Speaker 1: Episode one fifty six, how to avoid impulse spending. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and for
Speaker 1: the one hundred and fifty sixth time, we are introducing
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Speaker 1: our third anniversary of doing Frugal Friends. We've been doing
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Speaker 1: and much like in personal finance, you will do it
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Speaker 1: Valley Girl. That makes absolutely so. Speaking of episodes, if
Speaker 1: you are interested in impulse spending and you want to
Speaker 1: queue up some of our episodes to play after this,
Speaker 1: definitely head back into the archives and que up episode one,
Speaker 1: which is our episode on emotional spending with Leslie Taine.
Speaker 1: That one was really really good, and then episode one
Speaker 1: thirty three how to avoid Holiday impulse buying. We mentioned
Speaker 1: the holidays, but really it can come around any holiday
Speaker 1: or birthday or significant event. You can find some really
Speaker 1: valuable things in that one, so definitely great episodes to
Speaker 1: cue up for after this one. Yes, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about impulse spending and how to avoid it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to hear your thoughts on our first quote
Speaker 1: unquote article. It's actually an infographic, and so if you
Speaker 1: visit our show notes, you will be able to see
Speaker 1: the infographic. But I thought that this had a lot
Speaker 1: of really great data and we wanted to share this
Speaker 1: with you. So Jill already shared some of your thoughts
Speaker 1: before we started recording. But let me know what you
Speaker 1: think of this. I don't want to bash it before
Speaker 1: we talk about some of the good stuff of it. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the good stuff. It's called the Psychology
Speaker 1: of Consumer Spending, and it is it's a lot of statistics,
Speaker 1: but it's from Illinois Lending. Yes, so it gives us
Speaker 1: just a basic snapshot of some of the compulsive shopping statistics.
Speaker 1: What we typically purchase when we compulsively shop, how much
Speaker 1: we spend in credit cards versus cash spending, reasons for
Speaker 1: compulsive shopping, Like the infographic states the psychology behind it,
Speaker 1: some of the mental reasons behind it, which always comes first,
Speaker 1: our thoughts and feelings always come before an action, so
Speaker 1: we have to make those connections when we're looking at behaviors.
Speaker 1: So I think it helps to highlight those pieces. One
Speaker 1: of the things that struck me just because it is
Speaker 1: at the top of this infographic and it gets thrown
Speaker 1: around a lot, so I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: that we look at this it does talk about It
Speaker 1: states that shopping addiction affects about five pc of the population.
Speaker 1: I just want to state here we can throw our
Speaker 1: on the word addiction and not really know what we're
Speaker 1: talking about here. Shopping addiction is not actually a diagnosable
Speaker 1: behavioral concern. While compulsive shopping can certainly lead to some
Speaker 1: negative things and have some adverse consequences, it's not actually
Speaker 1: in the d s M. We can't actually diagnose a
Speaker 1: shopping addiction. So I don't know where they're getting that percentage.
Speaker 1: It's not a diagnosable thing. It's not actually an addiction.
Speaker 1: Certainly it can lead to some really maladaptive, difficult things
Speaker 1: in people's lives, but I just want to state that
Speaker 1: at the forefront. Yeah, but I mean, it does have
Speaker 1: some usable stats that can really put compulsive shopping into
Speaker 1: perspective because that is a thing. We do tend to
Speaker 1: overuse the word addiction on some things, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: negate the fact that shopping free quently, especially when unplanned,
Speaker 1: does have negative effects. So the first stat that it
Speaker 1: states on here's over people who shop today make occasional
Speaker 1: impulse purchases that they didn't tend to buy initially. So
Speaker 1: I would really, I would really argue that a hundred
Speaker 1: percent of people who shop makes some kind of occasional
Speaker 1: impulse by It doesn't matter who you are. It's easy
Speaker 1: to do, especially when you see something that yeah, oh
Speaker 1: this might fit a need. It wasn't necessarily on my list,
Speaker 1: but might as well get it, or something inexpensive. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe not every trip, but even as an intentional shopper
Speaker 1: and a frugal person, sometimes throwing in a pack of
Speaker 1: gum I didn't plan on buying. Absolutely you love gum. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would also argue with this stat we really said
Speaker 1: we weren't going to bash you before we highlighted the
Speaker 1: good things, but here we are. It says women may
Speaker 1: comprise may comprise. I love that ambiguity and statistics up
Speaker 1: to of compulsive shoppers, and I believe that statistically women
Speaker 1: do make more purchases, do make more home purchases than men.
