support on your debt free journey. Give a shout out
Speaker 3: if you want.
Speaker 1: H biggest support on our debt free journey. We so,
Speaker 1: I must say Travis and I were really like our
Speaker 1: biggest cheerleaders to each other. Yeah, that was really And
Speaker 1: we had like friends who were supportive, but they were
Speaker 1: just maybe peripheral, they were not You can only require
Speaker 1: so much of your friends, right, Like, we wanted to
Speaker 1: put people in our life who were not distracting us
Speaker 1: from our goal or trying to convince us to not
Speaker 1: pursue our goal. But so the people that we had
Speaker 1: in our lives were pretty much just like like cool,
Speaker 1: yay cool, and so they were very they were you know,
Speaker 1: on board, but they weren't doing anything for us. Like
Speaker 1: Travis and I really were like our own you know,
Speaker 1: getting through.
Speaker 3: It, your own cheerleaders were You have even talked about
Speaker 3: in your own personal story how it was Travis's idea, Yeah,
Speaker 3: to become debt free, and so he was kind of
Speaker 3: the initiator and the initial motivator to helping you like
Speaker 3: realize and envision a future life. And then and then
Speaker 3: you got on board, and then you both encouraged each other.
Speaker 3: I love that contagious.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is contagious. It's when you support your partner.
Speaker 1: I think it is much better to like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: what do they say pull instead of push or pushing
Speaker 1: sounds aggressive.
Speaker 3: Wait, it's easier to push the pull someone, right, don't
Speaker 3: I think that this is I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a good saying. Whatever the correct
Speaker 1: saying is, but like walk alongside them and really care
Speaker 1: about what they want in life and how the goals
Speaker 1: you reach together can better support that. And if the
Speaker 1: goals you want to reach doesn't better support the thing
Speaker 1: that your partner truly desires, like maybe you need to
Speaker 1: reevaluate your goals. So but it just really, you know,
Speaker 1: our desires lined up. So it was it was good.
Speaker 3: Well, and then you've also talked about in you getting
Speaker 3: on board, it was listening to podcasts and reading books
Speaker 3: to really embrace and understand. So it sounds like that
Speaker 3: was a big support, and and you yourself were blogging
Speaker 3: you were probably your biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 1: That was my biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 3: That came together Me.
Speaker 1: No, but yeah, that was part of the like what
Speaker 1: I've said, embracing the journey, the day to day, not
Speaker 1: being so focused on the destination, but really embracing the
Speaker 1: friction of change, Like whenever you are changing direction, like
Speaker 1: when you were stopping a car, the thing that stops
Speaker 1: that car is friction between the tire and the road, right,
Speaker 1: So like the friction is not doesn't feel great, but
Speaker 1: it's essential. So how can we embrace that friction? And
Speaker 1: for me, it was writing, it was listening to lots
Speaker 1: of podcasts and all of that. That was just like
Speaker 1: one of the ways that I personally was embracing that journey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say the biggest support beyond, of course
Speaker 3: what you're describing, both Eric and I being on the
Speaker 3: same team and having a similar goal in mind, Eric's
Speaker 3: parents offered some really tangible support to us. I don't
Speaker 3: know if I shared this specific aspects, but since all
Speaker 3: of our listeners value authenticity and knowing the story, maybe
Speaker 3: I did. In our debt payoff story I can't remember,
Speaker 3: but they had a chunk of money from Eric's dad
Speaker 3: having sold his business that they offered to pay off
Speaker 3: the loan, and we paid them back, so essentially provided
Speaker 3: us with a small loan at a flat fixed interest rate.
Speaker 3: So I think at the time my student loan interest
Speaker 3: rates were somewhere around six or seven percent, and they
Speaker 3: offered us this private loan at closer to like a
Speaker 3: three percent but like flat rate on like three percent
Speaker 3: on the total amount of money, which was really amazing.
Speaker 3: We were very privileged to be able to have that opportunity.