Speaker 1: That's data backed. But I do argue the fact that
Speaker 1: of compulsive shoppers are women, because I know a lot
Speaker 1: of men just because they're buying different things, are still
Speaker 1: buying things that are unplanned. Well, the compulsive part isn't
Speaker 1: gender specific any right, be compulsive and impulsive. So alright,
Speaker 1: let's just move past that first section, Okay, where I
Speaker 1: will point out this is a stat I do believe
Speaker 1: among compulsive shoppers, fifty eight percent have large debts. But
Speaker 1: that's a lot of people, Like, even if you're not
Speaker 1: a compulsive shopper, you can still have a large amount
Speaker 1: of student loan debt or maybe medical debt or something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the common purchase says So I liked this section as
Speaker 1: well as the reasons for impulse purchasing. But the most
Speaker 1: common purchases that we will make when we're shopping compulsively
Speaker 1: is clothing, household items, shoes, jewelry, and items on sale,
Speaker 1: the Big five, the Big five and all of these
Speaker 1: relative luxuries, right, jewelry, shoes, household items, clothing. We're not
Speaker 1: talking food. We're not compulsively shopping for food. Sometimes though,
Speaker 1: I'm like throwing ice cream in my cart that I
Speaker 1: don't need. But these are the items that and I
Speaker 1: think it's helpful to know, Okay, these are the big five,
Speaker 1: or even dig deeper to say which one is the
Speaker 1: one you typically go to. For me, it's definitely clothing.
Speaker 1: So if I'm out and about and I'm not actually
Speaker 1: planning on going for clothing, I won't even go up
Speaker 1: and down those aisles. Already talking about how to avoid
Speaker 1: compulsive impulsive shopping, but and items on sale definite. Really,
Speaker 1: you can always find me on the clearance sections. Such
Speaker 1: a fallacy that you're actually saving money when you're buying
Speaker 1: clearance items. You might be buying discounted items, but you're
Speaker 1: still spending money. So if you didn't need those items,
Speaker 1: it's not a good deal and it often leads to
Speaker 1: compulsive purchases because oh man, I've never seen this price
Speaker 1: on this type of item before. I better just buy it.
Speaker 1: But I don't actually have a use for it. So
Speaker 1: beware shoppers. Absolutely. I mean we talked about this and
Speaker 1: back in our Holiday Um and Pulse shopping episode, is
Speaker 1: that retailers will mark up things so that they can
Speaker 1: put them on sale because a sale is a marketing technique.
Speaker 1: It's not to help you. It is marketing because again
Speaker 1: items on sale is one of the Big five, and
Speaker 1: that's I mean definitely for me. I know that I
Speaker 1: liked this credit card versus cash spending section, and so
Speaker 1: I am a die hard credit card user. I don't
Speaker 1: use cash because it's inconvenient for me, and I have
Speaker 1: practice frugality long enough to where I can use a
Speaker 1: credit card with confidence. I love the cash envelope method
Speaker 1: when you're first starting out and you really need to
Speaker 1: see what you're spending and how you're spending it. I
Speaker 1: love that. But it does say that twenty two dollars
Speaker 1: is the average cash transaction while a hundred and twelve
Speaker 1: is the average non cash transaction, which was super The
Speaker 1: difference there is is wide, and I can see why, Like,
Speaker 1: if I'm purchasing something very expensive, I'm obviously not going
Speaker 1: to pay in you know, cash bills. Like I'm buying
Speaker 1: a car on Craig's List, I might use a check.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's what they mean by like
Speaker 1: non cash, but it definitely is big. So that's like
Speaker 1: important to note if you're trying to reduce your impulse
Speaker 1: spending or reduce your spending. In general, a cash diet
Speaker 1: could be a really great way to kick start that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not going to be likely to spend more than
Speaker 1: two dollars on a transaction. Yeah. It's shocking also how
Speaker 1: few people actually pay off their credit cards each month.
Speaker 1: This statistics states, so less than half of people will
Speaker 1: pay off their credit cards each month. I imagine within
Speaker 1: our frugal friends community that percentage would be much higher
Speaker 1: just because of our intentionality and looking at these things.
Speaker 1: But even for that reason, recognizing we may be less
Speaker 1: likely to pay off a credit card, so cash can
Speaker 1: really help us to tighten and rein this in and
Speaker 1: be more in tune with what we're purchasing, why we're purchasing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do we want to be spending money on this thing.
Speaker 1: It's really common to have revolving credit card debt, even
Speaker 1: like if you're not struggling financially, Like I know so
Speaker 1: many people tell me it's like, yeah, I have a
Speaker 1: couple of granding credit card debt, And I'm like, you
Speaker 1: have a you have like a six figure job, you
Speaker 1: have like all you have these things, why can't you
Speaker 1: just pay off this credit card debt really quick in
Speaker 1: like a month or two and then and then keep
Speaker 1: it paid off. I guess it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: I guess I view them on the outside, it looks
Speaker 1: like they're doing well, but I don't know what's happening
Speaker 1: on the like inside. But it is one of those
Speaker 1: things where it's like credit card debt is notorious for
Speaker 1: being like the one thing that all financial professionals agree on,
Speaker 1: Like some people love debt and some people hate it,
Speaker 1: but everybody hates credit card debt, so one thing we
Speaker 1: can all agree on. So like it's the first kind
Speaker 1: of debt that should be going. Credit card debt, the
Speaker 1: yeah fire the unit it is really brings us all together. Well.
Speaker 1: This next section gets into some reasons for compulsive shopping,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna tread lightly carefully and gently here because
Speaker 1: it is getting more into some deeper emotional roots and
Speaker 1: does require some some soul searching, some looking at what
Speaker 1: is the why behind some of the compulsive shopping tendencies
Speaker 1: that I may have, especially if this is a very
Speaker 1: common thing. And please be kind to yourself if you
Speaker 1: see that this is happening. We don't mention these things
Speaker 1: because just to leave ourselves there, but to assess, to
Speaker 1: highlight what's happening, and then to identify steps forward. We're
Speaker 1: not going to be able to change behaviors if we're
Speaker 1: also not looking at the thoughts and feelings that lead
Speaker 1: to those behaviors. So some of the things that this
Speaker 1: states and and all affirm that these can be present,
Speaker 1: they're not. Not all of them are true. Not all
Speaker 1: of them have to be present, And this is not
Speaker 1: an exhaustive list, but certainly feelings of loneliness or or
Speaker 1: depression or feeling out of control could lead somebody to
Speaker 1: go to the store and want to cope. It can
Speaker 1: be a coping mechanism. The first bullet point that they
Speaker 1: put on here is a pretty intensive one, and emotionally
Speaker 1: deprived childhood. They just kick it off with something pretty intense. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and that can be true. It's not true every time.
Speaker 1: But where we are lacking something, where we're feeling a void,
Speaker 1: we will seek to fill that void, sometimes with beneficial things,
Speaker 1: sometimes with non beneficial things. Compulsive shopping can be one
Speaker 1: of those. An inability to tolerate negative feelings or not
Speaker 1: wanting to look at some of the negative feelings is
Speaker 1: the way that you know, let me just go purchase
Speaker 1: something I like the high that I get from it.
Speaker 1: I want to feel good. This will make me feel good.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there can be comorbidity between compulsive shopping and using
Speaker 1: that as a coping mechanism and hoarding. So when we
Speaker 1: talk about frugality and minimalism going hand in hand, certainly
Speaker 1: compulsive shopping and hoarding can go hand in hand. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: all of those are rooted in some some emotional and
Speaker 1: mental health concerns as well. A desire to seek excitement,
Speaker 1: a need for approval, lack of impulse control, a desire
Speaker 1: to have control. Any of these things can lead to
Speaker 1: making purchases that I did not intend to make. Don't
Speaker 1: just take our word for it. Do your own research
Speaker 1: on this. Consider your own patterns and the ways that
Speaker 1: you cope, and not just removing this right, not just
Speaker 1: taking these tips and no longer compulsive shopping, but replacing
Speaker 1: it with something still caring for yourself. These are some
Speaker 1: deep rooted things, and so definitely looking for ways to
Speaker 1: care for yourself in that place that is beneficial for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they definitely put in some deep ones on here, but
Speaker 1: it is good too. When you are shopping to kind
Speaker 1: of take a look, get okay, what is my mental
Speaker 1: state right now? I was looking on Instagram to see
Speaker 1: like where I saw this, but there was a post
Speaker 1: that was like try to like it was an acronym,
Speaker 1: but try to figure out like am I angry? Am
Speaker 1: I hungry? Am I like sad? Or try to take
Speaker 1: a checklist of essentially a checklist of kind of your
Speaker 1: emotions in your mental state, like when you're shopping, and
Speaker 1: that can kind of help you point back to some
Speaker 1: of the reasons that might be for your compulsive shopping,
Speaker 1: because there's going to be yes, there's going to be
Speaker 1: a feeling, and then there's going to you're going to
Speaker 1: track that back to okay, like why am I feeling that?