Speaker 3: They were very kind and generous to kind of float
Speaker 3: that money for a time to provide that loan and
Speaker 3: for us to be able to pay them off in
Speaker 3: of course a dedicated timeframe with interest. We still had
Speaker 3: to pay the money, but it definitely did help I
Speaker 3: think just the stress levels of the amount of interest
Speaker 3: that was accruing on the loans from yeah, the loans
Speaker 3: that we had the student loan debt. So that was
Speaker 3: just some very big, actual tangible support that I think
Speaker 3: helped us. You know, we paid off our debt in
Speaker 3: seven years. It probably would have taken us closer to
Speaker 3: ten years. Or maybe beyond if if it weren't for that,
Speaker 3: we were both very dedicated to paying it off. But
Speaker 3: I was very thrilled that like some of that interest
Speaker 3: got cut out as a result of their help.
Speaker 1: Did they set that up like through a local bank
Speaker 1: or something online like or did they? Was that just
Speaker 1: like this is what it's going to be amateurized? Like
Speaker 1: yeah with three percent?
Speaker 3: Right? Yeah? Nice? They they set it up themselves, and
Speaker 3: I set up automatic payment just like to their bank account.
Speaker 1: Nice, and yeah.
Speaker 3: That's how it worked for years. It was funny. Then
Speaker 3: there was one year where his parents, they're getting more
Speaker 3: than you bargained for. But his parents, his mom especially,
Speaker 3: is this one who's like, I want you to get
Speaker 3: money now from us. I don't want to wait till
Speaker 3: we're dead. And so there was one particular Christmas where
Speaker 3: they gave all of us kids couples. Eric is one
Speaker 3: of three, so each kid and their spouse collectively each
Speaker 3: got a few thousand dollars as a whatever you want
Speaker 3: to spend it on. I think Eric's brother wanted to
Speaker 3: put a new window in their house. And I don't
Speaker 3: know what his other brother did with the money. I
Speaker 3: can't speak for them. But it was kind of this,
Speaker 3: this is like your inheritance and we want to see
Speaker 3: you receive it, and so we bought We did buy
Speaker 3: a camera. It's still the camera that we use for
Speaker 3: some of our frugal friends stuff. And then we just
Speaker 3: gave the rest right back to that. We want this dead.
Speaker 3: Thank you and here you're going.
Speaker 1: Here you go passing money. I love that's like gift
Speaker 1: cards at our holidays. Like everyone's just passing around twenty
Speaker 1: five dollars in the form of different gift cards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really beautiful. Yeah it is. Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you everyone for listening, Thanks for joining us
Speaker 3: for this dep free summer. And if you're loving this,
Speaker 3: please leave us a review. Like we've described, we're doing
Speaker 3: a giveaway, so screenshot it before you submit it. Send
Speaker 3: it to Janet Frugal friendspodcast dot com. And here is
Speaker 3: some fuel. So if you feel like you've got writer's block,
Speaker 3: here's one that we love comes from Pip and Pop
Speaker 3: friends who are frugal Together, Stay Together. Five stars. What
Speaker 3: a great show. So nice to learn new tips and
Speaker 3: tricks and consider things previously not considered. Budgeting is hard.
Speaker 3: Thanks for making it fun. Every Friday. Well and Pip
Speaker 3: and Pop are also making it fun every Tuesday. Yeah too.
Speaker 1: We love we love a Friday, but we also love
Speaker 1: a Tuesday. Thank you for listening. Please please please take
Speaker 1: a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1: Not only do you get a chance to win one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, it helps potential new listeners know what the
Speaker 1: show is all about, so they make sure they are
Speaker 1: getting they're seeing the most up to date reviews, not
Speaker 1: reviews from like two years ago. We were different people then,
Speaker 1: you know, so we want them to get really up
Speaker 1: to date reviews and know what the show's about.
Speaker 3: See you next time.
Speaker 1: May Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All right, Jill,
Speaker 1: this is super important to talk about. Today is the
Speaker 1: day this comes out. Is my annual bi annual every
Speaker 1: other year Olympic watch part party, Opening Ceremonies watch party.
Speaker 3: Cannot wait. I think I've been to We always drop
Speaker 3: things at this point in the show. We I think
Speaker 3: I've been to two of your parties, maybe only one,
Speaker 3: but I feel like too you.
Speaker 1: I think you were definitely at the last one for
Speaker 1: the Beijing Winter Olympia. Yes I do, yes, but there
Speaker 1: it got a little wonky there with COVID. We didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't think we did one for Tokyo, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been doing these for a long time. And no,
Speaker 1: for Tokyo. We actually we did the We did the
Speaker 1: the summit, the Frugal Living So instead of having just
Speaker 1: like a party like locally, we really we hosted it
Speaker 1: kind of like in tandem with our Frugal Living Summit.