Speaker 1: What is the this is the result of what in
Speaker 1: my life? And then if you keep doing that, eventually
Speaker 1: you'll notice a pattern and then you can get to
Speaker 1: the root cause. But we don't get there until we
Speaker 1: take a pause and try to figure it out. And
Speaker 1: so the step isn't being perfect in and not shopping
Speaker 1: or not impulse shopping. The first step is to figure out, okay, why,
Speaker 1: So let's not fight our psychology. Let's try and work
Speaker 1: with it so that we can solve this problem. M
Speaker 1: Speaking of solving the problem, let's get into some tips
Speaker 1: on how to do this absolutely. So this next article
Speaker 1: comes from develop good Habits dot com. What a place
Speaker 1: to be on the Internet. Yes, and they give us
Speaker 1: nine tips to curb this spending, to stop our impulse buying,
Speaker 1: interrupt that pattern, and the first one I love it
Speaker 1: talks about having a thirty day any day day like
Speaker 1: a thirty day wait list. So if there is something
Speaker 1: that you want, be patient with it, start a list,
Speaker 1: write it down, and if you still want it, thirty
Speaker 1: day is from now great, get it, budget for it.
Speaker 1: But this just helps to slow us down and not
Speaker 1: purchase immediately something that we may not actually want. It's
Speaker 1: just feeding another need that we have. Finder dot Com
Speaker 1: has an extension called ice box, and I know it
Speaker 1: works for Chrome and Firefox, it might work for Safari,
Speaker 1: but it essentially replaces the buy now button at major
Speaker 1: sites with the put it on ice button, And so
Speaker 1: you put it on ice and then you decide the
Speaker 1: cool off time, um, thirty days, two weeks, whatever, and
Speaker 1: after that cool off time, the button will turn back
Speaker 1: into a buy now button. So obviously you can turn
Speaker 1: it off, and there's ways around it, but it is
Speaker 1: just like a little barrier if you want to practice
Speaker 1: some patients. I think the only one that we really
Speaker 1: have trouble with is the grocery store, because obviously you
Speaker 1: have to eat. But I think with the rise of
Speaker 1: online grocery shopping that has really become easier, so we
Speaker 1: can stay out of the all de isisle of shame
Speaker 1: as nothing in that aisle is on my list, but
Speaker 1: I'll never right and it's here for a limited time.
Speaker 1: But just like, don't expect more, like, don't expect so
Speaker 1: much of yourself, like not because you're not capable, but
Speaker 1: just because your brain has a finite amount of will
Speaker 1: power and once you exhaust it, you can't expect like
Speaker 1: anything else from That's like how I find myself after
Speaker 1: my kid goes to bed, like I've done so good
Speaker 1: all day and then I'm like, Travis, please leave and
Speaker 1: go get me some ice cream or tear Mossieu from
Speaker 1: Publix was the latest one. But like just avoid it.
Speaker 1: I mean, just look at yourself like you're you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I can't do this, so I just I
Speaker 1: can't even touch it. I will say, ordering groceries online
Speaker 1: has helped with food impulse purchasing because I'm not passing
Speaker 1: all these other things up and down the aisle. I've
Speaker 1: got a very specific list. I just searched that list
Speaker 1: and put it in my cart. So yes, that is
Speaker 1: a great tip for that. One. Number three on the
Speaker 1: list is to find free ways to reward yourself. So
Speaker 1: sometimes the compulsive impulsive shopping is a result of I
Speaker 1: deserve this, I had a really hard day, or I
Speaker 1: need to celebrate and let me just go out and
Speaker 1: spend money. And it's not about the actual thing, it's
Speaker 1: about the experience of it. But then by the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you've spent money. So it's still important
Speaker 1: to reward ourselves to celebrate, but to find free ways
Speaker 1: of doing that. I know for me, just being outside
Speaker 1: is a reward, especially now that I live in Florida
Speaker 1: and the sun shines here constantly. Going to the beach
Speaker 1: as a reward, going near water as a reward. Anything, right,
Speaker 1: brainstorm yourself what is life giving to you, and do
Speaker 1: those things before you seek to spend money as a celebration.
Speaker 1: Six is always have a list and plan for your purchases.
Speaker 1: This saves me a lot. I'm kind of flighty in
Speaker 1: the sense that I tend to get distracted easily. I'll
Speaker 1: do one thing and then I'll remember have to do another,
Speaker 1: and then I'll go do that, and then I'll do
Speaker 1: some answers. I kind of have a hard time finishing things,
Speaker 1: even though like finishing is kind of like my fulfillment.
Speaker 1: So I have to have a list. If I have
Speaker 1: a list and I haven't things written down and a plan,
Speaker 1: then I feel like i've Then I can actually get
Speaker 1: things accomplished. And it's the same thing with impulsive spending.
Speaker 1: If you have a list, then you can stick to
Speaker 1: it and you can feel it. Once you've accomplished your list,
Speaker 1: you no longer need to put anything into your cart
Speaker 1: because you have accomplished the task at hand. You can
Speaker 1: feel proud of yourself. And I don't know if this
Speaker 1: works for everyone, but it definitely does for me. Um,
Speaker 1: once I've completed my list, I'm like, yes, let's get
Speaker 1: out of here. But planning and listing is so helpful
Speaker 1: when trying to control your spending, yeah, and having a
Speaker 1: use for it ultimately, so it also keeps you from
Speaker 1: bringing things into your home that you don't actually have
Speaker 1: a plan for don't need, won't use. I like number
Speaker 1: five on here too, which is to be mindful of
Speaker 1: your reaction to impulse spending, So keeping track of what
Speaker 1: has happened in the past when I've made an impulse purchase,
Speaker 1: what happened just before, what happened during, what happened after
Speaker 1: inside of me, my emotions, my thoughts, even some of
Speaker 1: my visceral reactions, and are those feelings worth the purchase.
Speaker 1: One of my good friends, shout out to, Sharon, has
Speaker 1: been keeping in amotional journal along with tracking her spending,
Speaker 1: and I think we talked about this in the interview
Speaker 1: with Leslie Tayne as well, kind of taking that tracking
Speaker 1: of spending to the next level where you mark down
Speaker 1: maybe even when you want to purchase something, what just
Speaker 1: happened in your circumstances, What are you feeling around that,
Speaker 1: what is it leading you to want to purchase? And
Speaker 1: even just slowing yourself down in that way can help
Speaker 1: interrupt the pattern, but it can also help us to
Speaker 1: identify where patterns exist, like, oh, when I'm feeling angry,
Speaker 1: that's when I typically go to shop for this thing online,
Speaker 1: Or when I'm feeling really down or sad or my
Speaker 1: day didn't go well, and just beginning to be more
Speaker 1: aware of ourselves, more mindful of what's happening in our
Speaker 1: experiences can help us to identify again more beneficial ways
Speaker 1: to respond to those emotions. So I know that that's
Speaker 1: next level, but it can be really helpful. I love
Speaker 1: that idea of pairing the finances and the emotional and
Speaker 1: mental health together because they do go hand in hand.
Speaker 1: We just often don't always want to look at those things.
Speaker 1: But track you're spending hand your emotions side by side.
Speaker 1: Try it out. Let us know how it goes. I
Speaker 1: fully believe that it's about working with your psychology and
Speaker 1: not working against it. So instead of off all purchases
Speaker 1: and just restricting yourself to living under a rock, let's
Speaker 1: look at Okay, what are what are my quote unquote
Speaker 1: issues Like what are my you know, the things that
Speaker 1: keep me from succeeding? How can I either overcome them
Speaker 1: or work with them until they're overcome? And then also
Speaker 1: what are the things that light me up? And how
Speaker 1: can I indulge those in a freeway Like There's just
Speaker 1: there's so much to be said for finding out like
Speaker 1: what's underneath the surface and working with that because that,
Speaker 1: in the end, is sustainable. If you're trying to work
Speaker 1: against it, this lifestyle of frugal lifestyle will not be sustainable.