Speaker 1: That's what I did.
Speaker 3: And we had an opening ceremony party for the virtual.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was virtual. Oh yeah, man.
Speaker 3: That was always fun. We have fun.
Speaker 1: Okay. So I am obsessed with the Olympics. I think
Speaker 1: it is a beacon of hope in a world divided.
Speaker 1: The Olympics really bring people together around hard work and
Speaker 1: dedication and a little bit of steroids. And I love it.
Speaker 1: And so I love the opening ceremonies, specifically, like the
Speaker 1: Parade of Nations makes me cry. And this year, much
Speaker 1: to the chagrin of my husband, will be my biggest
Speaker 1: year yet.
Speaker 3: Oh tell us more.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we are introducing for the first time the
Speaker 1: Children's Olympics W sorry, the Children's Pentathlon, the Children's Modern Pentathlon,
Speaker 1: where children will compete to be named champion of the
Speaker 1: children at our house, everyone gets a gold medal. That's
Speaker 1: what that means. But we have we have come up
Speaker 1: with I say we it's me and I told Travis
Speaker 1: and he's like, yeah, that sounds great.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Five sports that literally it's just kind of like you
Speaker 1: do it. There's no competing involved. You just do it
Speaker 1: and move on to the next sport. So we've got
Speaker 1: shot put and I am getting bouncy balls that look
Speaker 1: like shot puts awesome that you just like throw and
Speaker 1: then the kids can also like keep the bouncy ball cool.
Speaker 1: There is breakdancing, where will be a thirty second breakdance
Speaker 1: timed and raided by the parent. There will be because
Speaker 1: breakdancing is new in the Olympics this year.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: There will be basketball where you have to throw your
Speaker 1: your bouncy ball, which was your shot put.
Speaker 3: And we're not getting two different kinds now, no, you're
Speaker 3: we're frugal.
Speaker 1: So you've got basketball. Obviously, there's not all the same
Speaker 1: modern pentathlon sports for the chill ran Like, I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to include like any like shooting or archery. So
Speaker 1: we've got the marathon, which is just going to be
Speaker 1: a lap around our side lot. We have uh live
Speaker 1: on a double lot, so this side lot is like perfect,
Speaker 1: It's a lap around.
Speaker 3: Their understanding of what it means to be an Olympian
Speaker 3: is going to be entirely skewed. They're like, I ran
Speaker 3: a marathon when I was four.
Speaker 1: Yes, and then the last one that was okay, break dancing, basketball,
Speaker 1: shot put marathon. The last one is equestrian. And we're
Speaker 1: going to take the kay's little Ford Bronco toy and
Speaker 1: all they have to do is drive the Ford Bronco
Speaker 1: from one end of the yard to the other. That's
Speaker 1: question of a horse horse's space. I mean, Bronco is
Speaker 1: the horse. So that's going to be the equestrian the riding.
Speaker 3: Pl Oh wow, Jen, you're really going all out. I'm excited.
Speaker 1: And so I will have themed food den cocktails, the
Speaker 1: French seventy five of course because it's in Paris, and
Speaker 1: then probably just a jack and coke for.
Speaker 3: What's a French seventy five?
Speaker 1: Gin and champagne and lemon? I know, right, why don't
Speaker 1: we drink French? It is such a good cocktail. And
Speaker 1: then just some like or dervs like everyone can bring
Speaker 1: their own country. Oh, I'm getting country flags. So whenever
Speaker 1: when you walk in, you get to choose the country
Speaker 1: you're rooting for, picking their flag.
Speaker 3: We're never going to leave.
Speaker 1: You'll leave promptly at ten thirty or eleven, whenever the
Speaker 1: opening ceremonies are over.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's a hard cutoff time. I love that
Speaker 1: about the party too, because it's a hard cutoff.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing that's also happening. It's basically the debut
Speaker 3: of your renovated home. You have been renovating your house
Speaker 3: with the deadline of the opening ceremonies of the summer.
Speaker 1: She does not tell a lie.
Speaker 3: So this day is just gonna be jam packed. I
Speaker 3: don't think you're getting rid of me till midnight. I'm
Speaker 3: just gonna say say that I am okay with that.
Speaker 1: Okay,