Speaker 1: Do you know what lights me up every week? Every
Speaker 1: every week the bill of the week. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe
Speaker 1: a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe
Speaker 1: you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and
Speaker 1: you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Okay, so my bill of the week
Speaker 1: is going to be Pets supplies and like all their food,
Speaker 1: all their groomy everything. And that's because I really love
Speaker 1: my pets dearly, so even though they can be pricing
Speaker 1: it is well worth it. Yes, I love that. I
Speaker 1: mean I don't have any pets, but I know people
Speaker 1: love their pets. It sounds like you take such good
Speaker 1: care of your pet. And we love these bills. Where
Speaker 1: people are values based spending. It's not about constantly cheaping
Speaker 1: out in every category of life, but saving where we
Speaker 1: can to be able to spend where we want to.
Speaker 1: So that's so sweet. Thanks for calling in your bill.
Speaker 1: About your pet supplies because you love your pets so much,
Speaker 1: so you can buy all those cool toys and make
Speaker 1: all those cute videos that we see on social media.
Speaker 1: I want to see them from you. So in light
Speaker 1: of doing two those of the week, here is our
Speaker 1: next one. Hi, Danny Ji is just throw me from
Speaker 1: Games to Florida. My bill of the week is that.
Speaker 1: Earlier this month, I posted on the Frugal Friends Facebook
Speaker 1: page about out my laundry room, drivewall in needles, expensive
Speaker 1: repairs and comparing estiment costs between hiring a contractor versus
Speaker 1: a handy now well repleas to the helpful replies to
Speaker 1: my post, I ended up hiring no one and doing
Speaker 1: the repairs myself. That alone take me about two thousand
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, and I learned more about home repair. And
Speaker 1: because I had two thousand dollar budget to start with,
Speaker 1: from I checked my homeowners Insurance had given me four repairs,
Speaker 1: I was able to hire help to cover additional things
Speaker 1: on my improvement list such as floor installation, water here installation,
Speaker 1: window repair, and my air conditioning annual maintenance UM. So
Speaker 1: all of that UM I was still able to come
Speaker 1: on their budget. Now my savings is about seven hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars money that I'll pay back to my
Speaker 1: savings for unexpected expenses in the previous months. And that
Speaker 1: is my bill of the week. Thank you for all
Speaker 1: that you guys. To look forward to learning more from
Speaker 1: you guys every Friday. Guys. Oh my gosh, I love that.
Speaker 1: And that is from the Frugal Friends community. Oh my god, Broy,
Speaker 1: how amazing to not be fearful of all these daunting repairs,
Speaker 1: but to figure out how to do it yourself. That
Speaker 1: definitely takes grit and problem solving and just a frugal mentality.
Speaker 1: So well done on all of these renovations that you
Speaker 1: did yourself, and then saving money, and then the money
Speaker 1: that you save you put back into your savings. So
Speaker 1: many amazing things happening here. Thanks for sharing that bill. Yes,
Speaker 1: if you want to submit your Bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. Leave us
Speaker 1: your bill. If it's about spending money on things that
Speaker 1: you love to spend money on, or saving money on
Speaker 1: things that you could just do yourself, let us know
Speaker 1: we love to hear them all. Today's Bill of the
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Speaker 1: nice to get it right. And now it's time for round.
Speaker 1: So we are going to talk about our latest impulse
Speaker 1: buys because I am convinced a hundred percent of people
Speaker 1: make impulse purchases because a hundred percent of people are
Speaker 1: not perfect. And we will be the first admitted because
Speaker 1: Jen loves to admit our failures. I love it. Our vulnerabilities,
Speaker 1: I love it. So that's why I'm gonna go. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm gonna go first. So at first, I was
Speaker 1: thinking I did impulse by a bag of veggie straws
Speaker 1: because they were on sale. That was my first thought.
Speaker 1: So that is a thing that I recently did. But
Speaker 1: it was like, I'm not gonna that's that's going to
Speaker 1: be like a slap in the face to Jaels. So
Speaker 1: because you know how bad mine's. Mine was a trip
Speaker 1: to St. Augustine. We planned it kind of last minute
Speaker 1: and it was just kind of like a getaway because
Speaker 1: I missed traveling and it wasn't in the budget. We
Speaker 1: could have put it in the budget, I guess, but
Speaker 1: I really were. We were just like everybody's free that weekend,
Speaker 1: we can go booked without I mean, we went with
Speaker 1: you on the Florida trip, and so I guess that
Speaker 1: kind of also makes it in both persons for me too, well,
Speaker 1: we did have money set aside for vacations. We just
Speaker 1: out that we did not, so that was our last impulse.
Speaker 1: Beend alright, Jen, here's mine. Oh, Eric and I just
Speaker 1: bought a house. Those of you have been listening for
Speaker 1: a while, you know this. It's we are first time
Speaker 1: home buyers. Were fixing things up. We've been focusing on
Speaker 1: the outdoors. Mostly. You've probably heard that Eric is on
Speaker 1: Facebook market Place constantly and he often finds really great deals,
Speaker 1: including that he wanted to at one point purchase an
Speaker 1: indoor water feature, which I immediately vetoed. It did lead
Speaker 1: to a little bit of tention. Talked about that in
Speaker 1: a previous episode, so sometimes I have control. However, when
Speaker 1: it came to this one, he found a spiral staircase
Speaker 1: like that you could have put outside and it all
Speaker 1: would spiral staircase outdoors beautiful on Facebook market Place used.
Speaker 1: I totally co signed for that one. Didn't plan on
Speaker 1: having a spiral staircase. Don't actually have a solid use
Speaker 1: for it except that it's stunning and I love spiral staircases.
Speaker 1: And we nearly have a flat roof, so we put
Speaker 1: it outside, put it up against our flat roof. We
Speaker 1: just go on the roof. People come over, they're like,
Speaker 1: where does that go? Or like the roof, like what's
Speaker 1: up there? But nothing. You could just get up on
Speaker 1: the roof the roof, what's up there? The roof. You
Speaker 1: can kind of see good sunsets from there. But it's
Speaker 1: really just about spiral staircases. I love it. I mean really,
Speaker 1: I'm pleased for it, no looking back, but at one
Speaker 1: hundred percent was an impulse by We do not need
Speaker 1: a spiral staircase. It does look stunning, but didn't plan
Speaker 1: for it at all. I bet you could see amazing
Speaker 1: sun rises from the roof and no one's up that early.
Speaker 1: Well one day, no one in the right mind. I'll
Speaker 1: test it one day. We would love to hear your
Speaker 1: impulse byes and in those buys that you're overcoming. Seriously,
Speaker 1: if you're in a store and you were about to
Speaker 1: buy a bag of veggie straws on sale and then
Speaker 1: you said you heard my voice in your head and
Speaker 1: you said, no, I'm not going to do it, Please
Speaker 1: hang out with us in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash group and tell us
Speaker 1: about it, and thank you so much for listening for
Speaker 1: three years. Whether you've been with us from the beginning
Speaker 1: or you are a new listener, we love you and
Speaker 1: we appreciate you, and you are the lifeblood of this show.
Speaker 1: You are the reason we do it. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel silly saying that I'm a podcaster, but I'll never
Speaker 1: quit as long as there are people listening to this show,
Speaker 1: and thousands of you do every week. So we are
Speaker 1: so blessed by you, and thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your kind Reviews on iTunes and Stitcher, like this one
Speaker 1: from Britty teven just happens to be five star ours.
Speaker 1: They say my favorite podcast. I love listening to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. Jen and Jill make it feel like
Speaker 1: you're chatting with a couple of your best friends. The
Speaker 1: podcast is giving me great tips along with helping me
Speaker 1: attempt my first no spend month a little over one
Speaker 1: week to go. Thank you ladies. Thank you Britty mm
Speaker 1: tho'se no spend challenges. Those will also help to rain
Speaker 1: in some impulse spending. We also want to thank our
Speaker 1: friends who share these episodes on social media, So when
Speaker 1: you share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook
Speaker 1: or Instagram, we add you to our monthly drawing. For
Speaker 1: every five tags and reviews we get each month, we
Speaker 1: give away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook. So
Speaker 1: keep leaving us reviews on iTunes and Stitcher. They help
Speaker 1: more than you could ever know. And send the screenshot
Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com to enter
Speaker 1: that giveaway and or tag us on social Thanks everyone,
Speaker 1: see you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Speaker 1: Syrian Jen. What should we do to celebrate three years?
Speaker 1: I was thinking we could reminisce on some past what
Speaker 1: I mean, thoughts over the last three years, like best memories.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, one million downloads. One million downloads was so fun.
Speaker 1: I was so sad. So when we hit five hundred thousand,
Speaker 1: I was sad that the balloons were too expensive to
Speaker 1: get four balloons was out of my price range. So
Speaker 1: when we hit one million and I could just get
Speaker 1: two balloons, I was like, yes, so much more affordable.
Speaker 1: And then I re used the balloons for my guests
Speaker 1: who came in town to make them feel special. They
Speaker 1: still had helium in them. They did last for a
Speaker 1: long time. Those were worth their money. I guess if
Speaker 1: you want to have some sturdy, reusable blundes, what about you?
Speaker 1: What's the highlight? Um? All of the people that we've
Speaker 1: gotten to talk to, I think so some of my
Speaker 1: favorites have been Joshua Becker. That was a big one.
Speaker 1: I found girl hard on that interview, didn't we all
Speaker 1: we called us smart interviewers, though afterwards we didn't catch it.
Speaker 1: We didn't, we didn't have it recorded, but I know
Speaker 1: I know what he said to us. I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and just so a bunch of like rock
Speaker 1: star women who I don't typically like. We don't we
Speaker 1: don't typically feature people from PETE like that PR firms
Speaker 1: send us like. We find our guests were very intentional
Speaker 1: with the guests we bring on, and so to feature
Speaker 1: women who have done amazing things in their personal finance
Speaker 1: is that don't typically get recognition elsewhere. Is probably one
Speaker 1: of my favorite things that we do highlight for me
Speaker 1: is the community we've built. I not neither one of
Speaker 1: us or anyone in our immediate surroundings. I think I
Speaker 1: anticipated that frugal friends would actually like be where it
Speaker 1: is today, But so much of that, as we've already said,
Speaker 1: is because of the community that we've built. But I
Speaker 1: think it's this surprising, this amazing treasure and surprise that
Speaker 1: has happened is people have connected with this concept, with
Speaker 1: this idea, with this thing that they're already doing and
Speaker 1: looking for friends like them, community like them. I love
Speaker 1: that we are three years in and I really feel
Speaker 1: like it's not about me, Jill, you Jen. It's about
Speaker 1: the frugal friends community, the tips that we all get
Speaker 1: to share together, the camarade read, the mutual understanding, the
Speaker 1: fun that has been really surprising to me an incredibly enjoyable.
Speaker 1: Such a gift that has come out of this. I
Speaker 1: don't know another podcast doing this, and I mean and
Speaker 1: having what we have with the community, little community we've built.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sure they're out there, but like ours
Speaker 1: is so unique and welcoming and inclusive, and it is
Speaker 1: a treasure. It is surely a treasure, um and something
Speaker 1: I didn't anticipate when we made this Facebook group literally
Speaker 1: before episode one, and we had no one in there
Speaker 1: and it was just me posting memes. That's kind of
Speaker 1: what we were known for it first. Yeah, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: it was just me posting memes like every other day
Speaker 1: to see this thing lives on its own, like this
Speaker 1: is like this lives outside at its gen and hip.
Speaker 1: And we know that because people will join our Facebook
Speaker 1: group not even knowing about the podcast. We still about
Speaker 1: once a month get people asking like, what's the name
Speaker 1: of the Bad Guys. It's it's literally it was the
Speaker 1: podcast first, then the group. But that's a right. You're
Speaker 1: just looking for some frugal friends. We hear, We're yeah,
Speaker 1: we hear, we hear. It's and and now I like
Speaker 1: know some of you by name, like I'm sure you're listening,
Speaker 1: and I know your face and your name, and I'm
Speaker 1: like friends with with a lot of you outside of
Speaker 1: the group, and I'm getting like Easter photos home. We're
Speaker 1: part of your family. It is absolutely that is that's
Speaker 1: a blessing. Let's celebrate with a meet up tomorrow. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: see in person. Bye.